my top events of 2011.

It's time to remember the top events of 2011. My, what a year it has been. Probably the craziest, most memorable year of my life thus far. :)
Last year I gave a recap of 2011 which I loved looking back on. I used to always give yearly Top 10's on MySpace. Yes, MySpace. How times have changed. So I guess now I'll make it a blog tradition. Except for there's more than 10...
Besides the Top Three or so there's not really an order. I tried to make it an order but it just wasn't possible. Here goes.
14. WeddingsAaron and Molly, Chris and Erica, Derrick and Renee, Ricky and Britney - such a fun year of weddings! Marriage = awesome.

13. North Augusta Easter Trip Every year my family goes to visit my cousins in North Augusta for Easter. It is SO FUN. This year was even more fun because I got to take a friend for the first time. A friend who also happened to be my husband. :)

12. Beach Trips with the FamilyNorth Myrtle Beach with my side of the family and all my cousins, and Topsail Beach with Jordan's side. Those trips were amazing. I'm so thankful for our family!

11. Our First HolidaysI never knew how awesome it would be to share that special time of year with my husband. We had a blast visiting all of our family and going on the Thanksgiving beach trip. Then our Christmas was AMAZING! It was such a perfect way to finish out the year. So thankful that I get to do it again next year, and forever. :)

10. My First EarthquakeThis had to make the list. I mean, an earthquake in NC? That's insane. I'll never forget that extremely weird day.
Earthquake Craziness
9. CampCounseling at MTYC was such an awesome week. (Besides the fact that I missed Jordan like crazy.) I loved the campers, my cabin, my co-counselor, and my Green Team. 
Counseling at Camp

8. GraduatingYEEAUHHHHHH. And then I hit the real world.
7. BaptismGlory Hallelujah what a day this was! It was so amazing to have this outward symbol of the inward change in my life. :) Praise the Lord!
Excited for BaptismMy Baptism!

6. The Birth of my NephewHarvey came into the world on May 20, 2011, and made us an aunt and uncle for the first time! We LOVE him and miss him so much! (And his parents!)
Dear NephewDear Nephew - About to Meet Him

5. My Bachelorette Weekend and ShowersSpending time with my dearest friends before the wedding was so special to me. I am overly blessed with uplifting and supportive women in my life. I miss that time because we got to hang out so much! LOVE my friends!

4. HawaiiDefinitely never thought this would happen this year. Or maybe ever. It was a crazy trip and such a wonderful experience for us. A part of us will always be there....literally.
Finding Out About HawaiiWhat I Learned in HawaiiThe Scariest Thing That's Ever Happened to Me

3. Dad winning MVP Dad for BostonI still can't believe this happened. Did this happen?? Was it real?? Again, thank you SO much to everyone who voted. And thanks to my dad for being the man.
The ContestHE WON!Fenway Father's Day

2. Our HoneymoonAhhh I wanna go back. Right now. I will never forget the amazing time we had during that first week of marriage. So special. I also now just realized that I never finished blogging about it. Hmm. Maybe I can share some more pics sometime!
Our Honeymoon - SavannahOur Honeymoon - Universal Studios

1. Our Wedding DayYou knew this was going to be #1. How could it not be? WE GOT MARRIED! Best day ever. I will never tire of looking at the pictures or watching the video. And I am so ridiculously blessed with this man whom I now call my husband. God, You are the perfect matchmaker. No one else could have brought two people together like He did. I am eternally grateful. And eternally head over heels blissfully in love with Jordan Shelley.
Our Love Story

Wow. I can't believe 2011 is ending. How have we been married for over 9 months? This has been the fastest year. I bet life just gets faster and faster. 
I am so pumped to see what God has in store for my life in 2012. I want it all to be for His glory - I mean that's the only reason I'm LIVING right now - to give Him glory. I want the theme of 2012 to be surrender to Him. (As it should be all the time.) But I'll talk about that tomorrow...
For now, happy last day of 2011! 

guest posting today: setting goals.

Today I'm guest posting over at The Merry Mrs. Mobley - go check it out! Her blog is awesome.
The post is about setting goals for 2012.
This weekend I'll be back here to reveal some of my goals for 2012! :)
I'm really excited about the new year for some reason...more than I usually am. I don't know what God is going to do with my life but I am PUMPED to find out.
Also...my Kindle is being delivered today. AHH I'm excited!!
HAPPY FRIDAY and hop on over to Lauren's blog to see my guest post. :)

January sponsor swap?

Is anyone interested in a January Sponsor Swap?

I've never done one, so it makes me kind of nervous to ask that. But I'm just gonna go for it.
This is what would need to happen:
Email me at [email protected] and send me your button that you would like me to put on my sidebar. 
I will email you back with my button. It will be different than the one that I already have available.
Although I did just update my blog list in my sidebar (Yay! Finally!) I don't have anyone's buttons. I want to limit that to those who participate in this sponsor swap. 
So if you want to participate, you won't be just another addition to a list of buttons. You will be special. :)
Think about it, and let me know.
One of the things I love about blogging is the awesome blog community. I would love to connect to other bloggers through this swap. Don't hesitate to email me!
Oh, and if you haven't already - hit me up on Twitter @AshleyShellz. 
I love tweeting with other bloggers/blog lovers :)
I'll be guest posting tomorrow for a beautiful blog friend so get pumped for that! It's almost Friday, people!

having an amazing first Christmas!

Merry Christmas, y'all.

I can't describe how wonderful it was to wake up with my husband this Christmas morning.  

 I am beyond blessed. Christmas has been going on for us since Wednesday so it's been awesomely extended!  Pictures to come later, but for now, if you have time you should watch this video and meditate on that night when the angels proclaimed the birth of our SAVIOR! (Yes, that is my amazing husband and brother in law.)

our first Christmas decorations.

I'm going to show you some of our Christmas decorations for this year! I LOVE decorating for Christmas and have been overjoyed to display them for our first holiday season. :)

The centerpiece on our table - made by a precious relative of mine, Mrs. Kim Woodall! She's SO talented. I love the milk glass base for the tree.

My mom gave me that Joy nativity this year so I could have my first nativity scene. Her mom gave her one for her first married Christmas. Maybe one day I can give my daughter one! My middle name was Joy so that's why it's so prevalent in our household. It's also an excellent reminder of the joy we have through Christ too of course!

The sweet picture in the frame came from one of my favorite stores The Nest. 

The gold snowman is holding a flower that a homeless man made for me out of leaves on our honeymoon. I have those candles (also from The Nest) out all of the time, but now they're surrounded by ornaments and Christmas tree candles. They're sitting in a tray that Josh and Danielle gave us from their trip to Thailand. So special!

I LOVE this Christmas carol candles. Yes, they're from The Nest, too! 

This ornament is from Hawaii (obviously). We want to collect ornaments from all of the states we visit...we never knew that we'd get to go to Hawaii so soon in our marriage! God had some crazy awesome plans for us this year. :) And yes....I accidentally made Jordan the girl turtle. Sorry, Jordan.

One of my best friends and bridesmaids Morgan gave me this ornament last year. :) I was so excited to finally get to use it!

These next two are from my mom. So pretty and special. 

Granma and Grandaddy Shelley gave us these last year. How cute!

My sister in law Anna gave Jordan this from China. I honestly have no idea what it means but I'm sure it's something nice.

Here's the Jesse tree from my mother in law that I talked about yesterday. 

On top of our fridge - some pretty ornaments on a cake plate. 

Our Christmas card holder on our pantry door. The Shelleys have a tradition of taking turns reading their different Christmas cards they've received out loud and then praying for the people in them. We are definitely going to be doing this as well. :)

On our coffee table I have a burlap table runner, a cake plate, another one of those Christmas carol candles, and some ice skating birds. So cute!

Had to hang some mistletoe of course! :) I love that sign that I ordered off Etsy, but it came in really late so I couldn't use it for the wedding. I was not pleased. Therefore I'm not going to tell you who made it, haha. Still love it though.

Love these sparkly ornaments and birds' nests!

This little shepherd is so sweet. That was also made by the amazing Kim Woodall!

This sleigh with ornaments in it and greenery is on top of our medicine cabinet above our toilet. 

This is also in our bathroom. Our bathroom is already gray, red, and black - so the extra pops of red added a lot!

Yes, this is a snowman nativity scene. Complete with a little snowman baby Jesus. I know this is kinda weird. But I like it.

And last but not least - our first Christmas tree! It turned out perfectly. I adore that smell of a real Christmas tree when we walk in. It was so fun to pick it out with my man!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!