Happy Birthday Jesus

What a wonderful Christmas we have had together. This weekend we saw my mom's family in Rockwood and then came back to Clarksville to have our little Christmas celebration at our house. Last night we carried on 2 traditions from each of our families...we ate at McDonald's for dinner (Clint's tradition) and then went to the candlelight Christmas Eve service at our church (my tradition). Today, we have had a wonderfully lazy day. We both shot out of bed at around 6:30am, which is actually sleeping in to us. We exchanged presents and opened our stockings. I made sausage balls which we nibbled on until we got our Christmas lunch/dinner ready around 2ish (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole..the whole 9 yards). After that we continued to laze around the house reading books, figuring out the new version of itunes for Clint's Ipod, and hooking up our DVDR. (Well, to be truthful, I was the one reading and Clint was the one playing with the new electronics.) So far, our holiday time has been so fun and we still have more to come! I'll update again once we return from Jackson and Kingsport. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
Christmas in Rockwood
I think this picture is so cute of Clint and Nana

Checking out his new iPod
Southern Living subscription :)
Clint could not have picked out a more perfect ring!

Happy Birthday Clint!

Today is Clint's birthday! I cannot believe it's already here, I feel like just yesterday we were celebrating his birthday in Kingsport last year. Hopefully, I will remember to take some pictures tonight when we celebrate. I forgot to take some last weekend when we went to Nashville. Clint, I hope you have a wonderful day and know that I couldn't have made this year without you! I love you!

Another Christmas on the Road

I am vowing that this is the last year I will spend the majority of my Christmas break on I-40. For the past 10 years or so I have been traveling across the state of Tennessee to visit family. Having divorced parents who live close to 6 hours apart puts many many miles on a car, not to mention wears you out! This only intensified during my 6 years of college. I thought being in the middle of each family would make it easier, and it did to some degree. However, when I had to travel from one place to the other and back again, it just got worse. Now I get to add to that mix another family. Don't get the wrong idea. I love being part of the Davis family, but you can see the problem here. I told Clint not to worry because I am a pro at figuring out how to split up a week between different parts of our great state.
This year, we will begin our journey with my Mom's family in Rockwood. On Friday after work, Clint and I will hit I-40 for the first time. We will have Christmas with them and return to Clarksville on Sunday, because alas, some people don't get off a whole week for Christmas. Thankfully, we will get to spend our first Christmas together here at our house, just the two of us. The day after Christmas, I will kiss Clint good-bye and head down west to my birthplace. In Jackson, I will get to visit with my Dad's side of the family. Only for a quick spell, because on Friday I'll be heading back to Rockvegas. I'll be there just long enough to see JD get hitched and then catch a ride from Clint up to his neck of the woods in Kingsport. There we will visit with his family for the weekend. Finally, our journey ends and I-40 will lead us back to Clarksville just before we have to get up for work the next day! Whewww, makes me tired just thinking about it. But, we are so happy that this year we will get to see almost all of our family! Next year...well the verdict is still out on that one. If I had to guess, I would say that a quite Christmas celebration alone at our home is in our future. Although, we do love our family time, so who knows. Until then, family here we come!!

First Noel

Our first Christmas together as a married couple...we are so excited! So far, we have had such a wonderful time celebrating the holidays. Last night, feeling much like a summer evening, we decided to go down to the Riverwalk to enjoy all the lights. It was about 2 miles of lights set up along the river. What a perfect night to walk around! This weekend I am taking Clint to Nashville to celebrate his birthday which in next Thursday. Stay tuned for pictures. Below is the picture we selected for our Christmas cards.

Happy Birthday Momma!

Today is my mother's 50th Birthday! Wow, this is a big one. When I was in town last weekend I decorated the dining room with black streamers and black balloons to celebrate her "way-over-the-hill birthday." She was a better sport about it than I thought she would be. I think 40 was more depressing for her! Of course, she doesn't look 50 at all...whatever that looks like. You know what they say, 50 is the new 30! Happy Birthday Momma, I love you!

It's the most Wonderful time of the year!

Clint and I both are big fans of the Christmas season. We really get into the whole thing-- Christmas songs, fun decorations, holiday movies, church programs, shopping, etc. This weekend we are planning on going to Opryland to look at the lights at the hotel and possibly shop at the mall. Sarah, Bridget and I made this a holiday tradition when we were in college. Sadly, they are not close enough for it to live on. However, Clint and I went last year so I hope we will carry on the tradition. I am posting one of the pictures that Brooke took of us at Thanksgiving. She graciously took some pics of us for our Christmas cards. So wonderful to have such a talented sister-in-law. I foresee her making some serious money doing this one day. For now, we are lucky to get the family discount :) You'll just have to wait to see the picture we picked to use. Thank you Brooke for putting up with our silly photo-shoots, we love you!
Holiday Stress!

Moving up in the Soda World

Yesterday, we got some very exciting news. Clint got a promotion at work! Some of you might be thinking, "Wow, already?" But, honestly he has been working up to this since he got the position. I am so extremely proud of how hard he has been working. As I mentioned earlier, he received his Class A driver's license, but he won't be needing that with this new position. His new title is Small Store Account Manager. He will get to wear more professional clothes and will be managing convenient stores, drug stores, and independent store accounts. This is really more of the type of job he was looking for. He also gets to start a Monday-Friday work week schedule! No more Saturday work days for him!! And the pay increase isn't so bad either :) We feel God is defiantly looking out for us and feel very blessed to have this happen already.

O Christmas Tree...

This year Clint and I decorated our first Christmas tree together. Actually, last year we decorated my grandmother's tree for her, but this was OUR first tree. I will say we had to do some compromising when it came to decorating. (Welcome to marriage!) Clint is use to a real tree, colored lights, and home-made ornaments. I'm use to a fake tree, white lights, and elaborate decorations. We had to get an artificial tree because of the maintenance of a real tree and honestly the tree we have now is really almost too big for our space. But, my super garage sale find turned out to be a real winner...for $10 you cannot beat it! We have white lights, but colored ornaments and we used a star instead of a bow. And Clint placed most of the ornaments on the tree. I will say we are both very pleased with how it turned out. (For some reason the pictures don't do it justice. It really looks nice.) All in all, I'm glad we compromised and now have a tree we both can enjoy. I can already tell that decorating the tree together will be a Davis Family tradition!

Thanksgiving Memories

Clint and I had a wonderful trip to Kingsport this weekend for Thanksgiving. We arrived late Wednesday night and still found time to visit with everyone. We have fallen in love with our precious little niece. When we saw Ryann last she was just a babe in arms. Not anymore! As you can see in the pictures, she is so cute. Our family got to eat 2 Thanksgiving meals...one at Joe and Lo's house and the other at Clint's grandparent's house. It's always so great to visit with his family.
On the way back to Clarksville we stopped in Rockwood for some lunch and got to see my family for just a bit. We added another passenger to our car on the ride home. This week we have my mom's dog Maggie. I'll let you know how that goes. Enjoy the video!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Please keep in your prayers

Last week, I got a call from my old roommate and one of my best friends,Bridget, letting me know that her mom had just suffered from 2 heart attacks. She had surgery to fix the 2 blockages. They saw another blockage but they are hoping to fix that with medication so they won't have to do surgery again. Please keep Bridget and her family in your prayers. It's a really scary thing to have happen to your mother at such a young age. So far, she seems to be doing well and we hope she continues that way.

Thankful

This weekend was nice and relaxing for us. Clint worked his last Saturday (we hope!) because he will soon be going to the Mon.-Fri. schedule...yay!! His sister Brooke and brother Ben made a quick pit stop last night to our place while they were on their way home to Kingsport. Even though it was a very brief trip, it was still so great to get to chat and catch up with them last night and this morning. We will be seeing them very soon because we are heading that way too on Weds. after we get off work. Clint and I are extremely excited to be visiting his family for Thanksgiving.
Every year at Thanksgiving my family would go around the dinner table and name one thing we were thankful for that year. This year I sat down and listed the top 5 things I am grateful for this year.
I thought I would share them with you:

5) I'm thankful that I get to live in a country that allows me to believe, feel, and worship the way I choose. I'm so blessed to live in a country that women are allowed to have a voice.

4) I'm thankful that this year God blessed both Clint and myself with jobs as soon as we graduated and got married. Jobs that allow us to give back to others in many ways.

3) I'm thankful that this year I have reconnected with my mother.

2) I'm thankful that I have friends and family who continue to encourage and support me no matter how far away we are from each other.

1) And of course, I'm extremely thankful that this year I was able to marry my best friend.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you take the time to reflect on how truly blessed we all are!

6 Months and Counting

As of today, Clint and I have been married for 6 months. Wow, how the time flies! We have already learned so much about each other. God has truly blessed me with such a caring husband. He is always doing things to help me and make my happy. My favorite part of the day is when I get to come home to him. We miss our family terribly, but this has been such a great learning process for us since we are away from all our family and friends.

One of our first pictures together...celebrating my 22nd birthday. Check out our hair!

6 months ago at our rehearsal dinner

Back where I come from

This weekend Clint and I journeyed to Bond's Crossing in Jackson, TN. I had not seen my grandmother and father in a while so we decided to make a weekend of it. Our weekend pretty much consisted of reading, eating Coe's home cooking, and working on my car. A few months ago I had a minor fender binder which resulted in a bent front fender. The only thing that really bothered me about this was my car door would not open all the way. The accident was my fault, so insurance would not pay for it. I won't re-live the accident, but let's just say I have now learned all the one way streets in Clarksville as a result. Anyway, my dad is a pro when it comes to fixing cars. It may take him a while to figure it out, but he gets it done. (He put a whole new transmission in my car once all by himself!) Clint got a lesson in Shop 101 when he helped my dad. We drove off in a good as new car that now has all doors operating normally! He saved us about $800 (that was the estimate anyway), thanks Dad!

While we were there, I showed Clint around the old home place. We drove to the farm that I grew up on. I feel very blessed to have lived in the house my great-grandparent's built. We also took my not so little anymore cousins to see the "Bee Movie." Gosh, they are really growing up! Always a good time in Jackson.

Annie (7) and Sarah (12-Holy Cow, she will be a teenager next year!)

This is no Tonka Truck!

I'm so proud of Clint! Yesterday, he took the test to get his class A driver's license and he passed! This means he is now officially allowed to drive the big old trucks. I have always been terrified by the thought of having to drive one of those trucks (let's face it, I can barely see out of my little Acura!), let alone having to parallel park one of them! Of course, I didn't doubt for a minute that Clint would do fine, it's just a little nerve racking to think about. Right now, it looks like he will not have to drive the bigger trucks, but it's a great thing to have in your back pocket (literally!) and opens up more opportunities for future jobs, if needed. I keep reminding him that even though this is not his dream job, it is a great time to get experience in a field and possibly work his way up. And that's just what he is doing!

Way to Go Joey

This weekend our friend Joey will be graduating from Police Academy in Kentucky. Clint met Joey at MTSU before Clint and I were together. Clint was in Joey's wedding when he got married to Amanda. Once I came along they graciously accepted me into their friendship circle. We all soon became great friends. In Murfreesboro, we had couples night at least once a week which usually consisted of some kind of board game. When we decided to just have family members in our wedding we knew that Joey would have to be in it because they are like our family.

Joey and Amanda moved to Bowling Green when Clint and I moved to Clarksville. We have visited each other a few times, but not nearly enough. This weekend, Joey will be graduating and we are so proud of him. We wish could be there with them at his graduation. However, the real world is way more demanding than our carefree college years and we will both be working this weekend. But we will be thinking about him and now that he is finished with the Academy, hopefully our visits will become more frequent.

Way to go Joey!

Miller's Grocery- 1 of our favorite restaurants

Serious bowlers!

1st Trick-or-Treat results

After much deliberation in the candy isle (and about 10 minutes of discussion), Clint and I picked out the perfect and affordable mix of candy. We settled on Skittles, Starburst, Milky Way, and Kit-Kats. I must tell you the reasoning behind the excitement. I grew up in the country and never had a single trick-or-treater. When I got too old to go out myself, I would dress up each year in hopes of handing out some candy. Each year I was disappointed because of course, no one came. I know, I felt sorry for myself too. Anyway, Clint said he really never got to hand out candy either because he was always going out himself.
This year, we felt pretty confidant we might get some little people knocking at our door because we live in a fairly busy neighborhood. (Even though most of them are Army people.) So, we stocked up the candy bowl, lite our jack-o-lanterns, turned on our porch light and waited. And....nothing! We started watching Halloween movies and looking out the window....nothing! Just as we were about to feel REAL sorry for ourselves, we heard a knock at the door. There standing before us was our one and only trick-or-treater dressed up in a Superman costume. He couldn't have been a day over 3. He could barley stand up without help. But, that's OK, we loaded him down with candy and felt really good about ourselves! I know in the future we might cherish the days of only 1 trick-or-treater if we live in a busy neighborhood. So, our goal for next year: 2 trick-or-treaters!!!

Happy Halloween

Working hard b/c his pumpkin took forever to carve!

Here are pictures of our pumpkins that are glowing outside our door right now. I also wanted to include pictures from last year's pumpkins.

Have a Happy Halloween and go easy on the candy!

Last year's masterpieces!

Fast Forward

Wow, I cannot believe it is already the end of October! As hard as I am trying to not let work consume my life, right now, it really is. I worked Friday night and Saturday for our Family Weekend. Unfortunately, we only had 4 families show up! I was given this project to work on as soon as I started this summer. So, I have been working like crazy to plan all kinds of activities. It was a little disappointing to have worked this much on something and then not get the turnout that was expected. I cannot say I necessarily expected a big group, but some of the others on the committee did. Anyway, I will be working again this weekend all day Friday and until at least 3 a.m. on Saturday for an event. Clint and I are really trying to make the most of our one day weekends. This past Sunday, we took a hike at a local park. It was perfect weather! Then we went to an early movie and got some dinner. We were too tired to carve our pumpkins, but we are planning to do that tonight. Look for pictures in the next few days.
Hope everyone has a great Monday!

True Inspiration

Today, I got to meet an icon in the world of education. Jaime Escalante came to APSU as part of our celebration for Hispanic Month. He is an immigrant from Bolivia who taught himself English and then changed lives in Los Angeles by teaching math in the most creative and unusual ways. He was the subject of the 1988 movie Stand and Deliver, which dramatized his efforts to help underachieving Latino students beat the odds and pass an advanced placement calculus test. I got to eat lunch with him and then attend his presentation. He is the sweetest man I have ever met and I couldn't help but find resemblances between he and my grandfather. (Although, my grandfather was not Latino and didn't teach math!!)

Senior Escalante is defiantly one of those people who makes you want to be a better person/teacher because of the passion he exudes. It almost made me want to use my teaching degree...almost, but not quite! But, his motto is defiantly something we all can remember during our daily lives.

"Determination + Discipline + Hard Work = Way to Success"

Mini vacation

We had such a great time in this weekend seeing mom and staying in Pigeon Forge. We got to mom's on Saturday night and left on Sunday morning headed up the mountains...boy, what a view. It was so beautiful! We walked around Gatlinburg and did some tourist things (ate some caramel apples) and then checked into our cabin. The place was nice, but we had a few issues (no hot water!). But, don't worry, I called the manager today and we got half of our money refunded!! S0, it wasn't such a bad stay after all :)

We spent Monday morning shopping (actually Clint did all the shopping, I didn't buy a thing) and eating at the Apple Barn...yum! It was such a short trip and we wished we could have stopped to visit more family, but maybe next time.

Me and Momma


4 hours in the car and one kid's meal toy later....

Beautiful drive home--on top of Rockwood Mountain

Get outta here!

This weekend we are finally getting out of town! To say I'm a little burned out with work right now is a HUGE understatement! So, I've got Monday off and we are heading up to our favorite place...the East TN mountains. On Friday night we will be attending The HOPE pregnancy banquet. I've made friends with some girls that work there and this is their big fundraiser. Since, we still have not found a church home, we have been finding different places to give our tithing to each month.
On Saturday afternoon after Clint gets off of work we will be packing the car and hitting the road. We are stopping at my mom's house to sleep since it will probably be late. On Sunday morning we will be heading to our cabin outside of Pigeon Forge. I'm hoping this will be a nice break and will get my mind off of work, at least for a few days. This will be a fast trip, so we probably won't be able to visit anyone, but at least we will be getting back to "home."
My secretary asked what I was doing on my day off and when I told her she said Clint and I were always doing something fun. I told her that since we don't have kids, don't have a pet, and don't own a house, that we are taking advantage of the "no strings attached" and enjoying the fact that we can just pick up and go wherever whenever. I mean, this will probably be the only time in our lives when we will be able to do this! I'll post updates when we get back.

Fall Fun

Here are pictures from our visit to a pumpkin patch/corn maze yesterday. Last year we went to one close to Murfreesboro and this year we found one pretty close to Clarksville, it looks like its become a tradition. Honeysuckle Farm had a lot to offer. We went on a hay ride out to the corn maze, played some games they had set up, saw all their farm animals (the pigs were our favorite),picked out a pumpkin, and once it got dark went through the haunted forest! We had such a good time that I didn't take many pictures.

You can imagine how much convincing it took for him to get behind this thing...but he's such a good sport!

New 'Do

I got my hair cut last Saturday and LOVE it! I have found an amazing hairdresser here in Clarksville who chopped it off. I told her she could have went shorter, but she told me live with it for a week or so and come back if I wanted more taken off. (Sign of a caring hairdresser!!)Keep in mind this photo is after a long day at work...it looks way cuter in the morning, but don't we all!! :)

MapQuest, you've failed me once again!

Ever since we have moved to Clarksville, Clint and I have wanted to make the trip up to Hopkinsville, Ky to visit the First Christian church there. Ron Buck was my old minister in Rockwood and he moved to Hopkinsville a few years ago to be their senior minister. Ron is a very special person to me because first, he is a great minister, second, he was always there for me during my difficult teenage years, third, he has lead me in the right direction many times, fourth, he always believed in me and told me so, and finally, he was the minister who baptised me. This May, he became even more special to me when he married us. Clint instantly took a liking to him and was actually the one to suggest we go visit his church this morning.

So, we left this morning with plenty of time to make the 40 minute drive...so we thought. Now, I've had my battles with MapQuest, but every time I always give it another chance, faithful friend that I am. But, no more! We ended up so lost in Hopkinsville, it wasn't even funny. Believe me, neither Clint nor myself were laughing! Finally, after church had already been in progress for 40 minutes, we did what we should have done in the first place...ask for directions. Boy did I feel like a fool when I went into the gas station and found out we were one block away! Anyway, we finally made it there, very late! We decided to go on into church, heck, we had driven this far. We got in, sat down for out 15-20 minutes until it was over. But, it wasn't a loss. Ron and Kathy came right over to us and talked to us for awhile. It was great seeing familiar faces and you could tell they were happy to see us. The church was beautiful and if nothing else, the singing would keep anyone coming back! We really liked it, well what we saw of it :) Next time, Ron told us to call him and they would go out to lunch with us. We'll go back, but one thing is for sure: It won't be with MapQuest as our guide!

Joy to the World

Yesterday morning, bright and early, Carrie (the secretary in our office) and I went shopping at some yard sales. This has always been one of my my favorite past times, along with antiquing. (What can I say, I'm my grandfather's girl). I was so thrilled when I found out that Clint shared the same hobby. However, he hasn't been able to go since he works Saturday mornings. I was delighted on Friday when I saw Carrie circling ads in the newspaper announcing yard sales. Since she knows this area far better than I do, she seemed like and ideal partner. (And she loves a bargain like me!) I always go with something in mind to hunt. This time I was on the look-out for a Christmas tree. Amazingly, 5 out of the 15 stops had some sort of tree for sale. However, most of them were either worn out or over priced (one was $85, HELLO, it's a yard sale!!). Anyway, I had just about given up hope until we stopped at our final sale. There, in the original box, was our Christmas tree priced at a reasonable $10. (No bargaining necessary!) I'm so excited to welcome our first tree into the family. If there is 2 things this girl loves it's Christmas and a good bargain!

Eventful Saturday

Today was a really fun/exhausting day for me. I woke up this morning with Clint as he was going for work and I got ready to go (where else) back to school. I am an advisor for a student group who hosts a dance marathon for the Children's Miracle Network. This dance is an all night event in which participants are not allowed to sit down and must keep dancing until the morning. Austin Peay students named this event "One Night Stand." Obviously, the reason for the name is the interest that it generates from students. This year, the student committee decided to hold a 5K Miracle Maker run. So, as one of the advisors (and the new girl on campus), I had to be there to help at 7am this morning. It was a little chaotic, but I'm proud to say they made a nice profit from it.

Also this morning, APSU had their Bid Day for the sororities. When the race was over, I was invited to stop in the Alpha Delta Pi house. The other assistant director in my office who is over Greek Life is an ADPi, so she introduced me to the girls. I was a little apprehensive at first because I'm not an alum of their chapter. But, they were all so welcoming. I got to meet a lot of really great sisters. The chapter advisor told me that they might have an open advisor position and asked me to consider it. Clint and I are going to talk it over, but I think it's something I would really like to do.

Anyway, after all that, I ended up leaving campus about 1ish. So much for my day off :) But, I'm just happy I'm meeting new people and learning more about the students here!

From my ADPi days

Mat Kearney Concert

Mat hi-fiving the students.

It was so cute how excited they were to meet him!


I have one more day of Homecoming to survive. Last night, we had our Homecoming concert with rising star Mat Kearney. He's a crossover Christian artist who is becoming pretty popular on the radio. (Some liken him to John Mayer.) This was the biggest event I have planned so far and I am so happy to say it is OVER! I have been working with my student programming board and my supervisor on this show since I first began in July. Wow, who knew a concert took so much behind the scenes work. I began early yesterday morning, a little before 8am, and didn't get home last night until 12am. My gracious supervisor is allowing me to come in late today! But, that is probably just so I can rest up for the parade tomorrow which will be another first for me. I've only ever been in parades, never planned and orchestrated one. But, I'm hoping after that concert last night, this will be pretty easy. After Saturday, I plan on planting myself on the couch all day Sunday. I'm so glad Homecoming only comes once a year :)


I'm posting some pictures of Mat with our student programming group. The students were a huge help and I wanted them to get a chance to meet the guy they worked so hard bringing to APSU. He is a super guy and took time to sign everything and talk to each one.