Our amazing Thanksgiving!

Our thanksgiving was simply amazing! It was so warm and beautiful, I don't think I've ever seen such a nice Thanksgiving day. We started off the day with some very amazing very out of season strawberry picking. {this is why it pays to know your farmers!} Sage was loving it! We let him pick some strawberries, and play in the dirt,,, he got a mouthful of both, plus a little bit of the strawberry plant too. He spit it all out, but it was funny seeing him 'eat' a strawberry.

We took a quick little jaunt up the creek after we left the farm. The colors of the leaves were so pretty. We found a massive wild grape plant that was climbing all the trees around it. Sage was loving this too! He definitely takes after his daddy and his love of nature already!

We had and early-ish dinner outside since the weather was cooperating so nicely. Everything was AMAZING! The menu was simple and delicious. There ended up only being a few of us, so we had leftovers for days! Which was a good thing, since it was all so tasty!

Although Sage didn't get to try any of the food this year, it didn't stop him from checking it all out! He had his fingers in anything he could reach! 

All in all, it was a great day filled with friends, family and great food. What more could you ask for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone is having wonderful day with friends and family!

There are so many things to be thankful for today, and every day.
I am most thankful for my family, and especially my wonderful husband and perfect baby boy! I couldn't imagine my life without them. I am truly blessed to have them in my life!

In between all the stuffing and pie {which I'm also thankful for} make sure to give thanks today. Then, when you wake up tomorrow, do it again! We should be thankful for all the wonderful things that we have EVERYDAY!

So, what are you thankful for today?

Getting ready... for pie that is.

Can someone tell me how tomorrow is Thanksgiving already... Wasn't it just yesterday that it we were gathered for Thanksgiving telling the family that I was pregnant!?! Crazy!

This year we get to have two Thanksgiving celebrations! {That means two chances for PIE!}

Our first Thanksgiving is going to be small, mellow and of course delicious! Just a few of us and tons of great food. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

I'm not in charge of dinner, but I am going to be helping. Lucky for me, Sage is able to sit in his 'big boy chair' at the table while I'm working beside him now. Which means I just might be able to pull out one of my cute aprons to wear while we are prepping. I swear wearing a fun apron makes just about anything more fun! It's been a while since I've worn one, they don't exactly fit over a baby carrier!

Tell me I'm not alone in my love for fun aprons, I mean how fun is this...

via Etsy

I could wear that all day! Yup, I'm going to go dig mine out right now! I don't think I have one quite that cute though... sigh... any who...

Lucky for us, and by us, I mean our stomachs, our second Thanksgiving is Sunday. And it will be full of family and babies! Sage's little cousin will be there, so there will be a serious cuteness overload going on!

It's going to be such a fun long weekend. Now I just have to remember to stop and take some pictures along the way! Probably of aprons... and pie!

Anyone else spreading the love throughout the weekend?

Christmas wrap up

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas!
We did! We had a super low key week. It was really nice!
I started by making some cookies, to get in the spirit! I made the full o' sugar, fluffy frosting, all kinds of sprinkles kind for the neighbors, and then some super simple and delicious vegan sugar cookies for us! I can't say they were healthy, but at least WAY less bad for you!

Oh yeah, and they were woodland critters! So much fun! The moose was the a big hit!


The in-laws came out Christmas eve, and then we headed out to Morro Bay to visit some family on Christmas day. It was so nice to see everyone and just hangout. When we got there we walked into the yard and saw this...

An almost 20 foot tall snowman!!! Matt's uncle is a bit of a tinker-er and comes up with the craziest things! This pretty much made the night! Here's a close up.

Pretty neat! Of course we all had to take photos with him!
Here's the family...

and the whole group!

Pretty neat! Oh, and someone got a brand new cute as can be lab puppy! {No, it wasn't me, Lilly is enough for now!}

She was too cute! I of course had to get in some puppy snuggles and some of that puppy breath!

I think I could have let her eat my nose just to smell that!

We ended the night inspecting for a baby bump! lol! It wants to come out, and has started to pop, but isn't always there. It popped slightly, so we got a picture...

So, there's my Christmas present, a growing little peanut pushing out a little belly.
I'm good with that!

12-12-12... we did it!

Well, we managed to pull off our 12-12-12 picture! It pretty much went something like this:
Ugly sweaters + Perfect snow + The sun behaving wonderfully = Great pictures!

Here's the official picture!

Pretty fun, huh!?!

We got a posed one too.

I think everyone but us had real ugly sweaters, ours were some we made a few years back because we couldn't find any ugly enough! Lol!

It was super fun, and super cold! We left our house {where it was 70 degrees} got to the in-laws where it was about 50, and then went to the snow where it was hovering around 20! BBUUUUURRRRR!

Poor little nephew didn't like the cold snow too much! He did like the sleigh rides though!

He's so cute! Little stinker wouldn't wear his gloves though! His poor little hands were so cold!

Matt liked his sleigh ride too!

He was like a little kid!

and we even got to catch some snowflakes!

Such a fun day!

How did you spend your 12-12-12?

My that's an ugly sweater!

So you might remember from last year that Matt's family has been taking a picture every year since 01-01-01 on the fun dates, 02-02-02, 03-03-03... Well, this is the last year 12-12-12! I'm not totally sure what we are doing for the picture, but it sounds like it will be in the snow, and there will be ugly Christmas sweaters involved! I do have a stash that I've been acquiring over the years, but I need to find them! LOL! Plus I've wanted to add lights to one of my sweaters for a while now, which I bought, but again have to find!
Hopefully I can find it all by tomorrow, or I'll be hitting up some thrift stores on our way up! Since I couldn't find mine to show you, I found some on pinterest, they are pretty great!

Source: shop.thesweaterstore.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Source: mypartyshirt.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Source: amandahervey.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Reindeer spewing Christmas... love it!

Source: imgfave.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

And this, if you could actually wear this for a whole night then you are pretty awesome!

Source: craftster.org via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Well, I guess I better go start the hunt for those uglys! See you in a few days!
Have a great 12-12-12!!!

Catching up

Wow! Not only is it December, but it's a week in already! Craziness!
Also, I haven't posted since before Thanksgiving! Woops!
So, how was everyone's Thanksgiving? Mine was pretty great!
First off, we ended up spending a whole week up there, and got to visit a lot!
We had Thanksgiving at my aunts' house and a lot of my family were there.
I had my mom AND dad (that hardly happens) plus my in-laws and aunts, uncles, cousins!
There were a few people I wish could've been there, but it was pretty great!
We kicked off the night the right way...

 Like I said before, it's not Thanksgiving until you have  an olive on your finger!
The crazy thing about sticking olives on your fingers as an adult {ha, that's funny} is that they all break on your giant fingers! LOL! We made it work though!

Before we ate we all gathered around and my uncle Mark decided to take a day off from his usual 'talk forever and a day' thing and have everyone share what they were most thankful for.

That's him, the talker! LOL!

So we all went around the room, starting with the kids {I'm happy to say none of which was thankful for a toy or something like that!}

I was thankful to have all sides of my family together in the same spot, enjoying each others company.

Then when Matt shared what he was most thankful for, he got this reaction...

SHOCK and

OH MY GOD!!!

So, what was it?

He basically said "I'm thankful tonight for my family, but mostly thankful that I have all of your undivided attention, because...Ameryn's pregnant!"

The whole room went silent and then all at once lot's of screaming!

I just so happened to have the camera, so I tried to capture the moment.

What ended up happening was my mom tackling me and sobbing uncontrollably! Therefore after the 'shock' it was all blurry!

But, everyone was super excited and it really was a great way to tell everyone!

 My mom and me... she is excited, but still not wanting to be called grandma quite yet!

 Me, Matt and his parents who have been waiting for this since we got married!

 My aunt who is obviously so super excited!

And then there is this picture of my uncle and me...I apparently was so excited that I made this face! LOL!

Him and my mom get the most emotional award for the night! He was a wreck! I can't wait to see what happens when his own daughter tells him that she's pregnant!

So, there it is... that's whats happening in my life, in fact it's pretty much the only thing happening right now! BUT, I just hit 13 weeks, and am starting to feel much better! And, now that it's out and everyone knows, it feels so good! This was the hardest secret to keep...ever! I had to skirt around the subject too many times! I never lied, but never quite answered the question. Note to everyone, NEVER ask someone if they are pregnant! Unless they just dropped you like 10 hints, don't ask! If they are they will tell you when they are ready.

We are so excited and a little anxious to meet our little peanut! This is going to be such a crazy and eventful year! I can't wait!

Thinking about Thanksgiving

The past few years we have done Thanksgiving at the in-laws, which is great because my MIL can cook! Plus she makes most things vegan, so we can eat pretty much everything but the turkey! This year we are going to my aunts, which is going to be so much fun, but I feel like I should make something amazing and vegan to bring along. So, where do I turn? Pintrest of course! I have found tons of yummy things to try, I'm just not sure what to do yet. Here are my top picks so far.

Crispy Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Source: recipenewz.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Stuffed Mushroom Phyllo Roll

Source: ohsheglows.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Mushroom, Lentil, and Wild Rice Timbales

Source: blog.fatfreevegan.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Vegan Stuffed Mushrooms

Source: veganpiggy.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Vegan Harvest Pies

Source: vegandad.blogspot.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

But then there are amazing deserts too!

Like the classic:
Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Source: kblog.lunchboxbunch.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Or this really fun:
Pumpkin Pie Tortilla Rolls

Source: sweetlittlebluebird.com via Ameryn Marie on Pinterest

Those I'd have to 'healthy' up a bit, but they are just too cute!

I'm sure I'll eat a whole lot of stuff {or stuffing} that I wouldn't normally eat everyday. And I'll probably be a little lax on the vegan thing and let some stuff slide. My uncles mom makes the BEST berry pie in the world, I bet it's not vegan, but I'm going to eat it anyway! LOL! A little butter won't kill me!

Anyone else trying something different this year? Or do you have to have the traditional Thanksgiving meal?

I know if I don't get mashed potatoes and stuffing, it's not Thanksgiving! And if I don't eat at least one olive off my finger it might as well have been just another Thursday.

Insta-Friday & Recovering from Christmas

I'm back!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  I'm still recovering form the festivities, and I still have a second Christmas this weekend!  It's become almost a tradition to have Christmas after Christmas with the hubby's family.  Works for me since I am such a procrastinator!  Plus, it prolongs Christmas a little bit more.  Win win, right?!  I'd share my photo's from Christmas with you, but I was lame and didn't pull out my camera once!  There were two fancy pant cameras out all night, so I just picked one up and shot away.  The only problem with that is I didn't come home with any!  I have to wait for them all. =(

So, here is what I do have in pictures, from my phone {I always have that on me}

First things first, If you follow me on twitter than you might have seen my post about making the most random Christmas present ever.  Well, I couldn't share pictures then, because it was a Christmas gift, duh... So, here it is...

A panda spewing a rainbow!!!

The whole time I was making it I was thinking to myself 'wow, I can't believe I am making this!' and then I would giggle at myself a bit, and then continue on.  I feel like I should also explain why I would make this for my brother to begin with.  See, he is the most random kid I know.  He loves the goofiest stuff, including panda's and especially panda's spewing rainbows!  Seriously, he has a shirt with it, and it was his facebook picture for a while.  Also, every year he asks for money, and that's not how I roll, so this is what he got!  This was my first attempt at applique, so I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, I even put in a zipper, which scared me a little, but it turned out great.  And, most importantly he loved it!

As it turns out, we are quite the crafty family!  My aunt made this for me and Matt

Isn't that amazing!?!  She has made a few of them now, and a m so excited to get one for myself!  I keep telling her she needs to sell them, they are way too cute!

Also, my little sister {who is 15} made this awesome piece for Matt

I think it is so neat that she took the time to make something so thoughtful and so much fun!

Christmas day was pretty nice, we just ate, drank and hung out.

... see the hanging out going on. =)

Also, since it's Christmas my friend came home for a visit from Rhode Island, so we hit up the thrift stores of course!  I scored majorly on jeans and shoes, but the shoes make a much better picture, see...

I'm pretty sure I paid less than $5 a pair. Yay for thrifting!

I hope you all are enjoyed your week.  Have a marvelous Friday night!

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