A Johnson Family Thanksgiving

This year, Cody and I took a much needed trip to Harlingen to visit with his family for Thanksgiving. Cody hasn't been home since last Christmas, and I know he was ready to get back to the Rio Grande Valley. He left a few days before me and spent some time hunting on his dad's deer lease. I arrived in Harlingen on Wednesday evening and was so excited to see everyone again. Thanksgiving day brought lots of food, fellowship and football, and we were very grateful for the special time with Cody's family and of course, our sweet niece, Addison. She has grown so much and we loved every minute of playing with her! I know I say this in every post where family is involved, but we really do cherish the time that we get to spend with our families. We loved the visits before, but being out of state and a bit further away than we would like really makes the moments that we share even more special.

Here are a few pics from our Turkey day hang out!

Princess Addie playing with Uncle Cale. Isn't she a doll?

Uncle Cody getting some quality bonding time with the Princess

Story time before Thanksgiving lunch

Katie and Addison

The hubs and me celebrating our 6th Thanksgiving together. Where did the time go?

Mimi giving Addie lots of lovins

My niece is so stylish she even had a personalized, festive Thanksgiving burp cloth. I'm so proud!

Aunt Britt and the cutest niece EVER

The full Turkey Day ensemble

Watching football with Uncle Cale. Please do not disturb.

Daddy Jason and his little princess

The gorgeous table that Tami put together. She outdid herself!

We ended the Thanksgiving festivities with some required Black Friday shopping. I'm sure it's no surprise that I was willing to brave the craziness... and of course Tami, Katie and Addie were troopers, too. Addie was so good the entire time and just smiled and took in all of the scenery that the mall, Target and Marshall's had to offer. She's clearly a natural shopper, which definitely makes me even more proud. :) Good job, Mama! 

Teaching my niece the finer points of shopping

We clearly mean business when we shop.

We squeezed in some time for a picture with Santa!

While we had a girl day, the guys went duck hunting. I would say they did pretty well, and easily rivaled Duck Dynasty. :) Notice how incredibly photogenic our stud duck retrieving dog is? 

My favorite picture of the trip- Addie just chillin' before another day of shopping begins. (She did the pose on her own!)

On the way back to Las Cruces, we were able to stop in San Antonio and spend the night with my family. It made me anxious for Christmas to get here! Hope y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are getting into the holiday spirit. I'm counting down the days until I have enough free time to decorate the house and put up our Christmas tree! 

Cooking, Crafting & Chatting

Last weekend, I got together with the girls from our church life group to celebrate the fall season with a brunch and craft session. Because of my love for all things home decor, I thought it would be fun to get together and make a couple of cute crafts to decorate for the fall season. It was so much fun seeing all of the different creative things the girls came up with, and we all enjoyed the girl time and getting to visit and just hang out. Cody reaped the benefits of *some* of the cooking I did for the occassion. He was especially excited about the sausage pinwheels. I tried out a few great Pinterest recipes and they were winners! I love it when that happens. We drew inspiration from Pinterest for our crafts: alumninum can candle holders and festive fabric banners. The cute, rustic style of each craft brings just the right touch of cozy to the home-- perfect for the fall season. I've enjoyed glancing at our fabric banner as we relax in the evenings, too. Might I suggest that you take a day of crafting for yourself? You'll be amazed at how relaxing and rewarding it can be!

One of the craft stations

Some of the supplies

I love hostessing!

The spread- with everything from baked oatmeal and muffins to brunch enchiladas and orange julius, we certainly got our fill of yumminess.

I was super excited to try a pumpkin maple spice latte recipe that I found on Pinterest. It did not disappoint, and you better believe I had to do it up right with whipped cream and cinnamon at our little coffee bar!

My sweet friends Amanda and Blair, who are both expecting babies in the spring. Can't wait for those celebrations to begin!

The girls enjoying a brunch feast

Emily and her sweet princess Becky

Chillin' while Mom and the girls get artsy

Blair crafting her cute candle holder

Nicole and Yana hard at work

The finished product- one of the "can"-dle holders

Amanda, Becky and me

More cute candle holders

Nicole's "Fall" banner. Didn't it turn out cute?

I just love these. We joked that this one looked like it had a skirt or dress on. :)

Amanda's banner, which we worked on together. We're quite a team!

I'm very thankful that Cody and I have been able to plug into a group through our church that is full of young married couples. It's been so fun getting to know each person, and there are always things going on to keep us busy and entertained. We're looking forward to the Thanksgiving feast and Christmas party coming up next!

They Call it the Hill Country, I Call it Home

Over the weekend, Cody and I ventured to San Antonio for some much needed time with my parents and sis. Cody drove in on Thursday evening and joined Mom and Kirby to cheer on Dad's football team,Wagner HS, as they took on New Braunfels Canyon. I flew in late on Friday night, so we just hung out until Dad got home and rested up for the Aggies' big game against LSU on Saturday. Though the game didn't turn out as we would have hoped, the Ags did put up a good fight for being such a young team. After getting our fill of football, we went to the Parade of Homes just outside of SA in Comal County. Cody and I took several mental pictures for our "dream home", and had so much fun seeing all of the latest trends in home construction. I especially loved one particular rustic-styled house that was furnished and decorated completely in Restoration Hardware and Anthropologie. I'm pretty sure they could have just handed me the keys right then and there and I would have been perfectly satisfied to call it home for the rest of my life. After viewing the amazing homes, we met Dad for dinner and then came home to an intense game of cards. I always love having the family together, even if time seems to fly by too quickly. We're really looking forward to being together again for a minute at Thanksgiving and for a whole week at Christmas!!

Cody and me outside the Parade of Homes

Mom, me and Kirby in the Pumpkin Patch before beginning our tour of homes.

Kirby wasn't as "gung-ho" about viewing the homes as we were, so to make things more exciting, we took several photos with the props in each home. Here she is clearly displaying disappointment that the wine is indeed fake. "What is a parched girl to do?"

Tea time on one of the fabulous outdoor sitting areas. Again, the tea was not real.

One of the homes boasted an amazing art/crafts room, in which Kirby felt particularly compelled to pose with the life-sized pencil.

One of my favorite rooms was the perfect place for a little princess. This girl's room was modeled after Paris, and had everything from a wall mural to sweet treats throughout the room. Cody used his landscaping expertise to give the flowers a little extra water.

Though they were plastic, Kirby channelled her inner Marie Antoinette and proclaimed "Let them eat cake."

When there is a life-sized painting of a Parisian street, why wouldn't we pose and look as chic as possible in front of it?

There's never a dull moment with our family, that's for sure!

Goin' through the Big D and DO mean Dallas...

Cody, Rio and I were very excited to take a much needed trip to D/FW this past weekend to spend time with some of our best friends. We had lots of fun meeting Wes and Nicole's sweet baby Hadley, catching up with Nathan and Morgan and loving on baby Brooks via Morgan's baby bump, and spending time with my beloved roo, Carrie. We had a low key weekend full of lots of college football and relaxation, and can't wait for our next annual get together. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends in our life for so many years, and to be able to get together even though we're separated by many miles now.

Cody and I had so much fun loving on Hadley. She is such a sweet little girl! After spending time with Hadley and our niece, Addie, we think it's safe to say that the baby girls just seem to flock to Cody. 

Morgan and Nathan are expecting a baby boy in February, so they got some good practice in with Hadley. These two are going to be amazing parents and we can't wait to meet their little man.

Wes and I have been friends since our days at Churchill High School, and I was so proud to see what an awesome daddy he is. He and Hadley were ready to cheer on the Aggies!

We all laughed about how things have changed. It was a Saturday afternoon and we were drinking beer/wine, watching college football and building a high chair. What a difference from our college Saturdays! Haha.

I was SO happy to spend some quality time catching up with my Roo. I miss this girl so much!!!

Mama Nicole and Princess Hadley- love these girls!

Carrie and Hadley

Hadley, Morgan and me

Nicole and her Princess-- isn't Hadley just the cutest little fashionista? 

The whole group after brunch in downtown Wylie. It was so fun seeing the little shops and this sweet old house that had been redone into a yummy restaurant. 

Next stop, San Antonio... stay tuned!

Target Practice

This weekend has been one of the few that Cody has been in town for the past month, so we took full advantage of lots of bonding time just the two of us. We cooked some tasty ribs and homemade mac and cheese after watching the Aggies BTHO Arkansas on Saturday (Whoop!), and yesterday after church and brunch with our sweet Bible Study friends, we decided to head out to the country for a little dove hunting and target practice for me. I was pretty pumped, as my mule deer hunt is now just over a month away. After shooting the 20-gauge and 243, I feel pretty confident that I can shoot a buck bigger than my husband when my hunt rolls around. :)

The hunter and his bird dog. Turns out Rio might be more of a duck hunting dog than a dove hunting dog... he wasn't too fond of the taste of the dove and its feathers in his mouth. In fact, when Cody told him to "fetch it up", he picked it up, spit the bird out, and simply rolled the dove to Cody's feet with his nose and paws. Our dog is quite resourceful. Cody was a little disappointed in his first performance, but I can't say that I blame him for not wanting a mouth full of feathers. 

Shooting the 20-gauge for the first time. I may not have shot any birds, but I sure did achieve an excellent arm workout while holding that gun. My father-in-law commented that I looked a little prissy though... I guess you can take the girl out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the girl!

 My target during my first experience shooting the "240-something". When Cody's dad first told me the gun I would be shooting for my deer hunt, I couldn't remember the numbers and called it this, so it became a running joke on both my side and Cody's side of the family. I was quite proud of my shooting skills with the 243, and feel a little more confident about trying my hand at deer hunting in November. Hopefully I'll live up to all the hype that my hubby is creating. No pressure, huh?

The hubs and me with his collection of birds. He's quite the hunter, I must say! 

When we were driving home from our hunt, Cody commented that these kind of experiences help him to feel more at home. It's true- I guess there's something to be said about enjoying the great outdoors. I'm thankful that I have a husband that is patient enough to take me, despite my constant need for conversation and short attention span!