Family Pictures 2016

We were thrilled that for the fifth year in a row, Allison Mauer took our annual family pictures.  We were especially glad because we wanted to shoot the pictures in Birmingham this year with Ryan's family.  We were so grateful she agreed to drive over for it!

Bama with her five grandkids.

 We even got a few great ones of the whole family!

 Each individual family had their pictures too; Allison did a great job, as always.  Here are a few of my very favorites.

 I love my family!

China Trip

I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to return to China in early November!  I love visiting this country.  For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by their culture, their history and their food.  Every person I've met has been so lovely and welcoming.  It's such a wonderful place to go!  I could fill this entry with so many pictures, but instead, I have some collages that I've put together showing lots of the interesting places I visited.

We left very early Saturday morning and flew to Detroit.  We had a few hours layover and then boarded the 14+ hour flight to Beijing.  With the time change, it was late Sunday afternoon when we arrived.  By the time we got to the hotel, it was dinner time, so we walked over to a noodle house.  We ate a quick (delicious) bite and then headed back to the hotel.  We were exhausted and ready for a good night's sleep!  On Monday, we knew we needed to walk around to help us adjust to the time change.  It's a 13 hour difference, thanks to Daylight Savings, so our bodies naturally want to be doing the exact opposite.  We walked about 22,000 steps that day!  It was such a gorgeous day to be out and about though.  We visited Tienanmen Square, Mao's Mausoleum and the Forbidden City in the morning.

 We took a break for lunch (Peking Duck...yum!) and then walked over to the Temple to Heaven for part of the afternoon.  We arrived fairly close to closing, so it wasn't too crowded.  This is always a lovely place to visit and learn about.

 We then ventured over to the Pearl Street Market where I simply enjoyed watching friends haggle over deals.  Soon, we were all worn out (22,000 steps!!!) so we headed on back to the hotel for the night.  On Tuesday, we flew to the city of Qingdao.  This city is unbelievably gorgeous.  It sits right on the Yellow Sea.  While it was chilly and windy a couple of days, it was so much fun to walk around and take in the city.  There are beautiful beaches all around, and we learned that during the 2008 Olympics, this is where they hosted the sailing events.

 Our touring took us all over the city where we got to soak it all in.  We had such fantastic weather on this trip, so we wanted to just be outside all the time.  I'm so thankful I got to visit this area, meet several locals and experience a different style of food.  I've typically enjoyed Sichuan style food on my other trips, but Qingdao is in the Shandong Province, so it was a totally different taste.  There was also a lot of seafood since we're in a port town.  Not surprisingly, it was all delicious!

 On Sunday evening, Ashlee, Walt and I flew on back to Beijing.  It was quite an adventure as we missed our original flight and none of us speak Mandarin to figure out what was going on, but we made it back to the capital close to midnight.  It was such a foggy night that we were shocked when we woke up to such beautiful weather on Monday morning, but we were so thankful.  We had a tour of the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall to explore, and this weather could not have been any more perfect!  I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've wanted to climb the Great Wall for as long as I can remember.  I don't know why or when my fascination started, but I've always thought this would be such an amazing experience.  I assure you that I wasn't disappointed.  I can't even describe how wonderful this was.  I took so many pictures, and I just kept stopping to mentally take it all in...oh yeah, and to catch my breath because these hills are no joke.  This is probably the coolest thing I've ever done, and I loved it.  I am so incredibly grateful for this opportunity!

I just couldn't stop smiling on this excursion!  After spending a few hours on the Wall, our fantastic tour guide, Chris, took us to a great farmer's restaurant not far away, and then we started driving back into the city.  We had a little time left, so he took us to the largest Tibetan Buddhist temple outside Tibet.  The entryway was lined with gorgeous yellow ginkgo trees, and the inside was made of beautifully designed temples.  Afterward, Chris helped us meet up with our friend Abby who we enjoyed a fun dinner and durian ice cream with.  It was a wonderful way to wrap up the trip.  I am so thankful that I was able to spend this time in China again, and I look forward to returning!

2016 Reformation Day and Halloween

My girls still enjoy playing dress up, so October 31 is a great day for them!  They get to start the day at school celebrating Reformation Day, and then they get to change costumes for Halloween that evening.  Win, win in their books!  For Reformation Day, Lily dressed as Mary and she took a baby doll as Jesus.  Mia wore her London knight costume again.  Both rocked their looks!

 Lily's class on the way to their garden.

 Mia with her friend, Yabsera, at the Reformation celebration.

 The girls changed it up for the evening.  Lily was excited to trick or treat as a chef while Mia loved being a ninja!  We had fun at the neighborhood chili party before trick or treating.  After getting back to our house, Ryan hid candy around the upstairs for the girls to find inside.  It was really a fun little evening.

Granny's Passing

My Granny, Patti Sue Farris, passed away last Wednesday, October 19th.  Her visitation and funeral were this past Sunday up in Jefferson City, TN.  It was wonderful to see so many people come to tell us how much Granny meant to them, and how much she'll be missed.  

When I think of Granny, the word "elegant" is the first thing that comes to mind.  She was always perfectly dressed and knew the exact right thing to say and do in any situation.  I'm confident Emily Post didn't have anything on her.  She was the definition of a Southern lady.  She was a wonderful cook; her chocolate chip cookies are something I looked forward to eating every time I visited.  She loved her family and her Vols.  I always laugh when I think about calling to tell her that Ryan had proposed to me.  She responded with "well that just makes the day even better because Tennessee just kicked a field goal to go ahead of Kentucky!"

I have many great memories of time with Granny.  I think about all the Spring Breaks we spent together.  Since mom and dad worked together at dad's accounting firm, spring break wasn't an ideal time for them to have me out of school, so I would get to spend the week with Granny which I loved.  We would always go to The Attic (my favorite restaurant in Jefferson City) and up to her trailer in Gatlinburg.  I loved playing in the creek there, and we'd go to The Pancake Pantry and explore the town.  I remember asking her to go to Taco Bell one time (hey, I was probably in 4th grade or so...I loved it), and she didn't know what that was.  She went though, and I remember feeling so important to introduce her to "Mexican" food!  I loved that she traveled everywhere.  I still want to take the trip she went on to Australia and New Zealand.  

While I will certainly miss Granny, I am grateful to know that she trusted in Jesus for her eternal salvation.  He has made her whole from Alzheimer's and she is now in His presence.  How amazing is His grace.  I am thankful for this lovely lady that I had the privilege of calling my Granny.

All sorts of October happenings

So much has been going on this month, in addition to Lily's birthday and our trip to Denver.  Here are some highlights.

I love that Lily's teacher, Ms. Keesee often takes pictures during the day and sends them to parents or posts them on social media.  She sent these two to me recently.  On the left is Lily as they were learning how Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel.  On the right is a group playing Lily's board game that she invented for her Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler report.  Lily is loving 4th grade!

 This picture was posted on the first day back to school from Fall Break.  Lily and Avery were thrilled to be back together again!  4th Grade is in charge of a garden at school, and they were helping one another carry a watering bucket out.

  The girls and I made unicorn bark for fun one afternoon.  It was pretty tasty and fun to make!

 Playing Harry Potter Clue.  Fun times!

 Decker turned 1 year old while we were in Denver, so Liz helped the girls throw him a little birthday party.  I think they all had a good time.

 We were glad to have tickets to the final Braves game at Turner Field on 10/2.  We've had lots of great memories here every since the Olympics game in 1996.  We're looking forward to the move to Suntrust Park though; it's only a few miles away from us.

 We went to Birmingham one weekend.  We were excited to visit with Ryan's family, and we took some family pictures together.  I can't wait to see the results of those soon!  We loved hanging out with everyone, and meeting our newest niece, Merritt.  On Saturday evening, we went to the BJCC Concert Hall to see The Impractical Jokers tour.  These four guys absolutely crack us up.  We watch their show every week, and we couldn't wait to see them live.  They didn't disappoint.  It was a hilarious and fun show!

 Before dinner, we were so thrilled to have dinner with Tay Drescher.  Ryan and Tay have been friends since he moved to Birmingham in 2nd grade.  She was my college roommate for 3 years and was the maid of honor in our wedding.  We love her dearly and loved catching up in person; it had been too long!

 We picked the girls up from school one afternoon and had Decker with us.  We though it would be fun to stop by the local church pumpkin patch.  We couldn't resist this picture!

 We always love it when David and Jan come for a visit!  We enjoyed having dinner together at C&S on Friday night, and then we had a beautiful Saturday together.  It was a gorgeous day, so we enjoyed time at the Smyrna Jonquil Festival.  After that, we hung out at home playing cornhole, building Legos and watching football.  We wrapped up the day with Ryan's grilled hamburgers.  What a great weekend.

All sorts of fun going on!

Trip to Denver

Oh my goodness, we just had the most fun trip.  Several months ago (like back in May), we had the idea to go with Jeff and Elizabeth Smith to an away Falcons game this season.  When Denver came up on the schedule, we quickly settled on it.  What a great idea!

We flew in on Thursday evening and headed straight to The Brown Palace Hotel which is an awesome historic hotel in downtown.  It really was a lovely place to stay.

 Looking down on the lobby.  We enjoyed listening to the band that played here a couple of nights and enjoyed some late night drinks after fun days.

 On Friday morning, we drove about 45 minutes over to Boulder.  Such a beautiful place to explore!  We drove through some of the mountains and took in the amazing views.  We went to the National Center for Atmospheric Research where we saw great views of the Flatirons.

 We strolled around the Pearl Street Mall which was lovely.  So many great stores to explore and we had a delicious lunch at Eureka (and then dessert at a fabulous chocolate shop).  We couldn't have asked for a better day for exploring.

 We turned in a little early as we were all trying to adjust to the altitude difference!  

On Saturday, we drove about 1.5 hours to Colorado Springs.  It was another beautiful day to enjoy.  We decided to take a Jeep tour around the Garden of the Gods.  It was so much fun!

 We had great views of Pike's Peak and Cheyenne Mountain

 The Garden was gorgeous, and had so many cool structures.  God makes awesome art!

 The tour also went through Manitou Springs which was a really cool little town.  They have 7 natural springs that you can simply walk up to for a water break.  The one we tried tasted a little like seltzer water, and honestly, we weren't big fans.  Fun to try though!

 We had lunch at the incredible Broadmoor Hotel's Italian restaurant.  Oh my goodness, we all loved this and wished we could have eaten every single meal there.  Amazing.

 This was a gorgeous hotel filled with old-world charm.

 Before heading back to Denver, we stopped at the Air Force Academy.  It was a beautiful campus, and we stopped by their famous chapel.  Unfortunately for us, they had weddings scheduled all day, so we couldn't tour the Christian part of the chapel; we did see the Catholic, Jewish and Buddhist chapels though which were lovely too.

 Sunday came and our reason for the trip arrived!  We Ubered over to Mile High Field and took some time walking around to explore.  It was a pretty cool stadium.

 Wayne had decided the week before the game to bring Zac out for his birthday.  Our cousins, Jeff and Parker, joined in from Atlanta and met up with our cousin, Kyle's, family who lives in Denver.  Kyle and Atticus joined them for the game.  We all met up to tailgate for just a bit beforehand.  We were here and hoping the Falcons would rise up!

 We had great seats, and all the people around us were so nice.  We had a fantastic time watching the Falcons win 23-16!  It was so much fun!

It took awhile, but we finally made it back to the hotel.  Ryan and I then went over to Kyle's house in Centennial, CO to visit with his family, Mandy, Atticus, Finn and Ella, not to mention Wayne, Zac, Jeff and Parker.  Mandy cooked a big pot of chili for us to enjoy.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves; what a great way to end the trip!

This was a great trip.  Clearly the Falcons need us to do this more often as they've lost the two games since this one.  We're already talking about next season's trip!