Merry Christmas- 2014

Merry Christmas! Since Richard and I were gone the entire Christmas break last year, we really enjoyed our "first" Christmas at our home. Besides spending the holiday at home with our families, we also celebrated my sister's engagement to her longtime boyfriend, Chaz! It was such a fun holiday memory- now on to helping with the planning.

Chaz took Caroline to a restaurant called Aria, which is located of East Paces Ferry. He planned it all on his own and proposed in the private wine cellar that is connected to the restaurant. She honestly had no idea. After he proposed, he drove them back to his parents house where both families and many close friends came together to continue the surprise. It was a beautiful evening!!!!

{Christmas at my parents house}

{Dinner with the couples at JCT}

 

{The many faces of Addie- we spent many hours together during our wet break} 

{One of my favorite parts of Christmas is receiving our friend's Christmas Cards}

{Our 2014 Christmas Card}

The beginning of a very special time in their lives

 {They're ENGAGED!!!!}

 

New Year's 2014 dinner with great friends/ FAMILY!

  

 

THANKFUL

Thanksgiving 2014 was held at our house this year with 13 of our closest friends & family members.  As always, holidays can get pretty hectic, but I was lucky enough to have Ashley come over Wednesday and helped me prep all the food; however, I never can anticipate how long it will actually take until you're up until 1:00 a.m baking your last pie(s). Since I only have one oven- feeding 13 people without any help would have been a nightmare,but my mother-in-law bought the two turkeys from Copeland (they were deep-fried & super delicious), my mom brought the ham from Honey Baked Ham, and I made all the sides and desserts. I was thrilled that we were all able to come together and enjoy a delicious meal.

Auburn vs South Carolina

The weekend of October 25, 2014, the Bentleys and the Kramers went down to Auburn for the Auburn/ South Carolina game and a little post birthday celebration. The best part about the weekend, besides the fact that Auburn won, it was my mom's first SEC football game. It was a wonderful fall day- great for tailgating and watching a 7:30 start time, the best time to watch a game in my opinion.

{We made a Toomer's Corner run}

{Celebrating at Toomer's Corner}

 

North Georgia Mountains

The weekend after the river adventure, we (Cole , Ashley, and our 2 dogs), decided to drive up to north Georgia to show Cole & Ashley Young Harris College AND hike 8 miles from the campus to the highest point in Georgia, Brasstown Bald, which has a summit elevation of 4,784 feet above sea level.We knew the hike would take a while, but actually took much longer then I thought it would...a total of 4+ hours to complete the entire hike, but thankfully we got to drive back down since we took two cars to the summit.

 

 

{The ENTIRE Group at the top}

{The view from Brasstown Valley Resort}

Even though we were extremely tired from the long hike and the drive home, we somehow made it out again that night to grab some cheap dinner at TDS, Taqueria Del Sol and rewarded ourselves with delicious homemade ice cream at Jeni's Ice Creams. 

 If you want to see if there's one near you, click on the link: Jeni's Ice Creams

{The group patiently waiting in line- 20+ minutes}

One average, especially on the weekends, the line is wrapped around the building and into the parking lot just to get it- obviously a local favorite. The best part of the entire experience it getting to try all the delicious flavors. 

{Very TRUE}

{Enjoying my 2 scoop combo of salty caramel and brambleberry Crisp}