My intentions were great!

I really did have this great plan of getting my Christmas cards out this year, but I didn't. So, this is going to serve as my mass Merry Christmas to all. I sincerely hope that your holiday season is filled with love family, and friends!

In other news, :) Eugene and I both battled the stomach bug Sunday night and Monday. It decided to start working it's magic on me about Hernando. We still had an hour and half left to drive. Not pleasant people. Not pleasant. Thank goodness for Wal Mart bags, travel coffee mugs, and a husband with little to no gag reflex. He was at least able to make it to our house. I will leave it at that. We had gone to Jackson, MS for Ava's first birthday party. It was a hit. She looked adorable, when does she not? It is hard to believe that she has been in our lives for a year. It seems like yesterday Adam and Katie were telling us they were pregnant.

I love this picture. She wasn't a fan of the hat. It sure was cute though!!!

Fa ra ra ra ra...

Move over Clark Griswold. There is a new house in town. Eugene has worked so hard making our house so Christmas festive. It looks beautiful. This picture really dose not do it justice. It is very reminiscent of a ginger bread house. The lights go all the way down each side of the house too! Great job Eugene! We hope to win the "most beautiful" award this year! Let's all keep our fingers crossed Halls committee of "whoever decides on this kind of stuff" recognizes!

While Eugene spent all last week working so hard on the outside, I managed to get our tree up and our mantle decoratoed. I thought they turned out well. Now... I just need to finish the christmas shopping.

I hope that everyone's holiday season is getting off to a great start!

A Wedding Weekend

I promise I am alive. The new job is keeping me quite busy after "regular" working hours. So... that unfortunately leaves me little time to blog. But, hopefully after this week things should (maybe) even out a little bit.

We had a great weekend in Natchez. One of my great friends from high school, Marcie, got married. The rehearsal dinner was at the same beautiful antebellum home as ours, and then the wedding was at our church. So, it was fun to kind of feel like a guest at your wedding way back when. Everything was just beautiful. The reception was outdoors at Marcie's parents' home. It was so much fun to see friends that I haven't seen in a while and get to really spend some time with them! My best friend Kate and I were bridesmaids together, so we got a lot of good quality time in together! :)

My how time flies... it seems like yesterday we were nothing but braces and luggage tag earrings!

Kate, me, and Marcie back in 1995. GO Greenwaves!

What a weekend...

I had the best weekend. My parents and brother, sister-in-law, and niece all came up to visit. They got here on Friday night and left this morning. The weather was BEAUTIFUL all weekend and we enjoyed every minute of it. Saturday it was too wet from the rain on Thursday for Eugene to work. So, he and Adam (my brother) had the great idea to move a TV outside and watch football on the deck. What a great idea!!!!!! We stayed outside until after 10 last night. Finally it got too cold and we had to move inside. It was a perfect day. Ava was an angel as always. Sam was well... a puppy! He got a little jealous with all of the attention we were giving Ava. Looks like Eugene and I will have to give him a little extra TLC this week.

If that wasn't fun enough, I decided to take all of my fall decorations and make a cheesy photo setup. We got some great pictures of Ava, and then took one of each family. How fun! Come back soon everyone! I miss you already!

Watching some football out on the deck.

mmm.... sweet potatoes are yummy. Maybe Cherie will get some in my mouth next time.

Sam enjoyed the beautiful weather too!


Adam, Ava, & Katie

My Parents (aka to Ava as Papa and Cherie)

Our little family

Sam and Eugene striking a pose.

Look at this pretty girl!

Ava's newest trick. She claps and it is SO cute!

Ava on the move.

Aunt Katie, one more picture and you are asking for it.

Fun in Starkville

I never got a chance to blog about our great time in Starkville weekend before last. We went to the Miss. State vs. Tennessee game. We had a blast with all the old college buddies and new friends as well. We took some great friends, Mary Kathryne, Chris, and Natalie with us. I was so excited to introduce some of my new girls to all my old college girls!!

We also got to hang out with my cousin Jacob who is a freshman at State. Wow... what I wouldn't give to be back in his shoes.

Anyway, it was a great time had by all. I think we had 70+ people at our tailgate. LOTS of TN fans came down for the game. I had to get used to staring at orange all day long!

Eugene, me, Carley, and Daniel

Eugene, Graves Maxwell, and Parker Chipman

Natalie, me, and Mary Kathryne

Me and Jacob at the tailgate

Mary Kathryne and Chris post game...

Reunited and it feels so good!

This week has been busy for sure! I started the new job in full force and have had a WONDERFUL time this week. What a great feeling. I am so happy to be home and back with my sweet little family.



Eugene is super busy this time of year picking cotton. He works long days and weekends! No fun. Here is a picture I took of him last week in his cotton picker. It is HUGE. I rode with him the afternoon I got back into town.



We are headed to see the bulldogs play this weekend. I can't wait. I haven't been to a game this year. I will have lots of pictures to post when I get back.

Let the countdown begin!!!!!!

Well, first and foremost my apologies for not blogging in almost a month. But, basically any free time I have had, I have either been studying, homework, or trying to sleep.

So far, things have gone well. It has been a lot of work, but I know in the end it will ALL be worth it. Here is just a little play by play of Parsipanny over the last three weeks.

The first weekend we had a fun time getting to know everyone and well… spending too much time at the sports bar! We (the group of people I have become friends with) found a great sports bar called Miami Mike’s. SO MUCH FUN…

These two girls are great... they are in my district. Chrissy and Caitlin are both from Kentucky and sweet as can be!

Here is a group shot from Miami Mike's the first weekend... yes REALLY big beers in multitude = DRUNK!

The next weekend I went into NYC with some friends. I overslept and couldn’t make the circle line curise with all the girls… so I tagged along with the guys for the trip. It was fun though. We went to ESPN zone in Time Square and played video games at the arcade. I don’t think I have done that in FOREVER! We did see lots of great sights, but oddly enough, the games were the highlight of the night.

Originial cross from ground zero.

I am pretty darn good at playing video games!

This Carnival cruise liner was in the harbor as we came into town. It was pretty cool looking.

After a long day in the city, I came back to the hotel to find someone had beeng thinking of me. Eugene sent me BEAUTIFUL flowers!

What a sweet husband I have!

This past weekend I had a WONDERFUL relief. Eugene came to visit. I struggled making it through week 3. I felt like I couldn’t handle the homesick feeling. So, the weather and airline smiled on us and we were able to get him a last minute ticket after it rained. YAY! Friday night we went into Morristown (a precious little township near Parsippany) and at dinner at Provesi’s. It was a super authentic Italian restaurant and was very yummy! We turned in early that night and I promise you I had the best night of sleep I have had in weeks! I had a full stomach and my husband next to me… HEAVEN!

On Saturday we went into the city. The first place we went was the Top of the Rock. It is an exceptional view of the city and well worth the money.

Rockefeller Center

Then, I walked Eugene around Time Square and showed him some sights and we ate lunch at ESPN zone again. We had to watch the DAWGS play!

Eugene posing with a wax figure of Samuel L. Jackson outside of madam tussaud wax museum

Then, we headed on to Central Park and took in the sights of everyone making out! Who knew that so many people would do that in public. Get a room!

Here is Eugene doing his best, don't hate me because I am beautiful pose!

We ended our day with Chinatown. We wanted to go into Little Italy, but it started to get dark and I didn’t want to be near Canal at that time. Just seems scary! It was a great day! I was so excited to see Eugene. It was the only thing that has made this last week bearable. I have one more test on Wednesday and then a BIG role play on Thursday. I am super nervous about that. I am not really comfortable roll playing in our small groups. I really don’t want to do it in front of the whole class! Oh well… part of it I guess. I can’t wait to get home Friday. I want the biggest lick from Sam! I just hope her remembers me. I am kind of worried.



Sammy… mommy’s coming home!!!!!