better late than never.

I’m back! I can’t believe I went the entire month of December without writing a single post. This past holiday season was the busiest I’ve ever experienced (Stephen’s family is large!) and I had no time to blog. So here’s to Merry Christmas, goodbye 2014 and Happy New Year!

And y'all, I'm sorry for this really long post.

December started out with our Belvin Family Christmas in Dallas at my house! My sister wasn’t going to be here for Christmas so we celebrated early. My brother, sister-in-law and nephews were able to join us as well! We had the usual Christmas dinner with every casserole imaginable and opened gifts around my tiny tree. After the food coma, we headed to Arbor Hills Nature Reserve with the family and three dogs. Arbor Hills is one of my favorite places in the area because of the trails and trees. I can pretend I’m in the country.

 We had a blast. It felt like we were back at Double Spring Ranch where I grew up. It was an awesome family weekend and we ended it with church on Sunday morning.

The weekend after my family Christmas, Hannah and I ran our first half marathon, the Dallas Metro PCS! The weather ended up being perfect. It was around 50 degrees and cloudy. It was supposed to rain all day Sunday, but luckily, it didn’t end up raining until that afternoon. We had so much fun! Around mile 6, I remember thinking “Oh man I’m not even half way.” But we pushed through and I met my goal of finishing it in 2 hours!

Through all of our training, Hannah and I kept Hebrews 12:1 as our motivation to keep going.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race set before us.”

Later that week, Stephen and I attended his annual work Christmas party. This year we got a chance to get drawn by the cartoon artists. Stephen looks like Jay Leno! It was so fun!

                                                         

                   

Fast forward one more week and it was time to head back to Louisiana for Christmas break! Stephen’s family is really big and there is always something going on. I went to three family functions with him. We had a white elephant party, a pig roast and one other Christmas gathering. All of his family is so sweet… seriously, every aunt, uncle, grandparent, and cousin made me feel so warm and welcomed. He’s a lucky fella!

As the new girl at all of his family get togethers, I didn’t want to be the one taking pictures and ordering everyone around to line up for a snap shot, haha. So I really don’t have any pictures of all the fun. Hopefully next year I won’t be shy and I can capture these sweet people on camera!

I got Stephen new golf clubs for Christmas and they were a hit! His brother was a huge help with picking them out. He got me a beautiful bracelet and the blender of my dreams!!! Seriously, this thing changed my life when I lived with my parents and now I have one for my own kitchen. He is the best gift-giver!

Stephen and I had such a great time at home. It was so amazing to both be off of work with no responsibilities getting to spend as much time as we wanted together. Our parents live right down the street from one another so that’s extremely convenient. We got to go back and forth between our momma’s home cookin’. One afternoon we went to his family’s farm and shot my new gun -- definitely one of my favorite days!

                                                                      

                                                   

                                                                   

           

We decided to stay in Louisiana through New Year’s and go to the O’Neals camp again. It sure was a party! Mr. David set up huge speakers with a microphone…. we had a real DJ… Mr. Greg….he was WAY too good at it! I got to have an a-mazing piece of King Cake!! We stayed up until midnight and did fireworks. It was a good time catching up with our friends.

 I am so thankful for every single person I got to share this Christmas season with. My people are the best. My Jesus is the best. 

Louisiana sunset.

P.S. For some reason the font for this post is all messed up. It's driving me insane, but I can't figure it out.