Best black friday ever!

Ever since I have been married, I have been getting up for black friday. Last year, Nick and I scored a pretty awesome tv for practically nothing so I was very excited to go this year. My sister in law and I headed to Kohls and it was a MAD HOUSE! We had to stalk this woman and her child to even get a cart to fill with all of our goodies! But it was totally worth it because I got everything I set out to get and got it under $100.00!! So awesome! I would tell you what I got but it was all for Nick for Christmas!

But the day gets better yet. Later that evening, my little brother Adam got engaged!!! It was his one year anniversary of dating his girlfriend, Lauren, and he thought the best way to celebrate it would be by getting engaged! She is so great and we are all VERY excited for them both. So here are a couple of pics of the future Mr. & Mrs. Adam Lewis. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My whole family came home for Thanksgiving this year and it was really great. I am an idiot and left my camera at home by accident so I will have to post pictures later when my family posts theirs. My grandma came down which was really awesome. We got to spend a good part of the day with her. In addition to good company, the Lewis clan set a new record for food consumption. For those of you who don't know, I have three brothers - very big, hungry brothers so it was an all day eat fest. My mom is an awesome cook and we definetly enjoyed her good food. Our family has a tradition of playing Cranium whenever we get together. It's always boys against girls. You can count on a few things occuring during the game: 1)The boys will stop at nothing to win - this includes cheating. My little brother has even gone as far as putting his camera phone under the glass table and taking a picture of the answer on the back of the card. 2)The volume reaches ear piercing degrees! We love playing this game and it gets pretty competitive. Tommy and I both married very competitive people as well so you can always count on a good game. The boys won both times which was a very sad state of affairs for us girls. It will be sad to see the family leave but it was such a good time and I am just always reminded how lucky I am to have the family that I do!

Christmas is a little early this year!!

This is hysterical - go to the link! http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9514475525

Happy Birthday Michele!!!

Today is Nick's sister, Michele's 18th birthday!! This seems incredible to me because when I first met Nick's family, she was 12 and I was her Beehive advisor!! It is crazy how time flies - literally! So I wanted to dedicate this post to Michele. These are the ten things we love about her:

1. She is so funny - family gatherings are always fun when she is around. You can always count on her for a laugh!

2. She is so kind - Michele is the first person to greet you, say I love you and give you a big hug when you need one.

3. She is quirky - this may not seem like a compliment, but it is! I love her quirkiness - we all have her quirks but hers just happen to be adorable and make her so great to be around!

4. She is a great piano player - among her many talents and busy life, she finds time to squeeze in piano lessons and is getting really, really good.

5. She is not afraid to be a dork in public. Now, this is coming from one of the biggest dorks so I enjoy being around someone who can also be a self-proclaimed dork!

6. She loves her family - When I married in to this famliy she took every opportunity to make sure I knew how much she loved me and was glad that I was in their family. She expresses these same sentiments to everyone in the Long Clan.

7. She loves horses - she has spent HOURS a day taking lessons and spending time on the farm becoming a great rider. She now shows her horse and is doing really well. We're really proud of her.

8. She's a good person - this might seem simple but she really is. She is one of those really good people that just does what is right and just good. Very hard to come by these days!

9. She's a planner - in a world where kids just "go with the flow", she is making plans! Very refreshing.

10. She's beautiful - inside and out. I have been able to watch her grow up and she's one of my favorite people!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELE! WE LOVE YOU!

Grateful

Erin & her girls: Kaylee, Cambree & Kiersten Me & Erin Erin, Me & Ashley Last week one of my best friends, Erin, was out visiting from Utah. She is from here but has settled down in Logan, Utah with her husband and three girls. I am so grateful for all the good people in my life but especially for good friends who have been loving & supportive over the years. It has been so fun to hang out with her and spend time with her kids. It makes me miss her a lot more when she's gone but knowing that we can always pick right back up is comforting.

Free Headset

I had to post about this great website www.freeheadset.org. It is exactly what it says it is - it is a website that will send you a free cell phone headset for hands free driving! This company has started a national campaign for driving safety and will actually send you a free headset minus the shipping. You are probably thinking the shipping will be $20.00 to make up for the free product - think no more, I spent $3.94 for shipping. I got my headset yesterday and it's great!!! So get on the website and order yours today friends!!

Skyline Drive

A couple of weekends ago Nick and I drove down to Front Royal, VA to Skyline Drive. It is this 105 mile road that runs through the Shenandoah Valley National Park. It is so gorgeous!! These are just a few of the pics we took. The leaves were just beinning to turn and we couldn't have picked a better day! It was really beautiful and well worth the drive!

Gratitude Journal

I thought I would post a couple of pictures of the gratitude journal since people have been asking me about them. These are a cinch to make and a really wonderful family tradition! You just take a composition book and cover it with your some combination of harvest type colors and embellishments. Then I found this definition & the pumpkin picture off of the quote archive in the scrapbooking link on my page. I just printed the definition on some velum and attached it to the book with some green brads (I don't know if I spelled that right?!). The ribbon is from the dollar bins at Target!

Halloween out....Thanksgiving in!

Well, it seems Halloween sort of crept up on us! It's hard to get excited about it when trick or treating is sort of out of the question and we don't have any little ones to vicariously live through. So, Nick and I decided to to to a haunted something or other and try some good old fashion adult fun! We choose this haunted house down in Hanover, MD by the Arundel Mills Mall. It was pretty fun - it met all the standards for a haunted house: dark, people jumping out at your with fake blood, coffins, hanging heads, etc. I jumped and screamed so I was pretty satisfied.

But now, my thoughts are focused on Thanksgiving! I LOVE thanksgiving. I love watching the parade, I love the food, I love being with my family and I love when all the boys get up and play in the turkey bowl and spend the rest of the day talking about it! It just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it! My mother in law found this really great craft called the gratitude journal. So on top of making our christmas cards this year, I have been fashioning a gratitude journal. So you are supposed to take it with you wherever you go for Thanksgiving and have all who are there write in it what they are grateful for. It is a really beautiful idea and something wonderful to look back on! Can't wait to crack it open this year. You hear that family, start thinking of some really moving things to write in there for posterities sake!!

We have arrived!

It's time that the Long's join the ranks. So, here we are! Maybe we will even think of witty things to write! :-) Maybe I shouldn't have said that - the last thing I need is for you to have high expectations! Anyway, we will attempt to chronicle our life - the exciting down to the plain ol' boring stuff!