Friendsgiving 2015

Well, since we are a full week into December, there's no time like the present to recap Thanksgiving, right? Thanksgiving was a little different this year. A few weeks prior, we found out that Parker's squadron wasn't going to let us take leave. Through our years in the Navy, this would be our first Thanksgiving apart from family. We were initially pretty bummed, but there was nothing that we could do, so it was time to figure out how to still make the most of the holiday. 

We realized that we had several friends who also didn't get to go home. We love hosting, so the idea of Friendsgiving was born! A couple of our friends had family members that were able to come, so 10 of us all gathered around the table and had a wonderful day!

I busted out the fine china and made little pine cone place settings for everyone. Our table by no means seats 10 comfortable, but we all squeezed in! A crowded table with copious amounts of food... ahh Thanksgiving. 

We did a Thanksgiving pot luck, and everyone brought the dishes that were special to them. I really loved that! I did the stuffing, deluxe mac & cheese, Kentucky Spoonbread, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. Most everything could be made the day before, so it was totally manageable. I got nostalgic making the crust for the pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving morning. I knew my family was 1400 miles away doing the exact same thing. :)

After we ate until we couldn't eat anymore (Is there any other way to do Thanksgiving?), we retreated to the living room for some board games and good ol' fashioned conversation. Lots of laughs with wonderful people!

Friendsgiving 2015 was one for the books! A part of me has always wanted to do Thanksgiving with our military friends, and I am really glad we got the chance to this year. Your military friends become like a family. You can't choose them, so you just have to hope you get stuck with some good ones. We have been really blessed with our Navy family, and I am so thankful to get to do life with them!

Halloween Weekend

This past weekend deserves its own post, because it was one for our books! I cannot remember a past Halloween that was more fun than this one, and I am already sad it's over!

Friday evening, we threw a Halloween party for a few friends. This was our first party in our new house (we moved in June, so it took us long enough!), and we were so anxious to finally host something. The party was a blast, but honestly, the people that came make anything fun. We lucked out in the friend department here. Good people, these people. 

The party was a costume party, because obviously. It's Halloween, so it's simply a requirement. This costume aspect was about the death of us. Parker really wanted to be Ron Swanson and Leslie Knope from Parks & Rec. I love those two, but dressing up as Leslie Knope would have meant wearing a suit all night. Nooo thank you! That's just not fun. Parker had a slew of other fun ideas from Jon Snow and Ygritte (Game of Thrones) to Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, but we couldn't find the pieces to make the costumes work. 

That's when I stumbled upon the Mickey ears. My love for Disney knows no bounds, and Parker reluctantly agreed to go along with it. He deserves husband of the year for this one! My favorite quote of the week that I'm still laughing about...

"I went from Jon Snow to Luke Skywalker to Mickey... Happy wife, happy life."

That poor kid. What a trooper! 

Our friends got really into the costumes as well, which made it so fun. There were some clever costumes! We had everything from Wilma to a burglar to a Bud Light. I love doing life with these girls. They make this whole Navy thing awesome. 

I think military friends are kind of like family. You don't get to pick them, so you kind of just hope for good ones. We have definitely been blessed with a wonderful military family!

It was finally time to go to bed at about 2 AM, (I cannot remember the last time we were awake at that hour) and we thankfully got to sleep in the next morning. Saturday was Halloween, and we have been so excited to pass out candy to the kiddos! Since this was our first Halloween in the new house, we weren't sure how many trick or treaters we would have, but we were hoping for a lot! We each made sure the other one didn't make any plans for Saturday night. Nothing sounded better than passing out candy. We'll make a great older couple one day ;)

We went through candy on candy on candy and had so much fun seeing all of the sweet costumes. I told Parker it made my ovaries hurt. They were so cute and I wanted to adopt them all for my own! We also watched Hocus Pocus in between answering the door. I haven't seen many Halloween movies, but that one is so darn cute!

Sunday, my sweet friend Lea took our family pictures for Christmas cards. This girl is a saint, and she did such a good job! One of my October goals was to take our Christmas pictures so I could get the card ordered and not have to worry about it, and I am so thankful to Lea for helping us out with that. Here is a sneak peek of one of the shots she got!

All in all, it was the best weekend. Sunday felt like it lasted forever with that extra hour, and it now gets dark by 5 PM. Pros and cons, ladies and gents. 

On Mother's Day

So Mother's Day was yesterday. I had been thinking about it off and on the days leading up to Sunday but tried not to let it consume my thoughts. Obviously, it's a little bittersweet for me. Thankfully I got to celebrate my amazing mother and wonderful mother-in-law, and that made the day and days leading up to it a lot easier. We mailed gifts this year and unfortunately didn't get to be with either of our moms (thanks Navy!), but we did get to be with them via the interwebs! Facetime is a beautiful thing, yall.   
I woke up Sunday morning and Parker immediately said "Oh good, now I can give you your card!". I don't know if I woke up with a fresh batch of hormones or what because I just lost it and the tears started flowing. Whether or not yesterday is a day for me or not is up to discretion and a debate I would never want to get into, but it felt good to be loved on and to read the sweet words my husband had written for me. 

The necklace was a Christmas gift, but I wear it every day and love it!

After I read the beautiful card, I checked my phone and found texts from sweet family and friends telling me happy mother's day. It was so humbling and so, so thoughtful. The blogging community has also been absolutely amazing and Bailey, Jen, and Laura made me feel so special with their sweet notes. I felt very loved on yesterday! So thankful. 
We went to church and it felt amazing to worship and feel God's love pour over me during that hour. The pastor talked about what a joyous day Mother's Day is but touched on how hard this day is for some too. My heart instantly went out to all of those yearning for a baby and all of those who had lost babies like I have. Yesterday wasn't heartbreaking because I didn't have a baby. It was heartbreaking because she wasn't with me. I would rather love and have lost than to never have loved at all. So thankful for the beautiful angel baby that made me a mother. The joy is absolutely worth the pain. My journey with her has been my greatest achievement and greatest blessing! Thank you God. 

Last but not least, here's a picture of my mom and her girls. What a wonderful mama she has been to us. We love you mom!!

I know, we don't look related at all. 

Thanksgiving in Texas

This Thanksgiving was different than any we have ever experienced, as you can imagine, but family time was so, so needed. I had selfishly hoped Taylor Grace would still be with us through the holidays, but God had a different plan. We celebrated Thanksgiving surrounded by loved ones while she celebrated her first Thanksgiving in Heaven. I bet it was quite the party!

I have a big family, so being in a house full of 20 people all talking and laughing and hugging is just about my favorite thing on the planet. This is the first year Parker and I have decided to just see one family, and it really was a good decision. We normally kill ourselves trying to see both sides in a 72 hour period, and as amazing as it is, we are exhausted by the end of it. This year, we got to relax, eat, relax, eat, and relax. We both agree that we probably shouldn't have another meal for a week, but really, doesn't that mean we did Thanksgiving right? I'd like to think so!

Parker's parents came in to see us which felt like winning the lottery. We got to see family from both sides and didn't have to travel! Happiness is... that. Our reunion in Texas was obviously a little different because the last time I saw most of these people, I was carrying our living baby. This time, that wasn't the case. Tears were shed, extra hugs were given, and different types of conversations were had with some, but Parker and I are blessed with the very best support system to love us through this. Yes there were tears, but there were also so many laughs. Our family is just so fun, and we genuinely had the best time with everyone. 

And now, a Thanksgiving photo dump.

It's a beautiful thing when all 8 of us can be together. A very beautiful thing.

So much love, so little gene variation.

I told Parker I wish Jenny had a cell phone so I could text her this picture and tell her I got her a present. He said that's probably the most ridiculous thing I have ever said. All I'm saying is that would be one happy pup.

Everyone make your "this is what watching Aggie football all season has felt like" face.

So happy we got to spend time with Parker's parents as well! Best inlaws ever.

Because two days after Thanksgiving, more pie seemed necessary. Also, the twin ran over to pose for the picture but proceeded to do nothing whatsoever to help with this pie crust. I thought that was worth noting.

Thankful for another Thanksgiving with my husband. Wouldn't want to do life with anyone else!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the ones you love! Time to decorate those trees and hang those lights! Or, if you're like me, time to pretend your tree hasn't already been up for two weeks. Sorry I'm not sorry.

A Wonderful Fall Weekend

This weekend was just good. I feel like we were productive and made the most of the weekend, but I also feel like we got all of the relaxing and sleeping that makes up a good weekend too.

Let's see, here's what we were up to...

Friday was Halloween. I like to start a Monday morning off by stating the obvious. My favorite part of Halloween is passing out candy to the adorable kiddos. I loved seeing all the little Elsa's (Frozen) and Raphael's (Ninja Turtles) and got a kick out of guessing what some of the kids were dressed as. Elsa and Raphael were by far the most popular costumes, and it made me already want to plan what Baby Phelps will dress up as next year. 

 

I wore a Tiger onesie I already owned from Target (Why are those things so comfortable? No shame...), and the kids all thought I was Tigger. I dressed Jenny and Darla in costumes which they humored me in for about 5 seconds. Jenny was a lion. Darla was a bumblebee. Oh, and then there's Parker. Parker was Parker Robertson, the not as well known brother from Duck Dynasty. We met up with some friends for a little Halloween party after the kids cleaned out our candy stash. This was my first day eating desserts after 30 days of no sweets, so I went to bed with a nice little tummy ache and woke up with a food baby belly to boot. Halloween done right. 

Parker Robertson and his bird dog are ready to party.

I grabbed a box of Frosted Flakes and decided to be Tony the Tiger. It was passable.

Saturday was the coldest day we have had since moving to the east coast, so we took that as an excuse to stay cozied up inside. We slept in, watched the Aggies take a not so pretty win over ULM, and took couch naps. I snapped this picture of the dogs. This about summed up our Saturday!

We did venture out Saturday evening and were so excited to go to our first musical together. We saw Book of Mormon, and we weren't fans. I really don't know what we were thinking, but I guess we thought it would be different. We knew it was a satire but just didn't expect it to go as far as it did. We aren't Mormon and thus don't share the same beliefs, but the show seemed to bash Christians as a whole more often than not, so that was just unsettling. It wasn't the musical for us, but a lot of the audience seemed to really enjoy it. I enjoyed the vocals and dancing because all of the actors were super talented. The show did have its moments and we did laugh a little. Anyway, it was an experience. Lesson learned for next time. At least my date was cute? Silver lining.

Sunday was spent predominantly on the couch. I'm not mad about it. Back to the grind today, but the weekend sure was fun while it lasted!