In an effort to catch up on months worth of blogging.....I'm doing three "Catching Up" posts.
This is the last installment -
October 1, 2011 - We went to celebrate my niece's Birthday, which I've already blogged about -
click here to see 4 year old Boo with her birthday cake.
October 7-9, 2011 - Camping with Kim & Billy (Brandon's Sister and Brother-in-Law) - blogged about this already too -
click here to see photos from our fun weekend.
October 12, 2011 - Keeneland Outing with Brandon's work folks. We got to hang out in this awesome tent, eat some awesome food (and dessert!) and watch the races.
Our table included a couple other couples....the two guys are Brandon's co-workers.
The Paddock (left) and the place where the horses enter the track (right)
I came out ahead and quit.
October 15-16, 2011 - Trip to Ohio to visit Brian & Emily and their family. This has already been blogged too -
click here.
October 22-29, 2011 - Our Colonial Williamsburg Vacation! Here's a sampling of photos from that trip...
We made the 9ish hour drive to Williamsburg, VA all in one day.
This was our cute "apartment" for the week. My brother and sister-in-law gifted us a week of their Time Share as a wedding present, so we picked Williamsburg to visit. This particular Time Share had four units in each building. The units were awesome.....complete with kitchen, living room and dining room and separate bedroom with a great bathroom (including huge tub and separate shower and stacked washer/dryer).
Me and Pocahontas....I am 1/16 American Indian, after all.
Do we look Colonial? Ben Franklin would enjoy our stylish glasses, I'm sure.
We saw lots of Colonial architecture in Colonial Williamsburg, imagine that.
And we got to see lots of Colonial trades. I've only posted a few below. But there were lots and it was very neat to see.
Cooks (left) and Apothecary (right)
The Wig Maker
Our favorite was the Joiner (kind of like a furniture maker).
We toured the Jail.
And Brandon got picked to help out with the demonstration of the Mortar firing.
Don't you love Brandon's back pack?
Yeah, it was mine, but he was sweet enough to carry around for me.
Next stop: Jamestown. We toured a couple sail boats....
And met a smelly pirate....
And got to see how the first American settlers lived.
On another day, we toured a local Brewery.
And snuck in some kisses on a pier.
My birthday happened to be during our vacation, so I woke to find my sweet man cooking breakfast and presents on the table.
We got dressed up that evening and went to an Italian place for dinner.
The last day we were there, we went to Norfolk and toured a Battleship - it was cool!
We also got to visit Brandon's cousin, Emily, her husband, Ryan, and their 4 kiddos who live nearby (sadly, I took no pictures while we were there!). We had such a great time with them. And such a great vacation!
October 30, 2011 - The day after we got back from vacation was Brandon's birthday (our b-days are 3 days apart). This time, he woke to breakfast and presents!
Then later that afternoon, our parents came in to celebrate our birthdays as well. My Mom brought a cake for me (with yummy homemade chocolate icing) which is what I typically have for my birthday and Brandon's Mom brought him a homemade Pumpkin Pie, which is what he usually has on his birthday.
I went the next week to visit my Grandparents in D-ville and my Granny surprised me with this gift - she did a painting of my
second house! I love it.
October 30, 2011 - Fire Truck Invasion - One night, out of nowhere, the building across the street from our apartment was literally surrounded by fire trucks (there were about 6-7 of them!). We have no idea what was up....they were there about 45 minutes, going into each room of the apartment with a flash light until one by one the fire trucks started leaving without doing anything else. Our best guess is that someone reported a gas leak?
October 31, 2011 - Trick or Treat! We passed out candy this year (this was a first for me, I've always been out of town or at a church function). We got the good stuff too.....just in case no one came and we had to eat it all ourselves. We had several stop by though.
November 11, 2011 - Granny's Art Hop - My Granny participates in her small towns' Art Hops.
She sells paintings, note cards with photos of her paintings on the front and hand-painted ornaments.
Brandon and I came in town for the Hop and Mike & Shannon came too and surprised her. Also pictured is my Grandpa.
My Aunt Nancy came out in support as well and she and Granny got to go look at the rest of the Hop together.
November 11, 2011 - This wasn't a trip Brandon and I went on, but I still wanted to mention it. Our parents went on vacation to Gatlinburg together!! I know this isn't the norm for In-Laws and we're so absolutely blessed that our parents not only get along, but will take a vacation together! Aren't they all so cute? We asked them if they would leave as In-Laws, but come back as Out-Laws. ;) You never know what they'll get into when they're together.
November 16, 2011 - Surprise Date Night to the Indoor Gun Range. Brandon planned this Date Night and I was nervous but excited to shoot a gun for the first time ever.
November 18, 2011 - I went to the Ville to meet up with The Girls.....I miss them all so much and hate that I don't get to see them as often....but we sure have fun when we get together!
We ate dinner at The North End Cafe
Then had dessert at Sweet Surrender - YUM!
November 23, 2011 - This was one crazy day of travel! But, all in an effort for me to make it to my nephew's first birthday party (it would have been a hard one to miss!). So, we came up with a crazy plan for me to be able to go. The birthday party was going to be held out of town, about 4 hours away from me and about 2 and a half from my parents. Well, Brandon had to work and couldn't attend (the party was on a Weds. afternoon, the day before Thanksgiving), so he took me to meet up with my Dad in a town that's between us and the Ville (closer to us though, so I'm thankful my Dad had taken the day off and could come and pick me up).
My Dad and I enjoyed breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then made the trek back towards the Ville while we waited for my Mom to get off work (she had to work 7-11 that day). It was good quality time with my Daddy. We headed over to the mall and looked around and actually got a good amount of Christmas shopping done, then went to have dessert at a local bakery. By that time, my Mom was off, so we picked her up and we all headed for the party.
He's such a little Sweetie!
He wasn't sure what to think of playing in his Smash Cake at first.....
....but once he got the hang of it, he pulverized it!
I was SO GLAD to get to go to the party and so thankful to my parents and Brandon to go through some rigamarole to get me there!
After the party, we took a different route home, because Brandon and I were heading to his parents house in C-ville that night to spend Thanksgiving with them. So after work, Brandon drove about 2 and a half hours to meet us in a town that was between the Ville and C-ville and between where we were coming from at the party and the Ville. Then we drove about an hour from there to his parents and my parents drove about 45 minutes from there to home.
November 23-25, 2011 - Thanksgiving in C-ville
Below: Justin (nephew), Kim (sister-in-law), me and Brandon awaiting the yummy food we were about to devour!
Then, of course, after eating all that turkey - it was nap time!
And then we had a fun game of Hand & Foot - this is almost a must when we go to C-ville!
November 25, 2011 - The day after Thanksgiving, Brandon's dad took us all to an outdoor shooting range.
Maybe because I had practiced a couple weeks earlier on our date or maybe because I had beginner's luck, I did pretty well. Brandon's dad was even calling my 'Annie Oakley!'
Of course, I had to let the others play too. ;)
November 26, 2011 - Our friends, Leo & Sheila got married!
We had spent a lot of time with them recently as Brandon was teaching them some ballrooms steps for their first married dance together. They did great!
December 2, 2011 - Ice Skating with Mark & Anne - what a blast!
December 8, 2011 - Our wall-mates at the duplex put up outdoor Christmas lights and we put up candles in our front windows.
Here's a closer view of our side (the lights the neighbors put up changed colors too!)
And then a shot from the inside at our place:
December 9, 2011 - We decided to do picture cards this year for Christmas since we had several Mixbook.com Groupons we had bought. So, we set up the tri-pod.....
....and here's what we came up with:
(Back)
December 17, 2011 - Christmas celebration with Brandon's mom's family.
Justin was ready for the food! He sat there patiently, spoon in hand (it's a clear spoon - can you see it?), while waiting on everyone to arrive.
Finally, time to eat!
Ok, technically this picture was taken in November, but I thought it would be good to include here as it's almost all of Brandon's Mom's siblings/spouses:
Back row L-R: Aunt Sandra, Uncle Dennis & Aunt Cindy, Brandon's Dad, Jimmy
Middle Row L-R: Aunt Pam, Mammaw, Aunt Tina & Uncle Dale
Front: Brandon's Mom, Beverley
December 20, 2011 - My first UK Game! UK is Brandon's Alma Mater (twice) but I'd never been to a basketball game there before.....I still bleed Navy & Gold (Go Racers!) and Red (Go Cards!) over bleeding UK Blue, but I'll definitely cheer for them if they aren't playing My Teams.
I also realized that I don't own anything exactly UK Blue, so I settled for a slightly different shade....oh well!
December 23-24, 2011 - The day before Christmas Eve, we loaded up the car & drove to C-ville where Brandon's parents live. We spent that night with them and stayed through the next afternoon (Christmas Eve) and celebrated with Brandon's parents and his sister's family.
Here's all of us in front of the Christmas tree:
We enjoyed a great lunch (including Bev's famous tuna/pimiento loaf) and then opened presents.
Brandon's parents got us tickets for a dinner cruise - how cool!
Kim & Billy's dog normally doesn't like Brandon, but he tolerated him for Christmas.
These two pictures make me laugh too! Not sure what Jimmy was saying in his crazy-eyed picture....and the reindeer and I are both doing our best Fire Marshal Bill impressions.
We had a great time! Wish we could have stayed longer.
Around 3:30, we left Brandon's parents and stopped by his Mammaw's on the way out of town for a quick visit.
After visiting Brandon's Mammaw, we then headed to L-ville to my Mamaw's house for Christmas Eve evening with my Dad's family. Here's the group shot of us all:
A few of my cousins kiddos:
My sweet cousin Jen and her hubby, Joe.
It's time for presents! Everyone waited patiently as my cousin Jamie (right) passed them all out.
Then the mass-opening began....
My Mamaw was very surprised (and happy) to receive a book we had made her from our wedding pictures:
Later that evening we had a rousing game of "Chicken Foot" dominoes.
And just for fun's sake, pictured below is my cousin, Jamie, with his dog, Seven, who apparently likes to held like a child - cracks me up!
Christmas Eve night, Brandon and I stayed the night with my parents.
December 25, 2011 - Christmas Day - we woke up at my Mom & Dad's house. Brandon and my Dad went for an early morning run, while my Mom and I had coffee and chatted. Then we all had a nice breakfast together.
Breakfast was super yummy and my Dad gave my Mom her first Christmas present (we were all waiting to exchange presents until my Brother's family arrived later in the week, but Dad wanted her to have this one before that). Her got her a new digital camera!
After breakfast, we loaded up and drove to D-ville to celebrate with my Mom's family.
My Granny always make a lovely spread of finger foods.
The newest member of our family being held by my cousin's son, T, having her toe's pinched by her Grandpa, my Uncle Rob, is my cousin Matthew's baby:
After much passing around of the new baby and catching up with each other, we all converged in the Living Room (left) and Foyer (right) to open presents.
My Granny & Grandpa gave Brandon and I a new address book (with family addresses already listed) and my Granny did a painting of me from the wedding (she's still putting some finishing touches on it, so I'll post it after it's done).
Brandon and I made an address yard sign for Granny & Grandpa. Here he is displaying it to Granny who was coming back down the hallway - I think he likes it! (I disguised the #'s for safety's sake).
My Mom also got a painting from Granny...and my Dad is being a Ham, as per his usual.
My beautiful cousin, Olivia with some of her presents:
And "Katie, the back board." She was nice enough to hold the trash bag for all the wrapping paper and my Dad and Uncles/Cousins were mean sneaky enough to bank paper wads off her into the bag.
I don't really know what was happening in this picture, but it makes me laugh. Inside that tin was a cake and it looks like Brandon is eye-ing it....but that my Mom might not be willing to share it.
After traveling 2 hours from L-ville to D-ville Christmas Day, Brandon and I drove about 45 minutes to our own home on Christmas Night.
We exchanged presents with each other that night before heading to bed after a long, but fun day.
December 26-28, 2011 - The Day after Christmas, we did laundry and re-packed and then drove back to L-ville to my parents house to be in town while my Brother's family was in town. We spent two nights and three days, enjoying good quality time together.
Here's our Family Shot for Christmas 2011, plus the Silly Family Shot:
We all sat down together on the afternoon of the 27th and Dad read the story of Jesus' birth in Luke.
Then we exchanged presents....
Isn't The Chief so cute???
The Kiddos got their new "Uncle Brandon" a gift card for his Kindle and printed it at home and colored it too!
My Mom got my Dad a Kindle too - now all the men in our family each have one.
Almost as if on cue - it began to snow! Love the looks on everybody's faces as they watch.
That evening, we enjoyed a Dance Performance in the basement by my nieces, complete with "Christmas with the Rat Pack" music, multiple costume and prop changes.....
....and Barbie back-up dancers:
The Tank and Brandon were the "Light Guys." The girls would say, "Lights On!" or Lights Off!" before running back and forth between "back stage" between each dance.
Another fun occurrence while Brad's family was in town, were several games of Battleship. I love this sequence below as Brandon helped The Tank defeat my Dad (of course my Dad usually lets The Tank win at anything they play together!)
What a great time of travels and family gatherings! We went to 3 different cities (one of them twice) in a matter of 6 days, attending 5 different gatherings with a grand total of about 8.5 hours in the car. Shoo whee! We wouldn't have missed a single thing though - what a great first married Christmas together!
