Happy Holidays

So Christmas is over and the New Year is just around the corner.  I am so excited for our next adventure.  However I look over this year's Christmas memories and smile.  Mom and dad came to spend our first Christmas as husband and wife with us.  Even though we celebrated the weekend before Christmas I feel so blessed that we got to spend that time together.  We had our tree up a few days before Thanksgiving but had been too busy to actually decorate.  However that meant my parents got to help decorate our tree with us, and it turned out perfectly!  This picture below is of Mom, Matt and I all putting our ornaments on the tree at the same time, and I love it!

Mom, Me and Matt each putting the first ornaments on our tree together!

We don't have an little kiddos yet, but that doesn't mean we don't have babies.  This was certainly a Doggy Christmas, and my dad completely stole the show.  Any time my dad is around the rest of us are chopped liver.  We were watching their yellow lab Cora for the past six weeks after mom had surgery on her hand, while it was great having Cora here, I know she was ready to be an only dog again.  So I managed to get a bow on her and take a quick photo before she tried to chew it off.  These girls make me so happy, heck they knew Christmas morning was special and Daisy learned how to open Christmas gifts!  She was so happy and every second of it warmed my heart. 

My parents are here, and I'll be lucky if my dogs want anything to do with me.  There are few things more
precious than watching your dog literally smile when they see the grandparents, except when they actually
decided to give you the time of day again!

Ok what can I say the lil white dog I'm holding like a baby is my baby, I'm pretty sure neither her nor I have realized she just might be too big to be held like this.  But her face sure says she needed mommy after her nap!  Lilly and Cora curled up at Grandpa's feet on Christmas morning is just too cute!  Oh yeah that's me napping above after a very long baking session on Christmas Eve, it was way past my bedtime, my hubby had to put me to bed.  The top right picture is my husband and I with our other two girls Daisy and Kira, I admit they are all a bit spoiled.  All very smart I might add, they no longer sit for pictures the way they used to before, take out your phone or even a camera and they disperse instantly!

Trimming the tree is a family occasion!  These are my kind of memories!

Us decorating the tree with my parents on Christmas Eve.  I am so grateful to have been able to decortate our first tree as a married couple with my parents.  This was a particularly special Christmas, it was the first one my parents were able to spend at our house, it was our first shared as husband and wife, and its our last Christmas in FL for a few years.  The holidays are always a special time to me and I have my mom fully to thank for my love and continued wonderment of the Holidays.  She has always kept the magic alive and no matter where I have been or how far apart we are, we have always celebrated holidays together and they have always been special.  Ask either of us if we believe in Santa and we will tell you without hesitation yes!  I think the Holidays mean something different to everyone, for us its a time to spend with family, to experience that magic, to be thankful for how God has blessed us, to be thankful for the birth of our Savior, and to serve as a reminder to cherish all the moments that life has to offer.

Married & Bright!

Matt and I playing around while decorating the tree.  I love that we get to start our own traditions, and that he plays along and tolerates all my Christmas decorating.  Its an amazing man who will partake in all the things you love just because he loves you.  But secretly I think he starts to enjoy himself just a smidge, or enjoys laughing at me being a big kid...either way I love it and love sharing it with him. 

Santa Came and thankfully all the decorations made it up in time!

House is decorated and Santa came!!

Family Christmas Eve cookie baking! And Holly

My first apple pie, prepped it Christmas Eve to be baked after Christmas dinner.  And look my apple
is sending some love my way!

Banana pudding and naps!

Ok so these are a little out of order, but this was all baking on Christmas Eve.  I made snickerdoodle cookies from scratch for the first time (Thanks to my secret Santa at work...aka...Kristen!)  And they turned out amazing, and honestly if anyone is looking for a gift to give someone, premixed dry ingredients in a cute jar with instructions is simply amazing!  Honestly its like having pre-packaged mix, but its homemade and still soooo simple!  I am so in awe of it, everyone just might be getting these next year! 

Anyways, Matt helped me make my very first apple pie, and for the record I had a longer apple peel than him...so I win!  It was actually ok, granted I don't like apple pie, but my mom and Matt ate it and lived to tell about it...so I call that a double win.  Then I made my dads favorite banana pudding....but its just a coincidence he loves it because its one of my favorites to, so I'm not sure who I made it for more, him or me...I'll be the good daughter and say it was all for him! lol.  After all the cookies for Santa were made and deserts for Christmas dinner prepped, I think a few of us were a little tuckered out!



Christmas Dinner complete with a menu so I wouldn't forget what I needed to make, but I did leave off,
stuffing, biscuits and something else I can't remember what I forgot.  But at least I had the stuffing, because
this Thanksgiving when I made dinner for Matt and I we sat down to eat and I realized I forgot the stuffing, I
almost had round two, but thankfully Matt saved the day!

Ok so I have a love of festive aprons, not many outside my family know this...and yes I have one for almost
every season.  Anyways, this was a little Christmas cooking delirium in the kitchen, either that or Matt was
documenting this rare occasion when I go all out and cook.

It was nice to be able to cook for everyone for a change, and it was fitting.  It did stink my mom was still recovering from surgery since she loves to cook.  But it was nice to have her in my kitchen keeping me company, I love the in person version instead of our skyping dinner dates!  Not only did I make my first apple pie this Christmas I also made waffles on Christmas morning for the first time, however next time I'll make them from scratch. 



Even the pups are ready to start opening presents, look at Cora, she is definitely ready to start!

We got to open gifts, the dogs were all ready and Daisy was helping Grandpa unwrap his gifts, she actually was trying to help everyone!  And Matt had Santa leave me a special stocking which was hidden till he was ready.  I got Starbucks gift cards and Chocolate (mostly skinny cow cluster my favorite!)  Love that Santa left Matt a snowmobile lego guy, guess Santa is ready for us to move to the North Pole in a few months! 

Mom took some photos of Matt and I to remember our first Christmas together.  She is the reason I fell in love with
photography in the first place, and I am so grateful she took some of these for us!

Just a few photos I edited with an app called Tangled FX, they are just fun to play with!

A few random pictures, the one in the center is when Matt and I are putting up the star on our tree. 

December 24th: Looking at lights at Navarre's Vistior Center along the water!

December 24th: More pictures in Navarre, such a beautiful tree!

We were fortunate to spend Christmas Eve with some great friends of ours after a long day of home organization to prep for selling our house.  We decided to finally stop on the way home to get pictures of the lights at the Navarre Visitor Center.  Its amazing to me the things I find myself not doing, thinking I will do it next year, only to find that there may not be a next year.  So we are doing it all and enjoying it.  Though I guess there is something to be said about doing something at a time when they will mean the most to you.  Stopping to take pictures of the light display on the side of the road, may not be something that is so wildly entertaining that it make the must see list every year, but this was the perfect year to cherish some of these special moments and experience them for the first time.

December 25th: Our Christmas morning, Christmas Card exchange and gifts from our parents on the Kmiec side!

Opening gifts, being silly and enjoying every minute as a family.

Sorry to all you parents out there I'm going to revel in being able to sleep in on Christmas morning for a second, though sleeping in for us is anything past 4:30am, but still I will cherish it just the same.  Matt and I were both equally excited to exchange our Christmas cards, I was thrilled to finally be able to shop for cards in the "Husband" section, and clearly I wasn't the only one!  We had such a good time opening our gifts from Mom and Dad Kmiec, and we loved every thoughtful gift!  I loved the initials in gold, and the scarf.  Me and Lilly had fun playing.  Daisy had opened our candle the night before while we were gone, and then she helped the cats open their gifts.  She is a silly lil girl!

December 25th: Decided not to have a big dinner again and go out to dinner on the water.  More great
memories in the making.

Sunset on the harbor, tasty dinner and then our usual Uno game to end the night! I've been kicking butt.

We are fortunate to spend Holidays with family even if we have to do it early.  And since we already did the big dinner we decided for Christmas day to get out of the house and enjoy the water.  So we went down to the Harbor Walk in Destin just in time to walk around and enjoy sunset.  We sat down to dinner and got to eat dinner with the dolphins.  I'm so that person that gets excited every time I see dolphins even though I live at the beach, I can't help it they are such beautiful creatures and I love how graceful they are. We had a delicious meal at Harry T's (I recommend the cheese sticks, seriously best I've ever had) and then headed home to finish our night out with a few rounds of Uno.  We are dorks and instead of wild and crazy nights out, we prefer to stay home and play card...really just Uno, and yes I kicked his butt!

My not too happy Grinchy Pups! Lol never seen any more pathetically miserable dogs in my life.  I seriously
don't know why they run when I get the camera out! Hmm

So now that Christmas is over I did the unthinkable....I stepped on the scale last night!  Um so starting Monday I will be back to working out with the 21 day fix.  Sadly I have to admit that we have been married for 70 days and in that I time I have gained weight, and have not been on a regular workout routine like I was and should be.  I worked so hard to lose 40lbs, and while I say I have gained 15lbs since being married the reality is I have gained only 8lbs...however that is unacceptable to me.  I miss my workouts and I have let the holidays, the stress of moving, the wedding, getting back into a normal routine with Matt being home.. all be my excuses why I'm not working out.  So starting Monday 21 day fix it is, I love this program because it is the easiest way to get back on track with an easy to follow meal plan and a three week commitment.  Whenever I need to get back in the game (so to speak) this is my go to! 

Not just believing in Christmas Magic but also in myself!

While on a journey to fitness I think many of us hit road blocks and come up with excuse, but the important thing is to not forget why you are on your personal journey and to keep going.  For me its not just about fitting in my clothes (although looking better equals feeling better and both are fantastic), but its about taking care of myself for the long haul and for my kids (one day anyways).  So I'll be writing the next couple of weeks about how this is coming along, and probably random posts when I am stressed about trying to get our house ready to be put on the market!

Hope you all have a great New Years if I don't get a chance to post before then!