2010 In Review

This past year has been full of life changes! It has brought some of the best things and some really hard moments. Here is our 2010 year in review:

Miguel and I started off the year as an engaged couple! Yay! We were soo excited! 

Engagement Photo by Two Sparrows Photography

Engagement photo by my talented father-in-law... we found the stadium unlocked! 

Engagement photo by my talented father-in-law

We wanted to get married in May, so we only had 5 months to plan the wedding! Oh my!!! Wedding planning is very stressful!

Thank goodness for selfless friends who helped with the wedding planning process!

We both graduated with our undergraduate degrees! Miguel with Highest Honors from Georgia Tech and I graduated from Georgia State. We didn't go to my graduation because it was the day before the wedding.

SO proud of Miguel for graduating with Highest Honors in a very challenging major! And our friend Kyle Finnegan too!

Handsome and talented brothers!

Couldn't wait to get on with our lives as a married couple! Only two weeks away from the time Miguel graduated. We had to tie up loose ends like applying for our marriage license.

Applying for our marriage license 

We got hitched!!!!!!! May 16, 2010! On my parent's 29th wedding anniversary!

TWO rings now! I'm a married woman!

Took our Honeymoon in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

After we got back from our honeymoon we moved to a new city, Savannah, and into our first apartment.

Before the moving guys came...

After the movers came

Miguel started working as a Stress Analyst Engineer at Gulfstream.

We are really enjoying our new home in Savannah!

Savannah and the islands are so beautiful! We are blessed to live here!

We were lucky to be able to go visit my sister and her husband who live in Seattle, WA.

Seattle!

Seattle

We went to the Boeing Factory in Seattle. They let Miguel and me pilot. 

Kayaking in Seattle... you can see the tower in the distance behind Miguel's head

Fun to visit my sister! They live in such a cool city!

We've enjoyed having friends and family come visit us! Can't wait till next summer when more people can come visit and we can take them to the beach!

My mom came to visit! Yay!

Living with a boy has been fun, challenging, and humorous! 

Living with a boy... "Laura, the cheese isn't melting on the chili"....that's probably because you used sandwich cheese slices instead of shredded cheese! lol! =)

It's been fun cheering on our favorite teams together!

Cheering on the USA in the World Cup

Cheering on our team, the Braves, as a team!

Miguel started graduate school for Aerospace this fall. He's doing distance learning through Georgia Tech. He's handled working full-time, grad school, and being married really well! Much better than I could do it if I were in his shoes! 

So diligent! Working over Thanksgiving!

And of course we adopted the best puppy ever! Emma is such a big part of our little family. I can't imagine our lives without her!

At the Humane Society adopting the Emma-do

A great addition to our family! She seems happy to be at her forever home!

We've enjoyed celebrating the holidays together!

Halloween, ya.

Emma in her costume

We have loved spending time with both families over the holidays! It's a blessing to have them both live in the same city! Makes holidays a lot easier!

Celebrating my father-in-law, Pedro's, birthday over Thanksgiving

Playing games with the Leeper side of the family on Thanksgiving

Us, my dad and mom, and sister, Sarah, and brother-in-law, Jared taken over Thanksgiving break

Christmas is almost here! I can't believe how fast this past year has gone! I'm looking forward to going home and seeing my families! I love that my family has grown so much in 2010. We've really been showered with blessings. Can't wait to see what God has in store for our lives in 2011! 

Our first Christmas tree!

"YES! YES! YES!"

I always love this time of year but it means something completely new and special to me this December, and always will for all the Decembers yet to come! This time last year Miguel asked me a question and I said "YES!".


Miguel made plans for a date night at Lake Lanier's Magical Night of Lights. Miguel is not one to make plans unless one counts a fifteen minute notice as plans. So all and all I assumed December 19th, our date night, was the night. 

I carefully picked out my outfit, conditioned my hair a little longer, and spent all together an unnecessarily long time getting ready. Miguel arrived at my house and seemed painfully normal. I had a hint of disappointment, but I shrugged it off and told myself the night was still young. He was in no hurry to leave and got a little sooty while he battled some stubborn firewood to catch fire. "Hmph", I thought, "surely he would be acting nervous or jittery if he was planning on proposing." But Miguel seemed his normal self. We eventually got to the light show, it was fun! We drove with the windows down to "get the real experience" according to Miguel. Since my hair was now a windblown mess I was feeling okay about not being proposed to. We got back to my house Miguel asked me if I wanted to watch a movie. That sounded fine I said. I asked if he had any other plans for the night and if he was taking me out anywhere else. No. So as he was setting up the movie I went upstairs to change into comfortable clothes appropriate for movie watching. Since we were in no hurry to go anywhere I was taking my time upstairs. Miguel called up to me about my Christmas lights on my back porch being broken all of a sudden. So, I put on my slippers, ran down the stairs, grabbed a santa hat from the coat rack I passed on the way and went outside to 'help'. There I found Miguel on his knees fumbling with the plugs. When he plugged them in I got a Christmas light show better than my childhood memories!!!!

He had made me my very own light show!!! He had come over earlier in the day when I was hanging out with my sister who had just flown in from Seattle (who btw did a very good job of not saying anything to me all day when she knew he was going to ask me later that night) and had snuck the sign in the back. He really did surprise me! I LOVE that I was surprised! Even though I thought it might happen that night I had given up the idea when I went upstairs to change. That is why I am wearing Christmas dog pajama shorts in my pictures. But I don't care. I am so happy.



The rest of the night went by so fast. I didn't even realize Miguel was holding a ring box and I don't remember him actually asking though he did say the words. I saw the lights and my head started to spin. Miguel had even hid a camera and filmed the whole proposal. When we came in we opened a bottle of champaign and started calling friends and family with the good news. 

 This is the first time I shared this video. I think my reaction is silly and don't really like seeing myself on camera. But it's fun to re-live the moment! 

My BEAUTIFUL ring! My father-in-law took this picture

Christmas on a Budget can be Sweet!

Miguel and I are saving for a down payment on a house. With that comes certain sacrifices, one of which is finding more affordable Christmas presents this year for our friends and family. The project I worked on all day is one of our cost effective and sweet tasting solutions. I baked an assortment of cookies for the couples in our Bible study.

Sugar cookie dough... simple to make and budget friendly!

I always have trouble rolling out the dough, even with tons of flour!

Success! 

One of my favorite parts! I feel like I accomplish something every time I use the cookie cutters! I guess it's the joy of seeing something start to be created out of nothing.

Luckily I already owned an assortment of sprinkles. I had to buy the icing, but that only put me out around $10 to purchase the different colors and quantity I needed.

I bought these tins at Dollar Tree... for $1 obviously.

Then I filled them up. I put a couple of each type of cookie in Christmas cupcake liners .  

So far I have six done. Baking all those cookies and then decorating them is time consuming!

For the larger of the cookies I used these little snack boxes (also from the dollar store). I put some of the candy cane, stars, and snowmen in each box. Then I put these boxes on top of the tins and placed them all in cellophane Christmas bags.

Continuing with the Dollar Tree trend, I purchased these sets of ornaments to tie up the cellophane bags. They add a touch of whimsey as well as a memory for the recipient of the gift if they choose to hang it on their tree.  

Tah-dah! Homemade Christmas goodies all wrapped up and ready to go! 

What are your Christmas on a budget gift ideas?