a little post-Christmas trip with friends

A couple weeks before Christmas my man and his buddy Clint put their heads together and whipped up a trip to the Smoky Mountains. 

So the day after Christmas we headed east. 

Clint has been a friend of Anthony's for a loooong time. I think kindergarten or maybe even earlier. 

You may remember the beach wedding from a couple years ago. 
Clint & Kyla's wedding Oct 2011

Since the wedding, we've gotten in kinda a habit of hangin out with "the Browns" and I hafta say we really dig it. 

They're laid back & fun. 

And their kid... 
Avery's a hoot! 100% boy! Cool kid. And pretty funny, too. 

 I don't think Clint combed his hair at any point during the trip LOL 

Anyway, we didn't do a big bunch of stuff while we were in the mountains. Mostly just hung out together, did a little shopping, and of course did some eating. Isn't that always a part of vacationing? 

We had pizza one night and it just happened to have an arcade in it that a certain 2 year old was kinda into. ha 
We joked that the toys, er prizes they give for tickets appear to be the same crap stuff we got at Chuck E. Cheese as kids. 

We headed to this oldie but goodie one night for some grub.  nomnom

Tasty. 
We were all miserably full by the end of the meal. I don't know how you can leave this place without being stuffed. 

On the way to dinner that night Avery was looking at pics on his mom's iPhone. I saw what was obviously pics of Avery opening gifts on Christmas. Being the clever adult I am, I asked Avery "What is that? Your birthday?" Avery said "Noooo it's Jesus' birthday." 

The things 2 year olds say. 

And when you're around 9,000 different candy stores, you eventually just have to stop in one of em.
Especially when the name of the shop is the Chocolate Monkey. 
I mean come on!

Anthony went for the pecans & I was a sucker for the mint oreo. Typical. 

On Saturday there was a game on that the fellas were interested in. 
Big shock. 
So they headed off to Buffalo Wild Wings and watched the game. And Anthony had "first dinner." Or maybe it was "second lunch." #Officereference

Anyway, as it turned out it was rainy so after Avery's nap we headed to an indoor arcade. That's where I snagged this shot of Avery's sweet little smile.

He's a climber this one.

And his favorite game was the basketball shoot.

One night we watched a movie in the condo. Kyla predicted that Clint wouldn't make it through the whole movie. 

She was right. 

He sat like this for an hour probably. 
Like a statue. 
The flash didn't even make him flinch when I shot this pic. 
Notice he's got the phone open. Thumbs in place. Said he was about to text when he dozed off. 

We eventually made it over to the new area in Pigeon Forge they call "the Island" with the huge ferris wheel. 

 It's 200 feet tall which is the equivalent of about 20 stories I think. It was a nice slow ride in an enclosed car. But Anthony was still white knuckled most of the ride. Ha!

They take your pic in front of one of those green screens. I'm a sucker for pics so we got em! 

Throughout the trip Avery would sing "Boys Round Here" by Blake Shelton. He "made it his own" as they say, which was pretty funny. And Anthony taught him how to "mix it" on the red, red, redneck part. 
It took me about a week to get the song out of my head and I don't even know the song. Lol 

I think I had kinda forgotten how active 2 year olds are. There was constant running, wrestling, flipping, playing and talking. 

And lots of cuteness. 

Like when he said the word ridiculous. Big words comin out of tiny people = funny stuff ! 

So anyway. We had a really good time and I wouldn't mind if this became a tradition for us... 

If I could turn back time... to Christmas

Don't shoot me for this late post. 

I meant to do it before now. Really I did.

I posted some stuff from MY side of the fam but not the hub's. Can't be leavin them out. 

So here goes. 

Anthony has only one sister. And she has a son. That's Christy and Dawson. 

I don't know if I've ever specifically mentioned it on the blog, but Anthony's dad died when Anthony was in 4th grade. When Anthony was in 6th grade, his mom remarried. A very good man named Terry. He has two sons that are older than Anthony. They lived with their mom by the time Terry married Anthony's mom. So anyway. That's the rundown for the hub's fam.

We got together the Saturday night before Christmas. 
To eat. 
And to give these kiddos some gifts. 
The nieces & nephews...  
       they're growin up. 

Probably the funniest thing this Christmas was when Kyle got some knives. He's W I L D when he opens his gifts anyway, but when he got the machete he had asked for he may have said something about being ready for the zombie apocalypse. 

Here he is with his dad. 
     And his deadly weapon.

As he headed out that night he mentioned something about chopping some trees. Poor trees.

Movin on. 

Somebody might love him some Alabama Roll Tide gear... 

We actually didn't get this stuff for Dawson - we got him an Alabama iPod case and iTunes gift card, but when he put on the shades and held up the shirt Joey & Jen got him, I just had to capture the moment. 

And what's not cute about this?!

A little brotherly sisterly love... or not

And some smiles & such ~

Oh and there might have been some hula hooping, too. 

Before you ask, no, I don't know why Bryson needed to take his shirt off. And I don't even know how we ended up hula hooping. And yes, you know I had a turn, too. 
And it was almost as bad as when I try to dance. Thankfully there are no pics or vids of it. One perk to bein the unofficial family photographer I s'pose.

We sure did laugh a lot. I won't name names here but let's just say we all don't have the talent of hula hooping. {cough cough Janice} 

That night the weather was a little sketch. So before the night was over, we ended up piled in the storm shelter. 
14 of us... 

{cell phone pic}

Thankfully the weather didn't get bad. Just some wind & heavy rain. 
  So that my friends was Christmas with the hub's family pretty much.

Good times. Good times indeed.

So long 2013

In 2013 I planned to be more OBEDIENT, to SERVE MORE and to be the child God is pleased with… 

and I said I just wanted to be MORE in 2013 than I was in 2012.

I did have some instances of obedience. I obviously mean that in the spiritual sense. I definitely stretched myself a time or two in this area. But I could have done more. There was one situation where I felt God was telling me to do something so I did it. And the folks involved seemed blessed by it. It was kinda a small thing, but we all know God takes the small things and makes em big. So I feel good about that. And I also tried to be more of an encourager this year. People hear enough too much negativity. It’s time we stop for a second and tell the people we care about how much they mean to us, point out the positive things, ya know?

I definitely served more this year than I did in 2012. I went to my church’s summer camp for middle schoolers as a counselor. 

I had never been away from Anthony for that long (it was 5 nights) and I was headin off to this camp without knowing anyone. But I felt like I was SUPPOSED TO GO, ya know? And it turned out to be a great experience AND I met some awesome folks that week that I’m still friends with. And I was blessed spiritually in a B I G way.

I also started teaching a small group with my friend Pennie. 

It means me and the hub have to drive separately to church on Sundays now, but I love investing in those 6^th grade girls. When the school year is over, I’m gonna miss em.

The other serving thing I did was our church’s girl’s retreat. It was also a great experience and like camp, here I met some great folks that I’ve become friends with. And it's cool when the girls see me around campus and run over and hug me. 

*Side bar: I will never forget the Friday night "dance party" where our worship leader Brooke grabbed me to dance with her. And then she put her friend Cara on her shoulders. And they fell.  

Anyway, so I didn’t get it all right in 2013, but at least I was trying. There were ups and downs of course, but 2013 will go down in my memory as a good good year.

On to the less mushy stuff. Whew.

This is a recap yall. 
And don’t expect it to be brief. I mean come on. You know me.

{movies we watched}

Sherlock Holmes

Spiderman 3

Footloose (the new one)

Iron Man

Iron Man 2

Iron Man 3

Lone Ranger

Getaway

Heart of Country

Olympus Has Fallen

Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

{music we did}

> Boyd Tinsley of Dave Matthews Band

> Maroon 5 me & a couple girlfriends from work

> Brandon Holder our friend that plays regularly downtown

> Dave Matthews Band the hub & I went to the show in April, then the hub & his buddy went in June

> Zamily Reunion Zac Brown Band fan club event during CMA Fest

This was the first time they let fan club members have a pic 

> Zac Brown Southern Ground Food & Music Festival two nights of music mayhem WOOT WOOT - it was mostly ZBB but also included Eli Young Band, Grace Potter, Kenny Chesney, Kenny Rogers & several more... I was all about the ZBB though #awesome
> John Mayer F R E E courtesy of my sweet friend Kelly the hugger xxoo

{my photography gigs}

a slow year for me…

> 1 wedding

> 2 Senior portrait sesh’s

> Maternity sesh with my niece my first maternity shoot & it was sooo fun #thankyouPinterest

> a baby shower for a friend

> Portraits of our friends' 2 year old & some family shots

> Fall family portraits

and the best paying gig…not that it's about the money but this gig was sweet...

>> the Girl Scout daddy daughter event :- ) -> $$$ all I had to do was show up & shoot the pics

> This wasn't a "gig" but I'm throwin' it in the photog section... proof that an iPhone pic can be great - - 

> And then there's this... just because

me being me

{our trips}

Smokies in Feb
Alabama in Apr for DMB concert

Fort Walton in Sept

Smokies again after Christmas 
oh and I went to summer camp in east TN & girls retreat in KY sans the hub

{the family stuff}

> Watched boys in the fam play basketball, soccer & football we need more GIRLS in the family lol

> My niece had her TWIN BOYS… which means I’m now a G R E A T   A U N T …not even mad about it either

recent Instagram pic posted by my niece.  .  . 

try JUST TRY and handle all this cuteness

> My best friend happens to also be my sister-in-law and she turned the big FOUR OH this year

> Went to the good ole Wilson County Fair with some of the fam
> My grandmother passed away :- ( 

She's in Heaven now... so it's okay. 

We'll miss her though!

{the totally random stuff}

> lots of dinners and laughs with friends… how I love those!

> birthday celebrations

> some Girls Nights … food, laughs and love

> celebrated my 9^th anniversary at my job AND the hub & I celebrated #14 on the ole ring finger #timeflies

> ran a 5K with Rhonda & Delaney and another one with my pal Angela

> we sold our Honda Civic… um yeah, so we may have owned 4 vehicles for a few months there #ohme

> considered Lasik eye correction for a minute

> I changed dentists… and my new dentist is a fella I've literally watched grow up so it’s kinda weird/cool

> planted some trees at the homestead

> lost a tree – poor little weak Dogwood RIP buddy, RIP

> we bought a new tv… we’re finally in the flat panel thin club lol

> The Office ended. I.can’t.even. >-( 

> I exercised for the first time ever on a vacation – had to throw this in

> we brought back some Whataburgers to Anth’s step brother when we came back from Alabama. #stinkycar

> Anthony played guitar at church

> my friend Bridgett is finally finished with school & doing her student teaching – that called for a celebration so I treated her to Cheesecake Factory!

> the hub & I tried a couple new restaurants in the ville – Loveless Café & Pucketts – both were delish

Thank you for reading my little blog during 2013. 
I hope 2014 is AWESOME SAUCE with a TERRIFIC CHERRY ON TOP!

xxoo
Lyndy

from MY family to yours, Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve night with my immediate family... 
     well it's just the best!

This was our first Christmas with my niece's twin boys Conner and Brady - they'll be 8 months old on the 26th and they were a nice addition to the Carver Christmas fun!

don't you just wanna smooch those sweet little faces?!

Conner hung out with his daddy during the gift opening

 And Brady was with mommy 

My oldest nephew Caleb is stationed at Fort Bragg and last week we found out he wasn't going to get to come home for Christmas.
Boo~ 
But he surprised us all and showed up. Apparently his superior (at the last minute) said he could take a couple days off and come home. Yay! 
What a blessing!

At my parents' house we always eat first of course, then open gifts. 

I need my nieces & nephews to stop gettin so big :-( 

After gifts there's always a game or two. 

This year it was 5 Seconds and then Scattergories. Both games were fun & provided lots of laughs. 

I love my family. They're just the best! 
God is so good! 
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, too! 

I'll leave ya with just a few more ... 

M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S !!!