stampley family mission statement

we will love the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. we will serve our marriage by loving each other as Christ loved the church, by uplifting each other in prayer, and by creating an environment of peace, love, forgiveness, respect and laughter. we will strive to model Christ in our relationships with others and will be humble stewards of His blessings.

3.21.2011

yeah, i'm reallllly behind...

when i started this whole "blogging" thing, i was really excited + just KNEW i'd stay on top of posting...i'm mean, what's the point of having a blog if you don't post?!? well, as life would have it, i'm behind....reallllly behind. i think i've missed a few family members' birthdays, anniversaries, etc. soooo, here's a big HUGE...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

HAPPY ______!!!!

okay, that should cover it.

anyhooo, over the past couple of months, i've gotten slack about blogging about some of the fun family events that the hubby + i have attended. from my brother-in-law's retirement celebration, to mardi gras 2011, to one of my nephew's football games, to another nephew's recent visit to atlanta...man, have we really had a blast spending time with our family!!!!

be on the lookout for new posts....my goal for this week is to play some MAJOR catch up....again.

1.25.2011

merry Christmas!!!

{yeah, i'm still catching up...whatever}

over the Christmas holidays, my hubby's mother, father, sisters, + maternal grandparents came to visit + spent a few days with us at our house. his brother also stayed a few days with us as he was already living in the area at the time. we had a great time just visiting with one another, shopping {well, they did...i'm not much of a shopper - at all, lol}, cooking, + visiting other family members.

Christmas morning, we exchanged gifts + then headed over to my hubby's cousin's home for an awesome breakfast! here are a few pics of us exchanging gifts + at breakfast...






there's a funny story about my mattress pad - LOL!!!




breakfast/bunch....YUM!!!





it started to SNOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!!


after breakfast/brunch, we all headed over to rae's aunt + grandmother's homes for Christmas dinner!

more snow pics to come...


1.24.2011

Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree....

{playing "catch-up" on posts}

the week after Thanksgiving, the hubby + i decided to look for a Christmas tree to put in our living room. we had been eyeing one at a local store + after a few trips back + forth, we decided to go ahead + purchase it. i don't even remember what we were indecisive about at the time, given the fact that this all happened almost two months ago but once we finally got the tree home, we were pretty excited about it. it was the perfect size for the space we had picked out.

the tree came in two pretty large boxes. we literally spent about 20 minutes trying to stuff fit the tree into our car. keyword: car...not a truck, a van, or an SUV...you know, any kind of vehicle that could actually fit a 12 foot Christmas tree...a car. the experience was pretty exhausting fun. after realizing that fitting the boxes in the car just wasn't going to work, we decided to improvise + take all the tree parts out of the boxes - SCORE!

we waited until the next weekend to actually put the tree up + decorate it...we had grand plans to do it all in one night, but that didn't happen - at all. it took us about a week {yeah, i said it} to finish the tree. i mean...the thing was HUGE!!!! and, of course, it had to be just right because soooomebody in our house is such a perfectionist, lol! i'm not saying any names {especially since it's mine, lol}.

although it took us a few days, we had a great time doing it....here are a few pics of the process...

 we had yummy chocolate chip cookies! sorry, i couldn't wait until after the pic to take a bite....
  hubby setting up the Christmas music + slideshow of pictures of us through the years...
some of the decorations
the space BEFORE
 


the grand reveal....


note: we couldn't find a tree topper that we liked, so we went without one this year

1.11.2011

Christmas card turned online greeting...

today, i will be doing a series of "catch up" posts. so much has happened over the past couple of weeks since i last posted, like Christmas...New Years...lasik surgery, lol...so, enjoy the next few posts!

soooo, without further ado, let's get this "catch up" party started...

in a previous post, i mentioned that i had taken pictures of my father + brother for their Christmas cards, but i wanted to wait until they had mailed them out before i posted the pictures online. to be honest with you, i'm not even sure that they sent them out.....men, i tell ya! in their defense, they didn't receive the cards until 2 days before Christmas, but stillll!!! {i knew i just should have had the cards mailed to me so that i could've made sure they got out, lol}.

anyhooo, you know what i noticed?!?! there's no date on these....soooo, my vote is to send them out next year, LOL! just kidding...kinda :)

well for the sake of the cards not going 100% to waste, i am posting an online version of the card here...


i think you can click on the card for a better view....check out my wonderful beginner photography skills :)

12.11.2010

happy birthday, momma!!!

today, is my momma's birthday!!!!

i'm a bit bummed because she was actually planning to be in town visiting, but a few things have come up so, she has instead decided to come for Christmas. i was really looking forward to see her + celebrating her special day! no worries, though...she'll get the special birthday treatment later this month ;)

here's my FAVORITE pic of her + i....i've posted it on the blog before, but i just can't get enough of it...i just makes my heart smile!!!

12.08.2010

it's christmas card time!!!! shutterfly to the rescue!!!

so, those close to me know that i dabble a bit in photography...yes, dabble.

a few years ago, my then fiance' {now, hubby - just to be clear} blessed me with an awesome camera for Christmas because i had been mentioning how much i wanted to start tapping into my "gift". well, two years later, i hadn't really made moves forward in terms of getting better with my camera...much to the chagrin of the gifter.

well, things are starting to change *insert applause here*

i begged offered my photography services to my brother + father for their Christmas cards. it started out as a joke, but, in the end, i'm really excited that they took me up on my offer...also, i think it's pretty cool that they'll have father/son cards :) gotta love family!

so, last weekend, while the hubby + i were in my hometown visiting, we held my first "real" photo shoot. my hubby served as my "assistant" helping me to scout out locations {daddy's backyard} + offering encouraging words {gooooo crys!}...it was REAAAAALLY cold outside, so we weren't outside that long, but we managed to get a lot of really great shots.

after taking the pics, i had to decide whether i was going to design them myself or use some other method. the answer was EASY...very easy - SHUTTERFLY! for the past several years, i have been using shutterfly {www.shutterfly.com} for allll of my photo printing needs + in checking out their Christmas card selection earlier this month, i was, again, blown away by all of their choices - {http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards}. today, i spent the day selecting a few options for my daddy + bro...it was a hard decision because there are so many awesome choices, but we finally selected a design! {i'll show them to you AFTER Christmas...of course, we don't want to spoil the surprise for those that will be receiving cards}.

seriously. i love shutterly. seriously. each year, i design "photo books" {http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books} with pictures of the hubby + i over the past year. they have proved to be wonderful keepsakes that we cannot wait to show our future children later in life. here's the cover of the one i made of our china trip back in 2007...it has a home in our living room :) it's always fun to take a look back at the book + reminisce!

we also used shutterfly photo cards - {http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery} to create invitations for an informal "day after the wedding" event for our family + friends.

 {btw, i "blacked out" some of the details for privacy purposes...shutterfly didn't do it - PROMISE!}


if you haven't checked out shutterly, you really, really should!!! you can thank me later!!!

ciao!!!

12.02.2010

happy birthday, daddy!!!

today, december 2, is my daddy's 30th birthday!!! in celebration of the birthday boy, here are a few pics!



we wish you many more years of good health, love, and God's grace!!! enjoy your day! we love you!!!