Catching up with Mississip friends

2 weeks ago I went to Missisip for the weekend to catch up with some of my girlfriends, my family, exchange some wedding gifts, and pick up my new Walter Anderson painting Rick bought me for Christmas. Friday night I stayed in Hattiesburg with Chirissy. We met Bonnie & Taylor for a drink @ Cork. B & T both have 2 little girls that keep them pretty so getting to actually sit down and catch up was FABULOUS!!! Chrissy as always was an amazing host. I LOVE hotel FANCY!

Saturday, I headed to the coast to celebrate my bestie Traic's birthday. It's crazy how many birthdays we have celebrated together. I love her!

After dinner at Manhattan Grill, we headed to the Beau Rivage. It was such a fun night. I also got to catch up with my old friend Leigh.

Sunday I spent the night with my brother and his family. Monday it was back to Bham. It was an exhausting, beautiful, fun, fabulous weekend! GREAT to see everyone. Rick and I will be back for Mardi Gras.

AUBURN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

I am way behind, but Rick went to Glendale, AZ earlier this month for the BCS National Championship game, and cheer on his Alma Mater Auburn. Rick isn't much on details, so all I know is it was AWESOME. They went to an "AMAZING" party the night before the game that Charles Barkley hosted @ the W hotel, and there were lots of famous professional athletes there, Donavon McNabb was one of the many. Rick was pretty excited about this, well as excited as RB gets. The day of the game they parked at the stadium, and ran in to some old frat brothers who were parked 3 cars down from them, that they hadn't seen in years. I did send my camera with him and threaten his life if he didn't take lots of pics. Here are some of the best:

Outside the stadium.
Old college buds.

College and high school buds.

Rick's friend Andy (above) came through with his ticket 3 days before the game. THANK YOU ECHOLS!!!! I am so glad that Rick went to AZ and was able to be a part of AUBURN becoming the NATIONAL CHAMPION!!! WAR EAGLE RICKY BOBBY!!!

Snow/Ice Day 2011

While Rick was out of town for the National Championship, Bham got a snow day. It was actually more ice than snow. So I played outside for a few minutes with my ADORABLE neighbors. I just adore them.

This is Chloe.
And this sweet baby is Lola.

They were all bundled up, and so stinking cute. This wasn't very fun for them as all the snow was iced over, and very slippery! I do have to give them credit, they gave it a shot.

P.S. Before Rick left for sunny Arizona, he did ask if I needed any canned goods from the grocery store and said he would go get them for me. He also told me where all his ski gear was in case I had to walk 3 miles to his brother's house. I'm so sure I'm going to open up a can of food eat that, then trek 3 miles in the snow. Thanks RB!

NYE 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Rick and I along with our friends Beth, Kyle, and Matthew headed to Atlanta to celebrate the new year. I insisted on doing something fun since last year I did absolutely nothing while Rick tiled the bathroom shower. That was ZERO fun! We had so much fun in Atl for the SEC Championship we decided to go back. My friend Liz is from there and told us about this fab party at Park Tavern, so we all went, Liz included. The deal was a set price for all you can drink (top shelf included), food, party favors, and FUN!

The girls.

Our crew.

The AWESOME band. Yacht Rock, if they are ever playing in your town, GO SEE THEM! SO MUCH FUN!!!! We stayed front row all night!!!!

Pics with the band members were a must!

It was a FABULOUS way to end the most amazing year of my life and ring in a new one! I love Atlanta and I LOVED the Atlanta Loews Hotel. Bring on 2011!!!

Our 1st official McKibbin Christmas

This is the only pic I have from our 1st Christmas. Not good, but it will have to do. Doesn't Rick look thrilled?

We celebrated with Rick's family the Wed before Christmas at our house, then left for my parent's house in Little Rock Christmas Eve. Christmas seemed so short this year since it was on a Saturday. BOO! Short trip to LR, and we were back Sunday, and back at work Monday. Rick did FABULOUS on the gifts this year. He has always been a one gifter (as in he gets me one gift, and that's it). I reminded him that he is now my husband, and he is in charge of the little things too. My gifts were: a dress, the Sean Payton book "HOME TEAM", and a gift certificate for the painting I have been eyeing for a while. I was SO IMPRESSED! Rick's gift: a trip to the national championship. It was definitely a Christmas to remember. Here is the only other pic I have from the holidays, its a pic from my company holiday party.

The McKibbins

Christmas Decor

Here are a few pics of our Christmas decorations. This was the first year I actually tried to make our house look festive. My mom also came to visit on her way to Destin, and she is SUPER CRAFTY! So anything that looks fab, she probably did. This pic does our supper colorful tree no justice. I LOVE LOTS OF BRIGHT COLORS!!!

Got to have the fleur de lis in there somewhere (WHO DAT!). My mom did this creative masterpiece, and she also made all of our stockings. I did not get my mom's crafty genes. So sad.

Guess who decorated the door??? Yep, super mom. Isn't it so stinking cute!! I was so proud!!!!

THANKS mom for making our house and first married Christmas so festive! LOVE YOU!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE MCKIBBINS

We hope you all have a WONDERFUL Christmas and an AMAZING New Year!!!

Love,

Rick, Candice, and Lilly McKibbin

"The Crew" Holiday Party

Rick's crew of guy friends from high school has a holiday party every year, which is so fun, and amazing for a group of guys to keep up. They rotate who host the party every year and this year Rick and I volunteered. WE HAD A BLAST! It is so much fun to see all these guys together, it's like they are teenagers again. Lilly was NOT so excited for the party, she looked to Beth for protection, but this did not last long.

As you can see Matthew & James are pumped for the National Championship, as they practice for Glendale, AZ.

This is my FAV pic of the night, notice Clark Griswold in the background?

Matthew loved the eggnog.

Here are all the girls.

And the guys, James HATES taking pics as you can see in the back.

The party was great fun, with great friends, and something I look forward to all year. I just adore the wonderful group of friends I married into, I am a very lucky girl. LOTS TO BE THANKFUL FOR THIS YEAR!!!!

SEC CHAMPIONS! WAR EAGLE!

Rick decided Friday about 7pm that we should go to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game the next day. So I jumped online, and booked a room. We didn't have tickets, but felt sure we would be able to find some once we got there. We rode over with one of Rick's friends from Auburn, Healthy, about 8am. Checked into the Melia Hotel (which was 1 mile from the Georgia Dome, and a great deal from Hotels.com $93), and headed to "tailgate." We met up with James (Rick, Healthy, and James were frat brothers),and Abnous, had some lunch and met up with a huge crew of guys from their frat @ Taco Mac. Fun times! Lots of guys Rick hadn't seen in years.

Our friends Burton and Jennifer came to meet us later, and ended up having 1 extra ticket for us. So we looked for 1 more ticket, and found NONE! Didn't see a single person selling tix anywhere!! So I decided to make the ultimate sacrifice for my sweet husband, and told him to go without me. There wasn't much argument, and I am pretty sure I did not get enough credit for this deed. So, I went to a nearby sports bar, STATS and met up with my friend Kelly and her husband, and watch the game there. We had a blast! The sports bar was AMAZING!
After the game, the crew came back to STATS pretty excited that Aub was heading to the National Championship. Obviously proud they were #1!

Here's the crew.

FABULOUS weekend! Next stop Glendale, AZ! (Rick & James are going!)

Our 1st official McKibbin Thanksgiving

This was our first married Thanksgiving, and I was pretty excited. Neither of us really care for the holiday food, so we don't get very excited about this holiday. BUT this year I was so excited! We went to Rick's brother (Scott) & Sister in law's (Katie) house here in Homewood, and had a FABULOUS DAY! Rick's dad was there, and his aunt, uncle, and cousin from Charleston, SC, along with Katie's mom & aunt. This really was one of the best Thanksgivings EVER (other than not being with my family)! Thank you McKibbins for making me so welcome, I am SO THANKFUL to be a part of such a wonderful family!!!!!
As you can see Lilly made herself at home. What you can't see is Rick made her wear her Auburn jersey, because his Uncle Bill is a huge Bama fan (they really came for the Ironbowl).

After lunch nap for Uncle Rick.

Our niece Claire came down with this Barbie, and said this was her "Candice" Barbie. I LOVED IT! Katie says she calls it Candice every time she plays with that particular Barbie.

ALWAYS McKibbin wrestling time. All the McKib guys were wrestlers in school.

As most of you know, my all time FAVORITE team, the New Orleans SAINTS, played on Thanksgiving day. Well, Andrew (nephew) played his first year of football

and his team won the championship! So now he is into NFL football. I took this opportunity to influence him on what team should be his #1. I have officially created a SAINTS FAN!!! I am so proud of myself. I taught he and the other kids the Who Dat cheer, and just exactly what tone to use when saying it (they were saying it a little too sweet). I went outside with the rest of the adults, and could hear lots of Who Dating coming from inside, and all I could feel was JOY! I SERIOUSLY LOVED THIS!! Maybe this is why I loved this Thanksgiving so much??? Needless to say, guess what Andrew will be getting for Christmas??? SAINTS GEAR!Here are the McKibbin men that were there this year. What a crew.

LOTS TO BE THANKFUL FOR THIS YEAR!!!

Look what I WON!!!!

I simply voted for my favorite HOBO International leopard handbag on facebook, and now it's MINE!!! SUPER PUMPED since I never win anything!!!! Happy Thanksgiving to me!!!

PS: This email went out to all HOBO Int. Newsletter subscribers, was on HOBO's Twitter page, and Facebook. I'm semi-famous.

Ole Miss vs Auburn 2010

Rick and I headed to Oxford, MS Friday after work to see his #1 Auburn Tigers, play my very unranked Ole Miss Rebel Bears. As you can imagine, Rick's team came out with the victory, but luckily as an Ole Miss fan we don't let these things get to us too much. We had an AMAZING time, it made me realize how much I LOVE OXFORD!!!! If you have never been, I STRONGLY suggest if your team ever plays in Oxford, that you make the trip. Our fabulous friend Martin, invited us to come stay with his family, and go to the game with them. The Millettes are the best host ever!!!! They cooked us breakfast, lat us watch the game with them in their end zone suite (the Archie & Eli were 2 suites down from us, I love the Mannings!), and put us up for the weekend, not to mention they provided us with perfect weather. Here are a few pics from this fabulous weekend!

1st thing we ran into on the way to the grove was a Rebel Bear.

We also ran into Angela, a family friend from the coast.

LOVED this REBEL pumpkin.

Lindsey, Martin, and the McKibbins in the grove.

The 3D halftime show.

Rick and the only other Auburn fan in the Suite, celebrating after the game.

Thank you Sam, Lynne, Martin, and Lindsey for a PERFECT weekend! HOTTY TODDY!