2011 - Year In Review

2011 was our best year yet, mostly because of our sweet little man. He has brought so much love and excitement into our lives and home and I don't know remember life without him...nor do I want to. ;-) Here's a look back at our 2011.

• We rang in the new year with our friends and their adorable little girl in TN.
• We made the decision to sell our insurance agency and move to Huntsville for better opportunities. Our parents made the move so easy for us and helped us get the new house decorated and all set up. I was 8 months pregnant. :)
  
• Our sweet friends threw an absolutely wonderful baby shower for Hudson and me.
• Speaking of Hudson, we welcomed him into our lives on April 20, 2011.
• A week later, Alabama and surrounding states were devastated by horrible tornadoes. It's been amazing to see everyone come together to rebuild, encourage, etc.
• We spent Hudson's second week of life in Gadsden with my parents because we lost power for several days in Huntsville.
• I had my very first Mother's Day.
• We threw my mother-in-law a surprise birthday party.
• I turned 27.
• My sweet grandmother, Rae, went home to be with Jesus. It was incredibly hard to say goodbye to this amazing woman.
  
• Joseph had his very first Father's Day!
• We went on our first family vacation to Destin and had a blast.
• We took Hudson to the pumpkin patch.
• Hudson turned 6 months old.
  
• Hudson had his first Halloween. He was a hamburger! ;-)
• Little man cut his first 2 teeth.
  
• He had his first Thanksgiving.
• We hosted a Thanksgiving/Iron Bowl gathering and watched as Alabama claimed their spot in the National Championship!! RTR!
  
• Joseph turned 27.
• Hudson started crawling, pulling up, and cruising about a week after his 7 month birthday.
  
• We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary and went out on a date for the first time in about 8 months.
• Hudson turned 8 months old.
  
• We celebrated Christmas as a family of 3 for the first time.
  

We had an outstanding year and are looking forward to seeing what 2012 has in store for our little family.

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend, a great New Year's and an amazing 2012!!

Wordless Wednesday - Lunch time!

Christmas 2011

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! I know we did, especially since it was Hudson's first Christmas!! It's been a busy few days, but I finally have a few minutes to post some pictures. Get ready, there are a lot. :)

On Christmas Eve, we drove down to Gadsden for lunch with my family. We had a nice break from the heavy holiday foods and had some chicken salad, chicken fingers, sandwiches, baked beans, potato salad, cole slaw, chips, and lots of desserts. It was all so delicious and a good change. We enjoyed spending time with my parents, grandparents, and aunt and uncle. Hudson racked up on some awesome toys.

Christmas morning, we checked out what Santa left for Hudson. He left him lots of goodies.










After a morning of playing with his new toys, we headed back to Gadsden (lots of traveling for Santa's elf) for lunch with Joseph's parents, uncles, aunt, cousins, grandfather, brother and future sister-in-law. We had a great meal and lots of fun. Once again, he racked up on some really cool things. He's got plenty to keep him (& mommy & daddy) busy! Before heading back home, we went to visit with Joseph's other uncle, aunt, and cousin for a bit. It was good catching up with everyone, especially those we don't see very often. Great family time. ;-)
















Hudson is loved by so many people and we are so grateful for that. We are blessed to call you all family. We love each and every one of you so much. Thank you for loving our boy the way you do! It was a wonderful Christmas spent with loved ones, making sweet memories.

A Visit with Friends

Sunday, our good friends Forrest and Catherine came up from Gadsden to see us. We went to high school and college with them and Joseph and Forrest are fraternity brothers as well. We realized we hadn't seen them since Hudson was born when they came to see us at the hospital. They decided to ride up and spend the afternoon with us and we were thrilled!!! I cooked a roast with carrots and Pioneer's Woman's mashed potatoes and it turned out really well. I just threw a shoulder roast (not my first choice), a can of french onion soup, a can of water, a couple bay leaves, and a few shakes of parsley and thyme into the Crock-Pot and let it cook for about 6 hours and it was delicious. I'll be making it again soon, but with a different cut of meat. It was tender, but didn't fall apart as easily as I was going for.


Anyway.....they were so sweet to bring Hudson a Christmas present.....

He tried really hard to open it by himself, but needed just a little assistance. :-)

Yay!!

They got him a few great books! Hudson loves books (when he's in the mood to be still for a few minutes) and these will be great additions to his collection.

Checking them out.

Of course, he had to "taste" them out. HA! Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all day. ;)

He and Forrest had a little bonding time and it was so sweet, I had to snap a couple pictures.

Love this! Forrest will be a great daddy one day. ;)

He had to show them his Christmas tree before they left. They wore him out...so much that he took an almost 3 hour nap after they left. Yeah, that definitely threw off his bedtime, but that's alright. We had a great afternoon visiting with them and definitely plan to see them before another 8 months go by!

Thank you again for coming to see us and for the wonderful books! :)