COOKIES everywhere!!

In an effort to satisfy my need to bake and host, we had a Christmas cookie party back on Dec. 8th. (Sorry for the late post...things have been hectic here in NC!) It was such a blast as we packed in nearly 30 people and many plates of cookies. I had made punch, mulled cider, coffee, and hot chocolate to help wash down the sweets, but needless to say, we all sugar crashed soon enough. It was awesome to welcome college students, co-workers, new friends, and old ones into our home. The selection of cookies were quite impressive too: thumbprint cookies, mocha bars, peanut butter balls, haystacks, mint cream cheese brownies, white chocolate cranberry macadamia nut, double chocolate chip, regular chocolate chip, rice krispie treats, pistachio cranberry, shortbread, oatmeal crisps, peanut butter cup cookies, and more!!! Can you say YUMMMY!?! Yes, I love to bake, but I did not make all of those cookies. I made a few batches and everyone who came brought some too. There were bags to fill with leftover cookies before you went home, so no one left low on sugar. It was so much fun!!!

(pictures to come.....difficulty with wireless at the parents' house currently....)

Random Fact from Adam: "The largest temperature disparity ever recorded in a 24-hour period was in Loma, Montana from January 14-15, 1972. In that period, the temperature rose from -54 degress Fahrenheit to 49 degrees-- a 103 warm-up!!"

What a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Adam and I got to fly back home to Texas to spend a few days with our parents to celebrate Thanksgiving and my birthday! Thanksgiving day began with a funny little story actually.....Since we were staying at our parents' homes, I did not pack shampoo and such. The first night of our stay was at Adam's folks house and I woke up to get in the shower. I browsed through a couple cabinets and then found a bottle labeled "shampoo" and another "conditioner" in Adam's toiletry bag. Needless to say, I used it although the "shampoo" never lathered and the "conditioner" stunk really bad. Once Adam saw that I used it, he started busting out in laughter informing me that the "shampoo" was his hair gel and the "conditioner" was aftershave. Oh yes, I had to get back in the shower and wash the hair all over again after getting REAL shampoo and conditioner from Adam's mom. Moral of the story: never trust your husband's toiletries.

We headed from Adam's parent's house to Steph's parent's house where the feast was already in the works. We took a break from prepping the food and got to spend time with Adam's brother Scott and his wife Kristie! Once we got back to the house, I had the BEST surprise ever as my Uncle Richard was standing in the kitchen working on our turkey. Awhile back, I found out he wasn't going to be a part of our Thanksgiving meal and was very bummed out. So, when he was there, we were more than thrilled! The feast included: 1 fried turkey, 1 baked turkey, peppercorn venison (Steph's favorite), sweet potato casserole, Chinese greens, persimmon cranberry sauce, cornbread dressing, and pecan pie. YUMMMMMY!!!!

Steph and Uncle Richard

If we hadn't eaten enough, Friday's dinner was a nice birthday party for Steph at her house. We had about 16 people there and lots of food. The menu included: blackened salmon, pork ribs, chicken and prosciutto, asparagus, stir fry veggies, rosemary potatoes, and a huge black forest cake I made and decorated myself! Can't you tell our family loves to cook! It was wonderful to see so many friends. Definitely a fantastic birthday!

Birthday Party Fun!

Ooooo CAKE!

Check out those pretty flowers Adam got me!

We flew out on Saturday and ate good ole Tex-Mex at Uncle Julio's before our flight out. Let's just say we miss the Mexican food here in NC and are glad to get it whenever we can. Due to our late lunch, Adam and I didn't have dinner and chose to have a midnight snack once we got home.....ahhh, the joys of vacation...

Sunday was a day of relaxing and getting the house decked out with Christmas fun. The tree is up, garland hung, and ornaments out. It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. Hope you are all doing well!!

(The picture below was taken by photographer extraordinaire, Kristen. We did a mini photo shoot to figure out which picture should go in our Christmas cards. The one below did not make the final cut. And yes, my shirt does say "I am in love with a cowboy." Keep an eye on your mailbox and you should be getting a Christmas greeting from the Parkens soon!)


Random Fact from Adam: "It's a Wonderful Life" cost $3.7M to make (quite expensive for an independent film in 1946), but only made $3.3M in its first box office run. Thanks to Internet Movie Database (IMDB) for that one.