Christmas and New Years

I know I'm back-tracking a little but these are memories I don't want to forget!  I posted about The Bell Family christmas and my grandparents christmas visit but I haven't posted about our first christmas or christmas in Charlotte!

I didn't have to work Christmas Eve until 11:00pm so I cooked a small Christmas meal of baked chicken, sweet potatoes, and green bean casserole.  We ate at the dining room table and had a nice family dinner--Jovie was on the table and Marley was in my lap. :)  After dinner, I called my family at my grandparents to say hello.  I barely got the word out before I started crying! ;)  I think some of my family members shed some tears, too, but it was definitely nice to get to talk to everyone!

  When I got home Christmas morning, David made breakfast (cinnamon rolls and bacon!) and we opened presents!

This little boy met me at the door :)

Of course we had this on our tv ;)  I leave it on all day on Christmas!

David had a helper in the kitchen... ;)

I know I'm going to love having children one day because I love seeing how excited Marley gets to "open" his stocking!! Ha, call me crazy :)

Jovie wouldn't stick her nose in her stocking, and at first she wasn't too sure about all her new stuff....

But she soon figured out all her new toys were very fun!

I missed being in Charlotte with my family for Christmas, but it was so much fun having our very first married christmas together!  I enjoyed watching him open his gifts and I hope he enjoyed watching me open mine.  It was a special morning for both of us.

  

I worked the next few nights and after I got off work Wednesday morning, I grabbed a Starbucks at work, came home to pack, and then we headed straight to Charlotte!  We still had a few more gifts from my mom, aunt and uncle, and cousins to open.  I was so tired when we got there that I had to take a short nap, so I'm looking pretty rough in these pictures!  Having a fire place is a staple to me during the winter (even though it hasn't been very cold this winter...) and we don't have a working one in Greenville yet, so I plopped myself down in front of the one in Charlotte and that's pretty much where I stayed the whole time!

We've already watched this once!  (On a side note: Scott got Forgetting Sarah Marshall which we had never seen...we watched it over New Year's and we loved it!! Have y'all ever seen it??)

New scrub tops!! :)

SO. EXCITED. for my new pottery barn blanket!! I don't even share with David, ha!

My handy man :)

My favorite book of all time is Pride and Prejudice...I love the Keira Knightly version of the movie but have never seen the BBC version and I got it for christmas!!  I can't wait to watch it!!

We had a short visit in Charlotte, but it was fun.  David, my mom, and I headed to the mall and David and I finished getting everything off our wedding registry!  We had a few gift cards and we really lucked out- we ended up with $1.73 left. :)

We headed back home for New Years.  We love having people over so we hosted some friends for a New Year's Eve bash.  My cousin Scott has become a regular at New Year's so he came, too.  It is so much fun having him visit :)  Jess, Jake, Scott, David and I went out to dinner for sushi in downtown Greenville and then came back to our house for a get-together.  Just for my own record, this is who was at the party: Jayma and Casey, Brian and Marybeth, Scott, Cyndi and Erik, Phil and Emily, Jess and Jake, Andrew and Katye, and of course us!  I can't believe I hosted the New Year's party and didn't take any pictures!  The only pictures I have from the night are these:

 

Sparkly nails and a sparkly purse to ring in the New Year!

 

Out to dinner with my best friend! 

  

The holidays were so wonderful to us this year- this whole year was wonderful to us!  I'm sad that the holidays are over and family have all gone home, but I'm excited for things to calm down a bit.  David and I have one more present coming our way this Saturday- our new bedroom suite is being delivered!  I am extremely excited about it and can't wait to decorate our bedroom accordingly, ha!  I hope everyone has had a wonderful week- mine is just getting started ;)

PS- Emily K.: I'd love some info on some churches!!  My e-mail is eer.bell@gmail.com 

Thank you! :)

New Years Resolutions

To me, new year's resolutions are just small goals you make to help yourself become a better person throughout the year.  I will try to keep my goals, but that's just what they are: goals.  If I don't get to them all this year, I can keep working towards them next year!  I'm not going to kick myself if I don't meet all of my resolutions this year!  That being said, I do have some resolutions (read: goals to work towards!) for 2012!

• I want to spend more time in God's word and with Him
• I feel like this is an area I've neglected over the years and I've recently felt him calling me back.  I have a new devotional that I'm really excited to delve into.  I'm really excited to see how this strengthens my relationship with my Father and how my life will change because of it!
• I want to find a church home.
• David and I have been in Greenville  for a while now and I think it's time to find a church home!  
• I want to be a better wife.
• I've only had practice at being a wife for a little over 3 months so I'm not stressing about this one.  I also think this is a goal that will never be attained.  It is something I will always work at because my husband is so special to me.  But it's good to remember.
• I want to run a half marathon!
• For a while after I started my new job, I was good at going to the gym and getting my work out on, but once the holiday season got here and I was working 4 nights in a row, the rest of my week was spent catching up on sleep.  I can honestly say I notice a difference in how I felt when I worked out and how I feel now that I haven't.  My cousin Scott is really into running right now so we have decided we are going to train and run a half marathon this fall!  Ready guys?  Keep me accountable! :)
• I want to catch up on my crafts.
• I love making things, being creative and decorating my home with things that have my touch.  I really want to create a wedding scrapbook, possibly a honeymoon scrapbook, and finish up some other crafts I've started and just never finished.  This is the year!

2012 is going to be a wonderful year!  I am looking forward to what it will bring and working towards my goals.  But, what I don't get done, I wont stress about, after all, if you're a Friends fan you'll understand when I say, "I've got magic beans" :)