Christmas Recap Part 2

A couple of days after Christmas I set off for Christmas #2 or #3 or #4 depending on how you're counting, in Memphis with my parents and brother. There was more food, more relaxing, a puzzle (of course), and even a trip to IKEA! Unfortunately Eric had to coach a wrestling match that weekend so he had to stay behind for practice and the match.

Jones Family Christmas pic 2017

I am pretty sure LG and Maggie had the most fun of any of us while we were there. They played constantly, to the point that they both slept the entire day after we left.

And still shots of them were next to impossible to get (the dogs, not Mom and Dad)

Maggie taught LG how to dig holes and then got mad because 

all LG wanted to do was dig said holes.

Mom got a new cookbook for Christmas so she and Matt made quick work of trying out a few new recipes.  The Banana Roll was the winner....think pumpkin roll but made with banana bread....YUM!

Perfecting the roll

Top: the finished product; Bottom: Cheesecake Factory dessert one day included Vanilla Bean, Godiva Chocolate, Red Velvet, and Tiramisu cheesecake slices. 

Of course no trip to Memphis is complete without a trip to the Three Dog Bakery.  Since Maggie gets to go often, she begrudgingly let us take just Peanut and LG.  They're becoming pros at the bakery.  They jumped out of the car and ran right up to the door like they knew exactly what we were there for. Treats....duh!

 Getting their complementary treats.

LG said we were taking too long so she laid down to start on her bone.

 Side note - I found the winning combination for driving long distances with dogs: new bones + a 45 minute walk prior to leaving.  They didn't get restless until we were about 30 minutes from home.

Another highlight of the trip was our outing to the IKEA store.  I've only been to an IKEA once so I was pretty excited to go back.  We found a few things we could not live without (many we had no idea we needed), but one of my favorites were kitchen drawers that you can open with your hip (or knee if your tall like my family)....they were pretty amazing.

I am ready to schedule my kitchen remodel like yesterday....but we can't do white cabinets. Keeping those suckers clean with 4 dogs in the house??? Ain't nobody got time for that!

Minus Eric not being there, it was the perfect ending to our Christmases.  I packed up the pups on New Years Eve and headed back to Alabama because we had NYE plans that actually didn't involve a large group of people at our house.....(that never happens!)...I promise to have a full recap on that soon!

Mom and Dad's tree is the tree that keeps on giving (yes it's decorated with Lottery Tickets!)

Christmas 2017 Part 1

It's hard to believe that another holiday season has come and gone...no seriously it flew by so fast this year I felt like I hardly had time to enjoy it. I usually spend the weekends leading to to Christmas on the couch watching Christmas movies and admiring our tree but I am pretty sure that happened all of 3 times the entire month of December.  However, I stayed up way too late every night and worked a few extra hours the week before Christmas all so I could say sayonara suckers on December 22 until the New Year.  I really needed some time to recharge my batteries for 2018 and I although I am only a few days in I think it worked.

Our beautiful tree and our 2017 ornament.  We have one for every year since we got engaged and since we did mot of our traveling via our camper this year, I thought this one was perfect!

So what did our Christmas break look like?  Lots of fun, lots of time with family and friends, and waaay too much good food!

We started Christmas weekend with a birthday/Christmas party for one of our friends.  We ended up with a houseful of folks and played Dirty Santa and had a blast!  Great way to start things off!

Our crew....complete with random mutts running through the picture.

Eric checking out the Dirty Santa loot....he insisted on wearing his ugly Christmas sweatshirt I made several years ago even though we said nothing about wearing ugly Christmas attire. I added a little something extra to it this year.  The ornaments have fallen off over the years so I replaced them with beer bottle tops.

The next day was Christmas Eve.  Since Eric is a notorious last minute shopper, we braved Wally World for a few last minute gifts before heading to have Christmas with his family.  Our nephew stole the show this year, and was the most precious little elf handing out everyones gifts and opening his own of course.

 Christmas with our favorite elf!

              We all know who is in charge here....                             What are those? "pliers"

         dad and uncle are putting his toys together           What do you do with them? "squish things"

          while he doesn't have a care in the world!

SILS on Christmas Eve

We had Christmas morning at our house, complete with breakfast casserole and presents for each other that were actually given to each other on Christmas Day (an anomaly for us). Eric got me a robot to clean the house....and it does such a great job! It's perfectly polite, too.  If one of the dogs gets in it's way it will stop and go around it....and it only chased one of the dogs one time. LG was not amused. 

I did your typical Christmas Day hibernation, but Eric was itching to try out his new Go Pro so he braved the cold, windy weather so he could. You can watch their first GoPro Video HERE. I am amazed by the quality of video he was able to get with it all while he had it strapped to his head.  Stay tuned ...There are more videos to come!

Headed to Christmas Lunch at his grandma's house

Christmas in Memphis was up next.  I headed out with LG and Peanut a couple of days after Christmas (Eric had a wrestling match so he stayed behind with Hawk and Beau) to spend a few days with Mom and Dad and Matt while he was in town. But that's a post for another day.

November Recap: Football, Thanksgiving, and Gum Grafts

To say that the month of November was a whirlwind was a complete and total understatement.  I actually realized on Dec 1 that I made it the entire month without working a single Friday, not that I was complaining at all.....but that first 5-day week in more than an month was rough.  Actually having to come back to work on Monday after only 2 days off was probably worse than having to work 5 days last week, just saying.

Coach Cagle getting the boys ready to go.

I have lots to recap, so let start where we left off October.  Football season went out with a bang.  We ended the regular season 9-1, and headed into the playoffs with a 2 seed in the region.  After a thrilling OT win where we got a huge goal line stop (the only time we stopped them all night on 4th and 1) and kicked a field goal to win, we ran into a giant brick wall dressed like high school football players. The team we faced in the second round was the biggest team we had ever seen, and our kids came up short (literally). 

We were so sad to see the season end because it really was a special one, but as all good things do, this season did as well.  This team was only the third team in school history to win 10 games, so this team had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.  They'll go down in the ole THS football history books as one of the best to come through.

The field was stormed my a mob of kids after the 1st round win....BTW he kicked it on the other end of the field and made it to the 30 on the other side before the rest of the team caught up with him and tackled him.

We closed up the season just in time for our Turkey Day Holiday.  Thankfully I was able to partake.  I had 2 gum grafts done the first week in November that seriously hampered my eating abilities (and kicked off my pre-holiday diet), for a few weeks.  It's kind of hard to explain without getting too graphic but basically, they cut 2 pieces of gum from the roof of my mouth and sewed them to my gums that were receding on the outside. I didn't get any good pics of the bottom because I was instructed not to pull on my lip so all you get is the view of the roof of my mouth where the took the pieces of my gums....

The first picture is 10 days post gum removal. I had no idea what it looked like prior to this because they put a layer of connective tissue glue (superglue for your mouth) over it so my tongue would not hit the stitches.  The second picture is 14 days post procedure.  I was completely shocked at the improvement that was made in that short amount of time and was extremely thankful I could not see what it looked like at the beginning.  I have a feeling it would not have been pretty. 

My periodontist told me the graphs on my bottom teeth looked like Franken-mouth due to the mass of stitches involved. I was down for a few days but never had major issues. I'd heard horror stories about recovery from the procedure, but I was never in excruciating pain. I'll chalk it up to 48 straight hours on the couch and a liquid diet that meant minimal movement in my mouth.

My two takeaways from the entire ordeal were 1) I never realized how much my tongue hits the roof of my mouth: talking, swallowing, eating....it's constant, and more importantly 2) It is possible to brush your teeth too hard.  This is why I had to have the procedure done.  However I highly recommend having it done as a preventative measure rather than waiting until you start losing bone and getting infection....I've heard that's part of what can make it so bad.

I went back the Friday before Thanksgiving to get my stitches out and then went immediately to Publix and bought a Thanksgiving Turkey Sub, which I promptly took home and cut up into pieces to eat.  It was soooooo good. I'm basically recovered now.

Turkey Day 2017

Our Thanksgiving was full of turkey and family time with all of Eric's family.  We all headed over to his grandma's house for turkey and every Thanksgiving side you could think of.  I think I cooked less for this Thanksgiving than any other I have as an adult.  When I called Eric's grandma to ask what we could bring I was told buttermilk pie before I could even finish my question.....his grandma LOVES my buttermilk pie.  By the end of the conversation we were in charge of frying the turkeys and I had also volunteered to make Oyster Stuffing....I won't touch the stuff, but Eric loves it.  The things we do for love... 

Somehow we managed to leave with more food than we came with.  I wasn't complaining though because I think thanksgiving leftovers might be my favorite meal.  I ate turkey sandwiches topped with cranberry relish on Sister Schubert's dinner rolls for the next several days.

Obligatory plate pic.....I was just a bit excited to get to eat this. 

I headed out early Friday morning, as usual to check out the Black Friday Deals.  I refuse to go on Thanksgiving Day but I love heading out around 6AM on Friday...the crowds from the night before are gone and everyone else is still sleeping off their turkey comas so the stores are only moderately crowded and the lines are not bad at all.  I made it through one mall before meeting Eric's Mom and the other mall.  We hit up a couple places before she headed back to her house and I stayed around to try to go a few more places, but it was starting to get crowded so I headed home myself.

I'd love to say that was the end of our grand holiday weekend, but it wasn't....not even close, but that's a post for another day....

Nobody Does Homecoming Like Us

Nothing like an occasion-appropriate Snapchat filter, right?!

As Homecoming Week approaches in our small town each year, and people start getting excited about the upcoming festivities for the returning 20-year reunion class there's a phrase that you hear every year, "Nobody does Homecoming like our town."  Since I am not from this town originally, and didn't attend high school there I feel like I can objectively assess the festivities without having and biases.

In years past I would have said yes, this town throws a pretty awesome homecoming celebration, but I don't know that I would call it the greatest Homecoming celebration ever.  But that was before....before I was actually engrossed in all of the festivities...3 full days worth of activities.

Full disclosure I did not actually participate in all of the scheduled activities because some of us still have to work while everyone else played.  A typical Homecoming Weekend starts on Thursday night with a candle light ceremony with the returning 20-year reunion class and the current graduating class that is followed up by a bonfire behind the school.  I've never been, but I've heard it's lots of fun with the band playing, cheerleaders cheering, and the crowd getting pumped up for the game that weekend.  It's the kick off for all of the festivities, and I am sure it went late into the night for those who went.

But you can't stay out too late because the next morning is the Homecoming Pep Rally that starts at 8:00 A.M.....no rest for the weary.  It's part regular pep rally put on by the school and part nostalgic pep rally put on by the returning class. Once again I was not in attendance but I did watch parts of it that were live-streamed, which included several games and dance-offs to 90s classics.

After the nearly 2 hour pep rally, the reunion class was treated to a tailgate lunch. All three schools let out shortly afterward, and the entire town decended upon the "downtown" area for the Homecoming Parade.  I have never made one of these parades, but I hear they are quit ethe specacle.  Lots of floats, lots of fun, lots of candy being thrown.  My SIL said my nephew had at least 10 suckers, which is probably the only thing that kept him going all day long with no nap.

This little town of ours showed up and showed out for Homecoming this year!  We have an enormous stadium...the only 2 level high school stadium I've been to...and it was FULL Friday night! 

I finally joined in the Homecoming festivities that evening before the game started: the annoucement of the graduating class and annoucement of Homecoming Court/Queen for 2017, before cheering our Tigers to a 36-21 victory over the 4th ranked team in the state!  How's that for a Homecoming opponent?! This was also a HUGE region win for us that puts us in good shape to host a first round playoff game in a few weeks -- as long as we take care of business this Friday night. 

One of the highlight of the game was a bobbled snap on a PAT, that our holder (who is not a QB) picked up, rolled out to his left, pump faked twice and hit one of our receivers in the back of the endzone.  I think some people thought it was planned....coach said no, but that they practice what to do in a case like that every week.  And that kiddies is why you practice. It was a huge momentum swing for us!

Post-game smiles! That would be my infamous cowbell in my hand with my shaker. That puppy starts ringing as soon as the game starts and doesn't stop until it's over...especially when the defense is on the field.  Nothing makes my heart happier in a game than watching our opponent struggle to hear a play being called in from the sideline.....don't worry we bring earplugs for anyone who sits around us. But if you want peace and quiet, you should probably stay home and listen to the game one the radio.  You'll still hear the cowbells, but they don't have the same punch they do live.

After the game we were tired but still pretty excited so we headed over to hang out with the reunion class for a little while.  We have several friends in that class, and Eric's brother graduated that year so Eric knows everyone...he was the manager for the football team all those years since he was just a punk little brother back then. After a few hours we finally packed it in about 1:30 A.M. and crawled into bed after 2 A.M.

The next morning we got up and I headed to Pioneer Day (used to be Syrup Sopping) in the booming metropolis of Loachapoka, AL (population 180) with my BIL, SIL, and nephew.  This tiny town puts on a huge fall festival each year that draws 20,000 people to its downtown. They have vendors, music, food, and activities for the kids, too! It had been a few years since I'd been (2012, 2014), but we had a blast! We brought home some delicious Amish Cheese and Kettle Corn, and my nephew rode a pony.  It was great time!

Riding all by himself!

I took the afternoon off...aka I sat on the couch and vegged. I tried to pull Purdue through but they did not have the success that THS did with their 2-point conversion to send the game into over time.

So you'd think that after all of the activities that had gone on, Homecoming would be done by Saturday night, right?  Wrong.  The c/o 98 had a dinner planned for that evening that just so happened to take place in the reception hall right behind our house during the Auburn game.  A few concerned Tiger fans mentioned this the night before, so Eric told them we'd have the game on at the house, and invited folks to come watch the game when they finished up across the street. Famous.Last.Words.

The reunionees started trickling in at first, until one point when I ran inside to check on the dogs and came back out to 50+ folks in our yard! I guess the official party had ended and they needed an after party space.  It was a bit overwhelming, but they were all great!  I am glad we were able to help them prolong the weekend's activities a little longer.  There was a lot of laughter, dancing, and talking about the old days that went on all until the wee hours of the morning again. 

I think they were all feeling the effects from the previous 3 days, so they started trickling out earlier than they had from the other party we went to the evening before....they are almost *forty* I guess....says the girl who is still 5 years away from her 20 year reunion. I realized at one point that I was among the younger ones in the crowd all weekend.  It doesn't happen much anymore so I surely enjoy it when it does!  And I document it too! Although I have made a mental note to mentally and physically prepare myself for Eric's reunion in a few years!

Recovery from the previous two nights was imperative on Sunday. My major accomplishments included: 4 loads of laundry, 4+ episodes of Gilmore Girls watched, and a 3 hour nap.  I wasn't the only one exhausted, either.....

All day long....

The little boogers slept until 8:30 A.M. which is unheard of at our house....they were loving all of the people at our house on Saturday to pet them and play with them. They slept most of the day, only waking up when I took them on a walk and feed them dinner. 

So yeah, after being more involved than ever with the reunion part of Homecoming, I can honestly say I get why people say, "No one does Homecoming like our town."  Take it from a transplant....it's true! 

One Last Summer Hoorah!

At the beginning of the summer some of our good friends who lived 2 houses down from us relocated to South Alabama.  Lucky for us they are not too far from our family who live down that way, so we knew it was not a forever good-bye, but more of a we'll see you next time we get down that way.  With the summer being as busy has it has been this year the only time either of us had a chance to make it down that way was when I went to PCB my mom and dad a few weeks ago, so had not seen them all summer!

The closest we came to a group picture....the guys never did cooperate like we wanted them to!

Lucky for us the boys had been scheming the past few weeks and this past weekend we were able to sneak away for a few days before the official start of football. We left Friday after lunch and headed down I-65 ready for some R & R.

We spent the weekend relaxing and enjoying each others company.  Another couple came too, and Eric's brother and his wife drove over one evening for dinner, so we got to see them while we were there.

I am pretty sure all of the kiddos enjoyed the trip as much as we did!

Saturday while the guys golfed, the girls headed down to a little town called Fairhope.  I'd been there before but it had been several years.  We walked around the downtown area that was lined with shops and restaurants.  After we found several things we could not live without we settled in for some wine and sushi (great combo if you ask me!) at a restaurant call Master Joe's.  I had a Titanic Roll with shrimp tempura and cucumber, stopped with crab, shrimp, avocado, spicy mayo, eel sauce, and tempura flakes.  It was fantastic and I wish I had one right now!  As with all good sushi meals we all got something different and passed the rolls around so we could try a bite of everything.

My Titanic Roll (soooo good!) and Kenzie kisses!

Sunday the guys went with Eric's brother to try their luck snapper fishing.  We decided we weren't in a rush to do much of anything so we piddled around the house before packing up the kiddos to head toward the beach.

The plan was to go to Orange Beach where the guys were so we could meet up with them when they got back, but we never actually made it to the beach.  After making a pit stop at the outlet mall (because it was there of course!) we were headed to the beach until Eric called and said they were coming in from fishing.  Instead of going to the beach we detoured to the marina to see what they caught....a few red snapper, not too shabby.

I would have loved to have continued on to the beach, but Eric and I had to hit the road to get back home, so we jumped in the truck, went back to their house to pick up our stuff (and Beau), and headed north.

The only pic I got of us all weekend....he just loves pictures so much!

Why did we have to get home Sunday night? Well because football season officially started at midnight, and the team was having a midnight practice.... Yes midnight practice. I think he got maybe an hour of sleep from the time we got home until the time he had to leave for practice, and then got home about 2:30 a.m.  Although the public was invited, I told him just to let me know how it went because I had to be up at 5:15 a.m. the next day. He said it went well and that they had a nice little crowd, so I guess it was a success!

Sunshine selfie...we need to get the two littles some sunglasses!

Now we are officially in football mode for the next 4 months.  We're really kicking things off with our 5th Annual Football Coaches Cookout at our house on Saturday. For the 5th year in a row Eric is going to attempt to beat our head coach's ribs. He has come extremely close every year, but has come up short.  He's been scheming how to win this year, so we will see. As for the ladies, we've done potato salad and mac and cheese contests before, but last year we did dessert which turned out really great!  Since the only classic BBQ side dishes that were really left were slaw and beans and none of of want to deal with the aftermath of eating large amounts of either we deiced to do desserts again.Who doesn't want a table full of desserts to sample?!?

What started out as beginning of the season cookout has now become a tradition that we all look forward to every year, and I can't wait for this year's edition!

Beachin' It

A couple of weekends ago I snuck away to the beach for a few days.  Well I didn't actually sneak, it was planned, but still...  Eric had fishing trips to run that weekend so he opted to stay home.  As much as I hated to leave him, I needed some beach time desperately, so I joined Mom and Dad in Panama City Beach for an extended weekend.....and it was just what the doctor ordered.

Beach bums!

We got down there on Saturday evening and after spending hours in the car we opted to walk down the beach to grab dinner at Sharkey's for some delicious seafood.  You really can't beat fresh gulf seafood.  I never really ate fish until Eric and I started dating and now I can't get enough of it!  Of course it probably had something to do with the fact that we lived in Memphis and the seafood there wasn't exactly what you would call "fresh."

The next three mornings looked almost identical.  After donuts for breakfast (there was a new place right across the street from us) Dad headed off to golf while Mom and I got in a 4+ mile walk where we window shopped in Pier Park and solved ALL of the worlds problems....we get a lot done on our walks.  After we got back we'd head to the beach and stake out a spot to lay our chairs and sheet, and R-E-L-A-X. Dad would call when he got home and we'd meet him upstairs for lunch.

Sunsets, good company, and a wall of donuts....makings of a great vacation!

Our afternoons varied slightly, one day we beached all day and one day it rained so we checked out the Panama City Beach Winery and sampled some delicious fruit wines before beaching in the later afternoon.  We absolutely LOVED the winery.  The owners were really nice and very helpful!  I think we tried nearly half of the wines on the menu, and there were a bunch.

This is the third year we've been to PCB (Year 1, Year 2), so we're learning our way around, and discovering the best ways to enjoy the city. One thing we discovered last year is that going away from Front Beach Road is a good thing, especially if you want some really delicious local food. With traffic as bad as it is on the beach road, it takes just as much time to go elsewhere.

After dinner sunset at Uncle Ernie's

On Sunday we opted to head back to a restaurant that is becoming a favorite of ours called Uncle Ernie's.  It was recommended by a concierge last year, and did not disappoint!  It's on St. Andrew's Bay in Panama City (next to PCB).  We fell in love with this place last year when we celebrated Mom's birthday there.  They have a-m-a-z-i-n-g fried crab cakes (which was had to get again), and really delicious seafood dishes.  And the view from their outdoor patio is incredible!

Right: Crabcakes and grouper from Uncle Ernie's; Left: Southern goodness from Boondocks

Monday night we went for some southern seafood fare in the form of a little place called Boondocks. It's on West Bay - just north of PCB. We heard about it on a local tv program about hole-in-the-wall local restaurants and had to try it.  You can get just about any kind of seafood one of three ways: grilled, steamed, or fried.  We went all in and got everything fried because we could, so we shared platters of grouper, shrimp, crab claws, deviled crabs, and scallops, and then waddled home. I almost forgot, we did get one thing that was not fried - their Bacon Wrapped Shrimp.  I could have made a meal off of those alone!

The view and some of the local residents at Boondocks

I had to head back after lunch - perks of living 3 hours from the beach - so I did not get to partake in dinner that night at Shipyard Grill on St. Andrew's Bay, but some little birdies told me that it was amazing, too!

Besides the good food and beach I had some fantastic company in my parents! Whether we were on the beach, at dinner, sitting on the balcony in our condo watching the waves roll in, or sitting in the car trying to turn on to Back Beach Road watching all of the vehicles roll by (you have to catch it at the right time or you wait forever), it was so nice to get to spend some time with them.  The only thing that would have made the trip better would have been Eric and Matt there......next trip guys, next trip!

Until next time Gulf!

My Second Major

No I'm not going back to school to get another degree....a couple of weeks ago I was fortunate to attend my second major golf tournament.  We attended the Masters last spring, and when we realized that the 2017 U.S. Open was going to be just a couple of hours from my brother's house we turned it into a family vacation (minus Eric because he had to stay home and work).

I am not much for playing golf - I took lessons as a kid but never stuck with it - but I do enjoy going to tournaments. When I was in high school my track team always volunteered at the FedEx St. Jude Classic.  They paid/donated $3,000 to the track team and we ran around the tournament all week.  Our job was to tie up the full garbage bags and put them by the road. We had access to the entire course and I always enjoyed it.

We went to the tournament on Saturday...aka the day that Justin Thomas made his impressive run in his hot pink pants. While the course was no Augusta National, it was still quite impressive.  It was super hilly and there were 0 trees. But those poor golfers had lots of tall grass like marshy grass to deal with.  There were several spots where if they strayed from the fairway there was no recovering.

The 9th Island Green (and Justin Thomas in his hot pink pants on said green)

Since the tournament was only a couple of hours from Chicago, my aunt, uncle, and one of my cousins came up and joined us!

We walked the first few holes just so we could see the course, and then we split up.  The boys continued walking the course while we (the girls) found some lunch and posted up on a hill beside the 9th fairway to watch all of the golfers play through. The guys caught up with us with about 5 groups to go and we watched the leaders play through before heading back to the buses because we were pooped.

No doubt these two are related...like father like son

So I can now cross 2 of 4 Majors off my list (Matt and Dad can check 3 since they've been to the PGA Championship twice), so I guess it's time for us to take a trip across the pond for #4 and the British Open!  Anyone got any extra tickets, free hotel rooms, or a private jet to fly us over there? I'll spring for a couple of pints as a thank you!

Our crew....we missed Eric and Lily, but I guess someone has to stay home and work!