Big Green Egg

**Side note: this is the 4th time that I've posted tonight so scroll on down to start from the beginning.**

In the previous post, I explained how we surprised Kent with his present Saturday night. Well, here it is all put together. Kent had to cook on it Sunday afternoon and we had some delicious smoked chicken.

Lucy didn't really like the fact that we were outside and she wasn't...

First Family Christmas

This past Saturday, my immediate family came to our house for our Christmas get together. It was the first of many this week. I have 4 more starting Thursday night. Add in the fact that I am working night shift and trying to sleep and make all of the family Christmases, it's going to be a week of not sleeping! But that's okay, it's not about me! I've gone without sleep before! I started the prep early in the week trying to get some things done in the house. Friday night, I made a home made carrot cake. YUMMO! Then Saturday, everyone was coming around 4 to hang out, open presents then eat. I planned the menu a couple of weeks before hand and finally got everything together. The highlight of the night was watching our 2yr old niece open her presents. She had such a great time! She tore piece by piece of the paper off and had to hand each tiny piece to someone.

After she finished, we all opened our gifts and Kent was totally surprised!!! Both of our families had gone in together to buy him a Big Green Egg. It's a top of the line smoker/grill. If you know my husband, he LOVES to smoke BBQ and put anything on the grill. We own 4 smokers and grills so I was hoping that since he got the top of the line, we might can get rid of a couple. (Wishful thinking.) I had wrapped the nest and accessories for him to open and the egg was in the back of my sisters truck wrapped in a sheet. When he opened the nest, he just kind of looked at me. I asked him if he would like to go outside. He had absolutely no clue!!! Such fun! My sister got some good pics of him opening up the nest and his surprised face.

Then we ate...and ate...and ate. Our menu consisted of coconut shrimp, grilled shrimp, roasted potatoes, green beans, corn salad, and grilled corn on the cob. Plenty of desserts and some caramel apple cider to top off the night. After dinner, Aubrey had to dress up in her Cinderella costume and cast spells on all of us:Such a great night with such a great family!!!

My Christmas Tree

At the request of some fellow coworkers, I took some pics of my Christmas tree. I decorated our unit's tree and I thought it turned out really well. I've gotten so many compliments on it, but it's just not really my style. It's very classic, while my style is quite the opposite. Here's a comparison:

My tree at home:

My two favorite ornaments were a wedding present from my favorite patients-red and green polka dots with our initials in black and white polka dots:

The topper is just an explosion of sparkling snowflakes and dots. This doesn't really show you the true colors, but they are silver, hot pink and green.

I must apologize for the next pic, I totally forgot that I don't know how to rotate it so it's sideways, but it's a good pic of how it looks all lit up.

The rest of my decorations are just bright colors. I got my teal tree skirt from Pier 1 on clearance a couple of years ago and I still love it!

Here's the tree I decorated for work. Very classic, just red and gold.

I thought that the bells would be a different kind of topper and I love the fan of peacock looking feathers coming from behind it.

Crafts & Cupcakes!

The first weekend in December was our 3rd time to be in an arts & crafts show. It was in Huntsville on that Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We did really well and plan to continue to be in the NEACA shows up there. We had some new items that really were a hit and if you need a personalized badge reel, I can hook you up!

Well, Loni's chiropracter had told her that he was probably going to be coming with his wife to the show and asked if we had ever had Gigi's cupcakes. Neither one of us had even heard of them, so he brought us a sampling. OMG!!!!! Can you say heaven in a box!?! He brought us a mint chocolate apple spice, coconut, and regular with pink icing. Can you see how amazing they were?

And do you see how high this icing is?

I might have to make a special trip to Huntsville just for Gigi's!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

The holiday traveling season has truly began! The fact that we live about 45 min from Kent's family and about 1.5 h away from mine, means that we are just constantly in motion throughout the holiday seasons for all of our get togethers. Kent's mom and I both worked Thanksgiving day. She works days and I work nights. When I asked her what we were going to do, she had decided that we could all just eat a Cracker Barrel that night, then cook one night the next week. We already had plans the Sat afterward for my family's dinner. Kent has never been a big fan of Cracker Barrell (crazy-I know!), so when he found out his mom's plans, he decided that he would just cook everything himself. He mixed up the dressing a couple of weeks ago and froze it so that he would be ahead of the game. His sis made homemade mac and cheese and he fixed the rest. The menu was: fried turkey, smoked ham, black eye peas, green beans, mac & cheese, rolls, dressing. Way too much food for all of us, but it did provide us with plenty of left overs for the rest of the weekend. Here's the happy cook. So proud of all of his creations!

#200

Well, I know that I've been a little MIA these past few weeks, but last weekend was our Christmas arts and crafts show that we were in, so I'm about to be settled back in with my normal broadcasting of my boring life.

This is my 200th post. That's bananas! I really don't have anything exciting planned, just wanted to catch up on all that has been going on these last couple of weeks. Two weekends ago, Kent and I went to the GA vs KY game. I had gotten Kent the tickets for our anniversary. He's a big GA fan and had never been to a game at GA. We've been to a couple of GA vs AU games, just never in Athens. This was also my first time to ever go to Athens. What a great time we had! We got there early and ate at Mellow Mushroom and walked around the shops for a little bit before just sitting in chairs beside our car just talking before we went into the game. The stadium is beautiful! The entire set up is really neat and there is a road that you can walk on that is directly beside the stadium end zone.

We were a little sad before we left since UGA had passed. The mascot is such a vital part of the GA tradition, so they played a little memorial video before the game. The dog house was right below us and had a black wreath on top.

But don't worry, Kent did get to see an English bulldog as we were walking to the game. Of course he had to have his pic made with David Pollock.

And of course I got my history lesson throughout the day on mindless facts about GA. We drove about an hour toward home before we stopped for the night. The next day, we went and ate a The Varsity on our way home. I've seen it on the Travel Channel on the show Hot Dog Paradise. It's very interesting that this small hot dog restaurant can sell and feed to around 10,000 customers a day. We got there right as it was opening so it had not gotten too busy yet. We just had the most popular items-chili dogs.

Even thought GA didn't win, we still had a great time spending the weekend together not at home.

Wish List

Last year, around Christmas, I posted a this wish list. Mind you I only got one thing listed, (only because I bought it-hubs does not take hints) but I thought I might as well do it again this year.

I would still love to have the Kindle...

However, I did download the free app on my iTouch and it works the same, just the screen is sooooo much bigger on the Kindle.

New boots...

I went to DSW last week and found these boots. Are they not awesome!?! I carried them around for 30 minutes contemplating whether or not to buy them. Suddenly, I had a come to Jesus moment and He told me to put them up and immediately leave the store. I obeyed, reluctantly and am so glad I did. I ended up with a $165 vet bill on Monday that was supposed to be around $70. No boots for me. (At least right now.:))

I've always wanted some Dansko shoes for work. A lot of my coworkers have some and always talk about how comfy they are. Well, last week I saw these:These are screaming my name! Zebra print-OMG!!! It is an obsession, but I LOVE it!!!

Books: I have a list of books that I would love to have the time to read:

Karen Kingsbury-Take Two, Shades of Blue

Stephanie Meyer-Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, The Host

Sophie Kinsella-all of the shopaholics books

Lastly, I would like to get a new Blu ray DVD player that has Netflix streaming with it. Our blu-ray player has been on the fritz and the price has gone waaaaay down since I bought ours last year.

Time flies!

WOW!!! Is Thanksgiving really tomorrow!?! These past couple of months seem to have just flown by and I can't seem to catch up. Loni and I are in an arts & crafts festival next weekend, so all of my free time is consumed with making bows, bow holders, letters, sewing, painting...... the list goes on and on. I have yet to put up my Christmas tree and I must say that it is stressing me out! My family is coming to our house on the 19th and I really wanted to have my Christmas village out, multiple trees up and the house to be more organized, but I don't think that it will be up to par. We just have so much clutter! Last week I bought a new cube shelf for my "craft room" and tried to organize things a little better, but now that I have been working non stop on items, everything is just strewn about. I know Kent is about to have a conniption fit because of all of the stuff I am working on. Hopefully after next weekend I can put it all away for at least a month and reorganize my life and house! That's the plan anyway!

Is everyone else as busy as we are around the holidays? I have my schedule of all of the get togethers and we are booked solid on Saturdays until next year. I guess that's all a part of being married and trying to work all of the get together's in without hurting anyone's feelings. But I must say that it is incredibly tough when you work night shift, have to sleep at some point, and live 1.5h away from my family and 45 min away from hubs family. Oh well, that is the life we live...

Pageant

Last Tuesday night was my niece's beauty pageant. They had a Las Vegas theme and I thought that I was going to roll in the floor when I found out they were having an Elvis impersonator.

He sang several songs then the pageant began. They divide them into their grades and there was only 7 people in Lindsey's group. Therefore they only had a winner and a first alt. They also gave awards for teacher's choice and most photogenic. Lindsey won first alt and I couldn't be more proud! She's beautiful and she carries herself with such grace!

It's so hard to believe that she's only 15...

Fun With Lucy

So apparently, my blog has gone to the side while I am busy trying to puppy train and build up inventory for our business since we are in an arts and crafts show in barely over 2 weeks. Add that and the fact that this has been my work week-my life is nonstop right now.

So, I thought I could at least show you some pics of my sweet puppy love. She LOVES to play!!! She also has no intention of letting me get much sleep during the day either, so sorry if you've been around me, I've been a bit cranky. She especially loves the rope toys that we have.

Playing tug of war with Frankie:

Kent bought her a little be that she is quickly outgrowing, but she still loves to sleep on it:Can you say ridiculous!?! Then for Halloween, she had a pumpkin bandanna:She's just precious!

Longest post ever!

We flew into Cancun airport and had a private car pick us up and take us the 45 min drive to our hotel. It was really good timing since we got there right at check in time. We unpacked everything and then went to get something to eat. It was around 4, so we decided to go ahead and go to the beach. As soon as we stepped foot onto the sand, it started sprinkling. We thought that maybe it wouldn't last and got into the ocean. Well about 2 minutes later, it started pouring down rain so we went back to our room. We got ready and just walked around the resort for the rest of the night. We ate at the buffet and went to bed a little early since we had been up since 4am. Sunday and Monday were spent just lounging by the pool and ocean just trying to soak up the sun. Everyday we were there it rained. But most days it lasted less than an hour. Tuesday was a really pretty day and we had booked a snorkeling tour. We paid for a group tour since it was way cheaper, but when the tour guide got there, we were the only people going that day. Therefore, we ended up with a private tour for the group price. Nice! Kent had given me snorkeling equipment for my birthday. Everyone was oooohhhing and aaaahhhing over it. I was a little nervous to put it down the way they were talking about it. We started off by snorkeling around turtle bay. We were swimming with humongous sea turtles! They were a little bit intimidating when they came up for air right beside you. We snorkeled around a coral reef and saw tons of different fish. We saw a huge barracuda and a grouper. Then we took a drive out through a Mayan village. Next stop was the cenote. It's just a cave of freshwater in the middle of the jungle. The clearest water I've ever seen. They said that it stays the same temp year round-COLD!!! I had to get adjusted to it! We swam through different caves, saw some great static tides and saw a lot of bats flying around. The only fish in there were just little bitty fish that you can buy at WalMart. When we were leaving out, our guide stopped at one of the villages and we got to feed a spider monkey. It had the biggest hands and feet ever!

When we were leaving, Kent spotted this giant lizard lurking on the tree next to our car.

That night, we had reservations at the steakhouse restaurant in our resort and I tried rack of lamb for the first time. I really like it! I will definitely be ordering that again. After dinner, we walked to 5th Ave. Lots of shops and places to eat. You can also catch the ferry to Cozumel there too. Of course, every time you walk by a shop or booth, people are standing outside trying to get you to come in and buy something. I have a knack for ignoring people. Apparently Kent needs more practice. When we walked over toward the beach, Kent started talking to one of the excursion people. I proceeded to keep walking trying to get Kent to follow suit. 20 minutes later, Kent has signed us up to go see a timeshare opportunity in the morning. On my nerves! Kent of course has absolutely no intention on going and wastes about 30 min of every ones time. The next day, we went back to eat lunch and strictly avoided that street and booth. We ate at Los Rancheros. We shared the Mexican platter with chicken and steak kabobs, fajitas, sausage, ribs, beans, chips, salsa, rice, veggies, and quesadillas. They served it on a ceramic pig that had a candle in it to keep everything warm. The food was soooooo good! Here we are at the restaurant:
And here's our food:
Every night there is a different show for our entertainment. Wednesday night there was a Michael Jackson show. They reenacted most of the greatest songs.

Thursday was our last day and we planted ourselves on the beach and by the pool. Here were my views:

It was a great relaxing vacation! I read 3 books, we watched a couple of movies, and just spent some great quality time together! Can't wait to see what the next few years have in store...

A few more pics:

Lucy

Friday, on our way home from the airport, we made a detour in Alexandria to pick up our new puppy. She's a full blooded Boston Terrier and she is PRECIOUS!!! She is so cute and so much fun. (Except when I am working night shift and trying to sleep during the day.) She just bounces and hops everywhere. She love to chew and bite-everything! Kent bought her a little bed and she sleeps with her back half in it and the front half on a pillow. We took her to Tannehill Saturday so that our niece and nephew could play with her. This is how she chose to ride:

She climbed up there herself and eventually layed down and went to sleep. :) Frankie is having a tough time not being queen of the castle anymore and pretty much just ignores her. But in time I know that will get better.

Teaser Post

So I started this post, added tons of pictures and then somehow deleted all but 6. This was going to be the Picture Overload post, but instead, just a short version. We had an absolute blast! I will write more details from the trip tomorrow.
When we walked into the lobby, this was the arrangement:

An abundance of my favorite flowers: stargazer lilies.

I thought about Trina when I saw this:

Huge vases of peacock feathers in the lobby.

Every day we had a different towel animal.

Here was our view from our balcony:

You can't see it in this pic, but we could see the cruise ships at Cozumel.

And here we are lying in a hammock one night after dinner:


I'll post more details tomorrow with more pics. Descriptions of our meals and snorkeling adventure to come...