Tag... You're It!

Alrighty... well my cousin Laura (who I get to see in May!!!) tagged me so I figured I would play along. :) Here is what you are supposed to do...

1. Go to the 4th album in the place you store your pictures on your computer
2. Select the 4th picture in that album (no exceptions)
3. Post it in this post with an explanation and link it back to your tagger
4. Tag 4 people to do the same thing

I may not have played it right since I pulled this from the 2007 album because if I followed the above instructions for either my 2008 or 2009 album, then you would have gotten a dumb picture.
So here is my picture:

This is a picture of Aaron and I on Valentines Day 2007. We were both still living in Searcy, I was doing my graduate work while he was finishing up his undergraduate at Harding. This was taken right before we headed off to Little Rock, the closest city. I'm sure we were headed to Chili's - our all time favorite restaurant, but I'm not so sure. Anyways, it's just another happy picture of us, not much more too it. :)
I now tag Mindy, Heather, Kathy, and Beth. Double tagging for Beth so she might actually do it....

Birthday Celebrations!!!

This year I celebrated the big 2-3. Whoo hoo. I had such a great time during my whole "birthday week". On the Friday before my birthday we had family dinner at one of my new all-time favorite restaurants, Shogun. It wasn't officially a birthday celebration.. but I did get yummy cake and some drum beating and singing.. so I guess that counts. Oh yeah, and I also got a snap shot from a Polaroid camera. :) On Saturday the Mehaffeys took Aaron and I to experience the Loveless Cafe for the first time. It was quite an tasty experience. I really enjoyed the home cooking, especially the mac n' cheese and the yummy peanut butter pie. Then on my birthday Aaron and I went to good 'ole Chili's. I can never get enough of that place. I really do love the chips and salsa and the cajun chicken pasta. I even convinced Aaron to not split the meal that time so that I could have leftovers for work the next day! :) Last, but not least, the following weekend Maggie came to town so we got to celebrate as well. Maggie, Rachel, Mindy, and I (and Maggie's sister and some friends) went and watched Bride Wars. It may be my new all-time favorite chick flick. It was so hilarious.. and I even teared up some as well. I highly recommed it for all you chick flick lovers out there.

And for the highlight of it all.... my birthday present from my WONDERFUL husband. *** the NIKON D60*** I finally got my SLR!! I am so excited about it. I can't wait to figure it all out and go take tons of pictures of fun places and things and of course the upcoming nephew. It's going to be so much fun to play with. I'm planning on going to the classes that Wolf Camera offers in order to understand it a little bit better. I'm ready for it to be warm outside again so I can go take some scenic pictures!!

Family dinner at Shogun, yummy!

Friend dinner at Loveless Cafe, another yummy!

Friend time at the Mehaffey's. Enjoying some yummy birthday cake and a warm fire.

Birthday celebrations at our place. Ice cream cake from Maggie Moo's, yet another yummy!

Bride Wars on Friday Night and Saturday lunch at Cheesecake Factory!

Happy Wedding!

Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Farmer!

Yet another product of the GYG. I've known both Austin and Lydia for a really long time and love them to death! Over the New Year's Holidays they finally tied the knot in Germantown. I am so happy that I was able to attend their wedding. I had such a wonderful time with all of our amazing friends. I miss all you guys so much!

Howell Grab Bag

Another annual Christmas tradition that we have is Howell Family Grab Bag. Every year my father-in-law's side of the family get together for a big family meal and grab bag which is hosted by Grandma and good 'ole Santa Clause aka Uncle Howard. There are 2 different grab bags, one for the kiddos and one for the adults. The kiddos always get some really awesome gifts... however with the adult bag, you never know what yo are going to get. This year I drew the Big Mouth Bass (the fish that hangs on the wall and sings), some canned oysters, and a huge feather pen, haha. There are a few items in the bag that are considered **the jackpot**: cashews, jerky, almonds... all food items... hmm I guess the Howell family likes food. This year grab bag was an extra special one for the family. Jeanette came up with a great idea to put together a family album that included old pictures of Byron and his siblings growing up, old pictures of grandma and grandpa, special family moment photos, and family trees. Since I had made some photo books before, I offered to help put it together. The book turned out quite amazing with some hard work and great ideas. Byron and Jeanette directed and I did it. At the front of the book there was a note to the whole family from Grandma. It shared some of her special memories and caring words. Byron and Jeanette were wonderful and purchased books for grandma, all her children, and all her grandchildren (26 in total!) so that we could all such a wonderful family keepsake. Grandma hand-addressed and signed each one. While we were all together for grab bag, Grandma handed each one out and gave hugs (with whispers of love and encouragement) to all. It was such a special moment to be apart of. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Click here if you would like to see the family album.

Complete Howell Grab Bag Album

Christmas 2008

So, I know I am always a little behind on posting on the blog... but here it is anyways. So Christmas was an exciting and busy one this year. Aaron and I traveled to Memphis on Christmas Eve after celebrating Christmas at home. Since we got in later on during the day, it was quite uneventful. We spent the evening with the Howells eating steak and shrimp (yum!) and playing Farkle! -- we love that game. On Christmas morning we headed to the Gray house to celebrate Christmas morning with the fam. We had an awesome time exchanging gifts. Aaron and I got our very own tent to go camping in! I can't wait until it is warm enough to use it. After gifts we broke out the Wii. My dad had never played... so we started off with bowling. Of course he was quite awesome at it. I lost the game to Aaron by 1 point! sad.. After Christmas with the Grays we headed to Aaron's aunt and uncle's house for lunch and a fun game of dirty Santa. We played "S" is for Santa, so all the gifts were to be S gifts. I made out like a bandit with 4 bottles of Bath and Body Works Soap. Whoo hoo. After that (yeah I know it was a crazy back-and-forth day) we met the Grays again for our traditional Christmas Day movie. This year it was "The Day the Earth Stood Still" which was quite good, not quite seasonal though. We had a really great day and really enjoyed getting to spend time with all the family. (except for Andrew and Krystle who were sadly away in Mobile and of course the Africa Howells... we missed them all).

On Sunday we were able to celebrate Howell family Christmas (w/ Mom&Dad Howell and Andrew&Krystle). We started out with an all out yummy lunch of steak & shrimp (2 times in one week!!). After lunch we open our wonderful gifts. I got a Vera Bradley garment bag, which I love!, a shadow box, and some gifts cards to some awesome places. Aaron got a whole set of Coffman New Testament Bible commentaries. We also got a base charger for our Wii remotes and a gift card to Chili's, our all-time favorite restaurant. All-in-all Christmas was a wonderful time!

Complete Christmas 2008 Album