Christmas decorations!

So far we've got the tree out and decorated, the stockings are hung, the Christmas village is out, and my Christmas china is finally in use! Here's some pics!

Still have a small tree since we aren't home for Christmas Day and the stockings are on the hutch since we still don't have a fireplace. One day we'll get a bigger tree and a house with a fireplace, until then...this is how we decorate for Christmas!

Thanksgiving with the Fam!

Since we only had Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving, my family decided they would come up to Meridian to join us! Its the first year I haven't traveled for Thanksgiving and it was very nice! We got to hang out with our 2 year old nephew, Bryson who has grown and has a big vocabulary since the last time we got to see him!

Since this was the first Thanksgiving my sisters and Mom have ever cooked without our Grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins, it was definitely eventful! Such a small kitchen with no counter space was a major obstacle, but we made due with only setting the oven on fire 2 times and the fire alarms once! And I had an excuse to use my wedding China for the first time!

We mostly hang out at the house cooking, playing board/card games and watching football but we did get to take everyone to the flight simulators so that everyone had a chance to fly the T-45! Here is just a few pictures. I have to get more pictures from my sisters since I apparently didn't take many!

House Painting and Maintenance

We took a weekend and went down to Pensacola/Milton and did some painting at our house to get it ready for the next renters. We didn't expect to get there Friday night and not have electricity or running water though! So we had to do all of our work during the daylight hours and left all the windows open for our A/C. Thank goodness it was very nice and cool outside all weekend!

The dogs got very sleepy on the way there.

Matilda was freaked out because there was a ladder over her head!

Guest Room - Bye Bye Stripes! I'll probably not attempt that again...maybe...not without some help next time!

Guest Room/Hallway/Office

Laundry Room -- no more yellow!!!

Painting Hallway/Kitchen/Living Room aka the Beast!

Sean came to help! Actually he had a solo down to Pensacola and we recruited him to help!

Jeff on top of the fridge getting as much done without the rental ladder. And then him on the rental ladder.

Finished product!

Master Bedroom and Bathroom. We were running behind schedule because Jeff left me to go return the ladder and I had to paint the master bedroom by flashlight. I don't recommend that!

The other maintenance included fixing our fence and weeding the garden beds. There was an actually plant somewhere in there....

Halloween

We invited a lot of the student couples for a Halloween Party at our house and had a great time! Here is a few pictures.



We even dressed up the dogs and they did really well with everyone in the house.

Catching up

Well, I haven't written here in a while because work got so crazy! I've been in Miami the past 3 weeks and before that was in Jackson at least once a week for about 3 weeks. So here it goes to catch everyone up...

My mom got hitched!
My mom and my new stepdad, Alan, got married on June 21st in Pensacola, FL on the Beach.


NYC 2008

My sisters and Brittany and I went to NYC July 4th weekend and had tons of fun! We went to some restuarants and clubs featured on SATC, went on the SATC tour, saw a celebrity, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, stood in line for 2 hours for some famous pizza, saw the Macy's fireworks, sang karaoke in Koreatown, saw Rent on Broadway, took a carriage ride through Central Park and had dessert at Serendipity. Here's a few pics from the trip.

Abby came to MS
Abby finally got a flight here and got to see where we live and met some friends. We celebrated her birthday and we took her to a local restaurant.



Jeff's parents come to MS
Cathy and Tom visited us in Meridian and we also took them to a few local restaurants and went to some historic homes and even saw the Meridian carousel. Jeff also took us to the flight simulator and we each got to try to fly and land (I landed it!). And Jeff and his dad helped finish our fence project.

Summer Fun & New Fence

We got a pool a while back so that the dogs could keep cool while outside since it's been pretty hot here. Matilda could care less about it, but Makayla loves it and the water. Here's a video that will make you laugh! (I was inside recording this, so you can hear Wimbeldon in the background -- just ignore that!)








Yesterday we finally gave in and put up a dog fence, but found an easier and less expensive alternative to installing a chain link fence. Here is some pics of our project.

This used 50 ft of fencing.















The gate we put up is behind the A/C unit (only about 8 ft there)