Ben's Witness Moment

WMUMC Youth Sunday

Our church combines with another small Methodist church for weekly youth group on Sunday evenings. Ben loves it! They have been planning for today's Youth Sunday as a whole group at our church. Ben was responsible for the Witness Moment (which I videotaped and Glenn didn't take any pictures of so I'm going to try to post the video in a separate post as it was VERY sweet and heartfelt) and the Benediction. All of these students did a fabulous job leading the service and we were, of course, extremely proud of Ben.

practicing before the service
Ben doing the Benediction

the whole group leading worship (I also videotaped this and will attempt to post separately)

January....Longest Month of the Year

Maybe its the post holidays, winter (although not necessarily winter like weather!) blues, maybe its the anticipation of a super exciting February (and 2012 as a whole!), mabye its just really, seriously long, but January has seemed never ending and I am so excited about February coming this week. We have definitely not been sitting around with nothing to do....actually lots of exciting things have gone on. Here is a recap:

*Our house went on the market!!
*We put in an offer on a new house and we should close on February 13th!!! (I will post all about it once it is official...now we are hoping our old house sells quickly!)
*We attended "John and Jen" at Workshop Theater
*We attended Columbia Classical Ballet's "Lifechance Gala" and cast party. At the silent auction we came home with a very cool, artsy bracelet, one of my favorite difusers, a gift basket and a gorgeous piece of art
*We visited our neighbor's church.
*I bought a waterproof to 10 ft Olympus Tough camera to take to the Bahamas for underwater pics....it does real cool things such as the fish eyed photo of Ben above.
*Ben had baseball conditioning to prepare for tryouts in February
*Ben spent three days on a field trip at Camp Thunderbird
*Ben and Glenn went to several Gamecock basketball games and I joined Glenn and Ruben for the first SEC win of the year against Alabama!
*Planned for next month's Bahamas and Washington, DC trips
*Booked a vacation to the Xcaret in Mexico for me and Glenn in June
*Began prepping for a spring break road trip for me and Ben...we are going to travel from SC to Houston, TX!

Now I am looking forward to so much in February, moving in the new house and the next six months that I am almost giddy!!

2011 in Review

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
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2011....snow....myrtle beach...ben's 12th birthday....ben's 1st school dance...cmfa pub night...phi mu fundraiser...ben plays baseball...bought a beach condo...red cross red gala...baubles and bubbles...visit coastal carolina...beach trip....spring break at the beach...ben's school play...met glenn's grandfather....easter...ben's confirmation...volunteer at the crawdaddy 5k...crawfish festival...usc dance gala...derby party...alisha and andy's wedding shower...cinco de mayo...carolina wildlife care black tie and tails gala...mother's day...quail hollow...texas tenors at township...memorial day at mb...drew and elizabeth's wedding at folly beach...myrtle beach...alisha and andy's wedding...keith urban concert...trip to phi mu hq...honeymoon...costa rica...nicaragua...usc wins college world series...4th of july at mb...peg's birthday...paula's birthday...hendersonville...ben goes to asbury hills camp...my birthday...beach with belinda and her nieces...beach with the wrights....beach with hilda and belinda...sky wheel...ocean club days...new furniture at beach...seattle...whale watching...glenn's birthday...phi mu events...charlotte for usc/ecu game...athens for usc/uga game...golf cart...gamecock football...met ray tanner...usc dance festival...kristie and randall's reception...fur ball...belinda's birthday...mrs. matthews' birthday...new car -- a SAAB...pearl night at capital city club...halloween...state band competition...band parent's senior night....mrs. m moves to still hopes...vista lights...the wrights come to visit...thanksgiving...decoarting for christmas...1st anniversary...fun with frieds...jeri katherine and hiram's wedding...usc/cu game...bishop's holiday party...EAGC party...russell's holiday soup party...nutcracker shop and columbia classical ballet's nutrcacker...polar express day...bridgepointe ladies party...matthews' christmas party...christmas day at our house...the boys with us at christmas...taking the kids to the beach...new year's eve! Oh, what a year!

I'm an ARTIST!!!

One thing I love is getting together with girlfriends to celebrate birthdays. Victoria's is the first of the year and she set the bar HIGH for us. She chose to go to Tag It Art where the owner, Jackie, walked us through painting a picture...on a blank canvas. No fill in the lines on this! It was sooooo much fun and according to Glenn my painting was "really good...much better than expected". Happy birthday, Victoria....and thank you for such a fun evening.

with Paula, Victoria and Peggy
Victoria and her mom

this is what I started with

Birthday Girl!

I look like an artist!

at the end of step 1

Paula and Peg hard at work

my tree is drawn!

and....VOILA! My finished product!

me and my girls with our paintings!

New Year's Day 2012

Our New Year's Day was wonderful! We got up headed over to Maisons to join the Matthews and a bunch of their friends there to watch the Panthers game and enjoy a buffet of fantastic homecooked (including all the traditional foods for NYD) food. Later we napped before packing and heading back home to Columbia to get ready for the following day's Gamecock bowl (Which they won...yay!!!)

New Year's Eve 2011

2011 was a strange (not all good, not all bad) year, but if the start we got to 2012 is any indication this year is going to be FABULOUS! We were invited by Glenn's dad and Belinda join them and three other couples for the Ocean Club at Grand Dune's NYE party. We had the best time!! There was a DJ, band, photographer, delicious food, dancing, party favors, a (malfunctioned) balloon drop, beautiful outfits, family and new friends.

Getting ready to go
me and Belinda

the Matthews

midnight!!! Goodbye 2011, HELLO 2012

malfunctioned balloon drop