en route

we got to spend a few nights in texas with kissy and buddy.

we always love being in colleyville!

our ugandan friend frank is touring the U.S. with the watoto children's choir. we didn't think we were going to get to see him, but miraculously, they happened to be at a church just minutes from pat's parents' house that week! if you hear that they are anywhere near you, GO see them. you will not be disappointed. it was SO GOOD to see this dear brother. we love you, frank!

a new chapter begins...

turning a page...

how weird is it that laurel experienced her first snow in MISSISSIPPI, just a couple of days before we moved to colorado?

she didn't quite know what to think of it. get used to it, sweetheart!

saying goodbye to some special friends. here is uncle wes, burn, baby harris, laurel, and hayes riley

a couple of shots from life during a move.
bye bye hattiesburg! we miss you!

shin-dig

the atkinsons hosted a Christmas/rayner-going-away party on dec 5th. it was so much fun. the food was delicious, as usual, and my cheeks hurt from laughing after we played dirty santa.

jared, the stayers, and the youngs

some of the incredible friends i have in hattiesburg. chami, marion, LP, sarah, and blair. we realized we were posed like a sorority party pic...

so we acted like adults and stood up straight.

boys, making fun of their wives. cool.

pretty cute group!

thank you for the party, mike and sarah. we miss you all so much - come visit!!!

meanwhile...

back in hattiesburg, extreme (ha) things were happening in our neighborhood. the 3 of us took a walk one morning...


(yes, this is one of my favorite pictures of all time)

and when we came back around the block, ty pennington's bus was parked in front of our house!

that's our neighbor's house, which was selected for an extreme home makeover. and that's OUR house behind the bus and the police escort.

what an amazing thing to watch! our neighborhood was a ZOO that week. and yes, this was the same week we were moving to colorado. i had to slip away frequently and document what was happening just 3 doors down.

the crew and the local volunteers worked all day and all night to get the house finished on time. it's incredible how quickly it all happened. it was a nasty week for south mississippi. it rained almost constantly - and even SNOWED!

adam and lp and payne brought over VIP passes one night (adam's ashley home furniture store furnished the house), so we got to visit the VIP tent. saw ty and christian slater and the crew from a distance, but didn't meet any celebs... except for my friend nick mcclendon. we actually caught him working! :)


this is what the house looked like when we left town. it was SO muddy and gross. i wish we could've been there for the "move that bus" reveal.

here's a picture i found online of the new house. isn't that amazing??? supposedly it's the "greenest" house in mississippi. i'm so happy for the family. be sure to watch the show and to hear their story sometime in february or march...

celia byars johnston

we were excited that we got to meet our new niece, celia, while we were still in mississippi. she's my brother richard's 4th girl! i don't know how he and carley do it, but they do it very well!

richard holding rebecca, lucy standing, biggest sis maury on the bed with carley and celia

isn't she precious?

welcome to the world, little one. we love you!

tupelo thanksgiving weekend

we had a blast with the johnston family in tupelo. it's always so much fun with all these cousins. thanks pops and abbi!

two peas in a pod, caroline and lucy. i love the photo on the bottom right. do you think they were worn out? ha!

this makes me happy. uncle and laurel working a puzzle. i LOVE watching my big brothers love on my baby girl!

tough to get a good group shot...

i like this one. laurel knows there's something different about that oldest cousin... the ONLY boy! (by the way - i fixed all the red eyes in this photo, but i guess it didn't transfer onto blogspot. grrrrr)

thanks to barbara, we got a Christmas card shot while we were there. if you didn't get one, forgive me! i didn't send out many, and life's been a little crazy lately, to say the least...

pax

on our way up to tupelo for the weekend, we swung through jackson to see our good friends aaron and elise rogers - and to FINALLY meet their son, pax. laurel and pax hit it off, like we knew they would. we feel like we've known him his whole life - thank goodness for blogs!

we love you, precious boy, and can't wait to meet your little brother! (we love y'all, too, ace and e!)

Thanksgiving

thanksgiving day (and following) was a whirlwind this year...

thanksgiving morning we were treated to a new orleans breakfast with the patrick side of the family at meme's house in laurel. chefs pat and will and julie did an incredible job. we may have to make eggs hussard a thanksgiving morning tradition. it was delicious!!!


i attempted to get a good Christmas card photo for patty. it was one of the most frustrating things i've ever done. ha! here are some of the results...


i love the one (bottom left) of warner figuring out that he and jackson have on the same shirt


that night we hosted the rayner side of the family at our house in hattiesburg. (i had to get some pictures off of ginger's blog. i guess you don't snap too many photos when you're hosting!) in the pictures above you see a great shot of the brothers-in-law pat and chris, mamaw with 2 of her 4 grands and all 3 of her great-grands, laurel with her kissy, and laurel helping daddy start a fire.

buddy, sydney, cole, laurel, and warner (known as "woo woo" around our house...)

rayner group shot!

what a wonderful whirlwind it was. we have so much to be thankful for - specifically, our families and the blessing it was to live close to them for almost a year and a half!

a few randoms from november

two of laurel's favorite activities these days...

we went out to a catfish house with our friends the currys and the atkinsons. we already miss them so much!

laurel and burn.

what a month

wow. i haven't updated since thanksgiving, and that, honestly, feels like a year ago. so much has happened!

we are semi-settled in our new home in colorado springs -- thanks to our parents, who came to visit and helped unpack, organize, feast, celebrate, repair, etc. we loved having them out here and they were SO helpful. THANK YOU!!! i'd still be seeing nothing but boxes if you hadn't come. my parents left yesterday morning, but i don't think reality will fully set in until pat goes to work on monday. laurel and i have a big ole city to explore!

i could go on, but i'm sure i'll have a million comments to make as i post pictures. of course there are several dozen things i should be doing around the house - hanging pictures, organizing my desk, etc, but the longer i wait to update this blog, the more pictures you're going to have to scroll through! i'll do my best to catch up today and tomorrow. stay tuned...