Top 13 Moments of 2013!

Wow.....I just skimmed through all my blog posts from this past year and man it was a crazy, busy, whirlwind of a year. I'd have to say it goes down in the book as the best year yet! I really love writing these posts because it is great to be able to look back to the past year and relish in all my favorite memories and moments.

#13. I spent a weekend in Dallas, TX with all of my favorite girlfriends (minus a few that didn't make it), my mom, and my aunt celebrating my bachelorette party. Let's just say it was a little bit crazy and I have so many stories to tell from it.

 

#12. I traveled to Las Vegas with all of my most favorite friends from high school to celebrate Jerry & Katelyn's wedding weekend. It was the absolute best weekend ever. It was so great to spend quality time with all my favorite friends right before I got married and moved off.

 

#11. I had the honor of standing by three of my best friend's sides on their wedding days. They were all three absolutely beautiful weddings. All three of them brought tears to my eyes as I watched the way each couple loved each other differently. There's nothing quite like standing by your dearest friend's side and watching her face beam with joy when she sees her husband.

 Rachel's wedding in Nashville, TN.

Alli's wedding in Oklahoma.

 Caitlin's wedding in Arkansas.

2013 was the year of weddings. We also traveled to Houston, TX to attend the wedding of a very dear family friend. I had the privilege of doing hair for all the bridesmaids, mother of the bride, and the bride. It was a beautiful, fun wedding.

#10. On June 29, 2013, I married my favorite person in the entire world and it was the best day of my life and the best decision I've ever made.

 

#9. My new husband and I spent a week in beautiful Cancun and soaked up every minute together. It was the neatest thing to experience with Aaron since it was his first time to fly and see the ocean. We loved every minute of it and can't wait to go back.

 

#8. I packed up my belongings and moved 7 hours away from all my family and friends. It was extremely exciting and scary all at the same time.

 

 

#7. I got a new job that I really enjoy, met a lot of new wonderful people, and began exploring this neat little town. During my explorations, I stumbled upon many interesting things that you can't find in the city.

 

#6. I completed numerous house projects in hopes of making our house a warm, inviting home.

 

 

 

#5. We really enjoyed welcoming visitors into our little home. Those visitors include my Aunt Jan, my grandpa, mom, and dad and Aaron's whole family. Now, we are just waiting on you friends!

 

 

#4. I traveled to Tennessee more in 2013 than I have in my entire life. We took a short road trip to Memphis with my parents and I took a short road trip to Nashville to stay with my friend. They were both fun little getaways.

 

#3. 2013 was also the year of babies and pregnancies. It's really crazy how many people I know that had babies this year and it's even crazier how many of my friends are pregnant. I can think of 5 off the top of my head that are pregnant right now. I can't wait to love on all those babies.

 

Meeting Emery Ryan for the first time. Such a sweet, tiny little thing.

 Meeting Tucker Keith for the first time. He was perfect.

And I haven't gotten to meet this one yet, but my cousin Bo & his wife, Cassidy just welcomed Bentley Josiah on Dec. 27th. Can't wait to meet him.

 

#2. We survived our first snow storm in Arkansas and man was it a pretty snow. Probably the prettiest snow I've seen, besides in Colorado of course. We enjoyed playing with Samson in it and taking lots of pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

#1. My most favorite moments from 2013 are the little moments spent with my two favorite boys. I can't explain how wonderful this year has been because I get to wake up next to these two everyday. I have waited a long time for that and it's more fun than I could have ever imagined. They are pretty darn cute together.

 

 

 

 

 I'm looking forward to 2014 and all that it holds for us. Wishing you all a Happy New Year!!

A Recipe: Skillet Chili Mac

Since yesterday was our 6 month moniversary, I decided to make Aaron a home cooked meal. I'll admit, it's been a while since I cooked him dinner...oops. We had a nice chili dinner and then watched Fast & Furious 6. It was the perfect cold winter night for chili and we both really enjoyed this recipe.

I found the recipe on Pinterest here: http://www.ziplist.com/souschef?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.deepsouthdish.com%2F2013%2F04%2Fskillet-chili-mac.html

 

At first, I was a little intimidated by the ingredient list. I tend to steer clear of difficult recipes with a lot of ingredients, but I found that most of the items on the list I had on hand. It ended up being very easy to make. You should definitely try it!

 

Here's how mine turned out:

 

 

I sprinkled green onions, shredded cheddar cheese, and crackers on top. I ate the leftovers tonight for dinner and put Chili Cheese Fritos on top and it was even better!

Christmas 2013!

 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas....I know we sure did. Aaron had to work for a few hours on Christmas Eve morning and Christmas day so we weren't able to go home for the holidays. Aaron's family came and stayed with us for a week and we had a wonderful time. We were so glad to have family here, but it seemed like time flew by way too fast.

 

Sunday night before his parents arrived, we went to the Candlelight service at our church. It was great to celebrate and remember the real reason for the season with Aaron. We both enjoyed the service.

I wanted to get a picture in front of the tree before we left, so here is our terribly awkward selfie.

 

His family arrived Monday when we got off work. We ordered pizza, played Wahoo, and caught up with them.

 

Christmas Eve morning, Aaron and his brother went hunting while Aaron's mom and I went grocery shopping. Their family's Christmas Eve tradition is to watch Christmas movies and play games while their mom makes lots of different snacks for them to munch on throughout the evening. I was excited to help his mom cook and learn a few new yummy recipes. We had Peppercorn Ham Dip, Dried Beef Dip, Shrimp Cocktail, a veggie tray, and Bacon Parmesan Baked Crackers. It was all very delicious. It was fun to be a part of their family tradition. We also celebrated his older brother, Stephen's 29th Birthday!

 

Christmas morning, Aaron and his brothers went to the fish hatchery to work so Santa could come in the morning. When they got home, we ate homemade Quiche for breakfast and opened our presents. We got so many great gifts. Aaron was like a little kid again. I could tell he was so excited to open presents with his family on Christmas morning. It was really fun to finally spend a Christmas morning with Aaron. In the 7 years we've been together, we've never spent Christmas day together. It was really nice.

 PeeWee, Aaron's parent's dog, admiring the Christmas tree and all the presents.

Samson the reindeer.

PeeWee in her Christmas sweater.

The Santa hat made them lick their chops.

 

 Ready to open their presents.

 

Samson loves having house guests.

 

And he just makes himself comfortable, right in their laps.

Our 1st Christmas!

 

After we opened presents, we had a lovely home cooked holiday meal that consisted of ham, broccoli cheese casserole, mashed potatoes, rolls, and Caesar salad...complete with a homemade pecan pie. It was delicious.

 

After lunch we headed out for a walk and some fishing. The weather was so nice so we had to soak up some sunshine.

 

Christmas night we relaxed and watched a movie called Home Run. It was really interesting because the movie was based in Aaron's hometown so we recognized all the places and they even recognized a few of the people. It was fun to see and it turned out to be a really good movie.

 

Aaron and I both had to go back to work on Thursday and we said goodbye to them on Friday morning. We miss you guys already. Thank you so much for making our Christmas so wonderful. We thoroughly enjoyed our time spent together. I am extremely grateful for such wonderful in-laws.

 

Stay tuned for our other Christmas celebration with my family. Can't wait to go to my hometown in January to celebrate with them. I'm counting down the days!!