It's Commmiiinnngggg!

I'm so excited about Thanksgiving!  It's coming soooo soon!  I know this post isn't the one that you might have been hoping for....you know, the after picture that I was supposed to post from this past weekend of all of my Christmas decorations at our house.  Well, the Christmas wonderfulness isn't all the way completed.so everyone is going to have to be patient for thos pictures.  I know you're just itching to see them!  :)

I got this picture on my phone the other day and I was so excited to see it:

This is my Dad.  He's hunting out west this week!  Isn't he just precious?!  Love you, Dad!

Did I mention I was excited for Thanksgiving?  In the midst of my Christmas decorating craziness this past weekend, I totally forgot to mention that I truly am excited for Thanksgiving to come...and it's commmmmming so soon!!! 

Reasons why I'm excited:

A whole 5 days in the state of Tennessee.

A bunch of yummy, yummy food!

Seeing all of our family!

The 4th annual Christmas Shopping Extravaganza!

SO PUMPED ABOUT THANKSGIVING!

Now if only I could figure out what I am going to bring to eat  for all of the family gatherings.  Now I know that both sets of parents (mine and Preacher Man's) would both tell us  not to bring anything, but I just feel like I have to since we're married and all.  Okay, maybe that's a lame excuse.  The real reason is I like to cook and I like taking food places.  It brings me joy.  Great, great, joy!  :)

The only problem I'm having right now is deciding on what I am going to bring!  Here are some options that I'm debating on.  Let me know what you think dear family!  :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars found  here.  (I actually make mine into bars)

Pumpkin Fluff found here.  (I don't add in a can of pumpkin...I add in pumpkin spice to substitute and maybe a little cream cheese and powdered sugar...ooopppsss...maybe it's not my recipe, but you get the drift.)  I would even be up for the challenge to make homemade ginersnap cookies!

The yummiest rolls ever found here.

Really mean, delicious creamed corn found here.  A lot of times I don't think a meal is complete without corn.  I really like corn.  Especially creamed corn.

I also thought about orange velvet cupcakes...but cupcakes aren't too Thanksgiving-ish in my opinion.

But these are too cute here.  Who doesn't love a Turkey Cupcake?

I'm also thinking about making something with apple. 

Maybe apple rings?!  They are melt in your mouth delish.  And with a small scoop of ice cream on top they might send you to the moon.  Seriously.  They are my Mom's recipe and it's glorious!  I might have just talked myself into making those.  BUT I also saw another recipe today....apple rings (like onion rings) found here.  They look quite delicious too!

I also thought about making Paula Deen's Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie, but I think I'm going to beg my Mom to make that for me.  :)  Mom, if you're reading this, here's my plea for it!

So family, I need your guidance.  What are you craving?  What shall I bring to Thanksgiving?  You know I'm not going to come empty handed so you might as well tell me.  I'm excited to hear what you want!  And you know I'm always up for a challenge if you there's something that you want me to try out!

Dreaming of Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Green Beans, Deviled Eggs, Broccoli Casserole, Rolls, and all of the other yumminess that comes along with Thanksgiving,

The Preacher's Wife

Gearing Up for Christmas...and Yes, I still remember Thanksgiving is coming! :)

I'm so ready to put up my Christmas tree and gear up for Christmas!!! 

Here is my reasoning for needing to put it up this weekend:

Next weekend I want to have a nice, relaxing weekend because we're going to celebrate the 'ol birthday by going out on a date.  Reason #1.

The next weekend will be Thanksgiving.  Reason #2.

And then the next weekend will be the first weekend in December!  Can you believe it?!  That's why I think it's time to gear up for Christmas.  Reason #3.

Need I say anymore?

AND.....

I think I talked Preacher Man into putting it up this weekend!!!  Whooo hooooo!

So I'm going to do a before and after post so you can see the makings of our little Christmas hopefully, wonderland in our house! 

Here are the before pictures (please excuse the random stuff just laying around...we're human!)....

get excited about the after pictures to come...

Hopefully on Sunday!!!

Wish us luck!  Because I'm going to want to get out everything Christmas in the boxes and I think I might be encouraged that we don't need to put it all out.  We'll see what happens!  :)

Sooooooo excited,

The Preacher's Wife

Duke vs. FSU

It's no secret that my honey LOVES Florida State Football!

And when we found out they were playing Duke at Duke, this was a must thing to do that we put on our calendar!

So that's what we did.  We went to the Duke vs. FSU Football game back in October.  We had a bunch of fun seeing Preacher Man's favorite team play and being on my favorite basketball team's campus.  :)

It was a gorgeous day and we had a lot of fun!

Here's how our day went...

On our way out the door Preacher Man decided that it would be a good idea to put his FSU flag on our car.  When he pulled the flag out, I kinda gave him a look of "Are you really going to put that flag on our car?!"  And then he gave me the look back of "Oh yes I am putting this on our car."

Unfortunately the flag was broken.  :(

I shed a few tears over this tragedy.

Sadness.

This is the poor guy when he realized that it was broken...

I felt bad that it was broken because I know his love for FSU runs deep and he really wanted to display the flag on our car, but for the sake of our car I'm kinda glad it didn't work out.  It could have gotten a few more scratches or dings because we were in Blue Devil Country.  Get my drift?!  (Love you hubby!)  :)

Once we got to the stadium we got to go inside Cameron Indoor to get our tickets. 

I felt like a kid on Christmas morning walking in there.  :)

Maybe one day I'll actually get to see the court in person!

We finally got our tickets and made the trek over to the football stadium...it was maybe ten steps away from the basketball arena.

Would you just look at the guy below?!

He is SMILING and holding Duke tickets!!  This makes me smile. 

But then I have to stop and smell the real roses that on that ticket it says FSU and that's the real reason he's smiling.  Not because he's a Duke fan.

Ahhhhhhh, but it sure is fun to dream.  :)

Did I mention that it was a gorgeous day for football?  Because it was!  Just look at the sky!

And here we are getting into the stadium...

I'd have to say that it was much, much different than a football game at Neyland Stadium.  MUCH.

Much quieter, much smaller, many more empty seats, small band, and no petros.  I love my petro at a UT football game, but over here in North Carolina country they don't know what petros are.  :(

But it was okay.  This was still such a fun experience without a petro.  :)

We were just thrilled to see a football game this season and none the less, Preacher Man's favorite team and on Duke's campus.

They started the football festivities with the Army Air Team parachuting in onto the field since it was Military Appreciation Day.

Do you see that plane?  It's not a bird!  It really is a plane!

And now do you see those white swirls?

and now the red swirls?

Those were the jumpers.  They jumped out and landed right on the football field. 

See!!!

It was definitely a neat thing to watch!

Next it was time for the teams to run out!

Now Power T, No Big D, they just run out.

Different strokes for different folks!  :)

And here's FSU...

And out they come!!!!

pause for a picture of me and my honey...

and here's hubby's team coming out...

Now we're in our seats...

which by the way were fantastic!  Thanks again to P.M.'s parentals!!

Here are the sky boxes for the stadium....

and the fun dance team!!!

I absolutely loved watching them!  They were a ball of fun to watch!  :)

Here's the jumbo-tron!  Ohhh yes!!  :)

and the other score board.  :)

and half of the stadium...

FSU must have done something stupid....

hahahaha!!!

This is better...

"Gooooo Duke!" says Katie.

"Goooooo FSU!" says Jon.

He's a happy man!

Check out the band!

They played leap frog in their half time performance.  :)

Just check out these concessions would you?!

Who serves blooming onions at a football game?!  Duke does!!!!

How about some mini donuts or quesadillas for you to eat while watching your team play?

Pretty cool if you ask me!  :)

Guess what our food of choice was?

.........guessing?.......

keep guessing.....

good 'ol cheese and chips!  And we even split a regular coke!

This was our halftime treat while we waited on the show to go on...

ta-da!

this is right before they started doing leap frog...

Unfortunately Duke wasn't playing so hot this day...

the fans were clearing out...

and these fans were going crazy...

I bet you can't guess who won?

That's right!  The Noles won!

Coach Cutcliffe lost to FSU.  :(

I like Coach C. because he coached at TN back in the day.  And believe it or not I met him one time when I worked at Bath & Body Works!  He was a super nice guy that was shopping for some kind of birthday present for someone with his grand kid...here's how our meeting went...

Katie:  (while ringing up his products)  Oh, I see your Tennessee ring.  That's nice.  I go there!  Did you graduate from there?

Coach C:  No I didn't.  I coach football there.

Katie (feeling like an idiot):  Oh that's awesome!  Very neat!

Coach C:  Yeah, thanks!

Katie (wanting to crawl under the counter):  Do you need your gift wrapped?

Coach C:  No, that's okay.  Thank you.

See, nice guy.  I just don't keep up with TN football like I should.  Oooppss.  :)

So there ya have it, I've met Coach C. before and now I've seen him coach his very own team!

Preacher Man and I  had a super fun time and we were so excited that we got the chance to go!

Maybe the next time we're on Duke campus we'll be watching a basketball game!  :)

Still dreaming of that day that happens,

The Preacher's Wife

Oh YES I did!

I was a bag of jelly beans for Halloween!

Oh yes, I was!  :)

And guess what?!  I won best costume at my work.

I know you're jealous and wish you were this cool.  :)

I felt like the Michelin man all day at work, but it sure was a lot of fun! 

I even passed out bags of jelly beans to everyone.

I recommend this costume to everyone if you're in a bind for a quick, easy, and cheap costume.  It's easy to put together, very easy on the pocket book, and you look like the coolest person at the party!

I just know everyone thought that I was one cool gal driving down the road in my trash bag and balloons piled up to my chin.  :)

Jelly Beans.  Yes, Jelly Beans!  It was a hit!  Make your outfit today!  :)

Proud of my outfit,

The Preacher's Wife