Starting Here

Today I had the best time with my bro.in.law and his gal pal. I mean, girlfriend! Sorry.

They remind me a lot of me and John when we first starting goin' steady. I mean, going out! Sorry.

Their styles are very different, and it just so happened that today their wardrobe REALLY portrayed their differences!

And what do you know, opposites do attract!

So, we went out in a field and I shot away! With my new camera that is! It was freezing, but bro. and gal pal were AWESOME sports!

I made sure to make the bro. happy and put his dirt bike in a few pictures!

It was very beneficial for me, and it was a BLAST shooting people and not dogs or Christmas decor with my fabulous camera!!

Thanks you two!! Let us know what you think!

Practice Makes Perfect

And perfection is my friend! So, Santa brought me a really fun toy for me to work with and I've really been practicing!

This has been a LONG time coming, and was a real shocker that Santa decided to surprise me with this this year! I have been researching and watching tutorials and I even get to have a one on one session with my fabulous photographer cousin this week to get even better! Until then, I've been working hard on learning about my new toy! With a great emphasis on still learning! I love it so much! I'm pretty sure it hasn't really left my hand for more than an hour since I opened it Christmas morning! I'm looking forward to FINALLY learning how to take fabulous pictures for me and for others! YAY! Because, after all, practice makes perfect!

Merry Christmas from Our Home to Yours

Christmas morning was so special to us this year. It was obviously our second Christmas married, but it was our first Christmas spent in our new home!

It was a day that we had looked forward to for a long time! Some of us...ahem....John. were so excited that he thought it would be great to wake up at 12:00 midnight. Not me! So, when he decided to wake me up with the energy of a 5 year old, I told him a few more minutes! We both woke up again at 3:00 and decided to get up, simply because we couldn't wait any longer! Told you we love Christmas! We woke up to a note to me from "Santa" pretty much thanking me for being a good wife this year but to have fresh cookies next year! Apparently, I broke Santa's tooth this Christmas Eve due to the stale cookies we left for him! Sorry folks, but I'm not giving up the good ones! I got a kick out of this! The dogs were filled with the Christmas spirit too! It was probably just us being, well, "us" but we're pretty sure Heidi and Harley were excited about Christmas too! We let them open their presents first. We wrapped them in tissue paper, to see if they would actually try to get into them. They loved it, and it was hilarious seeing them open their presents and be so excited about them! We enjoyed taking our time opening presents while sipping on coffee and munching on some of our traditional Christmas breakfast. John loved all of his fun stuff that Mrs. Claus brought him, and I was extremely surprised to see what Mr. Claus brought me! It's amazing how much we've been through this past year. We are so thankful for how God has been such a large part of our lives. All glory to Him! We are excited to see what God has in store for us this next year! Merry Christmas!

A Maholland Christmas

Last night we got to celebrate Christmas with the Mr's side of the family at his parents house. We always look forward to this time to spend with his family!

We have the most delicious meal, dessert, and there is always coffee! We brought the fur babies with us this year because we were informed that they would be partaking in the gift giving as well! They didn't think much of the abundance of squeaky toys at the time, but this morning they are attacking each and every one of them! And as a matter of fact, in the amount of time that I have written this short post Heidi Beth has destroyed 3 of the toys already! She's a monster! So now, we have it all on video! yay! We loved spending time with our family this year! I'm so blessed to have married a man that has been brought up by such a fabulous family!

A Claytor Christmas

Last night we celebrated Christmas at my parents house with my side of the family. We had delicious food!

We always have fun foods like wings, rotel, pigs in a blanket, you know...junk food! It was the best! This year was so much fun because we had two big boys to buy fun stuff for! Bryce is into these skateboarding things and fun "little" stuff to play with, and Adam is obsessed with stuffed animals. And well, we got Carter clothes, because he's still little! It was an absolute blast watching the boys open their gifts and get so excited about all of the sweet stuff they got! We had a wonderful time! It has been quite some time when all of my family was together all under the same roof. It was a blessing to see them and to spend this special time with all of them!

A Christmas Tradition

If you know anything about me, then you should know that I am very much into traditions. Tonight was the start of a new tradition for us!

We made Christmas cookies at my in-laws house! We used a fancy-pantsy cookie press that was just too cool to use! We had sprinkles, got creative with food coloring, and just loved spending time together as a family! I'm really looking forward to this new tradition in years to come!!! I'm really thankful that God blessed my life personally with a wonderful husband who came from such a wonderful family!

Tis the Season!

We have been up to some fabulous Christmas events recently!

The Mr. and I visited Charlie Brown in ICE, saw the lights at Opryland, and enjoyed one yumm-o Italian dinner there. We were blown (froze?) away by the amount of ice that we got to see!

Yes, we shouted loudly when we first entered the place because we were amazed/extremely excited to be there! And, yes, we did slide down the giant Charlie Brown slide, because we are simply cool like that! And no, we didn't get stuck on the slide. The Mrs. was quite worried that she would...

We had a blast! We always remember that we are supposed to date our spouse. It makes a marriage stronger, and let's face it, it's more fun too! We really enjoyed our time with the ice, lights, food, and most importantly, each other!

The other day, my sis, granny, and I took my two nephews to the Christmas parade. It was such a treat! I love those boys so much!

They got a whole bag full of candy, enjoyed the floats, ate cotton candy, and they even got to wave to Santa!!

Our Birthday Girl

Our first fur baby, Heidi turned one today! It's crazy how time flies! She is such a funny dog. I remember when we first got her, we took her straight to Petsmart and had her all balled up in a towel like she would get cold or something! The Mr. even made a list of do's and do not's for us and others to follow. It's hilarious, and I totally found it the other today! Do we still follow this list? Heck no! hehe! It's still funny though! Heidi made us learn, well, that we are very over protective for one! She has taught us how to be responsible for something else, other than each other. She has taught us how to have even greater team work skills! She is just a doll! Happy Birthday, Heidi!