Our visit to the Gianniny House!

After Christmas, Andrew and I took the long haul up to Buffalo, NY to visit his extended family...(more on that later). After our visit, we headed east to Rochester to see Mark, Cindy, Jack, Danny and Charlie. We hadn't seen them since our wedding and were eager to arrive and have a few days to catch up!

Andrew and I had a blast playing basketball (Andrew and Danny beat Jack and I) and wiffle ball (umm..Jack and SB creamed the others!) with the boys. We also played in the snow...yes...almost 1 foot of fresh snow fell...it was awesome....we capped of the trip with a Ping-Pong Tournament where Andrew contintued his dominance in the sport.

It was great catching up with Mark and Cindy (and Lauren!). We are so lucky to have such dear friends!

We already miss everyone and are planning on heading back up there over the summer to go to Lake George!

Mark and Cindy emailed us these pics from the trip!

SB and Danny at his birthday dinner!

Future Vols!

Danny turns 10 years old!! Yummy Cake!

Relaxing on the couch with my 2 favorite men!

Our car's first snow!

Andrew playing in the snow

One last picture before our goodbye..:(.

A new discovery...Etsy.com

As you may have noticed (or not) on the side of our blog I have a link to Etsy.com. It is a website created for people to sell their handmade products...everything from jewelry (my fav) to cupcakes to art. A person could spend hours on here looking at everything....and I did on Saturday morning when I had to give the ACT at school. I was bored out of my mind thinking about all those poor kids who were actually thinking...and thinking hard....and their I was...surfing Etsy. I registered so I can keep track of all of my favorite sellers. Here are a few you might want to check out:
Sticksandstonesga
ERMoriginals
SAEE

The best part about it is that everything on there (that I have liked) is VERY reasonably priced and it seems like a great place to get Christmas gifts...especially for someone who has everything. You should check it out!

Introducing the newest member of our family....Jack Pratt!

Yes, we took the plunge and got a dog!! We've really been wanting one for a long time and Saturday night we drove to White Pine to see two puppies that were left from a litter. When we called the lady said she had a white male and yellow male left from a litter. I instantly thought I would prefer the white one...but as soon as we saw his cute yellow face with his crooked smile and deformed tail, we knew!! We had to have the yellow lab puppy! He's so sweet and he is slowly getting use to his new home.

We left the house and Andrew was ready to get him right then! Me, being the voice of reason, said, "No, let's wait and see how we feel tomorrow morning". The first thing I though about when I woke up on Sunday was Jack. I told Andrew this and was bothering him all day long about going to get it. He played it off and told me that we couldn't get him yet. I thought this was strange since, just the day before, he wanted it. Andrew told me he was going to play poker up at Holston Hills and he would be back in a couple of hours. I went to workout and thought about the dog the entire time. I thought, in the back of my mind, I hope he is really going to get the dog. Well, when he got home, no dog. I was disappointed when he walked in and was empty handed.

The Lady Vols were coming over for their Christmas party that evening, so I was busy getting food ready and cleaning up. The doorbell rang at 5:30 and I told Andrew to go and answer it. I assumed one of the girls had arrived early. Andrew called me to the door and said, "You will never believe who is here!" It never crossed my mind that it was Jack! There he was, with Luis, Judy, Lexy, and Maya, waiting for me! Andrew did suprise me!! The dog was in the garage the whole time!!

Needless to say, he has kept us very busy these last few days and nights! He is just a puppy - 8 weeks old- born October 5! He loves his toy that Joanne bought him and he loves old t-shirts he can chew on. He also loves to play out in the yard and we are looking forward to training him to fetch a ball.

I will keep you posted on all his progress...and ours!!

Baby Natalia

Over Thanksgiving, Andrew and I got to meet the newest member of the family, Natalia! She is so small and sweet! Natalia is Andrew's cousins Threasa and Ceasar's first born! I hope I have all these names spelled right!! If not, I'm sorry! Here's a picture with the three of us!

Our House at Christmastime

We've started to put up a few Christmas decorations around the house. The best part is putting them up and enjoying them for as long as possible (that's why we put them up so early this year). The worst part is taking them down and wondering...why did I put all this up? Each year I seem to collect more and more decorations (thanks Mom!). We hung our wreaths up outside already since we won't be here for Thanksgiving...we did it Saturday morning when it was about 20 degrees outside! Along with some Christmas deco pics, there are some pics below of our new bead board work that we had done is our guest bedroom and bathroom last spring. We also had crown molding put in our master (I don't think there are any pics of that).

"NOEL" in our formal living room

My favorite Santa pillow!

Our sideways tree! I can't figure out how to flip it

Our mantle with our new stockings that we'll have forever!

I thought this looked "Ski Lodgee"?? Its at the bottom of the stairs

Our guest bathroom and our new beadboard

Our guest bedroom and our new beadboard and our new chocolate brown paint!

November's here....and has been for a while!

This semester has gone by too fast! I can't believe it's already November. Only 25 more school days left 'til Christmas break...I can't wait! At the same time, I like the classes that I am teaching this semester, so I am hoping to get good students next year too! Andrew's fall season is over and he has been busy working in the office learning the ropes from Judi.

November has proven to be a busy month for both Andrew and I. He traveled to Florida for his last tournament and then I left for Nashville on a school trip with my club, DECA. Andrew leaves again next week to recruit...then later in the month, we are headed west to visit all our family in Memphis! Whew! It's been a while since we've been there are we are really excited to go and see everyone!

I can't wait to decorate for Christmas (my favorite holiday!) so I am thinking about getting started this weekend. I know...it's too early, but I figure, we arent' going to be here for Thanksgiving anyway, so I might as well go ahead and do it!

Well, that's the latest update (no pics this time...sorry) but as soon as we decorate, I will post some pics of that on here. Love to all!

Golf.....and more!

Okay, I know I have neglected my blog for the past month...but here are few highlights...The Lady Vol's golf team had their home tournament early in October at Fox Den. They also had their first ever reunion for all the current and former team members....it was a Pratt Pavillion on campus (we wish we were related..haha). The facility (where the men's and women's bb teams practice) is amazing!! Andrew's parents, Bob and Maureen, came to visit and to watch the team play. It was great to have them in...even thought they couldn't stay long. We are excited to go to Memphis over Thanksgiving this year to see all our friends a family there!! It's been almost a year since we've been!!

I have been on fall break this past week and it's been amazing...a much needed break! Not too much longer and Christmas will be here!

Andrew's best friend from college, Ian, is starting is first q-school next week.....keep him in your thoughts!! He's going to do great!! We miss having Ian and Carrie so close and can't wait to visit them in Texas.


Here's a group photo from the reunion dinner

Andrew in his office at Stokely