The Wells Weekly: Family Photo Session

Last week, our friends David & Melissa doubled as the family photographer and came out to the house to snap a few shots.  (This was prefaced by a delicious breakfast pizza the Donaldsons sponsored.)

Here's a few of my favorites.....

The Wells Weekly: Winter

I absolutely LOVE this time of year, and all (or most things) that winter brings.  I do admit, the other morning was a chilly one, and when I got up to take Manny out, opening the door was bone chilling!  So I'm pretty sure I was whining about having to get out of the warm bed.  The moment I opened up my devotional that morning the verse was:  "You made BOTH summer and winter."  (Psalm 74:17).  Wow and oops all at the same time.  Funny how God will set you straight real quick. (You can't tell me he doesn't have a sense of humor.)  Anyways, here are some more things I love about winter:

1.  Winter clothes:  I love sweaters, boots, hats, gloves....so warm and cozy!

2. Fa-la-la-la Lifetime: A girly Christmas movie every night starting December 1.

3.  Hot chocolate:  I have a cup probably every other day.  With marshmallows.

4. Christmas Events & Parties:  Victorian Christmas in Thomasville. Live Nativities. Cookie Swap. The Lawn Mower Parade. Tacky Sweater Christmas Party.  I love them all.

5.  Soup season: Cold weather calls for hot soup. Jeremie & I have cooked chili, taco soup & beef stew the past few weekends.  We eat it until it's gone. : )

6.  Operation Christmas Child:  This actually happens in the middle of the November, but I still consider it a holiday activity.  Jeremie & I have been doing this for years, even when we were dating.  Every year I find myself essentially sitting on the shoebox to make everything fit.  I totally wish I could see the sweet child that receives it. The neat thing is that they've added a feature where you can track your package to see what country it goes to!  Can't wait to find out.  If you you've never heard of this go to:  http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/

7. Winter College Football:  Rivalry games are played; shocking upsets ruin the rankings.  And the debate begins on whether a College Football playoff should be instituted as opposed to a "bias" BCS system.  Happens every year.  Don't know why the ESPN announcers are so surprised EVERY year.

8.  National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation-need I say more?


9.  Real Fires in the fireplace:  I know the gas logs are easy & clean, but there is nothing like a real fire.  My dad is the MASTER at a big fire, and we used to spend a lot of time in front of the fire doing our "thinking pose."  (One foot up on the hearth, one hand leaned against the mantel, then stare into the fire. And THINK.)  Jeremie can make a mean fire too; in fact, too good sometimes.  Last year, I was brushing out my hair and felt a chunk of VERY short hair on the very top of my head. (Think Alfalfa from Little Rascals.) Long story short, we finally realized that I was singeing my hair off by sitting in front of the fire too long!  (The evidence was the smell of something burnt one night.)  My hairdresser assisted in the recovery.

10. Christmas Tree Hunting: The last 3 years, Jeremie and I have gone to Tallahassee Nurseries to pick out our tree.  The place is so charming and the trees are hanging, not bunched up in a net laying on a sidewalk. The workers will even take it out and twirl it around for you if you wish.....Jeremie is very methodical about his choice tree; I love watching him choose.

*Disclaimer:  I know that when people think of Florida, the automatic mental picture is palm trees, sun, and sand.  To much surprise, the Florida panhandle is not as tropical as you think, in fact, we are under a freeze warning tonight!

Hope everyone is enjoying the season as much as I am!

The Wells Weekly: Thanksgiving

Whew...can't believe Thanksgiving was just last week!  Everything has moved on so quickly to Christmas that it seems like a lifetime away!  Thanksgiving was fabulous and busy.  I spent four nights in four different places!  Fortunately, since our families live so close, we get to make our rounds to everyone.  (Quick rounds, that is.)  

Round 1: Jeremie's family:  We got to spend some sweet time with Judah, who has already gotten so big!  He had his 1st set of shots the day we got home, and he was NOT happy.  Fortunately, I got lucky and when I held him, he settled down......since I didn't want to mess up a good thing (wink,wink) I held him a looong time.....and reluctantly handed him over to Uncle J eventually....

We finished up Round 1 by eating lunch with Jeremie's family.  It was great to catch up...everyone is so spread out now..so we have to talk 90 to nothing to squeeze in everything....

Round 2: My family: Then we headed to Hattiesburg to visit Grammy & Big Jack, and my aunt & uncle were there as well.  I couldn't resist Grammy's famous cornbread dressing, so I loosened up my belt, and took the plunge.  (And there was just enough room to squeeze it a Farm Cookie or 2.)  After that, Steven, Amy, I went to see Puss n' Boots, which was totally hilarious!  (I found myself trying to talk in a Spanish accent frequently afterwards.)  We loved it and it was fun to have a siblings only outing.The next day I caught up with Grandma & Papa and our conversations spanned from cooking failures to our faith...gotta love it....

Round 3: Black Friday Shopping: I honestly cannot believe Mom & I braved Black Friday, but boy did we have a good time.  We tossed around the idea the night before as we were eyeing the $19.99 boots at Belk, but I knew there'd be no point, as there would be nothing left by the time we got there.  Well, at 5:30 a.m., I got up to take a bathroom break, and Mom peeked in my room and said she was going to hit the town.  So I decided..what the heck...I can sleep later.  I definitely didn't look like a rock star, but I wasn't going to impress.  I was going to conquer. And that we did.  There were millions of boots left and the crowd wasn't bad at all.  In fact, we were probably a lot safer going at 6:00 a.m. then getting tazed and trampled at 3:00 a.m. We had a great time; it's been forever since Mom & I did a shopping marathon. 

Round 4: The Battle for the Golden Egg: After shopping and recharging, Amy, Mom and I left for Starkville at 6:00 Friday night!  I wanted to see some of the cute new shops, and Jeremie and I never have time when we go.  So Saturday we got up early and hit the town. Starkville has changed so much; it makes me feel so old.  Then again, it's been 5 years since we graduated...hard to believe. 

Jeremie and Dad rode up to Starkville together that morning, so we met them for some cheesesticks at the grill and headed to the game!  The weather was terrible but the stadium was rockin!  We are no fair weathered fans, so we covered up good and cheered the Dawgs to a 31-3 victory!!!!!  Nothing like beating Ole Miss.....

This little guy was not letting the rain get him down either; he stood in the middle of the sidewalk and  high-fived  people as they walked by....adorable...this will probably be our child one day....

Round 5: SEVEN.HOUR.RIDE.HOME. 

Will You Marry Me?

Sigh....the beautiful question Jeremie asked me 3 years ago today that wasn't even a question at all.  What I thought was a trip to The Junction to set up our tailgate tent for the Arkansas game turned into Jeremie on one knee in front of the Chapel of Memories.  I was TOTALLY stunned!  Fortunately I get to re-live the moment any time I want since J hired a photographer to catch the moment.  (Infinite points for him...)

Our 2.5 years of marriage have been a BLAST and such a blessing.  Don't believe all the crazy "ball and chain" jokes you hear....if you marry your best friend, it's awesome.  Not to say there aren't challenges....merging two lives together is not easy...but at the end of the day.....you are together.
In honor of the famous proposal 3 years ago, J surprised me with this tonight:

In addition to the flowers and chocolate, I didn't take a picture of the deer steak, fried green tomatoes and mashed potatoes that we had for dinner....  : )

I know it sounds kind of silly to make such a big deal of an "Engagement Anniversary"...and we don't do this every year.  (I had NO idea J was going to spoil me with goodies tonight.) But if you know anything about our dating history, we dated about 4 years and were so ready to be married.  But every time it seemed like we were getting closer (with jobs, financially, etc.) something would get in the way, and our engagement was delayed about 2 years later than we had originally hoped.  It was a frustrating time for us, but honestly, it drew us closer together and closer to God.  And eventually, He began to open all the right doors at the right times (just love how He does that).  So for us, the engagement was a big step forward we waited for a long time.

BTW, J is totally bragging about how many points he gets for this, and also how many points his guy friends are getting points deducted for this......At this moment he is cuddling with Manny and whining about how I didn't get him anything.....For better or for worse, right???

The Wells Family Nacation

Last weekend, we took off a couple days of work and took a four-day-long "nacation".  And no, I am not misspelling vacation.  There are vacations, there are staycations, and this one was a "nature" inspired trip, so we called it a "nacation".  We wanted to get away for a few days, but didn't want to spend all weekend on the road, didn't want to go somewhere too exciting where we felt pressured to tour a bunch of stuff, and also wanted to bring the little buddy along.  Lake Blackshear fit all the criteria:

Lake Blackshear was a 2.5 hour drive through the most beautiful back-country roads lined with cotton farms and pecan trees.  On the way, we experienced all things southern by eating fried chicken in a town that is "Home of the Syrupmakers",  stopped at a country store that had homemade jerky, and believe it or not, saw a deer hanging from a billboard about to be " field dressed", if you will.  I'm not even going to get into Jeremie's encounter with a lady named Skeeter in the Dollar General.  Anyway, the remainder of the weekend was fairly uneventful.  We did a lot of hiking with Manny, who had himself a ball, and was so tired, he was snoring like a person at night.  Of course we watched a lot of football and had some delicious meals at the restaurant at the resort.  

The little buddy was so happy to join in on the fun.  Just like a man, he closed his eyes and stuck his tongue out for the picture.

Jeremie just couldn't resist climbing the tree.......can't take him anywhere...

We did spend some time in Americus, about 30 minutes from Lake Blackshear.  It had the most adorable downtown,  with so many beautiful historic homes and buildings.....and just look at what intersection we found.....here's to you Dad....

The beautiful Windsor Hotel....I think built in 1890.  

The highlight though was most definitely the quality time J & I got to spend together. Words can't express how blessed I feel to be married to my best friend who makes our marriage his top priority.  Even after 6 years of being together, hanging out with him never gets old.  Looking forward to many more getaways with my wonderful husband.  

Agghh.....the sunset at Lake Blackshear....I look at this and think:  We serve a Mighty God.  

Happy Halloween!

Our friends hosted a costume party for Halloween last Saturday, so we dressed up as Woody & Jessie from Toy Story.  We always enjoy dressing up....Jeremie initially acts like he's really not into it, but when it comes down to it, and there's a costume competition at stake, he's says he may as go big or go home. (Hence, he was making spurs for his boots the day of the party.)  I have to thank my dear sister in law for letting me borrow her handmade Jessie outfit. Jeremie's was fun to put together and I learned how to use fabric bond from spending a morning ironing the cow print fabric on a vest we found a Goodwill.  I think our costumes turned out great.  Yeehaw!

The party also included Halloween Trivia, Candy Corn Relay, and Name That Candy (blindfolded).  Boys vs. Girls, of course.  I have to admit, the boys won this time, as Brandy (see Belle from Beauty and the Beast below) identified butterscotch chips as chocolate chips.  There was an eruption of cheers from the boys as we lost....and they aren't letting us forget it.  We'll get them next time, Brandy....we still love you.  

We had a great time......

Just for fun....here are a few "blast from the past" pics from our former Halloweens together.....so funny to see how we've changed.....

2008.....about a month before we got engaged....

2006........I know...what was I thinking...blonde hair?

And that's right...this is 2005!  About 6 months after Jeremie and I met!  

Oh the memories....hmmm...what should we be next year????

The Wells Weekly!

So I'm a little late getting this edition out....last week was fairly uneventful, other than the fabulous costume party we attended, which I'll post about later.  So just a few thoughts for now:

1. IT'S NOVEMBER!!!!  Where did this year go?  Can I get an amen???  Although, November means that Thanksgiving is around the corner, which means seeing our families and eating all my favorite holiday dishes, such as my Grammy's amazing cornbread dressing.  It also means that Christmastime is NEAR!!!  I'm ALWAYS ready for Christmas.  Before we know it, J and I will be lugging our THIRD Christmas tree up our two flights of stairs and I'll be rushing to get our photo Christmas cards out like I do every year. Can I get another amen?

2.  I started reading through the Bible in a year.....last August...Obviously, I didn't make the deadline.  So I'm trying to get back on track.  The Old Testament sure is hard to follow sometimes, especially all the genealogy.  Thank goodness for commentaries.

3.  J's Shining Moment of the Week:  Instead of a hilarious comment, I will share a dear story about what J did last Wednesday.  I had a particularly busy/stressful day last Wednesday and topped it of with a dear ole trip to Wal-Mart.  I have to admit, I was in a FOUL mood when I got home and J returned from hunting.  My first sign of "foulness" was when J asked what was for dinner.  When I dryly replied "cereal", he asked what happened to the tacos I had mentioned earlier.  I assume I gave him some sort of "foul" look, because the boy GOT BUSY making tacos while I viciously scrubbed the dishes that had overflowed in the sink. He sensed my mood and sweetly told me I should go sit on the couch, relax, and watch "The Middle".  After a few minutes of relaxing and yummy tacos, I was healed.  I love that J can tune into my needs and help me "recover".
Single ladies:  marry a man like this.

4.  More points for J this week:  He hung the hammock we bought in Nicaragua: I see a lot of books being read in this spot...

5.  Speaking of Nicaragua, we had a Nicaragua Reunion party on Friday.  It was so great to see the team again.  What a special bond we have from an amazing trip.  I still feel so blessed for having that opportunity this year.

6.  I am done with the 30 day shred and started a new Zumba Dance workout today.  I'm not a natural but I tried to shake it as much as I could and Manny said I did pretty good.  : )

7.  Since I don't have many exciting things to blog about this week, I'll end with a favorite verse of mine:  "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to HIS will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we asked of him".
- 1 John 5: 14-15