It's kind of funny how the change of the year leads us all to look back on what we did and make new plans for the coming year.  I mean, we could look back and review what we've been doing at anytime.  But somehow we've become trained to treat this holiday like the start of a new chapter in our lives.  This year was busier in some ways and less in others, let's take a look at what happened in 2014...

I hope everyone had a fun, happy and safe New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.  We had about 10 friends come over to spend the evening with us where we ate (too much), drank (too much) and laughed (never too much, lol)!  We played some games and watched the ball drop.  It was a perfect sized gathering because it was small enough to really get to chat and catch up with friends we hadn't seen in a while.  I'm so grateful to have such great friends!

Did everyone have a nice Thanksgiving?  I know we sure did!  My dad, stepmom and brother flew in from Texas on Wednesday.  We got everyone settled and ran a few last minute errands before the Thanksgiving feast.  This year I picked up a smoked turkey from Broken Barrel Tavern (a local favorite) and it was so nice not to have to stress about whether it would come out right or not!

I know I'm a week behind but I still wanted to share my Easter treats and birthday sweets with you guys.  For those who don't know, my birthday was on Easter this year.  Combined with the fact that I was on a strict diet for Bikini Bootcamp, I was ready to have a BIG cheat day for my birthday.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!  I know that most people probably celebrated over the weekend since today is a Monday (boo!) but hopefully you have some fun today too.  Maybe some green beer or green mashed potatoes with dinner?  As I was looking at all the adorable St. Patty's pins on pinterest, it made me realize - I totally dropped the ball on the Shoebox Swap.  So, if you are interested in restarting and/or joining the shoebox swap (first one would be due in the mail by the end of April), let me know by Friday 3/21 and we'll get it going again.  Here's a few fun photos of past swaps to reminisce.

This year for our Halloween party, I wanted to come up with a new game so I decided to try out our own version of Fear Factor! 

Last night was our 6th annual Spooktacular Halloween party!  it was fun as usual and a little crazy.  We probably had around 50 - 60 people come (I count 50ish in the photos but I know some people are missing.  The highlights were probably the costume contest (as usual) and the new Fear Factor game (details coming soon).  This is also the first year we've ever had one of the neighbors call the cops and complain (not sure which one since half our neighbors were at the party, LOL).  Fortunately the police were very nice and the party continued on well into the night.

Everyone remember that great game we played as a kid, Battleship?  Well, I saw this awesome pin on pinterest and knew it HAD to be added for my Halloween party this year!

Every year people end up hanging out in the kitchen at our Halloween party even though it has the least amount of decorations.  So I decided that this year I would try to make some spooky and/or slimy jars to put up in our kitchen window shelves.