Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Our Thanksgiving

*Insert apologetic introductory paragraph explaining my absence from this place.*
 
In reality, I just have not had the time;
Or, when I have had the time, I have spent it relaxing on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate in hand, instead. This new-homeowner business is tiring stuff, y'all!
 
So, without further ado, here are a few shots of our wonderful Turkey-day!
 

It's true. I could not be more thankful to have such an amazing man to spend the rest of my life with.
He is just perfectly perfect.
 

 
He even made us some fabulous breakfast to munch on before we went back to watching the parade.
Side note: My love for Johnsonville breakfast sausage knows no bounds.

 
Next up, it was cookie-baking time! We seriously need a kitchen island.
The floor just doesn't cut it.
But at least my helper is super adorable!;)

 
Peyton's little wreath she made in preschool.
I absolutely love having all of her little crafts covering the fridge and wherever else I can manage to hang them.

 
We were supposed to be at my Grammy's house for "dinner"by 1pm,
but naturally we didn't get there until a little after 1pm.
I am chronically running behind.

 
The spread was FABULOUS, of course.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, beats holiday dinners at my Grammy's.
 
Nick and I provided the green bean casserole {recipe here}.
There was homemade stuffing, my momma's sweet potatoes, baked cabbage, cranberry relish, mashed potatoes, and OF COURSE there was the most delectable turkey you ever laid your taste buds on.

 
Trying to get Peyton to finish a meal these days is like pulling teeth. We are always finished before her and somehow I {in this case, Grammy} get suckered into feeding her the food so she'll actually finish it.

 
After all of the dishes were cleaned up, we popped outside for a few pictures together.
Peyton had her turkey dress on, thank goodness it still fit from last year!

 
I love this family of mine.
Just love, love, love them all to pieces.

 
This here is my Great {Peyton's Great-Great} Uncle Charlie, my Grammy's brother.
He is an excellent craftsman and makes all sorts of wooden decorative pieces.
And he absolutely adores Peyton, or "Pe-Pe" as he calls her. :)


 
Peyton and little Grammy.
They're both so beautiful.
 
 
And then the weirdest thing happened...

 
CHICKENS showed up to the party!

 
They apparently belong to my Grammy's new neighbors.
But, I think they were just there to flaunt the fact that they were not the poultry-of-choice that day! ;) Ha!
 

 
Peyton was loving every minute of it.
My dad brought out some of the leftover rolls from dinner and we all sat around feeding them until they had had enough {which, coincidentally, was about the same time that we all declared we were frozen}.
 
 
We spent the rest of the evening lounging on the couch and watching football and raiding the fridge for leftovers.
Unfortunately, the Steelers didn't pull out a win over the Ravens, but it was still a great day, nonetheless.
 
 
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of time spent with family and second {or third or fourth...} helpings of turkey and stuffing!
 
 

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Enagement Pictures

A few weeks ago, Nick's friend Mandy took our engagement pictures at a local park. She did a wonderful job, despite the fierce wind and freezing temps we encountered for an early morning in October.
 
Here are a few of my favorites:
 
 

















 
I can't believe that in less than a year, we'll be tying the knot!
*que the anxiety from all that we have left to do/plan!*
 
Thank you, Mandy, for the beautiful pictures!
 
 

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Turks and Caicos: Day 2

I figured that it was about time I finished up this whole vacation recap - that we took this past July... oops! Hey, editing pictures takes a longggg time, okay?! Okay. Here we go:

The morning of the second day of our trip, my sister and I had to wake up early to be at the marina in order to get on the boat for our first set of open water dives! Papa Ron was also up early to head out for his first day of scuba diving as well. Unfortunately, we did not take a single camera with us {because we no longer have an underwater camera that can go deep enough for diving, womp womp} and we just didn't think to bring one of the regular ones with us. I wish we would have, though, because that morning on our way out to the first dive site we saw JoJo, the dolphin! He's a MASSIVE dolphin that is local to the island and is always coming up to the boats to see who's aboard {he must love propellers because his whole head/back is scratched up from getting too close to them}.

Anyways, we had to do four open water dives to complete our scuba course and the first two were that morning. We didn't get much time to just explore the amazing-ness that is the Caribbean ocean floor that day because we spent the majority of the time underwater going over all of our techniques and lessons, etc.

While Jen, Dad, and I were all out diving - Peyton, Nick, and Gigi had a little adventure of their own and went out to the condo's private beach for a little fun in the sun.

 
We returned and scarfed down something to eat quick {diving and being out on a boat makes me surprisingly hungry!} before making our way down to the condo's pool for some relaxation time.
 
 
Relaxation time soon turned into naptime on the screened-in porch.
 
 
 
 
After all of the divers returned and some food made it's way into our bellies, we all high-tailed it back out to the beach and walked and walked and walked until we found a good spot to test out our tent and enjoy some snorkeling!
 
 
Look how tan my man is! Can you believe it? When we went to the Cayman Islands a few years ago, he was Casper-white. We both did a little pre-tanning this time so we were sure to NOT turn in to lobster-mobsters, ha.
 
*sigh* this view never gets old. NEVER.
 
Papa Ron attempting to set up the tent. The hat? The speedos? Our condo key secured around his neck so we didn't lose it?
Priceless.
 
A certain little someone cough*Peyton*cough, fell asleep on the beach while everyone was taking turns snorkeling. Therefore she was carried the whole way back home. Must be nice ;)
 
Me & Momma (the birthday girl!)
For dinner that evening we decided to head back out to the marina to a restaurant called Tiki Hut.




That bottom picture? Oh lord. I'm pretty sure she made that pose and then I just went with it, haha.

Papa Ron allowing Peyton to dance on tables while we waited for our food, ha.

Peyton picked a flower for my hair, of course.

I made everyone take a picture with their food. I believe I had a cuban panini and it was just "eh". Everyone else loved theirs, though!



After dinner, we hit up the grocery story to find a birthday cake suitable for Momma's big day!

 
And then we sang to her, of course :) -- sorry for the low quality picture below. I took it while I was also recording the whole sha-bang.




 
Love you, GiGi. To the Moon & back!
 
This concludes Day 2.