Pettis Christmas

Here are a few pictures from the Pettis Christmas. We had tons of fun with Colby and Dylan this year!

Here is Colby diving in to his presents.

Dylan loves Thomas the train! That is all he wanted this year.

Matthew and Dylan singing Happy Birthday to mom.

Colby trying to talk my dad into opening a gift he was supposed to leave in the box.

Dylan reading Thoms the Train to Matthew.

Mom and Dylan playing.

Dylan playing with his new puppy dog.

Matthew and Jessica

Every year, dad makes us hold all of our presents up for a picture.

My dad trying to be funny and holding up his bottle of cider.

My Nanny and her presents.

Christmas Breakfast

Every year we have a Christmas Breakfast with the Williams and the Wests. They are some of my parents best friends and we have all grown up together. We have been doing this breakfast for many years. We rotate whose house it is at every year. This year we went to the Williams house. Our families are all growing, so we have more people join us each year. Wendy didn't get to come this year because she was at home with baby Tyler. Adam also didn't get to come because he had to work.

We always have wonderful food and then exchange gifts. The kids draw names and just give gift cards. The men swap gifts and give the same things each year- Lowes or Mark Outdoors gift cards. They are easy to please! The women are the only ones who actually buy a gift for each other. It is always a lot of fun!

Christmas Picture 2008

We finally got around to having our Christmas picture made this year. We have been so busy that we haven't had a chance to do it yet. We might be sending out New Years cards instead of Christmas Cards! We tried to bribe Diesel with many different things to get him to sit down and be still. He is not very good at being still. In some of these pictures it may look like Diesel is eating something on the ground, and he is. We bribed him with treats, a Santa hat to play with and ice. The pictures may not be perfect, but it definitely catches our true life at home with Diesel and Macy! Everyday is an adventure with those two!

Welcome Levi Edward Isen!

Our dear friends Ani and Tricia Isen had their baby boy Levi on Wednesday! Ani is Ben's roomate from college and has become family to us (he might not look like us, but believe me, he is family). Ani and Tricia are the first out of our Nashville group to have a baby. I know Levi will ber very loved and very spoiled by all of us!

Salsa Crockpot Chicken

Here is an easy dinner recipe and it is really good!

1 lb. Chicken, frozen
1 1/2C Salsa
1 pkg. Taco Seasoning
1 Can Mexicorn
1 Can Cream of Chicken
1/2C Sour Cream


Dump all ingredients except sour cream into crockpot and cook on low for 8-10 hours. When ready to serve, turn off crockpot and stir in sour cream.

Happy Halloween

Gift Tags

After my last favorite things list where I talked about Publisher, many of you asked about the gift tags that I had a picture of. I have created some without my name in them, so that anyone can use them. If you have trouble printing them out, let me know and I will be happy to email them to you.

Our Adventure to Meet Paula Deen

Me, Laura, Jamie, Martina and Colton were all going to meet at Davenports after work on Tuesday to eat dinner. I was excited about eating Davenports, but even more excited when Martina told us that Paula Deen would be at Brookwood Mall that night. I love Paula Deen! We were so excited to get to meet her (well, I was anyway) and get some books signed. When we got to the mall, the bookstore was packed. It turns out, that they started giving numbers away to get in line at 9am that morning. We knew that we would never get through the line to meet her without a number. We decided to just go shopping instead. Then we heard all the fans screaming at the bookstore. We rushed over and tried to catch a peak. I had to stand on the bookshelf to even get a glimpse of her. Then I got in trouble for standing on them, so we just left. I am glad that I got to see her in person though.

Favorite Things

1. October- October has slowly become one of my favorite months. Ben loves Halloween and it has made me love it even more. We have a lot of Trick or Treaters in our neighborhood and we love that!








2. Reading- I have fallen in love with reading! I am reading Jodi Picoult's Picture Perfect right now. I think that The Shack will be next on the list.

3. Publisher- Since starting at the church, I use Publisher for everything! Here are a few gift tags that I created in Publisher.








4. Sex and The City Movie- Ben suprised me and brought this movie home to me on the day it came out. I was so excited! He also bought me the complete set of every season. He is so good!






5. Mason Tinsley Smith- I was so excited to here that my good friend Amanda Smith is having a baby boy! I can't wait to meet him.

6. Peanut Butter M&M's- Me and Ben went to the grocery store last weekend and stocked up on some good Halloween candy. I bought a bag of peanut butter M&M's and brought them to work. I don't think they will last long!

7. Leigh's Birthday- My life long friend Leigh Brannan also has a birthday this month. She lives in Nashville now and I miss her a lot!







8. Our New Sofa's- My parent's got new sofa's and we inherited their old ones. "New" to us! We were so excited to get them! He had sold our other ones to a friend and we were living with no sofa's for about a week. We had one chair, that my sweet husband usually let me sit in while he sat in the floor with Diesel.

9. My Wonder Dog- somehow Macy has learned how to unlock her crate and get out. We have come home many of days with her greeting us at the door. How can you get mad at her for being to smart.






10. The Office- I have loved this season of The Office so far. I mean how could you not! And I never steal company time to do anything personal at work!

My New Craving

For some reason I have been craving a good book. I am not usually a big reader at all. I am the type of person who will read a page or two in the bed and fall asleep. It usually takes me years to finish a book. I asked Jamie if she had any suggestions of a book to start reading. She brought me some to pick from and I choose I Heard That Song Before by Mary Higgins Clark. I have never read a Mary Higgigns Clark book, but this one has been great. I am not through yet, but I am loving every minute of this book. I highly recommend it if you like mystery novels. I have ready about 150 pages in a week and that is huge for me! If you have any suggestions, for my next book to start, please let me know!

A Birthday Party for Jimmie and Max

My friend Maegan had a birthday party this weekend for her two dogs Jimmie and Max. I only took Macy with me since Ben was at the Bama game. I wasn't sure that I could handle Big D by myself. They had about seven dogs come to the party and they all had a blast. The best part about the party had to be the cake. We got a cake from our very talented friend Laura at Sweet Life Cakes. It was the cutest cake! They did an excellent job with it. It tasted great too! I highly recommend them for your next party!

My Sweet Diesel

I just had to post this picture because it is so cute. How could you not love this face!

Favorite Things

1. Dippen Dots- we ate Dippen Dots almost every night while we were at the beach and I have slowly gained a craving for it! There is ALWAYS room for Dippen Dots!

2. My Cookie Bouquet- my two closests friends from my old job sent me a Cookie Bouguet on my first day at the church office. I have always loved these and thought they were such a cute gift. I was so excited to get one for myself!

3. Dried Hydrangeas- I love dried hydrangeas! My parents have a huge hydrangea bush in the front yard and I love them! They are such beautiful, but simple flowers.

4. Pottery Barn- I hardley ever buy anything from this store, but I just got a new catalog and I love the new Fall items they have come out with!

5. Fall Colors: I am ready for Fall to come! I love the weather, the colors and everything about Fall! I can't wait to start wearing sweaters and boots.

6. Sepia Toned Pictures- I love old pictures, so I like to make our new pictures look like old ones by changing the color. I just think it makes the pictures pop!

7. My New Job- I am loving my new job! It is a huge change for me, but so far I am loving it.

8. Metal Tones- I am really liking the mix between metal tones in decor. I love this arrangement!

9. Suppablogga- If you haven't visited this web site, you are missing out! I love seeing what projects are being working on and how the end result looks. This is a very talented lady!

10. Cheese- I love all kinds of cheese. If I went a day without some form of cheese, I would die! My favorite is Cracker Barrel Sharp Chedder Cheese.

Beach Trip

We just got back from a great vacation! We went to Orange Beach with our friends Lee and Laura. I guess you could say that this was our first "company trip" with Wirespeed Technology. We had tons of fun. We shopped at the outlet malls, played miniature golf, laid out on the beach and ate great food. Our favorite restaurant had to be LuLu's. If any of you make down to to Orange Beach, this is a must! We were not ready to come home, but I was ready to start my new job! Here are a few pictures from our trip.

At LuLu's

We all got a hole in 1!

Sitting on the Beach our last night