The McFall's

Geez...I am a really bad blogger and I said that very same thing on my last post over a year ago, but I hope in 2011 I will be better at it. I always read everyone else's blog, but I don't sit down enough and take the time to type on mine. Anyhoo...some good things have happened over the past year and I didn't document any of it, so I guess I will try to sit here and do a year in review like I have seen so many other friends do. This is going to be very long and I don't expect anyone to read it, but it is more of a journal for our family to remember all the good times, so here it goes:

January 2010-Jeremy and I celebrated our 4th anniversary on the 21st. Jeremy and I signed up with my mom and dad on our team to do Scale Back Alabama. I made a vow to drink only water and to never drink soft drinks again. (It is now a year later and I have actually stuck to this plan! On rare occasion (maybe once a week) will have a sprite or sweet tea, but other than that it is water only. Dr. Pepper was one of my best friends and now it makes me sick to sip it...which is definitely a good thing! Jeremy and I started attending an amazing Love & Respect small group with Church of the Highlands & met some wonderful new friends and had a wonderful time with some old friends of mine from Sumiton COG. We always looked forward to Friday nights for our small group date night.

February 2010- Carson was officially registered for his first season of ragball with his buddy Carden.. Jeremy and I attended an amazing marriage conference at Highlands that had Gary Smalley and Ted Cunningham as wonderful guest speakers. Olexa's and Taziki's catered....it was a blast and we are ready to go back this year.

Cheering on Blazer Basketball

March 2010-I was super busy at work with our SOHN conference, so let me see if I even remember anything... I do know Carson began practice with his new ragball team and they were the Marlins. Coach Clay was the head coach and Jeremy ended up being his assistant coach along with another dad. I think Jeremy ended liking ragball way more than Carson did :o) They had their first game on March 27th and it was the most precious thing I had ever seen. We found out very soon that we should have just signed Carson up to play in the dirt. I think the best moment of it is when he hit the ball and ran to first base, he was almost there and before he got to the base he turned around and walked to the base backwards (almost like a Michael Jackson move)...it was great! I was off work on the 31st and went to Carson's Easter party at his preschool. They hunted eggs and were all so very cute! MiMi went along with me and later on after the party we went to the zoo and had a picnic. My very best friend Brandy also found out that she was having a baby and that the baby was due in December...YEA!!!

April 2010-I celebrated my 27th birthday on the 4th which was also Easter. We celebrated on that Sunday with all of my moms cousins in Nauvoo. Carson figured out on this day that he loved trampolines and that he would have to tell me about it all the time all the way to Christmas of 2010 (and yes, the spoiled little one of course got one from Santa). Jeremy and I had a fun night out with my sister and her boyfriend (now fiance'), Charlie, for Charlie's birthday at the comedy club along with some of their other friends. On April 11th our Scale Back Alabama group was officially done and weighed out...I had lost 15 lbs (with the goal being 10lbs), so I was pretty happy. Mom and Dad both did awesome and lost a lot...Jeremy on the other hand did not let go of his Dr. Pepper's very much, but I think he ended up losing maybe 6 lbs. Only if I would have kept up the diet I would be in good shape for 2011! On the weekend of the 16th (which was Jeremy's spring break week in Blount County) we went on a day trip to Atlanta to the World of Coke and once again to the Georgia Aquarium. I found out that morning that a good friend from high school had passed away, so it started out pretty sad, but we made the best of it. We celebrated for MANY birthday parties for some of the kids at preschool and some family members and we also celebrated with Sean and Jen for their baby Lexi's 1st birthday party.

End of the season ragball party

May 2010-Wow...this is getting long! We ended the ragball season and had a end of the season party at the splash pad which was a lot of fun. Sadly, Jeremy didn't get to make it because of graduation, but the kids had a great time. Carson celebrated his 4th birthday pary at the splash pad. This was the easiest birthday party ever...so much better than doing it at the house. His theme was Yo Gabba Gabba...which was at the time his favorite show on Noggin. He had several friends/family there which included: Grammy, Nana, MiMi, Poppie, Gina, Charlie, Mal, Ashley, Chase, Donna, Bradley, Granny, Paw-Paw, Aiden and his mommy Heather, Carden and his mommy Cara, Addy and her mommy Emily, & now I am drawing a blank and can't remember who else was there. The kiddies played in the water until they were wrinkled and we all had a good time. Jeremy celebrated his 34th birthday on the 26th! Carson also celebrated his birthday again the next week at school with his classmates. He also ended the 3 year old preschool year with a Fiesta at his school...I was off work and went and my little heart just melted watching Carson dance the Mexican Hat dance with his friends! Later that week, Grammy and I decided we wanted to go to the beach before the oil hit the shore, so the four of us left for the weekend and had a wonderful time for Memorial Day weekend!

Happy 4th Birthday Carson !!!

Carson with his buddy Carden

Grammy and Nana at the Party

June 2010-For some reason I decided to sign up to volunteer for bible school at Carson's preschool. We don't go to church there, but since our church is so large at Church of the Highlands they do not have a traditional Vacation Bible school for kids Carson's age, so I that is why we decided to go and be a part of it at his school. Carson had a wonderful time and learned so many new songs about Jesus that he still sings to me now about the Highs Seas Expedition theme. I, on the other hand tried to make the best of it, but was given a group of some rowdy little kids and the woman that worked with me was not so pleasant to be around...especially for almost 3 days. Overall...it was a fun experience (minus the other helper), but I can't say that I will sign up to do it again. We celebrated many birthday parties for Carson's friends along with Carden's birthday party at Pump it Up on the 26th and little Ashley Killough's party at her house where Carson got to go swimming.

The McFall family

July 2010-July was such a wonderful month for Jeremy and I because at the first of the month we found a house we wanted to buy and before the end of the month we were in it. We had been renting for a little over 4 years and it was definitely time to get into a house that we could call "ours". The previous year we found the house in Hayden and just loved it, but weren't sure if we wanted to take it on yet. Well...we found out that the house was still available and had been reduced, so we jumped on it! We put our earnest money on it with our wonderful realtor on Sunday July 4th, did the final walk through on July 22, and closed on July 23rd...talk about FAST!!! I highly recommend Shelia Youngblood with Remax in Gardendale and Michelle Reno with hometown mortgage to anyone out there looking to buy/sell! We started moving the next day along with my family that helped and we had our first night in the house on the 24th! Papa and Granny even came up and brought us lunch during the middle of our LONG day. Thankfully, I was off work the following week and was able to get things somewhat together and go shopping for some new decor', but Jeremy on the other hand started band camp with his band at Cleveland, so I was on my own with Carson. At the end of the month we also signed Carson up for soccer for his 2nd season with Gardendale.

Biscuit...our new addition in 2011

August 2010- Carson began his last year of preschool in the 4's class. His teachers were so very nice...Ms. Lori and Ms. Jennifer. Jeremy graduated with his master's from the University of Montevallo. I was so proud of him, but also so happy that all the long hours from him away from us was finally over! MiMi/Mom celebrated her 50th birthday, but she was quite shocked to find out that there was a big 50th surprise at our new house! My dad, sister, and I secretly invited mom's sister Donna and her family and my grandparents to my house and we actually pulled the whole thing off without her knowing. We had her a tombstone cake from Loise's Cakes and Things and Costa's Mediterranean food catered.

Jeremy's graduation at Montevallo

September 2010 -The busy time of the year beings....football season with Cleveland (Jeremy's school) and of course Bama football for me and UAB football for Jeremy. It is all fun, but sure takes up a lot of time. We also celebrated at my best friend Brandy's house for her son Auston's birthday! Jeremy was called and begged to be the head coach of Carson's team (which in my opinion he did an awesome job at!), so he formed the orange soccer team and they began practicing/playing. Jeremy and I began a new COTH small group and this time it was "Growing Kids Gods Way" held at our friends Mindy and Eric Short's house. It taught us so many things that we had never really thought of before and I highly suggest it to any of you parents out there...

October 2010-We started off the month going to Fall Festivals and then I was off on the 5th for a trip with Carson's class to the pumpkin patch in Hayden. The kids all had a wonderful time and the parents of course had a wonderful time watching them. We left afterwards and took Daddy lunch at Cleveland for the first time having lunch with him at his school. Normally I don't get to do anything like this since I work full time, so it was nice to be able to do that! On the 24th, we threw Brandy her baby shower for the upcoming baby girl...Bryleigh Marie Robinson! Bryleigh got a lot of very nice things and I am so happy for my bestie!
My sister Gina turned 22 on the 28th & I was off work on the 28th-29th. Aunt Sharon flew up from St. Augustine to be with Uncle Tim that had already drove up earlier in the week since he has to work the Talladega race for his job at Coke and we had a wonderful couple of days hanging out with the girls and having dinner at Granny's. We celebrate more birthday parties including Addy on the 30th, which is the daughter of my good friend Emily from work. Carson had a wonderful time at her birthday of course because she had a trampoline! On the night of the 30th we had a very fun Halloween party at my parents house. My dad and sister really like to decorate for Halloween, so he had the woods ready for us and we had a wiener roast, yummy desserts, etc. On Halloween night we visited Grammy and Nana and trick or treated them. Carson was dressed up as a fireman. We ended the night by going to Boo at the Zoo and getting a lot of candy! On a bad note for this month I was assigned a new and extra unit at work, which now gives me 3 units to cover...blah!!

Carson and his classmates

Carson and Poppie

Carson and MiMi

November 2010- We go to a lot of birthday parties, but this was definitely the month of parties...we took Carson to Natalie Thornton 1st bday at chuck e cheese, Isaiah's Birthday at his house, and his good buddy Jacob Clayton's birthday at build a bear! For Thanksgiving, I worked the morning of Thanksgiving at UAB, and then left at around noon to have Thanksgiving lunch with Jeremy's mom/nana. Later that afternoon, we had dinner once again at my Granny's house, so needless to say we were very full! The next day I decided to not shop because it was raining, so we watch the Bama/Auburn game at home which of course led to disappointment for me since Auburn won by one stupid point 28-27 over Bama. We actually missed the first quarter of the game because we were trying to find a perfect Christmas tree, but finally found one tall enough for me at Lowe's on Lakeshore...after making several stops to find a tree we finally made a purchase! Bryleigh Marie Robinson was also born 3 weeks early, but she arrived on November 23rd and was just as precious as we thought she would be! Carson attended his first country country concert with me and my family...we went to see Jason Aldean/Luke Bryan...mommy was in heaven. Daddy did not attend this event with us since he hates country music...I've been trying to rub it on him for almost 5 years now and it still hasn't happened...uggg!

Jason Aldean!

The happy new engaged couple...Gina and Charlie

December 2010- What a busy month, but isn't it always busy in December! We started out the month with Christmas parades...while Jeremy worked with his band at the Oneonta parade, Carson and I froze while we attended the Gardendale parade & it was fun for me to watch his little face see the firetrucks. On the the 4th we had all of Jeremy's family at our house...His mom (Carson's Grammy) and Nana, Tammy, Alex, Tessie, Josh, Christie, Nita, Nancy, Jacob, his gf Sammie, and her kids. We all had a wonderful time and ate most of the day/night! We also took our annual adventure to ride the Polar Express train in Calera. This year MiMi and Poppie went and they loved it just as much as we did! Jeremy and Carson's last day at school was on the 17th, but I started my vacation on the 22nd after working only a 1/2 day. We started it off by going to COTH for the annual Christmas program that is held which is always wonderful. We have a candlelight service and it is always amazing and such a good feeling when all those candles are lit. MiMi & Poppie attended this with us also this year since they had never been to COTH and I think they really enjoyed it also. Another exciting thing was that the Hayden Fire Department drove Santa around the neighborhood and they made a stop at our house...Carson was one happy little boy when Santa gave him candy and got his picture made with him. On Christmas Eve we started out by going to MiMi/Poppie's house to have Christmas with my family. Carson was thrilled to find that he had a set of new drums from them along with all the other many presents. We then headed to the annual gathering of my moms side of the family, which definitely includes a LOT of people, but it is always fun! We have played take-away for years...sometimes we play with new items and sometimes we play with items that we wrap up and bring from our house...which can get quite interesting and funny. OH...I just remembered something really important that happened earlier this month...my sister Gina got engaged to Charlie Rawls...we all love Charlie and are so thrilled to have him in our family. I am even more thrilled that this means Jeremy and I will have a brother in law :o) Back to Christmas: Christmas Day was very special to us this year because it was our first Christmas together in our new house! To top it off...it SNOWED on Christmas Day!!! I woke up first to find Jeremy and Carson still snoozing). I couldn't stand it anymore, so I finally woke Carson up and led him to the presents from Santa and Mommy & Daddy. He went to the living room to find that Santa brought him several presents along with an art easel. The easel had a message on it from Santa and Buddy the Elf that finally led him to his much awaited trampoline that was in the back yard! He was thrilled to see it, but he had many (too many) presents to open from mommy and daddy, so it was back to ripping the wrapping paper. He was loaded up on lots of new Wii games including Mario Kart for Wii (which has been a hit for all of us), new cars, boardgames, art supplies, and much more. After having our litte family Christmas, we headed to Jeremy's moms/nana's house for Christmas there. We opened presents and Carson was happy to find a Nintendo DS XL from Grammy and an Auburn/jersey from Nana (please remember I am a Bama fan all the way and Jeremy is UAB, so yes, we have a warped child...hehe). After lots of presents we had a yummy Christmas lunch and stayed stuffed the rest of the day while playing with all the new stuff. The next day on Sunday we had Christmas once again at my grandparents house (dad's parents). Carson was again loaded up with more toys. Uncle Tim drove up from St. Augustine, but Sharon wasn't able to make it due to having to return to work. We ate a delicious meal once again and stayed late at moms that night while Carson tried out his new drums some more. The drums were then loaded up in the back of our car to take to the house (and our house has not been quite since that day...haha).
Jeremy and I decided to not exchange gifts (well...I cheated), but we wanted a trip to Gatlinburg to be our Christmas to each other for just the 3 of us. I rented a cabin early in September and it was finally time to head to it, but we were a little scared because Gatlinburg had been dumped with snow over the Christmas weekend. The cabin was on Ski Mountain Rd (which always of course gets more snow), so we arrived to find about 2 feet of beautiful snow along with an iced uphill driveway. Jeremy managed to get his car uphill a little, so we get park at the bottom and walk up to the cabin. Wednesday the 29th we had more of an adventure than what I had planned, but we headed to Newfound Gap and Caves Cove...which took from about 10:30am-4:30pm since it took us 4 hours to get through Caves Cove with all the traffic. I have to say...we were a little anxious to get out of the car, but it was amazing to see so many deer in one area. We even seen a man petting a 10 point buck in the middle of the field! We finally made it back to civilization and had a delicious meal at Bubba Gump's for dinner. Let me just say that their Grilled shrimp stuffed with crab meat is YUM! Thursday the 30th we got up bright and early and geared up for a day of skiing at Ober. I sat out this year and watched, but Jeremy and Carson had a full day. This was Carson's first time to ski and go through ski school. I have to say he did pretty good to only be 4 1/2 years old! His instructor was wonderful and had him sliding down a little hill in no time. Carson LOVED it and was ready to hit the slopes with dad! I was scared out of my mind, but Jeremy took Carson up the ski lift and guided him down the slope between his skis...it was a fun sight to watch as Carson's face was lit up from smiling so hard. We ice skated (for a few laps) before going back to the cabin and spent the rest of the night chilling out! Friday the 31st of course was New Year's Eve and "moms day" since the rest of the trip had been planned by dad :o) We headed out to eat at the Applebarn and of course had a delicious meal. We then left and went to the Mountain Valley winery and Jeremy and I had a fun time tasting the wines and trying to decide what to take back home with us. We then went to an indoor Jurassic Boat ride for Carson (which was very cheesy and expensive!)...that is one $36 that I really wish would have stayed in our account! We headed back to Gatlinburg and later in the evening went to our favorite restaurant, Cherokee Grille, to celebrate New Year's Eve. Gatlinburg of course is packed with people as everyone is on the street awaiting midnight for the ball to drop. We did some shopping and finally found us a seat and waited on 12am. Carson was a trooper the whole night and he loved watching the fireworks and ball drop. He was decked out in his New Year's hat, light up glasses, and blew his horn the whole night. We finally made it back up the mountain and passed out asleep. We headed home on New Year's Day in the rain. Luckily we had Sunday to recover a little before heading back to work!
Goodness, that took a while to type and I really didn't anticipate it being that long, but I think I just wrote a book. I hope 2011 brings in some good memories just as 2010 did! I'm anxious to see what's in store for us!

Gatlinburg-New Year's 2010