2007

With this being the last day of the year, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on this past year. I really started 2007 off with a bang. On the 15th of January, Tayson was born! This has been the most wonderful thing I could've ever experienced. Everyday this year was just so exciting and new with him!!! Words can't explain the overwhelming love and bond that I feel for him.

On January 18th, Justin's grandma, June, passed away unexpectedly. We were very close to her and this was a very hard time for us. Just having had Tayson was the only thing that helped everyone through this tough time.

In March, Justin and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary!!! In May, Tayson and I went with my mom and sisters to Michigan to see my cousin graduate from college. This was Tayson's first big trip and we had a great time getting to see family that we really don't get to see often enough.

On July 1st, I celebrated my 24th birthday. While this wasn't a very exciting, Justin's 25th birthday was July 9th! I threw him a HUGE birthday and it was so much fun. I bought him 25 gifts for every year of his life...that was lots of fun!!!

On August 23rd, we lost Justin's grandpa to cancer. Having just lost his grandma in January, this was probably one of the hardest things we have been through together. We spent so much time with his grandparents that we were left with a void in our lives. This was definitely the worst part of 2007!

In September, my brother-in-law, Billy, went back to Iraq. He is in the US Marine Corp and this is his second tour of duty. While I hate it when he is gone, I love that my sister moves back home while he is gone. They are stationed in Twentynine Palms, CA so I don't get to see her all that often.

At the beginning of November, one of my best friends lost her sister. We grew up together and her family is like my family!

In December, my baby sister turned 16!

These experiences, both good and bad, were the big things that made up my life this year. I pray that 2008 can be filled with good health, wealth and happiness for everyone!!!

Tayson's first Christmas!!!

I know this blog is really late, but I thought maybe if I got it in before the New Year, it would still be okay! I have just been crazy busy at work, it seems like everyone wants to close their loans before the end of the year. Anyways...this was Tayson's first Christmas and it was wonderful! I truly love Christmas time and having him here to share it with, made it a million times better!!!

I don't know if I ever mentioned this before or not, but Tayson is the first, and only, grandbaby on either side of our families. So...he is just a "little bit" spoiled and I must say, it is ALL the grandmas! :)

He had such a wonderful Christmas and got some really neat toys and very cute clothes. I told Justin that we may have to really start seriously discussing building a new house before we are completely out of room. With Tayson's birthday being in January, I can only imagine where we are going to put everything!

Our Christmas started on Monday evening when we went to Justin's mom and dad's house for dinner. We had such a good time and Tayson enjoyed getting to see Aunt Jaclyn(Justin's sister who lives in Atlanta).

When we left there, we went to my Aunt Becky's house and opened gifts and had some awesome desserts! She made this chocolate cheesecake ball that was to die for!

On Christmas morning, my family and Justin's family all came over to see what Santa had left for Tayson and watch him open his gifts from mommy and daddy! We all ate breakfast and watched Tayson play with his new gifts. He had such a good time showing everyone his toys, he is such a ham!

Later that morning, we went to Justin's grandparents house on his dad's side and visited for a little while. We weren't able to spend a lot of time there but we wanted to go by and see everyone. After that, we went to my mom and dad's house and had Christmas dinner with my family and opened our gifts. I got lots of cute clothes, which were much needed. I have had a hard time finding stuff to wear to work this winter and I couldn't really figure out what happened to all of my stuff or why I didn't like any of the stuff that I have, then I realized, I was pregnant all last winter and only bought maternity clothes so it has really been 2 years since I bought any new work clothes. So...now I am in business!

Santa also made a stop at my mom and dad's house...Tayson got a wagon and a rocking horse! He especially loves the horse, he named him Trigger (actually PaPa did!). He knows that if you squeeze his ear, he moves his head and tail and makes noise. It is so amazing to me how much his is picking up on things now!

Well...I know this blog has gotten REALLY long so I will stop for now! I don't have a lot of Christmas pics with me at the office right now but I promise I will post more later. Here are just a few...

Random...

I know it has been awhile since I blogged but time seems to be flying by me right now. There is so much that I have wanted to blog about and I just haven't gotten around to it.

First off...The Razorbacks got a new coach! I know that this is old news to everyone by now, but I am so excited about this. I am a HUGE Razorback fan and think that this is just so great for our team!!! I can't wait for football season to start now!




To show just how much I adore the Razorbacks, I have posted some pictures of Tayson's nursery...








Last week Justin and I decided that we were going to take Tayson to see Santa. So...we got him all dressed up in his little Santa suit, and headed to the mall. Little did we know, it was pet night. There were dogs everywhere! Tayson loved that part. However, when we got up there to see the big man himself, Tayson was not so thrilled.

Needless to say, mommy ended up sitting on Santa's lap, holding Tayson!

On Thursday night, we went out to dinner with Grandma, PaPa, Aunt Taylor, Aunt Ally and Beau for Ally's 16th Birthday. We had so much fun and, knock on wood, Aunt Ally is doing so good at driving. So far, the FJ is still in one piece!!


On Sunday night, our friends Jen, Justin and their son Cole came over for dinner and to exchange our Christmas gifts. One of the things they got us was this really cute Razorback ornament...

They also got Tayson a really neat picture of the Razorbacks for his bedroom...I LOVE this pic!

We also got our first taste of Christmas with Tayson. I was really worried that he wouldn't be that excited about opening his gifts but acutally, he was a pro!!



Monday night was Justin's company Christmas party. Actually, this is kind of funny because he and his dad are the company! So, really it was just us going out to dinner with Grammy and PaPa H. They brought Tayson an early Christmas present to open so, again, we got more practice!!!


On Tuesday night, The Pecks came over and we did our Christmas exchange with them. I know this is starting to sound like a broken record, we keep doing the same thing over and over again. It is just hard getting together right at Christmas time because people go out of town and are just so busy this time of year! They got Tayson this really cool walker/scooter, that will hopefully help him get more interested in walking. Right now, he has absolutely NO interest! He would rather mommy or daddy carry him, or just crawl there himself. He really did have fun playing with his new toy, at least until he realized that we got Kaid a nerf gun! Then, that was far more exciting than his walker!!!




Anyways, I will stop rambling about what has been going on in our lives now! I hope that everyone is enjoying the Christmas season as much as we are!!!

Santa is busy!

My mom got Tayson this really cute Santa outfit and I decided that I was going to try and take pictures of him in it. However, he had a different idea. Have you ever tried to take a decent picture of a 10 month old? He wasn't having any part of it! Everytime I thought I had his attention, he would look away. Finally, I set him in his high chair so that he would have no choice but to look at me (or so I thought). So...here are some of the random shots.















On another note, my sister will be 16 in less than a week now. Thursday, December 13th is her birthday. I am posting this as some what of a warning to those of you who live and drive around the Fayetteville area. It has been a long time since I learned how to drive, and I guess I sort of forgot how difficult it may have been. She is getting much better, but still needs lots of work!

When they first began looking for her a car, she immediately decided that she wanted a Toyota FJ Cruiser. My parents told her that this was probably not going to happen since this was the first year they were made and it would be too expensive for her first car. However, secretly, I knew that if she wanted it, she would get it! Remember, she is the baby!!! So...it has been a big suprise for the past couple of weeks, but on Sunday, the cat was let out of the bag.

We were all over at my mom and dad's house, including her boyfriend, Beau, who was in on this and has been teasing her for months now about knowing what she was getting and how she might be a little disappointed. My mom told her that we were going to go ahead and celebrate her birthday then, since we were all there. She started out by opening up a little FJ Crusier (like a hot wheels car). My mom told her that she would just have to make due with that until she graduated from high school and they could get her one. Next, she opened up a black t-shirt that said "Got FJ Cruiser?". At this point, she was really thinking we were all evil! Finally, she opened up the box with the key and this is the picture I took...




Here is a picture of the car. On a side note...I have always thought these cars were rather ugly, but I think it is growing on me! Anyways...Happy Birthday Ally, We LOVE YOU!!!