{Our Little} Thanksgiving!

We took our annual trip to the mountains to celebrate this Thanksgiving.  Again, it never disappoints!  We stayed in the same condo as last year ~ the views are amazing!  This year we invited Scott's parents, Kimberly and Nathan for Thanksgiving.  It was really fun!  We also got our Christmas tree picked out while we were there (all 14' of it!)!  Camden really loved helping pick out a tree and bringing it home.  The day after Thanksgiving we celebrated my birthday and then went to all the Christmas festivities in downtown Blowing Rock!  We made a stop at Chetola Resort and were 1st in line to see Santa!  We also were able to drive thru the Festival of Lights and do some cookie decorating!  We had a awesome time in the mountains, but were anxious to get home to start decorating for Christmas!

We finished our weekend off with a church service dedicated to one of our friends becoming a minister and a great brunch with Patti!  We have so much to be thankful for this year!  We are truly so fortunate to have such a wonderful group of friends and family!!!

{Happy Halloween}

We can't decide which Camden liked better at Halloween this year...getting candy or giving it!  We started out our night trick or treating around the neighborhood.  Camden would run up to the door, ring the bell and then OPEN their door!  Instead of saying "TRICK OR TREAT!" he would check out the candy and say, "I like this one! THANKS!"  Then run back to us.  Even though we had practiced it a lot, he still said what he wanted to say, but hey, at least he had some manners about it!  Our neighbors get together every year in 1 driveway and hand out candy, so after we did our thing we went to the party.  We left Camden in charge of handing out ours.  After the 1st rush of 5 kids, our candy was 1/2 gone!  Camden was handing them 10+ pieces of candy at once!  We overheard him scripting the children on how they ask for candy.  He was telling them, "Say trick or treat!  Now say thank you!"  It was hysterical!  Bexley liked riding around the neighborhood in her ladybug costume and seeing everyone!  We had a great Halloween and have some funny memories to go with it!

{NC Zoo} and Carving Our Pumpkins !

Besides Trick or Treating, I think we are finally done with all of our Halloween/Fall activities!  We had a great time carving our pumpkins this year.  Camden's is of course a tractor and Bexley's is a butterfly.  We also found time to go to the NC Zoo - always a treat!  And we had a blast at the Rudd Halloween Party on Saturday!  5 days and counting 'til trick or treating!!!

{Pumpkin Picking} and a state fair !

It's been a long time since I was at a state fair and let me tell you the NC State Fair was a good one to start back up with!  We had so much fun looking at the animals, eating fair food and watching the tractor pull.  Although it was a little loud, Bexley never cried once and you know Camden ~ he was in heaven!  We also had time that weekend to pick out our pumpkins.  Although we couldn't find a pumpkin patch the farmer's market never lets us down!  We are getting so excited for trick or treating we can't stand it!  Camden tries on his costume almost once a day!  Happy Halloween!

{Fall Leaves} and Train Rides!

We had our Annual Fall Trip to the Mountains today.  The weather was GORGEOUS!!!  We couldn't have asked for a better day!  We normally drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway and look at all the beautiful trees, but this year we decided to go to Tweetsie Railroad (A wild west theme park).  The kids loved every minute of it, with the exception of 2 of the rides.  We then went on a picnic and then drove on the Parkway to see all of the foliage!  This was the 2nd outing this fall ~ our 1st was to Rudd Farm and Farmers Market to get Gourds for decorating!  We had a blast seeing all of the pumpkins too!  Next weekend I think we might hit the NC State Fair and maybe a Pumpkin Patch along the way!!!  Keep checking back for more pics!

Look WHOOO just turned 1!

Bexley had a fantastic birthday week!  We celebrated on Thursday with a just us and then had family over on Saturday for her Owl-Very Pink themed party!  She is really starting to like dolls and girly stuff ~ YAY!!!

{Labor Day} Weekend!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Labor Day Weekend!  We weren't going to do anything, but relax around the house.  Scott suggested last minute that we instead spend the day in Roanoke, VA!  We love Roanoke!  Scott and I celebrated a wedding anniversary there and had a great time!  We started out having lunch at 202 - sat outside so we could listen to the music from the Farmer's Market! Then ventured over there for awhile.  Next, we visited Valhalla Winery ~ wow, they have amazing views!  Camden pretty much just loved running around the whole time.  Then we ended our day at the little zoo they have there.  It was our kind of zoo ~ not big and NOT crowded!  It was such a great weekend for us considering we weren't able to make our annual Labor Day Beach Trip!

{Hurst Vacation} Florida

We just got back from our annual Hurst Vacation!  This year we went to Orlando!  We went to an airplane museum, spent an evening at Clearwater Beach, went to Seaworld and Magic Kingdom, raced in Daytona, walked along the ocean at Coco Beach, saw Cape Canaveral, looked at a lighthouse in Ponce Inlet, and watched fireworks from Magic Kingdom - just to name a few of the things we did and yes, there are more!  We had a great time visiting and making new memories together!

{Happy 4th Of} July!

Happy 4th of July everyone!  We had a very American holiday ~ doing the great pastimes of the USA ~ grilling out burgers and hot dogs, going to a baseball game, setting off fireworks...the usual July 4th festivities!  This year we actually we able to catch the parade downtown!  It was fun ~ the kids had a blast!  Camden loved the candy and fire trucks ~ Bexley was just amazed at the music and traffic!  We had a really good holiday and hope next year we'll be able to catch the "BIG" fireworks in town!

{1st Beach Trip of the Year} OIB

Well another great trip to the beach - what a way to start the summer off.  This year we went back to Ocean Isle Beach, a favorite of ours, and brought The Hansen's with us!  We had a wonderful time relaxing on the beach with them!   The kids had such a good time building sand castles, digging holes with their loaders and playing in the water!  It was Bexley's 1st time to the beach and she of course loved it!  We always love going to OIB, but it was especially fun this time with Jim, Andrea and Drew there!  Good food, good fun and GREAT company!  We can't wait to return next year to OIB!