Thanksgiving Weekend

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Eric and I have had an amazingly fun and BUSY month of November. We have hosted both sets of parents, along with my sister and her boyfriend, at our house on two separate weekends and snuck in a trip to Florida somewhere in between. (Someday I promise to get around to blogging about it all!). It was 2.5 weeks of straight fun and leisure but also a lot of work and preparation. So, when Thanksgiving weekend rolled around we were thankful to finally lay down our tour guide and tourist hats for four whole days of rest and relaxation.

Of course, Eric and I don't know how to relax for very long...

We had one full day of rest and indulged in a wonderful and extremely relaxing Thanksgiving with other military couples and individuals who, like us, could not go home for the holiday. Rebecca and Ryan hosted a fantastic dinner!

The Butler's hosted 14 people at their house for Thanksgiving and somehow I only managed to get this picture of the food and her in-laws. Looks yummy though, right?!

We couldn't wait to crash early on Thanksgiving night so we could wake up early and go SNOWBOARDING the next day! (I told you we don't relax much). We topped off our Thanksgiving night with a few rounds of Rummikub and chai tea lattes cozied up by the fire in our PJ's.

And the next day we went SNOWBOARDING! If you can't tell by the all block capital letters, I LOVE SNOWBOARDING! And I especially love snowboarding with Eric. It is my all time favorite outdoor activity that we partake in together. How lucky are we to live in Colorado right now?! It is pretty sweet to live within 2 hours of 10+ swanky ski resorts that all put even Mammoth to shame!



I was pretty stoked wear my new helmet and goggles!



And Eric was just stoked!

Saturday and Sunday we got into the Christmas Spirit and transformed our house into a winter wonderland.
My husband pretty much rocks and took Christmas to a whole new level this year. I've always wanted a light up reindeer in our front yard during the holidays and this year he made my dream come true! He even added in some sparkly twinkle light presents and candy canes in the windows! Swoon...


The candycanes were not hung outside of the windows yet in this picture (just propped up inside) but you can ignore that :)



Our pet reindeer! And pretty presents!

As if spending his Saturday hanging lights and making our house look awesome wasn't enough, Eric spent Sunday running around like elves with me. He drove me AND shopped with me at Pottery Barn, Home Depot, TJ Maxx, Verizon, Costco, Dick's Sporting Goods, Lowe's, and the grocery store. It's as if he knew that decorating and filling our house with holiday cheer when we're so far away from family was just what his little wife needed. As an added bonus, we are also half way done with Christmas shopping!

Happy Holidays! Hope you are getting in the holiday spirit too!

Small Town USA

     Eric and I are 100% certain that the best feature of moving around with the military is the opportunity it gives us to easily visit new places surrounding our new home(s). Visiting Eric's brother's family in Nebraska is obviously no exception to this! Yes, it just so happens that five hours outside of Colorado Springs, Eric's brother, Scott, is a Sheriff in a small town. So, when the Miller clan planned to meet out there to welcome Scott and Stephanie's new baby, Seylah, and celebrate older sister, Savannah's, 4th birthday we loaded down the ol' wagon and spent one weekend in September in Grant, Nebraska aka Small Town USA!

Please, press play on the video below as you scroll through the photos that follow!

     I couldn't help but replay all of my favorite country songs in my head the whole weekend. Most notably Jason Aldean's "Fly Over States" and Justin Moore's "Small Town USA". Let's just say I understand why God made those Fly Over States!

     On a side note, I realize how behind I am on this blog and am not oblivious to the fact that I am writing about events that took place in September when it is already mid November! Happy Thanksgiving all!

Halloween

It's fair to say Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I can't put my finger on why this is exactly. It's not like anyone poisoned my candy, or like I was ever frightened so bad that I peed my princess costume. And it's not like my mom ever dressed me up in anything so ridiculous on Halloween that I just couldn't face my first grade class on November 1st. (Looking back, that Hershey Kiss costume in kindergarten was actually kind of amazing)! With my unwarranted lack of enthusiasm for Halloween aside, I do, however, enjoy a good fright in a spooky haunted house and can appreciate a beautiful, crisp fall night searching for our perfect pumpkin at a pumpkin patch!

We definitely drove 60 miles south to Canon City, CO because Eric found a pumpkin patch that had a corn maze! Totally worth it!

Especially since they had a corn bin that Brody could play in too!

Although Brody couldn't participate in carving, we sure had fun turning our pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns.

Our Masterpieces!

Halloween was low key and wonderful. We spent time in the kitchen making some homemade beef stew and simultaneously handing out candy to rugrats.

We also met more of our neighbors, two of which brew their own beer and just so happen to live directly across the street. Lucky for us, they also like to share! I wonder what Eric's next hobby will be?

So, I guess Halloween isn't terrrrrible I'm just much more of a Thanksgiving and Christmas kinda girl.

Next year I promise to try and get into the spirit a little more and maybe even come up with a creative costume. If not for me, at least for Brody.