Due to the cabin fever of being iced in for going on four days now, I designed a new blog! I’m trying out blogspot now, so come visit me at www.cathrynsutton.blogspot.com!
Every year we get all of the Sutton families together for Christmas at Granna’s house. It’s always so much fun to spend time together. And, of course, the kids steal the spotlight!
Sweet Alli warming up to all of the people
Cousin Lauren got to her first!
Mama G and Alli
Aunt Susan’s turn!
Gramps always brings the good stuff…M&Ms and fruit snacks!
Yum!
Gramps and his great-granddaughters!
Granna and the great-grandbabies!
Alli knows how to ham it up in awkward situations…here’s the Santa hat…
and then the reindeer antlers!
Sweet hugs…
and kisses for Gramps
Gramps loves his girls!
Alli had to prance around in Aunt Cat Cat’s red heels before she could leave!
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!
We took Alli to visit Nana and she was full of Christmas cheer with her antlers and jingle bell! 
Alli was up and singing Christmas songs before 6 a.m. She was ready to be with her family and open her presents!
All smiles early in the morning
Opening her dollhouse from Cat Cat
Excited about her present and ready for her daddy to take it out and put it together
Nana helping Alli open her present – dollhouse furniture!
Playing with her new dollhouse and train
(Alli got so excited about each present that we had to give her time to play with each gift before opening another!)
The car that went with the dollhouse was a big hit!
The babies’ room was Alli’s favorite
Mom and Nana in their Christmas PJs!
We continued the tradition of having a family sleepover on Christmas Eve at Chris and Amy’s house. After our Christmas Eve services, we all got in our Christmas PJs and headed to bed early, because we knew Alli would be ready for Christmas very early the next morning!
Here are some pictures of the family all dressed up for Christmas Eve!
Mom and Dad
Dad and Cat
Mom and Cat
Amy and Cat
Amy and Cat
‘Twas the night before Christmas…
Steph and I took a road trip to Houston this weekend for a Girls Ministry conference she was speaking at. We left around 9:00 a.m. on Friday morning and headed to Waco to have lunch with Mak. We left Waco about 12:15 and hit several detours on the way…so, we didn’t get to our destination in Houston until 5:30.
Detour #1: Bathroom and Diet Coke Stop
Detour #2: Gas
Detour #3: Another bathroom stop (at a gas station/BBQ pit…WHAT??)
Detour #4: THE OUTLET MALL! (we couldn’t pass up the LOFT outlet..and it’s a good thing we didn’t!)
Detour #5: Milkshake stop
Detour #6: Walking into the wrong hotel with ALL of our stuff in hand, ready to check in
We finally found the church at 5:30 and had to get ready there for the 6:00 conference! Yikes! We were exhausted by that point!
We left Houston on Saturday around 4:45.
Our first stop was Cracker Barrell for dinner. Definitely a great choice!
We only made two more stops on the way home before arriving at 9:30…gas and Dairy Queen. We had been wanting blizzards all weekend!
Sunday was another jam-packed day with church and the 7th grade Moms and Daughters Pink Flamingo party.
Fail #1: Steph managed to burn not 1, but 2 batches of rice krispie treats. How does that happen???
Fail #2: Steph’s brownie bites wouldn’t come out of the pan.
Fail #3: Steph put the pyrex dish of brownies (the ONLY food she had salvaged from her baking that day) on top of then van while we were loading. Guess who forgot it was there and drove off? Yeah. (Pyrex is apparently incredibly durable)
Fail #4: The chocolate fountain doesn’t turn on. When do we discover this? When I have the pink chocolate ready to pour in minutes before the guests start arriving! One of our girls saves the day by running home to get their chocolate fountain…and it works, thankfully! (I was starting to think there was going to be NO food at this event!)
It was a wheels-off weekend to say the least, but everything ended up turning out great! I even showed up to church matching Madi in our zebra print. (Who doesn’t need a good animal print in their wardrobe?)
The adventures don’t stop…
A Picture Story of Fall so far…
Music Through the Decades Day with my team at school
Making a Homecoming Garter that lights up
and a gigantic Homecoming mum
(I’m still okay with not walking into Hobby Lobby or Michael’s for a few more days!)
Taking homecoming pictures with some of our favorite kids!
(Not pictured: Steph locking her keys in the car when we went to pick up their dinner…leaving us sitting on the curb at Maggiano’s with bags of food waiting to be rescued.)
Mud Wars: high schoolers + giant pit of mud + fire trucks
Some of my favorite girls covered in mud (waiting to be hosed off)!
Neon Night: Junior high + black lights + neon clothes + glow sticks
(The glow sticks were a terrible idea…they broke them and splattered that stinky stuff everywhere!)
Canton with the girls! Do we look like Dallas divas or what?
I had such a fun trip to New York with Madi and her mom!
Day One:
Early plane ride
My first taxi ride alone
Subway
Lunch at Jekyll and Hyde
Rock of Ages on Broadway & meet the cast
Times Square
Late Dinner at Virgil’s
Day Two:
Hop-A-Bus Tour
China Town
New York Pizza
Shopping
Sunburn
Day Three:
South Street Sea Port
Central Park carriage ride
The Plaza hotel
Getting on the wrong bus, getting off in the middle of the street, and chasing down a cab
Lunch
Serendipity’s famous frozen hot chocolate
Promises, Promises on Broadway & meet the cast
Late dinner
Day Four:
Shopping
Lunch at Famous Dave’s
Wicked on Broadway & meet the cast
Dinner at Stardust Diner
Night tour on the Hop-a-Bus
Day Five:
Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum
Lunch at John’s Pizzeria
Caught an earlier flight (only to stop for fuel)
I had the amazing privilege of going on the student choir/mission trip to Boston with the high school students from my church. These students amazed me with their hearts for service and worship. 265 students were divided into 17 family groups who were spread all over Boston doing construction, painting, yard work, VBS, food bank work, prayer walking, and more. These same students would gather together in outdoor venues all around Boston and sing. I loved seeing the students worship our Lord instead of merely performing for these people. After our concerts the students would talk to people, share Christ with them, and pray for them. I am blessed to have been a part of this trip and to have seen these high schoolers truly proclaim the love of Christ throughout Boston!
North Campus
Family Group 17 – My awesome kids!
Madi and me working at our mission site
Our family group at our completed mission site – Hope Fellowship
265 student choir
Steph and me and Fenway park!
Leading with one of our leaders – we love Carol!