Lately

It's Friday guys - and let me tell you that it has been a LONG week! It cracks me up looking at these pictures because they are all from the first week/weekend of January and if that doesn't tell you how things have been recently - whoosh - I don't know what does!

My mother-in-law sent me the pictures below as some additional snaps from our hike on New Year's Day hike in Asheville. The weather was beautiful and I love starting the New Year in nature - so it was the perfect way to start a new year!

 

The first two weeks of this year have been pretty hectic - I slowly but surely began removing our Christmas décor from around the house and I couldn't resist snapping pictures of our tree once all the ornaments were removed. I really have loved our Christmas tree - it was perfect for us and perfect for our first Christmas together - it should last us for several Christmas(es) to come!

Last Friday night, Ryan surprised me by taking me to Shenandoah Valley Axe Company for a date night. He also invited my parents, which I wasn't aware of - so that was a surprise when we walked in! We had some dinner and threw axes at the target - and ya'll, my skills were literally hit or miss! As you can see - I hit the dead center once - and that was quite a thrill! Ryan was incredible at it and my Mom turned out to be pretty lethal herself! 

 

There were other times when I would toss my axe and it would end up crashing to the ground. *face palm* My husband and parents came to the conclusion that I needed to dig deep and find my inner mean/fierce mode when I tossed that axe - and well, I guess I struggle to find some inner mean, ha-ha!

Ryan and I were gifted a fire pit as one of our wedding gifts and we have really put it to some good use already! We worked hard most of the day on Saturday getting all our Christmas things put away and working on some organization for the New Year, so we very much enjoyed sitting by our fire pit and watching the brightly colored flames - yahoo for colored fire pouches - and enjoying the ambience. 

This week was incredibly busy - we went to Financial Peace class on Monday night, I had dinner with my women's Bible study on Wednesday night and I attended my Mentorship group on Thursday night. We also made a pretty hard decision this week that has left us both feeling a little emotionally drained - but I'll share more about that at a different time. We both had some nights we didn't sleep well and some long days at work - I think we are both looking forward to having not much on the agenda this weekend but a couple things around the house, dinner with friends and spending time with Watson.

Last but not least - we have to decide on a puppy! We will be meeting the little creatures on Saturday the 28th and I'm sure we won't be able to fully decide until we see them in action, but just look at these precious furry faces!

How do you choose when they are all so sweet? I guess we will just have to witness their personalities to make our final decision! And - there is one more that isn't pictured here - so many choices!