Thanksgiving Weekend

We got back today from a long Thanksgiving vacation.  After visiting three different cities and three Thanksgiving dinners, we are probably 10 pounds heavier - combined.  Haha- just kidding- at least I hope we aren't 10 pounds heavier.  Maybe 5 though.  

We spend time with Paxton's family- first his mom, sis, & cousin and fam.  Then we drove to his Gramps home where we stayed for several days.  Finally we drove to his grandmother's home and stayed the night there.  We are finally back, unpacked, and refreshed for another week.  

Isn't it funny how every Thanksgiving you tell yourself you aren't going to eat a lot because you don't want to have to work it off afterward.  It's not really worth it to eat a ton and reverse your workout from the past week.  Yeah- I tell myself that, and remind myself and remind myself again, but how are you supposed to eat small portions when you have THREE Thanksgiving dinners to go to? I've got 2 words to say to that: Hello Gym.  I am so anxious to get there.  I can feel myself expanding from the mashed potatoes, turkey, broccoli, rolls, pecan and chocolate pie I've eaten over the past 3 days.  Ugh.

On the bright side, we got home from church and immediately started putting up Christmas decorations.  It didn't take too long- since we have a small apartment and limited room for decorations.  But it looks good.  We are ready for the holidays... well besides all the gifts we still need to buy. 

This is kind of late, but I went with a few friends to the midnight show of Twilight.  I thought it was a good movie, but of course there are more details in the book- as usual.  There were some 'laugh-out-loud' cheesy parts, but what do you expect? It was fun to see all the characters, especially handsome Edward.  He is a beauty.  I'm still working on the 4th book, slowly.  I love all these books. They're so fun to read and get into.  

I always forget to take pictures of things we do.  Sorry.  But really- the pics would have been boring anyway, so I'm doing you a favor. 

No More No Shave November

Update on Paxton's beard.

Here is a list of all the nicknames Paxton has been called while growing out his beard.

Black Beard

Paul Bunyan

Brother Brigham

mountain man

homeless guy

lumberjack

Anyone want to add one? Better add it quickly, because he will be shaving it tomorrow.  Yes- tomorrow.  We know it's not the end of November, but it will be done.  I am actually excited for him to be clean shaven!  Then our kisses won't hurt so badly.  But I am glad he grows a good full beard and not one of those patchy weird lookin ones.  He looks handsome either way.  

I want your opinion on this hairdo.  I was playing around and tried doing this 'do' the other night.  Since I have short hair now, I can do things like this that I had always wanted to do in junior high and high school.  I know it's kinda crazy, but What do you think?  Rat's nest or cute?

Chop Chop

Here's my new do.  Kathleen was SO SO nice and agreed to cut my hair last night.  She's amazing- for just having a baby 3 weeks ago! Thanks Kathleen.  

I know you're all wondering HOW MUCH hair I cut off huh? Can you believe I cut off 14 INCHES ?!?!?! I was so amazed that I had that much hair to cut off, and some more to work with for my new do.  I was very happy. 

So I am donating my hair to an organization called Looks Like Me.  Their minimum donation is 12 inches.  They use the donated hair to make hair pieces for children with cancer and other illnesses that cause hair loss. 

Paxton loves my hair short and says he wants me to keep it this way for awhile.  I love it too! Let me know whatcha think!

Things

Paxton was gone this weekend. He left Saturday morning at 6:30am and got back today at 12:30. I missed him SOOOOO much. You're probably thinking - He was only gone for 30 hours- chill out Abby. But it seemed like the moment he left, I was not myself anymore. I couldn't sleep much longer after he left, so I reluctantly got up at 7am on a Saturday morning to start my day. I did however get lots of things done around the house, but that night it was back to being useless, depressed, and non-functional. Sunday morning I slept until 11:45am, got ready for church, and waiting til he walked through the door 45 minutes later. What a lazy bum! When he got home, I was immediately full of energy and have been happy ever since. I feel so dependent on him now. I just can't function or live with out him.
Another thing I cannot live a single day without is peanut butter. Well, I could live without it, but I choose not to. I have pb&j sandwiches everyday for lunch- and happily too. Good thing we buy the natural peanut butter where the ingredients are just peanuts or else I'd be puttin on the pounds. :)
I've been growing out my hair so I can donate it to an organization who uses hair for wigs. I am anxious to get my hair cut now. I have the haircut picked out, so we'll see how it turns out. I will be chopping it all off! EEEK. I'm nervous and SO excited. The shortest I've ever had my hair was JUST above my shoulders. And I'm thinking this will be shorter than that. I'll definitely post before & after pics.... coming soon. Who knows exactly when- but soon.
That's it for now- no pics. Oops.

Stache vs Beard

Which would you prefer? Which would you feel more comfortable to drop off your child with? 

Paxton is still growing his beard out- It's the longest I've ever seen it.  And he will continue to grow it out til mid-December!!  

We had a very nice, relaxing weekend.  It was nice to not have too many plans. We worked out, hung out with the fam, and Pax got me some pretty purple and yellow flowers.  I love my husband- stache/beard or not. :)

No Shave November

So, it's a tradition at my job for some of the guys to participate in an event called "No Shave November". As you can tell by the pictures, I am participating in this event. Obviously, we don't let our facial hair go totally crazy but I won't be shaving for the whole month of November. Anyway, this is my beard after 2 weeks of growing it out. I have passed the "itchy" stage and I am actually getting used to it. I will put up another post before I shave it in December.

All Aboard Mates

We recently got back from a 7-day Caribbean Cruise!  It was a blast- so relaxing, entertaining, and well deserved. We ported out of Ft. Lauderdale, cruised to a private island- Princess Cays in the Bahamas, then to St. Maarten, St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands, Grand Turk, then back to Ft. Lauderdale.  We were very impressed with the great entertainment they had on the ship, the variety of food, and great service provided by every staff member.  It was great.  

Before we left, I looked up the weather predicted for the Caribbean, and it wasn't looking too good.  It said it was supposed to rain most of the days.  Well- it did rain, but very sporadically.  It was great weather actually- in the low 80's most of the time.. so not too hot, but with a breeze and sparse showers that cooled everything off.  It was overcast the last couple of days, but it was still nice.

So- silly story for ya.  The morning we were leaving for our cruise, I woke up with a fat lip!!  Who knows how I got it... but it was huge and very annoying and it kind of hurt.  We came to the conclusion that my "underground zit" (as I call them) was the culprit.  I think it just swelled up and inflated my lip somehow.  This has never happened to me before, and I've had MANY "underground zits" that have NEVER done that before.  So that was kinda crazy, funny, annoying, and inconvenient.  With several doses of Benadryl and many drowsy moments, it was back to normal after a couple days.  We just thought it was so unusual and ironic that it happened the morning of our cruise. On first pictures, you'll be able to see my swollen lip.

Now, I know there are TONS of pictures, but there were just way too many to choose from. Ha.  Sorry.  But then I figured who doesn't like looking at pretty pictures of the Caribbean?

TIMMY - our local tour guide at St. Thomas.

At Grand Turk.  This was the best snorkeling island we had been to.  We saw a barracuda! Yikes.. but no harm done-- it was just chillin in one spot. I was watching these really pretty bright purply-blue fish eating.  Their teeth looked like horse's teeth- they were huge!  haha.. it was pretty funny.  And SO cool to see and be underwater in the fish's habitat. I could stay under there forever if my skin didn't get so pruned. hehe.

All Aboard Mates - Part 2

These are pictures of inside the boat and some of the entertainment throughout the week.  

Below is Kelvin, the cruise director from England- he was hilarious.  Majority of the ship crew were from England, and every other country except the U.S.  We heard lots of English, Australian, and Asian accents. 

The ship crew threw out tons of balloons for the crowd to blow up and toss around everywhere. There were HUNDREDS of balloons.  It was funny to watch the middle of the crowd because that's where all the balloons ended up and old people were trying to keep them up and were so surprised by it all.  Some took it upon themselves to make sure no balloons hit the ground once.  It was so funny and brought the kid out in everyone. 

Comedy/Magician show- Tony Laffan, the magician was from Australia- sweet accent.

50-foot (more or less?) big screen

Princess Theatre - where all the shows happened.

 The Plaza

And that was our trip.  There are definitely TONS more pictures, but oh well.  It was a fabulous vacation that I am so grateful we were able to go on.  I was glad Pax & I could enjoy a vacation with each other alone and grow closer together.  We had a blast and will cherish the memories.

One memory I know we will both remember is "I got my ears pierced in Houston, I got my ears pierced in Houston.." haha.