Our Thanksgiving!

We had a really fun Thanksgiving this year.  Nate's sister, Lizzie, came and stayed with us for a few days (we already miss her!) and we had so much fun with her.  And then my step-brother Rhett, his wife Katie, and their son Westen, came for Thanksgiving Day.  We ate delicious food, played Rock Band, darts, and laughed the night away.  So fun!  So here is our day in pictures...

First of all, we decided to get a turkey Breast from The Q Shack in Durham.  We had their turkey a few days previous and were thrilled to find out they sold whole turkey breasts for Thanksgiving.  Southern Smoked turkey for our last Thanksgiving in the South?  Yes, please! 

Quick and important note: Rhett is very proud of his Movember mustache, if you can't tell. :) Nate is just a little jealous and wishes his mustache could be just as "bushy", haha!

Nate gave Rhett turkey carving honors.

Soooooo yummy...

Katie made some delicious rolls...

 The spread...

Mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed corn, sparkling cider (bottled and homemade), green bean casserole, stuffing, smoked turkey, yams, and rolls.  Perfect.  

The gang...

Proof I was there...

My plate...

After we all scarfed down our food, it was on to some intense Rock Band...

Despite the looks on our faces, we were enjoying ourselves, I promise.

 Ruby took a Jell-O break...

Back to Rock Band...

Rhett was the Drum Master.

Lyla loves her Auntie Katie.

Westen had a major love for Lizzie and stayed with her for almost the entire night.  Lizzie was in heaven!

When the adults went to get dessert, the girls took over Rock Band.  I'm pretty sure they are natural born rockstars.  Get ready for some more awkward (yet, oh so adorable, faces)...

Work it, girl!

Rhett's jell-o break...

And back to the action.  These next faces of Lyla's are hilarious.  So intense.

And Ruby may or may not have made-out with the microphone when it was her turn to sing...

We were all trying to sing over Ruby because she was singing so softly and didn't know the song and kept failing out of the song.

Apparently, the microphone turned into an ice cream cone...

Rhett busting out again...

One last picture of this cute pair...

And some Thanksgiving Family pics.  These 3 were so cute I couldn't decide, so I just posted all of them...

And then our little family :)

A big THANK YOU to Lizzie, Rhett, Katie, and Westen for making our Thanksgiving SOO much fun!  Love you guys!

Thankful for Good Friends

I am thankful for good couple friends and good girlfriends.  

We really liked Chicago and we made some really great friends there (you know who you are!)  But I still sort of felt like I just did not belong and when it came to it, I was very ready to leave.  Coming to Durham ended up being one of the greatest blessings of my life.  I love it here.  I love the people.  I love Duke.  I love our ward.  I love our house.  And most importantly, I love my friends here.  My girls love their friends here.  And Nate loves his guy friends here (but to make it sound more "cool", he would say something like "Yeah, _____ is a really good guy, I like him a lot" or "We get along pretty well"  But know everyone that for Nate, that pretty much = love, in the bro kind of way.).  Anyway, I love the girls nights.  I love the late night chats.  I love watching TV shows in the wee hours of the morning :).  I love that I know I can count on them for anything.  I love that I can be myself with them.  I love that I know that we all just truly love and care for each other and look out for one another.  This is a lot of love, I know.

I wish that I could just post pictures of all the ladies I love out here, but that would be a bit ridiculous and really long.  There are girls that have moved away whom I totally miss.  And there are girls who moved in this year that I absolutely love and am already good friends with and I'm kind of mad that I won't get more time with.  But for now, I'll just post a picture of these lovely ladies...

Laura, Kelly, and Haley. Nov. 2012

Heavenly Father really did answer my prayers when he sent me these girls.  I am so grateful for them. They are both fellow 2nd year wives and so we started and will finish this whole MBA phase of our lives together.  I am so blessed to be able to call them my good friends.  Love you girls!

And in case you didn't get the gist of this post...

Whether it's friends in Durham, Chicago, Seattle, Utah, Cali, or elsewhere... I. Love. My. Friends. All of them.  And I am grateful for them.  The end. :)

Family Pictures 2012

My amazingly talented friend, Belize, took our family photo's the other day and I LOVE how they turned out!

haha!

My absolute favorite of me and Nate! 

Thank you, Belize!!!