🎄 Christmas Recap 🎄

I hope everyone had a wonderful Merry Christmas! 

Nathan's parents, along with Nathan's cousin, drove all the way out from Kansas City, to spend Christmas with us. We only got to spend two whole days together, but we had such an incredible time together! On Sunday (Christmas Eve), the hubs had to work for a little bit, so the rest of us ventured up to Gatlinburg!

Gatlinburg was the busiest I had ever seen it! Luckily, we found parking so we could walk around a bit. We ate lunch at Blaine's Bar & Grill. The service and food was terrific at Blaine's!
Next, we all went up the 407 feet, Gatlinburg Space Needle. I am absolutely terrified of heights, but usually try to conquer my fears. The decision to face this fear was a good one, and I even made myself get to the "edge" to have my picture taken. The picture was taken quickly and with a lot of fear and hesitation, but I did it!!

After our day trip to Gatlinburg, we met the hubs back at the house and ordered pizza for dinner! We watched my personal favorite Christmas movie, "Elf," while we ate our dinner!


Christmas Day was the most laid back, relaxing day. As we slowly woke up, we chatted for a bit over coffee and hot cocoa tea. Eventually, we made our way into the kitchen to bake delicious cinnamon rolls.

After eating a yummy breakfast, we began opening all of our Christmas presents!

Truly, the greatest gift was having family in town to celebrate Christmas. <3

The majority of our time was playing games! We played plenty of Phase 10 Twist! Phase 10 is a lot of fun, but Phase 10 Twist was really cool!

Brain Games, Skip-bo, and Exploding Kittens were some other games we played!

The Cone of Shame - Imploding Kittens!!

The family left early Tuesday morning. It's always sad when they leave, but we'll be together again soon! I decided to start picking up all the Christmas decorations. I have them all together in one spot. However, I couldn't bring myself to take down the tree just yet. I'll leave it just a little while longer!

After a little bit of cleaning/tidying up, I finished the book "The Break Down," by B.A. Paris. It was a really good book, I enjoyed it a tiny bit better than "Behind Closed Doors." I found out about this Author and these books, thanks to the blog - Simply Taralynn

Next up is New Years! I don't know about you, but I am ready to throw 2017 out the window. It's been such a difficult year for me. I know there will be ups and downs in 2018, but I'm really hoping for much more positivity!

QUESTIONS

* What was your favorite part this Christmas holiday?

* Do you leave your Christmas decorations up through New Years?

* What are your New Years Eve plans?

Gobble Till You Wobble!

I hope everyone had a terrific and filling Thanksgiving!!

I had such an incredible Thanksgiving week with the hubby and his rents! The only problem was that time went by way too fast.

Saturday, before Thanksgiving, I spent the day prepping the house for Nathan's rents! Riley certainly was keeping himself entertained.

Nathan's parents came into town late Sunday evening!
Monday, I had to work for a little bit, but for dinner, we tried a place we haven't been to yet, a German restaurant - Restaurant Linderhof! It was beautiful inside! Our waiter was extremely knowledgable about the German food, and helped us make our delicious meal choices!

Restaurant Linderhof

I went with something I normally wouldn't try! I had the eggplant ratatouille with spatzle on the side. Spatzle is a type of egg noodle, and it sure is yummy!

I really look forward to going back and trying their other dishes!

Eggplant Ratatouille

Tuesday morning, we went to Nick & J's cafe for breakfast! Nick & J's was an adorable diner, just like the diners' you see in the movies. The atmosphere was relaxing, yet fun. The service and food was even better!

Nick & J's Cafe

Western Omelette

After a delicious breakfast, we all headed home. Kay and I worked on projects with the Silhouette Cameo 3 machine. The boys worked on their projects and began smoking the meats to have for Thanksgiving.

Silhouette Cameo 3 cutting machine!

Resting Grinch Face

Ta Da!

Figuring out how to work the Silhouette Cameo machine was awesome! The possibilities are endless when it comes to crafting! I look forward to making some new projects! 😄

Thanksgiving Eve, we all went to Painting with a Twist!

It's always such a fun time going to Painting with a Twist. It never gets old!

Ready to start painting!

Our finished paintings!

THANKSGIVING DAY:

We all knew we would be eating a plethora of food later that day, which made us decide to head over to Lilly Bluff first and get some fresh air and "hiking" in. We all wore our new shirts! Nathan and I wore shirts with a turkey that said "Pour Some Gravy on Me," and Kay & Steve wore shirts with cooked turkeys that said "Let's Get Basted." 😂

Pour Some Gravy On Me T-shirt

Lilly Bluff 

The Lilly Bluff overlook is a beautiful spot! 

Obed River

Showing off our t-shirts

Holly

For our Thanksgiving feast we had our traditional Raclette dinner! We brought out the raclette Swiss grill that cooks the meat on the top, and melts the cheese on the bottom. Gruyere cheese is our preferred choice, over the raclette cheese. The turkey had already been smoked, but the grill heated up the turkey on top.

For our side dishes, we had green bean casserole, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and baby red potatoes.

Nathan made an excellent pumpkin pie cheesecake for dessert. Talk about being stuffed! 

SO. MUCH. FOOD.

Thanksgiving Feast

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

BLACK FRIDAY:

Nathan and I both had to work on Black Friday. Kay and Steve volunteered to come to work with me! Thank goodness they were there to help at the store, because we were BUSY! 

Kay and I made snowflake earrings with the Silhouette Cameo 3 machine and faux leather material to wear on Black Friday - along with the Christmas t-shirts we made!

Snowflake Earrings

Cookies!!!!

Meet Molly - Santa's little helper!

Selfies with Santa

After work, we had a chill afternoon relaxing back at the house. 

Nathan's parents had to head back home on Saturday. 😞
It was a pretty chill day, I began putting up Christmas decorations! I can't wait to have them all up!

Beginning to put up Christmas decorations!

'Tis the season for Peppermint Mocha creamer!!

After such an exciting week, it's officially back to reality. It is time to finish putting up the Christmas decorations and clean/organize the house!

🎄

QUESTIONS FOR YOU:

* How was your Thanksgiving?

* What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

* Have you started putting up Christmas decorations?

Wisconsin Trip Recap

Good morning y'all! 

I made sure to get up early to finish this recap post, before I start working on house chores!

Thanksgiving is next week already! I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to it! 😄

Our furbaby is happy now that Nathan and I are back home!

The most important lesson I have learned this year is that you never know what you have until it is gone. Take the time to see family/friends because life is short.

My Uncle was turning 70, I knew I couldn't miss the opportunity to surprise him for his Birthday celebration! Nathan and I drove up to Wisconsin, and surprised him the night before his party! My Mother flew in as well and had surprised him earlier that day! My Aunt did a great job pulling everything together, he was so shocked!

Obviously, our road trip adventure had to begin with some hot coffee from Dunkin Donuts!

Of course, Taylor Swift's new album came out, so I made Nathan listen to it at least a few times on our drive! ;p Not gonna lie, I'm obsessed with this album! My favorite songs are currently is, "I Did Something Bad," and "Getaway Car."

Our trip lasted about 11 hours because we took our time and stopped along the way.

In Berea, KY, we stopped at the Kentucky Artisan Center!

The first painted rock I have come across!

The Artisan Center was such a fun stop! There was a cafe, seating area, an area for demonstrations, and of course TONS of handmade items/gifts by local artists! I highly recommend checking it out if you are nearby!

I wish we could have spent more time, but we had to get back on the road.

I did pick up some Wild Pecan Cocoa granola at the Artisan Center! I can't wait to try it with some yogurt!

Speaking of snacks....

A road trip is incomplete if you don't have proper snacks! I grabbed these coffee nut m&m's to try out along the way - they did not disappoint!

Um, yes! Coffee Nut M&M's are delicious!



SURPRISE!!!!

Haha, there is no sound because although it was a very happy moment, my Uncle was shocked and said a "bad" word! 😂

We had a wonderful evening catching up and hanging out!


A friend of the family/neighbor offered to take Nathan and I over to a trail in the neighborhood, so we took him up on his offer because we desperately needed a good walk after being in the car the entire day before. It was a nice short hike, but exactly what we needed. 

You never know what you will see! We came across a cute fort and had to get our picture taken in it!

🎈 PARTY TIME!!!

Happy 70th Birthday!

Birthday cake time!! 🎂

The Birthday cake was hilarious because the candles were trick candles that wouldn't blow out!

The party was a huge success!!

Nathan used to live in Switzerland; we found out about the charming town of New Glarus, "Little Switzerland," being only right down the road, we had to go! My Uncle and Aunt were so sweet to take my Mom, hubby, and me down there to explore the town and have breakfast at Chalet Landhaus! 🇨🇭

There were painted cows everywhere!

Exactly!

Rosti Potatoes

The restaurant was adorable! The staff was friendly, and the food was fresh and delicious!

Our time spent in Wisconsin truly was an incredible time! It was basically a family reunion because I  got to hang out with cousins that I haven't seen in over 13 years! 

I'm looking forward to another trip up there, hopefully soon!

On our way back home, we took a quick detour to stop and see some of Nathan's family history - the old family farm, and the town where his Great Grandparents, Grandparents used to live!

Stare down with a squirrel

The Elms Building in El Paso, IL

The Elms Building is beautiful! If we had the money, we would buy it and fix it up! It would make a spectacular Bed & Breakfast, wouldn't it?!

Since we were traveling on Veterans Day- I didn't get a chance to say Thank You to all of our Veterans!! 🇺🇸

Words can't express how thankful I am to our Veterans, and those still serving our Country!

QUESTIONS

* Have you listened to Taylor Swift's new album? Do you have a favorite song?

* Have you ever surprised someone for their Birthday?!

* What are your plans for Thanksgiving?