Thanksgiving 2010

This year for Thanksgiving we headed to Tallahassee to see my Uncle Gary, his sister Patt and my cousin Alan. We had a really great time. We did the whole spread and the Johnson's made a delicious turkey and stuffing! I made Andy's mom's sweet potato casserole, our favorite mac n' cheese, deviled eggs, a pumpkin pie and a pecan pie. We also had mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, and lima beans. YUM YUM. We ate lots and kept eating lots they whole time we were there! Tallahassee has much more of a NC feel to it. It has hills and actually had fall leaves! It was so fun to walk through Garry's neighborhood and enjoy the cool weather and beautiful leaves. We actually made a wreath from some vines and greenery in Gary's yard. We all got into it! EG and Jack helped pick some fun things out for it, as well as Patt and Andy! Look at all the colors we found in his yard!

My Granny Lib taught me how to make wreaths from vines when I was in middle school. She also taught me how to weave a basket! Fun!

Hilarious story-When we got there I realized that I had forgotten to pack EG's shoes, a warm sweater for her or socks. I sent Andy to walmart to buy some supplies. While he was gone I unpacked the backpack she had packed for herself. I assumed it was just toys. Guess what else she had packed??? SHOES, two sweaters and a WREATH HANGER!!!!! Hilarious. After we made the wreath we were laughing about how prepared our little Emma Grace is-she even thought to bring a wreath hanger!!! I called Andy and told him and he took back everything he had bought but the socks. Way to go future girl scout!

We also had a really fun time watching football-a really treat for Andy since we don't have cable! And the kids enjoyed the Disney Channel. I enjoyed having them watch it too. We also helped Garry decorate for Christmas!

Emma Grace really warmed up to Garry!

What a sweet gift to be with family this year for Thanksgiving! Thanks to Garry for hosting us!!!!

Seeing the Dortches

Long ago when we were married without kids-ok that wasn't that long ago-we lived in a high rise in downtown (china)-we overlooked a major city street and woke up to Michael Jackson's greatest hits blaring from the street below. We only lived there for 6 months before we moved but while we were there we really enjoyed hanging out with the Dortches! Many nights we went up to their apartment in our pajamas to play a competitive, intense, almost marital wrecking game of Settler's! We have the happiest memories of our time in China with them! We had the treat of seeing them this week! We visited Hollywood studios with them and had a blast! So fun to reconnect with China friends!

Thanksgiving Tree

I usually sneak outside and cut/steal a branch out of a tree in our complex to make my Thanksgiving Tree. This year I decided to stop sinning and just make my own. HEHE. Actually, I really enjoyed making it this year because I loved using my creativity. I don't get to let my creative juices out much as a busy mom these days so it was fun to make this! Each day we wrote things we were thankful for on the leaves and taped them up. I saved all them so I could go back and type up what we wrote. Just haven't gotten to that yet!

So much to be thankful for this year!

Go Dog Go

Jack is really into reading these days. His favorite book right now is Go Dog, Go! I bet we read it four times a day! Like his Daddy, this guy loves to snuggle up for a good read!

Brave

Here are a couple pictures of our kiddos at the park. Both love to climb. I am amazed (and mildly terrified) at how equally brave they are. They both have GUSTO!! I'm wondering how God will use that quality in each of their lives?!!!

Andy to the second power

Sheryl and I have been best buds since 1st grade. I'm just throwing that out there. I'm just saying...that's a long time. So you would think when the two of us get together with our spouses (who were added to the mix just a few years ago) you'd think it would be us, the girls, the BBITWWSFG who would be obsessed with each other. You'd think it would be the men who would be tagging along so that Erin and Sheryl could catch up. You'd think....

But that's not really how it went at all. See Andy Lynch and Andy Huffman together = Andy to the second power. When they got to Harry Potter at Universal they seriously forgot they even had wives, became obsessed with Potter and each other (and taking pictures of each other.) The proof...

Ok boys, ENOUGH! We know you like each other and Harry Potter and taking pictures of each other. Sheryl and I managed to get in a few pictures!
Here we are enjoying a butter beer, waiting for them to get off some massive roller coaster.

We started making them take pictures of us.

While they rode this...

we did this...took pictures of ourselves pretending to ride scary roller coasters. True to form, when we showed Andy squared what we did, they had to do it too!!!!

Seriously, I am so grateful to the Lord that Andy Lynch has made such an effort to get to know my husband and to love and embrace us just the way Sheryl does. We had a blast with them at Universal and we seriously didn't stop talking the entire time we were there. Can't wait to see them again in January when Sheryl runs her MARATHON!!!!

BBITWWSFG

A few weeks ago my BBITWWSFG came to visit! What a sweet gift from the Lord to be with her and her hubster. We had an awesome time one afternoon just hanging out by the pool at their hotel and talking for four hours straight! It's amazing how God has knit our hearts together over the years. Sheryl makes me want to exercise. I make her want to eat cheeseburgers. She thinks I am funny. She is funny. She is tender and compassionate. She is fun. She's my BEST BUD IN THE WHOLE WORLD SINCE FRIST GRADE! So thankful for such a sweet, long lasting freindship. More on the fun we had in my next post!