Thanksgiving 2018

Last November was busy as usual, but we had a nice set of Thanksgivings with my family and KC's. We are always grateful for time together, especially with our extended families. :)

We also made a gratitude "wall" which was a nice way to keep the focus on being grateful during the holiday season. I wrote about it for Year of Gratitude, here.

For my family's Thanksgiving I totally forgot to take any photos... but it was great. I'm really glad that we all got to get together early to celebrate, the meal was amazing, and I love that we've been getting to see my grandma more.

Thanksgiving with KC's family was great too. We had a nice meal with KC's parents, his sister and her husband, and his grandparents. It was great to share a meal and spend more time in a big group together. We took a family photo which doesn't happen a lot, so that was special. KC and his dad's test shot was cracking me up so I had to include it.

So that's it. We had our pie and cranberries and lots of great family moments.

Thanks for bearing with me as catch up on old holiday posts. I want to be able to look back on these here.

Do you have specific Thanksgiving traditions?

XO,

Alexandra

Father's Day Weekend at the Farm // June 2017

Hello everyone! We are back from our road trip, but I'm not quite ready to write a post yet... so... I'm sharing something from last month! :)

Back in mid-June we spent Father's Day weekend at KC's grandparent's farm. It was such a blast to spend time with his family and just take it easy.

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time relaxing or taking it easy. Pretty much ever. When we travel I like to keep busy, and see a lot. That's just my preference, so it's rare that I fully relax and take it slow. The weekends at the farm are perfect for that!

I also mentioned a few weeks ago, that this is where KC popped the question back in 2011. So it holds a lot of special memories even for a relative newbie like me! We are the BABIEST of BABIES in this post! hehe

We spent time at the "lake" fishing and talking, we fed the catfish in the pond, we checked out the garden. We shared meals, played Taboo, watched golf (not me..), and read. My FIL helped Papa with projects around the farm. We watched birds, bunnies, and squirrels. Sometimes we get lucky and see deer or turkeys. We fell asleep to the sounds of Midwest storms every night, and it was perfect.

We always manage to stop at the antique store on the highway too, which is fun to sift through for treasures. This time I found one die, from an old casino in Reno. It had character. So $1 later I have a super random treasure. One of these days I'm going to buy a pie there! :) (because of course they make pies and jams too...)

So grateful for our slow weekend together! :)

What about you? Are you good at relaxing and/or unplugging? Or do you find it difficult like me? Any tips?!

Does your family have a special place to spend family time?

XO,

Alexandra

I'm An Aunt! // Baby Love

Hi Everyone!

I'm so happy to start off this week as an aunt!

Late Friday night my sister and her husband welcomed baby Darrick into the world. He ended up being a c-section, but everything went well and everyone is healthy!

I've been able to snuggle him several times, and he's the sweetest thing. Also the calmest, quietest, stillest baby I've ever seen. :)

Here are a few photos!

uncle KC :)

we needed a lunch break ;) 

There you have it! I'm so excited to spend so much time with this little guy in the future and to watch Jess and her husband be parents! :)

Hope you guys had a great weekend!

XO,

Alexandra

Long Distance Family

Today I miss my family.

My sister Jess is in sunny Arizona with Mom, Dad, and OE. And I'm feeling kinda lame, and wishing I was there too.

So here are a few more photos we took with Jennie Karges (of Jennie Karges Photography) while we were in Arizona.

Jess and her husband weren't in AZ for them, though I wish they could have been... we at least got a few family pictures. KC isn't really in these either... but ok, we got a few "partial family" photos. And I am grateful for that.

Maybe if we all end up there at the same time someday we can bring Jennie back for another shoot. :) I would love to have full family pictures! :)

Anyway, I don't have much to say, other than I am grateful to have a great family that makes me miss them so much. :) Check out O-Jo's glamour shot here! :) & The behind the scenes pic of Jennie taking this picture! #madskills :)

What are you guys up to?

If you missed my previous post about KC & I's Arizona shoot, you can see those here. If you want to see our pictures from our "Arizona Christmas," you can see those here.

If you live in the Phoenix area, or would love to go there for gorgeous photos, check out Jennie Karges on Facebook, Instagram, or visit her website. We highly recommend her.

XO,

Alexandra

Summer Drives, Life Changes, Angel in Blue Jeans

I haven't really blogged about this, but some of you may know, my parents and youngest sister Olivia recently moved from Kansas to Arizona. This is a huge change for us, and there is now about a 20 hour drive between the cities. I won't lie, it's been really rough.

We had the garage sale, the auction, picking out what we wanted to keep, packing the uhaul, unpacking the uhaul. Spending as much time as we could together before they left. We've never lived more than a 30 minutes drive apart... so  this has been quite the adjustment. And the O, she is just so little, it's hard to be away from her. There have been a lot of days where I'm really sad, and also a lot of tears. #emotionalgirlprobs

All this being said we are lucky that we get a good amount of vacation days at our office, and that there are a few airlines that fly from here to there really inexpensively. So, look forward to lots of desert pictures coming your way for the rest of forever, because you can bet that we will head South whenever we can. ;)

Before all of this, for my mom's birthday we all chipped in and bought her six tickets to see Train at a fun theater in Kansas City. Jess and I grew up spending summers in the car with my mom. We went to the pool, the library, garage sales, all over the place. I remember sitting in the car, windows down, flipping through my library books, hair dripping with pool water, "Get To Me" blasting from the speakers. The soundtrack to these days was always Train. She loves them, we still love them, it just made sense to get her the tickets. At the time we didn't know when they would be moving, so mom and OE had to fly back for the show, over the past weekend. I am SO glad that they did. It's been really good to see them, and I am glad that we got to spend more time together before they left for Arizona again today.

It was a great concert and a great way to spend time together, to have us almost all together (Hi dad!) and spend a night doing something fun and special. They played lots of old songs, so we were able to re-live our summer car ride days. It was so fun to sing and dance and laugh together. Most of all I hope that it gave all of us, especially my mom, the opportunity to just relax and not think about anything but the show. (At least before we started driving home... more on this later)...

As much as I love old Train.. (a bunch)... I'm kind of obsessed with their newer single: (plus Hannah Simone is just adorable, and this video is hilarious) 



What are your favorite memories of family time in the summers?

Happy Weekend!!

XO,

Alexandra

The Parting Glass

Wednesday night the world lost one of the sweetest women in existence, my great grandmother Rita.

She was a baker of wedding cakes, a football lover a birdhouse crafter, and worked on a military base during WWII.
She was a wife, widow, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother.
She always had a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye.

She lived an incredible 92 years.

I saved the card she mailed Kyle and I for our wedding- because it always made me smile. Inside the cover she had tacked in a poem that she had cut out. It was taped inside the card with her address stickers, above it she wrote 'Alex - Kyle "advice"':

'THE THRILL OF COOKING'

No doubt you think the man you wed
Can always live on love
You'll find that this is just as false
As stars are true above
Ask older wives, I'm sure this fact
You'll find none to dispute
When the honeymoon is over
You'll have to feed the brute
The heart throbs will be over
With the honeymoon 'tis true
But the Gnawing in his stomach
Will last his whole life through.
Sometimes you'll think as years go by
You've lost his heart, THE LUMMOX
It isn't gone, it still is there
But its moved down to his stomach
If you would keep his heart in place
You'll find it all too soon
You'll have to feed his stomach
Always MORNIN', NIGHT and NOON.
I'm sure you'll want to keep him
Handsome, hale and healthy looking
So heed my words, leave off the love
Take up THE THRILL OF COOKING
And when St. Peter gives the word
YOUR MAN'S NEXT ON THE DOCKET
Stick by him to the end, my dear
PUT A SANDWICH IN HIS POCKET.

-original poem written by Estelle Branck

What a hoot right? It is sweet, funny, and old fashioned. Just the kind of advice I love to get from a grandmother at my wedding.

This woman led such a long and joy-filled life, that's all any of us hopes for right?

I did this little drawing on Wednesday, it was inspired by this song. It's kind of triumphant, but about saying goodbye. It's a tiny tribute to such a great lady. (though my writing got a little sloppy in the end!)

While I wish I could have known her better, I am so grateful for the time we spent together. I look forward to hearing more stories about her life in the future.

Until we meet again. 

Love,

Alexandra

Pre-Christmas Festivities! // 2014

Happy Christmas Eve!!!! :)

How is everyone's holiday season going?

We have been super busy! -even on the days and nights where 'there isn't anything'.... things always pop up. We spent the past weekend meeting with friends, picking up our new car(!), seeing my extended family, cleaning, and baking.

I had the best time with my family this year, we all had dinner and watched home movies from when we were kids. We laughed so much, and just hung out. It was made all the sweeter by the fact that my grandfather was the one who took the videos. He has since passed away, but it felt like he was there with us. :)

Here are some of our pre-Christmas happenings this year.

One Very Festive Day. . .

Tree Trimming: Family Style

Every year my dad goes on a week-long hunting trip to the Western part of the state, and us girls are left here. -that's ok with me.... ;) My sister Jess was out of town too, so KC and I picked up a pizza and went over to help Mom and OE set up and decorate their Christmas tree. It was pretty fun, I always like being able to spend more time with them! In these pictures OE is saying 'slug bug! red one! Santa!' - and then she dissolved into giggles.. :)

Movie Date:

KC took me to see 'It's a Wonderful Life' at the beginning of the month at Liberty Hall. We have been trying to go see more old movies, especially in the theaters. Can you believe I hadn't seen this one?! It was so romantic and sweet. It was even better that as we walked out of the theater the lights were lit in the trees! - so pretty!

Tree Trimming: Apartment Style

After tree trimming with my family and our vintage movie date, we headed home to hang with Duchess and make our place more festive. We set up our tiny tree on the table by the door, strung up some lights, put on silly hats, and had hot chocolate. Then we watched The Holiday.... soooo good right?!?!??! (swooon... Jude Law... ) ;)

A few nights later we made our 'Hotschnaapslate' recipe and cuddled up on the couch and watched Love Actually. Another romantic Christmas classic. I just love it. And I can't get over the fact that the little boy is now in GOT.... quite the swap. :) And that Bilbo Baggins is also a porn star... oh gosh it's just too funny.

All of us 'kids' made it to Olivia's winter concert as well. It was brilliant. They had a rap song, and a reggae style one.

I got videos... oh boy! She looked so cute, and I think she felt pretty special that we all made it for her show. :)

Last Friday we got to go to Celtic Woman's Christmas Symphony Concert again. They have been coming to KS which has been such a treat. Though I wish they would come up closer to where we live. It seems like everytime we've driven down to Wichita/Mulvane to see them the crowds have been so much smaller. Plus the casino has the strangest policies, the people working are never very friendly either.... I really dislike this venue. Oh well. The concert was lovely. So beautiful, Lisa Lambe was back from having her baby. It was a fun date night to get into the spirit. :)

The last few days we have finished up our wrapping, baked a cranberry buckle... YUM(!), and met with more friends. We baked two pumpkin pies last night, and got the Peanut Butter Balls started... Tonight we will go to my family's house and have our Christmas Dinner, exchange gifts, bake these SPRITZ cookies, and look at old pictures. :) I'm excited!

By far my favorite picture.... ? - This one. So cute... :)

Tomorrow we will start the morning with KC's immediate family, then go to see my family again, and end the day in Kansas City with his extended family.

A busy week, but I think it will be a great one! - and soon it will be our anniversary! Holy cow! :)

What are you guys up to?

What festive activities do you like to do up until Christmas? What are your traditions?

I hope that you all have the happiest of holidays!

XOXO,

Alexandra