Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year with dinner at our favorite restaurant, Bricktops, then played Christmas Pictionary and Wii dancing at the Sonn house.

Strike a pose!

Ian was trying to pop the champagne cork.....you can see I was scared for my life.

He was right on the time though, microwave behind him says 12am!

Bring it 2012!

Best and Worst of 2011

Best of 2011

• Made some new friends!
• Joined a great new church and small group
• Attended my 10 year high school reunion
• Babies -
• BFF Jessica Tuten welcomed Briggs into the world in May
• Laura Bargatze is preggers, coming July 2012
• Amanda Lomas welcomed Paisley into the world in July
• Jessica Haeuptle welcomed Stella into the world in November
• Elizabeth Bullen is in the midst of the adotpion process for Mathieu
• Travel
• Maggie Valley
• Stooksbury Family Vacation to Myrtle Beach
• Grand Canyon
• Hoover Dam
• Las Vegas
• Orlando
• Atlanta
• Marco Island
• 3 trips to Ft. Lauderdale / Miami
• 2 trips to Phoenix
• 2 trips to Mexico

Worst of 2011

• Broke my tailbone while snowboarding
• Broke my back jumping off a cliff into the lake
• Friday Night Lights ended (I still miss Coach Taylor)

So very thankful my worst category is  limited but this year my goal is to make it even shorter AND to eliminate the word broke.

Now THAT is a treehouse!

On the way back home after Christmas Mark and I stopped to see the world's largest treehouse. A friend told me about this and I was so surprised to hear that it was so close to home. You can read the story here. I love to see unique places/things so I was anxious to stop on our way through Crossville. Mark is scared of heights so we didn't make it to the top but it was still so impressive to see.

Oh.....there it is!

2011 Christmas

This year we got to spend Christmas Day with my family so we went to Bradley and Casey's on Christmas Eve so we could see the kids with Santa on Christmas morning.

Santa did not disappoint....the boys were so surprised (after we finally woke Drew up)! They got several toys but the most exciting thing was a drum set and their own bean bags for the play room. I wonder if Santa regrets that drum set yet?

We got to visit with Granny Jessie too!

We had lunch at Mamaw Butler's then headed to mom and dad's for a nap and gifts!

2011 Christmas Party

We kicked off the Christmas season with our annual party held at our house. We always have such a great time and this year was no different. We had a huge crowd of over 30 guests which included a night of food, fun, dirty santa and Wii dancing!

I'm so glad my friends accommodate me and my picture-craze. I love having a group picture!

And we ended the night with Wii dancing, a little Michael Jackon, some Black Eyed Peas and Dance 3!

Small Group, Large Friendships

When Mark and I joined our new church we immediately wanted to get involved with a small group. That was just a little over a year ago.  We walked the "small group tradeshow" and felt a connection with a young couple in their late 20s/early 30s. We went home and talked about it and decided we wanted to join their group. Elizabeth looked so familiar and so did her name on paper. We were going to be traveling the next Sunday so I emailed the church and told them we wanted to join the Bullen small group. Well Elizabeth Bullen emailed me right away. I responded from my work email and we finally realized we DID know of each other already. We are in the same professional organization! So that was a connection right off!

The small group included 4 other couples in the same life stage as us and totally hit it off. We have been blessed with such an amazing group that encourages us, laughs with us, keeps us accountable, prays with and for us, we serve together, we study the bible, celebrate birthdays, births, career accomplishments, we share Thanksgiving dinner, etc.I'm looking forward to the friendships that continue to grow, seeing each one of us grow spiritually, and the changes that will occur as we go through life!

Love you all!

Photo 20: Routine

Mark and I have started a new daily bible study, Night Light. It's just a short devotion we do at night that gives us just a few minutes with each other and God before we turn in for the night.