Best. Christmas. Present. EVER!

SO, for those of you who I haven't already blabbed it to, Stephen gave me the most wonderful Christmas present he could ever give me! He bought me a plane ticket so that I can come home to Dallas again! I can't even tell you how AWESOME that is! I'll get to see everyone again, and I'll be bringing Elizabeth, so that everyone can see how she's grown.

On top of that, Stephen isn't sending me home on just ANY weekend; he's sending me home for SING weekend! YAY!!! I cannot even describe how pumped I am about this fact! SING is my favorite tradition at Baylor, and not only that, but it's Ryan's last year to perform in it.

Basically, I have the best, most thoughtful husband ever, who knows me VERY well!

Okay, enough bragging! More Elizabeth pics to follow shortly!

Love to you all!

Elizabeth Joy to the World!

Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope it was wonderful for you! We had a FABULOUS one! More pictures and stories to come!

Love to you all!

"Christmas Time is Here"

I know that we are already well into December, but as I sit here next to my little girl who is currently taking a nap in some reindeer pajamas, i realize that it wasn't really until yesterday that it felt like Christmas time to me. It could be the smell of the cold weather, bundling up in blankets at night, or looking at my little Christmas tree in our living room, but really I think it was a combination of listening to the soundtrack to "A Charlie Brown Christmas," watching the "Garfield Christmas Special" on tv, and taking funny pictures of Elizabeth with a Christmas bear that really did it for me.

All that to say, I'm way excited that it feels like the Holidays, and I'm even more excited for Elizabeth to experience it all for the first time. Oh, and for those of you who I haven't already excitedly bragged to, Elizabeth is starting to try to crawl now! It's so exciting! I can't wait for everyone to see her. Now, granted, she can only go backwards, BUT she's getting SO close! It's wonderful!

Well, I can't wait to see everyone in Texas! I'll be home soon! For now, enjoy the fun Christmas pictures!
Love to you all!

A Great Weekend

This was a great weekend! As I sit here reflecting on the weekend and watching Elizabeth play and make funny faces, I realize that God has really blessed me the past few weeks with some great things going on to keep me from feeling lonely. Friday night, I went to a special event at Grace Church just for ladies. It was this fancy "English Tea" Christmas party where we chatted, enjoyed tea and goodies, and just had fun celebrating the Christmas season. It was really great, and those of you who know we well will not be surprised by this next tid-bit of info. I went to this thing with the intention of meeting some women my own age, but I ended up sitting at the youth group table making friends with high school and college aged girls, and it was a BLAST! I guess I'm really meant to work with youth. Ha!


Then on Saturday, an old friend, Robin Riggs Muse and her husband and daughter came over to have a southern meal and hang out. It was SO fun. They are absolutely wonderful to spend time with. And I think Elizabeth had a really good time with their daughter, Catie Beth. In fact, I think Catie Beth inspired Elizabeth to start crawling because she has been practicing ever since they were here. It's really cute.

Robin with the girls.

Hunter with the girls

Sunday was another great day at Grace Church. Stephen and I have decided that this is definitely the church for us. They are warm, inviting, and passionate about the Lord. It's really refreshing!

Well, I can't WAIT to go to Texas to see everyone! I'll be there soon!

Love to you all!

An Interesting Day

Today was a funny day all around. First off, I took Elizabeth to the store to buy groceries, and as I was checking out, I realized that she had lost BOTH of her socks. SO I got to go ALL around the store for another 30min. looking like a complete lunatic trying to find her socks. In the end, it wasn't a terrible problem because I just bought her some more, but about half-way through my search, I realized how truly ridiculous I must have looked walking around the store, bending over every few minutes, and asking Elizabeth if she remembered where she dropped her socks.

Then, Stephen and I went to our friend Jeremy's house to watch The Office, and when we put Elizabeth on the floor to play with us, she spent the whole night scooting backwards on her tummy. She has just started doing this, and we actually got some pics of her doing it at our house one night when she accidentally scooted herself under our coffee table. I can't wait for my Dallas friends to witness this spectacle. It is truly funny to watch Elizabeth clearly wanting to move forward, but moving backwards instead.



Finally, I don't know how many of you are fans of The Office, but Stephen and I LOVE it, and tonight's episode was FABULOUS! I could NOT get enough!



Well, I better go check on the little girl, but I can't WAIT to see all of my Texas friends!

Love to you all!

Feeling Domestic

I have to take a moment to brag because I'm really excited! After three years of planning to and never following through, I have finally completed my ZTA t-shirt quilt! I'm SO excited and proud of myself! I feel very domestic now! Anyway, I had so many shirts that I had to make my quilt 2-sided. So here it is! YAY! (p.s. it's very soft!)




More to come!

Love to you all!

Four Months

Yesterday Elizabeth turned 4 months old, and we couldn't be more excited with how she's grown this past month. So of course I had to blog about all the things she can do now. Here is a very proud list of her latest accomplishments, and some more fun pics!

- She can smile and respond to people when they play with her
- She can laugh (even though she hasn't quite figured out what it is yet)
- She can "talk"- she makes all kinds of silly sounds to try to converse with us
- She can play with her toys and grasp them
- She can stick out her tongue (she LOVES this)
- She can roll over!!
- She can investigate things with her eyes, hands, and mouth
- She can eat and sleep on a more regular schedule
- She can make us laugh and smile all the time! :)

Okay, enough bragging. Here are the latest pics.

Elizabeth is already being taught the joys of coffee by her daddy.

Her Grandma got her this adorable warm outfit for cold days, and she looks like a little teddy bear.

Sticking that tongue out.

She fell asleep on our walk.

Great expression! Ha!

We just discovered that she likes this bouncy toy. She had a blast playing in it. But she kept getting her arm stuck to her side. Ha!

She loved bouncing herself all around

She also loved me taking her picture in it.

Smiley girl!

Okay so doesn't she look like some rapper with her arm like that?

Well, I better go. The little girl wants my attention again.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Random Fun

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well! Just thought I'd post some fun Elizabeth pics and a quick update!

School: Pray for Stephen. Just as his professors warned him, this is the busiest month EVER! He's rockin out but stressed, so be thinking of him!

Travel: Elizabeth and I will be in Dallas for Christmas vacation in less than a month! Woot!

Church: So we think we found a church for us, but we're not quite sure yet. It's welcoming, friendly, and the music is great, but we have yet to hear the pastor speak because every time we've gone it's been a guest speaker. Thus, we are going to visit again. Pray that the Lord will guide us.

Elizabeth: It's official! She can now roll over! It's so fun! I can't wait for everyone to see her do it. I know it seems like a small feat, but for her it's big! We're so proud! Oh, and she's discovered her tongue now and is constantly sticking it out! It's hilarious!

Well, that's all for now. Enjoy the Elizabeth pics!

She loves to stick out her tongue!

Hello!

This is her in a new toy we got her.

It props her up so she can look at things. I think she is being mesmerized by the TV in this pic.

Love to you all!

An Update....And More Cute Elizabeth Pics

Happy Fall to everyone! Elizabeth and I are hanging out before dinner, and I thought I'd give everyone a mid-November update.


School: Stephen is rocking in his classes, but wow, is it busy! Keep him in your prayers because this is when the hard stuff really picks up!

Church: So Stephen and I have finally narrowed our church search, and we think we may have found the place where we belong, but we've decided to give it a few more weeks to make sure. Keep praying for us because we want to make sure that we're at the right place for us.

Friends New and Old: After a month of seeing friends from Texas, we are so happy and refreshed. It was wonderful to be reminded of how much we are loved and missed, and it helps that it was SO fun! We are also beginning to finally make some friends here in Chapel Hill. Not many, but it's a start. AND it was really cool because I got to reconnect with a friend I haven't seen since 7th grade! It was crazy awesome!

Elizabeth: Well, she's almost 4 months old, and she has grown SO much. She smiles a lot now, and she can ALMOST laugh. She is really active, and I swear that if she could talk, she would be talking constantly. She tries SO hard; it's adorable to watch! Her favorite thing to do is to try to talk to us while she's sitting in her "dangley" toy. She's grown physically too! In fact, I've had to do a lot of photo shoots to make sure that I document all of her cute outfits before she out-grows them. (Hence the pics that you see below)

Travel: Most of you know that Stephen, Elizabeth, and I won't be able to make it to Thanksgiving in Texas, and I am VERY bummed about it. However, we will be coming for an extended time for Christmas, so I'm okay with it. We can't wait to see everyone!


Well, I better go! Elizabeth needs me again! Have a wonderful week, and enjoy the Elizabeth pics below.

In a new outfit that her DeeDee sent.

In an outfit that is too cold for this time of year, but just SO cute!

Smiley!

Funny face!

Hanging out with her Daddy

In her UNC hoodie!

Playing with her Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals

"Hello World!"

A couple more outfits that are too cold for the current weather

Elizabeth's October

As promised, I'm finally posting more of Elizabeth, and for those of you who felt neglected, this post is my explanation. This month was CRAZY! It was so wonderful, but, wow, was it packed full! We had fabulous friends and family visit us every weekend, and we had a blast! Elizabeth had fun, too! In fact, we think that she's bored now that all of the fun people have left! She's become a real people-person. (I know that most of you will not be surprised by that statement at all.) Anyway, October was a great month, and here are some fun pics from all of the festivities! (And I've also included a couple of random fun Elizabeth pics, too.)

Surprise!!

She is SO cute!


Kristen was our first visitor of the month, and we had SO much fun. Elizabeth really had a good time with her "Aunt Kay."


The next weekend, PawPaw came into town, and he got to hold her for the first time. It was adorable because one night, she fell asleep on his lap, and then he fell asleep too.


The next weekend, Stephen's mom and Gramma came to visit us, but sadly, I don't have the pics from that weekend because we took them all on her camera. But, it was a totally great weekend!


The last weekend, Brian came to visit, and Elizabeth could not have been more excited!

She took to him like I've never seen, and they were just two peas in a pod. It was precious, and hilarious.!


It was also Elizabeth's first Halloween, and she got to celebrate at Ben and Stacey's house dressed as a Tinkerbell Fairy. By the end of the party, she preferred eating her costume rather than wearing it.

We had fun dressing up too! I was an evil sorceress, Stephen was a Blues Brother, and Brian was a VERY convincing Uni-Bomber.



Our friends, Stephen and Kelly also came to visit us that weekend, and they got to meet Elizabeth for the first time. She had a blast!


I've decided that Kelly and Stephen need to have kids soon because they will rock as parents!

Well, it was a full month, but a fabulous one! Now, onto the next month. Whew!


Love to you all!