If you've never heard Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving Song from way back when or you haven't heard it since last Thanksgiving..it's a must. Do it. It's right here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PFERpWahZE

In other news, I feel like a superhero right now because I totally did Insanity last night for the first time since getting preggos. This is basically a miracle considering I can't make the bed without feeling like I've run a marathon or something. People say this has something to do with placenta formation and I'm like, well of course I'm tired, I'm growing a human in here.

Apparently the formation is almost over which explains why I did Insanity without passing out after the warm-up. Score. I did sweat profusely and I can barely walk today but whateva. Are people weirded out by the word placenta? Probs.

I'm super excited for Thanksgiving and am feeling so blessed that both of our families live relatively close together so we don't have to choose one over the other each holiday. We'll be seeing my fam and Chris' fam for Thanksgiving AND Christmas like we did last year and the year before (and the year before we were married). One of my favorite things about having two families now is getting to experience all the different traditions...like experiencing Grandma Tate's rum-ified eggnog. Oh wait, I can't have that this year. Literally--it's all the rage.

Now all I can think about is eggnog. Jeez. Pregnancy. Can I even have eggnog at all? Raw egg or something? So many rules.

Eggnog reminds me of Christmas and Christmas reminds me of how we've definitely been listening to Christmas music since last week. Cue all of the arguments about whether this is acceptable or not. In our minds--we're totally not "skipping over" Thanksgiving or whatever else people say. In fact..we're thankful that we have Christmas music to listen to and we're thankful that we have the freedom to celebrate TWO holidays at the same time. Whaaaat!?

Um it's TOTALLY worth mentioning that our dear friends Emily and Parm are ENGAGED. Parm is one of my favorite photographerbuddies and Emily is literally the sweetest person EVER. I'm using caps alot because LITERALLYICOULDPEEMYPANTSWITHEXCITEMENTANDPROBABLYPREGNANCY. Their relationship is such a wonderful example of the goodness that comes out of each of them seeking the Lord first. Plus..it's pretty stinkin' obvious that He handpicked them to be together for the rest of their lives. So dreamy. You guys rock.

I am rambling at this point. Me and this baby are going to realllllly enjoy Thanksgiving food this year. No joke. Did you know you really only need about 200-300 extra calories when pregnant? Not a lot of people know that so I can pretend that I need like 1500 more than normal and nobody will judge me. Kidding.

Okay. Happpppppy holidays, people.

Nobody has been believing us when we tell them we are...that story about the wolf and the boy is totally true. Clearly we didn't learn our childhood lessons. I promise this time, people. :)

Goodness, sorry for all the trickery. if we could go back in time..we'd totally never joke about being pregnant. Kidding. We totally would. Anyways, we've tried to tell as many people as we could in person before posting anything--which is a super overwhelming and awesome task...so we think it's safe to post it now.

This is why I haven't been posting much lately..I kept almost letting it slip on here so I decided to steer clear of emotional blog writing. Bahaha.

Chris and I have been going to bed between 7:30 and 8:30 almost every night since this dang time change. There.
I said it.
That's right. 7:30, people.

You only live once. Kidding, I don't think that trendy phrase fits this scenario but I think we're pretty cool so whatever.

On the bright side--it's 8:08 as I type this..that's PM, and we're still awake. In fact, we're at Subway. Why? Because our internet is down and Subway has free wifi. Who know, right? So even if we left RIGHT NOW we still wouldn't even be asleep till like 9. So wild! Late nights, holla! Back to the point: Subway>Clemson Library. Literally never studied once in that library. That's an exaggeration. I did study there more than once..but I was mad every time.The lights are basically the worst thing ever and it's always packed.

Subway, however...is not packed. Plus....we're sitting right next to the refillable drink machine (a.k.a. water 'cause that's all we get).

Clearly I have nothing to do because I'm raving about Subway. We don't even ever eat at Subway. Chris is doing his school work (in his plaid pajamas, hot) and I'm....drinking water.

Speaking of Chris. That man totally amazes me each day and I can surely say that despite knowing how good of a man I was marrying back on May 15th of 2011....he continues to blow me away. It's crazy looking back on how much we loved each other the day we got married and to think that it's even sweeter and deeper and better now. I can't imagine what this is going to feel like in 10, 20, 50 years. Marriage truly is an indescribable blessing. If God has allowed us to think about and experience marriage this way in our flawed, earthly bodies with all of our imperfections..just imagine how the perfect Creator views his bride, the church. Mind. Blown.

I have tomorrow off (what whaaat!!) so basically I'm going to be catching up on a ton of photography stuff and thinking about all the veterans for veterans day which is actually today but also tomorrow for work purposes? Not sure. But regardless--I truly am thankful for all of these wonderful people. Especially now that I am a wife and could not IMAGINE my husband leaving for long periods of time to serve our country. We would be a total wreck. It takes such strong individuals and families to serve in that way.

Tomorrow marks the one week countdown 'till a very special day we're going to have. More on that goodness later.

Any other exciting things?
Nope.
We love life and love and marriage and our little family and the one who provided it all. Happy best day of the week! :)

Despite all the clever, witty, sarcastic, and plain mean politically-related statuses..it's important to remember that YOU, my friends, have the choice each day to draw people of all kinds closer towards you in love...or farther away from you in bitterness. Kindness is contagious..and I think we can ALL agree that if anything-we'd like to live in a society that is kind.

Maybe I'm not the most politically minded girl in the world, and maybe I daydream every so often about living in a society where it's acceptable to hug strangers on a daily basis--but my favorite quote from mine and my husband's household is this: kindness is NOT optional. Despite our circumstances, despite how we feel, despite our opposing opinions--kindness is never optional. (aaaannnd repeat with the rest of the lovely fruits of the Spirit.)

This is especially true for all of us who claim to be believers. Are we going to mess up? Yes. Are we going to have opinions about things? Yes, and we should. But at the end of the day--we must be thinking of what we have done to positively impact those around us. This absolutely includes social media sites where we air out quotes and phrases and opinions that we would never have the guts to say out loud. You are exposed to all of this. You are impacted by all of this whether you think you are or not.

I'm not waving my ignorance-is-bliss flag around (although most days I can barely stand the thought of checking facebook.) And I definitely believe that being informed is so so important. I believe that we are BLESSED to live in a society where we, especially women, have the ability to vote. And of course--I believe that God's sovereignty is not dependent on who the President is. And your facebook status is SURELY not going to change who the President is. So just take a deep breath..and join me in daydreaming about my theoretical hug-aholic society.

Jesus. Is. King. And. He. Is. Victorious.