Baby it's cold outside...

Joel and I are so excited! It snowed in Jacksonville!! Yesterday when we heard it was snowing in Alabama, we were hoping we would get snow too, even if it was just snow flurries. Starting around 8 A.M. this morning, I called Joel from work to tell him to look out the window at the snow and it has been snowing ever since. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Our first Christmas seemed to somewhat relate to the Griswold's Christmas Vacation. On the morning of Christmas Eve, Joel, Troy, Taz and I began our journey to Birmingham. Just to give a mental image, our car was packed to the ceiling with just enough space for Joel to see out of the back window, Taz was in his crate and Troy in my lap. After stopping every two hours to let the dogs go to the bathroom and for me to walk around, we finally made it Birmingham a little over ten hours later. Luckily, we made it back home just in time to spend Christmas Eve at Joel's Memaw and Big Daddy's house with all of the Warren's. The night was filled with all the kids opening presents, dinner, our dogs running crazy throughout Memaw's house, reading the Christmas story, and singing Christmas carols by candle light. We spent the night with Joel's parents and needless to say we were both exhausted. After exchanging presents with them and getting the dogs settled we bothed crashed. Thanks to Taz, neither of us were able to get much sleep because we discovered he snores louder than anyone either of us know.
On Christmas Day, we ate lunch and opened presents with my mom's side of the family. After leaving my grandmother's, we went to my parents' to let Troy and Taz play outside with my Aunt and Uncle's dog, Ralph, and my cousin's dog, Wookie. After lots of running and playing ball, the dogs were exhausted and we went inside to exchange presents with my parents and relax for a few minutes while we enjoyed looking at all of our wonderful presents. Before we knew it, it was time to go spend time with Joel's parents, Matt, Leah, their kiddos, Justin, and Cardin. We watched the kids open more presents and then all the couples played Taboo. Leah, Cardin and I blew the guys away!
Our last two days at home were a little more laid back and relaxing. Friday morning, we ate breakfast with my parents. After breakfast Joel, my Dad and the dogs went for a walk in the woods to see if they could see any deer. Once they got back, we all went on an adventure to start the search for the perfect house for once Joel and I move back to Alabama after his enlistment. We saw several houses we liked, but hopefully will be able to come back to visit in the summer and continue searching. Later that night, we met Joel's parents for dinner. Saturday morning, we left my parent's house and had breakfast with Mr. and Mrs. Warren. After breakfast, we went back to spend a little more time with my parents, pack our bags and load the car. Once Joel and my Dad had everything packed, everyone including the dogs went back to the Warren's to see everyone before we left to head back to Jacksonville in the middle of the night. Time flew and we all had so much fun while we were home. We are both counting down the days until we move back!

Goodbye Gilbert

After a month and a half of emergency room visits, lots of trips to different doctors, an EEG, CT scans, ultrasounds, a basket full of prescriptions, and not being able to eat anything other than rice or a plain baked potato my doctor finally decided my gallbladder needed to be removed. Throughout the long journey, Joel decided to name my gallbladder Gilbert since it was causing so many problems and everyone other than the doctors in Jacksonville seemed to know exactly what seemed to be the problem. On December 22, we said our final goodbyes to Gilbert and I am finally back to normal and Gilbert-free!

MAG-29's Christmas Party

During the week before Christmas, Joel and I went to his unit's Christmas party at Mike's Farm. There were several activities already planned for everyone to do before dinner. When we first arrived, we went on a hayride through the woods to see the display of thousands of Christmas lights as well as a live nativity. After the hayride there was time to spare before dinner and Joel was determined to find the petting zoo he had heard people from work talk about. We found the petting zoo and fed several goats, but it was too dark to venture around to see the other animals. It was cold and rainy so to stay dry before dinner we discovered a gift shop and bakery. After wasting time in the gift shop, we enjoy a delicious country home-made meal.