Out With The Old?

For the first time ever, I am really not sure about letting go of this year. Not because I don't look forward to wonderful things in the new year but because 2011 has been SO GOOD TO ME! Here's a quick recap:

In October of 2010 I was able to quit my job with the city and join the living and I got a job working during the day so I could sleep at night! PRAISE! I met a lot of people that I really liked at my new job including the Industrial Supply Manager, Matt.

In December of 2010 Leigh and I moved from our house into a tiny little apartment downtown. The apartment was super nice but super tiny! We knew that Leigh would be getting married and moving in the summer so we grinned and bared it knowing that it was temporary. The plan was for me to live there alone after she got married and moved in with Nate.

In January of 2011 I went through a bit of a change at my new job transitioning from mostly operations work to a lot more sales. I also went out on my first date with Matt from work.

In February Janet and I celebrated our 6 month Kidneyversary and Matt and I celebrated our first Valentine's Day!

In April I went with Matt, his parents, his sister, and her kids to Disney World! SO FUN!

In June we all went into wedding season with Leigh. Her first of nine showers was in June and the countdown to August 25th was on! Also on the first Sunday of June while I was in Trenton for one of Leigh's shower's Matt texted me and let me know that Dirt had just baptized him! We had been studying and praying and I knew he had been doing a lot of studying on his own but this news still came as a surprise and the best news of the year!

In July Matt took me on a riverboat cruise for the 4th to watch the fireworks. I LOVE fireworks and he used them as the perfect backdrop to ask me to marry him! Now we entered into DOUBLE wedding planning mode! We decided on September 24th, 28 days after Leigh and Nathan!

In August Leigh married Nathan in a ceremony that was just beautiful, romantic, and all the things a wedding should be before sailing away on a cruise to the Bahamas for a week!

In September our little Ellie turned ONE! It was bittersweet. She is growing so much which we are so grateful for but at the same time a little sad that she is not a baby anymore. That girl can walk and she can say "Mama" "Dada" "Titus" "Walt" "LeighLeigh" "LaLa" "LoLo" "Matt" "Nate" "MawMaw" "PawPaw" (or her version of these things) and can tell you what a puppy dog says, a kitty cat says, a duck says, and what Santa Claus says. She can walk like a champ and she makes the FUNNIEST expressions. She has developed quite her own little personality this year and A LOT of it! Also in September I got to walk down the aisle to the man I have no doubt God created just for me. We married in a ceremony that was just perfect and had a reception afterwards that was better than I ever could have imagined! We left that day and drove to Atlanta before flying out the next morning to the Secrets St. James resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica! Best week of not only the whole year but maybe of my whole life!

In October we got settled in to our new home and started settling into our new life together.

In November we celebrated Thanksgiving with my entire family in Trenton the weekend before Thanksgiving and celebrated on Thanksgiving day with Matt's family here in town.

In December we went "home" to Valdosta and had Christmas with the Walker's and came back and celebrated Matt's 31st birthday with a lot of our family and friends at Matt's favorite restaurant, Miyako! On Christmas Eve we went over and celebrated with Matt's grandparents and aunt, uncle, and cousins and then went over and had Christmas with his immediate family. Before midnight Christmas Eve we had already received WAY MORE than we deserved! Since we got in so late we just stayed up and waited on Santa and celebrated our very first Christmas together just the two of us at our house a little after midnight on Christmas morning! Later that day we celebrated with my immediate family after Mom, Dad, and Grandma arrived. By the time we went to bed that night we were POOPED! WONDERFUL FIRST CHRISTMAS!


See why I would be a little hesitant to let go of 2011? My life has changed more than ever but all for the better! God has already surprised me by giving me way more that I could have ever even asked for in 2011 and I fully trust that He will take just as good of care of us in 2012 but I am still putting 2011 away as my year ever. So far :)

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

I must say that either Santa has REALLY lowered his standards or he got me confused with someone else this year, there is NO WAY I was good enough to deserve all I got! I am making myself blog this morning because I want to remember this Christmas! First, this is what our Christmas season has looked like:

December 9-11: Christmas with the Walker side in Valdosta and my high school homecoming.
December 11: Matt's birthday party at Miyako.
December 15: Girl's Night Christmas Party and ornament swap.
December 16: Melissa and her girls came into town and spent the night with us.
December 17: Santa Claus came to our neighborhood and the nieces and nephew came to see him and have a big brunch.
December 18: The Young Professionals class from University had their annual Christmas party and Dirty Santa.
December 22: Office Christmas party.
December 23-26: OFF WORK!
December 24: Christmas with the Sulkosky side of the family.
December 24: Christmas with the Morris'.
December 25: Santa came to our house so Matt and I had our first Christmas together.
December 25: That afternoon my parents and Grandma Garner came in town and we had our Walker Christmas.
December 26: Christmas dinner at our house.
December 27: Christmas with the Bond's.
December 30: My parents will leave to go back home.

I don't THINK I left out anything except THE WORST stomach virus I have ever had (20th-22nd) and passing some kidney (or bladder, yet to be determined) stones (24th-NOW). Even those things had NO CHANCE at spoiling this Christmas though!

I will be posting some actual pictures later but these are some of my favorite gifts I received this year:

• A Nikon D3000 camera from the world's greatest husband!


• A cooling memory foam mattress topper from my parents!


• Some more pieces of my Lenox Holiday Christmas china from my parents!


• A Dyson vacuum cleaner from my in laws!


• A Waxing Poetic necklace from my in laws!


• A Kindle Fire from my in laws!


• A steamer from my sister in law!

The two gifts that I CAN'T WAIT to post pictures of are the one's my sister's gave me! This year we decided that instead of buying each other gifts that we would make each other something. Since we are all on Pinterest we all had a plethora of good ideas and we just thought it would be something fun and less expensive. Louise and Leigh both got the crafty gene that skipped completely over me! Louise made a wreath for my front door using Hydrangea's similar to the ones used in my wedding. It is SO PRETTY! Leigh made such a cute hanging calendar that you use dry erase markers to write on and this magnet board that is one of THE CUTEST things I have ever seen! I can't wait for you all to see them!

I need to tell you all that I am quite convinced I am the MOST blessed human being that has ever walked the face of the Earth! To have been blessed with the most wonderful family that I was born into and get to be raised how and where I was and then get to marry THE BEST man that God could have ever created for me who has a family that I just LOVE getting to be a part of! If I started actually counting my every blessing now there is no way that I could live long enough to name them all. I just could never begin to thank God enough!

This husband of mine, this best friend/best nurse/ best helper/ best at making sure the garbage gets taken out/ best gift giver/ most thoughtful/ best provider/ best hugger/ most loving/ sweetest/ best Uncle/ best gift giver/ best cookie decorator/ even does the dishes sometimes husband of mine is the present God really outdid Himself with. I have always had a wonderful family, although I try not to take it for granted and I love them with all of my heart, I have never known anything different. The same goes with my great friends. I have always hoped that if I ever had in laws that I would love them and have a good relationship with them. But, in my wildest dreams I never even knew a husband could be so great so I didn't even know TO wish for it! God took my greatest expectations for a husband and basically said, "THAT is the best you can dream up?!? Thank goodness I was in charge of creating him!" and gave me something SO much more and SO much better!

I was SO, SO sick Tuesday night. Not a I just feel bad and need to be left alone to recover sick....NO, a somebody had to be there to help me and clean up after me, no less pleasant in the world kind of sick! This man was so wonderful. He never complained and never made me feel bad for the high level of grossness that he was having to deal with or his lack of sleep. He put himself in harm's way (I can't imagine anyone in their right mind choosing to even breathe in the same air as me for fear they might catch it) to help me not only LIVE through it but to help make me as comfortable as possible. He had me at the Doctor when they unlocked the doors that next morning and did all he could to help me recuperate from that night of terror. What did he get for all of his hard work? Well, me passing stones and feeling terrible just as all of our guests were arriving. Bless his heart. I know he wasn't planning on pushing the "in sickness" part of our vows so early into our marriage!

All the gifts I received may sound like they are the reason this was the best Christmas ever but I assure you, they were not even the icing on the cake, they were just the sprinkles. I can honestly say that spending Christmas with Matt and my family made for the greatest Christmas. Plus, truth be told, as great as all of those gifts and all the others are, I got the greatest gift back in September.

I hope all of you had just as wonderful of a holiday season as I did!

CATCH UP....Again!

I am through apologizing for my lack of time and blogging abilities! Just accept me for who I am! ;) I think the best way to do this is to do a quick synopsis month by month!

July

Besides the engagement (already blogged about!) July was VERY busy with birthdays (mine and Leigh's among other's), wedding showers (for Leigh), and lots and lots of wedding planning (mine and Leigh's)!

August

August brought mine and Janet's ONE YEAR KIDNEYVERSARY! We had a little party at our new house and it was amazing! One year is SUCH a huge milestone for a kidney recipient and my family, Janet's family, and a few mutual friends, along with myself were SO HAPPY to get to celebrate with her! I had NO idea when I checked into UAB on August 12th, 2010 how much my life would change and in how many different ways that it would by August 2011! August also brought A LOT more wedding shower's for Leigh and a WHOLE LOT more wedding planning! Finally, after almost a year of preparation my baby sister walked down the aisle in the perfect dress to the perfect music with the most perfect flowers and married the man of her dreams! They then left on what has been described to all of us as THE PERFECT honeymoon! It was a WONDERFUL day! :) And, boy, did we all nap afterwards! ;) Not for long though....September 24th was RAPIDLY approaching!

September

Ah, September! September was filled with showers, Ellie's birthday (already blogged about!) and lots of other things that I can't remember right now because ALL I can remember is September 24th. 340 days after I first laid eyes on him, 248 days after our first date, 82 days after he asked me, and approximately 222 days after I first knew I would, I walked down the aisle and said "I do." to the man of my dreams. It was a perfect ceremony, surrounded by perfect flowers, I was in the perfect dress, and every t was crossed and i was dotted just perfectly but MOST IMPORTANTLY, I walked down the the PERFECT man for me! It was more than I could have ever dreamed of and HE is DEFINITELY more than I could have ever dreamed for! It's so RIDICULOUS to me that I ever thought I could marry anyone else! I thank the Lord EVERYDAY that I live on His time and not my own! I will post another post with pictures but, honestly, it was the most perfect ceremony, down to the smallest detail! I would LOVE to give a shout out to all those that made it possible but that would just be setting me up to fail! However, be looking for a post VERY soon about two of the best friends a person could ever ask for! After the wedding was the HONEYMOON in Jamaica! Perfect and wonderful and I am counting down the days until we can do it again! Again, pictures will follow on a later post!

October

Wow! How chilly weather and the end of the year snuck up on me! This month involved A LOT of getting our house from moved in to lived in, A LOT of Auburn, Tennessee, and Faulkner football, a trip to the pumpkin patch, some more family birthdays, and a lot of readjusting back to the post honeymoon real world! It also brought Matt's second trip down to Valdosta and we had my shower down there! SO fun and it will be referenced in the "coming" blog I already spoke of!

November

More football, MORE football, the beginning of holiday traveling, A LOT of eating, and Ellie's first steps! Having Matt around this year and Ellie a little older REALLY cushioned the awful, no good, very bad year that Tennessee had!

Finally! That catches us up! I missed a lot, I KNOW and if I know myself at all, I know that I probably forgot some really BIG things so be looking for me to revise this post pretty soon! However, I consider myself OFFICIALLY caught up and I feel that I can start blogging when I want now without being overwhelmed with how much I have to catch up on! Maybe you'll be hearing from me more than five times in the coming year! ;)