Hickman House

December 31st got here quickly! I wanted to reflect on the goals Sam and I set for 2014 and make some new ones for our little family for 2015. The past few months have been extremely crazy for Sam and I in our work lives, and our personal lives. We have been so blessed in 2014 and I know that God has big things planned for us this coming year.

Hickmans 2014 Goals:

Pay off my Jetta and buy a new car.-- met! Sam really needed a better vehicle so we decided to give him mine (this was hard for me, I LOVE my jetta) and I got a new car that is amazing on gas since I would be traveling. I love checking things off the list. Sam and I were fortunate enough to come into marriage with no debt, being that we don't have credit cards or anything, so we decided it was a good time to buy!

Live a healthier lifestyle-- met (for Sam, at least) My husband dropped close to 40 pounds this year. He's looking good!

Save, Save, Save!-- Happy to say we've done this too. We've been money saving machines lately. This makes me a happy, happy wife.

That was our goals for this year, we really wanted to focus on being realistic and setting things that we could accomplish together.

Hickmans 2015 Goals:

Finalize a more permanent living situation-- Now that my job has opened a second location (Whohoo!) I will be doing a bit of traveling for work. Our goal is to narrow down a responsible location to plant ourselves, which has been put on the back burner for a while. We've got some big decisions to make, but we're excited to make them as a couple.

Take a vacation! The last vacation we had was our honeymoon (almost) a year ago. This year I would like to go on another nice trip.

Read our bibles more, as a couple.

More Saving! We have a goal we want to meet by the end of the summer, I am always up for a challenge!

Blog more and take more pictures!

So those are our goals- keeping them realistic and achievable is the key! What are your 2015 goals?

Since I haven't blogged in over a month, I figured doing a year in review would be a nice place to start back up. Sam and I literally have had obligations every night for close to two months, so I soaked up this evening of absolutely no plans the best way possible- eating too many helpings of chicken noodle soup and laying in bed playing Trivia Crack against my far too competitive husband. 2014 was an amazing year, and we hope and pray that 2015 will be even better.

So if you read my facebook status last night you are well aware of the fact that ALL THREE of my sistas are pregnant. Crazy right?!? I know. I am still a little unable to wrap my head around it. Three beautiful nieces or nephews are blessing our families next May (2) and June (1). We found out on a Friday that Sam's middle brother Brett and his wife Sara was expecting their first child. It is so funny that it happened when it did, I had just told Sam about three days before that I had a feeling Sara was pregnant. I don't know what it was, just a feeling I guess. Or maybe I was just really hoping she was. haha. The very next day, Laura and Will shared their news with us. Talk about excited! I remember coming home and telling Sam, "wouldn't it be something if Jenn was pregnant too?" little did we know- she was! She told us four days later she was. I was bursting to tell her the news about the other two, but obviously it was top secret. Talk about the hardest thing ever to keep in. I literally avoided everyone for a few weeks because I just couldn't hide my excitement. This makes the first for Brett and Sara, number 2 for Will and Laura, and three for Bobby and Jenn. If you lost count, that's a total of six. We are an aunt and uncle to SIX kiddos now. And we are thrilled. I have been dying to write this post and so excited that now I finally can. I cannot wait to love on these babies.

It blows my mind that it is November already. Anyone else? It has been quite the eventful few weeks, since the last time I posted. Lots and lots of incredible things have happened to our little family that I absolutely cannot wait to share, but until I can do so I will catch you up on the things I can talk about.

Lets start with the fact that Christmas is NEXT month. I officially kicked off our season with the first Christmas gift purchase this week. My favorite part about the holidays is giving gifts to our loved ones, and hoping that they like what I picked out. Last year wasn't our greatest gift giving effort, you know with getting married three days later and all, so this year I am excited to give it my full attention. Being that most of the people that I am buying for read this blog, I won't be sharing all my ideas, but I can't wait to show you. Tackling the holidays for big families is super tough, and we aren't experts at it just yet but for you that are engaged or in serious relationships, I do have some advice for you- establish a game plan before the holidays get near. Once you have made a plan, stick to it. Also, it helps to let your family know the game plan way ahead of time so they can plan for you, or without you accordingly. Now for the Christmas budget, Sam and I have set an overall budget, and then an individual budget for each person and/or couple if they want a together gift. We try to make it even, but I am a competitive shopper and I like to find the lowest price on the items that I want for that person, which gives me a little wiggle room for each person. I also make a list for each and keep track of the exact amount spent for our overall budget. This helps me plan for Christmas each year. I like to try to start in November and be done by the first week or so of December so I beat the traffic. I am hoping it works out that way this year! Now Poor Sam didn't get so lucky when it comes to December. My birthday, Christmas and our anniversary is all in December so we have worked out a game plan as far as gifts go. He does my birthday, and we do each other Christmas gifts. But we set a limit. We have the same budget for each other. This can mean one big gift, or a few small ones. Our Christmas budget for each other is on the smaller side being we both have big families and we would rather save our money for them. We also are both very fortunate to be able to buy what we like/need during the year so we don't make our Christmas gifts that big of a deal. And for our anniversary we have decided to do a nice dinner and exchange cards. Mainly because earlier this year he redid my engagement ring as my anniversary gift, but we liked our arrangement so much that we are going to carry it over as long as possible. Each couple does it differently and what works for us might not work for everyone, but that's just a little inside our holiday game plan.

Lets move on, shall we? Since we are talking about Christmas I wanted to share with you some of our old and new traditions. Since we started dating we have always done each other a stocking along with our gifts, and I have to say I LOVE this tradition every year. Simple, fun, and cheap. Its always funny to see what Sam thinks I need in my stocking. The first year he gave me pencils and notepads along with some candy and other goodies. The more he gets to know me, the funnier they get. And for a new tradition we are starting- Christmas cards! I have been anxiously waiting to have my very own card with my little family on it and I am stoked that it is almost time for our first one! Wahoo! I hope that we can continue this every year and watch our family grow together.

And now a little flash back of our first few Christmas's:

What a busy summer it has been. I don't know if it is just us- or if it is every newly married couple but this year has been the busiest of my entire life. Crazy, huh? I can honestly say it has been ten times busier than even last year when we were planning our wedding. And I am not sure if it is going to be slowing down anytime soon. A vacation is much need, and definitely in our future.  As much as I enjoy blogging, it's usually the last thing I want to do after work, taking care of the pup, and laundry. So I wanted to give you all an update (as if you're really interested) in what us Hickman's have been up to.

For starters we have both been slammed at work. It has been a good busy though. We've also been busy with weddings, bridal and baby showers, and all kinds of birthday parties in between. It's that stage of life for Sam and I when all our friends have big things happening, so we're constantly on the go. I have to admit- I love it! Our big pup is doing wonderful. Stubborn as all get out- and is taking his precious time adapting to potty training. Ugh. But we love him and we will continue to work at it. He does really well during the night. He's usually asleep by 9:30pm and this month he has started to sleep until 8-8:30am as opposed to his usual 7 am. Which makes me super happy. He eats twice a day still, and loves his kennel. He does really well about not pottying in the kennel- but we're still working on the house training part. He sometimes will bark or go to the door to let us know- so he's learning I suppose. He knows to sit and loves his treats. Baby steps. In addition to Heyward- we've also added a new car in the mix. We made it a goal for 2014 to pay off my car, give it to Sam since it is still in great shape, and get a new one. It was time for Sam to upgrade- and as much as I love my jetta I knew it was finally time. So I passed it to Sam and we got ourselves a new car. I called ahead on the Thursday before we made the trip to Wilmington the next day and spoke with the sales associate. I had everything done and ready for me to come pick something out and sign the papers. I knew I wanted something a little bit bigger than the Jetta for the future kiddos, but nothing too big. (I'm a car girl ALL the way.) So I looked at a few smaller SUV's and narrowed down my search. Gas mileage was a big one for me because even though I work close to home, I am always on the go, so it needed to be decent, we also needed four doors and enough room in the trunk for a stroller (one day, people). We got to the dealership and I test drove the Juke. I loved it immediately. So we signed the papers and were on our way. I was expecting it to be way harder than it actually was! Now we move on to finding a house to call our home. Our goal is to be in one by Christmas of 2015, providing that is God's plan for us. We will continue to take our time searching, praying, and enjoying our time as busy newlyweds until then.



Just a few weekends ago we were off celebrating our dearest friends as they are getting ready to tie the knot! NINE DAYS Y'ALL! The girls headed to Charleston and the boys to Charlotte...I think. It was a blast and I can't wait to celebrate them so soon as husband and wife!




That pretty much sums up our summer! Sometimes I get to see Sam for dinner, other times we don't meet back up until we're crawling in bed for the night. I am hoping that the holidays will calm our schedules down a bit. Two more weddings to go for 2014. I can't wait. I am also counting down the days until I can bust out my boots. Its not quite cold enough yet! Bring on Fall, Y'all!

Last weekend was a big weekend for us Hickman's. Action packed for sure- but oh so fun! Being that I have some time off this evening I wanted to get caught up with my blogging! We had the honor of hosting our sweet friends an "I Do BBQ" shower. Since I am close with the bride, and Sam is close with the groom, it was only fitting that we threw them a party for the both of them. We wanted it to be relaxing, super casual and fun. Not your typical shower with the shower games. Just a time to spend time with their friends. Other than it being ridiculously hot- I think we accomplished just that! Here are some pictures from the shower:

Let me preface this by saying this is just MY opinion. I mean it is my blog, I can write about whatever I choose to. With that being said, you are more than welcome to disagree with me, and click the red x in the corner. It will not hurt my feelings. With 50 Shades of Grey coming out, my facebook has been flooded with all things Christian Grey. Some bad, mostly good. Here is the problem I have with the whole dern thing. Is that us as Christians are setting a double standard on this topic.

I am a lover of all kinds of movies. One of my flaws (gasp, I'm not perfect?!) is that I love a funny movie. If it makes me laugh I am all.about.it. Rated G, PG-13, or R. I understand I need to work on it. As a Christian, walking into The Hangover 3 is NOT a good look for my witness...(that's why I watch it a home....I kid, I kid.) I am fully aware of this. That is why you will not see me condemn anyone for what they read or watch. My timeline is full of people posting that we shouldn't watch this film, but I bet they have no objections to watching a marathon of the Kardashians, or buying the new Beyoncé album. It is honestly no different. SEX sells. Whether it be a movie about it, or its in a song. It is everywhere. No I am not a 50 Shades fan, but no, I am not going to tell you not to watch it. That is between you and the big guy upstairs. It also ticks me off when people say that we shouldn't watch it because we're "Christians".....yeah well there is a lot of things we should and shouldn't do because we're Christians- but I don't see any of yall (myself included) posting about that either. We shouldn't cuss, worry, or get worked up over money because we're Christians but you can bet your bottom dollar I do this on a daily bases. We concern ourselves with telling people what not to do- that we are not sharing with them what needs to be done. As Christians we should be more concerned with praying for Israel than a movie. I don't see anything about that flooding my timeline? My own fault as well. The world is getting worse and worse. There are far more important issues to spread around.

Another problem I have is that people are saying it is making the women lust after someone that is not their husband. It is making a fictional world in which our husbands will never live up to.....

Did anyone watch The Notebook?



I step off my soapbox now.