Turkey Day Fun!

Well, yesterday was fun! We had a spread!! "Good food, good meat! Thank you Lord..Let's Eat!" I love hauling all of our bowls, spoons, pans, ingredients, mixers, and griddles and heading up here to the mountains for Thanksgiving. Something about it just makes the food taste better. We started cooking on Wednesday, then finished up starting Thanksgiving morning with some AWESOME dishes....

Granny's Dressing (recipe in "My Favorite Recipes" section of my blog)

Corn Casserole (recipe in "My Favorite Recipes" section of my blog)

Sweet Potato Casserole

Needless to say... not many of us could move very well after all this! Luckily, we were thankful enough to have Justin's aunt, uncle, and cousins come shortly after lunch and help us out with some of the leftovers! :)

After all the food.... we enjoyed the company of family in the cabin. We even took some time out for some family pics...

Uncle Keith, Aunt Tina, Wes, Eric, and Jason 

Mrs. Elisa jumped in for one, too :)

...and then Justin, too.

So.. after all the cheesing, we headed to Gatlinburg to see the Christmas lights and shop around a little. I took a TON of pictures, and obviously can't post them all, so if you want to see the entire album, just head over to my Facebook page and take a peek. (The link is on the left under "follow me") However, here are a few to give you an idea of what a fun and beautiful night it was....

Taffy making machine

My AWESOME parents :)

Just in case you are wondering... that's me on the bottom and Justin to my left! haha!

Couldn't resist!

That's Justin walking out with....

A deep fried Snicker bar! Ugh!!!

So there you have it.... a wonderful day with food, family, and fun. Today I will tackle the crowds at retail stores.... pray for me! That ought to be an interesting blog post! See you soon!

Happy Black Friday!

Sharing the View!

So.... I thought that I would take a minute and share my magnificent views with the world this morning....

Yes.... Bearfoot Lodge in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Nice, huh? Seriously.... we missed this trip last year when we lost grandparents, wanted to spend the holiday with extended family, and just take a break from the tradition that we had made it. However, it wasn't until we missed a year here that we realized how much we LOVED the isolation, relaxation, and being so close together. :) It's just us, parents, and siblings....... well some of our siblings. :)

Justin's little brother, Kam getting in his early morning internet...lol

So there you have it.... where I will be spending my time until Saturday. :) We have plans to eat at favorite restaurants, visit Gatlinburg (maybe even attempt to ice skate again), outlet shop, cook Thanksgiving dinner, the guys are playing golf today, and whatever else we feel like because WE CAN!!! :) 

Happy Monday... I know mine is!

Lexi & Layne :)

So here are two little things that capture my heart in different ways...so much love! Enjoy...

Apparently lazy is what we do best lately since Justin and I have taken turns being sick for what seems like weeks now! What I love most about being at home with Justin is that most times, there is always a little critter that joins us whether we are on the couch, bed, or on the floor. This little runt is my Lexi. :) Yesterday Lexi Grace decided that she needed to be lazy too since her Daddy had been on the couch for a few days...

Such a hard life.....

Then, when we realized that the Dawgs game wasn't televised on our satellite, we made a last minute decision to go to "Nana and Papa's" (my parents) house to watch it. Of course, Lexi went along then, too. What is hilarious is how active she is when there, and how hard she crashes when we come home. It was a little chilly in our house last night upon arriving home, so she managed to find the only blanket that we had out, and then make sure that ALL of her body was on it.....

She's a blast :).......

My cousin and best friend have another baby favorite of mine... except he is actually a real baby! Layne is his name... melting my heart is his game!!! I choose not to hold it against Haley's OB-GYN to induce her while I was on the other side of the world... that just harbors bad feelings. :) Instead I decide to make up for those lost first minutes with him by going over there and just staying all night. This particular night... I made Aunt Deb make me dinner and then didn't leave until WELL after dark. :) By now this little stinker has mastered the art of laughing...for real! And who was best at bringing it out of him? His mama :) When Haley mentioned that he just loved to laugh now, I thought.. "Great... well let's start talking to him!" But no... this little guy doesn't laugh the best when you talk to him... you have to add in a little bit of changing table and a WHOLE LOT OF NAKED!! :) As soon as that diaper came off and his mama stepped in... he laughed for a while! I wish I had video to post instead... but here are some stills that captured the moment...

Isn't he beautiful?!

"You REALLY crack me up, mama!"

So there you have it... one with four legs, one with two. Both I just love to pieces :)

Happy Sunday! :)