One Year in the Making

We are celebrating our first anniversary today. Wow, I think the year has simply flown by. It is somewhat strange that we woke up to a cold rain this morning, and very similar to our wedding day. So, just for the sake of recording a few memories, here are a few things that we've done this year.

1. Just a few days after we returned from our honeymoon in Park City, Utah, we celebrated our first Christmas & New Year's in our own home (I guess we can't count buying the house, since technically that happened before we said "I DO"). Christmas was pretty toned down for us since we had just celebrated our wedding. While others were unloading Christmas gifts, we spent the holidays opening and sorting through wedding gifts. We had a blast spending all the giftcards we got when we returned the duplicates and extras. And I started the writing the thank-you notes.
2. We spent our first Valentine's Weekend in Savannah, GA where Ryan was happy to learn you can order a beer to-go from nearly any restaurant or bar and walk down the street drinking it. Unfortunately, we came home to a broken heat pump. Our first major mishap as homeowners and newlyweds, and 1 very cold night. Good fortune had it that our heat pump was still under warranty and we only had to pay for labor.
3. Got in a major car accident (not our fault!) and had to spend the money we were saving for Ryan's new car to replace my Honda we hoped would run for several more years.
4. Shopped and put a deposit down on our first puppy. That didn't work out, so we chose to wait for another litter and had to wait several more months.
5. Ryan started a new position at work. Although it may not be the ultimate answer, this change was an answer to prayer that we had been hoping for for many months. This put a damper on our summer vacation plans, but we definitely knew it was for the best.
6. We watched excitedly as our college alma mater, the University of South Carolina Gamecocks won the NCAA national baseball championship.
7. Just as the college world series wrapped up, our nephew Cooper was born. He is the first child in either of our immediate families. He was a few weeks early and had to spend a little extra time in the hospital at first, but hasn't let that slow him down. He is so precious and we have enjoyed watching him grown in the last 5 months.
8. In August, we finally brought home our puppy Beaufort. Life has been a whirlwind since then. I never imagined how much work goes into raising and training a puppy. Our entire house had to be "puppy-proofed", and even still, this smart little booger finds ways to get into trouble.
9. The week after we brought home the puppy, Ryan had to go to training for 3 straight weeks. This was our first time being apart for an extended period of time and I found a new respect for people who live apart from their loved ones. Luckily, I was quite busy taking care of our furry-four-legged child while he was away. Ryan got to spend 2 weekends with my uncle exploring the Washington, DC area. He has never been before and loved seeing all the sites in our nation's capitol.
10. Throughout the year, we have celebrated with several friends at their weddings and engagements, the exciting news of babies on the way and baby arrivals, even just recently the news of a long-awaited wait list spot for friends in the process of adopting sweet children from Ethiopia. We changed churches, helped start up a supper club group that meets monthly, made some new friends, made great memories and we have truly enjoyed every moment.

We are celebrating the great year we've had and looking forward with goals in mind of what we want our next year to look like. We are so thankful that God has blessed us with so much this year. I can't wait to share the many moments of our lives together and see what the next year holds.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Leslie

S-L-A-C-K-E-R

Well, I've got a ton of partial posts written in my head. Almost daily, I think about something to write, but never actually type it out. Or, I do type it out in my email, and never copy & paste it here on the blog. BUT, I avow to do better. You can give me a smack on the hand next month when I've only posted once, AGAIN. I'm going to TRY really hard not to be such a SLACKER.

However, there are some pretty note-worthy events coming up during the next month, so perhaps I'll make it a point to have something to say. DECEMBER 2010 will FINALLY be here in less than 6 hours.

Not to worry, we are SO ready for the holiday season. We just celebrated our first Thanksgiving as a married couple, and it was awesome! For the first time in the last 6 years, we ate only ONE Thanksgiving meal. The whole time we were dating, we celebrated by eating both Thanksgiving LUNCH and DINNER. One of the only pitfalls of living in the same town with both sets of family is the GIANT amount of food there is to consume on holidays. (I know, some would not consider that a pitfall at all). Needless to say, given there was only one meal to eat, I made the most of it and ate myself silly leading to a WAY early bedtime.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we bundled up for the chilly Carolina-Clemson rivalry game, in which our Gamecocks won! We're excited to watch them again next weekend against Auburn in the SEC championship game!

So, perhaps you can look forward to hearing more about our December activities, which include a vacation to the beach, our first anniversary, our second Christmas, my 26th birthday, and MUCH more. And, I promise some pictures soon of Christmas decorations. You might say I'm slightly obsessed. But in my mind, it's just right.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Lockslie

The first soup night

Last night as we sat down to dinner, my husband said, "It's the first soup night of the year!"

We were eating Taco Soup that I got from our supper swap, mostly out of necessity because it was the only thing I could heat up fast enough and serve and also get to bible study on time. BUT, the timing couldn't have been more perfect. We have been getting our first cold rain of the year which brought in cooler temperatures, making it feel just a little like fall.

I have no idea how long this cool weather will stay, but have no doubt we'll have another warm spell before winter sets in. Fall lasts only a few days in South Carolina, but we love it :)

I'm considering having soup again for "the second soup night" of the year, tonight.

Love,

Lockslie

Lasagna Casserole

Here is a recent recipe I got from our Supper Swap that has turned out to be a hit with everyone who has eaten it. Jennifer has already made it twice for supper swap since it got rave reviews the first time! I took a pan over to the Sweeten's (you'll have to email and ask to become a reader of this cute blog), shortly after their precious little girl was born. Kate asked for the recipe so she could share it with another new momma, so I figured I would put it out there to the blog world so everyone could have a taste! Hope you enjoy!

Lasagna Casserole

1 package egg noodles

1 jar spaghetti sauce

1 lbs ground beef

4 oz cream cheese

4 cups mozzarella cheese

1 c. sour cream

Directions:

Cook egg noodles. Brown beef, drain fat, add spaghetti sauce and simmer. Mix cream cheese and sour cream. In a 9x13 greased baking dish (or tin foil casserole pan), layer noodles, cream cheese mixture, mozzarella and beef two times. Cover with foil. (Recipe can be frozen at this point, to cook after frozen, thaw completely, then follow the directions below)

Bake at 350 degrees covered for 30 minutes. Uncovered and bake 5-10 minutes longer or until cheese on top is melted & bubbly.

Sorry I don't have a picture, but trust me, you want to try this!

Lockslie

Too Soon?

So, I officially finished all my wedding gift thank-you notes almost exactly before Emily Post's deadline of 3 months following our wedding (which would have been March 12). However, the gifts have kept on coming! I got a little lazy again and racked up a short little list of notes that needed to be written and I am happy to say, these are NOW also done. What a relief!

However, I'm starting to think it is probably about time to drag down those Christmas cards I bought on sale two Christmases (is that the correct plural for Christmas? is there a plural?) ago and get to work on writing & addressing them! WOW! I can hardly believe we are just 2 and a half short months away from Christmas!

Now, before you think I'm crazy buying my Christmas cards 2 years in advance...

3 Christmases ago, I sent out cards just from myself to some of my friends. It was fun because this was the first year most of my friends had moved away after college, and who doesn't like to receive mail at their first post-college address?

2 Christmases ago, we had just gotten engaged, and life was WAY crazy with wedding planning, not to mention attempting to finish up that last pesky year of Pharmacy school. I didn't send out any cards that year. But, I did have the foresight to think about the future when all the Christmas cards went on sale at the end of December.

1 Christmas ago, of course, since we got married December 12th, I used my thank-you notes as an opportunity to wish everyone a happy holiday, since I was too busy to send out Christmas cards.

I absolutely LOVE Christmas cards, especially those with pictures. There is just something about hearing from friends & family from both near and far during the holiday season. Yep, that's it, now that I've thought about it, I think I'll fix up some hot chocolate, pretend like it is cold outside, and start writing some Christmas cards. I might even put a Christmas DVD on. Watch out. I'm addicted to the Christmas feeling, and I'm looking forward to celebrating for several months this year - probably about mid-October until mid-January, in case you were wondering :) And yes, I plan to buy my Christmas cards for next year when they go on sale THIS December.

What? It's too soon? Too bad... I've already begun humming Christmas carols!

Lockslie

Labor Day Weekend

We've been quite busy for the last few weeks, but this weekend has been especially nice so far (and thanks to labor day, it still isn't over yet!) So... to recap what I consider the first weekend of fall (a great, but entirely too short season if you define it by the weather here in Columbia)....here's some things we did....

CAROLINA FOOTBALL kicked off Thursday night... there's just nothing like sitting in the stadium when 2001 plays and the players run out onto the field for the first time of the year! Gotta love football season. Here's the view of the sunset from our seats in the stadium.... it was such great weather once the sun went down

Since the game was Thursday night, Ryan and I both took the day off Friday... we spent the first bit of the morning playing with Beaufort at the Riverwalk. Our little furball LOVES to run around in the grass, chasing tennis balls, and meeting other dogs! Hopefully the riverwalk will become one of his favorite spots to walk and play! This is a picture of him today after he wore himself out visiting friends!
I spent most of the rest of Friday hanging out with my sister and my nephew Cooper, who celebrated his 2 month birthday this week. I can hardly believe how big he is getting already! He is growing so fast, and soon enough we'll be running to keep up with him. Also, his mom joined the blogging world and didn't inform me for several months. You can go visit them at the link above to see some extra precious pics of him :)

We've been watching tons of football, hanging out with family, and spending lots of quality time on the couch, too! Fall has arrived and we're relishing in this long weekend since our Saturdays will be filled with football and weekends will pass by much more quickly for the next several months.

Hope your labor day weekend was as relaxing and wonderful as ours!

Love,

Lockslie

Introducing.....

For a long time now, we've been wanting to get a dog. I would probably say we've been talking about it for several years! We always came up with a reason why it wasn't a good time for us yet.... too expensive, living in two different houses, traveling too much, too busy with other things in our life. I think my husband was starting to lose hope that it would ever happen!

At long last, our new puppy, Beaufort, will be coming home this Tuesday! We are BEYOND excited to add him to our family and can't wait for him to be here with us. In fact, two weeks ago when we went to pick him out of the litter, we wanted to bring him home immediately.

Here's his very first pic...

I'm sure his cute little face will be filling up this blog in no time flat as he grows up. He's a Goldendoodle (mix between a Golden Retriever & Standard Poodle) which we are told are some of the smartest and most loving dogs. This is good because we have a lot to learn about training him and starting out with good habits! Any suggestions for us first time dog owners?

Lockslie