B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

After a restful afternoon at home and a lovely dinner of nachos (made with the recipe from my new cookbook!), Mikey, Brian, and I headed to target to get a movie and makings for some fantastic ice cream sundaes!! Our trip was extremely successful :)

I enjoyed my banana split in the comfort of my new snuggie!

Plus, here are some extra pics that I never posted from Christmas because I just got them off my camera :) hahaha

A Fun Game Night

Last night, Mikey and I went to Chad and Melissa's for a game night, and it was HILARIOUS! I had worked all day and forgotten to take my contacts out the night before, so I could barely keep my eyes open...but I managed because I couldn't stop laughing! We played Celebrity, which was so funny, and then we just goofed off for a while.  Here is a video I made to give you a taste of the night (my apologies to all who are embarrassed by it ahaha)!

Everyone trying to act out someone else in the room:

Melissa and Hunter teaching us the Planet Unicorn song:

It's a Dog's World

Ever wonder what a dog does when his owners are away? I sure did! So i made this secret video of Oliver, and what I discovered was sadly uneventful...he basically just sleeps all day.  I wish I could live like Ollie! ;)

In the swiiiiiiing of things!

Life has just been CRAZY lately.  Crazy, but wonderful!  With classes in full swing, I've been keeping busy...studying, working problems, reading science books, going to labs, and trying to keep my new year's resolution to work out at least twice a week.  With a little help from Carly, I might actually make it! :) But all the school stuff is so much calmer than last semester, and I am sooo happy about that.  I also went to my first small group of the semester last night! It was so fun, and I can tell that I am definitely going to enjoy getting to know and getting advice from other married ladies.  There are some familiar faces, and there are some girls I don't know, or at least not well.  It's refreshing to meet some new people and to share common experiences with other people in similar positions as me.  I am definitely going to try to make it every week!

 Mikey has definitely been busy, too.  We just got my car fixed after his parents' neighbor's son backed into it on a golf cart, so he's been driving me all over the place.  And he's been figuring out guitar issues, from leading worship to actually getting a new guitar; he's been very busy with stuff at church.  Lots of meetings and band practices, but he doesn't mind any time he can spend around his new(ish) electric guitar :)  We are both really looking forward to the Genesis cabin trip coming up at the end of next week! It will be a nice break from all of this hullabaloo :)

AND, I just found out that I can fit anatomy and physiology classes into my normal bio major schedule, so that means I get to fill up my freed hours with fun courses like yoga and dance.  I'm so excited! I really feel like God has just been so faithful in working everything out...I don't know why I keep stressing about silly things!  Overall, life is good! And that's my only update at this point :)

A Fresh Start

This Christmas break has been absolutely amazing! It's been nice to have some time to settle down and appreciate all that this past year has held:

~Moving back to Charleston

~Transferring to CofC

~Deciding to graduate a year early, then a semester early

~Getting married

~Getting our first apartment

~Going to Cancun for our honeymoon

~Getting our first dog:  Oliver :)

~Mikey and my first married Christmas 

~My first vacation with the Baur family

~My first Christmas-tree burning bonfire

~Going to Chicago

~Getting in my first car accident (not so fun, but a memorable moment!)

~Getting my first real job

~Getting my second real job

~Seeing my first surgeries in person

~Seeing a new life come into the world

And so many other memories that I can't fit in this blog.  It fills me with so much expectancy about what next year will bring!  I am so grateful for my wonderful husband, my loving family, and all of the amazing friends that have remained close and those who I have only begun to get to know well.  God has been so faithful in growing me, in challenging my preconceptions, in stretching me to reach my fullest potential.  He has given me the people I needed to love and support me through hard times and the people who would laugh and be dorky too.  He has held my hand through a year filled with tremendous joys and many struggles, but now I've made it...and I can't wait to discover all that He will do and lead me to do over the upcoming year!  In Soul Cravings, the book I mentioned in my last post, McManus talks about the innate human desire to BECOME...God has invested in all of us a desire to grow, to better ourselves, and to better the world.  I pray that I and all the people I hold dear will discover more of God's call for our lives and that we would pursue those goals wholeheartedly, that nothing would get in the way of us becoming all that God has called us to be!  Bring on the new year!!