Pumpkin Everything

October is by far my favorite month! For starters our anniversary is in October, there's a football game every Friday night, cool crisp weather, beautiful blue skies, pumpkins and oh my gosh the gorgeous mountains with their orange, red and yellow leaf-covered trees. Unfortunately, Fall doesn't really happen at the beach. So for the past month I've been drinking my scalding hot, decaf spiced pumpkin latte while sitting in my car with the AC on full blast, trying to ignore the fact that I'm staring at a palm tree and its currently 94 degrees outside.

Luckily, this past week Fall has finally blown its way into town and the chill has set upon Fort Walton Beach just in time for one last football game and Halloween. Remembering last Halloween's complete disappointment (which I wrote about in one of my earlier blogs) I totally wrote off the idea of any trick or treaters approaching my door this year and didn't even buy a single bag of candy. It helped that Logan had a game Halloween night, so I didn't have to sit on my couch, crying and watching the Great Pumpkin with my dogs.

But on to the important thing- PUMPKINS! Perhaps its the fact that I currently resemble a pumpkin, but this year I have gone pumpkin crazy!! I try not to decorate inappropriately early, so I waited until the end of September (technically it was Fall and I just couldn't hold out any longer) and I bought the most amazingly yummy pumpkin spice candle with a wood wick. I absolutely love the sound of it burning and the smell is fabulous. I overcame my love affair with decaf, non-fat pumpkin spice latte's because they were still a whopping 300 calories for a small and became like a black hole to my bank account, and due to Baskin Robbins never having my beloved Pumpkin Cheesecake Icecream in stock (which by the way is so rude! Don't they know a pregnant lady has certain needs!) I decided it was time to make my own pumpkin flavored goodies!

Logan's aunts came to town which I thought was the PERFECT reason to delight in some baking :-) 

I couldn't decide which yummy recipe I wanted to create, so I made two. 

The first is a banana pumpkin bread with vanilla bean glaze that I made last year and loved! It's a heavy, moist, mild and almost creamy flavored bread. Perfect for breakfast or dessert, or in my case an afternoon snack. The recipe makes two loaves- one for now and one to freeze and enjoy later :-) Last year I made it with the vanilla bean glaze which is out of this world and added a whole extra element to the bread. This year I didn't make the glaze, and wished I had. I found the recipe at addapinch.com. 

The second was a spicier, lighter, more cake like yumminess. I originally wanted to make a pumpkin roll (one of Logan's favorites), but due to my lack of jelly pan, I decided on the pumpkin roll bars instead. I got the recipe from www.sixsistersstuff.com and highly recommend it. Although next time, I might try to double the cream cheese portion just for a little extra something something. 

Then the other night I had a major hankering for something pumpkiny and decided to take a boxed cinnamon muffin mix and use pumpkin puree instead of oil and water. I was a little apprehensive but they turned out pumpkiny, yummy and not overly sweet.

The most fabulous thing about pumpkins is that they aren't just yummy, they're also pretty :-) This year we bought two massive pumpkins and about a week before halloween we carved them. 

I roasted up the seeds after and my house was filled with the most incredible aroma for the rest of the night! The seeds are delicious by the way and will become a halloween tradition in our house. Plus they're super simple and are packed with magnesium, zinc and omega 3 fatty acids! Just pretend there's no butter or brown sugar and you can write them off as healthy :-) I found the recipe on another blogger's site myretrokitchen.blogspot.com

One last pumpkin project to "round out" the month of October. 

Happy Halloween!

Team Walls

We're having a BABY! A baby girl actually! Baby Walls is due January 7, 2015,  which happens to be both of my maternal Great Grandmother's birthday's ( Ruth Evadna Long Simmons 1906 and Phyllis Dare Harner Miller 1907). Given the fact that I'm hugely sentimental about basically everything, I love the fact that our little girl could share a birthday with her Great, Great Grandmothers. Or if she makes it a little early she'll share a birthday with her wonderful Uncle Lance (December 29). Logan's praying she comes in December so we can write her off on taxes. Direct quote- "If she comes on the third of January, it'll be like a thousand dollars a day we could have saved." I'd like to think he's joking, but I'm not quite sure...

I'm very late posting a blog about the pregnancy since I'm currently 7 and a half months pregnant and into my third trimester.  Initially it was intentional to wait to announce our pregnancy, and then once the time came when we announced it, I still wasn't quite certain how much I wanted to share about such a personal event. Writing a blog about a vacation or a yummy meal is one thing, sharing intimate details about health, love and family is another entirely and it's taken me some time to decide where I wanted to draw that line.

I'll share our story in reverse.

At 29 weeks we had a 3D ultrasound which was an absolutely incredible experience. For an hour we watched her stick out her tongue, suck her thumb, yawn and hiccup. The ultrasound technician said she's already pretty big and had her head down low, smooshed up against the uterine wall which made it difficult to see her face. For the first 30 minutes or so, she absolutely refused to cooperate, she had both of her hands up in front of her face. Finally, she decided to give us a little peak- She has chubby cheeks, a little button nose and we think she might even have a little dimple in her chin like Daddy. She has short, fat feet and is already sporting a decent amount of hair (all this heartburn is making so much more sense now!). It was truly the most amazing hour of my life.

At 26 weeks, baby is strong, healthy and constantly kicking. Mommy is gaining weight, and Daddy is impressively losing it (I don't know how, given my daily cravings for a double scoop of pumpkin cheesecake icecream in a waffle cone- Oh Baskin Robbins, I love you!).

At 19 weeks we had an ultrasound and learned we were having a beautiful baby girl and that she was measuring big! Which wasn't a total shock given the fact that Logan and his brothers were over 9 lbs and both of my sisters were in the 10s. I was the smallest at 8lbs 8oz, which in my Father's opinion is the PERFECT size. haha I'm shooting for a solid 8 pounder... We'll see how that turns out in a few months I guess?

At 16 weeks we heard her heartbeat for the very first time-152 bpm. It was simply the most incredible sound I've heard in my entire life.

At 13 weeks we celebrated the fact that we were out of the testy time and announced our pregnancy to the world!

At 6 weeks we had our first ultrasound and saw the strong little flicker of her heartbeat on the ultrasound. It was truly a moment that only God can provide.

At 4 weeks we found out we were pregnant. The over excitement about the possibility and having a slight "off" feeling I tested on a Thursday night. It came back negative and I felt so silly, for being such a hypochondriac.That night we got a call saying our nephew would soon be making his arrival so Friday after work we headed up to Georgia to meet our handsome little nephew! I was queasy while we were in the hospital that weekend, but chalked it up to the fact that I was probably just tired after having driven 6 and a half hours, not to mention I was sitting in a hospital, which tends to kind of have a queasy effect on people anyway.  On the way back home from Georgia, I was car sick the whole time. I even made Logan pull over in the middle of nowhere lower Alabama. I never actually got sick, but just continued feeling car sick. Again, with an already negative test, I just pushed away any possibility of pregnancy. Finally, after never regaining my land legs Monday, I started to get excited again and couldn't contain my curiosity! Sure enough- I was PREGNANT! Any plan I had ever made about a cute way to announce our first pregnancy to Logan immediately went directly out the window. I literally just kind of stumbled over the words- "Logan, we're pregnant!" haha Maybe I'll come up with something cuter for the next one??

The Off Season Part II

Our day in Costa Maya was by far our favorite! We took a tour of the most incredible Mayan Ruins. I absolutely love history and being able to explore the location of an ancient civilization beats laying on the beach any day! And what a truly incredible ruin we picked to tour. Kohunlich was inhabited from about 200-700 AD and hosts a Temple of the Masks, which is breathtaking. After a few hours at the ruins we boarded the bus and headed back to the port in Costa Maya, which is in itself a whole days event, complete with a pool. By the 5th night on the boat we finally got smart and made it to the early show. It was an improv skit by Second City and was hilarious! We managed to stay awake just long enough to eat dinner and fall into bed.

The last port of call was Cozumel. We decided this would be a good location to get some shopping done and wind up on a beach somewhere. We explored the shops and made a great score on a super cute bag! After walking through all the shops we were beginning to roast. So we hopped in a cab and since we now considered ourselves adventurers we asked to go to any beach the driver recommended. He took us just a few miles down the road and turned into the entrance of what looked like a deserted hotel. There was a man standing at the entrance with a walkie-talkie who waved us in. Logan and I kind of looked at each other and I was beginning to think- this is a great start to a horror movie. Then we drove around the corner and it was like a whole different world.

 Turns out, the resort was hit by a hurricane a few years ago, and rather than redoing the entire resort they finished the lobby, restaurant and beach part and open it up as a little day resort. Logan refused to wear sunscreen, because he would "just sweat it out" and ended up like a lobster! We made it back to the port with just enough time to grab a drink before boarding the boat! After all, you can't leave Mexico without a Margarita :-)

Our last day of vacation was spent at sea and was fabulous! I woke up early and found a lounge chair up top before the ship got crowded. Logan joined me off and on, but due to his new lobster like complexion he sat in the shade while I soaked up the sun. After lunch we hit some storms and headed back to our cabin where we lounged around and watched Frozen. The storm was beautiful on the sea and I couldn't have imagined a more relaxing end to our vacation.

**Logan and I both HIGHLY recommend Norwegian Cruise Line.  We were very impressed with the accommodations, food, staff, excursions and loved the Freestyle dining option!**

The Off Season Part I

The second best aspect of being a teacher: VACATION TIME! (The first best thing is making a positive impact in the lives of children each and every day, of course) Living at the beach makes planning vacations kind of awkward- where do you go? We decided to say no to the snow and followed my love of the sun straight to the Caribbean. Logan and I were both skeptical of going on a cruise. We've heard so many horror stories of people getting sick, boats breaking down, horrible food, and rooms so tiny the suitcase wouldn't even fit. All of our concerns quickly faded as we boarded the boat. Oh my gosh, we had such an amazing time! We took a 7 night cruise through the Western Caribbean, making stops in Roatan, Honduras; Belize City, Belize; Costa Maya, Mexico and Cozumel, Mexico. It was the most relaxing week of my entire life! Just sit back and imagine- No phone calls, No email, No text messages, No social media, No dishes, No cooking, No making the bed, No letting the dogs out, No running out of toilet paper and not realizing it until its too late... Just take everything that has the potential to cause any kind of inconvenience in your life and put a "NO" in front of it and that is a week on a cruise.

We would begin our mornings with room service in bed. Then we'd get ready and head to the dinning room for our second breakfast of the day :-) We spent the first full day at sea lounging on the front of the boat, reading romance novels, mine was about a young 20's girl living in New York, Logan's was about coaching football. Like I said, Romance novels. We had a lunch somewhere in the midst of our lounging and barely stayed awake long enough to eat dinner.

After our double breakfasts on the second day we decided at the last minute to do an excursion. We took a little boat over to a private island that is used as an Animal refuge. It was absolutely beautiful! We snorkeled for a bit, but the coral was spawning which sent billions of little stinging things into the water, and given the fact that we've snorkeled pain free before we decided to trade in the masks and fins for lounge chairs. We walked around the little island and saw all of the beautiful animals- Jaguars, Sea Lions, Monkeys, even a Tarantula and very large Iguana, both of which were not in cages :-0.

The third day was spent cave tubing in Belize. We took a bus through the tiny country and stopped right before we made it to Guatamala. The country side was beautiful! When we finally arrived at our destination, tucked back in the forest. We made a tiny little hike up a hill and grabbed a tube before entering a pitch black cave. We saw a few bats, a couple fish, amazing stalactites and stalagmites and jumped out of our tube to swim in the freezing water.

I had spotted a Coca-Cola Lite the day before in Honduras, but didn't have a chance to get one so when we finally made it back to the port,  I was on a mission to find a Coca-Cola Lite, which is by far the most amazing Coke product ever created and unfortunately cannot be purchased in the US. After stopping at literally every pharmacy, bar and convenience store on the port only to be told "We just sold out," I found a tiny little drink cart run by a random American guy and what looked like his dad and bought 3 Coca-Cola Lites :-)

The Highlight Reel

2014... Wow. Where has the time gone?

Since I haven't posted since July, I figured I would give you the last six months in a quick, but sort of lengthy play by play.

I Got a JOB!

In late July, I went on a family trip to the outer banks. I drove my 12 year old sister from our place in Florida, back to Georgia, and then we took off on the million hour drive to the Outer Banks of North Carolina (can't beat trading one beach, for another). Logan couldn't go with us due to summer football being in full swing, and the school year beginning in just a few weeks. The drive up was difficult for me. I realized I was at a huge cross roads, but with absolutely no direction, and honestly no real roads paved out before me. I turned to Natalie (the all wise 12 year old) and I point blank asked her, "What am I going to do with my life?" Her response was quite insightful, "I don't know. You're smart, you'll figure it out." I guess that's what I get for asking a 12 year old questions about life. 

Shortly after that, she fell asleep and I was left driving the open roads of Alabama alone while my mind raced with hypothetical plans, and questions about who I was, what I wanted to do, what I would become... and more importantly, how we would afford it. About an hour had past since Natalie had fallen asleep and I decided to pull over, take a break and check my phone. 

One new text message- "Hey Kaitlin, just wondering if you were still interested in teaching in our county?  A Web Design position has opened up."

The message was from a woman whom I met back in February when we were down for Logan's interview. She had no idea Logan had been hired and definitely no clue that we had actually moved and were now living in Florida. And I know that she couldn't have even possibly known the question that I had asked my sister only an hour before.

I call that a frying pan moment- when God hits you in the face with a frying pan, so you have no choice but to listen. And what a blessing that frying pan moment has become!

The Fall in Fast Forward

Our fall was filled with football, family and WEDDINGS! Every Friday was a football game, every Sunday Logan had to watch film and one Saturday a month we danced our booty's off at a wedding.

It was so much fun! We had family and fiends visit sporadically and even though Elizabeth had moved out, our house was never boring.

 Halloween

Halloween was hysterical! I was SO excited about our first trick or treaters- last year for Halloween we were in Hawaii, which was amazing (I highly suggest going to Hawaii for Halloween, you will NOT be disappointed)!
Anyway, I had it all plotted out (again, with there plans! ugh), I made a beautiful fall wreath and hung it on the door. I lit a few candles, turned on the porch light, opened the curtains on the huge window in the living room and played the Great Pumpkin (not scary, but still exciting-who doesn't love Charlie Brown?) and don't forgot the candy that I had waiting for all the cute little boys and girls! 7 o'clock... no one came. OK, it's still early. 8 o'clock... no one came. Maybe it's still too early? 9 o'clock.... I burst into tears! "NOBODY LIKES OUR HOUSE!!! THEY DON'T WANT TO COME TRICK OR TREATING HERE!" I kid you not (pardon the pun) there was not a single child on our street! And this is when Logan wins best husband of the year award. He swooped me up, stuck me in the car and drove me down to my favorite neighborhood, where I got to see all kinds of trick or treaters! 

Looking back on it, I realize I might have slightly overreacted... But I only did it so Logan could become a night in shining armor and save the day! haha 

Thanksgiving came, and football was over. Luckily, since we're both teachers we have the same schedule, which means the same LONG breaks. We were able to go see my Grandma in Virginia, and all the family in Georgia. (I wont mention the fact that I had 180 projects to grade over the break and they got left in my grandma's garage...oops)

Christmas

Finally, my favorite time of the year, Christmas! We knew we wouldn't be in town for Christmas, but we got a REAL tree anyway (and since somehow? we forgot again to buy a fake tree on sale after Christmas, I'm thinking this means we get a real tree again next year!!!). We had to move our furniture around because the tree took up the whole living room and I loved it :-) 

We started Christmas break off with a BANG! One of my best friend's got married and we were fortunate enough to get to share the special day with the couple. (We love you Colin and Marilin!)

The day after the wedding, we had the Lance family party, and it was so wonderful to see all of Logan's family (I went to this party, 5 days after meeting Logan, 6 years ago- holy cow, how time flies).

We had Christmas Eve at Logan's Nanny's house and then Christmas at my Mom's, Logan's Mom's and my Dad's house. We got to spend time with the Aunts and Uncles, Brothers and Sisters and Cousins... and even one very precious little niece. 

Over the River and Through the Woods...

Byard Girls 

After Christmas we went up to Virginia to attend my Grandma's Celebration of Life Party, which was a blast! (My grandmother currently has cancer, and decided she would rather have a party while she's alive and could attend, then have a funeral where everyone sat around and cried about her- props to Gram!)We saw all of my Mom's family and of course the Thompson's who aren't technically related, but might as well be. 

I introduced Logan to some of my favorite places in the world! We visited Meems Bottom Bridge, where I learned how to fish. Made a trip up to Bryce Mountain, where I balled out at Golf Camp, barely made it through Tennis Camp and ran over a few snow boarders while attempting to ski. We rode up to the top of the mountain and visited Grandma and Grandpa's old house where we spent summer evenings eating homemade peppermint icecream on the porch, turned the kitchen counters into an air hockey table, learned to play canasta and listened to Brer Rabbit read so many times we can still recite most of the story. 

Grandma and Mary Lo

We were even so lucky as to go to a party hosted by none other than the Queen of parties herself, Mary Lou Thompson! 

Happy New Year!

We made it back to Georgia just in time to ring in the New Year with Logan's best friend since Kindergarten (it's documented, on a star- if I find the picture I'll put it on here) and his amazing girlfriend and family.

After the 12 days away and 33 hours in a car, we made it back to Florida and immediately fell into bed. I looked over at Logan all snuggled up under the covers with the babies and he took a deep breath and with a huge smile on his face said, "Gosh, I hate it here."  

2014 marks the first year in the history of my memory that I have not made a single resolution! This past year has been filled with change and excitement. It's had some extreme struggles and incredible blessings, but most importantly wonderful memories were made. So, for 2014 I hope for new life experiences, the opportunity to cherish time with family and friends and to continue growing more in love with my husband.  If I happen to learn to play the violin, or get scuba certified, I wouldn't complain either... but I'm not making any plans ;-)

A few other pictures from our adventure:

The bridge is right at the end of the road

Inside the covered bridge

Natalie, Elizabeth, Logan and Me

Enjoying the view from Gram and Grandpa's