Christmas morning John and I woke up at 4:00 to make sure we had plenty of time to spend together. Not to mention we were extremely excited too. So we woke up and John told me to set him up first so I could be surprised. After I set his presents out, I stayed in the bedroom until everything was set. He had the coffee, music, presents, AND video all ready when I came in the living room. It was so much fun! It really felt like Christmas!! 
And Santa ate our cookies too, imagine that! We enjoyed our morning opening gifts just from each other. It was a really special time for the both of us. 
I got John a DVD player that upconverts to high definition, a putting green that returns the ball to you, DVD's, stocking stuff, and an electric train. That was his special gift. Because when he grew up they always had a train under their tree and he was pretty bummed that our tree did not have a train under our tree this year. He seemed really excited that he got one! He put it up immediatly! John got me some DVD's, the Apple's to Apple's game, Brain Age 2 DS game, a Wii!!!!!!! and the Wii music game. Oh my goodness, talk about surprised!! 
It was a great Christmas!! While he set up his train I popped the sausage balls, breakfast casserole, and the orange rolls in the oven. We played the Wii and really had a blast together. Breakfast was wonderful, but we were so excited to play with our gifts that we didn't hardly eat much at all. 
We really enjoyed our special first Christmas morning together. It is something that we will remember for our entire life together.
John and I went to his grandparent's house Christmas Eve night for dinner. We had pork chops, twice baked potatoes, salad, and dessert. It was all really good. They have a tradition that every year the grandchildren and his grandparents read the Christmas story together before we open presents. This year I got to be apart of the tradition. It meant a lot to me to be a part of something that John has done every year since he was a little boy. 
Afterwards, John and I came home and opened our Christmas PJ's and watched Polar Express. We even left out cookies for Santa.
John and I woke up early Christmas Eve morning to get ready for my Aunt Beth's Christmas Eve brunch. I had to wake up extra early so I could make food and get ready. I was really excited that I got to make something for that day. 
I made monkey bread. I was really proud of it and I think John was too. John and I really enjoyed our time at Beth's with my dad's side of the family. We are such a big, and growing family that it is such a joy to have to many people to talk to and catch up with. Afterwards, we came home and took a nap to rest up for Christmas Eve night.
Sunday night we got to celebrate Christmas with my family. We had an amazing time. We always like to have fun foods. We had rotel dip, potato soup, pigs in a blanket, ham and biscuits, sausage balls, cookies and Christmas coffee. It was all so yummy. It is Adam's first Christmas this year and we all enjoyed watching him open gifts. He would tear a big peice off and then put it in his mouth and try to eat it. Imagine that! 
We each took turns opening presents from each other and ended with the traditional "Christmas boxes" from mom and dad. We always look forward to those because they are jammed full with awesome things. After presents we enjoyed coffee and watching the boys play with their gifts. Later we played our traditional crazy game of cherades. It was a hoot as usual!
John and I celebrated our 6 month wedding anniversary on Sunday. We can't believe it's already been a half of a year. It's amazing how time flies! Anyways, in celebration of our anniversary, we went to the Titans-Steelers game. 
Every season I check the schedule to see if the Steelers ever play the Titans in Nashville and they haven't in three years. This year when I found out the Steelers would be coming to Nashville, John knew he couldn't tell me no. 
Our dear friends, Michael and Ladonna Hines found us amazing seats for this game. We were right on the 45 yard line! I will admit, when I saw Ben Roethlisburger I flipped out a bit. As did everyone else. We both agreed that there were more Steelers fans there than Titans. It was amazing to be surrounded by that many fans for a team that I love so much. So even though my team didn't win it was still a really awesome time to spend with John.
After we returned to Gatlinburg John and I couldn't stand to wait any longer to take a look at our house. Much to our surprise they now have all the framing complete! 
If weather permits, we will be dried in by the end of this week!
This morning dad and I went to visit a dear friend and mentor of mine, Ms. Jernigan. She was my choir director in highschool as well as my voice and piano teacher. She played the piano prelude music in our wedding. It was truly a blessing to see her today. The choir is very good this year and they sound pretty good too. Ms. Jernigan asked me to sing for them and of course, I couldn't resist. It was such a joy to be there and to see what was such a large part of my life still continue on with others. Later, I got a wonderful phonecall that school let out so I was not to go into work so John and I enjoyed the entire afternoon together relaxing and going to Walmart..yikes...Let's just say we HAD to go for our normal run and we were spent once it was over. Seeing as there is a chance for ice people flipped and bought out all the milk and bread. How silly! It amazed us and we really got a kick out of it.
We had such an amazing time in Gatlinburg. We did not get snowed in like we hoped, and actually never saw a flake fall, but it was beautiful anyway! We had a spectacular view of snow capped mountains from our balconies of the cabin. 
We got in late on Thursday and just kicked back to take it all in in the hottub all night. The next day we hit the town with shopping, lunch, and a fabulous dinner at Dixie Stampede.
The next day we left early for the Pancake Pantry and filled our belly's to the brim and walked around the sites of Gatlinburg. We also got to revisit the spot where John proposed for our almost 6 month anniversary! 
This really wore us all out so we spent the rest of the day being lazy around the cabin. We ended our last night with hot cocoa and The Polar Express. It was all in all a perfect trip. We really enjoyed our time with Sam and Holly. They really are wonderful true friends of ours.Well, we almost have walls! Holly and I drove by today and they are beginning to put the floor joists in. We should have the walls up very soon!! They are fast! I can't wait! I know the picture looks like a big pile of wood but enjoy anyways!
John and I have been obsessed with HGTV for ideas on coutertops, paint, etc. I saw a really pretty light earth green bathroom and I have to say I really liked it! We will get to pick out all of those things! Everything from doornobs to lightfixtures, from cabinets to flooring. So before that huge day of crazy desicions, we are researching like crazy.
This picture is actually from last time John and I were in Gatlinburg..which was on our honeymoon. This time it will be much colder!!! We look different right? Amazing what 6 months of marriage will do to a person!! Ha!Today was a suposedly "study day" for school. We are now finished with classes, now all we have are finals. Anyways, today was filled with several fun things. I had to go to a homeless food center today to "observe and use my sociological imagination". So, I asked Holly to come with so I wouldn't be too scared. Needless to say, we were both a little uneasy and Holly was a trooper for coming along! You can read more on the details on theshrewbury's blog link on the side of our page. After the most humbling experience that I've had in quite a while I went back to school. My friend had to sing today for a voice lab and I wanted to hear/support her. She did really great! And all who are coming to my senior recital in March (which should be EVERYONE!) will get an oppertunity to hear her sing a duet with me! I am so proud of her! She has come such a long way. Afterwards, she and I finished up some business with a conducting class and I headed home. Needless to say, I was pooped. So John and I napped and woke up for dinner. He was also a super trooper today! He got to go with me to a concert tonight. We had such a great time! We got coffee on the way so we could stay awake! We were both still exhausted. The concert was great. We both loved it very much.
John and I had such a wonderful Thanksgiving together. We enjoyed my mom's side of the family for lunch then visited some of John's family for late afternoon. We had some amazing turkey and dressing and all the other best Thanksgiving food there is.
This really woke me up so I decided to go shopping with Mom and April. We were gone all day. I got so much accomplished for John's Christmas. I can't wait for our Christmas morning together!!!
We got to see them actually laying our very first brick on our house Friday. It was really cool! We also got to put our initials in the foundation. We have this on each corner in each room of our house. The walls will be up by next week!
We had a very enjoyable weekend. Friday we had Sam and Holly over for dinner and a movie. The dinner in my opinion was terrible. It was my first off night in cooking and I wasn't too happy about it. But it didn't let it ruin my night.
It was fun. And turns out, I know a few steps! So, yes, I participated and really actually enjoyed it! 
Later, we drove by our lot and got to see the progress they are making. We will reveal our brick choice once it's on our house! That will be sometime this week for all you anxious readers our there! Thank you so much for your love and support for us as we are getting to do this!Alright, these were our top three choices on brick,paint,and shutters. What do you think we chose? Choice 1,2,or3. Let us know! We did already make a desicion today, but we want to see what you all think! Have fun choosing! 
Choice 1 
Choice 2 
Choice 3
After Christmas last year I hit all the stores hard in search of great ornaments for our first Christmas. On that search I found everything except for a tree. Saturday we decided that we would be too tired on Thanksgiving to go find a tree so we decided we would get one that day. 
On our monthly Walmart run we found the perfect one. We were thinking more on the lines of how it will look in our new house then nessecarily how it's going to look in our living room this year. Obviously, from the pictures, it's a mammoth! And we love it! 
After barely fitting it and several weeks worth of groceries into the Jeep we headed home to the sound of Christmas music! (Shut your ears Holly) It was quite amusing, and we admit, we felt like the Chevy Chase Christmas vacation. But that's ok. 
Once we got everything organized and unloaded we started up the Christmas music again and started dinner. I made my first ever cheescake, and Chicken Cacciatore. We orginally wanted my alltime favorite, Partytime Chicken, but it took too long to cook. So we settled. I have to admit, John loved the Cheesecake. Even eating some tonight he commented to himeself that it was amazing. I was flattered of course!
Anyways, after dinner we hit the decorating hard. Little did we know, the enormouse tree was not only huge, but it came in all the little separate peices. The box said THREE EASY STEPS! They lied to us :-( But we laughed, got over it, and went on to putting the huge thing up anyways. Turns out that John is a master Christmas tree fluffer. So he fluffed and I followed behind with the lights. 
I wanted him to do the honor of topping the tree this year. Tiptoed and all it finally got up there. And yes, those are small antlers with a great bow tied around them. They are "reindeer antlers" And surprisingly enough, that was my idea. John was absolutly THRILLED that we did that. I think it's absolutly adorable myself!
We are very excited about this week! Thanksgiving activities begin and it is the last full week of school for me! Which means work work work, which is also what John will be doing a lot of. Please pray that God gives us a lot of patience and strength this week. We will definatly need it!
I had to go to school today for a conducting exam. Not to mention it was at 8:00 am. After my long school day I fell right into bed and slept till 6. Today wore me out, so I'm not quite up to par like I thought I was. Tonight, I am taking it easy and getting way ahead on homework for the weekend. I'm sure tonights sleep will swing me back into shape!
So there are a total of about 7 days left of this semester. I honestly can not believe how fast this semester has gone! I'm in definate need of a Christmas break. We are exactly a little under one month away from our Gatlinburg trip with Sam and Holly.
Our contractor contacted us the other day to let us know that they are breaking ground the first of next week. He had to wait a bit for some stuff to get into order for him. This was refreshing for us to hear. We just love our contractor. He is the nicest man, and very honest too.
This weekend seemed to last a really long time. Those don't come around too often so they! On Friday, John and I enjoyed his night off with a movie with his brother and his girlfriend. It was nice for us to get out of the house. We really enjoyed our time with them, and the movie was great. We saw Eagle Eye.
John returned to work on Saturday and I headed to mom's house early for a Christmas kick-off tradition. April, Mom, and I went to the Sampler. Every year we go and enjoy the whole day filled with browsing and Christmas shopping at many different vendor's booths. This year was really good; we got a ton of things! I got a Christmas apron that is absolutly adorable! It has jingle bells on the ties of it. I can't wait to wear it! Each year, the Sampler always puts us into the Christmas spirit and it really got us there this year! We had a wonderful day together just us girls, and Adam of course. Afterwards, we went to my parents house to eat dinner and visit with Bryce and Dad. It was a really good and very relaxing visit.
Today, I went to church all alone for the very first time. I will have to admit, it was really strange at first, but I got through it and really enjoyed worshiping our amazing Creator. It was also the first time I had eaten Sunday dinner alone since we've been married. I usually eat with John or go somewhere. Today, I had...raemon noodles. Yum. I really enjoyed having time for myself this afternoon. I got a lot accomplished on the house, well, now everything is clean which is how we like it. Just as I was finishing up on the cleaning dad called and asked if I wanted to join them for pizza. How could I pass up a yummy dinner, so I made my way there and we had a great time together.
This weekend was a really wonderful time with John and with family. I am really looking forward to this week. On Tuesday I do not have school or work and John is off as well. We are really looking forward to spending the day together. It's always difficult to make time in the hustle and bustle of the week.
