Babymoon Part 1- Crawford

Patrick and I headed out last Tuesday after work for a little adventure!  So many people had recommended that we take a "Babymoon" or a final getaway before John Ryman is born :)  We hadn't taken a vacation with just the two of us since, well, our honeymoon so it was nice to get away for several days and see Texas.  Our first two nights we stayed in San Antonio, but we had to stop at a special town on our way...

Okay... maybe nothing too special, but a few miles outside of the town of Crawford is President George Bush's Ranch- Prairie Chapel Ranch.  One of Patrick's life goals was to drive through Crawford :)  Definitely beautiful countryside.  I can see why President Bush would purchase land here:

Next stop- San Antonio...

Louisville Shower Blessings!

Here are some pictures from the our other shower in Louisville.  Thanks to Carmel for taking these pictures and sharing!  You should check out her blog and her precious little girl (below) {here} and thank you to Cara and Mary Julia for hosting the shower.  SO many fun games and laughs :) and special gifts for John Ryman.  Next time we are in town, He will be with us!  Love you all

lots of washing and folding

The best kind of laundry= precious new little outfits for our boy.  I spent the afternoon washing and folding all of his new clothes and putting them away in his closet and storage containers on his changing table. (LOVE my new containers from Ikea.  I bought some circular ones too!)  I can't wait until he arrives, but I'm pretty sure laundry won't be as enjoyable when there are actual stains and a baby to attend to :)

Patrick and I are leaving for our BABYMOON tomorrow!!  We can't wait!

Pinterest Recipes

I have so many pins on my Food Cravings Board, so I've committed to trying at least two new recipes a week.  My favorites so far have been:
Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Muffins (shown above) from Annie's Eats {here} only change was I used whole wheat flour
Pumpkin Cornbread from {here} just switch out the sweet potato puree for pumpkin :)  so moist!!
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles also from Annie's Eats {here} again I used wheat flour and Sugar in the Raw, which actually gave it a sparkly crunch on the outside!

Pumpkin Carving Party

Yesterday, our small group had a pumpkin carving Halloween party!  We are so blessed with a wonderful group and great friends! (we missed those who couldn't be there!)  It was so fun to add some Halloween decorations to my fall stuff :)

 and I love my fall colored furballs :)

Our pumpkins weren't the most intricate or unique ones ever- we pretty much just went for the simple pumpkin face since it was getting dark out and we still needed to do our bible study!  But we did have the cutest little princess (and future friend of John Ryman!) carving with us:

*Party Details and Ideas*

Food: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Dip {similar recipe here}with graham crackers/apples/ginger snaps, Halloween Candy, Oreo Cake Balls topped with a candy corn {here}, and of course you have to roast those pumpkin seeds after you are done carving! (sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper- or your favorite spice like Jane's Crazy Salt)

Drinks: Hot Apple Cider, Cider Floats recipe {here} (I just used a caramel swirl ice cream), Sunkist or another orange drink in a pitcher (I threw in some rubber spiders too!)

Music: Pandora- Halloween Party Station

Warning!!  If you put fake spiders around the house to scare your guests, it will come back to bite you :)  This morning I saw a huge spider on the floor and it scared me to death!  It must have fallen off the table of decorations:

{Here} is my post from last year's Halloween Party and look at the post a year before that in 2009: {here} Man, I miss Mariemont in the fall!!

dream home

Patrick and I passed this home one evening in Louisville... I can't even imagine what this would look like on a snowy Christmas morning :)

loving fall

My family is obsessed with a restaurant called {Sake Blue} in Louisville.  It's delicious!- but the wait was a little long, so my sister Sadie, best friend Chelsea and I passed the time in the field across the street with the beautiful fall colors!

 Love you girls!!

Baby Shower Blessings

While we were in Louisville, we had two baby showers!!  It was such a blessing to see dear friends and family and everyone was so sweet to shower John Ryman with their love.  I hardly took any pictures while in Louisville and at our first shower in town, but thankfully a friend took my camera for this one and she captured some of the beautiful details of this Sunday Shower...

Thank you to the talented hostess and dear friend Tammy Holbrook and my amazing Aunt Jill who traveled in from Chicago for hosting a beautiful shower!  It was covered in prayer, special little details and thoughtful gifts from friends.  (Don't you think Tammy should start a business!!  Her decor was incredible!)

 The Grandma and Aunt even got special gifts :)

 and I have no idea what was so funny about this book?