Hotlanta Baby!

The real live Pioneer Woman came to Atlanta. No need to blog anymore. That is enough said.

Yeah right, you think I am going to be quiet about actually meeting the one woman show, the epitome of a muti-tasker, the photography genius, the cooking queen, the farm inhabiting, 4 children having, homeschooling teacher, and blogger extraordinaire. It was great! Not just great, but lite a fire under me to get out of my house and buy a farm so I can have some kiddos running around milking cows and stuff kind of great. Yup...it is my dream.

This is really where it all began. Getting some coffee and settling in for a looonnngggg time of sitting and waiting. I think me and the coffee became one.

My mom called me in the 23rd hour and asked if she got a substitute if I wanted to have a girls night and go to Atlanta to see The Pioneer Woman. I first screamed, jumped out of my chair, rented a hotel room at the Marriott, and started packing. Of course I wanted to go. For some of you who may not know, The Pioneer Woman was blogger of the year for her online blog and she just recently put out a cookbook with all her farm girl recipes in it. She was having a book signing in Atlanta for her new cookbook which you will see below. I am addicted.

We definitely got a jump start of reading her cookbook, and in the mean time making friends and chatting with the people around us.

This is a whole nother story! The dreaded wristbands! OK, they gave you a wristband as you came into the bookstore with a color and a letter on it. We were Yellow D when we came in and they were only on Orange H when I looked the first time. The nice naive lady said it was only going to be 1 hour or so. The OR SO part of that meant 4.5 hours later we got to see Ree. That was only because some sweet girls in line gave me their friends wristbands that had gone home. Their wristband was Green F. If we had really had to wait for our original color it would have been more like the 6 hour range to see her.
So, thank you to whom ever the girl was that gave me her wristbands for me and my mom. It was a life saver.
(This was so much better than just standing in the line for ever. This way you got to walk around and browse the store while you waited for your color and letter to be called.)

Can't you just picture it now. Me on a farm with horses and cows and kiddos running around barefoot, of course. She is my motivation.

What a trip. Never really just up and went on a road trip before, but we had a blast.

I also got to meet Ree's sister Betsy, on the right and her best friend Hyacinthia, on the left.

I was honestly so giddy and nervous. Definitely a memory I will not forget.
Right up there with:
#1 Getting married
#2 Getting Brodie
#3 Meeting the Pioneer Woman :)

Check out her website: www.thepioneerwoman.com
Her love story is a must read!

4 Letter Word

L-O-V-E You just think you know what "love" really means by the dictionary standards, but this giddy couple defines it a different way. Or maybe I am defining it for them and they just don't know it yet.

"L"
Laughing-- until your stomach hurts and you continuously cry "uncle!

"O"
Over-- being engaged.. just let us be married for the love of all that is good in this world :)

"V"
Victorious--for the big 8 pt. deer that is just waiting to be shot and put on the wall in their new house.

"E"
Excited--about their new sweet family that was planned from the Lord above and will lavish all wonderful blessings over their marriage.

Yup... LOVE is like Christmas everyday of the year for them. :)

*new post below

AHH....Babies at Christmas

HO HO HO Merry Christmas from Little Baby Katelyn!!

This may be more than I can handle... Babies, Christmas, egg nog, Christmas lights, and sweet smiles like this one. I love this time of year!

I am telling you.. I really want to just squeeze those cheeks of hers. Now I understand long ago when grandmothers used to squeeze your cheeks and say I remember yooouuu when you were thiiiisssss biiggg.. Ugh. I hated that, but now I understand when you see cuteness like this!

Merry 1st Christmas Katelyn!

Newest Addition

Introducing Miley Higdon White
(soon just Miley White) They have shared custody right now. haha

The new 8 week old German Shorthair Pointer
This is Lacey's Christmas present from Zac. All together now.. awww....

Looks like Santa came early this year. Someone must have been extra extra good!!

Is this the 12 days of Christmas or what!??
Day 1: Trip to Gatlinburg
Day 2: Diamond ring
Day 3: Extra kisses under the mistletoe
Day 4: New job starts
Day 5: Wedding date set
Day 6: Wedding dress bought
Day 7: Purchase new cowboy boots
Day 8: Decorate new house in Alabaster
Day 9: Go to Christmas parties
Day 10: New puppy named Miley
Day 11: Last minute Christmas shopping
Day 12: A partridge in a pear tree!

Whew...that was exhausting. Oh yeah and
Day 13: Live happily ever after! :)

You will all listen to the 12 Days of Christmas a lot closer the next time you hear it now wont you.

If I had already sold my house there would be a total of 4 shorthairs in our family. 2 for us and two for Zac and Lacey. Brodie was still sniffing the blankets for 2 days after Miley left our house. 1 female and 2 males. You do the math. Pure choas... but I love it!

"Ok.. I am 8 weeks old and I really really need to sleep 23 out of the 24 hours dont you know that! Leave me be and tell that dog of yours to stop sniffing and licking me." I could have sworn I heard Miley say that under her breath.

I love my little Lacey and Zachery Vance and are so excited for all that is to come for the two of them. This has been such an incredibly memorable year! Something you will never forget and glad I could be a part of. Welcome to the family little Miley.

New Tradition... Maybe??

The week before Thanksgiving in the Mountains with The Higdon's...The Davis'.. and almost The White's

The red pants family. That is what we are called.

Live... Laugh... Love

This pretty much explains this trip. Anytime we all get together it is a plethora of excitement, photos, children, family memories, funny stories, great sleep, good food, and NO plans. We all just go with the flow. No schedule?? New revelation.

Meet the future Mr. and Mrs. White. Yes, this cute couple got engaged at Cades Cove! More to come on this. I told you it was pure excitement.

Woods, log cabins, deer, and the mountains, so it was a must that cowboy boots were the choice shoes of the weekend.

This couple made all of this happen. These are my wonderful, exciting, good food making, sweet as sugar in laws.

Baby Charlie got his first pair of real live cowboy boots!

This is my baby with my baby nephew. Yup, my baby is the big one. The incredibly rugged outdoorsy man of a man. He is mine. Maybe one day we will have a blonde headed blue eyed baby that will look like Jamie. Oh I hope so.

Downtown Gatlinburg and the whole kitten caboodle of our family-minus me of course b/c I took the pic. Should have made friends with a random stranger to take our picture. Good thought for next time.

Angie also never has her picture taken because she is always behind the camera. So, I took my chances and I figured with a baby in tow that she could not run to far!

Another picture of the giddy couple. Mushy, gushy, googly eyes. I remember those days. Oh wait, I am still in those days of when I look at my rugged man. Never gets old.

Fun Times...

Maybe a new Thanksgiving trip tradition????

Hope so...

**new posts below**

Part 2-Engagement/Cades Cove

Part 2 of the Thanksgiving Family Tradition

This is my alllll time favorite most interesting place I have probably ever been. Cades Cove in Gatlinburg. In the real world you will never get that close to wild animals. Absolutely mind boggling.

Zac and Lacey have been in love and googly eyed over each other since they officially started dating. We allll knew it was coming because they were meant for each other. Zac planned to propose in Cades Cove which is perfect for this outdoorsy couple.

All you heard was this giddy Zac laugh and Lacey in absolute shock! It was a great moment that I will never forget and was honored to be apart of. I feel like my little bro and my sister in law are getting married. Zac and I have been friends as long as I can remember and I am ecstatic that he is marrying my sister in law Lacey.

The beaming new bride to be.

Jamie and the binoculars bonded that day. Anytime you wondered where he was you just looked for the guy with the binoculars locked to his face looking for any kind of wild life. He was like a little kid at Christmas getting his first Red Rider BB gun!

Are you seeing this??? Of course you are. I was about 15 feet from this deer. Who does that!!?? It was amazing up to the point where he lowered his head and put his ears back and wanted me out of his territory walking briskly towards me. I took off running, but still I was able to get that close to this deer. Amazing!

In honor of Thanksgiving... gobble gobble.

For more pictures of this great trip just click here

Christmas Baby

My sweet, precious, blonde headed blue eyed nephew that is a little bundle of smiles and joy turned one! Did I mention that he is absolutely the cutest babester I have seen. I may be partial I will agree, but those blue eyes, yes, the eyes, and the smile, did I mention the smile. Oh it will get you every time.

Yes, Jamie and I had the "when are we going to have children" talk on the way home. :) I can't handle all the sweetness from these nephews of mine. It just brings out the excitement in me. Babies, birthdays, Christmas, presents, cider... it is just everything great all rolled into one. aahhhh...

You just thought you could eat Sam with a spoon he is so incredibly sweet, but this is his older brother, Charlie. *Sigh* I have the cutest nephews and I know it! And a great sister in law and brother in law :)

I just love this family!

Happy Happy Birthday Baby Sam!