The Bachelor, The Baby, and The Boat

I feel like January and February have flown by. Usually I hate January and February because of the bitter cold, but it has been unbelievably mild here. While I'm typing this, it's 78 degrees outside - crazy! But I'll attempt to catch up a little.

First things first. The Bachelor. I'm obsessed as always. Judge me and pity me because I know it's horrible, but I just can't get enough of it. And my good friend Ally comes over to watch with me (Brandon just doesn't get it) and watching with her makes it so much better:

Next. The Baby. No, not me, you crazies. I'm talking about Brandon's sister Kim. She and Philip are now foster parents to a beautiful baby boy. I wish I could post tons of pictures on here, because he is adorable. But we've been to Austin to visit him and now he's been here to visit us. And I love nothing more than snuggling that sweet boy. I could go on and on...

Aaaaaaand The Boat. For those of you don't know, Brandon loves his boat. Like, a lot. It was his Papa's, and it is very dear to his heart. He has been wanting to "renovate" it, and he has just finished. He spent like a zillion hours working and obsessing over it, but I must admit it looks amazing. Here are some before/after pics.

 BEFORE:

 DURING (yikes!) :

 AFTER:

 And I made him take this one...so proud of the finished product!

So all in all, life is good! Earlier this month, Jess and Jonathan matched for his residency program in Kentucky and last week my cousin Zach and his wife Julia had their precious baby girl. We are continually reminded how much God continues to bless us and our wonderful family and friends.

January Post (Lost but not forgotten)

Oops- this is wayy overdue...

On January 6th, my mom was honored for the Vivian Thomas Award at Vanderbilt, where she works as a nurse researching Diabetes and working with families to change their lives in a huge way. As her daughter, I can tell you first hand how hard she works, and deserves to be honored for the passion and contribution she's made in her field. Here's an article telling about her special day. So proud of you, Mom!
And of course, a few pictures...

And here are a few pictures leftover from Black Family Christmas...

4 Years!

Today is our 4 year anniversary, and that seems crazy to me. 4 years! It just doesn't seem like that long. We have been really blessed over these past years together, and God continues to watch over us. It's hard to believe that all those years ago, God had picked out the man who would be so perfect for me. Who'd have thunk that I'd meet a boy in Abilene, TX who loves fishing, loves Texas sports, could live on Taquitos and Oreos and Dr Pepper, and that we'd end up living in Dallas, TX. Amazing the plans that God has had for us, and we are so thankful. 

And I thought I'd leave you with some of the pictures Kim took of us this past weekend...

 

Much thanks to Coati Photography for the photos!!

Christmas is my FAVORITE

Christmas at the Craddocks

 

Brandon has become quite the light expert:)

  
 We had such a great Christmas. Brandon's parents came in from Atlanta to spend several days with us, and Kim and Philip joined us late Saturday night. We had a wonderful time. We even had all the cousins and everyone over last night for a big Christmas dinner. It's so good being with family, and I feel like I've been part of the Craddock family forever. We have so much fun together. And it's just about impossible not to stop and realize how incredible blessed we are. God is so good to us, and we tried to take some time to think about the reason that we celebrate this time of year. It's amazing how a pregnant teenager all those years ago gave birth to the baby boy who gives us hope and joy in life. And I think that getting together with family and friends to love on each other is exactly what Jesus was all about. Again this year, we were honored to have so many of the people we love in our home for the holidays.

 Christmas morning

 Above: Brandon's crazy family (photos courtesy of my father-in-law Chris Craddock)

Kim took some family photos of us after on Christmas this year. This is one of my favorites.She is such a good photographer, so if you haven't checked our her work, you SHOULD. To see her work (and more from our photo shoot), check out Coati Photography HERE.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Umm SERIOUSLY?

It is far too cold in this world. It was 26 degrees outside this morning when I left for work. 26 DEGREES. How does this happen? Every summer in Texas it gets so hot that I actually start to get excited about the cold weather, which is really saying a lot if you know me at all. But now that the cold has officially arrived, I am in shock. About 40 degrees is my breaking point, especially in Texas where the wind just whips through your heart and soul. But this is approximately 14 degrees below that. Help!

Just wanted all you Tennesseans and Georgians and Alabamaians (hm?) and everyone else to know, IT IS CRAZY COLD HERE. Keep us in your prayers and please call periodically to make sure we haven't frozen to death. I mean, at the very least, this cold of weather warrants some pretty snow and maybe a snow day. But is that what we're dealing with, no. Definitely not. We're suffering through the "I can't find enough clothes in my closet to layer enough to make me warm" kind of weather. But at least I know what I want for Christmas- a set of battery-powered heating pajamas.

Porter!

 

So if you've talked to me at all recently, you know I've been counting down the days until this little man came to visit me. Beth and I have been best friends since middle school even though life has put us in different places. So she and her sweet baby came to visit me, and we had such a great time. Other than the cold and rain, it was the perfect weekend. I had so much fun playing with Porter...9 months is the most perfect age:) We shopped and cooked and made yummy chocolate candies, and even went downtown with a couple of my girlfriends here to see the Christmas Children's Parade. It was very very cute. Bailey has LOVED having Porter here. Not only has she been following him around and doing whatever she can to get into his room while he's sleeping, but her new favorite spot in right underneath him at meal times. I could go on and on, but we just had so much fun... I just couldn't get enough of that sweet little boy!

   Beth and Porter, we are so so glad you came to visit. Thanks for braving the chaotic travel issues to come see us- it meant so much. We loved having yall here. Miss you already!

Happy Birthday

FOR SOME REASON, THESE FEW POSTS DIDN'T PUBLISH, SO HERE THEY ALL ARE AT ONCE...OOPS:)
Happy Birthday Kathy!!!
 My mother-in-law's birthday is today, and I just wanted to wish her the very best. And since we can't be there, I just wanted to post a couple of our most recent favorite videos from YouTube so maybe it'll make her laugh. You might have already seen them, but you can always use a good laugh :)

Thanksgiving

We had such a great Thanksgiving. We went to Nashville and got to spend several days with my family. We had two big Thanksgiving dinners with family, visited with lots of neighbors, put up the Christmas tree, watched movies, played cards with Matt and Ashley, did a little shopping, and of course Bailey got to play and play and play with Shelby. It was the perfect visit.

So we "convinced" Damon that we all dressed up in honor of the Pilgrims and Indians on Thanksgiving and this is what he showed up wearing... LOVE IT!

Girls Weekend

I had the weekend to myself while Brandon went on a fly fishing trip (go figure). So I took the opportunity to put up Christmas decorations, make cookies, and play loud Christmas music all weekend. And of COURSE I planned a girls movie night, so here is a picture from our Twilight outing on opening weekend. Love that these girls are not at all ashamed to be waiting with me in a very long line for the movie of the century! So much fun, even though a few of them are Team Jacob:)

Broken Bow 2011

This past weekend was our annual camping trip to Broken Bow with the Lee family. Despite a very disappointing Rangers loss on Friday night, we had an amazing weekend in Oklahoma. It was so fun being away from the city, away from cell phones, away from...heat We hiked, canoed, and ate some of the best food we've ever had on a camping trip. The dogs played, the boys fished, and the girls, well, just enjoyed being together with our boys and our dogs. Here's a few more pics from our weekend...