Been too long? Yes!

First of all, let me just apologize for my long and uncalled for absence. My last blog talked about our first week in South Carolina. We've been home now for over a week. The trip was perfect. It was much needed and very enjoyable. I was so thankful for the opportunity to get to know Josh's parents and siblings better including his new sister-in-law Jenn. I also got to see my mom, my sister and her family, my dad and my aunt and uncle.

I left off about to go eat some grits. :) Funny because I just had some grits. Yes, I did. And, I cooked them myself. The day after we got home we went grocery shopping. I insisted on picking up grits, of course. Well, the week following the first was full of exciting things as well. We had Christmas with the immediate family only which was really relaxing and fun. Josh's family got me a South Carolina Gamecocks hoodie that I pointed out to Josh. I basically live in it now! They also supplied me with my first stocking! That was very exciting. They even had my name embroidered on it. It was very personalized. :) It was full of candy, food storage stuff (the "theme" for the year) mascara, chapstick, gum, a gift card and much more. His parents also bought us a wedding photo. Our photos are pretty expensive and they purchased a big nice one and had it framed and everything. It's beautiful...now where to put it!? :) I'll find a place! Josh got me a couple little things just for fun. He got me the movie girls just wanna have fun and some slipper socks (which I also live in). Too bad the sweater is red and the slippers are pink. :\ Yikes. Clashy. I got Josh socks. :) Yes, socks. Hey, he wanted them. What can I say? They were argyle.

Two days after Christmas was our reception. We had it at Josh's house and it was absolutely perfect. His mom put so much work into making it look beautiful for us. I think the backyard was my favorite. They have a pool and the three trees behind the pool had white lights in them and reflected off the pool. On the back deck were round tables with floor length tablecloths and candles everywhere. The whole back was lit by candles and white christmas lights. :) So pretty. We didn't have a huge turn out to the reception because it was so close to Christmas and four months after our wedding but we were very pleased. We were really happy because most of our gifts were gift cards. We really appreciated that because the gifts that weren't gift cards had to fit in our suitcases on the way home.

The Monday after the reception we all packed up and drove 2 hours to Myrtle Beach. It was so beautiful the first day we were there. We got into our swimsuits and headed down to the water. We all laid out on the sand in our suits for a few hours. It was so nice. We stayed in a high rise hotel right on the beach. We were on the 14th floor. Technically it was the 13th, but since hotels don't have 13th floors we were on the 14th. But I liked how Morgan put it. "They say we're on the 14th floor but if you jump out the window it will be 13 floors down every time." The beach was such a nice break from everything. Not that being in South Carolina was something to need a break from. The entire trip was amazing. We spent New Years at the beach which was a lot of fun as well. Josh's parents set up a big scavenger hunt for all the cousins and so we ran around the hotel like crazy kids trying to find the next clue. Let's just say, it was up, down, up, down on the elevator. :) When the ball dropped at midnight we all went out on the balcony and threw rolls of paper into the pool. Haha. Apparently it's what they do. It was a lot of fun though. And it was my first time getting kissed at midnight on New Years. :*

We got back from the beach on Friday and just spent the rest of our time relaxing and enjoying the warm weather before we came back to freezing provo. We flew back on Tuesday and low and behold it was freezing. Our car had about a foot of snow on it at the airport. Like I said we've been home for over a week now and during that time Josh has been suffering with a nasty cold. He's just now starting to feel up to doing anything. He took most the week off work and suffered through his classes. What a trooper. But we're doing pretty well. I'm just starting to feel the cold hitting me but I don't think I'll get it quite as bad as he did. *I'm knocking on wood as we speak!* Anyhow, there's not much else to report on so I'll sign off now. Unfortunately I'm on Josh's computer so I don't think I have any pictures that I can post. I will check and see though. :) Til next time...







Woohoo I found some! That, my friends, is South Carolina snow...aka paper and then there is one from the zoo and one from the SC statehouse. :) Enjoy.