Merry Christmas 2008

Our first Christmas was abosolutely great! We were super busy both Christmas eve & Christmas day, but I am so incredibly thankful we got to spend the holiday with so many family & friends. John T. worked on Christmas eve until 2:00, and when he got home, we went to my mom & dad's to exchange presents.

I loved our painted ceiling tile...this will be going on the wall over our bed! Thanks, Carrie @ ella minnow pea :o)

John T., me, Mom, & Dad

After we left mom & dad's, we headed to John T.'s mamaw's for yummy food & more presents!

John T. & me

The Armes CrEw: John T., Jessica, Taleah, Lorrie, Jayden, & Tim

After mamaw's, we went to John T.'s mom & dad's to exchange presents with them and watch everyone open their presents. Everybody got some great stuff!! My favorite was my new North Face jacket & gloves! :o)

After leaving John T.'s mom & dad's, we came back to our house and opened presents from each other & then had cookies and milk before going to bed. We opened our stockings from Santa when John T. got up to go to work (@ 4:50 AM!) on Christmas morning.

Just after opening our presents from each other. Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Day was also packed with lots and lots of fun! After John T. got off work, we went to his mom & dad's for lunch. Afterwards, we went to my nanny & poppy's to exchange presents with my mom's side of the family. To end the night, we headed to Loudoun to my aunt Sharon & uncle Daryl's for steaks & more presents! We are so incredibly blessed beyond belief!! I give all glory to God for his many, many, BlEssIngS & for a great 1st CHRISTmas together!! I hope everyone had a wonderful & blessed CHRISTmas 2008!

TeNnEsSeE VOLS vs. BeLmOnT BRUINS

I got an early Christmas present on Saturday, December 20, when John T. took me, my mom, & dad to the UT/Belmont game in Knoxville. It was a super close game, but the Vols pulled through and won 79-77. Mom & dad used to come to Belmont and watch basketball games all the time, so I know they were excited to get to go! As big a Vol fan as my dad is, he was secretly pulling for Belmont, and I cheered for both teams. :o)

Christmas with John T.'s granny Minnie Ann

Every year, I always look forward to Christmas with John T.'s granny. She loves buying for gifts for everyone, and I LOVE to receive them! :o) We also always play games for Christmas prizes, & we have huge stockings filled with all sorts of stuff! This year, we had Christmas on Thursday, December 18, and it was lots of fun! I got tons of new shirts, a Lady Bulldog sweatshirt to wear to Taleah's b-ball games, lots of bath & body works stuff, socks, & some more goodies. The big present of the night was Jayden's PINK Dell laptop...yes, a 4 year old got her own little laptop from granny. She LOVED it!

Me with my hubby (+ our presents)

Jayden with her laptop

Us with granny Minnie Ann

Crazy kids :o)

mrs. claus' cookies

Ok, so I know I have shared my obsession with Yankee Candles, and I now have another favorite!! During Halloween, I shared about loving the Iced Pumpkin swirl candle. My favorite scent for Christmas is Mrs. Claus' Cookies...this is a swirl of Christmas Eve & Christmas Cookie. It is amazing!! Merry CHRISTmas!

My most exciting news...

So, now I am finally up to date with everything! My most exciting news that has happened this past month, is that I am now employed!! I found out yesterday that I have Covenant Health orientation on December 29th, and my first day of work is January 5th @ Fort Loudoun Medical Center in Lenoir City as a nuclear medicine technologist in the radiology department. I am so incredibly thankful that God has blessed me with such a great job in this crazy economic crisis the world is going through. I have loved having these past 4 months off since graduating for our wedding & getting the house together, but I absolutely cannot wait to start working!! :o)

Christmas Party with c/o 2004 girls

On Sunday, Decemeber 14, we had our 4th annual Christmas party at our house with some of the girls from high school. We usually have a much bigger group, but this year, there was a lot going on with everybody. Thanks to Whittney, Brittany M., Tina, & Brittany W. for coming! :o) We always exchange some sort of gift with each other: the first two years, it was purses, last year was PJ pants & Christmas ornaments, this year it was scarves.

Pigeon Forge weekend!

On December 5-7, John T. & I headed to Pigeon Forge with Daniel & Brittany (soon to be Smiley) & Dustin & Whittney James. We stayed in a beautiful cabin in the middle of nowhere, and it was gREaT! I had only stayed in a cabin one time in my life in P. Forge, and it was NOT a good experience, so I was pleasantly surprised this time around. Daniel, Brittany, John T., me, & Whittney all rode up together on Friday & met Dustin for supper @ Texas Roadhouse. Our waitress was dressed as a Christmas tree, so that was fun..lol. We went grocery shopping afterwards for breakfast stuff for the next morning, then headed back to the cabin after looking at the lights. Saturday morning, I was the last one to get out of bed, and woke up to Brittany in my bed telling me that she had thrown up & was not feeling well at all. :o( We ate breakfast, and while Whittney & Dustin shopped all day, John T. & I stuck around with Britt & Daniel, while Brittany was trying to sleep off the stomach bug. I felt so sorry for her. While she slept, I ate, lived, & breathed football, as Saturday was the SEC championship. I also learned that John T. & Daniel could probably bicker about anything having to do with Peyton Manning & the Colts & the Titans. John T., being the HUGE Peyton fan that he is, and Daniel being the HUGE Titans fan he is made for an interesting Saturday! We ended up getting out around 8:00 pm to go to Tanger and then to see Four Christmases. We left Sunday morning & headed back to watch the Titans/Browns game at our house with Daniel & Brittany...already looking forward to Dec.28th...Colts vs. Titans!

Brittany feeling much better on Sunday...we had to get our caramel apples!

Our beautiful cabin! Thanks Dustin! :o)

My love & I

Fantasy of Trees

On Saturday, November 29, I went with my in-laws to the annual Fantasy of Trees in Knoxville. I remember always going as a little kid to make Christmas ornaments & sugar cookies & going with Whittney when she danced with Arts in Motion. John T.'s mom & sisters had never been, and his mamaw had only been a handful of times, so I was excited to go with them. I was especially excited to see how Jayden would react to everything. She is at the age where she loves anything crafty! We started out by looking at all of the beautiful trees, and then, we headed to all of the craft booths, where Jayden made everything from a thumb print Christmas ornament to an itsy bitsy tree. She LOVED it all! I even got to decorate a sugar cookie, which was the highlight of my day and the best $1 I have ever spent! ;o)

Jayden with her santa hat & itsy bitsy tree...this picture makes me smile

Taleah, me, & Jayden I LOVED this TN men's b-ball tree

All of us in the winter wonderland with the penguins...:o) Merry CHRISTmas!

Our first Christmas tree!

John T. & I both (yes, both of us) were really excited to put the tree up. John T. wanted to put it up before Thanksgiving, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it! I felt like that Thanksgiving was almost forgotten this year with all of the Christmas decorations being out so early. We had a great Thanksgiving. John T. worked until 2:00, so I went to my aunt Sharon's in Loudoun @ 12:30, and then headed back to Wartburg to go to John T.'s mamaw's @ 2:30. After that, we headed to my nanny's @ 4:30, then we ended the night at John T.'s granny's for a late supper after Tim got off work @ 7:30. I definitely felt like a stuffed turkey after it was all over! On Black Friday, I got up super early to catch a deal @ Wal-Mart in Rockwood @ 5:00 a.m., then I headed to Turkey Creek for the deals @ Target, Goody's, & Victoria's Secret. I picked up everything I went after and was back home by 10:00 am! We put our tree up Friday night, and I think it turned out pretty good for our first time. :o) I took the picture at the bottom right after we finished. The other pictures are of random decorations around the house. I love CHRISTmas! :o)

My Hallmark gingerbread house

:o)

Our kitchen table

We had no where else in the house to put our stockings! LoL CHRISTmas tree!

Catching up...

So, I am tired of seeing pumpkins on my blog, since fall is far behind us! A LOT has happened in a month, and I am excited to catch everybody up. :o)