Thankful Thursday

01:  Date nights with hubs: Buffalo Wild Wings to watch UNC football, Bike riding in Santa Monica and a trip to Yogurtland.  Life has been really full for us lately so we do our best to squeeze some quality time into our schedule. 

02:  The plants in my window box are still alive!  And, I'm nursing my mums back to full health {they went a few days without enough water}.  :)

03:  Trying out new recipes - Hubs and I really love cooking together so it's fun to try new things.  As you know, we are flexitarian so I've been trying a few new meatless dishes recently.  Some of our favorites are Mexican Lasagna and Creamy Garlic Noodles.  {Check out my November meal plan for more ideas}.

04:  Getting to attend the Entreleadership Conference.

05:  Our life group from church, Complete Joy.

Mom & Dad's Visit - The Small Things

Mom and Dad came to visit.  Have I mentioned this seventeen times already?   Well, it was pretty exciting and fun to have them here.  Really, it was just so great.  My favorite part of their trip were the little things - when we didn't do much of anything special.  

Each morning Dad drove me to work so that he and Mom could use the car to sight-see while hubs and I were at work.  It was my favorite part of the day.  Even though the ride was super short {I only work one mile from home}, it was quality time with him.  It felt like schooldays all over again, except the car was a little less embarrassing than his two tone Crown Vic.  One morning he was a trooper and helped me pick up breakfast for a work-meeting - I rushed him all over the store.  So thankful!

We played this game Dominion a couple of nights.  Mom was hoping that we'd play Settlers of Catan.  We never got around to it.  Maybe next time.  

Mom cooked a couple of our suppers.  And, Dad was the amazing, superstar dishwasher all week long. And, he mopped my floors.  Mom bought me a little plant.  They went grocery shopping.  Thanks so much.  

Hanging out on our porch after it rained for 10 minutes.  

On Saturday morning, we went on a walk at the Rose Bowl. Well, hubs ran a lap while the three of us walked it.  Mom and Dad set the pace, and it was pretty challenging keeping up with them. 

We tried {some of} our favorite restaurants: the taco truck, In N Out, Porto's {for their delish cheese rolls and potato balls}, and Yogurtland.

Mom & Dad with their burgers.  Dad wasn't that impressed, but Mom liked her's.

Our time together was one of my favorite visits with them.  I loved, loved, loved having them here in Pasadena.

Quick Update

 

Mom and Dad are here visiting.  It's the first time they've been out to see us since our move last summer.  I'm enjoying every minute with them {even the ones when I turn into my 15 year-old self}.  Last Friday, hubs and I met them in San Fransisco and spent the weekend sight-seeing {more on this in a separate post} and drove down the Pacific Coast Highway on Sunday.  I wish we had had another day or two to meander through the little towns, hike or even camp along the way. 

Now that we're back in Los Angeles, they're spending their days sight-seeing in the LA area while hubs and I go to work.  I'm loving having supper with them every night.  Last night Dad and hubs went to the grocery store after supper.  I promised to make chocolate chip cookies if Mom and I could stay home.  {I am not a fan of going to the grocery}.  I halfed the recipe because I only had one egg, but I forgot to half the butter.  While the cookies were pretty tasty, they came out of the oven a little flat.  The sad thing is, I didn't realize what I did wrong until this morning. 

Here's to soaking-in every moment with my family - flat, overly buttery cookies and all!

Thanksgiving in Review

Big Bear weekend

Over Labor Day weekend {yes, I know I am way behind in updating my blog} Kim & Greg invited us to join them in Big Bear for the holiday. We rented a cabin together with some friends of theirs. It was a really fun weekend away from our usual routine. Hubs and I were both very happy to have something fun to do for the weekend. Usually we go to Oak Island over Labor Day with all of hubs’ college buddies, and we were missing them.

We dreamed about buying our own vacation home up there. Big Bear is a small mountain resort community two hour northwest of Pasadena. In the summer people spend time on the lake, and in the winter it’s a ski resort. For all of you Georgia readers, it reminds me a little of Helen.

We enjoyed hanging around and relaxing. We spent some time with our sweet niece and tried to convince her to walk. {She is now walking – or running – all over the place!} Quality time with that girl is the absolute best.

{Grace helping Uncle Mike choose his fantasy football team.}

We ate some delicious food – including a trip to Chick-Fil-A on the way home! I made a couple of special treats {cheesecake brownies and rice krispy treats} for all of to share during the weekend too. :)

We went on a 4.5 mile hike which had great views of Big Bear Lake.

Hubs went off-roading with our brother-in-law. They had a really fun time. It was the first time hubs has done something like that. I know he's looking forward to going again!

Thanks, K&G for the invite! We had such a fantastic time with y'all. Next time we'll make Blueberry buckle. ;)

Dad for Mayor

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that Hubs and I went to Savannah last weekend to celebrate my Dad's birthday. We had a really fantastic time hanging out with the family. And, as I expected, it included going to garage sales all over town {we didn't find anything, ugh!} and to breakfast. Seriously, I'm pretty sure that's one of Dad's favorite things to do. After breakfast the whole fam went to Keller's, the flea market in Savannah. The girls found lots of fun things {more on that later}, and I'm pretty sure Hubs experienced culture shock the entire time we were at Keller's. :)

Later, we had a really fun birthday dinner, complete with beans & weanies. I made one of Dad's favorite desserts, banana pudding. We all chipped in to give him a Kindle this year, and he liked it! Needless to say, we were all pumped he was excited about it. Here's to hoping he will set up his account with Amazon to use the thing. After dinner, we played several rounds of Whits & Wagers, and Dad had us cracking up with his stories and a very random medley of "Hey-Ho," "Hee-Haw" {anyone remember this show? I used to watch it with my Granddaddy} and "Hi-ho" mid game. Totally random and completely awesome.

So, over the weekend, we jokingly said Dad should throw his hat in the mayoral running this year. Seriously, if it didn't cost so much money to put on an excellent campaign, I think it'd be a great idea. Too bad there's no money to pay me; I would make a great campaign manager. ;) Dad, if you're reading, here are the reasons you should be mayor:

• You have a deep sense of justice. More importantly, though, your pursuit of justice is married with an abiding compassion for people.
• You have the respect of many, many people in your community - probably many more than you realize.
• You're the best and most animated story-teller I know.
• You're an incredibly hard-worker.
• People like you. I mean, even the people you've put in jail like you {well, I'm sure not all of them}.
• You're a conservative enough Democrat to win folks from both parties.
• You're a practical and realistic idealist. While you would love things to be right in the world, you know they won't be, and you can try to find a middle ground in that.
• You can see a situation from more than one side.
• You don't put up with junk or excuses.
• You have a deep faith and love for Jesus that is lived out in all kinds of practical ways, like cleaning the church once a month, being Santa for lots of special kids, and giving money for schools {or clean water} in third world countries.

Happy Birthday, Dad! I hope this year holds lots of adventures for you, even if it's not a mayoral campaign. Thanks for showing Becca and me what a good dad looks like. You're the best. I love you.

Beach Vacation :: Day Three

So, I am WAY overdue sharing the rest of the trip to the beach. But, alas, here's more on our Kelly family vacation. The day ended up being a basic vacation day. We did p90x in the morning, followed by some lunch and an afternoon on the beach. I think we did Yoga X, and it kicked my booty...I ended up being relatively low energy for most of the afternoon. Dave and Greg had to work during the day, but they got to join us in the late afternoon for some time in the sun & sand.

Then, the "kids" cooked fish tacos for dinner that night. Throughout the trip, we had some good meals together!!

My mother-in-law {Georjeanne} dubbed the Kelly's the "Fun Family" long before Greg or myself joined the fun, and we do have a lot of fun together!! We have several "traditions" we started I'm realizing that most of these "traditions" were things that Kim & Greg started last Thanksgiving when we visited them in L.A.

• We all wore silly bands for the week.
• We did p90x together for
• My most favorite, is that we do trivia each night during dinner.  There are prizes for the winner. 

What are your favorite family vacation traditions?