Gettin' Back in the Groove...

...always takes me a while after the holidays. This is obvious by my lack of blogging in the past few weeks. I'll try to do better this year! :)
A lot has happened since I last wrote, so I'll try to give the skinny...mostly with pictures...I like pictures the best. They tell stories better than I can.

I don't have a picture of this, but Matt started at the Greenville Mall Chick-fil-A last Monday as Interim Manager! Go Matty! He is doing a mighty fine job! And he is really enjoying it, too! He has been putting in a lot of hours so far, but hopefully this will only be for another week or so...just until he can get in there and try to "get things under control". Things were "out of control", so that's why they put him there. He's doing a wonderful job! And he doesn't have to wear dorky white shirts and ties anymore. He can wear nice dress pants and shirts and ties that aren't so dorky...so that is a plus! Haha! You Greenvillians, stop by G'ville Mall, only if it's to grab a chicken sandwich...why else would you go there anyways? Exactly. Other than the calendar club now has calendars for 75% off! Heck yes!

Things at Upward are going well. Our deadlines are coming fast, so our department is full throttle this time of the year. It's fun though! I'm already on my 4th book design and layout of the season and that is very unusual this early in the year. Our timelines are laid out the best they've ever been, so that has helped stress levels and late nights at the office be kept to a bare minimum...if any! None so far, so I'd like to keep it that way! Haha! I did my first "ball" design a month or so ago, and it came back last week...a soccer ball. I was really pleased with it! I'll post a pic if I can snag one at work later on...

Well, enough talk about work...

We got our roof rack put on...here are some pics...I'll shut up for now...

Uh oh...sorry, I just realized I haven't uploaded those photos yet to my photo hosting site. They're on my external drive, which isn't with me now, so I'll get them on later...

Here are the pics I do have...
These are from Christmas with the Hickman's (my mom's side o' the familia). This was on Dec 18.

That's (clockwise from left) Mom, Dad, (Uncle) Jack, (Cousin-in-law) Tony, and (Aunt) Jerry. (Aunt) Carey must've made a mad dash for the kitchen when she saw my camera. And (Cousin) Kim is MIA.



That's (Niece) Kaylee, (Cousin) Colton, and (Niece) Sunny. What a bunch of little hams!!! Haha!



Not sure what really is going on here...Jerry looks like she's posing for a portrait or something...haha! That's Kim digging through her wallet...did somebody tell her she had to pay for her present? Haha! And Holly looks like she's shootin' me the double-barreled birdie for taken her picture...haha!



Here are some pics from Christmas morning at Matt's mom and dad's.


Ralph: "What in the hoo-haw am I supposed to do with that?"



Regina: "Oh Angela! It's just what I've always wanted! One can never have too many pink purses! This rocks!"



Regina, I mean Santa, always gets creative with her stocking stuffers!



Ma + Papa doin' a little posin' by the wreath.

Christmas...play by play...

Okay, here are the pictures finally!

To start things off right, I must begin with this picture. It speaks for itself pretty much. Let me just say that Mom and I started out shopping Christmas Eve morning and we passed by this sign...I laughed SO hard! Matt and I went back to Mom + Dad's that night to exchange gifts so I told him he must drive to this special place and view this wonder...

...needless to say, he got quite the kick out of it too! Haha!



The girls had so much fun! It was fun just watching them! See my mom? She is chompin' on some candy! Every year we give her that Old Fashioned Hard Candy and we always manage to get her in the background of pictures chompin' on a piece! Haha! I love you, Momma! :)



We tried to catch them up to speed by getting them a DVD player! Haha! Mom is totally stoked! Dad's looking to see if it's an XBOX or Playstation...sorry, Daddy! But he did get one of those Pac-Man games that you plug directly into the TV...and he was totally stoked about that! Haha! I love you, Dad!



Here's Dad trying to enjoy his new PacMan game while the girls try to "help" him out a little! Haha!



I think this is my most favorite picture of Kaylee to this day! It shows her in her true state! Haha! What a hoot she is! I'm not sure what was going on here...but I'm glad I had my camera handy! Haha!


After exchanging gifts at Mom and Dad's, we went to the Christmas Eve service at 11:00pm at church. It was really great! I love it every year! It's not Christmas Eve without it! Matt and a few of the guys from church did a Ricky Scagg's arrangement of Away in a Manger...they did a super job! We left the church and went over to Ralph + Regina's for a bit just to hang out. We came home and were so hyped up at this point and it was around 1:30am...we briefly discussed breaking tradition and exchanging our gifts right then since it was "technically" Christmas Day and we'd have to get up in about 4 hours anyway...so we went ahead and did our Christmas then! It was so much fun! Here's some of what we got...


This was sort of a joke gift from me to Matty...a Bob Ross t-shirt! Haha! I knew he wouldn't wear it since it was a ringer tee, but we always joke about "Van Dyke Brown" and "Happy Trees" so I HAD to get it for him...even if we did just end up taking it back to the store...which we did! Haha!



Here's me opening up Slinky Dog! Sweeet!



Bllllaaaahahahhahha! This picture makes me laugh so hard! Hahahaha! I got this at the Sam Goody store at the mall and thought it was a GREAT stocking stuffer! Hahaha! I made sure that the little cashier guy knew that it wasn't for me, so I made it a point to say, "What a great stocking stuffer for my husband!"...he apparently didn't hear me because 10 seconds later he asked me if I wanted it in the bag with the CD that I bought. "Ummmm, well, since I'm not really one to walk around in the mall drinking "Pimp Juice", then yeah, you can probably just go ahead and put it in the bag!!" Hahaha!



Mmmm...lookin' pretty rough around the edges at this point! Ha! But proudly displaying my gaiters and sporting my new bibs! Hahaha! Thanks, Matty! I mean, Santa! :)



Slinky Dog with a hairbow! Haha!



The aftermath...this was not pleasant to wake up to the next morning...2 hours later...hahaha!


I've maxed out on the number of pics I can upload to Flickr this month...so in Jan, I'll post the rest of the pics from the day! Hope you enjoyed these!

The Element gets Accessorized!

Yay! Our roof rack arrives tomorrow! Whoohooey! The Element will be pimpin' fo shizzle my nizzle! Haha! We got the LoadWarrior about a month ago...just no roof rack to attach it to! Ha! Here's what the LoadWarrior looks like (on an XTerra...so Lindsay, you can see how pimpin' you could look too! Haha!)


I'll post pics of ours when we get it up! The LoadWarrior has resided in our kitchen for the past month, so that picture wouldn't be very exciting...haha!

Hope everybody had a great Christmas! We sure did! It was wunnerful! :) I'll post those pics later too!

Happy Early New Year to everyone!! :)

Christmas Eve!

It's here! YES! I LOVE Christmas Eve...almost more than Christmas Day...the anticipation is so great...and just rushing around getting last minute things, seeing everybody else doing the same, then finally getting together with my family tonight to exchange gifts! I love it! And it's funny how your reason for excitement changes from childhood into adulthood! I'm excited now about what I'm giving...more than what I'm getting...and looking back on when I was a kid, you couldn't have told me that day would ever come. But growing up just brings that, I guess. And when you're an adult your "wish list" is MUCH shorter and less exciting than when you were a kid...if it still exists at all. Matt asked me to come up with one this year...I did, but it was hard. I remember when I was a kid asking my parents what they wanted for Christmas, and they'd say, "Well, I really don't need anything...I can't think of anything I want." I thought they were CRAZY! WHAT?!? How can you not think of ANYTHING!! Well, that has come for me, and Christmas is different, that's for sure. But not different in a bad way, at all.

Holly + Stephen are having their Christmas this morning with the girls so they (the girls...haha) will have time to play with all of their toys...tomorrow they'll spend at Holly's parents in Easley. I can't WAIT to see them this morning...they are getting power wheels...both VW Beetles! HAHA! I'm going out there to pick up mom and we're going last minute shopping, so I'll get to see them, then...wheelin' it up! I bet they went absolutely nuts when they saw them! Haha! I'll definitely post some pictures later...

Hope you have the best Christmas you've had in a long time! We received a Christmas card yesterday with this verse on it...hope it touches you as much as it did me...

Jesus humbled Himself.
He went from commanding angels to sleeping in the straw.
From holding stars to clutching Mary's finger.
The palm that held the universe took the nail of a soldier.
Why?
Because that's what love does.

The gift of God.
The birth of Christ.
This is Christmas.
This is love.

-Max Lucado


"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us..."
I John 3:16 NIV

T'was the week of Christmas...

...and I have once again, gotten very behind in my blogging! Thanks, Rita, for keeping me on my toes! Haha! This will be a short post, because I have to leave for work in 3 minutes...but I'll be back with pictures and re-caps later.
Since I last posted, Matt and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary! Wow! Where have those 3 years gone!? It's been a blast though! So much fun and so much to look forward to! I love you, Matty! :) He surprised me with flowers at work, and an ice cream cake when I got home (and not just any ice cream cake, a Spill the Beans white russian AND black russian layered cake!! OH YUM!) Well, I'll have time to post this one pic...



I gotta get to work...more to come! :)

Time to Decorate!

Well, it's Saturday morning, and I still haven't gotten all of the ornaments on the tree. I found that the bottom branches are VERY flimsy, so I'm going to have to rearrange and put all of the light ornaments down there. Rudolph was the first ornament to meet his demise on the bottom branches...Sunny and I were decorating and we put him down there and off he slid! He suffered quite an injury...what a travesty!


Oh well, I'm sure I'll find a replacement one. Sunny liked the breakable ornaments, but before we had another ornament injury, I thought I'd give her (what I thought was) a non-breakable plasticy rubber type ornament...what better suits her than Curious George! Haha! I had no more handed it to her and took her picture with it before she had the front wheel and handle bars completely dismantled (you can see her working on it in the picture...I didn't realize it because I was too busy trying to get a good picture!) HA! Quite the mechanic, just like her Papa! Although, there was no fixing this mechanical mishap! But atleast I got a cute picture before Curious Sunny lit into poor Curious George! Haha!

"Oh, what a cute, little ornament...I think it'll be cuter if it's destroyed!!" - Sunny



Caught in the act! Haha!




In other news, Tom Brokaw signed off tonight. How sad! I really like Tom Brokaw. I think a lot of it is just that I grew up with him. Most major news that has happened during my life, I can remember watching him report the stories. And since I had my camera handy, I caught his last words from his broadcast...just to put on my blog, of course...it's not like I'm going to frame it or stick it in the photo album or anything...haha!



Ben came over tonight for a bit. He's a trip! For those of you who came to our wedding, he was our pianist! He's awesome! Can give Liberachi quite a run for his money! Haha! He was married in April and he and Tami live right up the road from us!
Matt snapped his picture...now this we WILL frame! Haha!



Welp, that's about it! Matt is working today, so I'm just cleaning up around the house. I got our wreaths put on the windows outside. I'm going to give the yard one last mow for the year and head to the dump...oh, doesn't my Saturday sound exciting! Haha!

Have an awesome weekend! :)

Christmas Tree Hunt '04

We went and cut down our tree again this year...I think this will be a tradition. There's just something about cutting down your own tree...very cewl and Griswald like...haha!
Well, I took a good many pictures, so I'll just let them tell the story...

Back with more pics!

Here are some cool pics that Matt's mom took of us at Grandmother's Thanksgiving Day...

I'm Baaaaack! (Pics have been added!)

UGHGHGHG! I had just written a BOOK and accidentally hit Command+R which means Reload Page...I lost everything!!!! UGHHGHG! I'll update throughout the day...I must get busy...I'm at work and have a 100 or so page Soccer Manual that I'm laying out...I need to knock a lot out today...I'll take a break from it and work on my blog for a few minutes...be back...

Okay, it's lunchtime now, so I'll take a little break! Whee!

What I was saying, before I deleted everything.........

Yes, I have gotten quite behind on my blog. Let me see if I can wrap up the past few weeks without boring everyone to tears...

Matt got home and boy, was I glad to see him pull in the driveway! I made a delicious feast...wait...a NOT-SO delicious feast of Baked Ziti and salad to surprise him. Just a little word of caution...if you every use "fake" meat in a dish, such as, Baked Ziti...ADD LOTS OF WATER! We use Morningstar Farms Veggie Crumbles (it taste just like ground beef! without all the fat and random cow parts!)...I know you are dying to run out and buy some, so here's a little visual aid...haha!

So anyways, we didn't mind so much that it was dry...we were just happy to be eating together! Awww, how mushy and sweet! Haha!

Thanksgiving was great, as always! I LOVE the holidays!! We went to lunch at Grandmother's (Regina's mom), then to Ma + Papa's for some leftovers and a round of tag-football in the street...that was fun!


Matt, Ralph, David (cousin), and I VS. David (cousin), Danielle (cousin-in-law) and Rick (uncle)



Ralph setting up the endzone...




› Here are some pics from Grandmother's ‹
Here's Ralph + Regina posin' in front of the barn that Regina's daddy raised chickens in back in the day...



Left to Right › Johnette, Mark, Kerry, Linda, Regina, Ralph, Kathy + Kendall (FYI...Johnette and Kathy are Regina's sisters...Kerry is her brother)



Left to Right › Matt, Kristen, Grandmother, Angela, and me!



Then we went to Simpsonville and had supper/snacks with my family! That was fun...we were stuffed, but we managed to stuff more in! Haha! Mom, Dad, Stephen (my brother), Holly (sister-in-law), Kaylee + Sunny (nieces), and Carey + Jack (aunt and uncle) were all there! What fun!

Friday, I didn't go out and go shopping...I worked at Chick-fil-A. That's right! The other manager's wife works the day after Thanksgiving to "spread some holiday cheer" and "boost the moral of the tired shoppers who were up at 6am". Well, I was up at 3:00am and no one boosted my moral! Haha! Matt and I got there at 4:30am and they opened at 5:30am! Ugh! It wasn't that bad! I'd find myself wandering out into the dining room and noticing that people were still eating biscuits! "What?! It's GOT to be 12:00!" Then I'd look at my watch only to discover it was only 7:13am! What the hooey!!? Needless to say, it was quite a long day for me...I left at 2:00pm and Matt followed around 3:00pm...no, I couldn't tough it out for one more hour! Hahaha! The only brainless thing (well, one of the brainless things) I did all day was go around and give about 10 people unsweet tea refills when I announced that it was sweet tea that I had in my little pitcher! Ugh! Ha!

Saturday was Smith Family Christmas in Cheraw. This is my dad's family. He is one of 9 siblings, so it is always a full house! It's so much fun though! I look forward to it every year! There's always someone new that you might not know...but hey, they're your cousin, so you better meet them! Haha! This year was kinda weird...it was the first Christmas since my Uncle Tony and Grandpa passed away, so it was sad without them there...especially Tony. Grandpa would usually only come for a little bit, if he made it at all...but Tony was ALWAYS there, and you always knew he was, because he had the most distinctive voice and you could bet he was just around the corner with a great big hug if you hadn't gotten to him yet. They were both awesome, and I miss them a bunch.

Left to Right › Mike, Daryll, Angie, Jeanette, Dad, Kathy, Debbie (and Dad's holding Sunny) These are all dad's brothers and sisters...well, except Sunny, of course...haha! And Jeanette is Tony's wife.



Yeah, I'm not EVEN going to attempt a Left to Right on this one...these are SOME of the cousins...yes, there are more that aren't pictured! :)



Left to Right › Me, Michelle, Jason, Megan (all cousins)


Well, I guess that about wraps things up...this has gotten really long, so I'll do another post about us going and cutting down our Christmas tree last night!

I promise to write in less than a month! Haha!

Over and out!

Matty Comes Home Tomorrow! Ya-Hooey!

I am a wee bit excited about this...and that could have probably gone without saying! Ha! UGHGHGH! I can't wait for him to get here!! This past week and a half has been so lonesome without him. It was so hard to watch him leave...I can't wait to see him pull in the driveway tomorrow!! This whole thing has given me such a huge appreciation for what our servicemen and their wives go through!! I feel like such a dope when I think about those women saying goodbye to their husbands for months and years at a time, and here I am upset about 1 week and a half. It has helped me to commit more to pray for them and support them with cards, calls, emails, etc. A friend of ours, Kyle, left a few weeks ago to go back to Iraq for the 4th time...I think it was the 4th. He and his wife, Nicole, had only been married a few months when he had to leave and go over there. They were married a few weeks after we got married (3 years ago in Dec), and he has been back and forth ever since. So sad.

Well, I'm trying to get the house straightened up. It's actually really clean! I cleaned it on Saturday, so there hasn't been much time to mess it up! Ha! I made dinner for tomorrow night...baked ziti and salad. Annnnd, I baked a cake (lemon...Matt's favorite!)! My first! Well, it was just a mix...is that considered really baking?? Probably not...but I used a bundt pan...so that is really baking, right? Ha! It's cooling now, so I can put the icing on...yuuummm!

I woke up with a stupid cold Friday morning and it is still lingering...I'm feeling pretty crappy. But I feel much better than yesterday, so hopefully it's going away. My voice is about an octave lower than normal. Kaylee asked me yesterday, "Aunt Carla, why are you talking like a dragon??" Wow, thanks shorty! What a booster you are, dear! Haha!

Oh, I forgot to mention one tiny piece of good news! Matt made a 92% on his test!! Heck yes!! For those of you who are thinking, "What? I thought that child graduated?!" Well, he did...but it's funny how a bachelor's degree doesn't help you much in the chicken business! Ha! Actually it does...because you can't get into Chick-fil-A Univeristy without one...but you gotta get trained in chicken! Ha! So that's where he's been this past week...at Chick-fil-A University! You didn't know that existed, did you?? Well, it does...and if you ever want to own a Chick-fil-A, then you must attend, pass all the classes and eat 769 Chick-fil-A sandwiches...umm, okay, maybe not that last part, but the rest is true!

Well, I need to get busy...I'm supposed to be designing a web banner for a church's website. I really need to get on that...I get a bit side-tracked when I sit down to work and there's email, internet, and ichat to tend to! Haha!

Happy Trails!

Shrinky Dinks!

Holy moly! That's right! We did Shrinky Dinks tonight! Remember those??! Heck, I used to love those things! I got some Pee-Wee Herman ones for Christmas one year when I was like 10 or something...believe it or not, I still have them...they're proudly displayed on my monitor at work! Ha! (I'll have to take a picture tomorrow so you'll believe me! Ha!)



So yeah, I'm still bacheloretting it this week (only 5 more days until Matt comes home! Whoohoo!!), so Amy + Russ came by and we went out to eat and then went to Spill the Beans downtown (http://stbespresso.com/spillthebeans.html). It's like the best freakin' ice cream on earth! Amy was loaded with gift cards, so they treated me to my supper and ice cream! How nice! Thanks, guys!! We cruised around in the Element for a bit, and then came back to the house...that's when the fun began with the Shrinky Dinks! Ha!

Amy + Russ...I think Russ was shopping on Ebay at this point...he didn't get in on the Shrinky Dink fun! Haha!



Silly girls!



Amy concentrating on getting that cut just right...



Before....after! It's magic!!


I can not WAIT to wear this to work tomorrow!


> One little side note here...I believe I forgot to mention that we bought an Element 2 weeks ago. So yeah, we got an Element. Super sweet! Neither one of us have ever had a new car, so this is quite a big deal for us! A new car smell that doesn't come in the can! It's the original scent! Rockin'! So it's been quite fun! We had been looking at them for about a year now. Matt's truck was beginning to be quite the money pit with repairs and a bazillion miles on it, so we knew we needed to do something soon. Ralph and Regina were oh so kind to hook us up with a nice gift for our down payment...you guys rock!! Thanks a ton!!

Ours is orange like this one...minus the surfboards. We're getting a roof rack + basket eventually, to throw bikes up there or whatever else we can think of.



This is the coolest part...the seats let down into a double bed! Pretty dope! Kinda like the VW vanagon of today! Well, okay...not nearly as timeless, but it's oh, so functional...and pretty!

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry...

Okay, well, not really...but I am sad. My Matty is away for a week and a half! Boo hoooo! He's in Atlanta at Chick-fil-A University...that's right! There IS such a thing! Haha! He left on Sunday (today is Tuesday...well, it's actually Wed...at 12:28am), so only a week to go! YAY!

He's doing really well though, and really learning a lot and soaking it all in. He's in "Interim Manager Training". When we know more about what that really means, we'll let you know...haha! It's really exciting! He has done SO well there...I'm so proud of him. He is such a people person and such a servant that all of the customers love him...can't blame them much! Haha! We're really excited to see where the Lord is going to take us with this whole thing. He has done nothing but bless us far beyond what we deserve. No one could have ever told us a year ago that Matt would be involved in Chick-fil-A, and that we would still be in SC and not in Nashville. It's so encouraging to look back and see how and where the Lord was leading us when at the time, we didn't have a clue! Wow!

I'm sitting here in bed watching the election returns...DeMint took SC! YES! Flippin' sweet!!! I'm not really seeing the need to stay up and see who wins the White House...we'll probably find that out next week. Although, George W just took Florida, so with that out of the way, maybe we'll know a little sooner! Haha!

Well, it's almost 1:00am, and I am about to pass out...6:15am will be here way toooo soon!

Nite, nite!