3 years of daisy

Today is little miss prissy pant's 3rd/21st birthday!!! She is one of the best dogs ever and I can't even begin to imagine life without her. She has the sweetest personality and is so loving to pretty much anyone that she meets. She is simply just the best and we love her so darn much!!!

So in honor of the princess I thought you would like to see some of my favorite pictures of her throughout the years.

her first picture ever 

big brother was so proud when we got her ;)

She loves to sleep on me

someone needs a bath but she has her bow!!!

say whattt.... 

how sweet is this?!?!

my man and his princess

picking the perfect tree {2012}

Christmas is our favorite time of the year. It has specials meanings to both of us and we just love spending this time with friends and family. My entire life my family has gotten our Christmas tree from the same place and since James did not grow up with a real tree, we decided to keep my family tradition so since we have lived together we have gotten our tree there as well. It is something I will always remember and can't wait to take my children there someday. So Saturday we headed out to get our tree but little did we know it would take a very long time to pick our tree this year. From the moment we walked into our house the first time we both said we wanted a huge tree and we wanted in front of the window in our living room. It was one of the things that actually sold me on the house. Like I said before Christmas is my favorite holiday and having a perfect spot for our tree is a must in any house we live in! We spent almost two hours looking at trees and not one of them was "the one". Finally I saw some trees in the back that had just been delivered so I went and found a worker (who looked important) and he started helping us. But still we had no luck! So he decided to get the owner!!! At this point I think my face was as red as a fire truck! I was so embarrassed that it was this difficult to find our tree. He went to the back and brought out one tree. He looked at me and said "This is going to be the one. It is your tree". So they unwrapped it and I sat there for another ten minutes looking at it and finally decided it was the one!! I think James was more relieved at that point than anything. He probably would have taken anything by then. So James went to get the stand and I went to pay and then it hit me... we didn't get a picture in front of our tree!!! I think I might have made a scene because I was running out of that little building saying "Wait, Wait"!! But it was too late they had already started trimming it and getting it ready to put in the back of the truck. So I didn't get the picture I wanted :(
But at least we finally got our tree and it is beautiful! It still isn't finished but I am hoping to finish it up this weekend!

Here it is!!! So big and pretty!!!

OHHHH and just thought you should know....I HAVE ONE LESSON PLAN LEFT!!! I am so excited to be finished with this semester and move onto student teaching. Most of all I am ready for my husband to come home from this stupid long distance job and to enjoy our favorite holiday together!!!!

thanksgiving & black friday festivities

The last few days have been absolutely insane around here. We spent our thanksgiving driving around from house to house as usual. We had lunch at my grandmothers, visited my mom that afternoon, and then drove an hour and a half to have dinner with James' family. It was busy and hectic but we would not have it any other way. Spending my holidays jumping around from house to house is all I have ever known and to me it is the holidays. It took James a little while to get used to it, since he grew up with  only one family event but over the years it has become the normal to him too. We never want to miss out on seeing family for a holiday so we always try to make sure we get to see everyone. A plus to it is all the yummy food we get to eat!!! Thanksgiving has a whole new meaning when you eat three of them in one day!!! So we spent the day visiting, eating and enjoying every minute of it!!! James and I have so much to be thankful for. We are blessed beyond belief for all of the amazing things that have come our way this year and Thanksgiving day is just a reminder to me to be grateful for what I have. I know God has a plan and all of the bad that has been happening lately has happened for a reason and we will be stronger and better people in the end. I am so lucky to have James here through it all. I have the most amazing husband a girl could ever ask for. He is the best and I am most thankful for him.


Then came the craziness... Black Friday shopping!!! We left Zachary around 7:00pm to get home around 8:30. We headed straight to my friend Lacey's house. They had already been to Walmart to get a certain toy and were dropping them off at home and heading out again. We spent the rest of the night shopping all over town. We ended up going to Target, Kohl's, Macy's, Old Navy, Walmart, Victoria Secret, JC Penney, and Big Lot's. We got home at 8:00 am!!! We went in with an open agenda and that was the key to having fun!! The only thing I wanted we ended up ordering Thursday morning from Target.com and didn't have to wait in a long line so the night was just fun!!! I sadly forgot to take any pictures to document our first Black Friday experience!! We were just too busy shopping our little booties off!!!


Today Christmas starts for us! James is helping his dad right now, then we are going visit my friend Lauren and her precious new baby girl and after that we are off to get our Christmas tree!!! We are both so excited. Christmas time is our favorite time of the year and James and I go all out!! This is going to be our first Christmas in our own house and we can't wait to deck it out. And to top our amazing holiday weekend off we still have one Thanksgiving to celebrate!! On Sunday my grandfather is having the whole family over and cooking another Thanksgiving feast for us!!

our not so little visitor

Friday morning when I left I saw this dog at the beginning of the neighborhood and thought "hmmm I wonder who he is for" but soon forgot about him and went about my day. Friday night I had dinner with friends and got home to that same dog at my door. He was cold and pushing his way inside my house and my heart melted. Being a puppy lover, it is so hard to push a dog out. I just couldn't so I thought "Ok I will put him in the back yard and give him some food and water." Well he had other plans. As soon as I closed the back door her started howling!!!! Did I mention he is a beagle mix??? And did I mention that is the one breed I just don't seem to like. They are so big, pushy, and their sense of smell is way too good for my liking. Of course that would be the dog that showed up at my house. So I thought for a second and in a moment of weakness I let his booty in my house! I just got this feeling from him that he was a sweetheart and was a house dog. He spent the next two days sleeping. Saturday when I got up I went to the store by my house and put up a sign saying we found a dog. I asked a worker and they said a few days before someone had come in and asked if they had heard anyone say they found a dog but did not leave a name or number. I then spent the day thinking about a little kid sitting at home crying because their dog was missing.
Fast forward to today. He was a lot more awake and making himself at home and I was just not liking having a third pup in the house. He is a great dog and the sweetest thing but it just wasn't going to work. I started to really worry that we would never find his owners but around 7:45 a man called and said he saw my sign and it was his dog. They immediately came get him and I was so relieved. The weird part was they were kind of rude and didn't even say thank you. If it was my dog I would be so grateful but it honestly kind of seemed like they did not care which made me sad because I started to think that he could have had a bad life with them or something. I have to not think that way though! So I am glad to find his owners and I hope he is happy to be home.

family lunch

This past weekend was very eventful for us!!! Friday night I attended a bachelorette party (post coming later this week) and then Saturday we cooked lunch for James' family.

So when I got home at 2am Friday night/Saturday morning we  okay James (I might or might not have been highly intoxicated sshhh) put the meat cooking in the crock pot so that it could cook all night long and be ready for lunch. James' sister, brother-in-law and and sweet little nephew were coming from Zachary (about 1.5 hours away) and we expected them to be here around 11:30 so we woke up early and tried to make sure everything was cooking and clean for when they got here. When they got here we decided to hurry up and take a few pictures for our Christmas cards. You see my SIL just got a fancy new camera for an amazing deal (which I am totally jealous about) and we asked her to take a nice updated pic for the Christmas cards we WILL get out this year ;)

After that my in-laws arrived and we had such a good time visiting with everyone and loving on Judah!! He is growing way to freaking fast and I hate not living close together. I grew up with my family living 5 minutes away and never really understood what it was like to live in different cities. It has really hit James and I hard since Judah has been born because we are watching him grow up on a computer screen and not in person. But that is life and I we have learned to cherish the time we do have together. He is such a happy smiling baby!! While my mother-in-law was holding him I walked up and he held his arms out to me and my heart melted!!!! I was so happy he wanted me to hold him and didn't think I was a total stranger. I seriously wanted to cry. I can't even imagine what it will be like when I have one of my own.

The only picture I got. But seriously how hot does my hubby look with a baby ;)

Sadly their visit went by way too quick and Judah was ready for a nap so they headed home around 2. We had so much fun hosting our first family dinner lunch in OUR own house (I still can't believe we are homeowners) and are so glad they got to come over. They also brought a sweet house warming present that we used the next day to make a yummy dinner!!! I just love having people over so much and can't wait to have Christmas at our house too!!!

Our awesome housewarming present!!!!

Here are a few of the pictures we took that day!!! Once again a huge shout out to my sister-in-law for snapping them for us!!! They are great and will make a perfect Christmas card!!!!

how cute are these two!! She is a daddy's girl for sure!!! ;)

Our favorite!!!! 

insta+lately {link up}

Good morning!!! Today I am doing another link up with Jenn at Perfectly Imperfect. Since I  have been crazy busy with school, blogging has been on the back burner. I am so ready for December to be here and to launch my blog in a new direction (well kind of)!!! But for now here is a little bit of what we have been up to via Instagram.

hubs and I on our way to vote

first time voting

two boxes in one day!!! Always brightens my day

James' first attempt at a Pinterest recipe... and it was a success

cajun wine glass

watching my brother perform with his high school band

watching the lsu game with great friends

little miss birthday girl with her favorite gift... Dora

 the candy I bought for the trick-or-treaters that never came ;(

never too old for a card and goodie bag from your grandparents

How cute is her new cheetah print jacket?!?! She is not so amused!

election day {2012}

Technically we voted last weekend but we still voted and that is all that counts!!! Since James isn't home during the week he voted early and I decided to go ahead and go with him. This was our first time voting (I know kind of shameful). Since we were not 18 during the last presidential election we couldn't vote and since then we have not made it to one single election. I am a firm believer in only voting if you are educated on what you are voting for, which is why we have never voted. But believe me we have been educating ourselves for quite some time and made the decision we thought was best. Luckily we agreed on our decision and there was no need for a family feud!! ;) Voting was such a great experience for both of us. We had to wait for about 45 minutes (which I hear is nothing compared to what some people waited today)! After waiting we got to go in the room and vote together and it was so much fun!! I know I sound silly but it is really something I have always wanted to do and it was awesome!!!! Sadly we were so excited after I forgot to get a sticker and I am still super bummed about it!! 

Hope you made it out to the polls and voted for the candidate you believe is the best choice! 

what i am thankful for {week1}

Ideally I would love to write a post everyday about what I am thankful for in November... but that is just not going to happen. I am knee deep in school work and until December 8th it is just not going to stop. With that beings said I decided to write a post once a week about what I am thankful for from that week. I have so many amazing things to be thankful for in my life but sometimes I get caught up in what is going wrong in my life instead of the good.

Okay so this week, I am thankful for my husband coming home. He was not supposed to be home this weekend and I was devastated. It has been a really long week for both of us and the thought of going two weeks without seeing each other was heartbreaking. Lucky for us, his boss changed his mind and sent the guys home (Thank you Baby Jesus). Once again the weekend has gone by way to fast but having him home is exactly what I needed.

I am also thankful for my grandmother this week. She is my best friend and is truly an amazing woman. This week we have had lunch three times. We always try to do lunch at least once a week but this week it happen to work out three times!! It was so nice to have her to talk about during this difficult week. She is just so awesome. LOVE HER SO MUCH!

Lastly I am thankful coffee and Halloween candy!! Another key to getting myself through this week and I don't think an explanation is needed to why I am thankful for it... they are both amazing---bottom line.