Ugly Sweater Party

I said goodbye to my VW Beetle the morning of the party. We shared 10 years together (through learning how to drive in high school, to college in Kentucky, dozen of road trips in between, moving with me to Nashville after graduation, carting around several children, and eventually moving with me all over the first two years of marriage, to finally be sold here in SC) !!!! While it drove me crazy with it's expenses and smallness most of the time, I still loved it all the same.... 

I hope the teenager that bought it will enjoy it as much as I did! Plus, it didn't hurt as it was being driven away that the new owner has the same last name as my mom's maiden name! My parents joked that it is staying "in the family"
....and I did shed a few tears.

(for the record, the color was "Midnight Blue"- purple in sunlight and dark blue in shade)

After living in our house since August, Matt and I felt it was time to have a little housewarming party. Even though our home is FAR from being finished, we are at able to have overnight guests and visitors. The party was an "Ugly Sweater" Party and guests were allowed to drop in at any point and stay as long as they wanted. It was nice to host several people including both of our parents!! 

Shout-out: A HUGE thanks to my dad for helping Matt rake leaves and make the yard presentable, to my mom for steaming curtains, sweeping, and making food, to Kendra to vacuuming and washing the Bug, to my mama in law for bringing food and my father in law for getting last minute things!!!!!!

drink station

 

my sister K and I

We had a "photo booth" wall set up with props we used at our wedding :)

 

       

 

I had fun and I hope everyone else did too!

Did everyone read this before coming?!

Time with Friends

We are so blessed to have people who love us enough to come and visit us wherever we are!! When we lived in Indiana, both of our parents came to see us as well as our friends Ryan & Elisa (a good 9+ hour drive ONE way)!!! :)

And just recently, they came to spend the last weekend of October with us!
(Do I ever blog on time?)

They got in late Friday night and we stayed up late just catching up. Saturday morning we went downtown into Charleston to Marion Square & the Farmer's Market! The day was so beautiful and we enjoyed looking around the vendor's stalls. We had lunch at Tazikis (yum) and then met up with Elisa's parents who were visiting the College of Charleston with her brother.

Elisa and I enjoyed a handmade popsicle from the King of Pops stand

{Chocolate Mint & Key Lime Pie}

We decided to drive over the bridge into Mount Pleasant and head towards the pier/waterfront park. Even though the sun was shining, it was SUPER cold & windy!!!! We took some pictures and made our way back to the car.

Overlooking Patriot's Point

Love them :)

Afterwards we drove over to Trader Joe's, got a few items, and headed back to grill out for dinner. We watched South Carolina beat up on Tennessee while feasting on burgers. Sunday we went to church and came home for lunch. The boys decided to go out shrimping for the afternoon while us girls did a little shopping and made a craft!

It is always a fun, relaxing time with our friends and we really enjoyed having the company!! Can't wait to spend time with them again!! :) Thanks for visiting us!!!

Our Second Visitors

Ryan & Elisa came to visit us the second weekend of September. We didn't have much planned and felt a little boring to them. They assured us that a relaxed weekend is just what they needed. When they got in Friday night we went out for pizza at a local restaurant Zwanzigz.

Saturday we watched the South Carolina Gamecocks beat the Georgia Bulldogs (Whoo!!) and then drove out to Nashville, IN. We walked around the downtown, which really reminded me of Pigeon Forge, TN. There are a lot of handmade items, wooden shops, and hippie/biker things. Pretty interesting place.

Sunday we checked out a new church and enjoyed grilling out afterwards. Elisa and I worked on a small craft while the boys watched more football. We also had a soap confusion in the dishwasher. Fun times! They left Monday morning, and we really enjoyed having them come see our side of the world. We look forward to spending more time with them whenever we're home!

  

 

Labor Day Weekend

Over Labor Day weekend, two friends of ours came up to visit from Lexington. I've known Lynnessa throughout college from Bible study and living together at the Berry house. Ian is from IN and so his parents and grandparents live here. They stopped by late Friday night, and while the boys watched tv and talked sports, us girls looked over our wedding photos. Lynnessa & Ian got married on June 26, 2010. We were unable to attend their wedding because Matt was the Best Man in another friend's wedding that same day.

We spent Saturday afternoon walking around the Outlets in Edinburgh. Then, we had a yummy bar-b-que dinner at Ian's parents house. That night we went to the park for a concert where the Little River Band was to perform. Sunday, after church, Matt and I drove to Ian's grandparents lake house. We spent the afternoon riding around the lake, eating, and lounging around. It was a nice way to spend the long weekend.