Saturday, December 31, 2011

Looking Back

Is 2011 seriously over?!? I wanted to do a recap of 2011 just like I did last year for 2010 :) Here some of my 2011 highlights.....

I got the opportunity to go to Washington DC for the March for Life in January! It was a really fun time with my friends, and I'm looking forward to going again this year.

I started piano lessons!

I had my Sweet Sixteen and I got my driver's license - crazy!

I began my cake pop obsession :)

I finished my Sophomore year of high school.

I went on a cruise, which turned out to be one of the best vacations I've ever had! I even got to swim with dolphins - one of my lifelong dreams.





I started my Junior year of high school.

I got a job.

I went to Brown County with my family.

I went to New York City at Christmas time - an experience I'll never forget.





I had an awesome Christmas spent with family!




Looking back on 2011, I'd say it was a pretty good year! I had so many fun times, and I had SO many lifelong dreams come true this year. For that, I am super grateful and blessed. Later on I'll post my predictions for 2012 - it should be interesting to look back on those this time next year!

Happy New Year's Eve - I hope this year is the best one yet for all of you!

Friday, December 30, 2011

This Week

It's been a crazy week for me, and I haven't had time to blog about it, so I wanted to do that now before I totally forget!

Monday
On Monday, I really didn't do a whole lot, which was nice after a crazy couple of days!

Tuesday
I had a dentist appointment in the morning, and then I had to babysit in the afternoon. Nothing overly exciting! I did go out to dinner with my friend Erin though, so that was fun :)

Wednesday
Wednesday was a really good day because I had absolutely nothing to do - ha! I ran to Target, picked up Chick-fil-A for lunch, and then headed home for most of the afternoon. I mostly sat on the couch and read my book with this little cutie....

I went out to eat with my friend Abby that night at a new place called Firehouse Subs - it was really good! Then we went to Orange Leaf for dessert. Again, really good!

Thursday
On Thursday I had to babysit again, which I wasn't too thrilled about, but it ended up being fun! We watched Enchanted, and I got to relax most of the time - Yay!

That night we had my little cousins, Maddie and Sydney spend the night. We ate pizza, watched Despicable Me, had an art show, played air hockey, and watched The Polar Express. Maddie and I had a little photo shoot too - we were cracking up and she kept asking me to take more silly pictures :)




This one's actually cute!




Friday
Today my mom and I headed out to the mall because I got a ton of gift cards for Christmas and I had to exchange something too. I got 3 shirts, a pad of paper, and 2 belts, and I ended up only paying $15 of my own money. Success! We actually did more talking than shopping too because we ran into a bunch of old friends at the mall, so we kept stopping to catch up!

And, no trip to the mall is complete without a stop at Yagoot!

I'm seriously loving this Christmas break!

Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas 2011

Wow! How is Christmas already over?!? It always goes by so fast, but I'm SO thankful for this Christmas - I had so much fun with my family!

On Christmas Eve my family got ready to go to church first. We took this picture of my family before we left :)

I had to take a few cute pictures of Coco too!


After church, we went over my aunt's house to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family.

There were a TON of presents!

Me with Maddie and Sydney.....I love this picture!

We were all snacking before the presents started!

Sweet Savannah!

Once everyone got there, we started opening presents. This picture pretty much sums up how chaotic everything was - ha!

Helping Sydney open her present from me.....

My big Christmas surprise was this present. I love how you can totally tell how shocked and excited I was in this picture. Can you guess what was in this little blue box...?

It was a necklace from Tiffany's. I wasn't expecting that at all! A Tiffany's necklace had always been something I'd wanted (who doesn't?), but I'd never really said anything about it! It's extra special to me because it was ultimately a gift from my grandpa, but my mom picked it out for me :) Can you tell how happy I am in this picture? I've seriously got the biggest smile on my face....

After opening all of the presents, it was time for dinner! We had honey baked ham, homemade mac & cheese, and so much more! It was all really yummy. After dinner I colored and played with my cousins. So fun!

All of the cousins were there, which rarely happens, so we got a good picture of everyone with my grandpa!

Me with Savannah....

Later on we took my grandpa home, and then we headed over my aunt's house on my dad's side just to visit for a little while.

After a busy and crazy day, we headed home to go to sleep :)

In the morning, Santa had been there - ha!

It's always so fun to open presents with my family. I love seeing everyone's faces when they open their presents!

I got this super cute giraffe print blanket that my dog keeps trying to take over....

My big gift from Santa this year was a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. I was so excited to get it - ha! I absolutely love to bake, and I've been wanting one of these for years!

I was laughing because the mixer seemed like a gift more suited to someone older than 16, but I also got Tangled, which seemed like a gift more suited to someone younger than 16 - ha!

After all of the presents were opened, my family had egg casserole, and then we relaxed for a few hours before we had to get ready to go to my grandma's house to celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family.

It always cracks me up how different my 2 sides of the family are. I feel like they are totally different, but I like that!

This year we went outside to get family pictures taken. It was actually really warm for the end of December - I think it was in the mid or upper 40s!





We opened presents over there, relaxed, talked, laughed, ate dinner, and then watched Despicable Me. We watched that last Christmas too. Now we decided that it is going to become a Christmas tradition - ha!

Overall, I had an excellent Christmas spent laughing and making memories with my family. I signed onto Facebook on Christmas Day, and I loved reading everyone's status. There wasn't a single status that didn't involved Christmas or being thankful for family. I think this is the first time I've ever logged on and not seen some kind of dramatic post. That made me so happy!

I've decided that my goal for the rest of this year and next year too is to live Christmas every day! I keep reminding myself that Christmas isn't a day, but a state of mind and a way of life. I'm hoping to choose joy and be thankful every day - not just on Christmas!

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And He will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
~ Isaiah 9:6

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!


Merry Christmas! After all the planning, shopping, and baking, I can't believe it's finally here!


I hope you all have an excellent Christmas spent with family!


Merry Christmas!

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
~ Romans 15:13