How COULD He?

Warning: I am about to go on a Bachelor rant so if you don't care about that show, you might want to move right along.

I watch every season of the Bachelor and Bachelorette and LOVE IT. I am not ashamed to admit it either. For some reason, it is just so entertaining watching women, and men, "fall in love" in 0.2 seconds and then leave crying when they get their "hearts broken." After every episode I am reminded of how lucky I am not to be in the dating world anymore. But I digress...

This season I was not excited about Ben, the Bachelor. I didn't care for him on Ashley's season and never saw what was so great about him. I mean, he turned down Jennifer Love-Hewitt and desperately needs a haircut. There must be something wrong with him right? Well my point was ABSOLUTELY proven last night.

Most seasons there isn't a girl or guy that I truly love and root for the whole season. The ones that come to mind are Ryan (who won Trista's season and who are still married) and then Emily who won Brad's season but we all knew that probably wouldn't work out. Have no fear though - she is the Bachelorette for next season! Again, I digress...

Well this season I picked out a girl that I loved from the first night. I loved her "numbers" intro and thought she was the cutest little red head from Oklahoma ever - JENNIFER! Last week she had a great one-on-one date with Ben and this week she didn't get much time with him but when they did speak at the rose ceremony, Ben basically assured her she was safe.

Jennifer (abc.com image)

So needless to say I was SHOCKED when she was the only girl left without a rose. And what was even worse, there was no explanation from Ben - no reason why he sent this winner home.

I just knew from the beginning that these two would be so cute together, I was wrong. I guess now I will have to root for Kacie B. She is my next favorite - very cute Southern Belle that seems to be one of Ben's favorites. He better not upset me again!

Kacie B. (abc.com image)

Candle Making 101

I LOVE candles. I have one burning almost every day at my house. To me, they make a home more "homey." So, needless to say I spend a lot of money on the smell-good home accents and lately it was getting hard to justify, even though I love them so much.

Over the holidays I was browsing some blogs and I found one on how to make candles. I tried it out a couple of times and I've got to say, its pretty awesome. Its a great way to use all that left over wax once your candles have burned their whole wick.

I thought I would share my money-saving, candle-making ways with yall. Hope you enjoy!

1. After you have burned a candle to the very bottom, put the whole thing in the freezer. Freezing the wax will make it easier to remove from the jar. After you have taken out the left over wax, save it in a zip lock bag. Don't forget to save the jar! During Christmas, I go through cinammon candles like they are going out of style so I got a pretty good stash going.

2. Put a pot of boiling water on the stove and place a tin can in it with the wax you want to remelt. The tin can will save your pots from getting "waxy." The tin can and wax will want to dump over so I put the jar on top of the can to hold it in place while the wax was melting.

3. If you don' thave enough scented wax left over for a whole candle, you can add plain, unscented wax to be melted as well. The added plain wax will make your scented wax last longer. I got my wicks and wax at Hobby Lobby both for half off. The wicks come in a pack of 10 and the wax has 4 bars to a pack. I used half of one bar for this candle. So both of these supplies will last you a long time.

4. Next, place a stand-alone wick in the bottom of your jar.

5. Once the wax is melted, simply pour it back into your candle jar and WA-LAH you have a brand new candle.

Told ya it was pretty simple. I estimate that for the extra supplies I bought, this new candle only cost about $0.35! I think that savings definitely helps me justify my candle obsession!

Happy Birthday Jon David!

Today is my little brother's birthday and I wanted to give a shout out. He is the goofiest kid I know but also the most loving. I love you JD! I hope 24 is your best year yet!

Cheering on the Farmington Cardinals together (terrible picture of me by the way but really cute of him)

Harding University graduation - all grown up!
Dancing with both my brothers at my wedding.

Sh*t Girls Say

Ok have you seen these videos? They are hilarious!!! Since I was a sorority girl and a recent bride I have to share. These will make you laugh out loud, probably because the majority of the stuff is true!



Sh*t Sorority Girls Say
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW22JWgdr6g&sns=fb




and




Sh*t Brides Says
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW22JWgdr6g&sns=fb

New Family Additions

In my blogging hiatus, I missed 2 very special announcements. Remember back in March when I talked about not-so-patiently awaiting the new arrivals in our family? Well both my cousins' had their babies and they are so much fun!

Robert "Kenan" Smith arrived in August and I got to meet him for the first time at Christmas. He and his mom and dad live in Knoxville, Tenn. He is so sweet and let me hold him a bunch. Here is his 5-month picture. I just love those cheeks!

Caroline Gray Harriman arrived in October and I was very excited to be at the hospital for her birth. I arrived around 6 p.m. after work and she was here by 6:30! She came very quickly. She also is so sweet and loving. While I was at the hospital, I was having flashbacks of when her big brother Hudson was born just 2 years earlier. Nathan and Sarah taught Hudson how to sing "Sweet Caroline" and they played it in the room after she was born.

iPhone Pics

I was going through my iPhone pictures this weekend and I found some good ones to share.

Here is my cooking buddy. Every night when I make dinner, Tackle lays in the kitchen and watches - or just wait until I drop something for him to gobble up.

Last weekend we got to babysit our friends' baby Whitt. He was pretty fussy because he was teething. I couldn't get him to eat or fall asleep or basically do anything. I gave him to Ryan so I could go to the bathroom and I come back and he was fast asleep on Ryan's chest. That man has a way with babies. Very cute!

A Christmas creation via Southern Living. It is a Peppermint Cheesecake Layered Cake and it was the most complicated cake I have ever made. It took me 2 days to finally finish. While it was delicious, I probably won't ever make it again.
During our Christmas break I took Ryan to my mom's grave for the first time in Fort Smith. We left a Christmas Poinsettia to celebrate. My grandparents are buried right next to her and my cousin Leah is behind them. That was a special day for us.

Below is one of my Pinterest Christmas projects. I added all the Christmas cards I got to it until I ran out of room and started putting them on the refrigerator. I got 43 Christmas cards this year! I love getting them, it is one of my favorite holiday traditions.

My Christmas tree this year

In November I got to take my cousin Anniston to see the Nutcracker ballet to watch her ballet teacher perform. We had so much fun! She even wore her gold ballet shoes.

Farmington Cardinals

If you follow me on Facebook you know by now that the Farmington Cardinals had an amazing season! The ended by playing in the Semi-Final game for the first time since 1989! The Cards were predicted to finish 4th in their conference and maybe not even make it to the first round of play-offs. Because of that my Dad was named Arkansas Small School Coach of the Year and voted on by his coaching peers as an All-Star Coach for the All-Star game this summer. This year was truly a Cinderella season!



This year was even more special because it was my brother, Spencer's, first year as a full-time coach. I have never been more proud of my family! Below are some pics from this year's season.

Coach Adams and his girlfriend, Lyndsey, after the Shiloh game. And yes, you are reading that score right: Farmington 58 -Shiloh 37. Shiloh had a bad season and I never once felt sorry for them. It was time for them to lose a game.

The next two are pictures of signs that lined Main Street in Farmington when the team made it to playoffs. This is one of the many reasons I love small towns. They whole town showed so much support for the team.

Farmington vs. Berryville

My Aunt Janie (my dad's sister) and Uncle Doug brought their grandson, Hudson, to a game. He loved it!

The coaches' families after a big win

Spencer's first game as a head coach on the field with his 7th graders. Look how tiny they are! I love this picture because Dad is watching his son fulfill his dream of becoming a football coach.

The girls again at a playoff game.

I had so much fun this year and I can't wait until next season. GO CARDS!

Christmas Happenings

Below are some pictures from the Holiday season, our first as the Pettigrews. I didn't get many at all but there were a few.

First, we went to the lighting of the square. I love these lights and I have never been to the actual lighting ceremony so we got to go this year. Ryan even left in the middle of a Hog game to take me. He is a great husband!

To all you Deltas, yes I am weaing my Tri Delt Fleece. Don't judge - I love that thing!

On Christmas Eve we were at my parents' house. Here is a picture of my shorter hair too.

We were at the Pettigrew house on Christmas morning. At one point we looked over and all three dogs were sitting by the presents. So cute!If you ever need a gift idea for the Pettigrew boys, just go straight to Cabelas. I laughed so hard when I saw those presents pile up in front of Ryan. His parents just put a stick on bow on the boxes his presents were delivered in. They know their son all too well.

I was very blessed this year and I hope everybody had a great Christmas. Happy New Year!

It's Sad When....

It's sad when you walk into your local Liquor store and not one, but two of the guys working there call you by name. Yes, that happened to me this weekend. Apparently I have become a valued customer at Premier Wine & Spirits. It is on 6th street in between Farmington and Fayetteville and right on my way home from work so it is a little too easy to drive through and pick up a bottle of my favorite wine. I love that place. They are always so helpful and if I ever want to try a bottle, they will uncork it right then and there to let me have a sip. Now that is customer service!

I have become a big wine drinker lately and I think I owe that to my dad. He is a wine connoisseur and is always telling me of different kinds to try. My favorites of the moment are Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand) and Garnacha de Fuego (Spain). Both are around $10 which is about what I want to pay for wine.

This weekend Ryan and I also ordered a new wine cooler. We got one for our wedding and we loved it. It was one of our favorite gifts, but apparently we picked a bad model because it broke on us twice. We returned the first one and the second one (same kind) only lasted about 2 months so this time we decided to pick a different kind. This one is much bigger but we were able to use left over gift cards from the wedding to cover the difference. I can't wait until it gets here so I can fill it up!

The Married Life

I have neglected my blog for the past few months just because I feel like, since our wedding, there hasn't been much to tell. Ryan and I are settling into our life as a married couple so I thought I would share my thoughts on that. Can you believe we have been married 6 months and 4 days? I can't. We got our wedding video in the mail this week and as I watched it, I kept thinking, was that really half a year ago?

Overall, married life has been great. As I expected, and as everybody told me, there have been a few bumps in the road but nothing too serious. We have fought more in the 6 months we have been married than in the past 3 and 1/2 years we were dating. I was told that was normal and haven't called in for counseling just yet :)

Ryan and I have gotten in a routine: we carpool to work (our offices are right across the street from each other), come home, cook dinner, play with our doggies, watch our favorite TV shows together and then go to sleep. As mundane as it sounds, I love every minute of it.

I have got to admit to something. Being the independent person I am, I was very nervous that I would get "tired" of Ryan being at my house everyday after we were married. I am a person that loves my alone time but I soon came to realize, that was the furthest thing from the truth. I love ridding to work with him in the mornings, I love coming home with him at night and I love falling asleep in his arms. When I don't get those times, I get sad and wish he was there.

Our fall was full of our favorite thing - football. We cheered our Hogs onto a #6 finish and watched as my Dad and brother's team won all the way to the semi-finals in state - the first time since 1989. I have never been a prouder daughter and sister.

This fall we also made the commitment to our church. Ryan was asked to be a Deacon and I am going to prepare communion on Sunday mornings. We both feel so lucky to have found a place that we both love and can worship God. This was important to us and God knew exactly where to send us.

Did I mention I cut 8 inches off my hair! That was a shocker. But I digress...

The holidays were hard for me this year and it was the first time ever that I have taken my Christmas tree down before New Year's Day. I was just ready to move on to 2012.

Around this time we started making our life plan together which was very exciting. We set financial goals for ourselves and made timelines for other things that we hope to accomplish.

I know marrige will never be easy but I do know marriage is a partnership and that I found the best partner possible. As we begin 2012, I am so excited to see what God will bless us with. Ryan, I love you forever and ever!

Below are some pictures of our 6 months together. And again, I hope to be blogging more. We will see if that happens :)

First Hog game of the seaon. WPS!

Cheering on the Cardinals at a FHS playoff game. Far right is Spencer's girlfriend Lyndsey. LOVE her!

Halloween - A witch and my black cat

I made him take me to the Washington County Fair. Let me just say, it's not what it use to be.

Collin's Beautiful wedding. I was so honored to be a Matron of Honor!

Ryan hunting with is Dad and Brother

Christmas Day with the Pettigrews