John and I got our first cat, Kayala, in the beginning of Sept. She was pretty lonely during the day so we decided she needed a friend. We got a male tabby at the Humane Society in mid October about 6 weeks after we got Kayala. We named him Kacee and he has done a good job of keeping Kayala company and being a lot of fun to have. Since we don't have kids yet, we only have our cats to brag about and we think they are super cute and super fun but also a lot of work. They tend to get into everything we don't want them to get into and they recently got fleas even though they've never been outside. It has been so much fun trying to get rid of all the fleas - not! Kayala had a thing for laying under the Christmas tree and Kacee loves to get into the tinest spaces he can find. They also LOVE to spread our toilet paper! Kacee is the first one below and Kayla is the second below. She is more grey while he is a little more orange.
Wow, it has been about two and a half months since my last post! A lot has happened! Here is a quick update:
Birthdays: John and I both had birthdays recently, mine was in November and John's was in December. We didn't do anything too exciting for either of our special days but they were fun and I finally got a new camera since mine broke back in July! It is so cute and my favorite color -RED! Best of all it's really small and fits much better into my purse. It also has a lithium battery that lasts forever and a new memory card that holds TONS of pics!!! I didn't get my camera till after my birthday but here is a picture of John on his birthday: Thanksgiving: We went to GA for Thanksgiving this year. All of my siblings and nieces were there. It was great to see everyone especially my brother and his family from AZ since we don't see them very often. We ran a 5K while we were there, got family pictures taken and did lots and lots of black friday shopping. Mostly we got random things for ourselves but we also stood in line super early to get my dad a blueray player for Christmas.
Me with Jeremy and Jamie's youngest daughter Natalie:
John with Carrie's baby Shayla:
Carrie, Brian, Jamie, Jeremy, John and I after we ran the 5K in Conyers, GA on Nov. 28:
Our first Christmas tree: John and I got an artificial tree from my sister and her husband who weren't going to use it this year. John and I have different opinions when it comes to ornaments and decorations. I love trees that are coordinated with matching ornaments and white lights. He is more of a random, homemade ornament kind of guy. I thought we had a nice compromis. Most of the ornaments matched but we had a few that were homemade wooden ones John and my dad had made.
This is a picture of John while we were putting the tree together. Here is the final product:Our first anniversary: Can you believe it has already been a year?!? Me either! For our anniversary, we went to dinner at one of my favorite places, Ruby Tuesdays. We did a little shopping afterwards and John bought me a new ring which I love: and I got him a new coat... very romantic! After the shopping, we went back home and ate the top of our wedding cake and had some sparkling cider: and danced to a new CD I put together. We also put together some items for a box of remembrance.
Visit from my parents: My parents came in town for about a week in mid December to help us with a few things around the house. My mom and I did TONS of baking while John and my dad fixed the furnace, replaced a window that has been an issue since we moved in, and fixed some rotting wood on the underside of the roof. It was really nice to have them around for the holidays to make my first Christmas away from home a little easier. Also, it was really really nice to get those things fixed! We also got to go to the Temple with them on their last day here. On the way back we were rerouted home because of a detour. We had to go pretty far out of the way because there were no signs how to tell us to get where we needed to be. This prompted one of our Christmas presents. When we were coming out of the Temple, John and I were taking a picture when one of the security guards came up in his golf cart. He told us to jump on and he would take us to a great place to take pictures. It was a nice sunny day and we had a great unblocked view of the Temple: Christmas: We spent Christmas day here in Gainesville. Chirstmas eve we opened one present and then moved our mattress out into the living room. We watched movies until pretty late and then slept by the tree. In the morning we woke up and opened the rest of our presents. We got some pretty good loot: new 700 TC sheets, games, movies, a homemade puzzle (from John) and game (from my dad), gift cards, flower bulbs, a noodle spoon, and the big item was a new GPS. I decided we needed one after getting lost on our way home from the Temple. After we opened presents, we started baking for dinner. We went to John's grandmother's house for Christmas dinner where we met all of John's siblings (except one), parents, and other family. We had a big dinner with so many dessert choices... apple pie, cherry pie, mississippi mud pie, coconut cake, banana pudding, oreo dessert... so GOOD! After that we went to John 's parent's house where we had a bonfire and ate s'mores. We had a pretty early night because John had to work early the next day but it was a very nice Christmas. After John got off work the next day, we headed up to Atlanta for a few days with my family.
New Years: We went and saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie and to dinner for New Year's Eve. The movie was really good. Afterwards, we came home and watched some football until it was time for the ball to drop. This is our first picture in 2010!
