A Year End Post...

This post is way over due and I have several months to catch up on, so I'm just going to take it a month at a time since my last post. Last post was at the beginning of September, so I will pick up there. Many, many things in my life have changed in the last 4 months.

September
1.) We finally began on the house!! After all the rain setting us back by about 1 month, we finally begin this crazy process.

2.) My grandparents celebrated their 59th Wedding Anniversary.

3.) My grandmother turned 80, but was in the hospital on a vent so we celebrated a month later.

4.) Lastly, one of the saddest times in my life happened at the end of September. My grandfather passed away. I lost a big chunk of my heart when he passed and I miss him everyday. I am the only granddaughter and the baby of the family, so to say I was a HUGE granddaddy's girl is an understatement. One of the hardest but yet most special moments in my life was holding his hand during the last seconds of his life. It is day that will forever be etched in my mind.


October
1.) We celebrated Jonathan's 31st birthday in same place we celebrated his 30th birthday... Dunleith!

2.) Jonathan surprised me for our anniversary with a trip back to where we got married. It was so sweet to stand on the steps, holding hands where we said our vows. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband!

3.) Progress, lots of progress on the house!



Daisy waiting for birthday cake! :o)

November
1.) 1st - Thanksgiving with The Lists, The Holloways & The Cruthirds
2nd - Thanksgiving with The Pounceys and The Everetts

2.) Jonathan surprised me with Monday Night Football tickets, New Orleans Saints vs. New England Patriots. It was an awesome game and a great time to be in the dome.

3.) Jonathan and I are especially thankful for November because this is when we found out that some of our best friends, Darrell and Saranne are pregnant!! We can't wait to meet this bundle of joy and watch he/she grow up!



December
1.) The long awaited, painful decision of what brick we wanted finally goes up. I'm relieved and pleased with the outcome! Jonathan is so glad that's out of the way.

2.) More progress on the house and it's finally coming together and looking like a house. Can't wait to move in!

3.) We celebrated my oldest brother, Derek's 35th Birthday with a party in Meridian.

4.) Christmas parties abound: 1st-Duvall Decker Christmas Open House, 2nd- CSI Christmas party at University Club, 3rd-UMC Christmas Party at Jackson Country Club, 4th-Ornament swap at Rachel's house, 5th- AOS Christmas Party in New Orleans

5.) Our first Christmas without Grandaddy was extremely hard and Granny was back in the hospital, so we had to make new Holiday traditions this year. Christmas was granddaddy's favorite time of the year. He made it fun for all involved and planned for it all year long. Doesn't matter how much you try and re-create the things he did, it's just not the same when you can't see the joy on his face.

6.) My mom and dad surprised all of us kids with Saints vs. Tampa Bay tickets. We all rode down together and we had a lot of fun!

7.) The end of the year has come and gone...we are now looking forward to 2010 and seeing what it brings. I didn't make any new year's resolutions, but I am making it a goal to do a better job updating the blog...

Bumper stickers say it all...

Yes, this car was spotted driving in Jackson, Ms.
Couldn't have said it better myself!

MARL

Daisy Mae

Daisy, Millie, & Stella

Thanks Allison for the great pics!

SOLD!!

Wow, last week was stressful to say the least! We sold our house!! It's bittersweet because we had to say goodbye to our neighborhood and our wonderful, fabulous neighbors that we love so much, Matt and Jessica. Poor Daisy had to say goodbye to her best friend Millie and life just hasn't been the same. We closed on the sale of our home Tuesday and closed on the land we bought Wednesday. We should be breaking ground by the end of the month on our new home.

Most people think we are out of our minds for wanting to build, but truthfully we are really excited. Jonathan and I have always wanted to restore on older home and if we had stayed in New Orleans that could have been an option. But, since we live here now we decided to start from scratch. We’ve found a wonderful builder whose taste is very similar to ours and his homes have a New Orleans French style to them, which we love! Jonathan will be the GC on the project so he will be very involved in the building process. We are extremely blessed that our house sold with the market the way that it is. I am even more blessed to have such a wonderful husband who can provide us the opportunity to build this house. The next few months will no doubt be stressful, but worth it in the end. I will do my best to keep the blog updated with the step by step process.

Since May we have celebrated my 30^th birthday, Mom’s retirement, Daddy’s 60^th birthday, selling our home, buying land, my Grandfather’s 82^nd birthday, Ella's 3rd birthday, the birth of Kim and Brad's little boy Micah, Aunt B's birthday, 4^th of July and many other things. Here are some pics of our summer happenings...

Beau & Chelsa's Engagement Party

My 30th Birthday Weekend at Jellystone Park

My pretty "pink" fishing rod(it has flashing spinners)!

Me feeling incredibly blessed to have so many people there to help celebrate!

Daddy's 60th B-Day Bash at the Beach

Mom's Retirement Celebration at the Beach (LuLu's)

My sweetie!

Beach 2009

Beach 2009

Blog Slacker...

Yes, I have been a blog slacker these days. I wished I could say it's because we have just been so busy or that my computer crashed, but those do not apply to me. I have just been lazy in posting! :o) We have been a little busy with lots of things since my last post, but I won't bore my few readers with words. Here are a few things that have been going on in the Chappell house, which by the way is FOR SALE! If you know anyone looking for a great starter home send them our way.

Hudson waiting for the ball

Jacob in action

Brady's form

Scooter, the Holloway's newest addition to the family

Ella and Aunt Jennifer

My attempt at a cake

Spoiled Rotten

I realized the other day that I mention our little girl during previous blogs, but I have never posted any pictures of her. So, since Jonathan and I are not in a hurry to have a little one we spoil this little girl rotten!

Since Jonathan is the only one in his office Daisy
goes to work with her daddy whenever he is not
on the road. One day he sent me this while I was
at work, to show me what "little monster" does
when she's at his office! We're lucky because Jonathan's
boss has a black cocker, so he doesn't mind that she hangs
out there. He calls her the AOS mascot!

This was when we first got her. She was only 6 weeks

old and could fit in Jonathan's hat. Sooooo Sweet!

Daisy was about 10 weeks old here and she could

fit inside her toy box. Needless to say she has outgrown

that toy box~!

Just chilling on her Dad's stomach!

This Halloween she was a bumble bee!

She hated every second of it.

Soaking up the Sun...

Last night we found out officially that Jonathan earned us a trip to Cancun in March. I am so proud of him and not for just winning the trip, but for many things! One of the companies that Jonathan is a rep for awards sales reps that sell a certain amount with a trip for them and a guest. Last year was his first year with the company and he won us a trip to Palm Springs (this also happens to be the trip where we got engaged). We had a blast last year and it was so beautiful and relaxing in Palm Springs. They announced last year that this year's trip would be to Cancun, Mexico. Jonathan has been working his little butt off to win us this trip and finally all of his hard work has paid off. So March 3-8th we will be soaking up the sun on the beautiful beach in Cancun. Way to go honey!

Life has seemed quite busy since Christmas. We decided that it was time to sell my house and start looking for something with more space. It is a great house for a single person, but it gets a little tight when another moves his stuff in (especially tools and hunting gear). We, by we I mean Jonathan, has been working really hard with a crew he hired to update the outside of the house. When I moved in 3 years ago, Jonathan and I re-painted everything inside; walls, trim, doors, cabinets and we replaced the carpet in the bedrooms. So, it was time to give the outside a little TLC. Hopefully the painters will be finished by the end of the week. Jonathan made new shutters for the front and I have a great picture of him and Daisy working really hard last night to get the second coat (which I argued it needed) put on before today. So, if all goes well we will be putting the for sale sign in the yard by the weekend.

We were talking the other night about the "what ifs." For example, "what if it sales quicker than we expect," "what if it never sales," "what if we don't find another house that we like," all these things start playing into your mind when change is about to happen. The biggest thing Jonathan and I were talking about is our neighbors. The house right next door belongs to our dear friends Matt and Jessica. They will eventually be moving to Mobile to be close to their families, so we know that it is unavoidable that we will be separated, but it is going to be hard. We love them so much and we'll never be able to find neighbors like them. For example, last night I was making brownies and I didn't have any oil, so of course Matt comes the rescue and lets me have some oil. He brings their dog Millie (who happens to be Daisy's BFF) over to play with Daisy so that Jonathan and him could watch the latest Family Guy and eat brownies.

I have obviously been avoiding my blog lately, so as things progress I will keep it updated and share pictures later. Have a great week!