Deep Creek 2011

This weekend Joel and I got to spend some time in beautiful North Carolina - Bryson City - while camping with family.  I celebrated a birthday, ate lots of good food, enjoyed camping and tubing in Deep Creek, and had an all around good time.

We all got there on Friday afternoon/evening and camped for two nights (some of us 3).  On Saturday, Uncle Larry took us all trout fishing to catch our supper.  Everyone had a good time, but Sanders and Wynn especially thought it was a great idea.  I took most of my pictures while we were at the trout farm - so that is all I have to post.  The rest of the weekend was spent sitting around talking, eating, or tubing - the best parts about camping! 

It was a great trip, and I think fun was had by all. 

Meghan & Daniel preparing to fish.  You can also see Grandpa in the background there.

Aunt Florence watching and taking pictures of everyone fishing.

Harris had a grand time camping.  He did really well - he wanted to be free (out of the stroller, playpen, someone's lap, etc.) as much as possible.  He walked around barefoot on rocks and other ground materials like it was no big deal!

Harris trying to escape from Grandma's arms - he wanted to fish too!

Joel catching a trout.

Uncle Larry helping Wynn fish.

Sanders fishing.

Nathan & Wynn fishing.

Christmas 2010

Joel and I were glad to hit the road last week and head to Mississippi.  We were excited to have some time with our family.  All of our nieces and nephews are growing up so fast and getting big - So every chance we get to see them is great. 

Here are a few pictures from our visit.

This picture makes me laugh.  Sally Sharp had a cute shirt on with a Christmas tree - with a bow on top....she couldn't stop putting that bow in her mouth.  That was her entertainment all day.

 Joel reading to Avi Grace.  Notice her Cindarella dress up outfit :)

Mimi, Sally Sharp, and Papa

Abbi & Sally Sharp

Harris & Nathan  - You can see Harris' favorite part of the evening in the next picture!

 Can you find Harris?

 Grandma scored big with her project boxes she created for all three big kids.  They all LOVED them, but Rebekah made the most use of hers immediately.  Here she is looking inside for the first time.

 Sanders opening a gift.

Somehow I missed getting a picture of Wynn - he is too busy to pose for pictures :)

Also, you can see that I don't have picture of John Michael & Madison.  We were thankful that they were even able to come.  Madison came down with the flu a few days before Christmas, and only got to come to Starkville the morning of Christmas day.  We were very glad they were able to make it!

Hope y'all had a great Christmas season as well!

Thanksgiving

Joel and I just got home from our trip to MS for Thanksgiving.  We were very excited to see everyone and spend some time with our family.  We are more aware each day how much God has blessed us with our families, and we are very thankful for each and every member.

Here are some pictures so you can see how much fun we had:

 Uncle Joel & Avi Grace

 Avi giving Sally Sharp kisses

 This is one of the good shots I got of Avi while I was trying to coax her to smile for a picture!  She wasn't thrilled to be taking pictures :)

Uncle Joel & Sally Sharp

Sally Sharp's pretty smile

 Harris is so tall!

 Graham, Joel, Sanders, & Nathan

 Wynn, Sanders, Rebekah

 (Notice Wynn's funny face)

Rebekah & Abbi

 After all of our Thanksgiving fun, Rebekah was worn out.  She found her a spot in the den and curled up and went to sleep! 

As you can tell we had a great time with family and friends this Thanksgiving.  On Tuesday evening before we left for MS, Joel and I got to enjoy a Mannheim Steamroller concert.  Joel took me out to dinner before the concert, and we had a great time on our date.  Here we are all dressed up:

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving too!

Fondue Fun!

I am thrilled to announce that Joel passed both of his qualifying exams that he took in August!! He studied hard for them all summer, and boy did it pay off!  Two down, two to go.

To celebrate, we had some fondue fun:

Strawberries, bananas, and rice krispie treats.  Yum!

Chocolate all ready for dipping

We are gearing up for a fun weekend.  Hope y'all have some fun plans!

Thanksgiving Break

Joel and I were lucky enough to be able to spend a week with our family over the Thanksgiving break. During the week, we attended a birthday party, three family celebrations, and plenty of time just hanging out.

Here is the birthday boy, Wynn...turning the big 5 years old!

Here is Rebekah sporting her Mom's sunglasses. She is so stylish!

Sanders is getting so grown up. Here he is right after he got a haircut.

Just the boys. Uncle Joel, Sanders, and Wynn.

Uncle Joel, Aunt Abbi, Sanders, Wynn, and Rebekah.

Joel and I are so blessed with amazing families. We both incredibly enjoy being an Uncle and an Aunt. Every moment we get to spend with these kiddos above and our other nieces and nephews is special to us. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from this past week with our older niece and nephew...I will have to do better at Christmas. Avi Grace is pictured below in her overalls that I blogged about last time. I was very pleased with how well they fit.

Just lounging...

Here is a back shot so you can see how well they fit.

On the way home today, Joel and I stopped at a Chick-Fil-A to get one of their AMAZING milkshakes. My personal favorite is the cookies and cream one. Anyway, while we were waiting for our handspun treat, we got to take a picture with the chick-Fil-A santa cow. Aren't we too cute?

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving break, and that you were able to spend a little time relishing in how much you have been blessed by God. I know I sure did. Now, I am looking forward to the upcoming Christmas season.

Vacation

Joel and I took off last Monday (a week ago) headed to Destin to meet up with my family. We were there for several days, and we really enjoyed the beach, good food, and great family time.

This is the second time that my family has taken a summer trip to the beach. Last year I saw people parasailing and thought it looked like a lot of fun, but I did not get around to doing it (plus I would have had to go by myself.) This year Joel came along to the beach with me. I mentioned how fun it would be to parasail the first day we were there. My sister's decided that would be the perfect birthday present for me (they were right!). So on Thursday morning Joel and I headed off to get on the boat.

Here are some pictures to prove that we did it :) :

Us leaving the boat...
Starting to get higher...in the one on the right you can see how far away we got from the boat. The total length of rope was 800 ft.

Finally coming back to the boat...as they brought us back in we got dunked in the water to about waist level.

Eventually we got all the way back to the boat. It was a lot of fun...we could see so far in every direction when we were all the way up in the air.


The last night that Joel and I were there the whole crew headed down to the beach to take pictures. Here are a couple of shots that we got:

How cute is she?

Here is one of Maddi...how grown up is she getting!He is getting so handsome! About to start 8th grade...hard to believe!


We got them to pose together!
And finally, Joel was nice enough to pose with me for a picture or two :)

Christmas season and a New Year

Joel and I have been on break for the last two weeks...it was so nice to be able to relax and do the things we wanted pretty much whenever we wanted. We celebrated Christmas with my family on December 25th at lunch, visited with more family that afternoon, and had Christmas with Joel's family on the 27th. It was great getting to see everyone including all of our siblings, grandparents, and most aunt and uncles. I love the Christmas season because it brings everyone together.

By the time we were finished making the rounds to all the family Christmas gatherings it was almost the new year. Joel and I went to visit his brother and family and got to stay for a couple of days and bring in the new year with them. On New Year's eve night we shot fireworks (it was COLD outside!) and then on New Year's day more family and friends came together to enjoy a lunch as a celebration of the year that has passed, the blessings our family has received, and to look forward with anticipation to the new year.

Yesterday during the sermon a verse really stuck out to me.

1 Peter 1:21 (NIV)

21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

The entire verse is amazing because it reminds us of the sacrifice Christ made for us and that we are able to become a son or daughter of his by simply believing in Him. The last part of the verse is what really jumped out at me, "your faith and hope are in God." This verse was a great reminder that our faith and hope should NOT be in ourselves or the things we can accomplish but in God. So the prayer that Joel and I have for this new year is that we would allow ourselves to be guided by God in his wisdom and that we would focus on having our faith and hope in Him.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a great New Year's celebration.

Just to let you know a little sewing did occur during the break (although not as much as I would have liked):

Baby boots...

With fun (but hard to sew on) grippy dots on the bottom!

Hope you're having a wonderful day!