Home Sweet Home

It's funny how you grow up and get married and you create your new home, but then you always have the place you will call home. We now call home Marietta, and love being in Georgia, but there is something so sweet about coming home to Louisiana.

I grew up about 40 minutes north of Baton Rouge in Zachary and Matthew spent his childhood days in Baton Rouge. This can make it really convineant and really crazy when we make our trips "home". There are always so many people you want to see in what seems like such little time and add a sweet baby to the mix (because now people aren't concerned with Matt and I at all, but with Mary Stewart).

Last week we went to Louisiana. Matthew had a conference in Lafayette. Mary Stewart and I were busy visiting friends and family and sipping on CC's coffee (It's kind of ridiculous how obsessed I am with it).

In my opinion there are two perfect times of the year to visit Louisiana. Spring and Fall. Fall for the obvious.....LSU Football and Spring because flowers are blooming, it's in the mid 70's and crawfish.

I thought I would share a few of my favorite things about being home (although I now realize we are missing quite a few of our favorite people in this mix). They are in no particular order!

crawfish. need I say more?

drinking coffee with paw paw

what a sweet young man, Nicholas!

kisses from dee dee

paw paw!

Aunt Randi

cooking with Anna Mae

local Louisiana brew

Lizzie, the sporting lab

We Won!!

We Won! Well actually we didn't, Matthew did. Let me start from the beginning. Claire Strebeck Photography was doing a give away compliments of Apply & Ivy. It's such a precious set: a matching father/son tie and super cute headband with flower. I never win things, NEVER, but entered in hopes to. Last weekend when Holly & Lee were in town (Claire is Lee's sister, yes the world keeps getting smaller) the deadline was approaching for the giveaway. I told Matt to enter (moments before the deadline....are you picturing the anticipation here) to increase our odds of winning. Being the good husband he is, he did.

About an hour later as I'm lying in bed, I hear Lee down the hall cackling! Then I get the text, "Did you see who won?". Sure enough it was Matthew (what are the odds of probably the only guy to enter, to actually win?).

We are looking forward to Claire taking some pictures of Matthew and Mary Stewart, but I thought I'd give you a peek.

Mary Stewart already adores the headband.

Thanks so much Claire, we can't wait for another give away!!!

girls weekend

About two hours ago I said goodbye to my dear sister Holly (aka Hattie) and one of my closest friends Lee. They came to Atlanta for a girls trip! Lee is expecting baby boy in July and found a heck of a deal on a precious glider so she and Holly decided to road trip to the atl.

We basically shopped for two days straight and Mary Stewart was such a trooper (she does have the shopping gene).

There is something so easy and sweet about old friends. You always pick right up where you left off. It is so natural. I'm a bit sad to see two of my favorite girls leave, but it makes it easier to know I will see them so soon!

EASY Potato Soup

Potato Soup is one of my all time favorites. I recently found a pampered chef recipe for potato soup and tweaked it. It was so good and so easy, I had to share.

What you need:
-Bag of Potato's
-1 package softened cream cheese
-1/2 stick of butter
-4c milk
-cheese, green onion & bacon bits to garnish with

Directions:
I baked about 3/4 of a bag of potatoes on 350 for about an hour and a half (till they were really done). I let them cool and then used my hands to crumble the potato's into the pot (i took the skins off, not sure that it matters). Next I added my 4 cups of milk and about 3 tbsp of butter and about 4 oz of cream cheese ( since I don't typically measure ingredients, I usually just add to taste so you may want more or less of the butter and cream cheese). I let it simmer for about an hour or so and seasoned with lemon pepper, Tony's, salt & pepper.
I crumbled cooked bacon and grated cheddar cheese to top it with.

It was easy and delicious and the best thing about this recipe is the ingredients are those you usually already have in your pantry

Sophie the Giraffe

If you have been around Mary Stewart the past few weeks, you know her best friend, Sophie the Giraffe. People ask me all the time if we named her Sophie. Nope. Sophie came with her name. When we were in Baton Rouge this past November for Thanksgiving, Mary Stewart's second cousin Marlie had one. Marlie is about 3 months ahead of Mary Stewart. Once I saw Sophie, I knew we had to get one!

Matthew rolls his eyes at me because I spent close to $20 on Sophie (deep down though he loves Sophie too & knows she was well worth the money). It is the most used thing (as far as a teether/toy) I have bought to date. From what I understand, Sophie has been around for a long time.

Mary Stewart loves to chew all over sophie: hoofs, horns, mouth, leg. Sophie squeaks too and her neck is perfect for little hands to grasp. Wednesday at bible study my sweet friend Katy said, "She sure does like the giraffe." Katy is expecting & we see a Sophie in her future too. All this to say, if you have a little one that is on the verge of teething, invest in Sophie!


We like Sophie so much, we gave Mary Stewart's friend Charlotte one too!

10,220 Days and Counting

Today is Matthew's 10,220th day of life, or his 28th birthday. Unfortunately Matthew had to travel for work this week and isn't here to celebrate today with Mary Stewart and me. However I do think he got to play golf which is always a bonus for him, and we got to finish off his birthday cake! Here is to celebrating my wonderful husband on his day...........

There are lots of reasons I celebrate you, here are a few:

I love that you love the Lord and that you chose me to be your wife. I love the way you get so silly with Mary Stewart and how you can out shop me, the way you are annoyingly good at any sport you pick up, that you allow me to be a stay at home mom. I love that you will take me on date nights and I love your buffalo chicken. I love that you have goals and that you love to cuddle. I love that you are a great provider and love the way you make me laugh too. I even love the way you budget and that you are so family oriented. I love that you are punctual and that you love the mountains. I love that you love history & architecture and that you are a dog lover. There are lots of things to love about you, but mostly I love that you love me!

I can't wait to spend your 20,000th day with you and look forward to the 1,000,000th day!

Happy Birthday Matthew!