Merry Christmas to All!

Merry Christmas! It's been a long time since we posted so here's a few pictures to catch you up on our Christmas vacation...we spent Christmas Eve and half of Christmas day with my mom, Nat and John and mom's sister Cathy, and then we headed over to Seth's side of the family for the remainder of Christmas day! We had a great time, as you'll see below. There was everything from dogs to babies, from Christmas Eve service to Rock Band, presents to food, more food, and catching up with some out of towners...

Thanks to our British friends, the Moscardini's, we've been taken with the tradition of giving out crackers (placed above each plate on the first picture) at Christmas...inside each cracker was a joke, a small toy, and a hat (we missed the hat somehow this year...oops)

John got 'Rock Band' from his mom and as you can imagine it was a big hit with Seth and John...but little did we know, it was a big hit for mom as well:) Eventually we all joined in, Mika included.

Cathy gave Nat and John and Seth and me some Old Mill Gilford Sweet Potato bread mix...I can't wait to try it!

John got some sweet Ugg slippers....hopefully they won't get eaten by any of the hounds there...

I love this picture...mom just started laughing hysterically when she finally figured out that Nat and John gave her a GPS for Christmas! Not sure why she was laughing because we all thought it'd be a great gift for her! She'll get lots of use out of it, even driving home! John bought Seth some glow bracelets for his stocking....how sweet:)

More Rock Band...

Serious jammers here....

We discovered mom has some lungs on her! She was brave enough to sing songs whether she knew them or not...and let me tell you, it was quite a sight!

BS Hicks on the drums

John the rapper

And of course we had to watch 'A Christmas Story' at least once out of the 24 hours it's played on Christmas Eve/Day...

Mika got a bone...

Wilbur got a bone...(Wilbur is a long story...we love him though).

Big Daddy Troy got a bone...and devoured it in about 5 minutes

And Jingle got a greenie....which she proceeded to try and hide from the other dogs. She's quite the old lady we've decided!

And then there was the time that Jingle's nails got clipped too short and she bled for an hour. The culprit was in the doghouse for quite some time I hear....(Just kidding John:)

Robert and Dylan playing around...

Cody having a moment with Nana...

Uncle Seth's making Cody laugh. Grandma (Mawmaw) made us a wonderful Christmas Dinner...we were filled with turkey, ham, corn, green beans, butter beans, homemade bread, stuffing, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and all sorts of desserts...it was delicous!

Dylan loves his little brother, or 'Biggun' as he's been calling him lately:) Cody and Mama opening presents....

Grandma's Christmas tree...

Angie and her two boys....

Dylan could hardly wait to open all his gifts...but he was as patient as a 2 year old can be on Christmas Day...

Hahahah...Cody with his Elmo toboggan on:)

Uncle Seth and the boys...cute.

This one's my favorite...Seth and Dylan watching 'Cars' on Christmas night....

My friend from high school, Alice (Henderson) Shaffer, and her husband and new baby came and met me and Kristen at Starbucks for a little visit! We had a great time and baby Caleb is so cute and content...I hope mine babies are just like him! Thanks for taking the time to visit with us Shaffers...but please bring snow the next time you come....pleeeeeeeease:)

Hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas as well!

It doesn't take much

I know where I live. I know central NC doesn't get much in the way of frozen precipitation. But I'll take what I can get! This morning we had our first (some years we don't even have a 'first') snow! Actually we did have a few flurries the other morning, but not enough for me to take a picture of...

Maybe this is a sign of things to come this winter! I sure would be ecstatic!

It feels like yesterday...

That we were getting married, but it was only 1 month ago! Happy one month Seth...it's been more wonderful than I ever thought:) I love you!

Here's a picture we took the day we got engaged, before I knew what was coming:)

This picture was taken as you came down the isle to get me at our wedding...I love it:)

HAPPY FALL!

Hands down, fall is my favorite time of year:) The leaves are simply amazing and I thank God everytime I drive home that I live in such a beautiful place; the weather is gorgeous and invigorating, and Seth and I will have our anniversary each fall. What more can I say? Sorry pictures of the wedding/honeymoon are slow in coming, but I promise they will be here soon! In the meantime, here's a pic of our house in the fall (with grass I might add), with a mum that Seth bought me a few weeks back...love it, love it all!

Non-picture blog

Personally, I'm not a fan of blog postings without pictures...but I guess I'll do it just this once.

So, Seth and I are getting married in 6 days...count it again...6! We have quite a few minor details to wrap up, and had every good intention of getting 2 major things checked off the list tonight. Instead we watched 'Freedom Writers' and 'We are Marshall' on our new tv. I can't remember the last time I sat down and watched a movie, doing nothing else. It was wonderfully unproductive. And I really enjoyed every minute of it:)

Thanks for watching movies with me Seth...we make a great team. Even if not much is accomplished. Sometimes, it's just nice to be lazy!

There it is...my non-picture blog.

And we're IN!

After only 100 short days, our house is complete and the papers are signed...it's officially ours! To be exact, it's Seth Apple and Rebecca Sarver's house, but that will all change in 2 weeks! Here's a few moving in pics...thank you to everyone (the pavels, feltons, stouts, shipmans, caleb, krystal, brooke, mom, etc) who has helped the past week - loading and unloading, unpacking, putting in blinds, installing ceiling fans, moving couches, etch. We are so grateful for you!