Busy December

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our families up north. It was so great seeing both sides of my family, playing games, and just spending time with everyone. We have soo much to be thankful for and we are very blessed to have such amazing families. We can't wait to see all of you again for Christmas!

*****Congratulations to my cousin Lindsey and her husband Luke as they are expecting their first little one in June*****

So its only December 6th and it seems as though this month has been crazy busy. Justin had another biopsy on his head this past Tuesday and we go back in for the results on Tuesday, December 15th. My dad is having surgery this Thursday (December 10th) on his neck due to the horrible accident he was a victim of over a year ago; they will be fusing cervical disc three and four. Please keep both of them in your prayers! I will keep you all updated on how the surgery goes and Justin's results!

Justin and I are keeping really busy between work, school, and Christmas shopping. We are almost completely done, but I love going shopping this time of year just to look at all the decor. It is kind of a bad habit to get into because I always find something I just HAVE to have. Well, there isn't much else that is new! I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Love and Hugs

SOOO I'M CRAZY......

about Christmas that is! I love buying & wrapping gifts, the holiday parties, decorating my house, watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation a million times, and of course seeing my friends and family for the holidays! I always feel like we put our Christmas decorations up and in just a couple weeks have to put them all away again. This year I decided I wanted to decorate early. After convincing my husband that I wasn't THAT crazy for wanting to decorate before Thanksgiving, he gave into my wish and brought up all of the decorations from the basement! Here are some quick pictures from this past Sunday!!!! Justin is such a good sport he even helped me during the Bengals game and to top it all off he put on the Santa hat :) How cute is he???

P.S. I love you babe....don't kill me for showing this picture :)

Drum Roll Please.....

TA DAAAAA...Okay so it still needs a topper and some work but it's BEAUTIFUL at night!

After some extensive Christmas decorating Justin was out the door to go to the Colts home game against the Patriots! Here is a picture of Justin and Tom before leaving for the game! They got matching hats as an "early" Christmas present. The game was amazing to watch on TV so I can't even imagine how incredible it was to be there! I know these two had an AWESOME time!

Colts 35 Patriots 34...GOO BLUE

I really thought about changing my blog background to something Christmasy, but I guess I'll wait until after Thanksgiving to do that :)

A Big Announcement

Justin and I have been keeping this secret for way to long and its about time to let the cat out of the bag........








We would like to announce that........

I have officially started my own photography business. The name of the business is Somewhere In Time Photography; one of my favorite movies is an old movie called Somewhere in Time and was the inspiration for the name of my business. I am very excited to get started. I have created a website which is http://www.sitphotography.net/ please feel free to check out the site and let me know what you think! It might take a minute to load but I promise it is worth the wait :) I love doing photography and was inspired to start my own business due to the lack of a professional photographer that was affordable in this area. I can remember how much money my parents spent on my Senior Pictures; the sitting fee and then the orderering of the photos equaled a ridiculous amount of money. I want to ensure that everyone can afford to have pictures of their family. Justin and I are very excited about this new adventure. Please help us spread the word of this new and upcoming business :)

Recap of Halloween Bash/Justin's Birthday

We celebrated Justin's birthday on October 24th by throwing our first "annual" Halloween Bash. The party was soo much fun and we had some special people make the trip down to celebrate with us. My Aunt Lisa & Uncle Don drove all the way down from Rensselaer to celebrate with us and then drove back the same night!

*Aunt Lisa & Uncle Don*: Thank you so much for making the trip, you have no idea how much that meant to Justin and I!

Here are some more photos from the party:

Justin the "Bullrider" & I the "Witch"

Jasmine & Aladdin AKA Shandi & Russ who drove from Lafayette to partake in the festivities




Obviously, I am getting better at my cooking skills because these appetizers did not last too long!
YAY for me :)

The casket that is a full cooler!

Thank you to everyone that came for the party! We had a blast with all of you! Can't wait to see you all again soon! XOXOXO

1 Year & Counting

"The Love of My Life....The Best Is Yet to Come"

I cannot believe Justin and I have been married a year especially the fact last year when we got married it was 65 degrees and I believe the high was 42 degrees this year! We had so much fun on our Anniversary weekend! Justin and I decided to celebrate our anniversary on Saturday night. I love Olive Garden so we decided to go there for dinner and then maybe head to a movie. After dinner we were so tired that we decided we would just see a movie on Sunday; I have midterms this week and next so I was studying basically all weekend (not that romantic on my part but it was my priority and Justin understood). Well Sunday morning rolls around and I had just woken up and just laid in bed for a couple of minutes. Justin asked me to get him an ice pack for his neck, so I got up (still half asleep) grabbed the ice pack from the kitchen saw this lovely surprise and dropped the ice pack! Thank goodness Justin didn't ask for me to get him a drink!

Sliced strawberries in the shape of a 1 & mimosas in our toasting flutes from the wedding!

What can I say I pretty much have the most amazing husband! Sunday we decided that we were just going to take it easy since I still had a lot of studying left to do. We got up cleaned the house, made chili, and had some wonderful visitors stop by to wish us a Happy Anniversary. We also decided we are going to make it a tradition every year to fill out an Anniversary book that Aunt Dala had given us for a wedding gift. The book is so cute! Every year you put a picture in it along with where you live and what you did in the past year; it even has a pocket to put your cards to each other. I love things like this! With that being said we decided it was time to take some pictures.



After pictures we decided we should eat the top tier of our cake. We didn't save our top tier from our wedding but we decided to get a new one so tradition would somewhat not be broken.



To My Husband: I can't even begin to tell you what an amazing husband you are. I'm so happy to be married to my best friend. We have had such an amazing time this year and I can't wait to see what the next 70 years will hold. I love you soo much!

XOXOX,
Your Wife

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I had just woken up and Justin asked me to get him an ice pack for his neck, so I got up grabbed the ice pack from the kitchen saw this lovely surprise and dropped the ice pack!

I Love October!

We have been very busy! School is going great and I've very excited to be on this new path. I have been playing housewife for the past 5 weeks and have really enjoyed it and I believe that Justin has too considering I have been able to cook dinner more often :) I do miss work, but luckily I have been offered two wonderful part-time jobs so I know that will keep me busy. I will be working as a leasing consultant for a complex in New Castle, Indiana (which is about 20mins away) with Buckingham and I have also been offered a position at Elanco which is a division of Eli Lilly. With Elanco, I will be working from home and will be teaming up with the event management team to help them book conferences and meetings all over the United States. I'm very excited about both of these opportunities and now I am just waiting to start work!

September was such a fun month! My baby sister Kathryn turned 13 (which I am still in denial about her being a teenager) my sister Lindsey is now 20, and one of my best friends got married. Ashley and I have been friends since the 6th grade so it was such an honor to stand by her side. Here is a picture of the beautiful bride and her family!



I know a lot of people are not big fans of Fall but it is my favorite season...especially October! October is such a busy month with a lot of family birthdays (especially my sister Melissa and my husband's birthday:) October is also wonderful because of football, using our fire pit, the leaves turning, and of course our anniversary. It is hard to believe that in just a couple of weeks Justin and I will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary. I can't believe that it has almost been a year! We have been having such an amazing time!

I am also so excited for Halloween! I was over the moon last year about having our first home and our first Halloween to pass out candy to all of the neighborhood kids and I think I am just excited this year! I love seeing all of the little kids and their costumes!

I'm pretty sure that is all of the recent news! Please keep Aunt Dala and Grandpa Dick in your prayers! Dick will be having quadruple bypass surgery this Friday! We love and miss you all!

Time For A Change

Hi Everyone! Here are some quick updates. Today, I decided to give my two weeks notice at work. I have decided to return to school to pursue a BSN. I love event planning, but when I look towards the future and the big picture with a family it is not conducive to the life I want to live. The following paragraph describes how I feel about the Nursing field:



"Being a nurse isn't about grades. it's about being who we are. No book can teach you how to cry with a patient. No class can teach you how to tell a family that their parents have died or are dying. No professor can teach you how to find dignity in giving someone a bed bath. A nurse isn't about the pills, the IV's, and the charting. It's about being able to love people when they are at their weakest moments and being able to forgive them for all their wrongs and make a difference in their lives today. No one can make you a nurse....you just are."



All of you are being soo supportive with this decision and I greatly appreciate it, especially my husband :) I know it is going to be tough, but in the end it'll be worth it! Please keep my sister Melissa, my Aunt Lisa, and my Grandma Carol in your prayers for full recoveries. I hope you all are well! We miss you and love you all! Have a great week!

Crazy Summer

Hi Everyone! Sorry, I know it has been forever since I blogged last. This summer has been wonderful, but busy. Justin and I are trying to sell our home and we've had several people look at our house. Finally, we received an offer but after countering back and forth several times the deal died; the buyers did not accept our final offer. I know there is another buyer out there, I just hope they come sooner than later! Selling a house is exhausting!

Justin and I are doing great and our just trying to enjoy the little bit of summer we have left! I can't believe July is almost over and all of the crazy weather we've had. Well, I just wanted to say hello to everyone and I hope all is well. I'm really going to try and keep up on this posting business :)

Sandra's Graduation Party

Justin and I went home to celebrate a graduation on the Selby side. My cousin, Sandra, graduated COLLEGE (that's right college)!! She received her bachelor's from Purdue for elementary education. She has always been more like a little sister to me rather than a cousin so her graduating college made me feel really old. Where does the time go? It just seems like yesterday I was in college. We are all so proud of her and I know she will change and touch many lives. My Aunt Lisa & Uncle Don invited the whole family over in order to celebrate the wonderful occasion. It was soo good to see everyone again! It seems as though the older we get the harder it is to get everyone together so we always take every opportunity we can to see each other. The party was on Sunday and everyone had so much fun and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Of course I came prepared to take some pictures so please enjoy below. I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend!


Congratulations Sandra!


You will be an excellent teacher!

The Selby's - We missed the Selby's in SC :(


Beautiful Sisters

The Watt Family

Sandra & Melissa

Melissa bought Sandra flowers for Graduation so of course they had to pose with the flowers.





Cousins

Sandra & Grandma Carol

Grandpa Leon & Sandra

Dad & Lis

Justin, Me, Dad & Lis

Quick Trip Home

I know it's been forever since I have posted anything, but I have made it my goal to update at least every two weeks. Justin and I made a quick impromptu trip back home to Rensselaer on Sunday. The reason we came home is my best friend (Russell) father had passed away. Doug was an amazing person and I see so many characteristics of him in Russell. I wish the trip would have been on better terms, but it does make you realize that every minute you spend with family & friends is valuable. Please keep Russell and his family in your prayers.

When we came home on Sunday my Aunt Glenda was hosting Braylynn's 4th Birthday, Mother's Day, and my mom's birthday (Don't worry mom, I won't put what birthday it was). My cousin, Chad, just moved home from Vegas which all of us were ecstatic about. Even better news is that he is going to be moving downtown Indy, right by Lucas Oil, so I'm sure I'll get to see him on a regular basis! It was so much fun for everyone to get together on such a beautiful day. Here are some pictures :

I can't believe she is already 4!

Braylynn's Funny Smile!

Sometimes presents are just really hard to unwrap!

She's such a girly girl and I love it! These press on nails did not stay in the package long!

Mom's Birthday (Really it's May 9th, but we celebrated early with the whole family)


Grandma Joy & Mom

Three Generations

I love this picture

The Ted Ritchie Family

Uncle Ted & Tyler

All of Us Girls

Uncle Rob, Bailey, & Hannah

Mattocks & Mannix Families

Baby Evan is 3 Months Old

They're BFF's!

Evan thought Justin was soo funny!

Adorable