The Holiday Season is Upon Us.

I have a serious problem and the holiday season always brings it to the forefront. I love baking. I know that most people wouldn't think that I would be into that and honestly I'm not really that great at it, but it is like therapy for me. Standing in the kitchen and making beautiful and tasty treats is just relaxing and fun. I like to cook okay, but baking is really what I enjoy. For some reason all the holiday treats make me even more excited and currently all I want to do all day is bake.

The other night we had friends over for dinner and I baked Marble brownies from Smitten Kitchen. They were pretty great and Jamey may or may not have eaten them for breakfast this morning. Cheesecake and chocolate are Jamey's favorite desserts so pretty much everything I make is either chocolate or cheesecake related. This did not help curb my addiction though and ever since then I've been looking up recipes. This weekend we are headed to Demopolis to see family since we didn't make it there for Thanksgiving, and we are eating breakfast with my dad. He works weird hours so we always try to squeeze in whatever time works for him when we are there which this weekend means a 6:30am breakfast! Breakfast is one of my favorite meals so I defintely don't mind. Also, for some reason breakfast and Daddy always seem to go hand in hand and bring good memories. Memories are so weird like that. It isn't like we ever made breakfast a big deal or anything and we didn't really eat it that often (mainly at night if mom was out of town!), but I'll always remember how my dad takes his coffee and that his deer sausage is the BEST!

Anywhoo, holidays obviously make me nostalgic too! I am thinking of making an Apple Yogurt Coffee Cake for this weekend. My dad is more of an eggs and bacon guy, but I thought it would be a yummy addition. I'm making Emily from Cupcakes and Cashmere's version. I'll let you know how it turns out!

What is everyone else doing this first weekend of December?? Decorating for Christmas? Truth time: we put up our tree before Thanksgiving... We are totally not big Christmas people, but for some reason I got into the tree this year. Have a good rest of the week and weekend!

Thankfulness

WOW! It has been ages since I've had time to sit down and update everyone. Jamey and I have been busy bees lately and it has been awesome, but definitely stressful at times. Lately we've been up to work and school and I've been studying for the CPA. I've taken two out of the four tests, and I haven't found out any of my scores yet which is driving me CRAZY! I won't find out for a little while longer....

Oh and if you only really care about pictures just scroll to the bottom :)

The holiday season is most certainly upon us and with the passing of Thanksgiving this past week and the quickly approaching Christmas I thought I would document a few things I am thankful for so in the years to come I can look back and see it!

I'm definitely thankful for the fantastic jobs both Jamey and I have. Jamey LOVES his job and I do too which is such a blessing during these crazy times. And even though I absolutely HATE studying I'm glad for the opportunity I have to attend grad school and sit for the CPA exam because both are fairly expensive and time consuming, and so many others don't have the money or time I do to do both, so that is definitely a blessing! I often forget that when I am in the thick of studying and I think I ask Jamey about 124563825 times if I can just quit and become a housewife which I'm totally kidding about (well sort of...), but I get frustrated and need to remind myself I have such a great opportunity which so many others don't have.

I'm also thankful for the amazing apartment we are able to live in and all the great things we have to fill it up with. I am so bad about wishing I had more, prettier, better, etc etc, but really I have a wonderful roof over my head and all the other stuff will come with time!! Everyday I pass so many people that don't even have beds to sleep on so I'm taking time this holiday season to be grateful for the comfy bed I get to crawl into each night.

This past week hanging out with my family made me realize what an awesome family and friends the Lord has given me. I don't even know what all I could say about them because it would never be enough to describe what all they have done for me or what I know they will continue to do for me over the years!! Let's just say I definitely don't deserve all the love my family, friends and even new family have given me over the years and I will continue to repay them forever!

And of course I could never forget to be thankful for my little family! Hewitt, Gandalf, and Jamey may be an odd little family but I wouldn't trade any of them for the world! Jamey has been more understanding than I could ever hope for! Right now he is working on our Christmas cards. I mean what guy would be pouring over the hundreds of pictures we took and making sure we picked out the perfect ones to send out for Christmas?? I don't know many which is just a small reason why I am so thankful for him in my life. In just two weeks we will celebrate our first anniversary. The year has flown by and I can't believe it! He has been my rock this year and I don't know where I would be without him!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too! We spent the days in Gatlinburg with family and we are going to spend the upcoming weekend with more family! Have a good week!