Yes Pressley, there is a Santa Claus...

The Carter Family had a fantastic Christmas!

On Christmas Eve, Lacey's dad came and spent the night with us and woke up with us on Christmas morning to open gifts! It was so much fun to see Pressley open all of her toys...and boy did she get a TON (see pictures below). Everyone LOVED their gifts! Lacey surprised Travis with a pair of boots that he wasn't expecting to get, so it was fun to see the surprised look on his face! After the gift opening was finished, we enjoyed a BIG breakfast together and watched some classic Christmas movies! Lacey's sister Loni and her daughter Anna came over and enjoyed the movie watching with us...and of course, opened more gifts!

Later on in the day, Lacey's mom and Travis' parents came over and of course...we all opened more gifts! Pressley was probably a little overwhelmed with all of the toys she received all at once! She really didn't know which one to play with first! She and Anna had fun experimenting with all of the new gadgets!

Later on in the evening, Lacey's mom made everyone a homemade meal and then we settled down and watched "Christmas Vacation"! Lacey had never seen this movie and since this is a Carter Family tradition, they figured it was time for her to be introduced to it!

Having children truly brings a little more spirit to Christmas! We can't wait for Pressley to understand who Santa is and to explain to her the REAL meaning of Christmas...the birth of Christ our Lord.

Happy Birthday Jesus!!

Baby It's Cold Outside...And I'm wearing a sleeveless shirt.

On Saturday, Travis, Pressley and myself headed home to Grant County for some fun stuff!

First, we traveled to my Grandma and Grandpa Lee's house for Christmas with my mom's entire side of the family in Van Buren. We had pizza for Christmas dinner, (a little unconventional, I know) opened gifts and spent quality time with family that we don't get to see very often. We had a great time! G-Ma and G-Pa got Travis and I new cookware! YAY! We were excited! We have desperately needed this for a LONG time! Pressley got a beautiful ballerina snow globe for her pink ballerina princess room! She loves to hear the music when I wind it up and she has also discovered that when she tilts it to the side, the glitter floats around in the globe. She's so smart! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! We love all of our gifts!

After our Christmas festivities, Travis and I were off to the wedding of my very dear friend, Karin Schonbachler and her fiancee Ty Henderson. These two crazy kids have been dating for 9 years! Isn't that crazy!? I remember when I was a senior in high school, Karin and I had newspaper together and she used to go gaga over this kid named Ty Henderson who went to Oak Hill. She really thought he was the cats meow. Before I knew it, they were dating and she was head over heels in love with him! Fast forward nine years later, Travis and I are sitting at their amazing wedding, watching one of the most beautiful brides I have ever seen, walk down the aisle. It was magical...

After the wedding, we headed to the reception and had a blast! I got to see a lot of people I have't seen for a long time and caught up on their lives! I felt like I was at a Grant County/Eastbrook reunion! We were also blessed with the company 0f my best friend and her husband - Matt and Shannon McCollom.

To top the night off, I was able to hang out with my BEST friend Tony B. for a short period of time and then Travis and I headed to my mom's house in Hartford City to crash for the night!

We had a great time!

Me and Matt

Grant County Ladies!
The Carters


The beautiful bride!

Apparently there was a song playing that they felt they could groove to...

Me and my sister from another mister

Matt and Travis

Always a clown

Me and Britt

"In the twilight, it was a vision of power..."

Travis and I had a fun weekend together! On Saturday morning (early!) we dropped Pressley off with my good friend from work, Stana, and headed to the windy city for the day!

Since we hardly ever get any "alone time" together, we were really looking forward to our trip! I had never been to Chicago during the winter time, so I was dreading the infamous cold weather Chicago is so well known for. We arrived around 10:30AM and BOY WAS IT COLD! I thought I was well prepared...I had my gloves on, my scarf and my warmest coat, but I was wrong! I instantly began wishing I would have wore some long underwear underneath my jeans. The wind was so intense!

We made our way down to the Water Tower mall first, just to get out of the cold for a bit. We bought some chocolate at the Godiva shop, did some window shopping and then met up with one of my best friends from college, Jenn Fix. She is a resident of "The Chi" now, so I don't get to see her nearly as often as I would like. We had lunch at The Grand Lux Cafe (yummy!), chatted for a bit and then said our goodbyes (Jenn had a surprise party to get ready for that evening).

Next, Travis and I decided to take a carriage ride! This w
as so fun and it got us out of the cold for a bit longer! My favorite part about the carriage ride was our horse! She was so pretty AND her name was Oprah! Obviously, we had to have our picture taken with her when it was all said and done. It's not very often you get to meet a celebrity:)

After walking around for a bit longer, Travis and I decided three things:


1) The sales tax in Chicago is REDICULOUS, therefore, anything we wanted to buy, we would just wait and get when we got back to Indy. CHEAP, FABULOUS INDIANAPOLIS!

2) People walk TOO slow on the sidewalk, yet they don't want to make any room for people to walk around. This is annyoing:)

3) Our feet hurt, we were cold and we missed Pressley so we decided to head home to Indiana!


All in all, the trip was fun. It felt good to get away and get some some quality time with my wonderful husband! We need to do this more often!!


Me and my dear friend, Jenn!

Carriage Ride!

Me and Trav!

Me and Travis with Oprah!

We're back!

Okay, I know it's been TOO long since our last post, however, we have a pretty good reason. Back in October, our laptop's hard drive bit the dust and we had to send it back to the retailer to get a replacement. Long story short, they forgot about us, which is why we are just now rejoining the cyber world! It feels good to be back! We have a lot of catching up to do!

Where shall we start...

In October, Pressley and Lacey celebrated their birthdays. Lacey turned 27 and Pressley turned 1! Their birthdays are only 2 days apart! Mommy and daddy threw Pressley Marie a birthday party fit for a princess, tutu and all! We hosted her party at the Historical Morris-Butler House in "old downtown" Indianapolis. It's a beautiful, Victorian area of downtown that has been preserved with magnificant homes! We were joined by so many friends and family! We ate, indulged in an amazing cake from Heavenly Sweets Bakery and opened a TON of presents! It was such a fun day! Pressley had a blast playing with all of her new toys when we came home!

In November, Travis turned 28 and our niece Anna turned 1 as well! We also celebrated Thanksgiving with Travis' family the weekend prior to Thanksgiving and with Lacey's family the weekend of Thanksgiving. We also put up the Christmas tree and started preparing for all of the fun activities that accompany the month of December! We have already started recording all of our favorite Christmas shows so that we can watch them all on Christmas Eve! This is going to be such a fun Christmas with Pressley! She can open presents now (sort've) and she can actually play with the toys we bought for her!

Pressley has been changing like crazy! She loves to play peek-a-boo, point at objects and take baths. Bath time is her favorite time of the day. As long as she can play in the tub, she's happy! She's such a well behaved child. Travis and I are so blessed. We put the Christmas tree up, fearing the worst. We have been pleasantly surprised! She loves to stand in front of it and point at it, but other than that, she doesn't bother it! She's also "talking" more and more everyday. Mostly it's just babbling, but she has began to say "uh oh" and she's a pro at saying "da da"...we're yet to hear her say "ma ma." She has also become increasingly well at identifying objects when asked to retrieve one. We'll say "Pressley, go get your duck, or Pressley go get your ball" and she goes directly to that object! She's such a smart girl! She has also grown very attached to her baby dolls. She received two for her birthday (thanks Sally and Amber) and she is always dragging them around. We refer to one of the dolls (her favorite) as just "baby" and the other one actually has a name...Stella. Somewhat ironic considering that's what I wanted to name Pressley (but Travis hated the idea)

We also took a trip to visit Shannon, Matt and Trey McCollom in lovely Decatur, Illinois back in November! We always love going to their house and hanging out! We don't get to see them nearly enough! Matt took Travis for a ride in his new Corvette and the girls went shopping at the local outlet mall! Unfortunately it was VERY cold that day, so we couldn't walk around too much with the kiddos. We had a great time!

In a doggy update, Louis gave us a scare back in October with an infected eye ball. After two trips to the vet as well as an appointment with an eye specialist, he's all better now! He has been loving the snow! Every winter he frolicks around in the backyard like a little snow bunny! We get such a kick out of him! On another Lou Lou sidenote, he has became quite fearful of Pressley when she has her golf clubs out...let's just say Pressley thinks the golf club is for hitting people (and Lou) and not golf balls. Yikes!

Until next time...

She's getting so big! 1 year old!
Tickle fest with daddy!
Bath time

Birthday girl having cake!
Downtown Indy with 2 friends from work

Witnessing history at a Barack Obama rally!

Not so happy...

Playing with Bradac Souders

GO COLTS!!