Southern at Heart

Here is our bucket list that we created in February. We did a pretty good job with our goals and got a couple extras done too! The year isn't over yet!! Stay tuned for 2009's list :) Places to go: Solvang Seattle Nashville Cabo Things to do on our house: Flat panel for living room New Doors up and painted Remodel front porch Purchase a BBQ Buy remaining furniture for living room Remodel closets New Bath tub (hmm, maybe 2009)

to grandparents house we go! Chris and I went down to my grandparents house on Friday night for a sleep over! We had so much fun with them. Grandpa pulled out the Christmas tree and we all decorated it with Christmas music in the background and egg nog in hand. Saturday morning we were up at the crack of dawn for Grandpas famous pancake breakfast. Yum! Chris put up the Christmas lights outside and I stayed in and helped grandma clean. We had such a great visit and can't wait to go back and do it all over again! Check out the tree Its over 20 years old...

I love Thanksgiving. Family...friends...food! I think Thanksgiving should be everyday. (except for the food part). Its so important to reflect on all the blessings in our life and to be thankful for them. Our Pastor last week gave an awesome sermon and one thing he mentioned was there are two parts of thanksgiving. The THANKS and then the GIVING. It was a great challenge to us to not just sit back and soak in the blessings but to also be giving. Important stuff! Chris and I had a great day on Thursday. Spent the morning putting up Christmas lights on the house (Chris did that), putting the tree up (Chris did that too) and decorating it! (we both did that). We went to Janet and Bobs for an early dinner. Got to be with the whole family there. Then we went to the Andrews and had dessert. It was a great day and definitely wore us out! We are so thankful for you and the blessing you are in our life. -not talking to you stalkers out there!- :) I'm a loser and forgot to take picture

Sunday night was Jessica's lingerie shower. All of us bridesmaids threw it for her and had a blast. I love being a girl. It was a beautiful evening filled with awesome friends, delicious dessert and sexy gifts. I am so excited for Jess and Steve! 5 weeks from tonight they tie the knot! Yeaah !! I'm a loser. That's all I have to say.. Jess & the traveling bra....see my "A" When I got married the girls gave me this pink bra. There is a core group of us since high school who have become our own " YaYas " and this is the story of our traveling bra.... I was the first one to get married out of the group. You have to take the bra with you on your honeymoon. Take of picture wearing it, put you initial on it and pass it down to the next bride along with your picture for the album. I put my sparkly "A" on passed it down to Jess last Sunday night. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it gets to the 8 th bride!

family member in the Andrews household. Very sad news, our love fish Bubbles bit the dust this morning. He has been dying for the past week and it has killed me to watch it happen. Chris and I got bubbles when we first started dating...over 4 years ago! He was an old man. Riley already misses stalking him. He was a good fish. I loved him dearly but was still scared to death of him. He was a jumper. Chris sent him down to where all the other floaters go...RIP Bubbles.

Today was amazing. (period) That's the only word for it. We got up at 6am (not so amazing), put on our sweats then went and got coffee and headed down to the Montage Resort in Laguna. Chris had a meeting for work there today. I dropped him off and spent the morning and early afternoon with grandma and grandpa. We had a yummy breakfast, went Christmas shopping and came back for lunch. Then I was off to the Montage! His work is..amazing. There are so many perks with working at a small firm. They provided such a beautiful day for everyone. Including breakfast, lunch and a massage at the resort. My sweet husband donated his massage to me, totally surprised me. After his boss heard how sweet he was to do that for me they gave him 2 massages so he got to get one too! We spent 5 hours at the spa. It is a very special place to us as that is where we got engaged! I totally relived that day and wished Jess was with me again. The girls remembered me and treated me like a celebrity, I'm no

My dad was born! That is amazing to think about! Half a century sounds old but really dad.. you're not. You still look 38 and act like you're 25. I am blessed to call you my dad and Chris adores the fact that he has another dude to hang out with who like to do the same "cool" things. Tonight we (mom, dad, sister, Chris, me, auntie Jamie, uncle Steve, grandma and grandpa) all went to Wood Ranch, a family favorite for dinner. Chris and I hosted dessert, drinks and presents at our house afterwards. Birthdays are a big deal in our family. We always have a good time. Love our family. We love you dad! Here's to another half a century!! He's in denial about his new age..didn't want to hear it

Dad Andrews! (yesterday!) We celebrated by spending the evening at the boys favorite store, Bass Pro Shop. It was a good time and had lots of good food!! Here's to many more happy years ahead dad! Hope you had a great day. We love you!

My second biggest fear in life is fire. I have been terrified of winds since I was a little girl because I know fire is always the result. Saturday was one of the scariest days. I was at my best friends beautiful wedding shower which was outside and I couldn't take my eyes off the sky. It got darker by the minute so I hurried home and packed up all we could in case my biggest fear came true. Riley, 5 bags of luggage and 3 boxes later along with all the pictures in the house and we were on our way to mom and dad parkers. We sat and prayed for protection over our home along with all the other homes that were in danger and the firefighters. I sat and cried as I watched homes, apartments and condos burn to the ground. I can't even imagine. Everything that you have worked so long and hard for, gone in just a minute. What a great reminder though that our homes, condos, apartments... aren't ours after all. God gives and takes away all according to His plan. Its hard to understand

I set today aside for grandma and me. Between the busyness of life and my selfishness, it had been 6 month since I had seen her. Ever since the passing of my pops, my grandma has not been the same. She has been in a deep depression and doesn't want to do anything and is very hard to talk to. I find myself on my knees praying that God will give me the strength to talk to her when I pick up the phone to call her. I've been struggling with it. I call her once a month which is terrible and the last time I saw her was around Mothers day. My grandma has been in my prayers everyday and guess what?! They are being answered!! She actually let me come over and spend the day with her today. Every time I have called her to say I want to come over to spend time with her she has denied me (since the passing of Pops). It broke my heart because I longed to spend time with her. I knew in my heart it wasn't that she didn't want to see me or because she doesn't love me. Her heart has

good news #1: had a great doctors appointment yesterday. I'm done with blood tests for a while. My poor arm has had blood taken out of it 6 times in the last 2 weeks. Its time for a rest. Things are looking good for us! good news #2: I have 2 more people to buy for Christmas and then I'm done! I wish December would hurry up so I could start wrapping! good news #3: got our pictures done for our Christmas card today... Here's a sneak peak....

History was definitely made last night as America elected our first ever black President. It's exciting to see how far our country has come. Chris and I along with 95% of our family were devastated that Obama won the presidency. It literally made me sick. I think I am most fearful of the fact that half of America has put their hope in one man. They look to Obama as their hero, one who is going to "change the world". They'll all learn soon enough that putting their hope in man alone is only going to lead to disappointment. I am not happy at all with our new President but I'm going to put that behind and move on. He is our new leader and I will respect him. I'm just thankful that God is in control and has a plan through all of this. At the end of the day it is Him we are accountable to. My prayer is for peace and protection over this great land. God bless America. .McKitty. He loves McCain!