group time!

In all of my Christmas posts I left out some pictures of Justin’s family, so I thought I would do one last Christmas post before moving on to new things!

Christmas (part 3)

Today was a wonderful day.  Full of family time, food, funny movies, and relaxing.

We started out at Uncle Bill’s for some lunch, then headed to my Aunt Donna and Uncle Mark’s house for Christmas with my dad’s side of the family.  We had seafood gumbo and carrot cake there, and it was a.m.a.z.i.n.g.  :)

We watched a couple of movies that were playing on TV and acted goofy!

My dad “threw his deuces up”…. hahaha….

And I can’t believe I’m putting this out for the whole world to see, but this something that needs to be remembered always.  Fun times with my family!

     

I hope that everyone had a Christmas as wonderful and as blessed as mine!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

Christmas (part 2)

Tonight we had Christmas with Justin’s mom’s side of the family.  We ate lots of food and played a game where we all swapped (and fought over) gifts.  :)

Hopefully I will get some pictures from that later from some people that actually took pictures.  I decided to give my camera and myself a break after shooting for a few hours already today.

After that we came back to Justin’s parents’ house to open all of our gifts from them and from each other.  Let me just say right now that they spoiled the heck out of me!  I feel so blessed to be a part of their family and to have Justin as my husband.

I took a few pictures, but was mainly too busy unwrapping all of my goodies!

My wonderful spectacular amazing sweetheart husband got me something I’ve been wanting for a while…

He also got me a gift card and wrote me a letter so sweet that it had me tearing up!

My mom and dad-in-law spoiled me rotten with lots of clothes, jewelry, a cookbook, a book series by Francine Rivers, A NEW LENS for my camera, and tons more.  It’s crazy.  I was blown away.  I’m still a little in shock, I think! ha

I got the hubs some new cologne.  And I was sad to find out that it’s being discontinued now.  :(  Just glad I got it when I did!

Nicole and Richard were NOT supposed to get us anything!  That’s what we agreed on, but they blessed us with this little beauty….

That’s about all for now… gotta get in bed and start over tomorrow!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!

newborn pics

check out the other blog....
i finally posted some pictures of john tyler!

new blog

I have already linked to my new blog once, but I just spent wayyyyyy too much time adding some touches to it today and want to show off my hard work!!

So here it is…. my new “photography” blog.

No, I’m not starting a photography business right now.  I just wanted a separate place to keep all of my photography stuff!

Christmas (part 1)

I know it’s early, but today started out my Christmas.

 

My sister, brother-in-law, niece, and myself all went to my mom’s today for Christmas.  The three of them are leaving in the morning to go to Georgia, so we had to get together today.  My grandmother and one of my aunts were also there.  Justin had to work, and we all missed him bunches.  :(

We spent most of the time opening gifts and watching Ava play with her new toys. She also spent a good bit of time playing with old toys too. Ha

My mom got me a Snuggie, and I couldn’t be happier!  I ALWAYS have a blanket with me around the house.  And now… my arms can be free!  :P

   My Mamaw made some homemade candy that was soooo yummy.  I ate a few too many pieces and got a bag to go.  After this week I may be permanently in stretchy pants!

On the way home Ava and I had a little photoshoot.  She is such a good model.

 

Well, that is all I have for now.  I’m sure I’ll be back with more Christmas posts soon!  

1 and 200

I just realized that I have blogged 200 (now 201) posts in the past year.  December 12th marked my 1 year blogiversary!

I probably should have done something special for the anniversary, but I totally forgot about it.  Oh well, maybe on my two year.  I will definitely make it to the two year mark. I LOVE blogging.  I love that I can look back on my old posts and remember what was going on and how I felt and what the world looked like at a particular time.  I love that I have old pictures and stories saved all in one place to look at.  I love that I can jump on the blog and look up a recipe that I tried a while back and forgot about.  I love connecting with blog friends and keeping up with them through the internet.

So, happy anniversary to me and my blog!

I hate that I haven’t been blogging much lately.. but I just feel like Sylvester did in this picture…. sleepy!

My last day of work for two weeks was on Thursday.  I feel FREEDOM :), but at the same time I need to catch up on my rest.  I’m so incredibly thankful that I have a job where I have time off during the holidays.  The only teeny tiny bad part is I don’t get paid for these days off.

I’m so excited.  Only about 5 days til CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!

brand new baby boy!

My friend Krystal had her baby boy, John Tyler, on Wednesday.

7 pounds 3 ounces of precious angel.

He is a doll.

And guess who will more than likely be doing newborn portraits???!!!???

ME!!!

If so, I’ll post them on my new blog that you can find here.  I’m starting the process of portfolio building slowwwwwly but surely.

Congrats again, Krystal and Tyler!!!

Ugly Sweater Party!

I had been hearing about these ugly sweater Christmas parties for a while now, but had never experienced one. 

Well, tonight some friends got together for a Christmas party, and we all wore “ugly” sweaters and watched “Elf” while nibbling on some snacks.  Some people drank eggnog, but that’s just not my thing.  ha!

So, here we are………..

Weren’t we cute? :)

My sweater even had shoulder pads!

Merry Christmas!!!

happy mail!

Justin checked the mail today while I waited in the car.  When he got back in the car, he says, “Do you know anyone named Douglas?”.  I couldn’t think of anyone.

But then he handed me this

and I remembered!

Duh…. my good bloggy friend, Jill!  And SophieB!

Is that baby girl precious, or what?!

And then I started wondering why more people I know don’t do Christmas cards.  They are so fun and cute!  We don’t do them, but I really want to after we start having kids. 

I love it, Jill!  Thank you!!!!

two happies

#1- I now have 25 followers on my blog! (I know this isn’t really a big deal, but still kinda cool).  I never thought I would have people besides my family that would consistently read my blog.

#2- There is this ridiculous giveaway going on right now in blog land.  Click here or here or here to find out more!

one more reason to love this season

 

Of course I love Christmas for many reasons.  One reason I almost forgot about:

insta-tan

I just found out a way to get tan in photoshop! 

before:

after:

see the difference?  pretty cool to me!

I found it here.

dinner and a movie

Justin is winding down his first semester (second block) of school.  He has TONS of work to do and a few finals to take before it’s over.  Because he has four papers due on Monday, he decided to take yesterday and today off work.  He has been working so hard.

Last night though, he decided to take a much needed break and take me on a date :)

We went to Outback to eat dinner.  It was unbelievably delicious.  Always is.

Then we went to a movie which is a rare occasion for us.  This time we saw The Blindside.  I just have to say, if you have not seen this, you need to!  It was such a good movie.  It’s based on a true story, which we both love.  But the whole story is just so touching.  We loved it!

I hate that I didn’t take any pictures of us on our date.  :(  I forgot the camera.

I got this picture from http://www.theavon.com/

 

chili weather

The entire weekend has been pretty cloudy with temperatures in the 30’s.  To me that means it’s time to eat chili and soup!  I just cannot eat these types of meals unless it’s cool outside.  Weird, maybe.. but that’s how I am!

So yesterday I decided to try to make chili for the first time.  I got the recipe from my mom-in-law.  It makes wayyy too much for just two people, so I halved the recipe.  I let it sit in the fridge overnight, and we ate it for lunch today.  So YUMMY!!!

Natalie's Chili

1 24oz can crushed tomatoes

2 cans Chili Fixin’s Rotel Tomatoes

2 packets Chili Seasoning Mix (McCormick brand is what I use normally)

1 8oz can tomato sauce

4lbs Hamburger meat

2 TBL Spoons chili powder

Add water some water to get the right consistency

Mix all sauces & seasoning together in large pot.  Brown hamburger meat thoroughly with garlic salt & pepper then drain off any excess fat.  Add meat to sauce mixture.  You can add more Chili powder as needed to get the flavor that you want, just bear in mind that the seasoning “sinks” in more overnight in the fridge so don’t put too much (this is just something you learn as you make it each time – may want to always measure how much you put in until you get it where you want it)

Let simmer on low for 30 to 45 minutes.  Keep your fire on low or it will scorch easy.  Like I said above it is better if you let it sit in the fridge overnight before eating so the seasoning gets into the meat good.  When you warm it up you have to slow heat it or it will scorch!

This makes a large batch but you can freeze it in smaller containers for quick thawing later.

Pictures of the Princess

show me your tree

I know I already posted a picture of my Christmas tree, but I’m doing it again for Kelly’s Show Me Your Tree bloggy party.

This is my second year to be married, but only the first year we have been able to have a Christmas tree.  Last year I was so sad that we didn’t have one, and it just did not feel like Christmas to me.  So this year I was determined to have one, even in our teeny tiny apartment.

We have absolutely no room for anything extra, so we went with a small (3ft) tree that sits on an end table next to the couch.  The ornaments are all brown, gold, and silver.  They are nothing special or sentimental, but they do the job!

I hope to have a big tree with lots of beautiful and meaningful ornaments at some point in my life.  Right now just is not that time.  But I do still LOVE and cherish having my little tree all lit up at night while I spend time with my little family.

Hop over to Kelly’s blog to see many more trees!

And remember, Jesus is the reason for the season!  Don’t forget to celebrate Him! 

day of firsts

I woke up this morning and got ready for work as usual.  Only about ten minutes before we were supposed to leave the house, Justin went to take Bobo outside to potty.  He yelled back in to me that it was snowing!  I could not believe it. 

We both grew up in Louisiana where it snows maybe once every ten years, so we were both excited!  I ran outside and tried to take some pictures, but didn’t do too great.  :(  That didn’t stop the excitement though.  First time to see snow in Texas!!!  I hope this is a regular winter occurrence, but I’m not counting on it.

Then we left for school and work, and we had our first experience driving in snow.  All the times it has snowed in LA, I have never been old enough to drive (I don’t think..)  It was definitely an experience.

And tonight..  Tonight I decided to make upside down pizza again.  Only problem.. it calls for a can of tomato sauce.  Why is this a problem?  Well because my can opener broke two days ago, so I threw it away.  Tonight I had my first experience opening a can with a knife.  I’m just glad I didn’t cut myself!

I’ve gotta remember to buy a new can opener ASAP!