A Memphis Thanksgiving Tradition

This tradition started when Doug and I started going to see his family for Thanksgiving many years ago. If you know me, you know I can’t sit still for too long. I love a good project. On my first visit to Memphis I asked DJ what I could do to help her the Friday/Saturday after Thanksgiving. She (probably jokingly) said, you can pull all the Christmas decor down and we can decorate the house. I was sold. This is a perfect “Lizzie project”. I enlisted the manly help (Doug, Steve and Tom) to get down the decor and I went to down.

Years later this is still Doug and I’s job. Poor Doug got dragged into it, but he seems to enjoy hiding things in crazy places for DJ and Steve to find months later.

This year Doug, Tom and I brought all the decor downstairs. Tom worked on the lights outside (which gets better and better each year) while I worked inside. Doug helped us both because he is just that good.

Steve and Tom are from the UK so I always make a “British Christmas Section” for them. This time it ended up the mantle. (I never do the same display twice. I like to keep it fresh.)

Here is the mantle.
Notice the “Bailey Grace” section on the far left with her photo and stocking. The “British Section” is on the far right.

I always do a little section for Steve’s mom, Angela, and DJ’s mom Joyce. They both passed away in the past few years. This year I hung some angels with their stockings. Notice all the Bailey Grace framed around the bookshelf! :)

 

Here is the foyer and dining room decor: (Doug had some fun…had to turn the “M” upside down”

 

Finally, here is the tree! DJ wanted to do a gold and red tree this year. We used regular, white lights and one set of red lights.  The pop of colored lights really added to the look.

 

We really had a great time in Memphis and I love my Thanksgiving Tradition. I wish someone would come into my house and put up the decor (right, Ashley? – will tell you that story later).

We did hide some Christmas decorations in places it will take months to find. I always enjoy going back a year later to see what is still on display.  DJ and Steve say they enjoy continually finding decorations all year long! haha!

Thank you for having us. Thanksgiving dinner was awesome and the company was even better.

Love and Hugs, Lizzie

The Memphis Zoo – The Zoo Lights!

While in Memphis, Jenni scored tickets to the Zoo lights so on the coldest night during our trip, we bundled up and headed to the zoo.

We were joined by Craig’s awesome family and all of the Miles family (sans Amy as she lives in Bristol).  We walked around and visited with cows, goats and reindeer. Bailey Grace was completely impressed, as you can imagine. She dressed to impress…check her out!

We found a beautiful Christmas tree to snap a little picture…so I asked a stranger to take a photo of us. Why can’t I find people who know how to frame a photo? I always ask someone who looks camera savey and then realize when I review the picture that they missed the whole point of the picture. While this very sweet man got the family, he missed the tree. Oh well. At least he did not cut off our heads….I even think Bailey was trying to tell him, “get the tree…it is thissssss big.”

As we continued on our adventure, we found the leaning tower of Piza (next to the white house as you would expect), some polar bears that Doug attacked, a reindeer we took a ride on and an igloo that was almost Doug’s size.

 

Have I mentioned yet that I had hand warmers, a heating pad on my upper back and a really big heating pack on my lower back? I was so nice and toasty and it was a lovely, cold night. I would not have survived without those hand warmers. They are also my secret for cold Mardi Gras, but I digress…

Before we left the zoo, I corralled the entire group for one big picture (sans DJ and Steve as they had already headed home)…

So next we were going to take a crazy one…I started to “fly” across the photo, but the photographer (another stranger) counted early so as you can see I am pretty much out of the photo. See me on the far right here…
 

So we tried again and I made the picture! I LOVE this photo of Chris and Bailey! SO FUNNY!


Bailey,
It were honored to see you enjoy your first Zoo lights! Uncle Doug carried you most of the night. He loves toting you around. He clearly loves his little niece.

After the zoo, we headed to Boscos Squared for dinner and beer with Tom, Libby, Jenni, Craig, Bailey Grace, Chris, Will Mrs. Barbara and Mr. Jerry. Doug had the sampler and loved the Isle of Sky Scottish Ale (the 4th one in this photo). He drank the entire sampler and had an additional pint of his favorite.

It was a lot of fun to get out and about with those two awesome families. I really enjoyed the lights and I think Doug did too. I think he mainly enjoyed Bailey Grace. :)

There is only one more Memphis post, but you will have to wait until Monday to see it! Until then, have a great weekend!

Love and Hugs, Lizzie

BIRTHDAY GIRL = POPPI!

We interrupt this regularly scheduled program to announce it is POPPI’s BIRTHDAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

I hope your birthday is as awesome as you are.
I hope your birthday is full of love and family.
I hope your birthday rocks!

I LOVE YOU!

I really do have the BEST Mom in the world. Dad, you rock too.

Love and Hugs, Lizzie

Thanksgiving in Memphis!

We arrived in Memphis on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving! I prepared Sabrina and Sarah’s Mac and Cheese for the big feast. We visited with DJ and Steve until it was bed time.

The next day was THANKSGIVING! Doug and I woke up and went for a walk to get some steps in. DJ had a master cooking plan for the day so we helped her out.

Around 11 am, the star arrived: Bailey Grace. Uncle Doug slacked on the cooking a bit to hang with his niece. She is so stinking cute. Look at those cheeks!

When it came time to eat, Bailey was placed in her newly-built-by-uncle-doug-highchair and her dad gave her some dinner…

The feast was fantastic!

Everyone filled their plates as we enjoyed a family Thanksgiving.  

My plate: (don’t count the calories….they don’t count on Thanksgiving.)

Love and Hugs, Lizzie

PoBoy Fest! 2012

We attended PoBoy Fest this year, but I only took two pictures! Lame.

We arrived early by bike (YES, I said by bike….it was about 3 miles from the house. We took the levee most of the way.) We parked our bikes and hung out with Josh, Harper and Amber for a while. That Harper is getting so big! 

Shawn and Lauren had left early to get the Lobster PoBoy (the winner from last year). The only had to wait 20 minutes or so, which is awesome seeing that a few hours later the wait was about 2.5 hours. Yes! To get a PoBoy!

When they got back we took the only two pictures I have…   Check out how cute preggers Lauren looks! :)

We fought the crowds for a few PoBoys and then headed back to Josh’s house. Doug, Harper and I played for a long time in the front yard. We tried to wear him out for his parents, but I think he actually wore us out. We slept well that night!

I ventured back out into the masses to get one more PoBoy for my baby. I got him the Red Fish Grill’s Buffalo Oyster PoBoy. We later found out this was the official winner of the PoBoy Fest! I had good taste. Next year the line for Red Fish will be 2.5 hours long. It is just the way it works.

We hung out until it got dark and then begged a ride from Josh. We packed up the bikes and Josh took us home. It was very nice of him to offer and actually bring us home. Thanks Josh!

Like I said earlier, Harper wore us out and we crashed early! It was a fun fest.

Hugs and Love, Lizzie

Meeting Emma!

Last month we had our quarterly girls meeting, but one of the girls (Ashley) was on maternity leave…so we went to her!! We just had to meet sweet Emma!

We arrived in Baton Rouge, Danielle picked up lunch and we caught Ashley up on work. I won’t bore you with all the details here. :)

Before we left, we took one picture of us three…

Emma was so sweet. She was a perfect baby the whole time we were there…mainly because Ashley planned it that way.

We of course had a little fun with Danielle’s hair! Ha!

It was great to meet sweet Emma! We are also excited to have Ashley back to work in a few weeks!

Love and Hugs, Lizzie

Blogs on the Way…

There are a number of reasons/excuses I can give you as to why the Blog has been so boring, but I will spare you.

I am on it.
I am sorry to let my loyal fan, Dad, down. :)
The blog will back up to normal-ish tomorrow.

Love and Hugs, Lizzie

A photo while you wait…