thanksgiving in raleigh. . .

 our trip to north carolina was pretty much amazing.

we spent time with family, ate amazing food and got

to see our adorable new niece caroline for the first time!

logan & i headed to NC a day earlier than the rest of our family

because logan was itching to show me some of the houses

he grew up in when he lived in fayetteville. 

we stayed at a cute bead and breakfast in pinehurst our first night.

to say that i fell in love with that town would be an understatement.

it was quaint & cozy & awesome & i want to go back!

 i'd never been to NC before but the first thing i noticed were all the treeeees!

they are ginormous and cover like every inch of the state!

first up on our tour in fayetteville were logan's schools.

ironically he admitted to hating both of them, but we couldn't pass

up an opportunity to relive the glory days of awkward teenage-ness.

even though he said he hated his schools, i could see the longing in his eyes

to be back on those tennis courts.

next we checked out the three houses logan & his family lived in.

once again, i fell in love with the trees & the lake & all the 

gorgeous fall leaves.

at this point i pretty much shed a tear when i thought about having to go

back to san antonio where there isn't a fall leaf in sight & the

temperatures are still in the 70's.

yuck.

i liked the horse that lived just a few yards away from his first house.

logan was 88% sure that it was the same horse that lived there when he did.

he would apparently pet the horse as he waited for the 

bus each morning.

in the words of logan, "that horse and i had a bond".

ok.

 after the tour de fayetteville, we headed to raleigh to meet up

with the big SJ to stay with her in-laws. 

my parents & my grandmas flew in from utah thanksgiving day

to celebrate with everyone.

between thanksgiving meals, playing games & just hanging out

with the fam, we had time so squeeze in some other fun

activities while in raleigh.

logan bonded with roxy & made me officially dog-crazy.

i want a little yuppy dog so bad now it's insane.

just look at the way roxy is gazing at logan.

pure love & joy right there.

we tried goodberry's frozen custard.

for those of you who know nielsen's frozen custard

in utah i would dare say that goodberry's is just as good if not better!

i was quite pleased with my chocolate/cookie dough creation & my

mom was on cloud 9 with her jumbo-sized concoction. 

we also went to Duke and checked out the incredible campus.

the old buildings were so pretty!

if logan went to business school there i would not complain:)

 one of the things i enjoyed doing most in raleigh was

taking early morning runs and checking out all the beautiful houses!

if i can live in a big beautiful southern home i will die a happy woman!

some of these houses were like straight out of pinterest people-no lie!

the trip ended with caroline's baby blessing.

her dad, tyler gave her a beautiful blessing & she didn't make a peep

during the whole thing which everyone was a little nervous about:)

baby caroline has the cutest little face & her expressions are priceless!

to recap:

1. thanksgiving was delicious 

2. baby caroline is the cutest niece ever

3. north carolina has stolen my heart

playing catch up. . .

wow, i am failing epically at updating our blog.

i started to blog because i was slacking in the journal writing department 

and wanted to find a different way to keep track of all the random/funny/lovely

adventures we like to have.

so without further adieu, here are 2 posts about life lately. . .

first on the agenda- halloween!

if you know logan & i, you know that we LOVE halloween.

we may or may not win first place at my niece's

halloween birthday party every year in the

costume contest.

nbd.

i'm not ashamed to admit that i'm usually a man when i dress up.

2006- boy scout

2007- british bobby

2008- the biker in YMCA

2010- old man from UP

i rest my case.

last year logan & i actually had a "couples costume"

in which i was a female.

bert and mary poppins thank you very much.

 this year some friends from work & i wanted to do

a group costume for our "character book parade" at school.

in order to respect the wishes of families who don't

celebrate halloween and costumes, etc. the school

invites the kids to dress up as a character from their

favorite book!

my friends and i decided to go with peter pan.

take a wild guess who ended up being peter.

 tinkerbell, wendy, nana the dog & i had a great time

getting into character at school.

one little girl asked me if i was robin hood or peter piper.

for reals.

maybe she's never read/seen peter pan.

speaking of reading the book-one of us was supposed to

find the story of peter pan and bring it to school.

we may or may not have forgotten that part. . . so we improvised.

the kids never knew the difference.

because i was dressing up as peter i figured logan could

just be another character from the story.

he didn't want to be captain hook but that didn't leave

us too many other characters for him to choose from, so we watched

an all time classic, "hook" & decided he could be rufio.

rufio! rufio! ru-fi-oooooooooo!!!

i think i yelled that like 590 times as i made 

logan's costume. . .

i thought our version of rufio/peter turned out pretty legit.

i admit we went on the cheap to make everything.

i found a pattern to sew my hat online and bought some felt

for $1 at hobby lobby.

i spend a good hour or so dusting off my sewing machine

& putting the hat together.

when it was finished i put it on my head & was dumbfounded when it was too small.

like waaaaaay to small.

i then realized the tutorial i found online was from a mom who

made the hat for her 5 year old son.

so another dollar later i had more felt and a hat that actually fit.

we found shirts and just cut them up neverland style.

the bone necklace for logan was super cheap and easy & i used pants

i already owned. 

logan used my soccer socks for his red shoes & found some

black pants at goodwill that he loves & i despise.

he wouldn't let me rip holes in the jeans for the costume because

he wants to wear them "in real life".

that's another story for another day.

we threw some red in logan's hair & voila- he was rufio!

overall halloween was awesome.

logan dominated in "chubby pumpkin" at our friends house

& i made some cookie dough dip that was delicious!

next up on the agenda- logan's birthday!

last year i threw logan a big party with a bunch of DIY projects.

i made logan a big breakfast when he woke up & served it on

the famous "you are special today" plate.

best wedding gift ever!

it's amazing how special you really do feel when eating off it :)

logan told me he would be home around 7:30 so i was a little

shocked when he called a little after 6 & said he was on his way.

i had planned to make logan a pie for his birthday because he 

really likes it.

last year we had a bunch of different pies for his birthday that

family & friends brought over & it was awesome.

i emailed logan's mom asking her for some pie-making tips

because i had never made one by myself & i was slightly terrified.

i decided to make it the day before his birthday so that if anything

went terribly wrong i would still have time to fix it.

i was glad for the helpful tips from logan's mom because i would have

truly been lost without them! 

mixing up the crust was easy.

rolling out the dough was fine.

but picking it up & getting it into the pie dish in one piece?

disaster.

i was literally laughing out loud whilst piecing together the crust.

it took me like an hour.

i opened the cherry filling and got even more nervous because the

pie wasn't filled right up to the top like i wanted.

i ended up using the rest of a frozen berry mix we use

for smoothies & it filled it up right to the top.

crisis averted. 

doing the lattice top was the thing i was dreading the most.

they just seem so difficult and time consuming to

me for some reason.

i didn't weave the pieces over & under each other

which probably would have taken me like 2 years but it 

still came out looking kind-of like a lattice top which was fine by me :)

after it baked i had to figure out what in the world i was going to do with

it so it wouldn't be discovered.

i ended up taking it out and letting it cool down and then i just put

it back in the oven covered with foil overnight.

why on earth would logan ever decide to just walk up to the

oven and open it, right?

the evening of his actual birthday he came home & we had some delicious

honey lime chicken enchiladas.

my sister gave me the recipe & it has quickly become a favorite

dish in the theodore home. 

thanks SJ :)

i was scurrying around the house somewhat like a mad-woman

while i set the table, put out gifts etc.

i had just hung up the happy birthday banner i made last year

when log walked  through the door.

right then i remembered that i had taken the pie out of the oven and

put it in the cupboard while the enchiladas were baking.

the cupboard.

how was i going to get him to open to cupboard to discover the pie?

after we ate & opened gifts, i told logan i was going to do a magic trick

for his birthday but i needed a plate.

totes lame but he fell for it.

he actually looked excited and got up to get one.

he opened the cupboard, reached for a plate and shut the door.

really? i thought. 

he didn't even notice the pie.

he paused for a few seconds & then turned around & discovered it.

he was more excited about the prospect of a magic trick apparently.

when i told him i really didn't have a trick planned he actually

looked disappointed.

sorry log:)

happy 26th birthday!