Give Thanks

The Austin Crew came up for Thanksgiving this year and reminded us how thankful we are for FAMILY! We had a great time and spent a lot of time:
1. Shopping - for food and Christmas gifts
2. Cooking - Self Explanatory
3. Eating - See above
4. Playing with two little boys
I'm at a point in my life where I can't decide if I prefer Thanksgiving over Christmas. I love how much less stressful Thanksgiving can be, and am a sucker for all the fall colors. However, I love the beauty of Christmas and getting to decorate gaudy and get away with it. I guess I'll just keep up tradition and keep celebrating both.
Thanksgiving was a crazy fun whirlwind, but we enjoyed it so much! Mom, Dad, Gigi and Mimi (plus two furry beagles), came up to Dallas this year for Thanksgiving.
We were up and at 'em early Thursday morning for a Belgian Waffle breakfast courtesy of Nana (thank you!), and to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

"Too early."
"What are we doing up so early?" (It really was around 8AM, but it takes us awhile to get moving. We all needed our coffee)
All the cooks in the kitchen.

After we all had some sustenence in us to start cooking (a bit of an oxymoron), Dad and Ross headed outside to fry us some yummy turkeys (canjun and traditional).
Meanwhile, Gigi and I set about in the kitchen making dressing, sweet potatoe casserole, green beans, homemeade rolls (Gigi specialty), mashed potatoes, cranberry salad (Mimi specialty and the only way I eat cranberries), a pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread (shaped as a cornucopia), two chocolate cream pies and an apple pie.

The desert spread...heavenly!

Scott was super busy this year...
Just Kidding. He did a good job setting the table. This might be his permanent job.
Carving the turkey and stealing a bite. If you haven't had fried turkey, try it sometime. It is so good, just like fried chicken!

YUM OH YUM OH YUM! Everything was delish, and the company even better. It's amazing how many dishes we used, but it was worth it.

Patiently waiting for the prayer and dig in time!

Our sweet Mr. Jim and Mrs. Martha came over later for deserts and dishing. We always love seeing them and are so blessed they live nearby.

A little after dinner craft with one cute little Aggie and his Gigi.

And what's Thanksgiving without some serious playing in the leaves. And leaves we do have:

We certainly did Give Thanks for all the God has blessed us with!

Oh Christmas Cards...

Shutterfly is having a giveaway. If you blog about their cards (not hard to do), then you get 50 cards free - sold! We are big Shutterfly fans (not just because of a promotion). We have used them a few times for photobooks for the boys. They have a great program, you can either let them basically create it for you, or create your own. We also made an awesome book for Ross' grandfathers 90th Birthday. We have made calendars for the grandparents as Christmas gifts. Of course each month is a picture of one of the kiddos (seeing a trend here?), but they love them.
And we have loved creating cards through their site. We have done birthday cards, Halloween cards and of course Christmas cards. This year, my favorite Christmas cards are this one, and then this one, and lastly this one. I also really love how they have cards that make contributions to certain causes ("Livestrong", "The American Lung Association" and "Heifer International").
If you would like to get 50 free holiday cards of your own, just go here and plug in your info. You will get an email in a couple of days with instructions.
It's going to be a tough choice, but I have no doubt I will be pleased with the final product and be going to Shutterfly for many more projects!

Photos, Crops and Thoughts

This year for my birthday (31st...ouch!), Ross and my parents totally surprised me with a new camera!! I have been wanting one for quite sometime, but didn't see it on the horizon anytime soon. Well, my awesome husband did some research and with the help of dear ole' mom and dad, they all got me a new Canon Rebel. I was so so super excited! I hate that I'm just now blogging about it, but it was definitely worth talking about.
Of course I have high aspirations of taking beautiful "Pioneer Woman-esque" pictures, but for now, just look back over the past couple of months and you'll see what I've come up with. I have been using Picassa to edit them with, but that basically means I crop them, straighten if needed and maybe adjust the lighting a little. I'm pretty sure I want to get Photoshop Elements to really give them some punch and that pretty vibrant color you see in so many of the professionals photos.
In the meantime, I'm just practicing with my favorite subjects. Here's some shots from our neighborhood fall festival last weekend, which by the way was awesome. I can't believe we haven't got before, but they went all out with bounce houses, a train and catered BBQ. Top that with a beautiful fall evening and it doesn't get much better.

The view up here is always better.

"Look at all that fun!" (too bad we were a little hesitant about trying it all out...maybe next year)

Instead we spent the evening watching Luke play on his "waterfall" (aka, the hill)
"Did you just see that?!"
Sweet smiles from a sweet boy
Mama likes pics with her sunglasses on so you can't see the bags under her eyes. ;)
Time for a rest...Watching the last traces of daytime disappear
Dreamers
Not to be left out, Reid joins the fun.
I'm outta here
My handsome hubby - I get this look a lot
I loved this one so much, because I just see his little mind thinking and savoring the moment.

Thank you so much mom, dad and Ross for my gift and allowing me to capture the precious memories! Love you!