Christmas with Colin & TMNT Ornaments

We had our Christmas celebration with Kyle’s mom, his sister Heather, her husband Clayton, and our nephew Colin.  We decided this year to start a new tradition of making an ornament each year at our dinner party.  I saw this idea on Pinterest and knew it was the perfect choice for this year.  We made our own teenage mutant ninja turtle ornaments.  Colin also improvised and made his own alien turtle creation in addition to the regular crew of Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello, & Leonardo.

2014 Year in Review

This has been an incredible year for us and I continue to be extremely thankful for the many blessings in our lives.  We are preparing for some big changes in the New Year including moving so we’ve both been very reflective this year.  We can’t wait to see what 2015 has in store!

• Kyle changed jobs and moved to Lanier High School to become an Academy Lead and to continue teaching in the classroom
• Kyle turned the big 3 0
• We celebrated our 6^th wedding anniversary!
• I finally got my SLR camera and have loved learning more about photography
• Kyle presented at GCTE & NCTE
• I celebrated my 4^th work anniversary with T-Mobile
• I started a book club with an amazing group of ladies!September – The Giver; October – The 100 Foot Journey; November – Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children; December – Let It Snow

Weddings:

• Chad & Amanda on 6/7
• Emily & Wes on 9/13
• Blair & Jenna on 11/15
• Heather & Kyle on 12/28

New Additions:

• Kim & Austin had Owen in April
• Brian & Brant had Lucas in August
• Amy & Josh had Savannah in September
• Keri & Brandon had Lucas in November

Trips:

• Expedition Everest 5k in Orlando
• Colorado – Denver, Vail, Edwards, Glenwood Springs, & Golden
• Our 5th Annual 12 Mile Trip for the 4th of July
• Washington DC for the NCTE Conference

Races:

• iRun at the Bridge Church for the Lawrenceville Food Coop- 5k
• Dawg Jawg for the UGA Auxiliaries - 5k
• Expedition Everest at Disney World - 5k

Jenna's Beachelorette

This is another post that is out of sequence but I wanted to make sure to write about this fun girls weekend celebrating Jenna!  We rented an amazing house in Santa Rosa Florida.  It was just a mile to the beach and the neighborhood had a beautiful walking trail and sitting area with stunning views of the marsh.  I really enjoyed getting to know Jenna's friends better and can truthfully say after the weekend I consider all of them friends of my own as well.  We took turns cooking meals, had late night kitchen dance parties, enjoyed two lazy days at the beach, and a fun night out dancing in Destin.  It is a trip I'll always remember with some amazing ladies!

NCTE in Washington DC

This post is out of sequence but back in November we went to Washington DC for the NCTE conference.  Kyle stayed pretty busy listening to speakers and participating in his round table session but we managed to fit in a lot of sight seeing and fun as well.  Our favorites by far were:

• Getting a private tour of the Capitol building from an intern for one of the representatives. It was so much more fun and informative plus we got to move at our own pace.  We also got to go out on the Speaker's balcony which hands down is the best view of DC.  Big thanks to our friend Jeff for hooking us up!
• Newseum
• Walking the National Mall (the Lincoln and Jefferson monuments were my favorite) - the emotion in Lincoln's face and the beautiful architecture of the rotunda on the Jefferson memorial
• National Air & Space Museum
• Holocaust Museum - very powerful and emotional
• Karaoke with Nick's friends - sometimes the most fun things are experiencing places that locals that live in the area frequent
• Brunch with Kyle's Uncle Mark & Aunt Itura - they live in the area and were so sweet to come meet us for breakfast while we were in town.  

Emma is 1!

I can’t believe this little girl is already one year old!  I’m so glad I got to stop by her birthday party and love on this ridiculously cute birthday girl.  

Our 6th Annual Christmas Party

This is one of our favorite annual traditions!  This was our 6^th year hosting the party and it was our favorite we've had so far.  We had great turnout and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves.  We have really incredible friends and it brings a lot of joy to my heart to see all of our friend groups mingling.  I was also super excited that my best friend Alyssa could be there this year!  One of the most fun items I made was a throwback cocktail made from Surge that I ordered off Amazon, it was a very festive shade of green and brought back so many memories of middle school.  

Blair & Jenna’s Wedding

We were so honored to be part of their big day. We’ve known Blair since high school and fell in love with Jenna as soon as we met her.  Their wedding was at the Roswell Historic Cottage.  It’s a beautiful space with some modern elements (exposed brick walls and metal ceiling beams) and some classical elements (gorgeous crystal chandeliers and beautiful gold chairs).  They did a ton of DIY projects so everything matched their personalities and sense of style perfectly.  It also gave us lots of excuses for girls’ nights to work on crafts.  Blair made the altar that they got married under and brewed the beer for the reception.  It was such a beautiful ceremony and such a fun reception!  This is one picture of the happy (and super photogenic) couple and one of the bridal party pictures from their crazy talented photographer Tim Harman; I can’t wait to see the rest once he gets done editing.