Christmas 2012

This year it seems like we had a lot more quality time with family over the holidays.  I wish Christmas Eve and Day were always on a Monday and Tuesday!  We did a lot of eating this year!  We started our celebration off at my parents house and one of my favorite traditions is decorating cookies with my brother Jake.  This year Zach was old enough to help out too.

We had lots of other sweet treats.  These cupcakes were too cute not to share!

We had the best time unwrapping presents.  Lots of good reactions this year and lots of surprises!

Ryan and I got some great baby gifts!

 A wooden double swing!  Probably my favorite gift this year:)

 Hooded bath towels with the twins names on them.  It is really neat to start seeing their name on their things!!

We all had fun making cotton candy with the boys new cotton candy machine.

Ryan and I made crepes Christmas Eve morning and ate them in front of a real fire and stayed in our pjs  until 1 pm.  It truly doesn't get better than that.

We attended the Christmas Even service at our church and then went back to Ryan's parents house.  When we woke up on Christmas morning Santa had come!

Ryans dad always makes sausage and gravy for breakfast on Christmas Day....we all look forward to it!

After looking at all my pictures it seems we took more of the food than the people.  It might be because most of the time was spent in pjs.  Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

WE'RE HAVING.....

A BOY and a GIRL!!!!!

We went to the doctor last Friday and had them write the genders in two separate envelopes.  Ryan and I went to a special dinner and both opened one at the same time.  He opened the one saying it was a girl and I had the boy:)  What a special moment we will never forget.

We still can not believe we are having two babies and now we get the joy of raising both a boy and girl!  We would have been happy either way, but feeling so blessed about the outcome:)  Our families are thrilled because there are lots and lots of boys, but us girls are very outnumbered.  This little girl will be spoiled and our little boy will have lots of hand-me-downs and role models!  

I am now just overwhelmed trying to figure out a nursery.  I had the perfect boy and the perfect girl nursery planned....and now I am having the hardest time with a joint room for a boy and girl.  It either seems too girly, too boring...I just can't decide.  We have loved shopping and registering over the past week and have even received some adorable gifts, flowers and ornaments for the twins!

Back to nursery decorating and Christmas shopping:)

Very Thankful

We have a lot to be thankful for this year.  Most importantly these two little blessings on the way.  We had lots of plans over the Thanksgiving holiday and only made it to a few because Ryan got really sick.  Which reminds me that I am also thankful for my great immune system:)  Although we spent the majority of the time laying around watching football we did manage to visit both families for a brief amount of time and stuff our faces the entire time. First we went to Lake Norman for two days with Ryan's family.

One thing I have really missed since I learned about my gluten allergy is green bean casserole.  I decided this year I was going to make it myself.  The two ingredients that are not gluten free in normal green bean casseroles are the fried onions and cream of mushroom soup.  Gluten free cream of mushroom soup is easy to find these days so that part was easy.  Ryan helped me with my attempt at making fried onions.
First we sliced 1 and 1/2 onions very thinly with a mandoline.

Soaked the onions in milk.

Tossed them in gluten free flour.

Shallow fried them in Canola oil for just a minute or so on each side and let them dry out on a paper towel completely.

And here is the finished product!  The homemade onions made a HUGE difference in this casserole.  They were SO much better than the ones you buy in a can!

It went great with the smoked turkey Ryan and his dad made.

I am also thankful for a family that loves to cook!

We competed in our 4th annual Londry Turkey Shoot.

After coming in last place every year....guess who won this year???

Although the lake isn't far away it was nice to spend some quality time "away" with Ryan's family.

We then went home to rest for a day and traveled to visit my family.
We of course ate more amazing food.   This year instead of doing a second Thanksgiving we decided to go with Dads delicious spaghetti!  My brothers love french onion dip so I made some homemade french onion dip and was nervous they wouldn't eat it if it didn't come from a plastic container....well they loved it.  This little guy couldn't get enough!

My family is rather large and it is very hard to get us all in one place at the same time.  I really cherish these moments.

Celebrating 30 80's style!!

This past week has been one surprise after another!  I turned 30...which is obviously no surprise.  I am someone who doesn't mind surprises.  All week my husband surprised me with gifts, flowers, dinners and just when I thought it was all over SURPRISE!

Late Thursday night there was a knock at the door....when I opened it my best friend Rachel was standing there!!!  She flew all the way from California to celebrate my 30th:)  Ryan and Rachel had apparently been planning a party since this summer for me, 80's style!  Am I a lucky girl or what???

Sorry in advance for all the pictures, but I want to document every detail of this amazing night!!

Two specialty drinks: Bed of Roses and Livin on a Prayer.  Livin on a Prayer was a combination of Jim Bean and TAB!

Ryan found a bakery to make Gluten Free Cupcakes for me:) They had all sorts of 80's decor and candy, but my favorite...Slap Bracelets!!

Another favorite was my phone.  It was an 80's large phone, but it held my actual iPhone and functioned properly!  Also a blow up ghetto blaster that played an iPod!

Now for all the costumes!
I was dressed by Rachel (since I didn't have time to shop in advance) and Ryan was Phil Donahue. Some other guests included Madonna, Vanilla Ice, Maverick and Ice Man, Miami Vice and Marty McFly just to name a few!

Holly wore rollerblades...and didn't take them off all night!

Ryan Phil Donahue even sang Happy Birthday to me:)

And we danced to 80's music all night long!!!

What an amazing way to celebrate my the big 3-0!!!!  A big thank you to all of my friends and family that traveled to come help me celebrate and of course to the best husband and best friend a girl could ever ask for!!!!