Playing Catch-up

Considering my last post was made back in September, I am clearly very behind in blogging. I knew that I wouldn't be able to post often during my first semester, but I had no idea that I would neglect it for so long. So, you're now going to get a very condensed version of my first semester at college.

During the end of September my brother, Noah, and my Papa both had birthdays and we went to Knoxville to celebrate. My dad's whole side of the family got together to have a birthday party. We took the opportunity to get a family picture, as well as a few others:

In October I was involved with "The Secret Garden" at Milligan and had a great time working with costumes as well as goofing off backstage. Here are some photos from the production:

My brother, Caleb, and my friend, Tess, also had birthdays in October (on the same day actually). Caleb is now 14 years old and Tess is 19. Then, I got to go to a formal dance with some of my friends. That was a lot of fun. Two of my friends had an idea for a photo they thought would be funny, so here it is:

On to November! It was filled with crazy amounts of schoolwork and about the worst Humanities Exam I've taken thus far. Although I can't remember exactly and don't have my planner here to be certain, I believe I also took my midterms in early-ish November. If I am correct, then those weren't much fun either.

So, I finally got a longish break for Thanksgiving. I made it a few days longer by skipping two days of school (a Monday and Tuesday) so I could leave for Arkansas the Friday before. That's one perk to attending school all the other days - when you really want to get out to be with family, you can, and it won't affect your grade. While I was in Arkansas, I got to take some photos of my mom's younger sister's family:

I also was able to take photos of my cousin, Lisa, in her wedding dress. Of course, I couldn't post those then because we didn't want her fiancé, Steve, to see the dress yet. However, since they are now happily married, I'll post a few here:

Now for December...a month of finals, freak outs, and festivities. Most people already know about the first two, so I'll just cover them briefly - they stunk. The last one makes the other two a little worse, but somehow help everyone live through them just the same. I had a Christmas party (of the ugly sweater variety) at my house with several friends. However, I neglected to take many pictures, so I will only post one here:

 Another exciting event after my Christmas break finally arrived was my cousin (the aforementioned Lisa) getting married! I got to take all sorts of wedding pictures, which was a lot of fun. I'll just include a few favorites:

Since everyone was already in town, we got a photo of all of my mom's side of the family (as well as a photo of just my family):

Yet another fun thing about this December is that I finally got to meet my cousin's kids (Katie's son Benjamin, and James's son, Jesse). They both almost a year old and absolutely hilarious to watch play together. Here are some pictures of the two of them (Ben is the one with the crazy hair):

One thing I didn't get pictures of was my first games of paintball (which was a ton of fun by the way). I think my mom has those photos somewhere. At any rate, we came back from Arkansas and had a rather crazy ride to Knoxville. That drive normally takes only 11 hours, but what with a wrong turn and a flat tire, we stretched it to a little over 13. We finally got home two days before Christmas (the 23rd). We had a wonderful Christmas day with my dad's parents here. I think I might have eaten more ham than was really healthy, but I don't really care. It was nice.

Now, for the next little bit of my break (before going to Knoxville for New Years/Christmas) I'm catching up on blogging, doing crafts, reading, and writing. I'm also trying to get reorganized for the next semester. I have probably forgotten to mention several things, but that's alright. I'll try to be better about keeping up with my blog (yay for a New Year's resolution), but I'm making no promises.

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and have a wonderful New Year. :)