2017 Christmas Card (and Past Years)

I'm a day (or three) late and a dollar short (what's new these days?), but I couldn't resist sharing our 2017 Christmas card... and while I was uploading it, I thought it would be fun to reminisce about the past few years, and I was right! I love putting together our card each year and sending them out to our family and friends! 

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate!) Happy New Year! 2018 is just around the corner! 

Thanksgiving 2016 - I'm Just Here for the Pie

As per usual, I am a day (or two weeks?) late and a dollar short around here... oops! It's so tough to keep up on a real-time schedule with a crazy toddler, but I am sure trying. I want to document all of this precious time so Annabelle can have these memories in a book some day.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at the end of November along with the rest of the country. It was a great day. My family drove down from Missouri, and Dan and I cooked an amazing dinner for all of us. I LOVE Thanksgiving, guys. It's my favorite day of the year. All the food. Football. Family. Friends. The whole thing... it's just the best.

Annabelle's shirt is my favorite... so glad I found it on Etsy in time. "I'm Just Here for the Pie" - just about explains our girl! She is a piglet. She eats EVERYTHING. In fact, she ate three full Thanksgiving meals - the real one and then leftovers. Her entire high chair tray was FULL of all of our glorious food, and she AT IT ALL. Every time. She gained a whole pound that week - no joke!

As always, we took a four generations photo... little miss wouldn't smile for the camera, so this is the best shot we got this time. I still love it. I'm so glad we have several of these pictures. I will probably make them all into a big collage someday. 

And then we tried to get a family photo... welp. Does she even like us?! She looks miserable to be taking a picture with her mom and dad! 

Wasn't she SOOOO tiny and adorable as a little turkey last year? She was only two months old then, and it's the day she rolled over for the very first time. We were all SO excited... and she hasn't stopped moving ever since then! 

Did you enjoy your Thanksgiving as well? Do you love it as much as I do?

Holiday Recap - 2014

A holiday recap? In January? Yes, I'm behind... because I had other posts scheduled for while I was out of town and wouldn't have time or decent Internet access to post from!

To start, we went to a hot cocoa party and watched Elf with some friends... to which I took some hot chocolate cupcakes! I can't wait to share that recipe soon.

For Christmas, Dan and I loaded up the cats (and boarded the dog), and headed to Kansas City. It was a 10 hour drive, and while not very fun, we had a blast when we got there!

Our schedule was so jam-packed with lunches and dinners with family members and friends that we can hardly call it a vacation... but that's okay! It was wonderful seeing everyone and being able to spend time with them.

We celebrated Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve with a KC style BBQ dinner and gifts... and I was SO surprised to have gotten the red Kitchenaid mixer I've been eyeing for years thanks to my awesome husband! We had a lot of fun that night and ate way too much then and on Christmas day.

We also were able to see Unbroken on its opening night, and while it didn't tell the FULL story that the book does, it was still incredible.

We went to the last KC Chiefs game of the season... in which they kicked San Diego's butt (woohoo!) but ultimately didn't make the playoffs (just barely). We had a great time with friends, though!

• How were your holidays? 
• Did you travel or stay put?

Free Thanksgiving Recipe Card Printables

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It has been for as long as I can remember. What's better than a day of food, family, fun, and football? That's right - nothing.

But back to that food part. This year, I decided to make recipe cards for my favorite Thanksgiving appetizers, side dishes, desserts, and drinks. And I want to share them with you all! 

*Note: My husband takes care of the turkey, so I have no recipe card for that... sorry. 

My husband and I are hosting our very first Thanksgiving this year. My family is driving in from Missouri, and we're really excited! The recipe cards below are what we'll be using this year. Yes, we're making all of that - and for only five people! We'll have leftovers, but those are even better! ;-)

If you would like to download the entire set of 4x6 recipe cards: CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD.

If you choose to use any of these recipes, I hope you enjoy! They are some of our favorites!

Again, if you would like to download these 4x6 recipe cards, THEY CAN ALL BE FOUND HERE.

• What is your favorite thing about Thanksgiving?
• What's your favorite side dish?
• What are you thankful for this year?

Wedding Rehearsal and Dinner

Continuing with graduation week, Dan and I had our rehearsal dinner the day AFTER he graduated from the Academy.

Thursday of that week was surreal. Dan had accomplished all of his hopes and dreams by making it through USAFA. We were one day away from tying the knot (finally!), and we were both pretty anxious.

Our wedding party was AMAZING and helped us set up our reception venue by decorating and carrying in all of the drinks we had purchased. It was hectic, and it took a little longer than we expected, but it worked out and was beautiful.

That evening, we gathered everyone who was participating in our wedding and did a short run-through at Boulder Park in Colorado Springs. We chose that location because it was across the street from the house I was living in and also close to the restaurant we chose for dinner.

And of course, it rained. Go figure.

But we made it through and set off to Bambino's Italian Eatery, which was amazing as always. We had a big buffet with salads, two different kinds of pastas and sauces, garlic bread, and of course, a cake from the Safeway bakery.

The food was good, but being surrounded by most of our best friends and family members was great. They decided to tell embarrassing stories about Dan and me from our childhoods, and that was a hoot. It's always exciting learning more about the person you love, but it's FANTASTIC when it's an embarrassing story from 15 years ago. ;)

AND people kept bringing me glasses of wine. You can't go wrong there. It was weird how so many people wanted to do things for me, though, and I appreciated it SO much. I think six people offered me wine BEFORE dinner alone (don't worry - I didn't accept ALL of them, as tempting as it was).

We didn't get too many pictures, but Dan's uncle took some, so those are what I'm using here!

Any guesses on what my next post will be about? ;)