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

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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!