Christmas Eve

After attending the Christmas Eve Candle Light service at our church, we made our way over to my mom and dads house for Christmas with them. We are extemely blessed and thankful for our gifts!

Diddy opening up his gift from us

Jeff opening up his gifts

Bo (Family dog. i.e. Dad's buddy) offered to help :)

Christmas tree in the formal living room

Christmas tree with ALL of our childhood ornaments on it. Mom LOVES this one!

Santa by the stairs

Justin and John Bryant playing Wii tennis on the big screen

The MEN upstairs playing Wii

Later that evening, some of our extended family came over to hangout!

More to come....

A year older

Oh, 25! I can NOT sleep in, so yesterday Justin wanted me to open my present from him at 6 a.m. before he left for work. (He can't stand it. He always tries to get me to open up gifts a day before I am suppose to - which I will NOT do) He got me a gorgeous diamond cross necklace. I LOVE it! For lunch he took me to Mike's Place (our fave) and of course I got the Pecan Encrusted Grouper - amazing! That afternoon I received this beautiful flower arrangement from him.



My parents were so thoughtful to host a dinner party with both sides of our family for my birthday. It was perfect!

Gammy or Gammie (not quite sure how we are going to spell that) and Malyn

Getting ready to fix our plates

Candace and Malyn - Thank you again for the cute clutch

Can you see the necklace?

Terrible photo of me but too cute of Nan! Love her SO much!

I am one lucky girl. Thank you family for making my birthday so special. Thank you friends and family for all your sweet phone calls, texts, and cards! Cheers to 25!

The Mitchell's Christmas Party

Britt and Julie Mitchell hosted a fabulous Christmas party at their new home this past Saturday. We had a G-R-E-A-T time hanging out with family and friends, and making new friends!

Tasty food!

Jon & Candace, Julie & Britt, Me & J

Justin, Julie, and Jon (yep, they are twins)


Britt and Justin - up to no good :)

Bryant Christmas

Saturday morning we headed to Searcy to have Christmas with my mom's side of the family. My aunt Peggy is a wonderful host and she has the perfect house to have a party - the kitchen, dining room, and living room are open - it is one huge room. As always, it was entertaining and fun as we visited and played games together.

Aren't they cute!

Mom and I

Some of the guys and Sarah Beth

My beautiful cousins Sarah Beth and Abby


Man, he looks good!

Gingerbread House

Mom and I were at Sam's this weekend and I could not resist buying a ginger bread house kit. Fortunately for Justin, I waited until he got back from his hunting trip, so WE could decorate the house together. He was thrilled. Not really.

I should have taken a picture before the blizzard (powered sugar).

Those are suppose to be ice cycles dropping from the roof. Good job honey.

side view

The house is now displayed on the hutch in the kitchen

~~~~~~

Update: I read book 1 this weekend (Dear John by Nicholas Sparks). Let me preface by saying that I am not a huge Nicholas Sparks fan, but I heard it was great and it was on sell at Sam's so I got it. Don't get me wrong, I love The Notebook and The Wedding. I'm just not obsessed with his books like some I know. Anyway, I read this book (easy read) and it was such a bummer. I am all for realistic endings, but man, disappointing. I Hope I didn't ruin it for those of you who LOVE his books and cannot wait to read the latest. Maybe you will enjoy it. Plus, it was just made into a major motion picture.

Because I was so disappointed I needed a new book FAST, so I ran out to purchase A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I have been meaning to get this one for a while now. I'll give it a review soon. Thanks for all the book suggestions. I need to borrow a couple from Ali and Mar - TWILIGHT series!

What to Read?

Perhaps you may be able to enlighten me about a new book to read...
(FYI: this is strictly a Megan post not a family post as Justin does not read for pleasure)

As of this afternoon, (5 p.m. to be exact) I will be free from work/grad school for a few weeks! During that time frame, I plan to:

• Finish Christmas shopping
• Reorganize our home office
• Host a few dinner parties
• Attend a few Holiday parties
• Hang out with friends and family
• Study and take 2 Praxis II tests
• AND Read for pleasure

SO, I need "great" book ideas!

Here are a few I have considered....

Cannot go wrong with James Patterson. LOVE suspense and the Alex Cross series

Why not?

I am going to fold and read the Twilight series!

I welcome any and all suggestions!

One Year Celebration

A year ago yesterday

Once again, Justin pulled off a fabulous surprise! The only thing I knew Saturday was to be ready at 5:00 and dress up if I wanted to. Dress up! Duh! I'm not one to ask questions because I LOVE surprises!

We had a delicious meal, fantastic wine, great conversation and the best waiter at one of our favorite restaurants, Bone Fish. After dinner, Justin asked if I wanted to go downtown and get a drink and maybe dance. Ha, not dance. I wish. So, of course, I said YES. We were just chatting and the next thing I know we are pulling up in front of the Capital Hotel, a nice man is opening up my door, and Justin gets a couple bags from the the trunk. He says with a huge grin on his face, "Is it okay if we stay here tonight?" Man, was I a happy girl. *I suppose I should have prefaced by saying that after we got hitched last year, Justin arranged for us to stay at the Capital Hotel.

Not only did we stay at the same hotel, but in the same room. Awww. When I walked through the door I saw this.....

Rm 242
Flowers, champagne, tasty almonds, and a sweet card


Gorgeous flowers


This year Last year

SO happy

Thank you again, handsome!! To many more years together!

*****

As I was checking out at the Jewelers a couple weeks ago, the man helping me asked what the occasion was, so I told him and he said, "What's your secret? I've only been married 4 months, and I'll take any advice." My first thought was, like I said buddy, we are celebrating 1 year not 25 years, but the phrase that popped out of my mouth was, "well we just have fun together!" I told him that you eventually learn to choose your battles and let the little things go. I kept it simple. Of course I could have gone on to say something cheesy like how great it is getting to live life with my best friend!

****

Thank you all for your sweet cards and phone calls! We feel loved.

"Oh Christmas Tree"

More Christmas Decorations....

Mantle

He was such a trooper!

Front door

Handsome WILL NOT do fake trees, so we venture out each year to buy a real tree! (I do love the smell when you walk in the house)

REAL tree!

This is my special dolphin ornament that Jilly gave me at our couples shower last year.

(she knows me well)

Nan gave us the bride and groom at our couples shower.

SO fitting! Mr. and Mrs. Fish. Justin's Fave!

Fabulous Family

Family photo at Nan's

Opps, Dad's eyes are closed...let's try this againbetter

Mom and I - normally she is an inch taller
(she is wearing boot flats and I am in 3 inch heals! Love it!)

Some of the cousins playing poker

She is getting so stinkin' big!

We had such a great day with our family! Love them SO much!