Thankful for family

Woah, I almost forgot the address to our blog. Yes, it's been that long. Will and I are continuing to plunge through the everyday grind of work and school, but were very thankful to have a little break last week from our every day schedule to spend time with both of our families for Thanksgiving.

One of the first of many Christmas card attempts

Last Monday afternoon when I got off of work, Will picked me up and we headed South to his family in Laurel. We spent Monday and Tuesday night in Laurel and were glad to catch up on much needed family time.

Erin and me

Erin, me, and Anna

 Because we were not going to be with the Morgans on Thanksgiving Day, my mother-in-law wanted to have a nice steak dinner with everyone together.

And it was delicious. 

 After a sweet visit with Will's grandparents on Wednesday, Will and I headed down to my parents house in Hattiesburg.

Meet Lucy! This is my brother Ben's Irish Setter. She has red hair like Lucille Ball :)

Poppy, Mama Kat, and Sam

 

The four siblings plus Sam :)

 It worked out so perfectly that my sister and her family could come down the same time Will and I could come. We try to coordinate our times home together so that one of us won't be at our in-laws house while the other one is home and vice-versa. 

*Side note* I must say that one of the hardest parts about being married is the holidays. Not that the holidays are hard, it's that the splitting of the holidays are hard. Will and I want to be with both of our families for everything and don't want to miss out on anything. We figured that while we are still young without children and because our parents only live 40 minutes away from each other, we can afford to go both places for the one holiday. It just requires a little more time on the road, but it's worth seeing both families! It will be more difficult the more our family grows. We will cross that bridge when it comes. {Do any of you feel this way, too!? }

Wednesday night, my mom made a yummy soup and we all just hung out being goofy {as usual.} We got up Thursday morning to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Then we attempted to take Christmas card pictures. *Note* It is very hard to take a picture with 8 people and a baby. Thankfully, we finally got a decent one of all of us.

Late Thursday morning, we headed  up to my grandparents camp in Desota, Mississippi. My dad's whole side of the family was there and it was great to see everyone!

Molly

Above is a picture of my cousin's little girl, Molly. Molly loves to bake in her miniature kitchen and this is one of her early Christmas presents. Isn't she cute? We asked her what she was going to bake us and she said, "bacon."

Hannah and Sam

Cousin Jenna and Sam

The gang

Needless to say, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with family and eating lots of food. Will and I left my parents on Friday morning for me to come back to work Black Friday. I survived!

We also picked out our Christmas tree and I have been decorating the house for Christmas ever since. Pictures to come!

Hope all you readers had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Now we have Christmas to look forward to! Tis' the Season to REJOICE!

We're still here!

Poor, neglected blog! Yes, I have been a bad blogger lately, but I can blame it partially on the fact that I have been without a camera for over a month. And also, well, just life happens. {Y'all know about that!}Since my camera decided to just bite the dust one day, I thankfully have had my phone camera as a back-up.  Also, my father-in-law was so gracious and kind to let me take a few snaps on his camera this weekend. With all of this said, do any of you have suggestions for a good camera to look into? I have enjoyed my four year old digital pocket-held Canon camera, but am ready to look into something with a little more focus and a little more advanced. Thoughts or suggestions? What will give me the best picture quality?! Should I stay with Canon? All of you camera fanatics, I need your help!

Below are a few pictures I have snapped on my phone over the past few weeks to keep you up-to-date on our life lately.

We have enjoyed building a couple of fires this fall season using Will's fire pit! We love to roast marshmallows and make s'mores!

I have enjoyed decorating the house for fall! My sister and I went to the Livingston farmer's market a few weeks ago and found pumpkins! We had so much fun walking around to the different vendors and looking at the fresh produce, breads, and jams.

I also made a fall wreath! Pintrest gave me the creative bug. I was DYING to make something, so this is what I did!

All you need is a Michael's, floral wire, and a little bit of hot glue! Voila!

We had fun this weekend going to Starkville and seeing family and college friends. We won't talk about the game, but I loved that it was an early game so we could spend the whole afternoon tailgating in the Junction! We ate and talked, ate and talked, ate and talked until almost dark.

Anna, Haley, Leslie, and Erin

First year roomies!

Amanda and Rebekah!

After we left Starkville, our college friends Amanda and Calvin came to Jackson and spent the night at our house. We loved getting to catch up with them even more. We are so thankful for the many friends we have made in the different chapters of our lives, and pray that even though we may be on different walks of life {and even in separate towns}, our friendships will continue to grow and last forever.

Have a great week, y'all!

Fall Favorites

Fall weather makes me soooo giddy! I wouldn't say that fall is quite here yet, but we definitely got a nice little tease of it last week!

If I would have to pick a favorite season of the year, hands-down, fall would be it! For one, I love cool weather, but more than that I love all the change fall brings.

I love the changing of leaves.

And the beauty it brings.

Whether it's curling up with a good book or just sipping on a hot cup of tea or hot chocolate, I love the coziness of fall.

Did I mention to you my absolute favorite fall drink?

Starkbuck's Pumpkin Spice Latte.

Some of my favorite fall things to decorate with are pumpkins, gords, and mums!

 I haven't even mentioned to you, my love for fall clothes! One of my favorite things to do when the season changes is switch my spring and summer wardrobe out to my fall and winter wardrobe! I love tights, boots, scarves, hats, sweaters, and big coats!

 

 One of Will and my favorite things to do together is to go bike riding. We enjoyed a nice, relaxing bike ride on the Natchez Trace late last Friday afternoon when the weather was still cool. We are looking forward to many more fun bike rides this fall when the cold weather stays for good!

Having married an avid football fan, has caused me to truly enjoy watching the game. We are continuing to find out about each others interests and learning to take interest in them. Because of this, football has become one of my favorite sports which happens to be in my favorite season of the year...fall! 

Speaking of football, we are hitting the road this afternoon to head to our beloved college town of Starkville to watch our Mississippi State Bulldogs play the LSU Tigers! Hail State!

Until next time, y'all!

Bunny trails

Good evening, readers! Back to the blog! This past weekend we enjoyed a very much-needed visit "home" to see my parents in Hattiesburg.

Yes, I still call it "home" even though I have been married for a year-and-a-half. Can any of you relate?! There's nothing like going home to be greeted with a snack and either an ice cold Fresca or Diet Coke with lime from my precious momma; and there's nothing like going home to be squeezed by a big teddy bear hug from my dad; or there's nothing like going home to sleep in the freshly, clean-made sheets on my cloud, soft bed in my old bedroom and being woken up to the fresh smell of coffee brewing and breakfast cooking. My mom never fails to cook a big breakfast when we go home.

If there is one thing I admire about my mom the most is her giving and serving heart. She is constantly looking out for my family and I whether it is cooking us a nice meal or just simply sitting down and taking the time to ask how my sisters, brother, and I are really doing; and when she does, we tell her because we know she will pray for us. And I'm not just saying one time, my mother is one of the strongest and most devoted prayer warriors I know. She truly trusts and believes in the Lords' faithfulness. If we said it once, we said it hundred times this weekend: God is Sovereign over all things. I pray that I will be more trusting and less doubting and more faithful and less faithless in all circumstances.

 My mom has set such a good example for my sisters, brother, and I, and I pray that I can be half the servant that my mom is to us to other people. A verse that my mom truly does live by and encourages my siblings and I with is this: "Those who sow to please their sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; those who sow to please the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6: 8-9

Okay. I just went off on a big bunny trail, but I definitely had to share that with y'all. I am one thankful and blessed daughter.

Back to the weekend: Will and I went down late Friday afternoon and visited with my mom and dad. The four of us later met Will's parents and sister Erin to eat at Robert St. John's new Italian restaurant in Hattiesburg, Tabella. It was a lot of fun for my parents to visit with Will's parents as well as it was to celebrate Will's 24th birthday!

Erin, Will, and I

SIL

 On Saturday morning, we slept late, ate a good breakfast, and lounged around the house. Later on, my mom and I went and ran errands. We love getting in the car and just going to look at different places. I found a couple of refreshers for the house including a new fall wreath. I am officially ready for cold weather and FALL! After getting back from running errands, Will and I got ready for a highschool friend of mine's wedding. It was so much fun and beautiful! I had a great time seeing old friends and getting to celebrate Susan and Blake's Wedding Day!

Friends since elementary school: Susan, Whitney and I

Olivia and I :)

Laura! Sweet college friend and the groom's cousin.

My groom :)

Happily married

On Sunday, it was Will's 24th birthday! We went to church with my family and then celebrated with a yummy, home-cooked meal and a three berry angel food cake trifle.

We didn't have 24 candles so we used 6. 2+4=6. Get it? Ok. I'll stop now.

Mom, Hannah, and I

Me and the Birthday Man! I can't say Birthday Boy any more because he is old. JK.

One of the presents I got Will for his birthday was a fire-pit. Can you tell I'm ready for fall?! We are really excited about having friends over and using it when the weather cools off. This probably won't be for another two months or so, but it gives us something to look forward to, right? We are both so ready for Mississippi State football and fall weather. Not to mentioned how excited I am about scarves, tights, and boots season! Ahh...

Ok, so this post was filled with lots of bunny trails, but that's kindof what you do when you blog, right? Get your thoughts down. If you have a blog and I'm not following it already, leave a comment with your blog name! Y'all have a good night and thanks as always for reading! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend as well!

A fabric face-lift

We are in the process of working on our latest DIY project: a fabric face-lift! It's one of those projects that I've wanted to do since we moved here, but have procrastinated actually starting it because I thought it would be much more work than it actually is {do you have one of those?} Also, it's actually a lot easier than what I thought it would be thanks to my handy husband, Will. Here's a brief tutorial to recovering chairs:

Step 1:

Pick out your fabric!

The yellow fabric above is for the kitchen chairs and the colorful paisley fabric is for the kitchen window valences. I thought these two fabrics coordinated well together because I wanted something a little more simple for the chair cushions and something a little more fun for the window valences. So, this is what I picked!

Step 2:

Gather all of your supplies

All you need for this project is fabric, drill, staple gun, staples, and pliers.

Step 3:

Use the drill to unscrew the old chair cushion

Step 4:

Once the cushion is removed, take the pliers and pick out the old staples

After taking out the old staples, the old fabric will come right off.

Step 5:

Use the old fabric shape as a template to cut the new fabric piece

Step 6:

Use the staple gun to staple the new fabric onto the chair cushion

 Hold the fabric very tightly to ensure smooth fabric. Otherwise, you may have creases if it is not tightly stapled.

Step 7:

Once the new fabric is stapled onto the cushion, drill the cushion back to chair, and voila!

This is one of our four kitchen chairs. We still have our eight dining room chairs to recover, but I'm just so glad to be done with our old {rainbow as I call it} kitchen chairs.

Old

New

There you have it: out with the old, in with the new! Let me know if you have any tips to recovering chairs that I may not have considered this go-round. Have a good night, readers!