Where Have We Been?!?! :)

It has been nearly two months since my last post...and there is no excuse for my absence, so I am not going to try and list the reasons we have been M.I.A...Whit's Birthday, Christmas, New Years, Work, Sister's Wedding Plans, Car Issues, Traveling ...Let's just pick up where we left off and start again in this New Year!!

What we've been up to...

Whit's Birthday! :)

On December 16th, we celebrated Whit's 28th birthday by going to hear one of our favorite local bands at one of our favorite local venues! We spent his birthday with some great friends at The Station Inn listening to 18 South...we had a blast!

And Betsy and I even got to meet the one and only Aidan Shaw (a.k.a. John Corbett)...

It feels like we spent all of college watching Carrie and Aidan so we were excited to meet him!

Christmas! :)

The Christmas tree we decorated the first week of December warmed our house for the entire Christmas season! I loved coming home every night and seeing the glow of our tree there to greet me. I think Christmas trees are an automatic source of beauty in a house and if I could, I'd have one up all year long! Lollie especially enjoyed the tree...it seemed like everyday we would come home and Lollie would have added another ornament to her "special" collection. By the end of Christmas, the bottom half of our little tree was undecorated. Needless to say, Lollie thoroughly enjoyed her first Christmas!

This year, Whit and I hosted Christmas at our little house on the ridge for my side of the family. Since we knew we would be having so many delicious dinners during the holidays, we decided to have a brunch. It turned out to be such a wonderful morning full of laughter and warm, hearty breakfast treats that everyone seemed to enjoy...

This was our table for the Christmas Brunch...

Our yummy menu...Ham & Rolls, Sausage Balls, Fresh Fruit,

Breakfast Casserole and Grits! :) 

Lollie was exhausted after all of the fun and presents, so she took a nap in her Christmas sweater...

This is the Donnelly Christmas Eve Gift Exchange...

half of the room anyway...

believe it or not, there are many more of us :)

This is always a wonderful time! :) 

The Gorhams and their "Nashville" grandchildren 

on Christmas Day...so sweet :)

New Years Eve!! :) 

We spent New Years Eve a few houses down the street at the Currans. They hosted a game night and it was a blast!!

Betsy's beautiful table full of delicious food!

Part of the group at midnight ringing in 2012!!!! 

Love them all! :)

Cute boys :)

Pretty Stephanie and Allison with their New Years crowns!! :)

Who knew that the very next day 

sweet Avery Kate would be on her way :) :) 

(More to come about Avery Kate - she deserves her own post :)

We had a wonderful ending to 2011 and have had a great beginning to 2012!

I cannot wait to see what this new year has in store for us! :)

Stay tuned...I promise not to stay gone for too long this time!

It's Beginning To Look A lot Like Christmas... :)

It officially smells like a Christmas tree throughout our little house on the ridge...and we are soaking it up! After Church today, we ventured out to find our Christmas tree. After a little bit of a search, we chose this cute little tree...:)

Our tree getting trimmed up...

...and bagged up...

...and tied to our car...

Whit secured our tree for a safe ride home :) 

When we arrived home we brought him inside...

...he was all ready to be decorated...

so we turned on the Christmas music and went to work :) 

Whit is a master at stringing the Christmas lights...

Maya Angelou always says...

"You can tell a lot about people 

by the way they handle three things:

a rainy day, lost luggage and tangled Christmas tree lights."

:)

Lollie was our little helper :)

She exerted a lot of energy being a little elf  so she decided to take a break 

under the tree...

After the lights were all set, I hung our first ornament on our little tree...

Whit gave me this ornament for our first Christmas last year...

we have decided to make it a tradition that this is the first ornament we will hang on our tree each year, 

so we can remember where it all began. :) 

I bought these last year and they have become some of my favorite ornaments...

I think they are so cute! :) 

During our San Francisco/Sonoma trip in October, we picked up this ornament as a memento of our trip...

Lollie found a perfect napping spot...

Time to put the star on the top of the tree :) 

Our little tree and our little Lollie... :) 

Decorating for Christmas is a lot of work...Lollie is exhausted! :) 

Ever since I was a little girl, decorating the Christmas tree has been a very special time for me. Whitney, Will and I were always so excited to go and pick out our tree and spend the night covering the tree in all of our ornaments. Now that Whit and I have our own little tree, it is so special to start our own traditions and memories that we will always hold close to our hearts. :) 

Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling.

~Edna Ferber

We are Thankful...and Whitney is a Bride!!! :)

What a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am having trouble even knowing where to begin...it was filled with so many exciting events! So I guess, I'll just start from the beginning of our Thanksgiving morning...

Whit and I drug ourselves out of bed woke up bright and early, as promised, and ventured to Belle Meade Boulevard for the 

18th Annual Boulevard Bolt...

There were over 8,200 people there this year...

It was a packed Boulevard but so much fun and, in the end, we were really happy we participated! 

So once the race was over, we headed home to get ready for 

our first round of Thanksgiving at my Mom's House...

Me and Whit on our second "married" Thanksgiving together... :) 

Me and the beautiful hostess... :) 

Sweet Grandmother and me...

So we were all visiting and waiting anxiously for our yummy lunch to be served...when in walked

Whitney and Keith with some exciting news...

THEY ARE ENGAGED!!!!! :) 

Here are Whitney and Keith as soon as they walked in the door telling their cute story...

The newly engaged couple :) 

Mom was SUPER excited and screaming...you can imagine! :) 

(Her reaction was similar to last Christmas when we surprised her with U2 tickets...we are all still trying to recover from that episode)

Whitney and Will...

Will and Keith being silly... :) 

Cute! :) 

The three ninjas of us... :) 

Will and I are so excited for Whitney!!

Whitney and Grandmother :)

Will and the brothers he's always wanted... :) 

So after all the excitement we sat down for 

our Thanksgiving lunch...

we had a lot to be thankful for! :) 

We had a delicious turkey this year! :)

Our pretty table...

Yummy Thanksgiving lunch...

Whit enjoyed every bite! :) 

After lunch, Whitney ran some wedding ideas past the 

"tribunal" made up of our aunts and my mom...you'll notice we have 3 "yays" and 1 "nay"...

It was very entertaining! :) 

After our first celebration, we went to another wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with Whit's side of the family!

It was so much fun and full of delicious food, lots of cute children, and fun family stories!

Look at all of the Gorham and Shuff grandchildren! :) 

This was truly a Thanksgiving we will never forget!

Whit and I, as well as our entire family, are so excited for Whitney and Keith...we cannot wait to continue the celebration of this wonderful couple!

Hope you all had a truly Happy Thanksgiving! :)