he & she (december 2011)

:.. he and she ..:

They continued to get settled in their home.

She decorated their home for Christmas.

They picked out their first Christmas tree together

And he attached it to the car :)

She spent some time with her sweet niece

He had a little break from basketball

She had her first Christmas party with her first graders 

They had a much needed break from school

He got to participate in the annual Waffle House Christmas Eve tradition!

They spent their first Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. and their first one together!

She has done this "he and she" project for exactly one year 

And can't wait to see what the next one will hold!

Top Eleven of 2011

This year has been quite the eventful one! It has been full of good times and bad times. It's been one of trials and blessings! So here are my top 11 of 2011.....

11.) Family trip to Disney World and Virginia's first visit!!

10.) Brett's graduation from college in May

9.) Completing my first half marathon in January!

8.) Celebrating two years of life for this sweet girl!

7.) Getting engaged to my best friend in March!

6.) Wedding planning, showers, festivities, and feeling more loved by sweet friends and family!

5.) Finding out that Brett got his first real coaching/teaching job! (Such a blessing)

4.) Finding out that I'm going to be an aunt times two and this one will be a big sister!

3.) Spending a week here with my husband

2.) Marrying the love of my life on a perfect November day!

1.) Seeing the Lord teach me, guide me, stretch me, convict me, love me, and sanctify me daily. 

This has been such an incredible year. I am hoping that this next one will be even greater. I am so blessed to have married a wonderful man this year and we are still getting settled and used to this new stage of life. I pray that as we embrace 2012, we will draw closer to God daily. I have learned so much. I have seen my sin and seen God's grace and blessings. I am thankful for new beginnings. I only long to be closer to the Lord. I pray I serve more, think of myself less, and spend time with Him daily. 

So, goodbye 2011. See ya next year!

Around Here During Christmas Break

During the break we have.......

Celebrated Christmas with Brett's family

Gotten to have Brett with my family for our annual Christmas Eve Waffle House dinner tradition

Celebrated Christmas with my family

Gotten more settled in our house...

Made me an official Kittrell

Spent lots of time together

Celebrated our first Christmas in the same city and as Mr. and Mrs.!

Sneak Peek!

I have already shared with the Facebook world but thought I'd share with the blog world as well. Here is a peek into our wedding day! It was so perfect! Chris and Jeff did an unbelievable job and I cannot wait to see the rest!! Seriously, I only showed Jeff a few videos from another company that I liked and I couldn't have asked for a better job! Hopefully, they will get some business from this because it was well worth it!! So thankful that we have this video!

Brett and Laura from Chris McLean on Vimeo.

We will be heading to Brett's parents house tomorrow to spend a little time with them! I am thankful for a little time away from my first graders! 

Hello Christmas break!!

Christmas with Virginia

This past weekend we got to have sweet Virginia come and stay with us. I hadn't seen her since the wedding which in all actuality isn't that long but it was still a much needed visit. She opened presents.....

Gave us some lovin...

And we did a lot of baking and took plenty of pictures....

Precious right?

Little chef...

She learned important baking skills like the importance of licking the spoon! :)

We got a little flour on our faces

And she spread some on ours....

It was a very relaxing weekend and we had so much fun loving on that little girl!! 

Around here we are wrapping up our last week of school. Brett and I cannot wait to be on a little break. We are looking forward to spending time with our families, sleeping, and continuing to get our house settled! I am also hoping to make a few changes around the blog when I have some free time!

Oh and we also celebrated one month of marriage on Monday! I am so blessed to be married to him and so thankful that the Lord brought us together.

Happy Wednesday!

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Well, we are trying to settle into a routine and our new life as Mr. and Mrs. Our house is coming together and I am realizing how much stuff I have. On Friday we went and got our first Christmas tree together!

On Saturday, we decorated it as well as the rest of our house.

I am pretty pleased with how it turned out and we had a lot of fun doing this together! It has been a whirlwind of a few weeks but we are enjoying every minute of being married! 

In other news, my first graders are crazy right now. I am enjoying teaching but I have definitely got some Christmas craziness going on in my classroom! But, we are almost to Christmas break and next week we have lots of fun things we are doing! 

I also need to give a BIG congratulations to my sweet friend, Katherine. She and Blake are expecting their first child in June!! That is almost as good as a niece when your best friend is having a baby!! Congrats Kat and Blake!! We are so excited for you!!

The Lord has been teaching me so much with all of these changes in my life. I am seeing more and more sin in my life which is never fun but always ends up being good. I have been a bit emotional these last weeks, I have felt sorry for myself, I have been selfish. Bless Brett's heart. It's always good to recognize that sin in my life and I am thankful for His forgiveness. I am learning a lot about striving to choose joy and choose gratitude in each and every situation. 

Last but not least.....I could not be more excited to see this angel TOMORROW!! She is coming to visit us and I am pumped to spend the weekend with her! Also, I don't know if I have mentioned it on the blog or not but, I am going to be an aunt AGAIN!! Linds and Eric are expecting another little girl in April!! Ahhh....I could not be more thrilled!!!

I am off to bed and thankful that tomorrow is Thursday! :) 

he & she (november 2011)

:.. he and she ..:

She did her first set of incredibly long sub plans

But knew it was all worth it when she was in St. Thomas

He was busy with basketball and school

They finally became husband and wife on November 12th

And had the most perfect day

They went to St. Thomas on their honeymoon

They celebrated their first thanksgiving together

and are now back in their own house trying to settle in!

She has a feeling that now they they are married there will be a lot more "they" than "he and she" 

:)

My First Week as Mrs. Kittrell

I couldn't have asked for a better first week as a Mrs. We spent the week in beautiful St. Thomas! 

During our week.......

We were giddy with excitement.....

We stayed in a BEAUTIFUL place

We hung out with these guys...

We saw some pretty sunsets!

We dressed up!

We took the infamous ring picture! :)

We saw some of the bluest water!

We spent some time on the beach...

We ate some fabulous food!

We went on a Catamaran dinner cruise!

We talked about our wedding and dreamed about our future!

We were our goofy selfs!

We got to see this most days...

We dug our toes in the sand....

We got a little sunburned!

We saw birds dive bomb.... :) lol

We got to know each other better

We got a little artsy!

We had some fabulous milkshakes at.....

We spent our first week as Mr. and Mrs. Kittrell and loved every second of being together!

It was such an amazing week and we were so thankful to be there! Now, we are back and settling into our home together! It has been a busy couple of weeks but we are most definitely enjoying married life so far!

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Happy Thanksgiving! 

There is just so much to be thankful for not only today but every single day. The Lord has been so gracious to me and continued to bless me more and more. 

I couldn't help but think of the hymn, "Great is Thy Faithfulness" this morning..

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;

Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not

As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided--

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,

Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide;

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

He truly is so faithful and I am so grateful that His mercies are new every morning! 

I hope that your day is full of food, family, rest, and remembering all that the Lord has done for you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Big Thank You!

As I sit here, having just arrived back from an amazing week in St. Thomas with my husband, I am overwhelmed. I am full of so much gratitude for all of the people that made our wedding day so special and so perfect! I promise to have a more detailed post of each part of the day and the honeymoon very soon! Bear with me as this week will be one of gifts, returns, exchanges, traveling, Thanksgiving, thank you notes, settling in, etc. However, I'd like to thank a few very special people who made the details of the day perfect!

Our families: Wow! We have so much that we should thank you for. You have been such a huge support and encouragement to us. We don't deserve all that you have given us. You have taught us so much through the lives that you have lived. Thank you for your patience during the last months of planning. We love y'all!

Our wedding party: My gracious. What amazing friends you all are. We didn't deserve all of the sweet things you said at the rehearsal dinner! You were part of our wedding because you have been such an encouragement to us and such precious friends! Thank you for sharing our day!

Alisa and Jess: Ok. The photographer was a huge decision for me. I looked at several but in all honesty, once I saw you there was no competition. Now, I've only seen bridal portraits and a couple of sneak peeks but I have NO DOUBT that I will be forever grateful that you two photographed my wedding. Thank you for capturing our day and being so amazing and SO MUCH FUN to work with! Thank you for loving "the perfect light!" :)

(This is all I have seen so far but how fabulous?? Right!)

Mrs. Maryanne and Fancy Affairs Catering: The food was unbelievable! Thank you for caring about every detail and for using your gifts! It not only tasted fabulous but was also beautifully displayed! So grateful for you and your friendship!

Elisabeth Epperson: Sweet girl, I haven't met you but I feel like I know you. This talented senior is the girl responsible for the adorable monogrammed cookies. I am thankful I found your blog! You are so talented and I hope I get to meet you very soon!!

Jeff and Chris: Thank you for being my own personal paparazzi on my wedding day! You started early and stayed late. Our video is going to be ballin. No doubt! Y'all were so great!!

Belle Bouquet and DJ's By The Bay: These vendors were so easy to work with and did a phenomenal job! Although I doubt you read my blog I wanted to give some credit where it belonged!

Anthony and Eric: Thank you for using your gifts. You did such a great job with the music at our ceremony. I know being outside presented some challenges but it sounded so great! Loved hearing the worship before the ceremony and loved walking back down the aisle to, "To God Be the Glory!"

Uncle Lance, Aunt Amy, Palm, and Liv: Thank you for each having a part in our day! We LOVE you all so much! Thank you for driving to Tampa and making that sacrifice! So grateful for your family!

Guests: Thank you for taking time out of your Saturday to watch us say I Do. We are so appreciative and thankful for each of you! We have amazing friends and family!

Chris: Thank you for putting so much thought into our ceremony. It was absolutely our favorite part of the day. Thank you or glorifying the Lord with the words you said! Thank you (and JULIE!) for pouring into our lives over the last few years and even more in the last few months!

Lou's Crew: Oh my! Thank you for your creativity and your willingness to serve. I am so thankful for all of you. Thanks for everything from burlap curtains and chalkboards to your love and excitement for me! LOVE Y'ALL!! I am so undeserving of all that you did for me! (Julie, Catherine, Mangs, Linds, Mom)

Brett: Thank you for being the one waiting at the end of the aisle. Thank you for the huge smile when you first saw me an the tears as I made it to the end of the aisle! Thank you for loving me well and making me the happiest girl in the world. I love you husband!

I am sure there are others I have left out and I apologize. Our day was so incredible and everything I had ever pictured!! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

I promise to be back with more detailed posts very soon! :)