One Last Hoorah!!!

This post is written by me, Brad, because I had the amazing blessing of surprising Dani for one last weekend with all of our good friends and now it is time for the required "Blog" about it.

No matter how excited we are about Arizona, leaving our friends and family will be really hard when it comes time. Dani and I were already planning on visiting our good friends Cory and Amanda in Asheville for one last weekend before we left, but what Dani didn't know was that 15 others were going to be meeting us there. A few of our friends couldn't make it and we definitely missed them, but we had a great time.

Nestled in Bryson City, NC was a cabin the slept 26 people and had all the amenities including pool table, fire pit, and hot tub. Friday night was when everyone arrived with people driving in from Raleigh, Hickory, Charlotte, Asheville, Boone, and Huntersville. Dani, Amanda, and Cory were the last to arrive and Dani had the pleasure of being blindfolded before getting to the cabin. Since saying, "Goodbye Dani," didn't fit the mood, everyone just yelled out their favorite holiday greeting and it made for a good laugh!

The weekend was filled with so many laughs, games, food, trash talking, and some memorable times with great friends. We could not have asked for a better last weekend than the one we had with all of our good friends that have come to mean so much to us.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend...

The beginnings of Quelf..

One of Cory's cards gave him the privilege of this performance.

Mitch's hoedown.

Brad had to attempt a split.



Mitch showing us his best Wobble 



Then we decided to go Wobble in the headlights of Carly's truck in an
attempt to have the song a bit louder than what an iPhone can put out. 

Charades of sorts... 

More 'charades'

Campfire :)

S'mores!

Brad's lit twig.. looks like a ribbon wand!

It was a blast guys! Thank you all so much for spending the weekend with us!


B-rad

Weekend to Remember

A couple weekends ago, Brad and I took the opportunity to get away and spend some quality time together at a Family Life marriage conference. No worries, we aren't in trouble! Brad had just heard such great things about this conference from the reviews and couples saying how they wished they would have taken time to do it within their first year of marriage and we would definitely agree. So we booked it and off we went to stay in the beautiful Hotel Roanoke for the weekend and buckled in to learn more about each other and how the opposite sex works in general within a marriage.

The sessions ranged in topic from Why marriages typically fail, conflict resolution, how to connect and communicate, and marriage after dark (Brad's favorite). Each topic seemed like easy things to understand, but they each contained a couples project which had to be completed in between sessions. The neat personal thing was that these projects were made for the different types of couples (Pre-married, Remarried, Military, and newlyweds). Some of the projects were difficult questions that we had ask each other and another project was writing a love note to you spouse. All in all, this was a wonderful weekend full of love, laughter, a little "intense fellowship," and growing closer to "oneness" as a unit and team. We would recommend it to anyone wanting to really grow closer in their relationship, no matter how great they think it may be, it can always be better.

Here are some photos from our Weekend to Remember!

After all the curvy roads and near car sickness... we made it to VA! 

The Hotel Roanoke

Saturday night our sessions ended at 4:30 so we could go back to our rooms and get ready for date night! We really enjoyed this time to focus on one another and enjoy going out on the town!

My stud getting ready for Saturday's date night!

Cliché mirror picture?!

WONDERFUL dinner planned out by hubs. It was a sweet
little Italian restaurant with the most delicious food!

After dinner we posed in front of the beautiful fireplace at
The Hotel Roanoke... we had to ask a group from the Shevacon
Conference to take this picture for us. In doing so we booted
a bloody Snow White away from the fireplace. ha!

handsome. 

I stole a smooch in the elevator!

SNOW right before we headed home!! :)

Brad's "cold" face

My "cold face"

We have a HOUSE!

Brad and I have been searching for homes in Arizona for a good few months now. We've wanted something close to base for Brad (since I don't have a job location as of yet), decent space, somewhat of a yard (maybe grass), and double sinks in the master bath. This past week we found one we both fell in love with and that was actually still available!! We began the application process this past Monday and Wednesday evening we found out that we GOT THE HOUSE!!!

We are so thankful to have a place we'll be able to call home (and for some of you I'm sure - a vacation home! Come visit HINT HINT!) once we get to Arizona in a short couple of weeks! Yay for first time home renters! haha Here she is!:

Girl Scout Cookies

My day was made great when I discovered my boxes of Girl Scout cookies came in today! I got Shortbread for hubs (his fav) and Peanut Butter Patties! Y-U-M!

Also, it was a great weekend.

This past weekend I spent time with four fabulous ladies in Hickory. We got together two-ish years prior out east at Edisto Beach right after I had graduated from App. Since Brad and I are moving in LESS THAN A MONTH (ah!) we wanted to get together one last time. This time Bob & Linda were out of town, so the Thompson house hosted us for the weekend!

We started out with the classic cheese product + rotel dip, which progressively got less edible after each reheating. Also, we watched a LOT of Friends episodes. Lindsey made her mind-blowingly good brownies for us and we drank authentic Hawaiian coffee. Saturday we had lunch at Shell's. That of course included their famous cherry vanilla lemon slushie. It was too entirely cold for Hickory and we even saw snow flurries!

I thoroughly enjoy a good girls weekend, especially with this group. Jeni was in our wedding and has been a great friend even before App came into play. Ashley has the best laugh and the cutest stinkin' puppy on the planet. Amy is awkward and wordy and I love every mintue of it! Lindsey left us early, for which she won't be forgiven, but I love her a lot anyway and love the creative gifts she comes up with for her above-her-room neighbor. :)

Here are some photos to recap the weekend:

Jeni Creepin'

things

reason enough to visit Shell's: cherry vanilla lemon slushieeee

speed dump.. thank you st. stephens 

lyla being all cute

tuck

Tuesday Nights

So for several months now, my friend Lindsey and I have been taking turns (with Grandmom Burton also) cooking yummy dinners together on Tuesday nights. Usually before and/or after eating, Lindsey and I have also been addictively watching Dexter. Haven't heard of it? Well.. you're missing out! Check it out here on the Showtime website. One thing I think is really cool is that the actor who plays Dexter claims Raleigh as his hometown.


Anyway, I'm blogging about this now to share our meal tonight with you! Get ready for great recipes!!!


Lindsey got me a great cookbook by The Pioneer Woman for Christmas, so I put it to use tonight and made her meatloaf. I chose this so I could have something to go with my grandma's noodles that mom gave to my sister and I this Christmas (Thanks Mom!!). For dessert I made what we fondly referred to as "Yummy Explosion" in college. I got this recipe from a genius friend. 

I totally failed at taking pictures (again) while I was making the meatloaf, so check out PW's if you want step-by-step pics. Because I'm being lazy today, I copy and pasted her ingredients/directions verbatim below.

PW's Favorite Meatloaf

Ingredients

Meatloaf:

• 1 cup Whole Milk
• 6 slices White Bread
• 2 pounds Ground Beef
• 1 cup (heaping) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon Seasoned Salt
• 3/4 teaspoons Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1/3 cup Minced Flat-leaf Parsley
• 4 whole Eggs Beaten
• 10 slices Thin/regular Bacon

Sauce:

• 1-1/2 cup Ketchup
• 1/3 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Dry Mustard
• Tabasco To Taste

 

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour milk over the bread slices. Allow it to soak in for several minutes.

Place the ground beef, milk-soaked bread, Parmesan, seasoned salt, salt, black pepper, and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Pour in beaten eggs.

With clean hands, mix the ingredients until well combined. Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a broiler pan, which will allow the fat to drain. (Line the bottom of the pan with foil to avoid a big mess!)

Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.

Make the sauce: add ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and hot sauce in a mixing bowl. Stir together. Pour 1/3 of the mixture over the top of the bacon. Spread with a spoon.

Bake for 45 minutes, then pour another 1/3 of the sauce over the top. Bake for another 15 minutes. Slice and serve with remaining sauce.

Brad doing the honors...
(isn't he gorgeous?!)

De-lish!

Here is a set up of our dinner tonight...
minus the homemade sourdough bread!

Now as for my grandma's noodles... I'm not ready to share that one. Is it bad I want to keep it secret? ha! I haven't made them myself yet, but when I do I shall share. To prepare them you rinse the noodles, then bring them to a boil in chicken broth. Done.

THE Noodles. Essence of my childhood.

For Dessert:

Yummy Explosion



 Ingredients:

• 2 cans crescent rolls
• 1 lb cream cheese
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Orange marmalade to taste (trustme on this one... think creamsicle!)

Directions:

• Lay 1 can crescents flat in a 9x13 pan.
• Mix in cream cheese, 1 c sugar, vanilla annnd marmalade!
• Spread over crescents and lay 2nd can of crescents on top.
• Melt butter and mix with 1/2 c sugar and cinnamon.
• Pour over crescents.
• Bake at 325 degrees for 10-20 minutes, until golden.

Hope you enjoy these!!!

ABC's of Us

So if you haven't seen The Dating Divas blog yet, please go check it out. These ladies have such super cute ideas for dates/gifts for your significant other. I got hubby's Valentine's Day gift idea from this post. It was so easy, cheap to produce and is so meaningful! All you need is a computer, printer and some cute ribbon/string (and in my case, sharpies.. because I use them every chance I get)!

I can't tell you how many times I told Brad leading up to today that I was so excited about his gift and couldn't wait to give it to him! I am very proud of myself to the point where I almost just want to claim the whole idea as my own. But I won't. That would be wrong.

Here is a little view of hubs' gift!:

If you watch Friends like we do, you'll get it.
If you don't get it then you need to watch Friends. Season 6.

aww :)

I'm still so proud of this little project!
Happy Valentine's Day my love!