A Texas White Christmas!

Oh what fun we had traveling to Texas and seeing family and friends!!! It was Everett's first trip to Texas and he even got a cowboy hat as a souvenir (see adorable picture below). We ate TONS of amazing food thanks to my parents and Uncle Richard. We literally had a smorgasbord of gourmet food for every meal all week. Adam and I even got a date night in downtown Ft. Worth! Of course, we didn't miss our opportunity for some Tex-Mex cuisine and ate at Chuy's twice. Everett had a fun time too trying new foods, meeting new people, and being the star of the show the second a camera was turned on. And if we weren't having enough fun already, it snowed on Christmas Eve and stuck around til Christmas day....it was actually a white Christmas in Texas!! What a memorable Christmas this year was!!

Rucker, Kim, and their son London

Everett petting Shasta

Amanda and her daughter Emerson

Trying out the jumper

Everett testing out a rolling walker that we borrowed

Our little cowboy

Why must you take so many pictures?

Making sure my hat works before I play in the snow

My Dad and Everett checking out the snow that is falling

Crawling around and having fun

Everett and Daddy

ALL the SNOW we got on Christmas Eve

Dinner after church on Christmas Eve

Steph's parents house when we woke up Christmas morning

Christmas 2009

Opening presents!

Spending time together as a family...Steph's Mom, Kristie (sister-in-law), and Lindsay (cousin)

My Dad teaching Chopsticks 101

Random fact from Adam: "The new $1.5 billion Oasis of the Seas is the largest cruise ship in the world -- 40% larger than the next biggiest. The ship:

* Is about 20 stories tall
* Is 5 times the size of the Titanic
* Has an ice rink, a small golf course and a 750-seat outdoor amphitheater.
* Has 2,700 cabins
* Can accommodate 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crew members.
* Has 4 swimming pools, volleyball and basketball courts
* Has a 750-seat outdoor theater that doubles as a swimming pool by day and an ocean-front theater by night. The pool has a diving tower with spring boards and two 33-foot (10-meter) high-dive platforms.
* Has an indoor theater that seats 1,300 guests
* Features an 82-foot long zip line, the first zip line on a cruise ship

Ice cream, turkey, and more turkey

Hi all!! It's been a few weeks since we posted due to the lack of computer access I have had lately. FORTUNATELY, we now have our own computer! We held out for Black Friday and it was a success!! Adam set his alarm for 4:45am and he was out the door. Less than 3 hours later, he was back with a new laptop that included a FREE printer! Yahoo! So now, I can update you all what has been going on the past couple weeks!

Last Saturday, we had an Ice Cream Tasting party for my birthday! I made 7 flavors and Kristen made 1 for a grand total of 8 flavors to taste. We had: Snickerdoodle, Blueberry Cheesecake, Orange Pineapple, Mango Sorbet, Coconut Sorbet, Pumpkin, Caramelized Banana, and Chocolate Rosemary (made by Kristen). They were ALLL so yummy and we are still enjoying some of them!! The favorites were Caramelized Banana and Blueberry Cheesecake so they no longer exist....I guess I just have to make more!

Yep....I made and decorated my own cake!

Lots of friends to share in the fun!

We had quite a few kiddos too -
Kyle, Dash, Savannah, Kendall, and Everett!

Last Sunday, our Bible Study group came over for a Thanksgiving Potluck. Adam and I rearranged the furniture and borrowed a few card tables from our neighbor and we were all set. We had 20 people seated around our two tables and I got to use most of my dishes! The kitchen was the buffet line and we had quite the spread. It was a ton of fun and Adam got to take a crack at deep frying a turkey for the first time. The turkey turned out super flavorful as we brined it overnight and ended up repeating the recipe for Thanksgiving Day!

Now I know we can get 20 people around the tables!

The Buffet Line in the kitchen

We were stuffed!

The other table of friends

Monday was my actual birthday and I was home sick!! Since I didn't go to work, I went to the doctor's to make sure I get better as fast as possible. I was told I had laryngitis and had to let it run its course. My voice is mostly back now and I feel just fine. Adam got a little of it, but I definitely got the biggest hit. I am so thankful that is over!

Thursday was Turkey Day and what an awesome time we had! I had a blast setting our table with these beautiful dishes and bronzeware thanks to my in-laws. Kristen made rolls, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and rummagrout. What is rummagrout you ask? It is a Norwegian rice pudding that Kristen grew up having and it is delicious! Abbey and Jerald joined us and contributed homemade cranberry sauce and green bean casserole. Katy and Branon also came with Katy making the stuffing and mashed potatoes. Matt and Andrea are friends from church and Andrea made awesome empanadas. She is from Argentina and these were fabulous. Adam fried the turkey again and I made the infamous sweet potato casserole. Thanksgiving Day was just
wonderful!!

The table is all set...where is everyone?

Much better!
The whole gang ready to dive into the yummy goodness!

A plate of yummy goodness!

Everett joined the table too!

Katy, Kristen, and I

Everett's First Thanksgiving

Okay okay, so I know many of you really just want to see pictures of Everett....here he is! This little guy is eating like a Parken, a Joe, and a Kwong (he's eating a lot and he is not picky!). We recently had to lower his crib mattress because he had figured out how to roll on his belly and swat at his mobile switch to TURN IT ON! Ummm yeah, it was a shocker to go in and get him from a nap to find that the mobile was on! Needless to say, Adam and I are just having a ton of fun with him and LOVE seeing him learn new things as he keeps growing. We are working on sitting by himself right now and he is getting close, but not quite yet. However, he has figured out how to kick his activity mat just right to make it flip over. I am serious. Adam and I really laugh at him every day. He comes up with these new tricks and some of them are just hilarious!!!

Everett is sporting his Thanksgiving outfit with the feet reading "little turkey"

So, if you don't get Everett's food ready fast enough,
he eats his high chair...I promise we feed him!!!

Everett's fish face -hahaha!

Random Fact from Adam: "North Carolina produces the second highest number of Christmas trees in the U.S., behind Oregon."

Fall in Raleigh

Here are a few pictures of the weekend while I've got Adam's computer. On Friday, I hosted the infamous Cookie Party for the Whittington Family. I told Jerald and Abbey that if and when they moved down here, I would throw them a Cookie Party similar to what I did in Bosotn. For those of you who were not there in Boston, I made 24 different types of cookies for my birthday party and invited friends to come share in the sugary goodness. For the Whittington Cookie part, there were less people, so I cut the order in half and made 12 different types of cookies. What cookies were on the table you ask? We had: Chocolate Caramel Toffee, Coconut Cream Cheese, Thumbprint, Wedding Tea Cookies, Ranger Crisps, Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin, White Chocolate Cranberry Macadamia Nut, Oatmeal Coconut Cherry, Snickerdoodles, and Oatmeal Crisps. It was tons of fun having the Whittingtons and their friends over for some cookie goodness!

The spread of cookies! Yummy!

Jerald was so excited about this party that he made his own shirt and brought gloves so he wouldn't drop any cookies! So funny!

All of us enjoying the party!

On Saturday, we enjoyed walking around the Raleigh Arboretum with John, Heather, and Savannah. It was a gorgeous weekend to be outside and we couldn't pass it up! The great weather allowed us to take some awesome picutres too!!

Everett loved being outside and looking around at everything

Can't help but love these two!

A family picture

My new favorite picture. Both Adam and I already have a printed copy on our desks at work!

Everett keeps growing and learning all kinds of new tricks. One of them is taking off his socks and then eating them. Yes, we find wet socks in his crib now so it is quite hilarious. Anyhow, this picture is of him doing exactly that.
Sorry I forgot the flash on this picture, but Adam assembled his stroller and we were testing him in it. I think he looks pretty happy! We are thinking that now that he is getting bigger, he might enjoy facing outward to see everything rather than being in the car carrier. We'll keep you posted on how that goes!

No computer....

Our family home computer has crashed and we are hoping to hang on until Black Friday to buy a new one. In the meantime, Adam is going to research if we can save our computer or if it is a lost cause. For now, we do have Adam's work computer at home, so it will get us by. But, as soon as I can, I'll make sure to resume posting pictures of our happy and so very cute little boy!

Everett's First Halloween!

Before we get to the Halloween pictures...We thought you should see these cute faces! Our friends, John and Heather, have moved down here to NC and they live only 15 minutes away! We were over at their house for dinner this past week and Savannah LOVES Everett. She points to him and knows he is the "baby." She loves to give him hugs and kisses....it is really quite adorable!

Savannah is so excited that Everett has come over to play!

Now, on to Everett's first Halloween! Well, on Saturday , it was 80 degrees in Raleigh. Let's just say Everett's lion costume wasn't on him the entire day or he would have been sweating! Adam and I enjoyed the company of friends and fellowship at our house for Halloween. I had so much fun making food and getting ready for our small party. We had cinnamon sugar popcorn, caramel apple fixings, black bean and avocado crostini, cheese and crackers, chips and dip and that's just the appetizers! For dinner, we made these awesome grilled pork chops, Abbey made delicious roasted potatoes, Katy made green beans, and we finished the meal with some of my homemade pumpkin ice cream accompanied with molasses cookies. YUM!

Everett helped us greet trick-or-treaters and we visited a few neighbors in the evening. We were all decked out in costumes and I feel they might need an explanation. I started out the evening wearing my masquerade mask, but found that too cumbersome so opted to change into my straw hat to be a farm girl. Adam got this genius idea that involves a pilot costume, an eye mask, and a laptop....can you guess what he is?! (answer at bottom of post). Our friends Katy and Brannon came as the Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood and Jerald and Abbey sported some camo gear! Needless to say, Everett wins as the cutest of all being a very huggable lion!!!

Heather borrowed my trusty Peter Pan Costume!

They stopped by in the afternoon before they joined in on the festivities in their neighborhood. John collected items around his house and ended up with a pirate costume and Savannah makes quite a cute Little Red Riding Hood!

Us with the cute munchkins!

Who can resist the face?

When lounging in the house, Everett sported his Halloween sleeper thanks to his Grandma!

We look like quite the group.....

Visiting our next door neighbor - I think Everett was trying to go after Kendall's bottle!

Our neighbor, Annabelle, as Little Bo Peep

Enjoying a fun Halloween night!

A little worn out from all the fun....

Adam was dressed as a Northwest Airlines pilot