Noah's First Snow Day

I think it's safe to say, he didn't really like it. We'll try again next time it snows...and maybe ditch the plastic bags with rubber bands tied around his feet. I think those are kind of slick. =)

2009 in Review

Happy New Year Everybody!

Last year, I did a blog post in which I reminisced over the previous year by posting one picture that I felt described the month. I really liked going through my pictures and doing that, so I decided to do it again. It was hard to pick just one picture since some months we had a lot of things going on. I really liked 2009- it treated us a lot better than 2008 did (not that 2008 was bad...). Here's the year in review!

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January

Here is a rare family shot from the month of January. I started working for Wal-Mart in the HR department, which turned out to be a pretty short stint. I worked for 7 weeks, but got paid for 4 months. It was AWESOME! Anyways, this was a good month because it taught me to be grateful for the opportunity that I have to stay home and be with Noah. I was not very grateful before I realized what it was like away. Also, I lost the battle with myself that I was "meant to be a corporate business woman." No. I'm not. And I'm glad I finally realized that. It makes me much happier.

February

Honestly, February is typically one of my least favorite months. It is so cold and Valentine's Day is the only 'sunshine' that I look forward to! Anyways, February was the month that I got laid off at Wal-Mart, but I still had my editing job at the University of Arkansas. This picture is me with my class of high school seniors that I taught every other Saturday.

March

Drizzly March. Here's Noah wishing he could play outside. I really can't remember any big highlights from this month off the top of my head. We just did normal day to day things.

April

Noah and I had fun spending tons of time together. We loved taking trips to the library, going to Storytime, taking naps, watching Toy Story and other Disney Pixar favorites, cooking, etc. Jared also turned 26 and we had a fun easter themed party for him.

May

Jared and I took off for Cancun (at the height of the Swine Flu scare) and met up with my family for some rest and relaxation! This picture was taken at Chichen-Itza. We had such an amazing time. At the end of the month, my little sister moved to Arkansas and lived with us for the summer. My mom came with her for a few days and we did some pseudo touristy things, such as day trips to Eureka Springs and Fayetteville (UofA).

June

In June, Jared, Kallie, and I ran a half marathon in Joplin. It was fun to run it together and I especially liked training for it with Jared. I was happy and sad when it was over. Noah and I spent a lot of our summer days swimming and going to the park. The weather was really nice. Jared and I also took a trip to St. Louis for fun.

July

A real miracle happened to us in July. We got a phone call saying that we had the opportunity to housesit for a family that is living in India. We could move in right away. As you can see from pictures, it's a beautiful house and we absolutely love it. Major upgrade from the apartment living!!! We spent the last week of July moving. It was fun watching Noah adjust to the new house. It was so much bigger than what he was used to and he got scared at first because he couldn't see me from every spot that he was in! Of course, he soon got used to it and loves all the room to run around and play. Noah also turned ONE!

August

Kallie made a decision at the last minute to move back to Provo instead of staying here, which brought my mom back for another visit. We had fun eating junk food and watching movies. I also started teaching piano lessons for 10 people. I LOVE it. Jared and I spent as much time together as possible before he started another semester of school.

September

Jared began a killer semester in an effort to finish his bachelors degree before his 10 year high school reunion! (ha ha) He took 15 credits, in addition to full time work. I am proud to say that he got all A's and one B. Good job Jared!!! To compensate for his absence, Noah and I played A LOT. We started doing tons of playgroups and get togethers. I think this is when we started getting and enjoying Netflix. I watched lots of chick flicks while Jared was in class.

Jared and I also celebrated our 2nd anniversary by going to Dallas- Six Flags, Rangers game, Mexican food, Ikea, the Galleria mall, etc...

October

October was a great month. It's always a great month. Why? Because the month contains my birthday! If you recall, Jared surprised me with a day trip to Chicago! I also enjoyed some good shopping the week after my birthday. We all enjoyed Halloween and the 3 or 4 parties that went with it! I also handmade some Halloween crafts with some friends, which was a first and also really fun!

November

Thanksgiving is what sticks out to me most about November- and spending lots of time with Jared's family, who all moved out to Arkansas. We spent a few days in Memphis for the holiday, experienced Black Friday, went out to eat a lot, to Graceland and Beale Street, and had some good family time.

December

And finally, (do I have any readers left?!) December! The craziest, best month of all! I put a picture of us baking, because I feel like I ate/baked more food than in the rest of the year combined! I love the holidays! We spent a lot of time with Jared's family and with friends, and attending different Christmas parties. I also had my first piano recital, which I need to do a separate blog about. Like the half marathon, I was sad and happy for December to be over.

And there you have it. 2009. Over. What a great year. I'm looking forward to 2010 and the exciting things each month has in store for us. Thank You for sharing the highs and lows with us!

Christmas 2009

Wow. These pictures are out of order and they don't want to move around for me today. So, I guess I'll be putting captions on all the pictures this time!

Well, this first picture is some of the goods I got on December 26th- AFTER CHRISTMAS SALES! $$$$ cha-ching!

I had so much fun waking up at 6:30 and going around to all the stores looking for Christmas discounts. I'm especially stoked for how my Christmas tree is going to look next year because I finally was able to buy all the ornaments/decor that I wanted. Everything was a minimum of 50% off. Noah was pretty happy about my purchases- now if only Jared felt the same! (*nervous laughter*)

This picture shows Noah pretty soon after we finished unwrapping presents at our house. Took the energy right out of him! Opening presents is hard work.

Here is the present aftermath at our house. One of my favorite presents this year is the print sitting on the couch that we now have framed and hanging up. It's a picture of Jesus with a little boy walking beside him. Noah loves the picture and always points to and says, "Jesus." Then we ask him, "Where's Noah?" and Noah points to the little boy walking beside Jesus. It's precious. Great gift Mom and Dad- thank you!

This next picture was taken at my inlaws. We went over there in the afternoon and stayed until about 10 pm with all of Jared's family. We got some good presents over there! I got a workout outfit, earrings, and an awesome wallet. Noah got shoes, a book, a stick horsey, and a cute elephant outfit with matching hoodie. Jared got the Andrea Boccelli (sp?) christmas CD and electric clippers for what hair he does have! lol. Thanks Ron and Susie!!!

Here's Noah, taking everything in.

This pic is from our house, Christmas morning. Most of those presents under the tree are toys for Noah that Jared scored from work. The huge red one is the present Jared and I bought ourselves on Black Friday. It's the HP desktop that I am typing from as we speak. We LOVE it. We also discovered that we can now watch movies online from Netflix b/c we finally have a fast enough connection/good enough computer. So, we've been moving one of our couches into the office and watching tons of movies. Yes, the quality of our life has definietely gone up, yet again.

Here are two more after Christmas purchases that I made from Kohls. The Cookies for Santa plate only cost $3.80. The cute WISH decoration: $7.50. Both were 75% off! Love it!

I have to forewarn you that Noah is going to look like a zombie in these next few pictures. Anyways, here he is looking at one of his Santa presents. Nice, a talking vacuum!

Presents! Thank you Santa!

This one just makes me laugh.

Noah experienced his first snow on Christmas morning. Don't laugh friends from Montana and Utah. I realize you can still see blades of grass coming up from underneath the snow.

Noah's enjoying a little Christmas breakfast.

Sorry again that all the pictures are out of order. I do not think that blogger is very user friendly, but then again, maybe that is just me.

Enjoy your New Year's Eve and Day! I'll post again soon- I want to recap the year 2009. And let's be honest, I just love using my new computer.

Love,

Court

Merry Christmas!!!

Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season.

Love,
Jared, Courtney, and Noah

A Southern Thanksgiving

Jared and I drove to Memphis for Thanksgiving weekend, as I mentioned earlier. Thanksgiving Day actually took place in a small town called Booneville, Mississippi. We ate with all of Jared's relatives on his mom's side.

This was the first year I discovered a TRUE Southern Thanksgiving. Last year was pretty close, but this year was ALL OUT Southern!!! Keep in mind, that like most of you, I am used to a traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie type meal.

Behold, a southern Thanksgiving feast: ( I better put labels on some of these things)

Of course, there was a turkey.

& Collard Greens

& Sweet Potato Casserole

& Black Eyed Peas

& Cornbread Stuffing

& Macaroni and Cheese

& Green Beans, southern style (add grease)

& Pecan Pie

Absent: Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Pumpkin Pie, Green Bean Casserole, Jello Salads

It wasn't what I'm used to, but it really was a great experience that I'm thankful I had!!!

Have any of you experienced a Thanksgiving like this?

So Festive!

My friend, Melissa, had the BEST idea to start a blog, SO FESTIVE! to give ideas on how to make the holidays more festive, more memorable, and more fun. She has some great ideas on there and encourages readers to submit ideas. She spotlighted one of my ideas today and will again tomorrow. Check out the website---hopefully you can glean some new ideas/traditions for your families!

Love, Court

Let's hear it for the 100th post!!!

Friends, family, acquaintances...

This post makes 100 for me.

I do have to say, I am pretty proud of myself for keeping up with this blog---When I started, I have to admit, I caved to peer pressure. Now I see it as a way of journaling for our family and providing easy updates for those we don't see very often. Plus, I'm not going to lie, your comments are a good self esteem boost for a words of affirmation person like me!

So, I do have some catching up to do, but this post is to say THANK YOU for reading the blog and caring enough about our lives to do so. Here are a few pictures of the star of the show,

The little mister Noah