These are a few of my favorite things...

Thanksgiving is all about your close friends and family and FOOD. It doesn't get much better than the combination of those things. Each year I am reminded of how much I love two things:

1. mashed potatoes

2. green bean casserole

I mean, we love food and there really isn't anything that I don't like but these two are just my favorite!

So here is a recipe that my mom makes and this was the first year that I made it and we loved it! (I find that my parents just make things better than I do, even if I do the exact same thing...)

We call this "potatoes like mom makes":

Cook 7-8 large potatoes

Quartered and peeled (we leave the skins on) and boiled in salted water

drain potatoes and mash well with:

8 ounces cream cheese

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 cup sour cream

(I also add a handful of shredded cheddar cheese, but it's optional)

place in a greased 9x13. You can make it ahead of time and then heat it up the day you are ready to eat it. I haven't tried freezing it so freeze with caution...

On the day you are using it, melt 1/2 a stick of butter and pour on top of the dish. (I added a little cheese to the top of mine too...)

Bake uncovered for about an hour at 350 degrees

Enjoy!

I hope that you all had a wonderful thanksgiving!

Thankfulness...

This is always the time of year when I reflect on what I am thankful for in my life. Over the last few weeks, there have been many different gatherings: some around joyful family events, some around friends that have become our family, some around the celebration of new life and some in the celebration of a life lived. Each has shown me things that the Lord has brought into my life that have caused me to reflect on thankfulness.

Here are a few things on my list:

~for my Kit Rae (The biggest example of God's grace and love in my life.)

~our little man (I can't wait to be your mom, Ryder...)

~our close family and friends that love us with such gentleness, truth and transparency

(Thank you all for living life with us.)

~our jobs and how much we love them (My dad once said that if you love what you do, you will never have to work a day in your life. Thanks for sharing that with me, dad...)

~opportunities that allow for growth in my love for Jesus and the relationship that I desire to have with Him

~for the opportunity to have our niece and nephews in our lives

(We hope to get you here soon little missy. We love you already!)

~for the relationship that we have with our parents, and the example that we hope to emulate in the way we love each other and our kids.

I could go on and on, but these are things that have been resonating in my mind over the last few weeks and I really wanted to share them with you!

Celebrating with our friends at thanksgiving with lots of laughing, good food and sharing of lives together.

My dad's side of the family at my Papa's memorial service.

Family time!

November always seems to jump start the holidays for us, with parties with family and friends and I think it's why it's my favorite time of year.

Yesterday we had my mom's side of the family over for a pre-thanksgiving party, and we had so much fun! The menu was mediterranean and everyone pitched in and the food was so good!

Since I love to have something like a game or trivia or something that specializes the event, I thought I would focus on thankfulness. So, thanks to the Thrashes, we had our thankfulness list. Everyone pitched in and it was so fun to read the list at the end of the day and realize all the things we have to be thankful for.

Then I had fun putting all of our names and special words into a word search that everyone worked on.

(It's free on line and people really had fun with it...)

I love to do party favors, especially with all these people that I love and am so thankful for, so I wrote them each notes on why I am thankful to have them in my life and to tell them how much they mean to me. It was special writing them and it made me realize what incredible family we have.

Needless to say, it was such a great time and I am so thankful for our amazing family community!

Books books books....

I love kids books. I have since I actually WAS a kid and now it's so fun to think of sharing favorite stories with Ryder. I made an amazon wish list for Ryder (it's under Gina Rae as Baby Rae). When we found out we were pregnant, it was the first thing that I did. At the time, Ryder was about 1/2 inch long and had a tail, however, he is now a whopping 6 inches and moving like crazy! I love reading to my little man and since his ears have developed and he can pick up sound, I figure there is no time like the present.

So, with Thanksgiving coming up, I wanted to share some books that are Thanksgiving related that have been fun to read.

I think the reason I love the holidays so much are that they involve my favorite people sitting around food! It doesn't get much better than that...

Thanks Casey for the Tappleton recommendation!

It's getting there...

Ok, so we have been working on our little man's room, and have been having so much fun with it! Here are some things that we have done.

We ordered and assembled the crib.

(Thanks Cole and Mom for helping me surprise Kit...)

We moved the most comfortable chair in the world into his room.

(I plan to spend lots of time with Ryder in that chair...)

We painted the walls and the base boards. The color is a mix of gray and brown. We refinished the closet and framed out the window and added shades to make it a little darker for nap times.

Kit, the stud that he is, dry walled over an old air conditioning duct and old wall sconce and then refinished the trim and wall texture so that you can't tell.

One of my favorite things is that Kit put the fan and overhead light on dimmers and a setting that we can program, because if Ryder is ANYTHING like his dad, we will need to have wake up transitions as mellow as possible.

Now that the base of the room is set, we are looking forward to punching it up with color and making the room really fun for our little guy to grow into.

Easy breezy...

I have been wanting to make some cards recently so that I have some on hand, for notes and thanks you's and such. This is my favorite card style: SIMPLE.

There is a paper place in Redlands that has really cool scrapbooking papers, mostly in 12in x 12in sheets. I found this one, it has a geometric shape to it and you can't tell by the picture, but it has a shine/sparkle to it (not too much, just a little).

I cut out little pieces of the printed paper and then cut turquoise card stock that I had gotten for 6 cents a sheet (8 1/2 x 11) into fours. The 12 x 12 sheet was $1.20. I made 32 cards and here is the best part, they were less than 15 cents each to make.

I was planning to stamp a "thank you so much" in white card stock and then add that to the design, but I really liked the simpleness of this card, so I plan to leave it.

It's nice to have options though.

Roughly half way there...

There really haven't been many (ok, any) moments when I have been happy to not fit into my clothes. The other day I was getting ready for work. I wear street clothes to the hospital and then change into the required scrubs for our unit. (Don't get Kit started on how unattractive the scrubs are. Elastic waist and tapered pants with my size feet, now THAT'S sexy!) So anyway at 5:30 am, I go to put my jeans on and realize that, literally, overnight, Ryder has decided to start showing and my pants don't fit! I will be honest with you... I am ecstatic!

So here is our 4 1/2 month photo.

Also, one of the perks to working in my area is that I have access to a doppler so that I can hear his heart beat whenever I want, and I must say, aside from Kit's laugh, it is my favorite sound. So we are trying to enjoy each step of the way because, man, it is going fast...

"Did Ryder eat paint chips as a kid?"

The answer will be, "Not if we can help it!"

Since the walls are now done in Ryder's room, we have been doing the closet and window trim and, oh my gosh! The last paint that was used was put directly on the original paint and it likes to peel and chip like nobody's business. So after quite a bit of sanding and scraping we are really happy with the outcome.

(The outcome being that Ryder will not consider paint chips as an afternoon snack...)

It is coming together!

My Papa George died tonight. My dad was there. At this point in life I just can't imagine losing my parents. I think that no matter how much you think that you are prepared for something, it is always hard when the end actually arrives.

My grandparents met when they were 10 and were married 62 years. He was 83.

Would you please pray for my family as we tackle the next steps.

Thank you so much for your friendship and presence in our lives.

sneak peek...

So we have been working hard over the last week or so on painting Ryder's room. Kit has been sick and so he has been a real trooper with me asking for opinions on my paint job and then today he did the finishing touches. We still have to paint the closet doors and window sill, but the majority is done...

Here is a sneak peak...

We can't wait for you to see it with our little guy in it...

More photos to come!