A White Christmas

Christmas Eve

(Sadly this is the only picture of us from the whole trip)

We had a fabulous white Christmas in TN and KY but no pictures to show of the snow. Andrew and I were home in Nashville for a little less than a week and it was so great to be home-considering i havent been home since 2/10. It was a whirlwind of a trip, had 5 Christmases (including 2 here in dallas) so needless to say were exhausted. We spent Christmas Eve/morning in KY with my sister, tyler, and the kids. It was fun to see the kids light up on Christmas morning. Thanks for letting us spend it with yall, Beams! We had a great Christmas Eve dinner at Tyler's parents house where princess Ellie stole the show. She must have known Santa was on his way!! We woke up bright and early the next morning to find all the fun stuff Santa left.

Before we left for KY, we were in TN. My mom threw a fun get together so we could see some of our friends. It was fun catching up with everyone. My sister, tyler, and the kids were in town a few days before Christmas and Santa brought one present early.

They loved their gator. It ranked as "favorite gift" this year. Way to go Santa!!

(It was a white Christmas, i promise)

Ellie got even more princess attire (As if she doesnt have enough). She wears here princess outfits daily, surprisingly she doesn't sleep in them..yet. She is a princess thats for sure--as evidenced by her command to Andrew at Christmas Eve dinner while in her princess outfit and standing in her chair, "Andrew, lift my cup" (so she could take a drink without lift a thumb). Oh she is my favorite princess!

Love yall, thanks for a merry merry and fun Christmas!

The day we flew out, I was able to see some of my favorite girlfriends. It was short but such as sweet time (yes, there were tears involved bc I was so happy to see them). Thankfully, we will get to most of them again soon for the baby shower! Cant wait to celebrate. I love our breakfast tradition, lets never let it end (and sorry for the cheesy tears..katie, i know what you are thinking-cheeseball!). All in all, it was a fabulous trip.

November--Thanksgiving!

Im very thankful for many things this year--our sweet Lord, Andrew, health, family, loving friends, a job, a new dog, our house...and many other things! This was our first holiday in our new house so it was a fun opportunity to host a turkey feast. Which is exactly what we did--host a feast! We had so much food and so much fun. I took off a few days from work to cook and I got a little Martha Stewart bug in me.

I got the Martha bug last weekend when I decided to make this wreath.

I had seen her make it on one of her shows on saturday morning using real cranberries. I thought I could make the bead one but Michael's disappointed me with not having the beads and some other necessary items for the wreath. So I spent my saturday doing it with real cranberries...

The beginning stage....

The final product

It was definitely a much longer time consuming project than I thought but its pretty and was a festive touch to thanksgiving.

I also got a little festive with ty....oh so handsome Christmas Ty!

Tuesday - Thursday I cooked and cooked and cooked some more! We had a plentiful spread of great food: onion/tomato tart, veggies/hummus, corn bread dressing, corn souflee, mashed potatoes, green bean almondine, Tom the turkey, another stuffing from sadie, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and pecan pie. All so delicious! It was fun to cook and spend the days with Ty. I had my week "to-do list" which helped me to be organized...thanks to Annie (annies eats blog) for the idea! Loved her thanksgiving breakdown.

Dining room

Yummy onion/tomato tart Kellie and I learned to make at the Sur La Table cooking class.

So delicious. First time to make home made pastry dough...wasnt as bad of a disaster as i thought it would be.

Our first turkey!

The Turkey Carver

"Tom the turkey" was so yum.

I named him bc we got a little personal over the days while he was brining. I had to make sure he knew he had to be moist and delicious for a turkey feast. He listened and performed well.

Thanks Tom!

Cooking away!

Ty loves being in the kitchen while we cook away. He loved all his special treats over thanksgiving. He makes an appearance in every picture...love him! He has been so much fun!

The spread! mmm mmm mmmm!

We hope yall had a very merry and happy thanksgiving too!! We cant wait to go home for Christmas and see everyone at home. We have decided to spend Christmas eve/day up in KY with tyler, my sister, and the kids since its so much fun to see their fun faces on Christmas morning! Happy Thanksgiving from Dallas!!!

November-A Progressive Dinner

At Ocean Prime for Dessert

A few weekends ago, Andrew and I celebrated my bday with a fun dinner. Andrew had made reservations at an excellent restaurant (Fix Sixy by wolfgang puck) that I had wanted to go to (have had apps and drinks there but never dinner). I requested this place about a month in advance so he made reservations. The week of my bday I didnt feel like going there so we cancelled. Where to go?? I had no idea...I had heard of this new asian place but also another steak/seafood place I wanted to do. Whats a girl to do with so many good places to eat?!?! When we left the house we had still not decided. Im definitely the person who looks at a menu online before we go so I know what Im getting and what kind of food the place has. Well...Te'ian has no menu online (for a good reason!). The other place was Ocean Prime...you are bound to have a good dinner there. So we started off at Capital Grill for a drink. I was trying to make Andrew decide on where we were going to eat. After much discussion and indecisiveness...he said, well you love asian so lets go asian! So we did indeed. We had no reservations so I was hoping that would be ok. Well....we certainly didnt need reservations. There were probably only about 3 tables filled in the place. We sat down, looked at the menu...now im looking for the good sushi but its no where to be found. They have a very interesting menu...one thats really hard to understand and read. I felt terrible for choosing this place and immediately wanted to leave bc well...what are we going to end up eating? I was starving and wanting a great meal. So then the waiter tries to tell us how to read the menu and some specials. She ends of ordering for us bc we have No idea what to order. She did a fairly good job. The appetizers were the much preferred meals....over the main entree we split. Anyways, we left feeling not so satisfied. So what do we decide?? We went straight to Ocean Prime (which is where we should have gone in the first place). We get a drink, sit down at a table and tell our waiter our story. Andrew gets lobster bisque and I get an amazing dessert. The waiter ends up bringing out a bday drink....their signature martini, berries and bubbles. Delicious. Champagne + strawberries + martini'sk type drink + dry ice = berries and bubbles. It was great. The dessert was even better. And the lobster bisque was delicious. Needless to say, our next fun dinner out will be at Ocean Prime. And I will forever let Andrew decide where to eat (bc at Te'ian he said that he really wanted to go to Ocean Prime but decided on Te'ain for me bc of my asian love!).

Berries and Bubbles

Great Ending to a Great Trip

Last week, Natalie and Patton decided to make a trip to his beach house which worked out wonderfully bc I got to see Natalie and meet P. I dont think I had seen Natalie in about a year so it was much needed catch up time. It made for a great full day! We sat by the pool, drank some of our favorite bloody mary's, played on the beach for awhile. It was so great to spend time with them....long overdue friend time and long overdue meeting P :) That night we went to George's in Alys Beach, so yum! Just added more greatness to the trip.

I think I picked up a gross bug from my nephew but they day they were there I felt great. It all worked out perfectly, except that I came home sick sick sick, still working on feeling better. I guess time with the two little munchkins is worth being sick for awhile. Ill take it if it means I get to spend a week with those two sweet nuggets! :)

Thanks P and Natalie for making it a great ending to a great week! We loved seeing yall!

Long Overdue

It has been long overdue that I post something! Lots has happened.

We got a dog. Ty. We love him. He is pretty much our child. I try not to let 3/4ths of my conversations revolve around him like they usually do. He has been such a sweet addition to the family. He is a one year old rescue lab, he brings us so much joy! He loves to run with us and play constantly. Its sweet at night when he is tired and just wants to be loved on. He gets lots of love from the two of us :)

These are two of his favorite spots!

Last week we went to Watercolor with the family. Kids and all and it was fabulous. The best weather we have had down there. I got down there monday afternoon and the kids were ready to play! It was a blast to play with them for 3 days. We ate lots of ice cream, played in the ocean/pool, rode bikes, looked for crabs on the beach and i loved on them so much i got sick! I came home with kinda of junk but i guess its worth it when you get to kiss and squeeze these little ones. Ellie is such a sass and tyler is such a boy. Its so fun to see their personalities grow.

We are back home now with sweet Ty.

Thanks to Aunt Sades for keeping him while we were gone. He even got a homemade doggie bowl with his name on it (painted by yours truly so we know its not too artsy! haha) brought back to him from florida. Tyler, DeeDee, and I went and painted pottery. Tyler made a shark and I made a doggie bowl.

Not too much going on around here other than loving fall, getting ready for thanksgiving, and heading home for the holidays! I love this time of year! Happy Pumpkins!

And....definitely cant forget to mention these two bundles of joy coming in March! So exciting!

Laura and Rach--cant wait to meet your sweet bundles of joy! Cant wait to celebrate and love on those little ones!

1.5 years ago, 18 months ago, 548 days ago...

2.28.09

The Best Day of My Life!!!

I ran across this tonight while reminiscing.

I love it.

(love is an understatement).

It made me smile for the rest of the night.

Thanks to Mary for documenting it perfectly.

(courtesy of Mary Rosenbaum Photography)

*watch it with music, makes it even better*

Enjoy!

Visit in KY

This past weekend I got to fly up to KY to see my sister and the kiddos. It was a wonderful, much needed trip. I have not seen the kids since this past Feb....much too long. They are growing so much and Ellie is talking so much more than when I saw her last. I flew into KY around noon on Friday and we went straight to the Club to get the kiddos. As soon I little Tbone saw me, he ran and gave me the best and biggest hug. The sweetest. Ellie kinda stood there and finally realized what was happening and soon I had her all wrapped up in my arms, with a soaking wet bathing suit on--made me realize how I used to crawl all over my mom with a wet suit on and she didnt care, guess thats why--bc you want that sweet little hug. We played in the pool, ate some food, then headed home for Ellie's nap time. Tyler and I just layed in his bed for rest time and watched some spiderman...while I tried to take a little nap but that was hardly going to happen. =) Friday night we just hung out and relaxed. It was a great night. Saturday my mom came up to see all of us. It was great. We did the pool thing again, some shopping, and just playing with the kids.

Pool Time

Sweet, happy Elle.

Tyler and Aunt Miss on the way to the pool.

Sweet (not to mention miss little princess) Ellie in her little princess shoes that Aunt Missy brought for a little surprise

(Thanks to Julie for the idea! She loved all of them.)

Saturday night my mom, sister, and I went to a great place for a drink--attached to a museum and hotel. The hotel and museum are called C21, its definitely a neat place to have a drink as you can walk around the museum and look at different exhibits, very unique exhibits. Then we headed to a very well-known Louisville restaurant to eat which was a great pick on Michele's part--Jack Fry's was delicious. This is a special place for them as they revealed both sex genders of the kids there. We loved the atmosphere and food. If you are ever there, I recommend both of these places. It was a great end to a wonderful weekend with the family.

We also just had a great housewarming party with about 30 of our closest friends. It was so fun to have all fun friends together, in one place. We loved hanging out with everyone and cooking a fun dinner. I only have a few pictures, unfortunately, bc I didnt even stop during the party to think about taking pictures-something I hate I missed documenting. Hopefully there will be plenty of other parties in the future with our fabulous friends.

My friend Kellie--one of the first friends I met in Dallas. She was a great support during my transition from AL to TX. We both work at Children's and also mutual friends with Sadie (they both went to Baylor and were in the same sorority).

The grill master for our party. Grilled up lots of pork tenderloin and chicken, both of which were delicious. He is trying to take after his Father-in-law with the grilling skills..has big shoes to fill :) It was all wonderful!