Ansley Katherine Solly

Ansley arrived just after 12am on December 24! What a wonderful Christmas present, for sure! Congratulations to my cousin, Daniel and his wife (my dear friend) Katie on the birth of their precious little girl. I hate that I don't live closer so that I can visit them and hold sweet little Ansley, but I am thankful for technology so that I can see lots of pictures of her! I'll post pictures as soon as I can! I love you guys!!!!

Our 2nd anniversary

On December 15th, Christopher and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary. I am so blessed to be married to such a wonderful man. Chris has such a passion for life and puts his all into everything that he does. He is the love of my life and I am so excited to spend the rest of my life with him!

These past two years have been full of adventure for us-- we have moved 4 times, Chris became a Dr. when he graduated in May from the Medical College of Ga where he studied physical therapy, we went on a cruise, bought a house, lost loved ones, bought a beautiful boxer puppy and named her Bailey, started new jobs, went on mission trip to Trinidad and so much more. Over these two years we have grown stronger as a couple and have learned so much about each other. I am so proud of the man that he is and want you all to know that I am in love! :) Happy 2nd anniversary, Christopher!

Alabama graduation

That's right, my sister graduated from college!!! I can't believe she is old enough to be out of school.... it makes me feel a little old, too! Amanda graduated on December 12 (a semester early) from the University of Alabama with a nutrition major. She plans to get her personal training certificate this next year in order to help clients with their overall health and fitness. It was a great weekend and I am so proud of her. Most of our family was there to help celebrate with her. Now, it's welcome to the real world. ROLL TIDE and Congratulations, sis!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I cannot believe it is already Christmas time! I love this time of year! Friday night Christopher, Bailey and I went on family outing to get our christmas tree. It was such a great night. We turned on some christmas music, put on our pj's, played with Bailey, I drank hot chocolate and Chris had his eggnog and we decorated our tree. Here are a few pictures of some of our decorations!

Uncle Anthony

In my last post I wrote about my uncle who had been in a car accident on November 18. He was in the ICU on a vent for just over a week and this past Friday, November 27th (The day after Thanksgiving) he went to be with the Lord. I know he is in a much better place now and has no more pain. Please pray for my aunt and his children as they begin their lives without him in it. Please pray for comfort and peace during this time for the entire family. We will be making our way to Ga sometime in the next few days for the funeral.

We will miss you Uncle Anthony!

emotional week

We have been in constant prayer for my friend Jon May and his family over the past 7 weeks. He was admitted into the ICU on October 10 with double pneumonia and H1N1 and was not expected to make it through the night. The next 5 weeks were an up and down roller coaster for Jon and his family. He was put into a medically induced coma and was on a ventilator for just over a month. This past week he was finally released from ICU and is now in a live in rehab center. He is on a much smaller trach and ate his first full meal this past week. He continues to make small improvements, but we continue to ask for your prayers for he and his family. This will be a long and frustrating process for Jon as he begins physical therapy after nearly 7 weeks in a hospital bed. We are praising the Lord for all he has done and all he will continue to do in the coming days and weeks.
We heard of Jons improvement on Monday and Tuesday of last week and were THRILLED! Then, on Wednesday afternoon I heard from my mom that my Uncle Anthony had been in a terrible accident and was in surgery in Panama City. He was driving down the road when a lady pulled out of a car wash right in front of him causing him to t-bone her. He broke both legs, several ribs, his nose and shattered his forehead. Uncle Anthony was in surgery for 8 hours and has been in ICU on a vent ever since. Tomorrow the doctors will be inserting a feeding tube and trach. He is in very bad shape only made worse by his pre-existing conditions of COPD, Congestive Heart Failure and diabetes. Please be in prayer for him. Also, please pray for my Aunt Tara who is faced with many decisions and a long road ahead. She is exhausted.

What a week.... the joys of Jon's recovery and the news of Uncle Anthony's condition have been a lot to take in.

Weekend in Birmingham!

Last weekend we went to Birmingham and stayed with Chris' brother, Justin, and his wife Adriane. We had the best time catching up with them and watching Bailey play with their dog, Piper. They loved eachother-- though Bailey was definitely trying to be the dominant one. She would take Piper's toys from her and lay in Pipers bed rather than her own. Then, when Piper would walk NEAR Bailey's bed she would go and guard it so Piper couldn't get to it, poor Piper. On Saturday, Justin, Adriane, Chris and I took the dogs over to Samford and let them run around on the quad. They had a blast! Bailey kept chasing after Piper's tail (according to my father-in-law, Ed, she has major tail envy!) so we would throw a tennis ball and Piper would chase the ball and Bailey was chasing Piper's tail. They were definitely entertaining! Amanda met up with us for a little bit too. It was great to see her!

I loved being back in Birmingham and walking around Samford's campus. The campus is so beautiful and the fall foliage against that blue sky made the campus even more gorgeous than it already is! Chris and I got to walk through the new student center on campus and are really jealous they didn't build it when we were there!

Saturday afternoon Chris and I went to visit Luke and Ali and their new baby girl, Savannah. She is so beautiful and so tiny! I could have held her all day long. Ali was doing great- I'm so proud of my friend! Mae got home from an afternoon with her grandfather just before we left so she got to play with Bailey for a few minutes. I just love that girl! I wish we lived closer to them.

The weekend was perfect-- beautiful weather, fall foliage (we don't get to see that down here in FL), family and friends.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to our dear friends Luke and Ali Allen who welcomed Savannah Grace into their family today! She was born sometime after 3:15 pm central time today, November 10th and weighed 8 lbs 4 oz. More details to follow!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

How to entertain your dog...

One of many firsts...

Today was mine and Bailey's first trip to the vet together. Her previous owners took her for her 8 week check-up, but this was a first for me! She did surprisingly well--she will be 12 weeks on Sunday Oct. 25 and she weighs 14 pounds! Chris and I are absolutely loving her!!!

How a dog changes your life.

Ok, so we have had Bailey for two and a half weeks now and our lives have changed so much! She is such a joy to have around and we love watching all of her small improvements with training. We laugh though, because our lives have changed a lot in these past 2 1/2 weeks and she is only a dog! We can't even imagine how much life will change when a child comes along. We find ourselves calculating how much time we can spend out of the house before we need to be home to let her out of the crate and take her to the bathroom. We have also experienced a taste of "parenthood"... the first few nights we had Bailey we got maybe an hour or two of sleep a night. She just cried and cried. (Just a little practice for our future, I guess). Chris and I are still waking up in the middle of the night to take her out to the bathroom. We are pretty good about trading off every other night. We started the first few nights getting up at 1:30 and 5:30. Today we are getting up at 4 am to take her out and then again at 6 when we wake up for the day... yes, we wake up WAY too early, but when you work you have to sacrifice things... sleep being one of those things! (I'm not a morning person...obviousy). We are hoping that by this weekend we are no longer having to wake up in the middle of the night to take her out.

Life is crazy and we have had to adjust to BOTH of us working 40 hours a week, adding a new member to the family AND keeping our house clean, but we are surviving and we wouldn't trade this life for anything.

Bailey

Some of you have known for a few weeks now that we were going to be getting a boxer puppy. Well, last night was the night! Bailey was finally able to come home with us! Here's the story:

Chris and I have been wanting a boxer for a very long time. Once we moved into our new home here in Florida we began our search. We had no idea where to find boxer breeders so I called a local vet one day. I asked if they knew of any breeders in the area and their first response was "no" but then said that a lady had been in just that morning with 2 day old boxer puppies. They told me they would get in touch with her to see if she was keeping the dogs or selling them. I gave them my number and a few days later received a phone call that the pups were available. There were 5 in the littler--3 boys and 2 girls. We were emailed pictures of the entire litter and one week later we went to visit them. As it turned out, the family lives in our neighborhood and are only 1.5 miles away from us.... perfect for weekly visits! The family we bought Bailey from own both the mom and the dad-- the litter was kind of an accident. haha! It was great being able to see both the mom and dad and learn about their different personalities. Bailey seems to be more like her mom right now, calm and cuddly. The owners and their children are great and we have really enjoyed getting to know them. They welcomed us into their home on a weekly basis, allowing us to watch Bailey grow and even become somewhat familiar with us before bringing her home. We hope to stay in touch with them and are actually already planning to meet up in the neighborhood for walks. One of the boys is going to a family in the neighborhood as well and the rest are going to be within 30 minutes of us so the family we bought her from are already planning to get them all together for their first birthday-- how fun will that be!?!? Anyways, we brought her home last night and were pleasantly surprised at how well she did her first night away from her mom and siblings. Enjoy the pics and I'll let you all know how our first week goes so be sure to come back for more!!

Immediately after she was born

3 weeks old

4 1/2 weeks old

5 weeks old

Bailey's first night at home

Night number 2... Chris fell asleep with Bailey on her bed

weekend fun

This past weekend our dear friends Luke, Ali and Mae came to visit on their way to Gulf Shores! Luke and Chris met during their fresham year at Samford and soon realized that their girlfriends would be attending Samford the following year and needed roommates. The rest is history. Ali and I lived together our freshman year and had a blast! She and Luke got engaged not long into our first semester at Samford and married the following year. They now have a 3 year old (well, almost 3!!) and another little girl on the way! Mae, the 3 year old has such a great personality and she is SO beautiful. She sure does love Mr. Chris! They played together a lot! We had such a great time visiting with them. We spent most of the day on Saturday at the beach and the weather was incredible! We spent a lot of time catching up, playing the Wii and eating! Here are some pictures from our time together. I wish we lived closer to each other!

New Blog!

I found this new blog today that is all about saving money and still living your life. They even post printable coupons! I've been trying to cut coupons out of the Sunday paper and I've joined the couponmom.com but I'm not very good at it yet. Its a learning process for sure. Anyways, I found this new blog and thought some of you might be interested in it. Happy shopping to you all!

www.savingmoneylivinglife.blogspot.com

It's also posted as a link on my blog page.

One Year Ago...

...we were in Trinidad! Chris and I were talking about our trip and how it impacted both of our lives. We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to go on a mission trip as newlyweds and again, we want to thank each and every one of you for your love and support. There is no way we would have been able to go on that trip if it wasn't for your prayers and support. The lessons we learned we will carry with us forever. Our relationship grew to another level and we hope there will be many more opportunities for us to go on mission trips together.

On another note... I can't believe we have been blogging for a year! How do I find so much to write about???

Love you all!

The life of a Florida resident

We have been in Florida for three weeks now and Monday marks our third week as Florida residents! The Bowers were here from Miami for a week and we had such a great time hanging out on the beach everyday. On Sunday, we rented a pontoon boat and spent the afternoon at Crab Island. We had such a wonderful time with them and wish that they didn't have to leave. Enjoy the pictures!

Happy Birthday Lucy!!!

Sweet little Lucy Campbell is ONE today!! Below is a picture of us when she was only 4 days old. Click on Lucy's name to see more recent pictures of the cutie pie! Happy Birthday Lu, we love you!

Our new home!!

Chris and I are buying a house!!! My grandfather has always been really big in buying real estate in Niceville and Destin for investment purposes. Well, he bought this great little patio home in Niceville and completely gutted the house, putting in new flooring, doors, bathroom and kitchen appliances. The house has been on the market for some time now and it truly is a blessing that it was available! When Chris and I decided to move to Florida we knew that this house was perfect for us. My grandfather was selling it fully furnished... and let me tell you, he thought of absolutely everything! The house has brand new/never used furniture, flat screen tv's (Chris' favorite) towels, rugs, and even a scale. lol. Chris and I sat down with my grandfather and made the decision to buy the house. This was a huge decision, but one that we are really excited about. We have been here for almost three weeks now and are loving being on our own again. It has been so much fun making this house feel like ours, which is a little harder to do when it is fully furnished, but it is finally starting to feel like home!! We are loving it!

Here is our bedroom before:

and after.... (we painted the room a dark khaki color and the bathroom is a light blue)

Our living room...

(There is the TV that Chris just loves!)

the kitchen...

This space was empty, so Chris put up these shelves and we are so happy with them!

The Dining room attached to the living room...

The guest room...

The black dresser was actually my baby dresser and I've been using it since Chris and I got married. It was white but when we moved here we painted it black to match the rest of the guest bedroom furniture. We also replaced the hardware.

The guest/hall bathroom...

and our patio!