in a nutshell...

so the au/bama game was fun...but the people i saw made it a lot funner...

and then Thanksgiving happened. i know i said i would write a top ten list of the things i'm thankful for...but the people in these pictures sum it all up....family, laughter, silly faces, reasons to eat tons of good food, and the tradition of singing together after the fish fry shows so much. you see jared and uncle butch playing guitar for us here. we sang silly songs from the 80s, country music, the classic "grandma's featherbed", and the incredibly unforgetable "saint and the grizzly bear", written by my uncle about his parents (my great aunt and uncle). every year we sing it, every year half the crowd cries. the "saint" and the "grizzly bear" are both gone now, but the strength they instilled in our family grows stronger...man i love my family. it was a good time to say the least!

and this week my own little family got a christmas tree....

me and jared were talking last night about how we focus on the day of christmas mistakenly, instead of the entire season. funny right? we prepare for this single day as if it is all that really matters. but in reality we should celebrate the whole season...make it a time of focusing on all that the one day actually means, what the birth of christ has done and continues to do! its like the analogy from premarital counseling..."dont focus on the wedding day but on the lifelong marriage". i'm encouraged to chew on the lifelong change that this day has brought, instead of the short 24 hours that we typically celebrate.

wahoo!!!

i just had to let everyone know that i love the place i work!

they are letting me go super early for thanksgiving and still paying me...i get to head to the gump and start cooking with mom! i'm so excited about this thanksgiving weekend...fish fry at the farm, hanging out with tracie and justin, maybe, just maybe, a quick visit to billie's house, but...of course there will be no horseback riding for me! tons of family in town and lots of friends too....plus the good food, whats not to be thankful for??? i am just glowing!

i'll definitely have to do a top ten list of things i'm thankful for...as should we all!

on a different note, our family experienced a loss today. i'm not sure the details, but my cousin's brother-in-law passed away this morning (i've never met him because he's my cousin's other side of the family) all i know is it was abrupt and we will be surrounded by a mixture of joyous and grieving family for the next few days. so please pray for peace to transcend all questions and joy to abound amongst us. i'll give details when i have them. thanks for the prayers in advance.

i sure am thankful for all of you and wish we could all celebrate together!! maybe fry a turkey and hang it from a tree in the front yard???

happy birthday biscuet....hope it's fabulous!

life in the dorm...

so, now that i've made it out of the second middle school....you know, life after college is like middle school...i've entered the dorm, again. sounds fun right?? most days it is, but right now i'm just plain bored. my office is great, the people are great, and most of the time the work is great, but when there's no work to be done and you still have to be here, the minutes seem like hours. kinda like those awkward hours in between classes when you'd go back to the dorm, everyone else would be studying or in class and you had NOTHING to do. i cant just run chat it up with my new friends cause they have things to do today. (though i sure was good at interrupting studying in the dorm! maybe i should let that habit run over into my office life! ) so just as if i was bored in the dorm, i resort to shopping online or snacking--just dont really want to gain that freshman fifteen, so that's not the best plan!
but seriously, i think my office is like a dorm-- everytime someone walks by the door they speak, often stopping in just to see what i'm doing, see how i've rearranged, and if i've started decorating this little room. somedays when the workload is rather large, the short interruptions are great breaks, and others they are just something slowing me down and making me work later. but i definitely have enjoyed getting to know the folks in here. most are extremely cool. and just like you take a tour of the dorm and see people's rooms, i often casually stroll through the halls to catch a glimpse of people's personalities based on how crammed their office is with important things. at this point mine is a little bare. but somedays i have to step over huge stacks of papers just to get to my desk....so that says i deal with important things sometimes right? i'm not the only bored one today-just the only one on the time clock. my lead attorney was bored today too. but he doesnt have to sit here. he went to play golf. yeah-must be nice. since i cant just up and leave like him, i find joy in taking fieldtrips with suzanna to weird places i didnt know existed in my office, like the new cool break room, the gym (yeah a whole huge gym with showers and everything), a huge library with our own librarian, and the founders office-quite nice. and i go look out the best view of the office to make sure all the pretty trees are still there. so, i took a pic of the pretty trees from the break room and as soon as i find the cord to my camera i will load it for you!
view from the dorm to come...