The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Friday morning Jay's mom was here so we started first thing on getting all my Christmas decorations up. She was such a huge help! I don't decorate for any other holiday but I love decorating for Christmas. While we were inside, Jay went to work outside putting up the lights on the house. His ladder is still at his old house and he didn't feel like going to get it (and was too stubborn to ask the neighbors) so he hoisted himself up on the roof using the trash can as a step stool. While it was raining. His mom and I were both so nervous but he managed to not break his neck.

On Saturday, Jay worked and I managed to get all the Christmas shopping done, get the gifts wrapped, catch up on the laundry and ironing, and get the house cleaned. I am ready to go back to work so I can get some rest!

Thanksgiving

Jay and I had a busy but great Thanksgiving. This is the first Thanksgiving since we started dating that we haven't been to the Cowboys game which made me kind of sad. We started the day off with my family coming over for breakfast. We spent the day with Jay's family so it was nice to see my family before they went on their way with their own festivities.

Spencer and Kate

My parents, grandmothers and Jay

After breakfast we headed to McKinney to Jay's brother's house. The food was delicious and we had a great time visiting and of course seeing his nephew.

Margaret, Baby Cason, and Jay

Margaret and Cason

And even though we were not there to cheer them on the Cowboys still won!!

Baylor vs. A&M

So tomorrow is the Baylor/A&M football team. Although Baylor isn't great they are definitely improving. Jay is pretty confident that Baylor will beat A&M tomorrow. He is so confident, in fact, that he said if Baylor loses he will do all the housework for a month. It's no secret that I hate cleaning and I would love it if Jay would take over the responsibility. So who do I cheer for?

**Update: Baylor won (yea!) so I am still stuck with the housework...

A new challenge

I have spent my first 7 years of teaching trying to teach first graders who the President of the United States is. No matter how many times we go over it, when I ask the kids who the president is, inevitably at least half the class yells out "George Washington!" They seem to get the George's confused. So today, I tried to get a head start in teaching my students the name of our new president. They can't quite get that one right either. Here were their responses:

Bock-a-Rama
Brock Bama
and my favorite: Rock Bomb

Domestic Diva

I have never been much of a cook. I don't know why. I think I always just thought eating out was much easier. Jay isn't much for eating out so I have been trying to be a good wife and cook him dinner on the nights that he is not at the fire station. So last night I tackled a big one...fried chicken. I must admit that I didn't even know the first thing about making it. But with some help from Jay's aunt and the internet, I did it! Jay's friend Adam came over and I could tell when they walked in the kitchen that they were worried. But it actually turned out great. It was so great, in fact, that I took the leftovers for lunch today. Next stop on the cooking journey...meatloaf. This wife thing isn't so hard!

Honeymoon Pictures

Don't get too excited. Apparently we were having WAY too much fun to take pictures!

But never fear, we are already planning a trip to go back next year for my 30th birthday. Anyone want to come with us?

Me in front of some random fountain

Jay made me run in the middle of the street to take a picture of this thing that he thinks he can build. We will see.

Finally!

We finally got our wedding pictures back from our photographer. She gave me 8 CD's full of pictures so it took a while to go through them. These are some of my favorites!

This picture is by far my favorite one!

Me and Nell. The wedding was extra special because we used the ceremony from her wedding to Charles in 1940.

The cutest ring bearer and flower girl!

Mike and Jay

What??

Dancing...

Jay's crew

My mom and Spencer

Apparently I was excited to see Jay!

The best Matron of Honor directing traffic

The girls

My favorite of me and Emily

Mr. and Mrs. Jay Cunningham!

It's official!

Jay and I are now officially husband and wife. The wedding was great. We had such a great time and loved that all of our family and friends were there to share it with us. I don't have pictures from the wedding yet, but Jennifer was kind enough to take some pics of the rehearsal dinner.

So I was kind of proud of the centerpieces I made with our pictures.

My dad, me, my mom

Jay's brother, mom and Jay

Jennifer, me, Carrie

The best bridesmaids! Tamara, me, Sara, Carrie

Jay finally got the walkie talkies he registered for. He was beyond thrilled!

Me and my aunt Nancy

me and Jay

Girls Night Out!

So my wonderful friends threw me a fantastic Bachelorette Party last weekend. It was WAY too much fun. We started at George's and then headed out for karaoke and dancing.

Me and Tamara

Luckily I had been practicing a song all week!

Some of the teachers from school were such troopers to put up with us!

What a fun night! Thanks Sara and Sarah!!

8 days and counting!!

Delinquent Blogger

So Rosemond informed me that it was time to update the "secret blog". So here it goes.

I have 3 weeks of school under my belt...33 more to go. My class this year is pretty good. I have a kid who winks at me all the time which is pretty funny. They are much more well behaved than my class last year but after that group I had no where to go but up. It has taken them 3 weeks to start calling me by my name (instead of calling me "teacher" which I hate). I informed them yesterday that I was getting married in 3 weeks and I will have a new name which may confuse them even more.

Wedding plans are going well. I think we have pretty much everything done. There are many more people coming than we first thought but it will be great. Jennifer took my bridal portraits last night and they turned out great...thanks Jen!

Last Saturday some of my friends from school and friends from Baylor had a shower for me. It was so much fun seeing everyone. It was kind of crazy seeing all the different groups of friends that I have mix but we had a great time. I think my grandmother Nell was definitely the hit of the party. Here is a pic of the Baylor girls thanks to Rosemond:

Rosemond, Courtney, me, Jennifer, Carrie

( Do I look like I just returned from a Hawaiin vacay or what??)

Next week is my bachelorette party...good stories to come!!

Back to School

Where did the summer go? Because I have been a lame blogger, I will just give you a quick recap. Jay and I went to the beach with our good friends Sara and Chad (and their girls) at the end of July. I don't have any pictures. Why, you ask? I was too busy sitting on the beach all day reading books. The trip was great and was just what we needed before getting back to the grind.
This was the first week of inservice and the kids come back to school Monday. I am definitely ready to get back into a routine.
Since I don't have any fab pictures from the rest of the summer, I will leave you with this...

Football season is upon us!!

Catching Up..

It's been a crazy few weeks. Here are some pics of some of the things we have been up to.

This is Lola. She's crazy. I love her, but she's crazy. Everyone said that once we got her spayed she would calm down. She did...for a day until the anesthesia wore off. Now she's crazy again.

Sweet Jennifer was so wonderful to do engagement pictures for us. We went last Thursday night. Jay actually was a pretty good sport about it (I had been worried about it since we got engaged) and the pictures turned out GREAT! Thanks, Jen!

I had my first shower yesterday. It was given by my mom's friends from church and I had so much fun. I got to see lots of people I haven't seen in years and we got a lot of great stuff.

My mom and the grandmothers

Happy Birthday to me!

Saturday was my birthday and I had a wonderful day! Jay was working but my family and friends made sure I had plenty to do! My mom picked me and one of my grandmother's up and we met my dad, Nell, and Spencer for a delicious lunch at Chili's.

After lunch, my mom, grandmother and I went and got some things for hostess gifts for a shower her friends are having for me next weekend and looked for a few other things for the wedding. All that running around made me tired so I decided I needed a two hour birthday nap! After I woke up my sweet friend Sara and her girls Emily and Ella brought me some delicious birthday cupcakes. Forget fitting into the wedding dress...I have already eaten 6 of them by myself. Here is a picture of sweet Emily.

Thanks to all my peeps for the sweet birthday wishes! I only have 364 more days in my twenties!!

Viva Mexico!

Jay and I just got back from a great 5 days in the beautiful Mayan Riviera. We went to the same area last year but to a different resort. Jay's aunt is a travel agent and suggested we try a different one. We were so glad we did! The food was wonderful, the weather was beautiful, and we had a fantastic time. I won't give you a boring day by day recap but here are the highlights...

They had these wonderful huts by the pools. Unfortunately, there were only a few so Jay had to get there at 6:45 a.m. to snag it. It was well worth it!

This was dinner at the Brazilian restaurant. The carnivore that he is, he was ready for the huge swords of meat.

Jay made me put the cheesy flower in my hair.

Those of you who know me well know that I am terrified of birds. They are gross, dirty, and just plain scary. You can imagine my terror when I opened the curtains to the patio and saw this staring at me. As if the first sighting wasn't enough, it came back everyday.

Hanging out at the resort. This was apparently after we had gorged ourselves at the buffet because my gordita belly was pooching out.

This was the funniest little band that played at the plaza at night. They were so cute singing U2 and The Beatles with thick Spanish accents. No, they did not let me sing.

Jay is obsessed with Mariachi bands. His dream is to win the lottery and hire one to follow him around everywhere. This is one of many pics we took with people in Mariachi outfits.


We can't wait for our next vacation with the Williams' coming up in a month!!