Happy Birthday Laura!

Today is my beautiful sister-in-love and soon-to-be mommy Laura's birthday!  I cannot tell you how much her friendship and sisterhood has meant to me.  As I said before, Laura was one of my saving graces during the engagement process.  She would check in on me regularly to see how I was doing or if I needed any help.  That meant more to me than I can state.  Now that I'm married, she has been one of the people I go to with any questions that I have.  She is brutally honest and open, which is one thing that I love about her.

I am so excited for this next phase of her life with Will and Laney Adyson.  I'm excited to see how she transitions to motherhood.  She will no doubt be a great mommy.  I hope you have a wonderful birthday Laura.  Can't wait to see you at Laney's baby shower.  Love you!

Seven

Seven months ago I said I do to Brett.  Although it hasn't been a walk in the park, there is never a day that I regret my "I do."  Sometimes Brett and I joke by asking each other our vows again, but it's a wonderful reminder of what we promised each other: "For better or worse, for poorer richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live."

Love you Brett!

The Largest Wedding Party

So I don't know if I'll ever see a wedding party as large as Meghan and Drew's (11 attendants and 6 honorary attendants for each of them), but Maggie and Sam's wedding is the largest wedding I've ever been a part of.  I think it's 9 bridesmaids and one junior bridesmaid if I'm not mistaken.

After Christmas, we were able to get most of the bridesmaids together and go dress shopping.  The first place we went was local, which was nice.  Maggie grabbed dresses for each of us to try on.  If there was a dress we liked, I tried it on because I represented the "hips" girls.  Thank you Mom and Dad.

We found one that we liked, but had one more store to go to in Wilmington.  I have to say, the service at the Wilmington store was not near as good as the service we got at Coastal Knot in Shallotte.  All the bridesmaids agreed with Maggie that the dress she found in Shallotte was the dress for us.  After that, we went to a restaurant in downtown Wilmington for lunch.

For me, bridesmaids dress shopping was so much more memorable than me finding my wedding dress. Finding my wedding dress seemed like so much pressure.  Finding the bridesmaids dress was so much fun.  Each girl brings a different point-of-view and personality to the table.

I absolutely loved getting to know Maggie's friends and family better.  She has a great, funny, strong group of women surrounding her.  You feel like you have known them forever.  Thanks for letting me be a part of your wedding party Mags.  Love you future sister-in-love!

Such a great group of women

So much fun

Hickman Reunion

I'm behind on my blogging so hang in there with me.  Each year, Brett's extended family gets together at Lake Waccamaw for a family reunion (this year it was on December 26th).  Everyone brings a gift, and we do a gift exchange.  Last year, it got pretty ruthless.  This year was very, very tame.  I think there were only two or three steals (my husband being one of them).  Thanks for opening your home to us JoAnn and Johnny!

JoAnn and Yogi

Hoss, JoAnn, Jimmy, Mary Ellen, and Yogi. They all look so much alike.

The Yogi clan

All the fellas

Yay for Laney actually being here next reunion!

She's officially a Hickman next year.

Like this picture of us.

Great angle ;)

It's typically the other way around.

Love the matching pajamas

Quelf

"Quelf is the unpredictable [board] party game that gives Random a new name!"  It's my personal opinion that Quelf was originally written as a game meant to be played when drinking.  It is that ridiculous.  However, it does make for some great laughs and memories.  We decided to play it Christmas evening with the whole family.  Maggie ended up winning, but it didn't really matter since we all had such a great time.  If you are looking for a random game that will embarrass your shy people (like me) or just want something to make everyone laugh, check out this game.

Maggie and Kate before Quelf.

Look at how ridiculous those games pieces are.

Yogi had to dance like a ballerina, while Maggie had to hold her cup in her lap the whole game.

Brett tearing up from laughing so hard. Love this man.

Sam had to play the drums for a whole round. Hilarious.

My First Hickman Christmas

I know this is very, very late, but I'm just now getting a weekend to unwind since the week before Christmas.  Brett and I headed to Holden Beach for our first married Christmas.  Most people would tell you that holidays can cause a lot of stress, especially if both spouses are close to their families (like Brett and I are).  Since we did Thanksgiving with my family, we planned on spending Christmas with Brett's.  It was my first Christmas away from my parents.  The thing that made me really sad was thinking that neither Chris nor I would be there for Christmas.  There would be no waking up and Mom checking to see if Santa came or making sure that Dad was awake and out of bed.

It honestly took me a while to be okay with the idea of not spending Christmas with my family.  I had to be purposeful in putting Brett before myself, remembering he missed Thanksgiving with his family.   About a week before Christmas, I got to the point of still being sad that I wouldn't be in New Hill, but excited about getting to experience Brett's family Christmas.  I looked forward to seeing his family's traditions.

Here are a couple of Hickman traditions:

• Watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (I had never watched the whole movie in one sitting)
• Making Christmas cookies (a new tradition for the Hickman women)
• Going to the Christmas Eve Service
• Coming down in pajamas on Christmas morning
• Getting together with Gail's brother Edward and his family Christmas afternoon
• Eating massive amounts of casseroles

At the end of the day, I was thankful to be able to share Christmas with my second family.  I love them all.  Below is a picture montage of our Christmas.

The ingredients for our cookies

Maggie gets to join us next year!

Christmas at the beach

Christmas morning. Santa came!

Yes Santa left crumbs and a little bit of milk.

Christmas morning

Handing out gifts

One of Laney's many presents.

RGIII jersey for Sam. Nice work Maggie.

Brett really loved his cowboy boots

Hail to the Skins!

All the girls (including Laney). And no we didn't plan the pink.

My Christmas present!

Phyllis and Gail with their matching necklaces

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Happy birthday to my sweet husband! I love that the first thing I do in the new year is celebrate my hubby. People say it all the time but you really do love someone more and more with each passing day.  It has been an adjustment living together with learning each others habits, likes, and dislikes, but we work through it.  That's the blessings of marriage: sharpening each other and becoming selfless by thinking and serving that other person before yourself. 

Brett, thank you for dealing with my many many days of ups and downs.  For my craziness and sometimes moodiness. Thank you for making me feel secure in our marriage and for the countless "I love you's."  I hope you have a wonderful birthday.  Looking forward to what this year has for you.  Love you!