TRADITIONS

My family has a tradition...of creating a new tradition every year...which in and of itself doesn't make sense. But what do you do?




I made one this year,

I think I'll keep it.


Enter "Gratitude" wall.

Everyday Tay and I posted something up that we were grateful for.  It was a life-changer.



I want to keep it up year-round.
It's our HOL-I-DAY wall!

Everything from trees, the Atonement, scriptures, time, indoor plumbing, and Texas are on our wall.
I LOVE Grat-i-TUDE

HAPPY THANKSgiving

We hosted this year.

Check out our practically, award-winning turkey!
It was delic.

Enter Thanksgiving memories via Picture mania:

 **Pre-bake, post-brine

 Yano, just get the "rub-down"

Boo's mad oven skills.

Perfect color, if we do say so ourselves = )

Note our joy!

And my Julia-Child wannabe pearls and apron in the kitch. big whoop.

Taylor can carrrrrrve a turkey.

Focus. Perfection.

I wish I got a picture of the finished product, but alas, I did not. It was finished with a beautiful arrangement of turkey legs, sage, and rosemary sprigs. We're chefs.

No big.
It was delic.

We LOVED Thanksgiving.

Thank you, Alton Brown recipe with 3468 reviews. They all knew.

Around 2 a few of our friends came over with the WORKS (spinach dip, mashed potatoes, green bean cass, etc.) and we had a FEAST.

Post feast rally of SCATTEGORIES and pumpkin brownie/cookie chow down.

Did I mention we love COO WHIP?

Taylor's a Catch

Last weekend I came home to the following,

 ***You probably can't tell, but that says "I LOVE YOU," in leaf = )

And THEN, after my tough day at work, I got surprised with tickets to Twilight. That's right. He won me right then, off to our date!

Happy Fall!

I love this time of year~

Pumpkin Brownies

First off, let me just admit something: i HATE pie. just. hate.it. ... I don't mind the fillings most times, but man o' man.

Pie crust, I loathe you.

So, I make pumpkin brownies. Which are practically the greatest thing every invented.

Please indulge. As we have several times over,

** I nilch the nuts, but that's just me

Thank you. allrecipes.com

A Much Needed Date Night

Last week I worked 6 days in a row. I know that's really nothing to you ballers out there, but I was pooped.
So, much to my surprise, Friday was still date night (even though I had to work Saturday morning).

Here's to a fabulous date from my boo, he's a catch!


I found this fabb note, wrapped with my scarf all ready to go! ( I LOVE fall weather)

Ch-check it out!

The blues were pretty great! There was quite a crowd at Bo-Diddly, mainly because that's where the local "Occupy Gainesville" ...is residing.  There was this cute old man jamming out in his camping chair. Oh, he was having a blast!

Anyhoo, we didn't stay too long, but got a quick pic to remember the event!

This is the Hippodrome Theater downtown; it plays all the arts-y films/plays. ...future date nights. yes.






Happy FALL!

An Ode to my Momma

Dear Mom,

The other day I wore a button-up shirt. And then I remembered when I was 5 and HATED wearing those, especially when you made me tuck it in.  And then I realized present time, how much cuter tucking in a button-uo makes you look.

And then I put my hair behind my ears and thought, "Why am I not throwing a tantrum?...and I surely miss my mother."


Remember when I was 6 and we had those "Etiquette Nights" and when I thought I had graduated you took me to that uber-fancy fish restaurant in the Bay Area...and then I threw the red beet across the table and it landed on the white linen table cloth.  I distinctly recall having the thought. "I don't like beets. This can't be on my plate. It's touching my lettuce." And then I flung it away...ohh you were not so very happy with me.

Well to make it up, I have begun holding "etiquette nights" on Sundays. I place all my silverware on the proper sides, tuck the knife blade under the plate, make sure the glass is placed appropriately...and while thinking this all looks lop-sided I can't stand it... I lay it all out and we enjoy having a veryyyy classy-yet-casual meal together.


I attached photos for proof of my progress. I hope you enjoy = )

*friends. ...and pinkies.

FFHE

Tay and I have created this "tradition" that every Sunday we hold FFHE.

That's right. If you didn't know that stands for  

Family Financial Home Evenings.


Oh, how I love them.

Seriously. I think every couple should have them consistently. They are a life saver.

FFHE for us usually means a budget plan, a break down of our most recent income, and bill planning. 

I think one of the best highlights is touching base with one another, trying to determine if there are any necessities that need to be budgeted for.. i.e. school books, doctor's apts, work clothes, etc.

Our most recent "big picture plan" is trying to avoid excessive debt---while accumulating educational debt, which we see as a necessity.  

An interesting dichotomy.   

It has been an EXTREMELY rewarding experience to sit down together and analyze everything, knowing we're both on the same page. 

Initially, I think I took on the responsibility of writing all the checks for bills and maintaining balance between accounts, but it is nearly impossible to do solo.  

And just not effective.  COUPLES should really manage together. duh j. I don't know what I was thinking, Tay's the one with the accounting degree = )

Anyway, the whole point of this was to inform everyone how much I sincerely love FFHE. my husband. and budgets.

Note to all you solo family budget-ers. do it as a fam!


Here is the link  for our

BUDGET

sheet.

HAPPYnewHAIRday.

I have been waiting like a million and one years for a new haircut.

Can I say it is the hardest thing ever finding a new stylist? bane of my existence.
let.me.tell.something.to.you.

But, I was supper uber happy when we put it into the family budget and WALLL-LA!

new, beautiful, wonderful hair done by my indian new gal-pal hairstylist Veena. iloveher.

p.s. it may not look like much, but i was not about to post a BEFORE picture if yano what i mean. mmkay.

On Awkward Family Photos

The other night over dinner I was talking to Tay about our upcoming Christmas vacay,

And how I am oh.so.very.much.enthused.! about the whole ordeal.
And then I asked about family photos, yano.
Because I think the last time his family took a "fam photo" 

..was a few-weddings-and-a-couple-a-babies-ago.

SO much to our excitement, we decided to plot out poses for the best fam photo shot. yano. the winner.

..of most awkward family photo.

Tay thought he could lay on his stomach with this head propped on his hands...and then i thought i could squat over him...and then he thought it would seem like i was birthing him...and then we thought that was prolly good enough.

So of course we then proceeded to indulge in 10 minutes of much needed, AWKWARD FAMILY PHOTO joy.

Here were some of MY favs:

BUT THIS ONE took the cake.

(i enclosed the caption because it was just too good to leave out)

“So, I had just given birth to my first son at a local birthing center and there had been another couple that had given birth just before me there as well. The midwife told us that the couple in the other room wanted to come over to say congratulations and introduce us to their child as well.  Little did I know that they would come into my room with no pants on. Even better, they both had NO UNDERWEAR ON. And from my vantage point, I could see everything. It was disturbingly awkward to say the least. I have no idea why my husband had his shirt off, but I assure you, he had his pants on. To this day I still have no idea why they were both naked from the waist down. Even more importantly, why was HE?”
(submitted by Jillian)

thank you awkwardfamilyphoto.com




...future inspiration. we.think.so.