Ryan's Graduation

December 15, 2012 was my childhood friend, Ryan's, graduation. He graduated  cum laude with a double major in criminal justice and psychology. Mom, Deavin, and I went and joined the Buckelews for dinner afterwards at Macaroni Grill. Congratulations, Ryan! We're proud of your accomplishments.

Scenes of Christmas, Animal Style

Here are some of my favorite Christmas photos of the sweet animals in my life. ;) 

Hopefully they'll never get tired of being my little models.

Here's Wilford in front of our tree this year. He loves Christmas as much as I do.

Ava enjoys wearing her Christmas cape. She's a tiny, feline caroler. 

Baxter in Christmas wonder.

All animals are well dressed.

Even my 17-year-old sister.

My first son, Briggs, always looking guilty.

Molly is seriously the sweetest cat ever.

I'm my dreams I'm Christmas-ing with you

I'm a little late, but Merry Christmas!

This year was a little different. A lot. I worked Christmas Eve and Christmas day, which was a huge bummer. I thought I was mentally prepared for it since we had our "Christmas" two weeks before in Disney World. Well, I was wrong. I was super depressed. Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year. I absolutely love the cheer and emotion that comes with the season. I love seeing the look on others' faces as they unwrap an unexpected gift from you, that look of confusion yet pure joy that you would even think of getting them something. I love the family time that comes with holidays, and all of the hilarious conversations that ensue at gatherings. Needless to say, my sinful, selfish, human nature left me feeling angry that I wasn't able to spend these very important days with family. Instead, I was at a hospital for twelve and a half hours straight. Holding my pee. I realized my attitude wasn't Christ-like, but I know that God was using me at work this year for some reason that's beyond my understanding. All I know is that I was there to make a difference in someone's life this Christmas. Hopefully I did in at least some small way.

After work, I drove through the rain (we had storms throughout Christmas day) to my parents' house to eat and meet up with them, Daniel, and Deavin. We exchanged gifts and I was able to really enjoy Christmas night. It was also priceless to watch my parents open our gift to them, an iPad. I've never been able to purchase anything truly "nice" for my parents, and I wanted this year to be different. They were obviously very surprised. 

We racked up on quite a few gift cards, including Sumo (yay!!), Logan's, Academy Sports, Sephora (yay again! I get the eye shadow I've been drooling over), and Sears. Unnecessary money came from Granny & Papa, of course. My parents gave me a Jim Shore Minnie Mouse nurse figurine:

I love Jim Shore's Disney figurines! This was my dad's idea, too.

I also got a new Under Armour workout top from mom. I can't believe my parents still got us a few gifts considering our gift this year was our trip to Disney World. Ahem, I'm planning 2013's Disney trip in my head. ;)

Deavin gave me a few Disney DVDs, Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling, and a Chi hair straightener. 

Christmas at Disney!

The morning of Wednesday, December 5th, Mom, Dad, Deavin, and I flew to Orlando to begin our Christmas vacation. We spent Wednesday in Tampa, ate at Circles in Apollo Beach, visited Tracy's new house, and stayed with Aunt Janice and Uncle Bob to prepare for our trek to Orlando the next day. We ate A LOT on Wednesday, which was simply a foreshadowing of the entire trip!

Mom, Dad, Deavin, and I left Aunt Janice & Uncle Bob's house around 7:30 on Thursday morning, en route to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. We arrived right after 9 AM and began our fun-filled day, starting with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, of course. Deavin and I visited this theme park last year on our honeymoon (which was a horrible experience altogether, but that's a different story for another day). So, it was Mom and Dad's first time to experience Universal Studios. We went to Olivander's, went through Hogwarts and rode the simulated ride inside of the castle, ate at The Three Broomsticks, and visited Honeydukes and the joke shop. After spending a couple of hours just in that section of the park, we headed over to see a show, The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad, which turned out to be really entertaining! I got some great photos during the show. We also went through Whoville (love it), got on the Spiderman ride, met Spiderman, and generally walked around the Jurassic Park and Marvel comics section.

Deavin and me with Spiderman. I accidentally touched his butt, which was very obvious considering he was only wearing spandex. And look at me - all up close and personal to him, including my arm around him! I'm so embarrassed now, haha.

Me with Arthur Weasley's flying car!

Mom & Me in Hogsmeade

Deavin & me in Hogsmeade - so excited to be there!

Us with the Grinch! He was, as expected, quite a character.

Mom & Dad in Whoville. I love all of the vibrant colors in Whoville! And, of course, the Whos are really cute!

David, Carrie, Hannah, Abby, and Andrew arrived in Orlando on Thursday night and we all checked in at our resort, Shades of Green, on the Magic Kingdom property. Aunt Janice, Uncle Bob, Tracy (my cousin), and Marcia (Tracy's wife) were also staying at the resort. When I said this was a family vacation, I wasn't kidding!

Friday morning we all got up early, ate breakfast at the resort, and headed out for a full day at Magic Kingdom. Our first stop: meet the princesses. Hannah and Abby were able to meet Aurora, Rapunzel, and Cinderella. Their little faces were priceless. We spent all of Friday in Magic Kingdom - ALL of it. At 7 PM that night, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party began! It's an event that you need special tickets to attend, and it's absolutely awesome. You get free cookies, hot chocolate, see a wonderful parade, and watch an awesome fireworks show at Cinderella's Castle.

Hannah and Abby with Cinderella (who happens to resemble Taylor Swift)

Hannah - 1st time Disney World visitor!

Mom & Dad 

Back view of the beautiful Cinderella's Castle at night

Abby (Snow White), Hannah (Cinderella), and Andrew (Buzz Lightyear) all dressed up for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party! The "real" Disney characters LOVED their outfits.

Carrie (sister-in-law) and David (my brother)

One of the many special effects they did on the castle. This show was spectacular. No pictures or videos can do this place any justice whatsoever.

We left Magic Kingdom around 9:30 on Friday night - about 12 hours spent at the park! Needless to say, we were tired, but more fun was to be had on Saturday.

Saturday brought another early wake-up call. We visited Epcot for the first part of the day, then headed over to Hollywood Studios. This was my first time to experience Epcot. It's very different from the other parks and definitely more adult-oriented. Deavin and I enjoyed spending time to ourselves and exploring the park and showcase of countries. We ate lunch in Morocco and got to see a variety of characters as we walked around the showcase. Around 3 that afternoon, Deavin, Tracy, Marcia, and I went to Hollywood Studios. Everyone else was coming over later that evening for the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. We rode the Tower of Terror twice, which Marcia loved, and people-watched while we ate candy. When everyone else arrived later, we witnessed the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. "Wow" is really the only word I can use to describe it. This is also one of those things that you have to see in person, as no photos or videos can do it any justice! Absolutely breathtaking. Once we saw enough of the lights (though, really, how can you get enough of that??), we went to see Fantasmic! This show was another new experience for us and it did not disappoint! Disney really knows how to put on a show.

From left to right: Lee, Christi, Cayden, Logan, Tracy, and Marcia

Us in front of the huge Christmas tree in our resort's lobby.

Andrew, Hannah, and Abby ready for Epcot.

We spotted Goofy right when we got into Epcot.

Silly cousins waiting on the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights.

Logan & Andrew

Unfortunately, Sunday was our day of departure. :( However, I was coy enough to talk my parents into spending the morning at Animal Kingdom. (It didn't take ANY convincing for Dad. My mom was another story). None of the four of us had ever been to this park before either, but due to our love for animals, I knew it would be a hit. I was so right! The first thing we did was the Safari ride in Africa. We were able to see a lot of beautiful animals on the safari and I got so many great photos along the way. Dad and Deavin rode the Mt. Everest ride, which they both seemed to really enjoy. Since we had limited time to spend at Animal Kingdom (we had to meet up with Aunt Janice and Uncle Bob at 1:30 to return to Tampa to catch a flight), we weren't able to spend nearly as much time and see all that we wanted to see.

Our flight from Tampa to Birmingham was at 5:05 that evening. Talk about a depressing trip home. I love flying, but I want to fly to somewhere fun, not Birmingham. :( 

The beautiful lion! He looks so majestic.

I was fortunate enough to have Monday after our trip off of work to recover from our Disney trip, or as I like to say "come off the Disney high." I desperately needed that day to recuperate! I'm planning next year's trip (hopefully)  to Disney already!

There's no place on earth like it. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents' house this year. After three absolutely horrible days at work, I was so glad to have the day off and enjoy it with my favorite people. As always, it was a day of inevitable gluttony. However, I really didn't eat nearly as much as I have been known to at holiday gatherings. We went over to the house mid-morning so I could run and finish my carrot cake balls (not sure if they were good or a disaster - some say good). I am so glad I was able to capture some really sweet moments throughout the day.