Thanksgivings (Yes Plural)

This year Derek and I had the chance to celebrate Thanksgiving several times… and you don't see me arguing!

First I had a Thanksgiving potluck at work that was interesting. A lot of the people I work with are Latino so it was a fusion Thanksgiving with a lot of Latin food and some American food. Turns out it was really good!

Our Thanksgiving assortment

Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip I made… AMAZING!

My homemade stuffing

We also did a Friendsgiving with our medical school friends. It was such a fun night full of food and laughs. I am so glad we have these great friends.. they are definitely on my list of things I am grateful for this year! Thanks to Matt for having a great camera and taking lots of fun pics. And thanks to everyone for cooking up some amazing food for us to enjoy!

So. Much. Food.

The crew

Love these ladies

Our last Thanksgiving was with my family in Satellite Beach. My cousin came from North Carolina and my other cousins came with their kids. It was so fun to have the family together (minus Mike) and be together. I wish the day could have lasted longer! Sarah and I had a little photoshoot in the back yard because, well, thats what we do when we get together. It was awesome… so enjoy :)
 

Ryan's Christmas aura

 Our Christmas tree star fail

My sissy! 

Thanksgiving

This was the first Thanksgiving Derek and I got to spend together in Florida! It was so fun to be home and spend time with family. Buffy, Greg and Chloe came down from Atlanta and Sarah and Ryan were in town on Saturday. School has been busy for Derek so I was looking forward to letting him take a break and get some rest!

Thursday we drove up and had lunch at Aunt Nez's house. As always, we had a healthy political debate over lunch and then planned our Black Friday shopping. We ended up going shopping on Thursday night and we had all of our shopping done by 11:30pm! Mom got some awesome deals and finished all of her Christmas shopping by the end of the weekend (jealous). We just hung out with my mom and dad the rest of the day and of course we watched lots of football. Friday we hung out with the Coddington and Estes families and ate another Thanksgiving dinner. No turkey at this one... just a yummy roast thanks to my FIL. Chloe is getting so big and we had a blast playing with her and getting a glimpse into her fun personality. I wish we were closer to all of the nieces and nephew, but thankfully the whole Estes family will be up in Atlanta for Christmas so we will get a chance to see them all soon. Saturday Sarah and Ryan got back from North Florida and we ate yummy yummy cheese stakes at Little Phillies. If you are ever in Satellite Beach, go there... they are the best! After we went to Viero and shopped at the outlets and got dinner. Surprisingly Derek got more clothes than I did :) He is all decked out now with a nice professional wardrobe from Banana Republic (thanks Mom and Vickie!) We had a blast with all the families... I could have used another day or two for sure!

 Our yummy dinner with the Estes and Coddingtons

Watching some football

We drove home Saturday night and recovered from the trip on Sunday. I pulled out the Christmas decorations and our family room is nice and festive now. I got a cold over the weekend so this week has been long, but I am so glad we got to go home for the holiday! I love our families and I feel so lucky to have them so close to us. I love the holiday season and I am ready to celebrate in fashion!

 

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I have been thinking a lot about being thankful and about giving. I love the recent trend of posting something you are thankful for everyday of the month. People are using Instagram, Twitter or Facebook to express their thanks, which I just love. As I have seen this, I wondered if I could come up with 30 things I am thankful for. It reminds me of a funny experience I had as a kid. For some reason, I wanted to say a really long prayer. I would see my mom and dad pray and it seemed like they were down on their knees forever! So with the resolve of a child, I sat on my knees and started praying. I ran out of things to pray about pretty quickly and so I decided to start giving thanks for all of the animals on the earth. I went through all of the animals I could think of. Then I went to people. I remember going through my whole school class and church class. Eventually I ran out of things pray about and was surprised only a few minutes had passed (it felt like an eternity). I realize that in my busy life, I often don't take the time to stop and just be thankful for everything I have. I have so many things to be thankful for and I am grateful for a month to remember all of those things. For all of you sharing your thanks on social media, thank you for sharing what is most important and precious to you! It reminds me of the blessings I have!

 Oh and I am thankful for this kid :)

I really do love November. First, every two years there is an election of some sort. I love politics and elections, but what I love the most is seeing everything come together in an election. Even if my candidate didn't win, at least I had the chance to participate in the democratic process and witness what makes America unique. Second, I get to prepare for Christmas! I love Christmas time and November means I can clean off my Harry Connick Jr CDs and get in the Christmas spirit. We haven't really been in a position to go all out and decorate for Christmas since we have been married (mainly because we travel so much this time of year) but I still enjoy putting up my small tree and putting twinkle lights around the house. Third, there is a break from school and work! Since Derek is the eternal student (thanks babe!) these little breaks are awesome! I love having him around for a few days without the distraction of school. I get a few days off work as well so it really is one of the few weeks in the year we get to enjoy each others company without distraction.

I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving! I hope we all take a second after we have stuffed ourselves on yummy food to be thankful for all of the little things we have.