My lovely weekend
Yes, I know it was 27 degrees at times, but my weekend was wonderful because my very best friend, Lesley and her little boy, Giovanni, came in town for 3 days. We packed a lot into those three days!
First, I took off work on Friday and we went to The Flying Biscuit, my very favorite breakfast spot. I had my favorite- eggs on top of love cakes (black bean corn cakes) smothered in tomatillo sauce, sour cream and feta cheese, with a side of grits and flying biscuits with cranberry apple butter of course.
Lesley had her first fried green tomatoes, which were covered with goat cheese-yum! G had oatmeal pancakes which had a very strange texture from the oatmeal, but were totally addicting!
Here is G in the restaurant.
Then, we headed over to Perimeter mall. I haven’t been there in ages- it is so nice. I was pretty peeved that they don’t have a Hollister. I mean, really. Who the heck doesn’t have a Hollister?? That was the main reason for me going to the mall- Christmas presents of Hollister t-shirts (on sale of course) for Jake. But, finding my new favorite store, Anthropologie, made it all worth while. I’ve decided that if I ever win the lottery, I’m just going to buy the whole store.
After that, we head home to take the kids to their birthday dinner- Japanese steakhouse, of course. Bailey turned 9 on the 13th and Jake turned 12 on Monday. The kids had fun with the warm hand towels.
…about Dave’s head…I’ll just leave you with “stupid human trick” and you can use your own imagination…
This was Giovanni’s first time at a hibachi and I was kind of concerned. I shouldn’t have been- he had a blast! This was the look on his face the whole night.
Our hibachi chef was quite funny. He even posed for me!
I also had the best drink I’ve ever had. Seriously. You know how much I love lychees. They are absolutely my favorite thing. My favorite fruit, my favorite drink (which I can only find at the Asian market), my favorite candy (again- Asian market only) my favorite flavor of all time. Well, new to America is Soho Lychee Liquor. Yee haw! They made a drink there with it and it was just lychee yumminess. Next time I go, I’m making them give me the recipe. Here is the loveliness which is my new favorite beverage.
After that, we headed over to my mom and dad’s house to drop Jake off to spend the night. They brought out their bin of ooooold McDonald’s toys and we all had fun. I think Lesley and I had more fun than the kids!
The next day we headed out to Stone Mountain Christmas. Lesley just couldn’t get over how amazing Stone Mountain was!
It is pretty darn cool!
Here are my goofballs.
This would have been a cool Christmas card, had Jake not made a silly face.
After walking around the Christmas village for a little bit, we decide to go up the mountain on one of these.
Jake keeps telling me he doesn’t want to go up and can’t understand why he can’t just wait in the car. LOL By the time we get in line, he is hysterical- he is sobbing, hitting me and calling me an idiot. Um, yeah. My response? Suck it up, be a man, you.are.going.on.the.skytram. Here he is halfway up the mountain.
We made it to the top!
There is nothing like a sunset on top of a mountain!
Jake LOVED running around the top- it looks like the surface of the moon.
So, we’re ready to ride down and somehow, Jake talks Lesley into hiking down with him while Bailey and I take G town on the Skytram. Great idea, right? Sure, the hike wasn’t bad. But, the fact that it took them around the other side of the park and they had to walk miles back to the Christmas Village was just not in the plans. So, an hour later, with wobbly legs, they finally find us!
And then my camera dies…
If you have kids and you haven’t gone to Stone Mountain Christmas yet, I recommend it. The village is adorable, the Christmas Train ride was great, unfortunately we didn’t get to see the 4-D Polar Express, but we’ll get that next time. The best part was the Snow Angel show at the end- fireworks, snow (soap suds) falling from the sky and a real flying Snow Angel- she was actually flying above us- held up by wires. It was very cool!
The next day, they went home and I cried, as always.
My work Christmas Party
Yeah, I know it’s weird, but we just had our staff Christmas Party. We hold it in January, so that more people can come to it.
So, anyways, I had a blast dancing and eating Moe’s! Yum. I only got a few pics though- I kind of forgot about my camera.
Here is one of my best friends at work, Erin, and I.
Here is one of my other best work friends, Jackie, and I.
We’re home!
These are the states we went through. I’m missing Alabama and Oklahoma. It was hard to take the picture while driving!
On the way out, we went through a 100 mile wide snowstorm. The kids loved it, but Dave, not so much. It doesn’t look heavy here, but it was.
This is in Texas. It was very cold, but the jackets were locked in the back of the truck. That’s a long story, but we couldn’t get them out because we were afraid we couldn’t shut it again!
Our little man chillin’ in the truck.
We had some beautiful views while driving.
We saw the largest cross in the Northern hemisphere.
We passed through cattle country and smelled some stanky cows.
Finally, after 21 hours in the truck, we arrived. This is my brother’s cute house.
And this is his view!
The cousins are so excited to see each other!
And the pre-teens head straight for the computer!
Maria & Sierra loved seeing their Papa.
We just loved the scenery!
Just kidding! We loved spending time with the family.
Here is Dave with Jenny, my brother’s new wife!
My boys hanging out at the rehearsal dinner.
My mom and I eating her famous chicken and yellow rice. They cooked it for 45 people!!
Here I am with John, my brother’s step-dad, and Everett, who is my brother’s brother-in-law, but not mine. It’s confusing! Jason actually has a sister, Jen, who is a month younger than me. Ha ha! I don’t have any pics of the two of us- I need to get some.
Here’s my mom with Jenny.
Uncle Tim was being the king of the world with his nieces!
We went out to eat a lot.
And we did a lot of sight seeing, both in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
Did I mention that it was cold out there? This was the typical morning temp. It rarely got above freezing and the wind was sometimes up to 30 mph!
Next up- the wedding!
Christmas with Dave’s parents
This year was a little different for a few reasons. The biggest is that Dave’s parents weren’t able to spend Christmas with us because Dave’s dad has 2 bulging disks and can’t travel. The second is that we did Christmas with them yesterday, a few days shy of Christmas. The reason for this is that we are leaving on Christmas day to start the 21 hour drive to New Mexico- yes, I said 21 hours!! My brother is getting married on the 30th. So, why did we do presents so early? The kids were getting a Wii. Can you imagine getting a Wii and having to leave the next day for a week? Yeah, we couldn’t either. So, we did it early. Here are a few of the highlights. Dave’s parents are on speaker phone.
The kids opening the Wii.
Dave with a hilarious shirt we each got for the trip. It says, “NO, we’re not there yet!”
Me with my best Christmas present ever! Vera Bradley luggage. I got the large duffel, the satchel and the laptop case. 
Sisterchick Christmas Party
It’s been so busy, I haven’t had a chance to blog about the annual Sisterchick Christmas Party! It’s going to be short because I have a few things to blog about before we leave on the big trip in 2 days…yes, we are leaving on Christmas day, to drive to New Mexico for my brother Jason’s wedding!
As for this post I’m just going to give you a picture. If you want to read more about the day, check out Staci or Amanda’s blogs.
Christmas Photo Shoot
Today I took the kids to Berry Patch Farms, a local berry farm that also is a Christmas tree farm. We went there, not to get a tree, but to take our annual Christmas card photo. Yes, I know I’m a little late, but they’ll go out this week! Here are a few shots from today. You’ll have to wait until you get your card to see the picture I chose for the card!
Of course, I had to get some photos of Reece & Bailey too!
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