mounds of blessings

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. When 25 of my favorite family members (minus many others we love as well, of course) get together, eat way too much food, and are extra aware of our blessings.

In the past, as we sit around the table with stuffed bellies, we've shared our thankfuls. Tears always come. This year, we decided to try to lighten the mood, avoid repeats (everyone's thankful for family and friends!), and not put anyone on the spot. Enter, the thankful tree....

I totally borrowed the idea from some blog I came across, but it was a really fun way to share. Everyone sent me their thankfuls in advance, Hadley and I wrote them on packing labels, and I tied them to some branches that I had. Aesthetically, it worked great.

After the meal, I passed out a branch to everyone, we read the thankfuls out loud, and tried to guess who's was who's. Only a few tears, but I thought it was fun!

Aunt Wendy and Mama Two/Aunt Sue Sue...and just a few casseroles to munch on.

From another angle.

The next morning, we decided we needed a full breakfast because we hadn't eaten enough the day before. Our neighbors had given us a dozen eggs from their chicks. Beautiful and yummy, as always!

Hadley the pancake expert, and Wyche mixing the eggs.

War Eagle. AU - 28, AL - 27.

On the tail-end of our Augusta trip, we got to see my college roommate, Micah, and meet her 3 day old little girl, Millie Kate! We also got to play with Harris, her 15 month old! So fun.

To close out our vacation, we celebrated a dear friend's birthday with a surprise at Red Salt in Marietta.

Christmas decorations went up yesterday...pictures to come! It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!

shelves!

There are always things to do around the house. But I haven't been this excited about a project in a while. You see, we have a closet at the end of our hallway, in between the two guestrooms. Closet = storage. And i love storage!

Unfortunately, when we moved in, there were no SHELVES in the closet. Wish I had a before pic, because we just had everything stacked in a mound (I'd pity anyone who opened the door!!).

Well, this weekend, handy-dandy husband...he installed the shelves! (Thank you, Elfa, and the Container Store.) I've finally been able to organize and clear out the guest room closets! I'd like to get some baskets b/c it sure still looks a little like a mess. But I promise it's all organized...and on shelves!!

Happy Thanksgiving! So much to be grateful for. Thank you, Jesus.

big night

That's right...Ga State vs. Alabama

TONIGHT

Gooooo panthers!

And just because I love love love this site. Here's the latest from Catalog Living. Laugh. Out. Loud.

The Feast

As I've mentioned before, my company does a huge feast every year as we celebrate Thanksgiving with just the Unboundary family. Dawn outdid herself, as usual. But this year was one of my favorites. She rounded up a collection of sentiments for what everyone here is thankful for, in regards to Unboundary, and hung them in such a beautiful way. The below video, by the superdy-duperdy talented David Naugle, is a quick capture of the celebration.

i said it's great to be...

...you guessed it...an Auburn Tiger!

[Gina, Charlsie, Allison, Devon, Betsy, Katy, Boatmans, and all other Georgia fans who read my blog: I'd go ahead and skip to the last picture. Trying to play nice, here.]

This weekend was so. much. fun. I had almost forgotten what it was like to be in Auburn on game day. Gah. Really one of my favorite places! Especially when we beat up on the Bulldawgs. And especially when we're 11-0. Just sayin'! Now, the wknd in pics...

1/2 of The Pink House represented...

love these girls and our college memories

our only picture, from Tee's box, after everyone

had cleared out! good thing the AU was still on the screen

[sidenote: the post-game celebration might have been the most fun! we

didn't leave for an hour. the band played, the students sang, the players

ran up and down the field, and we got to thoroughly celebrate the

last home game of one of our best seasons. waaaaar eagle :)]

Allen/Goldsmith tailgate: an Auburn/Georgia tradition

We closed out the weekend celebrating all of the Charles

Allen kids' birthdays (which happen to all fall in November).

Pictured here is Mema with her three chillin' (as she would say).

too early?

This is where I was yesterday afternoon. Yes, early November. But it sure was fun!

[all photos taken with my Kodak pocket video camera]

how cute are they?

reading their Christmas lists to Santa

and we had to throw in a ride on the Pink Pig

I might have turned on some Christmas music last night too. Oh well.

wedding photos

Here are a few pictures from Andy + Betsy's big day. We got to spend some time with them as they came through Augusta this weekend on their way back to Madagascar. It's sad to see them go, but so glad that Andy now has his wife to join him on his adventures!

Bridesmaids Luncheon at Stonewall Golf Club

Betsy takes on a few new sisters

Rehearsal Dinner at Great Meadows (also the reception site)

Grandma was bundled up!

Bride and Groom with two of the bridesmaids

Andy carved this pumpkin himself!

It's him and Betsy, if you couldn't tell.

The Allen Family toast

(video to come)

The Reception

[I have to say that Virginia in the fall provided one of the most beautiful backdrops I've ever seen. And Great Meadows was the perfect place to show it off!]

Our view I See the tiny specs down there?

That's how far down A + B ventured for photos.

They're going to be great!

Allen Family photo

Andy and his three sisters.

Bless his heart!

So, not only was the daytime view incredible, God (and grandpa Tom) blessed us with the most beautiful sunset.

the newlyweds

the not-so-newly-weds

la familia

My favorite aunt with my 3rd favorite uncle :)

just before the first dance

(which can be seen here)

Father/daughter dance

Isn't Mr. Isom so handsome in his uniform?!

love.

mother/son dance

they even played "Carolina Girl" for

a grandma/grandson dance.

it was p-r-e-c-i-o-u-s!

Cutting the cake...yummy!

And that's all I've got. We couldn't be more excited to have Betsy Allen as a part of our family. Now, we're working on planning our Madagascar 2011 family vacation!

I should probably mention...

...that was their first dance, too.

Wedding Video #1

I'm going to post pictures soon, but first I just have to share this video. A little bit of background: My brother grew up with 3 sisters. So, while we might have driven him nuts most of the time, he sure did learn a lot that will get him extra points in the husband department. For one thing, he can be quite the romantic, when appropriate, if I can say so myself.

Needless to say, he shocked us all with their first dance. Check it out -

Forgive my shaky hand, this recorded with our pocket video camera. Gotta love all of the women's reactions when he starts playing. :)

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday, we landed in Atlanta around 4:15pm. By the time we got our bags, found our car, and pulled into our driveway, it was close to 5:15pm. With everything going on last week in prep for the wedding weekend (which was so. much. fun....lots of pictures, video, and stories to come!), I didn't have time to pick up any candy.

So when I saw the group of trick-or-treaters start to gather at our neighbors house for a little pre-party with pizza and festivities, I bolted out to Kroger to grab something to give the little ones! Good news: when you wait until trick-or-treating time, candy is 30% off! And I made it home in time to get everything set up. Here are some pics -

The house where the festivities began

[This woman is the queen of holiday decor!!]

Our neighbor, Cynthia, who does the

"Great Pumpkin" theme every year

Our house, that pales in comparison

I was just glad the kids made the trip

down the driveway!

Here they come!

I thought this Twister costume was awesome! And to the

right is our sweet neighbor, Teddy the skunk

Happy first Halloween in Underwood Hills :)