Happy 2011

Wow, it has been so long since I've blogged. That is a phrase that I am going to do my best to not say in 2011. So this year, one of my resolutions is to blog at least once a week. I love making lists so I started making a list of all the things I need to blog about. Here are a few things that will appear on my blog in the coming weeks:

• Our home decorated for Christmas
• Our family Christmas
  
• Our New York trip
• More Book Reviews
• Resolutions
• Home Improvements

Come back tomorrow to read about my family Christmas (now I have to blog about it since I just told you I would!).

Married to the Best Husband ever!!

Just wanted to give a shout out to the best Husband ever!! Today we are celebrating 4 years of marriage. I can't want to spend 60 more years with him!!




Love you Justin!!

Happy Birthday Justin!!

Happy Birthday to the Best Husband Ever!!



Today we are celebrating Justin's birthday!!

I am so blessed to call Justin my husband. Here is a brief list of things that I love about him...

• He loves the Lord
• He makes me laugh
• He allows me to be me
• He loves me
• He brings me fresh flowers for no reason
  
• He can create some awesome web sites... www.sixeightmedia.net
• He works 50 feet from my office
• He can dance
• He is very talented
  

If you see him today make sure you tell him Happy Birthday!!

Gobble Gobble until you Wobble Wobble!!

This year for Thanksgiving my whole family came together to celebrate - and let me say - we did some celebrating! We started the Hodges/Garcia extravaganza by traveling to my parents house. Stan (my twin) and his girlfriend drove to our house on Tuesday night (from TX) and we drove to my parent's house together on Wednesday. Once arriving at my parents we settled in and had dinner and waited for my older brother Abe and Lindsey to arrive. While traveling from Louisville, Abe and Lindsey encounter some horrendous traffic, it took them 11 hours to get to my parents (should have taken only about 8 or 9). When they got to the house we all said "hey" and then went straight to sleep.

I could type for days about all the activities we did together and all the fun we had but instead I will make a list (I love making lists)

Hung out with family
Enjoyed lots of good food
Helped a church serve Thanksgiving dinner
Played the Wii
Cooked
Had a massage
Rode the rope swing (my favorite thing)
Went shopping
Had a scavenger hunt
Made some great memories

I hope you enjoy looking at all the pics! I know that my whole family had a great time together and we are all looking forward to Christmas were we will have another Hodges/Garcia extravaganza.

Jack enjoyed the ride to my parents

Eating breakfast Thanksgiving morning.

Playing Wii- we were very intense about this game.

Tasting the turkey

This was the kids table, there are now more kids than adults...if you count people under 30-ish as kids.

My grandmother!! So sweet

My grandpa, with his great grandson (my cousin's son) - oh and they matched!

Playing corn hole

Waiting for our massages.

I am really not hurting Jack he was just smiling for the camera.

Sister!!

Waiting to start the scavenger hunt!! Justin and I really won!!!

Saturday night the girls cooked for the guys and this is what we had...

Look at this Snicker Cheese cake, not only did it look delicious but it was.

Just another pic because it was so good . Did I say that it was made from scratch?!

On Saturday we had my parents' pastor and his family over and here are some pictures of there cute kids.

It's begining to look like Thanksgiving!

I know I have been falling behind a bit on my blog updates, but my excuse is that it is just that time of year. I have lots to blog about - the trouble is finding the time to write the posts.

This is part one of my two-part Thanksgiving post.

Nothing says Thanksgiving like cute Turkey napkins.

We starting our Thanksgiving off a little early by having some friends over for a Thanksgiving dinner the weekend before the real Thanksgiving. Let me explain: a few weeks ago I was talking to my mom about our family Thanksgiving. My mom is just as over the top as I am (well, she comes up with the ideas and I do my best to get my family to participate). However, this year I too was full of ideas for our family Thanksgiving. While my mom and I talked about what we would be eating, the fun activities we would be doing, and what decor we would be having, I starting thinking about how I would set my table for Thanksgiving (that is, if we had Thanksgiving at my house.) Well, all that thinking gave me the idea to have some friends over for a "Friends Thanksgiving."

So, I started planning. My mom had given me some cute Thanksgiving-ish paper plates and I found the cutest turkey napkins on sale a few weeks ago and there was my table setting. I finished the table off with some table clothes and pumpkins as place card holders. Everyone thought of two dishes they wanted to bring and everything was set. I have to say that everything was really delicious. We ended the night hanging out and playing games.

Gotta love self timers!!!

These are the two desserts that we had that night. Not only did they both cool great they also tasted great.

I will be posting part two of mine and Justin's Thanksgiving later this week.

Christmas Card Time!!!

I love getting a great deal and I love Shutterfly, with this great offer I am getting both. Last year, Justin and I sent out Chirstmas cards for the first time, after looking all over for the best card I finially found just what I was looking for at Shutterfly.
Look at this great offer from Shutterfly, They are doing a promotion for bloggers! I loved the Christmas cards I ordered from Shutterfly last year, so when I started thinking about this year card Shutterfly was the only place I looked.
Shutterfly always has the cutest cards! I've attached some of our favorite things, including cards! This card looks like the one we orderd last year. I also really like this one and this one. Shutterfly also has the best gift ideas for everyone on your list. Our favorites are the calendars and photo books.


If you already got your Christmas cards, Shutterfly has cute cards for birthdays, moving announcements, etc. Check them out here. Also, if you are a fellow blogger and want to see more information on this amazing offer, click here!