Happy 7 Months!

Today we have been married 7 months! Wahoo!!

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.