So long 2009...

Wow...what a year! I know I say that every year but we've had a wonderful year!

I was thinking this morning that a year ago the Mr. moved me to a new town that I wasn't very happy about moving to. Now I think about that and just laugh!

Last year at this time I didn't have any friends in our town, no church to attend, no job to work hard at and no home to live in.

We found our cozy little home a week after moving here, I found a job about a week and half after we moved to this town, and we found a church several months later.

Now, our life here in this little town has become so wonderful!

That job I found a week and half into living here turned out to be a wonderful job nannying four beautiful children! And then in June God blessed with me with my dream job...teaching school at the best school!

Our cozy little home has been so great to have dinner parties, small group meetings, and fun spend the night parties! Now we are praying for God to lead us in the right direction about our next home.

Our church has been the biggest blessing for us a married couple. We joined a small group and LOVE the friendships that we've made and it's just brought us even closer to God individually and as a couple.

What do I have to complain about now...last year at this time the only person I knew in this town was the Mr., but that has totally changed and I feel as though I belong in this town!

I cannot wait to see what 2010 has to bring! Clearly I have nothing to worry about if I put all of it in God's hands!

Happy New Year's Eve!!!

/div>

Excuse my absence...Drum roll....here is all of December!

So I turned one year older...I won't mention the age...you can figure it out as you read. But it's old. :)

The sweet sweet Mr. threw me a SURPRISE birthday party! It was perfect! I had no idea! Hence this picture:

He was able to get about 25 people to come during one the busiest month of the year! It was fiesta themed! DUH! Mexican food is my FAVORITE! :)

Our great friend J was able to attend! Thanks for coming! :)

My beautiful family-in-LOVE! They all helped make the wonderful food and get things ready while the Mr. was with me.

My beautiful Mommie!

K, Mrs.LAH, B and LK! LOVE them!

All my sisters!! K, Mrs. LAH, L, B and LK!

My YUMMY cake! My MIL made it with my favorite icing!

I got a margarita machine for one of my presents! Such a GREAT gift! We have used it so many times since! :)

Hint: there is my old age.

Thanks S and S for the great present!!!

The margarita machine givers: S and S! :)

I have the CUTEST nephew ever!

This is what I came home to on my actual birthday! Thank you sister B!

My birthday was so wonderful! Thank you to the Mr. for throwing the best party and thank you for all that attended! It made turning this old age a little bit easier! :)

CHRISTMAS 2009 with the Hammarlunds!

Miss Lucy ready for Santa to come!

Miss Lucy is the best present!

We attended a beautiful Christmas wedding! Some of our dear friends from our small group got married!

The Mr. and I baked 7 different things for the Christmas season! We made tins for all our loved ones! It was so fun! Here are the gingerbread cookies we made! We had a lot of fun decorating!

Christmas Eve...my whole family...We are so blessed! My sweet nephew was over the pictures!

Girls only! :)

LOOK what Santa brought Miss Lucy!

She was SOOO excited!

My family-in-Love's Christmas tree!

Lucy with her favorite present!

Me and my MIL on Christmas morning!

PJs and all ready to open the many presents!

Christmas morning worn Miss Lucy out!

Santa brings Miss Lucy a HUGE stocking filled with stuffed animals! They are her second favorite toys to play with. She got everything she asked for this year! :)

So, my mom has made all of us handmade stockings for her house. I'll have to take pictures of all of them to share. But the Mr. didn't have a stocking until this year. It turned out AMAZING!!! It's soooo him! Sounds strange but he gave her all his old Vineyard Vines boxers and she made this AMAZING stocking! So special!

So after the Christmas weekend, my sweet sisters came back with us! So fun to just have them around!

Miss Lucy loves snuggling with LK!

Mrs. LAH and K hanging out!

Miss Lucy is still so tired from all the Christmas excitement!

One of the MANY fires the Mr. has built this winter!

So we are all caught up! Can't wait to celebrate the upcoming NEW year!

O Christmas Tree!

So, as I'm sure you can tell, we are SO excited about our FIRST Christmas tree!!

The Mr. and I headed out yesterday afternoon to "cut down" our first tree!

Like I said previously, we didn't have a tree last year and we didn't even get to decorate. We moved the day after Christmas. Sooo with that being said...we were pumped!

We drove about 30 minutes from our home to Jack's Christmas Tree Farm! It reminded me of the one I went to every year with my family growing up. We were originally going to cut down our tree, but the kind we wanted are shipped from NC. So we picked it out!

Today, we got up and had breakfast together and started decorating the house! Mr.'s job was the lights on the tree...and he did a PERFECT job!

And of course Lucy wanted to be apart of the festivities!



Isn't she just beautiful with Christmas lights!? :)




Our Christmas table is set along with Mr. Snowman, that my sweet MIL gave me!

Our mantel, we still have to get another stocking.

Our tree during the day! We have to get a tree skirt!

At night! :)

Again, all lit up!! It's the PERFECT first tree!

Here are some of our favorite ornaments!:

Our Bride and Groom Christopher Radko ornament that we received as a wedding gift!

Another Just Married one, it has a 2008 charm, but it kind of blocks the picture.

My personal favorite, Charlie Brown school scene, and it make the noise of the teachers on Charlie Brown!!!

One of the Mr.'s favorite!

Of course, you know my Christmas tree wouldn't be complete without a Vera Bradley ornament!

Thought you might get a laugh out of this one, actual picture was taken at my college graduation! As you can tell, I was VERY excited!

Let's Play Catch Up!

So I'm a little behind. Well you know life happens and sometimes blogging is not part of life. I do love to blog...just finding the time is what I need to be better at. O well.

So Halloween was a fun night for The Hammarlunds! We headed to a party at the Georgia's...costume of course. The Mr. and I went as trashy Florida fans. The GA/FL game was on Halloween this year, so we thought it would be so appropriate!

E and sweet A...Ladybugs...Mrs. E was allowing A to have a little candy...by all means she worked for it...she went Trick-Or-Treating for the first time!


"Mom, why can't I have it all?"


L and W were scary people for Halloween!


W's parents were Sonny and Cher! SO funny!

Mrs. E, A and sweet A were the Ladybug Family!

And of course...the Hammarlunds as the trashy Florida fans!

My sweet MIL and I made these cupcakes for the party! So fun!

Moving on.....

L, L and myself threw H a bridal shower! Her big day is February 27th...not too far away! And of course we did our signature move...FOUR!

L was sweet enough to open up her home for the shower and we all three prepared "brunch" for all the guests!

All the beautiful guests at the shower!

Sister B had a birthday in November too! The Mr. and myself took her to dinner and gave her a i-Tunes gift card and I made her this cake!

Thanksgiving 2009! We had Thanksgiving at the Mr.'s parents house, and my family joined too! :) So nice that our families get a long and live close together!

Mr.'s apple pie and my pumpkin pie!

Watching the Macy's Day Parade with my sweet Lucy girl!

Nana and Lucy waiting for Thanksgiving dinner!

Little family picture on Thanksgiving!

So we got our FIRST Christmas tree!!!! Last Christmas we were moving, literally we moved the day after Christmas so we weren't able to set up and decorate.

Here is our tree on top of our car!!!

Jack's is where we went to get our tree, a very popular farm not far from our home!

I spotted Santa in a Jeep!!

So excited that we found the perfect tree!!!

Here is our tree before we took it home and made it beautiful!!!

We were actually going to cut our tree down, but you can't cut down Fraser Firs, they are shipped in from North Carolina. But we still had the whole experience of going to the farm like I did growing up.

I'll post more pictures of our decorated tree and house!
love,