"Where do I begin?"

(photo by Lynn Daly)

Where do I begin, my love?

Starting with the things I haven't said enough of

Starting with the day you changed my life

And ending with the way I feel tonight

Where do I begin?

Where do I belong if you're not here?

'Cause this is way beyond my darkest fear

I don't know where I end or where I start

Each mile in between is way too far

Where do I begin?

I've always counted all my blessings

Knowing you'd defend me and stand by my side

If only I didn't lose my senses

Each time I intended these words to come out right

Where do I begin my love?

Maybe with the morning you brought me the sun

Maybe with the stars from outer space

You took a few and lit up my face

Where do I begin?

I've always counted all my blessings

Knowing you'd defend me, stand by my side

If only I didn't lose my senses

Each time I intended for these words to come out right

Where do I begin, my love?

I always read the last page instead of the first one

There's no need to rush it all in

I love you and I'll say it again

Where do I begin?

Idina Menzel

Happy Happy Happy!

I am sooo excited!

Kristi at  Kristi's Ramblings tagged me with the Happy 101 tag! yay!!! Please go check out her blog! She has been so sweet to me since the first few days I started blogging! and right now she is doing a picture a day for the month of december.  It has been so fun to see each pic!

So the rules are to write 10 things that make me happy.

Then pass it along 10 bloggers that make me happy!

1.

(like kristi)

My Fiance!

2.

my sis!

3.

My family!

FOUR!

my beautiful friends!

Cinco!!!

puppies!!!

6.

YOUTUBE!

YouTube - SHAYTARDS's Channel

YouTube - ijustine's Channel

YouTube - MakeupByTiffanyD's Channel

YouTube - kandeejohnson's Channel

and soo many more!

SEVEN!!!!!!!!

http://www.hulu.com/

because i would not be able to fall asleep at home without it!

EiGhT!

the number 8!

I was 8 pounds 8 ounces.

Born on 8.18.88 @ 8:48 pm!

yeah 8 is my lucky number!!

9.

my christmas china!!!!!!

10!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reading blogs!

I could literally read them all day everyday!

(and most of the time do!)

Now I tag 10 bloggers that make me happy!!

1.Classy and Fabulous

2. Hi, Lane's Newlywed Scandals

3.A Chocolate Lover's Confessions

4. kandee the make-up artist

5. Katie's Keepers

6. Bring The Rain

7. The Happily Ever Afters of the Lancasters

8. Miss Mialyn Reese

9.The Preppy Bride at 2365

10.The Blushing Hostess Entertains

Merry Christmas 2009!

Merry Christmas!!!

and 

Happy Birthday Jesus!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day with family and celebrated the birth of our Savior in a special way!

Where we live it rained all day!

Which was a nice excuse to lounge in our Christmas p.j.s!

We began the day off at about 9 am with presents!

This year was the year of the ornaments for Charlie and I!

Our moms did not want our first Christmas tree to be bare!

They sure accomplished that goal!

Charlie and I also got toasting flutes, that are absolutely gorgeous!

Here are just a few other pics from Christmas day!

my sis is took these pictures, thats why she isn't in any! ;(

My new aunts sent me and my sister the cutest gifts!

They told us that both were the same so there were no names on the box.

We randomly picked a box and the gifts matched us perfectly!

We love them!

My sis surprised me with an amazing necklace!
It is super long and has a Tiffany key on it!
I love my necklace and my sis soooo much!!!
I will probs never take it off.
seriously.

We ended the day with opening our stockings and watching 

Kelly Clarkson on Reba, the television show!

I could not think of a better way to end the day!

We had an amazing day and are so blessed!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Eve Dinner!

I hope everyone had an amazing day today!

Today was awesome for my family.

We spent the rainy day inside opening presents, eating, and spending time together!

Christmas Eve was equally as wonderful!

I woke up super early to get some last minute shopping done, then came home and cooked 

Paula Deen's Green Bean Casserole!

It was a hit!

We all headed to church for the Christmas Eve service, which was wonderful, as always!

There is a wonderful woman who sings for our church often.

Last night she sang the most beautiful song and im sure I was not the only one with goosebumps!

What an amazing gift to have.

This is the fam on the way to church!


After Church we went over to Charlie's house for dinner.
My family and my grandpa and step-grandmother came along also!
Charlie's house was decorated so beautifully!
Here are just a few pics of the decorations:















We had a dinner of Prime Rib that Charlie and his dad made!
It was soooo good.
My future mother in law made the most amazing salad.
The recipe is from a restaurant that their family loves called The Columbia.

We also had a beautiful dessert spread (which is my favorite part!)




I made the apple pie for Charlie's dad.  
I hope he loved it!
After dinner we opened presents and spent some time together.
I am so lucky to have met someone with such a kind and open family.
It is a huge blessing that both families get along so well with one another!

(i have no idea what happened to the camera here!!!)



Caroline (charlie's sis) gave me the most amazing present.
She made a scrapbook of Charlie and I.
She did the entire alphabet and put pictures relating to each word!
Its so beautiful.
I got a flip cam for christmas so hopefully i will figure out how to make a video of it and post it!
Thanks Caroline!

Charlie and I decided to wait to open presents to each other until Christmas Day.
But he gave me two wonderful surprise presents last night!

This is one of them!
It is an M&M ornament to commemorate our engagement on Christmas Eve last year!
The other was a christmas flip flop necklace!
He gave me one the christmas we first started dating, and after 4 and a half years, it had enough!
All of the stones had fallen off and I was soo disappointed, so he surprised me with another!


Christmas Eve was truly wonderful. 
I so loved spending time with my families and sharing such a magnificent day together.

Christmas Eve:Her story, His words

I asked Charlie if he could write the story of our engagement for me to put on my blog, and this is what he came up with! Everything he wrote is 100% true of how i felt and what happened!

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!!

It is hard to believe that it was this time ONE YEAR ago that my amazing fiancé finally proposed to me!  

To begin with there are a couple of pieces of background info that you have to know.  

First off, Charlie accidentally told me he was going to propose at Christmas when he was telling me how he asked my dad for my hand.  Secondly, Charlie loves to Kayak and Fish and had convinced me that I was probably getting a kayak for Christmas so that I could go adventure with him.  

Anyone who knows me would knows that I am not the most adventurous;

(uh, I am soo adventurous!)

however, I would not disappoint him and would seem excited anyways. 

Well it was then Christmas Eve and Charlie told me he wanted to take me out for lunch, this kind of made me mad because I usually spend all Christmas Eve with my sister and family but I decided to go along.  I knew I was in for something when Charlie made me blindfold myself once I got in his truck.

(The blindfold was my dogs sammy's christmas jammies!!)

After a quick drive we were at the beach and as he walked me down and took of the blindfold I saw a towel and picnic sitting next to a horribly wrapped kayak.

(It was perfectly wrapped! with about 10 rolls of paper!)

  I thought “oh my gosh!” he actually got me a kayak and of course I faked excitement while really hiding my fear.  So he made me sit down and eat some lunch he brought for us (my fav:Chick-fil-a)

 the entire time talking about kayaking and how we were going to go after we ate.  

When the time came I finished my food and went to open they kayak only to be relieved that it was his kayak he had wrapped to use as a diversion. 

( I thought for sure we were going kayaking in the ocean after we ate!)

After we both laughed he told me he had my real present at home and we could get it after dessert.  

I then opened a bag with my favorite Christmas tree cakes and m&m’s inside. 

(picture will be added tonight!)

I was so excited because these are my two favorite candies, but got even more excited when I looked on the pink and green candies and saw that Charlie had them made to say

“I love you” and “will you marry me”.  

I started screaming and jumped onto his lap. 

(and squished my christmas tree cakes :( !)

 Charlie said some sweet stuff that I honestly can’t even remember because I was so excited.  

He then pulled out a green jewelry box and asked if I would marry him as he opened it up reveling the most amazing ring ever!  

(very true!)

Not thinking, I was shouting No No No because I was so shocked but I think he knew my answer. 

We are now one year past that day and almost all of the wedding plans are coming together.  I am so excited and so blessed to get to spend the rest of my live with such a caring, thoughtful, funny, handsome, roughish man. 
    

I truly am blessed and thank God everyday for His amazing gift to me on his Birthday!

I hope everyone has a truly magical Christmas and remembers to celebrate the birth of 

our Savior!

"Christmas in Heaven"

Its 4:21 am on Christmas Eve and I cannot sleep.

I decided to check up on blogs and clicked on katie's keepers.

I have mentioned her before and what a wonderful blog and story she has.

She posted a poem today that touched my heart.

To anyone who has lost a loved one, Christmas is a hard time of the year.

This poem makes you think of Christmas without your loved one in a totally different way...


"I see the countless Christmas trees around the world below, 

with tiny lights like Heaven's stars reflecting on the snow.

The sight is so spectacular please wipe away that tear,

for I am spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.

I hear the many Christmas songs that people hold so dear,

but the sound of music can't compare with the Christmas choir up here.

I have no words to tell you of the joy their voices bring

for it is beyond description to hear the angels sing.

I know how much you miss me, I see the pain inside your heart

But I am not so far away, we really aren't apart.

I can't tell you of the splendor or the peace here in this place

Can you just imagine Christmas with our Savior face to face?

I'll ask Him to lift your spirit as I tell Him of your love

so then pray for one another as you lift your eyes above.

Please let your hearts be joyful and let your spirit sing

for I am spending Christmas in Heaven, and I’m walking with the King."

~ Wanda Bencke


Thank you katie for sharing this truly beautiful poem.

Eye doctors and Christmas Cookies!

Today I had my yearly visit to the eye doctor..

fun, i know.

It seemed that every year I went my eyes got worse and worse..

until this year!

Finally my eyes stayed the same!

Wow, this is just riveting isn't it!

Anyway my eyes seemed to be dilated all day and I felt like the crazies

from True Blood.

When we got back from the eye doctor we got a visit from a wonderful old friend!

He was my sisters best friend growing up and we hadn't seen him in forever.

It was so awesome to catch up and see what he's up to in his senior year of high school.

Charlie and I then ventured out in the cold to get a few last minute christmas presents.

We ended up spending all of our time in Williams Sonoma!

I picked up some apple pie mix that we plan on making for christmas eve.

I also got some awesomely gigantic cookie cutters and Charlie's dad's present.

It was freezing outside and P.F. Changs was calling our name!

The mongolian beef, lettuce wraps, and chicken lo mein hit the spot.

When we came back home Jenn and her man were preparing to make christmas cookies.

We ended up making a ton!

It was a lot of fun listening to christmas songs, wrapping presents, and decorating cookies.

I love being at home.

Days like today are the best, even though i spent an hour in the room waiting to see the doctor all by myself, I still had an amazing day and would not trade it for anything!

And this is what I get to fall asleep to at night...

It doesn't get any better!

Kelly Clarkson Recap!!

Sorry I have been so MIA!

I had a busy exam week and then lost track of time being at home with the fam!

Also Charlie and I took our first session of engagement pics on Thursday!

It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to see all of the pictures!

Now on to the good stuff....!

We went and saw Kelly Clarkson in Columbus, Georgia the day after my dads bday.  It was soooooo much fun! We left at 5:30 in the am and our first stop was of course McDonalds for dad!

When we got there we decided we should make posters since we would be in the 2nd row and she could def read them! So we went to Staples and made these awesome posters:

Then we got ready

and headed to the concert! We waited in line for the pre-show for forever!  It was first come seating so everyone was freaking out when they let you in.  Not knowing that almost everyone would get to be front row since the room was so small!

The Pre-Show was well worth it!  We had to wait for about an hour but when she finally came out Jenn and I had to move over so she could walk right by us! She sang a song that she and one of her guitarist's wrote that was amazing!  It was called "Call Me".  Then she brought out all of her band (except jill and kate.boo!) who all played different horns for the first Aretha Franklin song she ever sang, "I Never Loved a Man".  It was absolutely amazing!!!!!

Then we headed to our 2nd row seats! WHOO HOO!!!! and showed off our VIP passes!

All KC concerts always start with "Shook Me All Night Long"! So everyone started freaking out!!!!

Dad said the bass was going to make his heart freak out it was soo loud!!!

The whole concert was absolutely amazing! She did a wonderful job and was sooo funny!

Jill and Kate, her back up singers, saw our poster and started laughing and waving! We got it on video but i have no idea how to put that on here!

She sang for so long and it was absolutely amazing!! We had the best time ever!!!!

She looked right at me!!!!!!

After the concert the fam was hungry so we went in search of food in the small town of Columbus...after driving forever we ended the night at Krystal Burger!

Unfortunately I had to revise a paper for a final exam when I got back to the hotel...but Jenn helped me and we got done fast and went straight to bed!!!  The next morning started our return home and of course another trip to McDonalds for breakfast!

It was an amazing weekend!  I can't believe we actually drove all the way to Georgia and saw KC in a private concert, then in her real concert, then drove all the way back the next day!  We were all super tired but it was soooo worth it!

If anyone has any tips on how to put a video into the post, I have some awesome video! Thanks so much!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Today is my dad's birthday!

Since I have been in college, i have been lucky enough to not have exams on dec. 9th..until today...

But my dad and mom decided to come down and celebrate with us at school!

I spent most of the day staring at this:

Looks like fun, huh?

I then had the pleasure of taking a History of American Vernacular and Material Culture final while the rest of my family shopped...

But then we all met up and had an awesome dinner and opened presents!

I am so excited they decided to come to us for his birthday!

We had a lot of fun and now we all get to load up at 6:00 am 

and go to Kelly Clarkson!

anyway..

I wanted to share some stuff about my dad.

He is the most caring man I know.

He is very passionate about what he believes in and it sure does show!

Dad was adopted when he was one year old to my amazing Nana and Papa.

They raised him up to be a wonderful christian who has a heart of gold.

Nana sure did have her hands full!

She used to always tell stories of this sweet little face taking apart the scale in the doctor's office.

One time even strategically placing firecrackers in his neighbors swim suit, which was hanging to dry outside.

At my parents wedding the neighbor stood up and told everyone the story and that she would have brought her swim suit, but there were two giant holes in it!

He went to school in Tennessee where he rocked this amazing haircut

and sweet ride!!!

Dad then joined the Navy and served on the U.S.S. America.

He traveled all over the world during his tour.

He even spent Easter Sunday at the Vatican.

Boy, does have some stories!!!

I am so proud of Dad for serving our country.

He is certainly my hero.

Dad met my mom while in the navy.

They soon got married and had two beautiful daughters ;)

Who loves him more than anything!

and as you can tell he sure does love us too!!

Dad loves to waterski and barefoot!

I am soo jealous of this..i wish i had the courage to barefoot!!

Recently dad found out who his blood sisters are and have spent some precious moments with them.

I have not yet gotten to meet my new aunts but i look so forward to!

Dont they look just alike!?

Dad now serves as a deacon of the church and a dedicated volunteer in our town.

I am so proud of dad and all that he has accomplished in his lifetime.

He is truly a man to look up to and someone who always has a helping hand.

I love him soo much and could never thank him enough for all that he has done for me!

I hope he had an amazing birthday and has a wonderful year full of joy.

Love you dad!