Blue Ridge and Other Things

Happy Thanksgiving week!  I am sure everyone is gearing up to cook and/or eat lots of food here in a day or two.  I, for one, am super excited about spending Thanksgiving with my family!  I haven't spent Thanksgiving in Florence since I got married so I cannot wait to see a lot of relatives I haven't seen since my wedding and introduce Mason to everyone.  I am also very much looking forward to my Aunt Marva's macaroni and cheese and my mom's seven layer salad and my grandmother's (Mamaw) chicken and dressing, fried okra, and potato salad!!!!! I am so pumped! (Big Fat Fatty)  Notice I only mentioned the food and nothing about the thankfulness.  I am very thankful for so many things, but I will save that for a future post, Lord willing I have time to do another one soon.  

Now, let me wrap up the Blue Ridge vacation with these pics from the last full day we had at the cabin...

Here we have Ben's artistic photography capturing his "perfect s'more."

Ben and Mason are going to kill me for putting this one on the blog, but I love it!!! Mason doesn't favor us in many ways physically (the bright blue eyes and blonde hair), but he has so many of our other characteristics.  I love their sleepy head looks early this morning.  We didn't get much sleep on the trip because Mason had a hard time sleeping through the night for some reason.  Special thanks to mom and dad for staying up with him a couple of nights.

Ahh, I am so sneaky capturing this picture of Matt.  Cara brought her cool travel hammock and I think I need one of those as well... maybe for Christmas.

Cara was forcing Matt to share the hammock with her.  

Not exactly the correct focus, but I think this picture of Berkley is hilarious.

Mason is always thrilled to walk around.  I am learning to shoot on Manual and I forget I have the camera set to manual and just start shooting.  This pic is over exposed and unedited but I love the expression captured on Mason's little face.

Berkley Boo my mountain dog.  He is such a rugged poodle.

The sun made the leaves light up like they were glowing!  I love fall because of all the beautiful colors!

It was all in all, a wonderful trip and we had so much fun! I definitely recommend Blue Ridge as a fall vacation spot for any family.  I wish I had captured a few shots of down town Blue Ridge because it is such a quaint little town.  I also need to share our experience at the store "Gypsy Eyes, Mystical Shop." Yes, didn't know that was the name of the shop until after we went in there.  You can just imagine....

I would also like to share this link with you.  It is from Women's Bible Cafe which I stumbled upon while searching for a good Bible study.  The Women's Bible Cafe offers several on-line Bible studies that you can follow along with every week.  I did Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World and I loved it! I highly recommend this website if you don't have time to meet weekly with a group or another individual but would like to participate in a study.  It was a blessing to me even though I did struggle to keep up with the reading.  The link I shared is a really uplifting article about gifts that we can all share with others such as Joy, Strength, and Peace.  It reminds me that "small" things, as simple as praying for someone or just being there for a friend going through a tough time can have such an impact on another person.  Check it out if you have time!

New Things

Greetings from Pike Road during the ice storm of 2011!! I have to say that it was a bit of a let down for me, seeing as we didn't get any snow. We did, however, get a little ice covering here and there and I woke up in time to snap a few pictures of the ice covered pines before they returned to their normal state.

Now, on to new things....

First of all, we have decided on a name for our baby!! He will be called Mason Grant Lassiter. Mason is my mother's maiden name and Grant is Ben's middle name. Although we have thought this would be the name for a while now, it has been really hard for me to say it was a definite! It is just that he will be stuck with this name for the rest of his life and I wanted to be sure he would like it. I hope that he does! For Christmas my sister-in-law, Jessi, gave me some monogrammed cloth diapers with Mason's name on them and they are adorable! It was very exciting to get his first personalized item! I have officially bought all of the fabric for the bedding (that my friend Kellie is going to make, she, along with mom and sis have been a huge help) so now I can get going on the nursery!

With the new year comes new year's resolutions.... I make these resolutions pretty much every year with last year being the only exception. I thought, I never keep these resolutions so why make them? So, last year I was resolutionless and somehow I survived 2010....shocking. Anyway.... this year I went back to my old ways and decided to make some resolutions... I'll begin with the one I have actually kept:

1. I cannot order a beverage with any meal (other than water) unless it comes with a combo or a special (like at a bar-b-que place where tea is included, etc.). I did this back in 2007 and it worked well. Cuts back on unnecessary calories and saves money... two for one bonus! Ben and I make this into a competition to keep us motivated and so far we are doing a good job with this one.

2. Bedtime at 10:00 and wake up time at 6:00. So far this one is a no go. We have made it to bed at ten on occasion, but it is the waking up a 6:00 that gets me every time. I wanted to do this resolution because I feel that I will be more productive if I get on up and going earlier in the mornings. You know what they say, "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man (or woman) healthy, wealthy, and wise!!!" I know that 6 is not early for many, but it is early for me!

3. Read my Bible more often. I set my goal for 3 times a week. I am not doing so well with this one either but it is going to improve!! I am going to start a new Bible study (a 90 day study) called "Becoming the Woman God Wants You to Be" focusing on Proverbs 31 and I am quite excited about it. I am waiting on my book to get here from Amazon so I can get started. My friend Shelley is doing this study with me and my mom has already started it with some of her friends. I think this study will help me with my "read the Bible more often" resolution for sure!" Now, if only my book would get here!!

4. Exercise more. This also has a 3x per week goal. So far I stink at this. What happened to those days in college when I loved to go running as a stress reliever? Now thinking of running causes me stress. Granted, I can't exactly run with this belly because it just feels bazaar, but I should be doing more exercise wise. Why is it that the older you get and the more exercise you need, the more difficult it is to do?? Life can be so ironic sometimes.

5. Thank you notes. I AM AWFUL. I mean, I did well with the wedding and showers and writing hundreds of thank you's for those things. However, I am really bad at writing sporadic thank you notes. I want to be better about this. Several friends have already given me little gifts for Mason that I appreciate so much but I only think of writing the thank you note when I am at work or driving or in some situation where writing a thank you note is completely inconvenient. Ben, who doesn't really see the value in or the necessity of a thank you note says I need to let this go, but I can't. I can't. It is good etiquette to let the gift giver know you are appreciative. Ben's reasoning is, "you don't expect a thank you note, do you?" Granted, no, I don't expect one and I wouldn't remember if I didn't receive one. But they are really nice to receive, aren't they?

So, there are some other things that I have been working on lately that aren't really resolutions but just things that I am enjoying and wanting to do more of:

First, pictures! We have finally purchased some wedding pictures (yes, over 2 years later). We decided to purchase the cd of all the pictures so we could do what we wanted with them. It was just waaaay to hard to pick and choose a few. I am excited about putting together a photo book and getting some of these pictures printed to actually HANG ON MY WALLS. If you have ever been to my house then you are aware that I have NOTHING on my walls and NO recent pictures displayed. It is pretty sad actually. We have been here 3 years in May! So, before Mason gets here, we have got to get some photos up. When we have a baby, we are officially no longer newly weds and it will not be acceptable to have no wedding pictures out. Here is one of my favorites! (Seems like it was just yesterday. Sigh.)

Another thing I have been wanting to do for a WHILE, and have recently started, is archiving recipes. That probably sounds lame. I love to read recipes but when it comes time to cook, I get so overwhelmed trying to choose a recipe out of the thousands on line and in the fourteen hundred cookbooks I have, that I freak out, mentally shut down, and then cook Poppyseed Chicken Casserole. That is always fine with Ben because that it is his all time favorite, but I want to try new things!! Thus, let the archiving begin! What I mean is, I will write down the best recipes on notecards and store them in my handy recipe organizer box that mom gave me (it has a bluebird on it in honor of Mr. Tweeters). Then, when I go looking for new things to cook I can just consult one consolidated place instead of searching the afore mentioned plethora of recipes. Ahhh, I can think better already. On a side note, if you have not checked out PW's Tasty Kitchen site, please do so! I especially love the Tasty Kitchen blog. The blog often features themes of recipes that have been posted on the site. The themes include Mac and Cheese recipes, Pasta Salads, various beverages, chocolate desserts, etc. etc. etc. I love it!

And last, PHOTOGRAPHY! I have enjoyed this hobby so much and I have so much to learn! Very soon my reason for taking up this hobby (my baby) will be here in all his glory for me to photograph for life!! Thanks for all the practice, Pete and Berkley, but I am movin on up. I am very appreciative to my friends Kellie and Lindsey and Jessi for letting me practice on their babies.

In conclusion, a very special shout out to my Auburn Tigers!!! Good luck guys and WAR EAGLE!!!! It is almost game time!!!!!

A LONG Post

Well, it's finally fall! Don't get me wrong, I like summer, but fall is my favorite time of year! I will do my annual "Things I Love About Fall" post a little later, but for now I need to recap a few things and post some pictures for memory's sake... Remember back in July when I wrote A ((as in singular) post and mentioned that I was in Blue Ridge at a cabin waiting on my family to arrive? Well, here are the events as follows.... And following those events... the trip to Elijay for Ben's family reunion!

(All of these photos (except 2 of them) are strait out of the camera taken with my 50mm lens. A lot of them could use some touching up, but I love the pictures that this lens takes! )

Blue Ridge Family Vacation

My family, part of which were supposed to arrive around 5, arrived well after midnight due to several various setbacks including that the Garmin is a liar and tells people to turn onto roads that don't exist. Anyway, I was sitting in the mysterious 3 story cabin surrounded by woods for several hours at night alone. Thank goodness I had the dogs because it was creepy! No blinds or curtains on the windows... not sure what was in the basement... etc. Anyway, the rest of the family (except Ben who had to work until Sunday) finally did show up.

Matt was exhausted from his summer job as a landscaper in the 100+ degree heat. In fact, that is probably the only reason I was able to get any photos of him on this whole trip. He hates it when I try to take his picture. But I got some. Sucker. Oh, and the little white dogs, Henry and Scooter, LOVE him. And they drive him insane. I think it's hilarious.

This is my sister at breakfast the next morning. We laughed at this picture for an hour.

We spent most of our time at the cabin just playing in the creek, fishing, and walking in the forrest that surrounded the property. It was a beautiful place and we definitely left saying how much we look forward to going back.

The boys watching Matt fish...

Matt is so excited that Pete got in the water with him while he was trying to fish.

I really love this picture of my dad.

When my family got into town, my dad and Matt were in charge of going into the store and picking up the things that were on the list Cara and Mom made. Cara put "large sunglasses" on the list. These are the ones my dad picked out. I would say he followed her instructions exactly.

Here is the cabin's kitchen. It is by far the best cabin we have stayed in. I wish I had taken more photos of it!

So, for a huge surprise, mom hired a chef, yes, a chef to come in and give us a cooking lesson! Our chef's name was Chef Douglas and he came around noon and brought everything needed to prepare a gourmet meal. He taught us how to make crab cakes with sautéed spinach and portobello mushrooms, peach champagne soup, goat cheese bruschetta, and a berry tart with Chantilly cream for dessert. It was amazing! For some reason, Matt and Dad didn't want to stick around for this so they went canoeing and fishing instead.

Chef Douglas actually has a business called "Cabin Cuisine" where he will come to various cabins and prepare meals for the guests or do cooking lessons. I think it is a great idea! Mom, Cara, and I had the best time, loved the food, and learned some good cooking tips!

This swing in the backyard was a favorite spot of all.

Matt and Cara at dinner one night. I really am their sister. We really are blood related.

The dogs absolutely loved playing in the creek that ran behind the cabin. Berkley was a little timid about the water at first but eventually warmed up to it and then turned into a reckless maniac. Berkley and Pete spent most of their time chasing balls that were thrown into the water.

Henry and Scooter wanted to get in the water and play with the big dogs so bad. It was hilarious watching them trying to participate.

One day we took a walk into the surrounding forrest and enjoyed taking a lot of fun nature pictures. This one is my favorite.

My dad was actually wearing a "Bama" shirt here, but I might have taken that out...

Ben and me ready to go out for dinner... I was so glad he didn't have to work the whole weekend and got to come to the cabin for 2 nights. It just isn't the same when he's not around.

Me and my Berkley Baby Poodle.

Lassiter Family Reunion at Amicalola Falls

I should start by saying that 1. I did a horrible job of taking pictures on this trip and 2. from the beginning I was very concerned about how this trip was going to turn out.... there is a Highfield family curse when it comes to taking trips and I was afraid I had inherited it.

It all began when Berkley and Pete (who were supposed to go on the trip which includes a 4 hour car ride) both got diarrhea the day before we were supposed to leave. I have no idea what caused this, but needless to say we were stopping every hour so or so to ensure that the dogs did not have any accidents in the car. On top of that, the night before we left, Ben discovered that some money had been taken out of my pay check without my permission for a "garnishment." So, we spent the drive up to GA stopping to let the dogs have diarrhea and on the phone with WalMart's garnishment office, a law office, and my district manager. Turns out that some man named Cedric, who also works for Wal Mart, has the same last 4 digits of my ss# and Wal Mart mistakenly took money out of my account instead of his. We are talking about 800 dollars. If we had not caught this mistake, the grand total would've been about 2300 dollars. Soooo, we are off to a great start!

We finally arrive safely to our Cabin in Elijay with no accidents. It was kind of tricky to find and we had to follow a very narrow gravel road to reach it. Ben and I dropped the dogs off at the cabin and went to pick up a few items from the store for lunch and for the reunion cook out the next day at the park. While we were at the store, a huge storm came up with a lot of thunder and sky to ground lightning. When we returned home we discovered that the power was out at our cabin. It really turned out great because we just relaxed, read, and took a nap. It'll be back on in a hour or so, right? Wrong.

Ben's parents made it to the cabin around 8 or so. I am not sure how they were able to find it in the dark! We lit a bunch of candles and sat and talked until Ben and I realized we were really hungry. However, how would we cook anything? Ben had a fabulous idea to cook our frozen pizza on the grill by the light of his cell phone. It was actually very good!

The power stayed off until around 11 AM the following day, just in time for us to get ready to go to the reunion at the park. Almost all of Ben's dad's family was there. Ben's dad is one of 7 children and we were getting together with his parents, the kids, and their families. It was fun getting to know them and we enjoyed hiking the trails at Amicalola falls. I didn't get many good pictures because I was mostly worried about Pete and Berkley. Bringing them to the cookout probably wasn't the best idea, but Ben's little cousins had a good time walking them around on their leashes.

The following day we didn't have a specific check out time so we spent some time walking the road that our cabin was on and playing in the creek in front of the cabin. The weather for the rest of the trip was beautiful and it really wasn't too hot... at least not compared to the stifling heat of Montgomery!

Before we left, Ben and I decided to set up the camera to take some family photos. This is the first try. The second try was better and that is the picture in my header above. The funny thing about this set of pictures is Pete. He drops his ball while the camera is shooting. My camera was set to take about 6 frames and you can see Pete watching his ball fall and then roll off the porch. It is hilarious because he is OBSESSED with the ball.

Anyway, that about sums up our summer trips with the families. I hate I didn't get more pictures of Ben's family while we were with them. Hopefully next time Ben's brothers and their families will be able to come too and I am sure there will be plenty of photo opportunities then!