On last sunday I had a slight sinus headache and fever. Olivia had just came home from her Romania mission trip and we were having our church Christmas cantata. I told myself that it was just a small sinus infection and therefore excused any fear of not spending the night at Olivia's that night.

I did go to Olivia's, but boy was it rough. I had a fever and coughed and sneezed all night. I woke up that morning and drove home trying to stay awake for the 10 minutes that it takes to get from her house to mine. After I got home it went down hill from there. All but two of the six that live in this house came down with it. The flu.

On Christmas morning we kids got up at 4:00am (thank you iPhone alarm). Me and Amelia ran into my parents room and shouted..."Wake up! Santa Claus came last night and he didn't leave you anything! April Fools!" because we are die hard Charlie Brown fans like that.

We had opened everything by 6:00 and then most of us felt so bad that we went back to bed!

This past saturday was when we all decided that we were well enough to go somewhere. So we had Christmas with my dad's parents and my cousins.

We are all better today...in fact my dad and I are going on a little date to see the Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug and spend a $50 Target gift card that is burning a hole in my pocket.


Grace

Wow! It's that time again. Last year I think I just wrote some post about how Jesus is the reason for the season or something like that. This year I decided to tell y'all what our Christmas traditions are.

Before Christmas...on the weeks leading up to Christmas we have fun keeping lots of secrets, baking cookies, taking Christmas pictures, going to visit my grandparents and cousins Christmas Eve, seeing "Santa" ride down town tossing out candy,  and one night we drive around for hours looking at houses decked out in lights.

On Christmas day...We stay at home all day. We start out the morning with cinnamon rolls and apple cider for breakfast and then read the story of our Savior's birth. Then we proceed to open presents and spend the rest of the day playing/putting together/figuring out/ our new things.

I love Christmas! I love the fact that my parents decided to stay home on Christmas from a very early age with me and my siblings. I think that having to pack up and drive somewhere for Christmas day defeats the purpose of spending time with family.

My mom wanted some Christmas pictures of her kids so we matched in "dressy" outfits and went out in the freezing cold to take some. I set the camera up on the tripod and told her that she just had to push the shutter button to take the picture. That didn't turn out so well...half of the pictures were out of focus. I've got to get around to giving her a photography lesson!

My Christmas break has officially started! It feels so good to be free from the chains of school and work.

Saturday I headed out to my second home for the staff Christmas party. It is always so good to fill up my Judson meter. It was a great blessing to spend a good portion of my night with some of my very favorite people.

We talked about next summer's top secret theme...who was leaving, who was changing jobs, and who is replacing who. Besides campy stuff we started where we left off this summer and caught up from there. It was so good to catch up with the people that I don't talk to all the time. It was a much needed homecoming.

 

I am craving Christmas break. I am craving the feeling of knowing that I don't have any obligations but that of spending time with my friends and family and making sure that I get my fill of eggnog (which I prefer to just call nog). 

I really can't believe that it is December already. It has been such a quick year, but a very memorable one.

I really feel that I should be punished for not sticking to my blogging schedule. Christmas has been keeping me busy with shopping, wrapping, and going on Christmasy outings. I love this time of year! Besides summer (which brings camp) Christmas time is my absolute favorite!

I have a tragic confession...I lost my camera card and converter! Before I upgraded to my 5D I use to lose my battery, now I don't ever lose my battery, but instead my card.

Gosh, I have got to keep up with what darn thing.

So this is why I haven't been posting pictures that are of any worth. Sorry.

I am however going to find that card and have a decent post up soon! But for now you can enjoy some pics from this past weekend in Mississippi with my grandparents taken with my iphone.

Grace

I love reading blogs! Reading blogs makes me like a fly on the wall in someone else's life. I thought that I would put together a little list of all my favorite blogs, but before I do that I would like to tell you what attracts me to a blog.

Design...I love graphic design and if your blog looks like junk most likely I won't be staying for very long. I just like to feel "at home" and welcome when at a blog.

Pictures...I love blogs that have BIG gorgeous pictures. Even if it isn't a "photography" blog I still want to see good pictures.

Wording...I love blogs that get you caught up in the storyline. I love blog authors that are real and that blog as if they were telling you the story to your face. Poetic writing has it's place, but I enjoy real talk.

Here are some of my favorite blogs! These are the blogs that make me smile when I read them and get excited whenever I see that they have a new post up.

Allix B Photography 

Ellie Be Photography

These two blogs ^ are written by two very young professional photographers. Not only are they good at photography they are awesome at writing! Allix has an ongoing love story that has several blog posts if you have about an hour go read all of those back-to-back!

He and I

This cute little blog is about a mom, dad, and their one little baby girl. The little girl's name is Ellie and she is oh so precious!

Band of Brothers

This is written by a mom of several little boys with the coolest names! (Finn, Calvin, Olivier, and Twain) They are also really into LOTR which I can totally relate to.

Carrie Logan Photography

I emailed this awesome girl some time back to ask her some advise for an up-and-coming photographer. We became fast friends and we still email back and forth on occasion. She is really young to be the photographer that she is. She is my inspiration!

Simply Abbie

This girl is quite young, but her writing ability is stellar. And she isn't bad at taking pictures either.

We are the Parsons

This blog is written by a husband and wife photography/videography duo. They are basically everything that I want to become as a photographer in their style.

Go add these blogs to your bloglovin account!

Grace

I have tried really hard to stick to my blogging schedule (Mondays and Fridays)...but life happens right? (and now I'm blogging on a Tuesday to make up for it. Rebel!) Okay, maybe I did have time to blog. The truth is that I am in a very transitional time and I haven't had much inspiration. The two have nothing to do with each other besides the fact that they are both excuses.

After searching eBay for days on end I finally chose one with enough storage that was in my price range! It said that it would come in Friday, but every time that I tryed to track it eBay said that it couldn't be tracked!! I naturally started freaking out. I contacted the seller and asked her if it had been shipped yet. She replied and said that she had shipped it. I tried tracking it again and it worked! It said that it was in the next town over coming this way! Which means that I was going to get it a day early!! It came in yesterday and I am so glad that I bought it!