Ornament Swap!

I was feeling bold this year and participated in not one, but TWO swaps :) making up for lost time all the years I haven't join in!!

My real partner kind of went MIA so I was fortunate to have sweet Julie swap with me instead...and boy, am I glad she did!  Love, love, love the sweet ornament she sent my way!  You can read more about the swap and what I sent her way here...in the meantime, check out this adorable ornament, and the adorable pup who can't resist a photo opp! 

Thanks again, Julie!!  XO

Very Bloggy Christmas {Swap}

This was my first time doing a Christmas swap and I had so much fun shopping for Maria at Our Picture Perfect! She has the cutest family and is such a sweet girl... 

You can read about what fun goodies I sent her way here 

 ...in the meantime I want to mention the adorable things she got for me!

 Look at these cute lollipops and soap!  I love fun holiday ANYthing, and these look great in our half bath :) 

 If there is one thing I can't live without it's a calendar!  I love this pink pocket planner & weekly fridge planner.  I hope to use the weekly fridge planner for my meal planner [finally]!

 MMMM, coffee!! I love this travel mug :)

 Last, but certainly not least, she sent this little set of Hope goodies (journal, pen, notepad & cards) which I will get a lot of use out of! 

Thanks for swapping, Maria!  You were so much fun to shop for :)))

Christmas [#1] Top Ten

Here are my top ten memories/moments/etc from Christmas 2K10:

PS, before I start, I would like to point out that our family does a holiday 'rotation' every year with the in-laws.  I am one of five -all married- kids, and it's easier to rotate spending time with our family and our in-laws every year, so we rotate Christmas and Thanksgiving with all siblings and in-laws. This year we were with my parents for Thanksgiving and with in-laws on Christmas, and next year we will be with in-laws for Thanksgiving and my parents for Christmas.  May sound tricky but it works well for us!

1. It was my first Christmas as a married woman!

(this is how Daddy Lyons dressed up his Lions for Christmas!)

2. We had about 2 inches of snow here, and it was the first "real" white Christmas in Georgia in over 100 years.

3. Gus got a ducky from Santa whom we named Harry. Needless to say, he is in L-O-V-E with this thing!  

4. Starting a new tradition with BL - the years we're with his family we'll continue this tradition: we stayed in our own home Christmas Eve and made a big ol' breakfast dinner feast on Christmas Eve.  This was so fun (and yumm-o), and then we went to 11pm church service and came back home and drank mimosas while we opened gifts...so fun!

5. Sleeping in really late on Christmas morning.  After all, we were up until 3:00 playing with the new Logitech remote Santa Chrissi brought BL (btw, coolest remote & huge hit with the hubster!!).

6. Getting to sneak in a trip to see some of my family before we went to his parents' house.  It was nice to see everyone and hug momma Mel and daddy even on a year I wasn't 'supposed' to ;)

7.   Eating waaaay too much good food at BL's parent's house on Christmas night.  It was a feast, to say the least!  

 lazy sleepy husband!

8. Sleeping in again the day after Christmas (to say this was a lazy weekend would be an understatement!).

9. Not taking hardly any pictures.  This is not something I am proud of, believe me, but I wanted to jot it down to remind myself that the memories are in my mind ;) HAHA, truthfully I will just have to make up for it when we have Christmas #2 this weekend with my parents & siblings!

10. Shopping with my mom for hours yesterday...not just because of the quality time on my last day of "Christmas break" but also because we killed it!  By killed it, I mean scored some good deals and crossed a LOT off of her list - WoooHooo :))) 

From our Family to Yours.....

guess who's back...and ready to make some Shutterfly Christmas cards!

I have been out of town with the fam for Thanksgiving and have been blogless, but I am back :)))

I have seen this promo on several other blogs and wanted to make sure and share the awesome deal going on with Shutterfly for bloggers!  Do you use Shutterfly?  [you should if you don't]  We used Shutterfly for our wedding guest book; I made a photobook of our engagement pictures and had guests sign around the photos (it was a huge hit!!):

Have you looked at their photo Christmas cards?!  I love, love, love Christmas cards and boy do they have some very very cute ones this year!  I can't decide which to pick.  We'll be using a wedding photo for our cards, so I want to get one that looks good with my favorite wedding snapshot :)) Here are some of my favorites: 

 They have so many great items on their website that you can use as gifts...not just for Christmas, but for any other occasion!  Calendars, birthday cards, custom coffee mugs, you name it!  All of it is affordable & great quality!  If you're getting married anytime soon and don't have a guest book, I recommend doing the photobook; what a fun memory!!  Shutterfly saves you time and money :)