Christmas and New Years!

What a great time of year it is to celebrate the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. How grateful I am for all he came on this earth to do and for the blessings he grants my family and I on a daily basis. He is the reason for everything in our lives, and because of that, Christmas is the most joyous season of the year. I am truly blessed and thankful for the atonement and will continue trying to pay him back with gratitude, service, and love for others.  
This year, we decided to first take Mia to the Festival of Lights at Callaway Gardens. For those of you that haven't been, it is absolutely WONDERFUL! I think next year Mia will truly be able to appreciate all the lights and fun music. We had a great time and snapped a few photos on our way out the door: 

On Christmas Eve, we went to a local Mediterranean restaurant that is one of our favorites. It's called the Beirut and we had a great time enjoying each others company and eating yummy food. We then opened presents at our home and boy did we all get spoiled. Amongst some of the wonderful gifts we all received, some of the favorite's were my KitchenAid, the KINECT for the xbox, Andrew's external hard drive, Ashley's gift cards, My mom's Micheal Kors bag,  and Mia's table and chairs and tea set. What a great Christmas, we are all truly blessed!

For New Years, we went out with our best friends The Cooper's. We decided we wanted a night in Atlanta ( They moved here in March and had not seen much of the city ) so we went to our favorite, Cheesecake Factory, walked around Atlantic Station and then met our friends The Clarke's at the Peach Drop in downtown. I don't think I have laughed that hard in a long time and we had a great time! Thanks mom for taking Mia for us while we had a great date night! We are blessed to have such wonderful friends. I tell my husband Nicole is my sista from another mista, I'm grateful for her!

To say the least, 2011 has had some ups and downs but we are so grateful for all the year has given us. We are looking forward to 2012 being the best year yet! :-)

I'm officially a certified ZIN Zumba Instructor!

What a tiring but rewarding day it was when I finally got my Zumba Certification. I left my house around 7 and set out for a 10 hour work-out that I was actually looking forward to. I got to the certification gym around 8 and got super pumped up when I saw all of the other attendees excited as well. We started out with a 90 minute master class with our Certification Instuctor ( Erick Santana ) who was an AMAZING dancer and instructor and spent the rest of the day learning different ways to choreograph, market ourselves, network, and routine our classes. Although we got breaks I had never been so exhausted and sore in my whole life (and I work out A LOT)! Erick's personal quote was to "own it and bring it" and I thought I did a pretty good job the entire time. It was wonderful to hear some of the personal stories behind ZUMBA and why people have such a passion for it. I can't wait to broaden my horizon with it and start instucting my own classes. I took a picture in my ZUMBA gear and I was trying to give an Erick "own it and bring it" look. Not sure I did a great job but give me credit, I HAD been working out for 10 hours, my mind was going a little crazy. :-)

Holiday Baking

Who doesn't love baking and the better question is, who doesn't love baking with friends? When my friend Laura suggested the idea of Holiday Baking I was so excited! My friend Nicole and I were so overwhelmed with all of her baking accessories and we couldn't believe how it made everything much easier in the kitchen. That being said, it made me super excited for my KitchenAid that my mom already revealed to me that I will be getting for Christmas. Our husbands and kiddos also had a great time watching football and playing and getting to sample our yummy treats. We each made a few different things and then shared them and made some of the best holiday plates I have ever seen! ( not to mention delicious! ) We had a blast and will definitely be doing a new tradition each year.

 

Britni Denney's baby shower and our ward Christmas Party

One of my dearest friends is pregnant with her third baby girl and we wanted to celebrate her newest addition with a fun girl's night. My friend Brittany called me and we had decided to do it at my house and have a fun three- course dinner. A few days before the scheduled shower, Brittany had told me that she had talked to our other friend Britni ( It get's confusing, doesn't it? ) ;-) and that she was 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced already. Her shower was on a Thursday evening and she was going into the Dr Thursday morning to check up on her progress ( she has a tendancy to go into labor very quickly ). Brittany suggested we change the location to Olive Garden just in case she went into labor and we would have a shower, meal and cake that might not be enjoyed.  Britni ended up not going into labor and we got to celebrate with her that evening. I ended up making a really yummy cheesecake ( just in case ) and we all enjoyed it after a fun italian dinner. Here are some fun pictures from the shower-

The next evening we had our ward Christmas party and Mia got all dressed up. Gigi had gotten her a cute outfit from Gymboree and we visited with our friends and then went to a fun White Elephant party afterwards.

Thanksgiving and a much DESERVED baby shower..

What a wonderful year it was for our family and we definitely have SO much to be thankful for. Andrew has been at his job for a full year with MUCH success and after a few months of unemployement you realize how big of a deal that actually is. He is really enjoying his job and although his master is in marketing he is really liking his "niche" he has in public relations. I also have dropped 40 pounds since having Mia and 85 since the beginning of my weight-loss journey which is also a whole lot to be thankful for. Your health is one of the most important things and I am grateful for mine. Mia has been learning and growing and the DR always tells me she is way above and beyond where she should be so that kind of news makes me feel very blessed as well. 
      This Thanksgiving, we spent it with my family and my Aunt Linda and Uncle Wayne came to visit. My grandparents ( on my mom's side ) only live across the way so we are blessed to see them and spend holidays with them as well. We had a great turkey and ham with all the additions and I made a wonderful four cheese bacon mac and cheese ( southern favorite ) and blueberry cobbler. We all stuffed our faces and enjoyed eachother's company while going over the things that Heavenly Father has truly blessed us with this holiday season. We are so grateful for eachother, our health, and the ability to provide for the ones we love and were grateful to give heavenly father thanks during Thanksgiving.  




                             My very handsome hubby and myself! ;-) 

It's a bit difficult to get her to look at the camera! 

                 She loves being animated and singing songs and using her hands. 

Any type of BALL is just about her favorite thing to play with. She really is OBSESSED! 

I must admit, she has just about the sweetest face i've ever seen. 

This picture always makes me laugh so hard. My dad travel's a lot so she never recognizes him when he returns. 

Those big blue's..

trying to be funny with Gigi's shoes. 

My wiggle worm. 

Ashley and I, a wonderful sister I love dearly.

On another note, A very sweet girl in my mom and sister's ward just adopted an 18 month old. It's a very cool story and here is the link to her blog: kartchner.blogspot.com

So my sister, her friend Amber and another friend contacted Jaimee to see if they could have a little shower for her to celebrate  her sweet new girl and to provide her with anything that she may have needed for Beverly. After I recieved the evite I knew that it was something that Mia and I needed to attend and be apart of. I am so happy for Jaimee and her family and her willingness to follow Heavenly Father's promtings. Here are some pictures from the shower-

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