Christmas with the Greats

Great Grandpa & Great Grandma with the Great grandkids

We were met with a wonderful surprise when we pulled up to Garrett's parents house in Savannah for Christmas.  Garrett's grandparents were visiting from Phoenix!  They came to surprise all of us.  It was so much fun.  We hadn't seen them since Garrett's medical school graduation 2.5 years ago.

Merrill and Judy are a huge inspiration to me.  Merrill's wife died from lupus when Garrett's dad was 9 years old, and she left 4 kids.  Judy's husband died in a boating accident when she was 27 years old and pregnant with her fifth boy.  Merrill and Judy met and married a few years later and have two children together, so that's 11 kids total.  I have a hard time keeping everyone straight (especially since I don't think I've even met them all...) but it's a big, fun family.  It was so nice to spend some quality time with Garrett's grandparents and get to know them a bit better.  After the kids went to bed on Christmas Eve, we had a very nice discussion/testimony meeting with them and it was wonderful.  I got to hear some stories of Garrett's ancestors (there's some great pioneer heritage there) and that was really inspirational.

And I was so grateful that they could get to know Abby, Ellie, & Olivia.  Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, for coming to see us!  Hopefully someday we'll be able to make the trek out to Arizona to come see all the family there.

Winners & Losers

It's been a while since I've posted about recent recipes that I've made.  I always love to hear/read about what other people are making/eating so here are just a few of our latest:

(all pictures are from the original recipes)


Cajun chicken alfredo. I nearly followed this recipe to a T, but left out the goat cheese and only used parmesan instead of a blend of cheese.  This was so, so good!!  Will definitely make again, and probably soon.  Garrett said it tastes a lot like something he loves from Macaroni Grill.


Best ever chewy chocolate chip cookies.  I love homemade chocolate chip cookies.  These did not disappoint... in fact, this is our new go-to recipe.  We followed the recipe exactly and they were perfect.


Pumpkin & sage ravioli.  I love butternut squash ravioli, so I thought this would be a real winner.  Sadly, we didn't love it very much (well, Abby did, surprisingly.. she ate all the leftovers the next day).


Simple baked sweet potatoes.  Really easy and delicious.  Great side dish.



Sweet potatoes with gorgonzola cream and toasted walnuts.  Eh... I thought that the gorgonzola was a bit strong for the sweet potatoes.  I also discovered that I don't love walnuts very much.. they are really dry.  Won't make again.



Perfectly cooked salmon.  Just drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and put it into a cold oven.  Turn the oven to 400 degrees, then pull the salmon out after 25 minutes. It was delicious!


Lasagna soup.  I love lasagna, I love soup.  So, obviously I love this.  I used some spicy italian sausage and some mild.  It came out really well.

Obviously I've been following a bit of a "fall" theme and I've loved it.  I love hot food but it's so hard to make in the summer, so I really try to do all that I can during these colder months.

Texting

Abby now knows how to text Garrett from my phone.  So cute.

Citrus season

I grew up in New England, so to me, Christmas/winter is all about snow, freezing cold weather, hats, scarves, and hot chocolate.  I remember when we moved to the South, being a little worried that it just wouldn't feel like Christmas anymore without any of these things.

But, I've discovered that there's just nothing to hate about 75-degree weather, sunshine, and going to the park and for pleasant walks in December.

A few weeks ago, we went with some friends to a little citrus grove just a few miles south of us.  We met a kind, old farmer who told us a bit about the history of his grove (he used to have a contract with Sunkist) and let us pick whatever we wanted.  It was a lot of fun.

We picked kumquats, which were SO good.  I probably would have picked a whole bucketful if I'd had time.  They are the perfect little snack to just pop into your mouth.  For those of you who have never had one... they are like mini oranges, but you don't need to peel them (the rind is thin and very sweet).  The inside is pretty sour, but once you start chewing more, the sweetness from the rind kick in and it's really good.

Grapefruit.  Do you know why grapefruits have their name?  As you can see below, they grow in bunches, just like grapes.

The farmer got out his ladder to get some of the higher fruit for us.  He was so nice and I loved hearing some of his stories.  He was born in a little farmhouse just a quarter of a mile from the grove.

It was such a fun afternoon -- I really love u-pick activities and this time was no exception!  I hope we can make this an annual tradition.

Since Thanksgiving..

The holiday season has been good to us so far--

We went to Savannah for Thanksgiving.  Two of my sisters-in-law are doing the "Insanity" workout so I joined in a couple times.  The kids also decided to try it out:

Olivia.  Her hair looked reddish in this picture but it's not in real life.

Garrett and I love Mexican Train, and we were able to get some good games in with Garrett's Grandma.  I love low-key games that let you just sit around and chat while you play.

Ellie helped Aunt Katie make a cake:

I loved keeping Thanksgiving low-key.  Paper plates and plastic cups?  Yes please.

Abby loved doing nails with Aunt Katie... she also got a haircut from her, which was fun.

Ellie waiting patiently for a piece of cake.

Chillin' on the couch with Grandma and Grandpa

Ellie & Gavin

The girls with Uncle Rylan.  This was an especially memorable holiday because I am sure we will always think of it as "the time that Rylan was obsessed with Sasquatch, aka "Bigfoot".  It was hilarious.  In fact, we even spotted a Bigfoot one night when we were there.  It was pretty intense. ;)

Garrett's sister & her family

After Thanksgiving, we got our Christmas tree the first opportunity we got.  We wanted to be able to enjoy it as long as possible!  We had fun decorating the tree one evening with the girls.

Olivia is all smiles

We went to a winter festival in our city a couple weeks ago.  The big draw was that there was going to be real snow.  We were pretty excited but it ended up being really lame.  Like, REALLY lame... there was a small patch of snow that was impossible to get to because there were so many people on top of it, and then there was literally nothing else to do unless you wanted to pay $3 a person to ride a little train around the parking lot.

Oh, but we did find Cinderella's coach!  That was fun.... but still didn't really make the horrendous traffic worth it, I'm afraid.

The girls have been making forts in the playroom:

Olivia still sleeps.... and sleeps... and sleeps.

Abby & Ellie love curbs.  Every time we walk anywhere, they want to walk on the curb so they can balance like a gymnast (or, a "mastics girl", as Ellie says):

I've been doing some sewing lately... mostly gifts.  I got this idea from the blog "Homemade by Jill".

The girls have been getting filthy outside.  There is a dirt patch in our backyard and it will be the death of me.

Ellie is making a fashion statement, as always:

But don't worry, I do make her change before we go into public.  Here she is, being my Target helper:

I had to chase her around the car a couple times.  She squealed, "You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!!"

By Abby: "My favorite kind of dinner chicken noodle soup".  I really love this reading and writing stage that Abby is in.

We went to a Christmas carnival last weekend and the girls got their faces painted.  We also saw Santa... he arrived in a helicopter!  Probably a nice change from his usual transportation of sleigh and reindeer.

On Saturday night, Santa showed up at our church's Christmas party!  The girls were so excited.  Abby asked for some Barbies and Ellie asked for a bike horn.

Tummy time:

And finally, my latest quilt project.  I am loving it so far... maybe I'll have to keep it for myself instead of posting it to my etsy shop.

still here...

... and we just can't get enough of this little baby.

More tomorrow!

Visit from Grandma

My mom came to visit us when Olivia was just a few weeks old.  She arrived on Halloween day, so the girls dressed up in their costumes to meet her at the airport. (Can I just say, I love small airports.  Yes, they are a little more expensive, but there's something to be said for a 20-minute drive instead of two hours, parking about 50 yards from the entrance, no traffic, and practically walking up to the gate to meet her (and there are only about 5 gates)).

Grandma even brought her witch hat:

It was so fun having my mom here for a whole week!  She was so helpful around the house and spent so much time entertaining the girls.  Here's a little playdough art that she and Abby did (it's a beach scene):

We went to one of our favorite parks, the one with all the mini houses to play in:

Out for ice cream:

We went to a small teaching zoo at the local community college.  It was small - mostly just varieties of monkeys, gators, peacocks, and a few other strange animals that I had never heard of.

Olivia was so excited to meet Grandma:

Grandma and the three girls:

Thanks so much for coming to visit, Mom!!  We love you!  And thanks, Dad, for letting her be gone so long! (Mom flew to TX from here to spend some time with Molly, then flew to CO to spend a week with Emma.  It was quite a long trip!)

Can't wait to see you again, hopefully soon!