Christmas in GA, part 1

December is a flurry of closing up things on campus and then "moving" to GA for a few weeks to visit with our families and enjoying warmer weather.  But really- Minnesota weather has been the most mild I've  ever experienced this time of year.  All the snow had melted when we left last weekend and that was enough for excite me for a little while.  All the Minnesotans started complaining about not having a white Christmas and how it was too warm, but I was jumping for joy inside.  It's all relative I guess.

We had staff training all last week and discussed the topic of sexuality.  How do we handle talking about the Bible sex on the college campus- or really anywhere?  It was a great discussion and had a Biblical counselor who specializes in sexuality come in.  Anyway, during the week it's like having a 9-5 job which always throws me for a loop!  I'm so used to having an all-day more flexible schedule with evenings being booked but having pockets of breaks throughout the day.  On my way home from "the office" last week I stopped by this awesome architectural salvage antique shop that I love just to walk around.  With babies on the brain, I found this old gas station sign with a "2" and had to buy it!  It'll be awesome in the nursery!

We flew to Atlanta last weekend and this was out first stop: 

A true Georgia welcome! It's Concourse A11 if anyone is wanting to know and listed under Burger King on the map :).   

Now we're in Georgia and have already stopped in LaGrange to see my parents, but are spending the holiday with A's family.  In LaGrange we walked around the Square and enjoyed not needing a jacket :)

We found this sleigh there.  And yep, that's it.  That's pretty much most of downtown LaGrange in that picture!

Here's one of the planters Mom helped put together all around downtown.  She does all kinds of gardening and plant work- definitely has a green thumb (which didn't get passed on)! 

Since being in Snellville with the in-laws, we've already gone to see the Christmas Carol at the Alliance Theater in Midtown, got to see our good friends Cait and Chris and went to a painting class!  It's been a relaxing and fun time.  

Everyone before we started. 

The Knights concentrating on their winter landscapes.  Look at hubby's determination!

And his true self came out!

We're thankful for family and friends and are enjoying this respite from the colder temperatures!

On our table

Here's what we've been eats and making lately:

Oh, but first a baby update!  We headed to the doc last week and she said everything was still good! We heard both healthy little heart beats and I still haven't felt sick! I'm measuring right for 4 months with twins, but it's the same size as being 5 months along with one! So basically I look like I'm a month further along than I am :)  Getting geared up for the expanding belly!  So here's to eating for three:

1) Spinach dip (without mayonnaise!!!) I have a serious aversion to mayo, so I love this Martha Stewart recipe.

2)  Chicken salad again without mayonnaise: I leave the mayo out and use Greek yogurt to the consistency I like

3) Carne Guisada Pork for tacos: 

4) Turkey Loin: great way to change up chicken and pork; way healthier and SO moist! ; plus its a 4 ingredient recipe! Hubs keeps asking for it

5) Simple sauteed zucchini: I used Greek seasoning because don't have herbs de province

6) Classic ham and cheese sliders: been looking for the old Parker House rolls recipe, but could only get this far; were good, but I ended up using frozen wheat rolls cut in half because they were big and they weren't as moist, so I'll at least double the sauce next time to make them more moist

7) Broiled Salmon with mustard sauce: SO good!  I wasn't too sure about salmon + mustard, but very tasty and so  easy: 

8) Chicken Tetrazzini: made this for a retreat for 50 ( health conscious) college women! It was good, I added garlic powder and basil and would definitely add that and some hot sauce or pepper flakes for a kick if we were making it for ourselves.

9) Holiday pretzel chocolate treats: A Pintrest find where you basically semi melt Hershey kisses on a pretzel and press an M&M on top.  So easy and takes 10 min!  The Hugs ones were our favorites

10) Roasted corn on the cob: my new favorite way to have corn: in the oven, in foil, add a little butter and some garlic salt.  I'm not a cilantro fan, so I left that out.  

11) Rosemary and bacon roasted red potatoes: classic and yummy!

thanksgiving in georgia

Our flight left Atlanta this morning at 8:30.  Too bad when we booked the tickets I didn't think about how early we'd have to get there, especially from driving from my parents' house in LaGrange, an hour away.  But we made it and with the time change were back at our apartment by 10:45am.

We had such a refreshing and fun weekend with our families that I wanted to go ahead and post some of the fun pictures. 

We headed to Atlanta on Tuesday and stayed with Andrew's parents for a night and then had a big breakfast with his Mimi and brother Jason who came in town.  It was really sweet for us to spend time with his parents who we enjoy but especially enjoyable to have all of them together.  We then headed down to LaGrange to spend the bulk of the holiday with my family.  With both sets of parents and sibilings, it was the first time they saw the baby bump, which was in full force!  Seriously! I think I finally "popped" out in this past week or two. 

They technically live on West Point Lake, but because the water is so low it was more mud + beach than anything else.  After making a wonderful Thanksgiving meal, we headed down to the "water" to get out of the house for a while.  And on top of that, I was plain pumped about not seeing snow or needing a jacket, gloves or anything wool!

Mom and Court making a bonfire on the beach while the guys went for a little ride in the Ranger.

Their adventure soon came to a muddy stop as the Ranger began to sink into the mud. Poor guys!

While they figured all that out, we girls enjoyed the bonfire and some long needed catch up time in person. Plus we marveled at my now large and clearly pregnant belly!

Post T-givng, we had fun just hanging out together and on Friday I headed up to the "Big City" for a wedding shower for a great friend from my college years.  I got to see these sweet friends there too!

Ginnie, me, and Amber worked and lived together for a few years.  It's always a fun time when were together! 

And us with Julie another girl we worked with and who is also prego!  Actually friend who's a labor and delivery nurse guessed I was late 20s-30 weeks!  That's several weeks further along than Julie (but really I think I'm a good month or maybe 2 earlier) but I guess the twins are pushing me out pretty quick- I'm at 16 weeks here! :)  

Then my amazing Dad, knowing one of the keys to my heart, got the whole fam tickets to the Georgia-Georgia TEch game! Ahh! I miss Georgia games! And it happened to be the game marking 3 years since Andrew and got engaged.

Me and A barely keeping in our excitement in the car!

Georgia thankfully held Tech to a 31-17 game!

Can we please note the short sleeves?! Loving that! 

3 years later! We're not just engaged, but married and doubling our family! :)

honoring the late Larry Munson

I was so proud that the babies got to experience their first Georgia game and win over Tech :)

I was thankful for such a relaxing and exciting week with my family!

the big news

Well, the word is out.

We're pregnant!

With twins!!

Yep, it's true!  I'm now starting my second trimester and feeling great.  We we're exactly planning on having a kid (let alone 2!) for a few years, but God has brought us on a sweet journey and given up such excitement and anticipation for these little ones!  Our official due date is May 12, but were told to plan for them to come anytime from April 1 on.

Here are some pictures of our little journey so far:

I think we may have been pregs in this picture.  We all week had been laughing that so many people we know are getting pregnant and we we're NOT planning on "jumping on that train" for a while.  Irony!

I think I was a little suspicious, but this was before we knew.  Me and some of my fav girls on campus.

 

We flew down to Atlanta for a wedding and got to tell our parents that we were pregnant in person! Convenient timing!!  Maybe around 6 weeks or so?

A little day date with hubs.  We knew we were pregnant, but were going to the doctor in the next few days. 

This was the news at the doctor's at 8 weeks!  TWINS!  Both little babes have been doing great!

Looking bigger at 10ish weeks!

We took some pictures right before the Georgia-Florida game to note that our babies were lime-sized!  We felt a little silly but ya know now is the time! This was at 12 weeks. 

Ha.  Even Andrew wanted to get in on the action!  He's the proudest papa-to-be!

This was last weekend, right at 13 weeks, at a college women's retreat.  These are the beautiful ladies I spend most of my time with on campus! And you can see the little bump too!  

Just wanted to let you in on our family news!  We're overjoyed for these two!

guest post!

My great friend Marisa had me share some thoughts on wedding planning from back in the day over on her blog.  She blogged everyday this month AND she's planning a wedding for January!  Kudos!

Check out the post and her blog here!

p.s. Dawgs beat the Gators 24-20! Made my weekend :)

gator hating

Georgia playing Florida today!

Hoping for a big win!

Life this fall

Up here fall has been amazing.  Favorite one so far- at least on the weather point.  It's now starting to get chillier and the upcoming cold has begun to creep into my mind.  With the temps slowly falling and the days getting shorter, I know the winter is approaching.  I've pulled out boots and scarfs and begun making soup again.  

Here's a little fall basket on our patio!

I just can't get over how fast it's gone by.  It really has felt like a blur, a haze- as the beginning of the school year always does.  Here are a few of the things we've been up to:

Missions Conference:
Hub's heart for the nations pushed him to get our staff to put on a college missions conference.  Here's a picture of him and our church pastor speaking there.  Nearly 150 people came, which was encouraging. Proud of him!

Hubby

Pastor John

Meeting with students: 

I also meet with several groups of girls and here's 1 of the sophomore small groups we have over every week:

They're super fun! 

One girl, Heidi, in the purple, even came over this week and wanted to make these awesome pumpkin spice cupcakes.  So easy: 1 can pumpkin and 1 box cake mix.  That's it! We frosted them with cream cheese icing.  They were great and actually healthy!

As for the juniors and seniors women I meet with, I'm making them pick a meal that we cook together so they have at least one go to meal when they graduate that they know they can do.  A couple are kitchen whizzes and a few have some hilarious stories of mishaps!  I thought this was one way to incorporate them more into my life now and teach them a practical life skill.  Plus I have Titus 2 in mind and I want to teach them how to walk maturely with the Lord and hospitality is part of it!  Teaching them to love their husbands is another part of that verse and cooking is usually one part of that!

Here's Anna's menu of what we made last week:

1) Lemon Rosemary Grilled Marinated Chicken Breast
2) Broccoli with Almonds
3) Baked Sweet Potatoes (bake at 425 for 1 hour)

She did a great job!

cookin' it up

With the beautiful weather we've been having I was pulling out some summer recipes, but we've since turned the corner of autumn heading toward winter and it's been warm weather food.

Here are some of the things we've been lately:

1. Paula Deen's South Georgia Pound Cake

2. Butternut Squash Soup

3. The Pioneer Woman's Cajun Chicken Pasta

4. Mushroom Frittata (to which I also added some red bell pepper and a thawed, strained package of frozen spinach for a little heartiness)

5. Andrew's chili and lots of cornbread

6. My mom's incredible Crawfish Pie recipe- it sounds weird to non-Louisianans but think chicken pot pie but cajun style.  It takes like crawfish etoufee in a pie.  SO good! And it reminded me of home :)

This week I'm planning to try this new crock pot Chicken Tortilla Soup and later on saute some kale from the farmers market as a side with some rotisserie chicken.  

The farmers market has been great for us and along with lots of veggies and late season berries we got some pumpkins we'll carve this week!

fall break

Andrew and I drove up 2 and a half hours up the Minnesota "coastline" to see the beautiful fall colors change.  It's the MN equivalent of driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains I think.  We stayed up in Two Harbors which is 40ish minutes north of the bigger city of Duluth.

We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast hosted by this amazing God fearing couple who actually were back from working with a tribe in the Philippines.  They actually went there with the Peace Corps and grew disillusioned with trying to help people and not really seeing anything happen.  A poor family there continued to show them love and grace and it broke down the bitter couple to see their sin and need for Jesus Christ as their Savior.  Sweet story!  So after a few years of being in the States they finally made it back to spend nearly another decade with this tribe preaching the good news.  All that to say, it was so encouraging!

We also ate at some great restaurants and hiked a little trail and saw lots of beautiful trees and colors!

the view at our B&B

gorgeous sunset

we saw so many deer! this one was just walking down the street!

winding around the coast

beautiful trees!!

 Lake Superior view

reading by the water one morning

 Split Rock Lighthouse

New Scenic Cafe. one of the best meals I've ever had! seriously!

(from google images)

This little trip was actually Thursday through Friday because Hubs was actually preaching at our church.  We have a Saturday night service and 2 Sunday morning services so we wanted to make sure he'd be rested and prepared for that change of pace.  I was so proud of him!  He did a great job, but I am glad that preaching isn't an every weekend thing!  It takes a lot! I have even more respect for preaching pastors and their families!