My Favorite Things...

Now that Thanksgiving is over and it is almost December my brain switches over to Christmas and all the memories of my childhood start filling my mind and it makes me all warm and gooey inside! I like to think about what really makes Christmas special to me and what I enjoyed most growing up. I am looking forward to bringing the same traditions into my family and making them our own. Here are some of my favorite things about Christmas......enjoy!

Gobble Gobble!

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone but it was a success! I didn't know how I would feel having 10 people over and cooking a pretty important meal, but it was all pretty easy! I woke up around 9am and started on the desserts while Evan cleaned up around the house and outside. I made a blackberry-raspberry-blueberry pie, which came out perfect! This was the first time I made a pie all by myself, watching my mom make them probably helped some. :)
I also made a peanut-chocolate torte and one of our guests brought pumpkin pie.
My brother in law and his girlfriend came over early to help us in the kitchen...they made a yummy salad and helped Evan with the turkey, which was so easy...a turkey, granny smith apples, champagne, spices and throw it in a roasting bag! We had just enough turkey with maybe one or two helpings of leftovers. The rest of our meal consisted of stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, rolls, mashed potatoes and lingon berries(a Norwegian tradition)
I didn't get a picture of the whole crew but here are a few from the day. We are so thankful for our family and friends who came to join us and for having a table big enough to fit everyone :) I really enjoy having people over at our house and I am looking forward to our next big bash!

House Updates

So, I went pretty crazy when we first bought the house with all the painting of the rooms, cabinets, and molding and then I crashed. Now that the wedding is over, its time to get back to "activities" as Evan calls them. He said I was going to have activity withdrawal...and I did. I was itching to paint and decorate!!
I finished the foyer and hallway yesterday, it is a tan that reminds me of a latte...

The living room is starting to look like a livable space! We have added a new couch, rug, pillows and curtains. The only thing missing is more pictures/art on the walls!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving tomorrow!! :)

Birthday fun

Evan had some early birthday celebrations this weekend(his birthday is on Wednesday) with the family. I wasn't feeling good, so he did most of the cooking...plus he probably didn't want my germs on everything :) I did make him a cake though! He requested a vanilla cake with strawberry icing. It was a pretty girly looking cake but still yummy, haha.
My sister in law's husband, Mike helped Evan with some things around the house like putting up a light fixture and putting our grill together. He is a great help with that kind of stuff! The grill is awesome, I didn't realize it would be so big!! It is taking up a lot of room inside until we can get a cover for it....I guess I could fold laundry on it!
ps- We are going to have a little niece to spoil in May! We found out this weekend from Megan, my sister in law that its a girl. We are so excited to be an aunt and uncle, there is already a picture of her on our fridge :)

Professional wedding pics!!

Since a lot of people have been asking when the professional wedding pics would be done, here is Robin's website and the login to view our slideshow of the highlights....
www.robinlin.com
login: heidievan
password: october19

If you live in the Raleigh/Durham area, you should check her out for your next photo shoot, she is wonderful....and a really good photographer!!

Rockie's Work Shower

We had so much fun throwing Rockie a baby shower at work....she is so excited for the big day and it will be here really soon!! She is also going to be such a great mom! I didn't take any pictures of people on my camera :( but I did get some of the food and the diaper cake I made, which was so much fun!! Everyone gave the mom to be some great advice on parenthood, some funny and some serious....all I know is I need to have some cabbage laying around when the time comes...who knew??


Diaper Cake Recipe(in case someone would like to make one but doesn't know how!):

ingredients-
*54 pack of diapers(for two layers) you can really make it as big as you want but just make sure it is sturdy enough for the bottom layer to bare all the weight.
*rubber bands
*wide ribbon of choice
*white infant socks
*pacifiers, teethers, baby forks and spoons, small toys/rattles, etc.

directions-
*roll up diapers individually and place a rubber band around 3 rolled diapers. make a bunch of these bundles and place them together to form a circle
*when you have the size you want, make sure all the rubber bands are running across the middle of the diaper so your ribbon will cover the rubber bands all the way around the cake
*wrap ribbon around the cake and tie it pretty tight in a bow. If you are making a large cake, you may want to attach the ribbon all the way around and make sure to have a sturdy base under the cake.
*Make each layer the same way and stack them on top of each other, tying ribbon around each layer
*Turn white infant socks inside themselves to form a ball, or the "icing roses". place them around the cake in the notches at the base on each layer
*stick pacifiers, spoons, etc behind ribbon or for larger items, attach with twist ties. The heavier the items, the better the ribbon should be attached. My cake was pretty light so I only tied the ribbon around the cake and that's it
*to make a sock "bow", stack socks flat on top of each other and tie ribbon around the middle as tight as you can. Fan the socks out to form a bow shape
*Add any type of cake topper like a picture frame or stuffed animal

And you're done!

Weekend in Greenville

We had a busy but fun weekend....I went home for my (ex) co worker's baby shower(who I am going to miss so much at work, but so happy she is able to stay home with baby) and Evan drove to Va Beach to coach lacrosse. He met me in Greenville Sat. night and we went out for dinner with my best friend Jenna and her boyfriend Josh. We stuffed our faces at a new restaurant in town called Hibachi Grill.....yum. If you live in Greenville, I suggest you go there! We also picked up our grill, my Uncle Bob's wedding gift to us, and a desk from my parent's house. I found some great things from my childhood while cleaning out the desk...even a couple of my diaries from middle school! They were hilarious!!

Here are a couple pictures from the baby shower.....

Fall is here!

Halloween for us this year consisted of carving a pumpkin(which Evan did all by himself :) ) and going to a small party with our neighbors. We did not get any trick or treaters...and probably won't for a while until there are more kids around here! The trees looked so pretty today with the sun shinning through the bright colors so I had to take some pictures of the front yard. I forgot how pretty maple trees are in the fall....