Thankful

This year we have lots to be thankful for....LOTS--family, friends, travels, good health, new jobs, faith, nephews, each other.

We went to Cindi's for a delicious meal (especially that turkey!!) and enjoyed being able to sit outside for a few hours. I love Fall and it's nice to have a few days of warmer weather before the real cold nights of Mississippi winters.

We are also thankful that both of our football teams are WINNING!! I haven't given much props to THE Alabama Crimson Tide this season, but do not worry...they are my first love. I am so excited about Alabama football and have really, really missed not being in Bryant Denny this year more than ever! Scott and I did make it over for the Ole Miss/UA game and I was thrilled that he talked me into making the trip. Even if you're not a football fan in the least, Alabama football is exciting!! ROLL TIDE ROLL!

Thanksgiving weekend was a perfect football weekend---Ole Miss shutout Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl...


...and Alabama shutout Auburn in the Iron Bowl.

Watch this video all the way through:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pFSmO3nNRA

We are also thankful for good friends and family...no matter where you are!

NOLA & Death Valley

We have had quite an exciting month--lots of road trips and fun with friends and family!

Scott and I hit the road to NOLA to visit with good friends and to watch the Rebels play LSU in Baton Rouge. We had a fantastic trip---and since Ole Miss won, 'fantastic' might be an understatement.

We spent the weekend with Scott's college roommate, John, and he treated us to lots of good food and good times! Friday evening he grilled for us and hosted my college roommate, Elizabeth, to join us. It was great for us to catch up with friends that we haven't seen in too, too long. I hate that I didn't take a picture with Eli...but trust me, we both look the exact same! Not only was the food delicious (even though there was no ranch dressing involved), but the entertainment provided by John's 3-year-old nephew was priceless. I really enjoyed hanging out with John's brother and his precious family. Scott has talked highly of them, so it was nice to meet and visit with them.

Saturday, after another delicious meal, we loaded up and headed to Baton Rouge....which was indeed an adventure. I mean no disrespect to those of you who actually graduated from LSU, but the Tiger fans are maniacs. I have never experienced the hazing that we experienced on our walk to the stadium. Wow--they have no regard or respect for ladies!!

The walk to the stadium was quickly forgotten when we then had to walk up the ENTIRE stadium to our seats (even more hazing!). I can now say that Scott and I have lucked into seats on the TOP row of TWO stadiums in the SEC. I think we might start a new tradition.



From the top of Death Valley, we cheered as loudly as we could in hopes that the Rebels would know were were there--and because of the GREAT game, our cheering was quite fun! I was so happy for the Ole Miss team because they have truly had a great season, and it was fitting to wrap it up with a big win at LSU! Hotty Toddy! Ole Miss 31- LSU 13
Saturday night we treated ourselves to a very nice dinner at Mr. B's and a quick walk down Bourbon Street. No Ole Miss fans were out, and we were no where near intoxicated enough to enter any of the bars so we didn't stay long.


Sunday, Scott and I went downtown to Cafe Du Monde and had some yummy beignets, followed by a nice walk around Jackson Square. It was then time to head back to Oxford....after a fantastic weekend getaway.




Thank you to our wonderful host, John!!

McCarty Video

2nd attempt:

Mo vs. Macarty

Y'all--this might be one of the funniest things I have ever witnessed and tonight we caught it on camera to share.

Atop my china cabinet sits a Mccarty bunny---it's been there since we got the cabinet over a year ago. It has lived on it's perch since before we got Mo. However, it wasn't until recently that Mo discovered this bunny. One day he started barking (and you have to understand that Mo RARELY barks...closer to never than rarely) frantically--running all around our living room. Finally we realized what he was barking at and we moved the bunny. I mean HID it. So, for several weeks we had it inside a cabinet. A few days ago I moved it back and he has not seemed to notice. Until tonight.

I have never posted video before and I sure hope this works.

Here's another funny one: Mo has upgraded from his kennel to our bed and this is what I wake up to every morning. Yes, he uses the pillow and covers, and yes, he takes his little frog to bed with him.

Two years!

November 11, 2008

I cannot believe that it has already been TWO years since Scott and I married---the time really has flown by and we have had so much fun together. It's been an amazing adventure and one that continues to more and more exciting and comfortable (it's strange to write those 2 words next to one another) each day. I am so thankful to be able to spend each day with my best friend and am blessed to have an incredible husband. Okay--enough gushy talk.

The beginning of our marriage has indeed been fun--we've been on several exciting trips with friends and families and with one another. We have accomplished a few pretty important goals together--earning our Master's degrees and wiping out a good bit of debt! We have expanded our family with our funny little puppy Mo. And we have built a nice little home (albeit small and cozy) adding pieces of furniture that are now OURS that we will have to pass to our children and grandchildren one day (maybe!). Most importantly we have laughed a lot this year and I truly believe that is what makes our marriage so much fun.

We decided last year to take a fun weekend trip to celebrate each anniversary. Last year we went to Clarksdale, MS and stayed at the Shack Up Inn. We loved it and really enjoyed meeting our new friends the Lucketts.

This year we went to Natchez and rather than stay at a Shack we stayed in a beautiful Bed and Breakfast on the MS river. Scott planned a wonderful weekend--he spoiled me! We enjoyed incredible weather so had lots of opportunity to walk and tour the neighborhoods, shops and even cemetery! Friday evening we went to Angels on the Bluff, which is a very neat "tour" of the cemetery highlighting special ghosts of the community. We ate lunch the next day at The Carriage House, which is part of Stanton Hall. They are famous for their fried chicken and it was indeed delicious (although I had to get Scott to help me take the meat off--yes, I did). After lunch we went to watch the Alabama/LSU football game--ROLL TIDE! And then it was time for another meal---whew. We ate a fabulous dinner at Monmouth Plantation where we had a five-course meal and enjoyed special treatment in the beautiful dining hall. I feel like all we did was EAT--and speaking of meals, we were treated to a very nice and yummy breakfast each morning. Our host, Durell, is quite a little chef and quite an entertainer. He is the ultimate host!!

Our anniversary was quite special--we had lots of fun celebrating together. Oh, and for our gift for each other(okay, so we love to celebrate!) ended up being the exact same thing--bath robes! Too funny.

Enjoy the pictures as much as we did our trip.

The Riverside Bed and Breakfast

Pre-dinner in the Parlor at Riverside

Stanton Hall

Check out the door--the doorknob is above my head!

Aunt and Uncle...again!

Guess what!? We have another NEPHEW!! My sister, Catherine, had her second little boy this past weekend....which makes FIVE nephews for me and Scott. These are very fun times because boys are super entertaining.

Sarah and I drove to Lexington, KY (not MS--I wish because it would have been a much easier drive!!) on Friday afternoon to meet our newest nephew and enjoyed a weekend with the Sylvesters and my parents.

Please join us as we welcome

Joseph Miller Sylvester

November 13, 2008

12:15 pm

5 lbs 11 ounces

It is quite possible that his little guy has red hair!! After a day with him, I think it might be closer to strawberry, but it's still funny to see :)

This is big brother Luke visiting with Reese (my mom) and Joseph in the hospital. He wore his fire hat and rain boots, which for those 2 days in the hospital was his "hero" uniform. He wanted to wear his uniform so that he could be a hero and help his Mommy while she was sick.

Happy Halloween!

BOOOOOOOOOOOO!

We hope you had a fun filled Halloween---we had a lazy one! We started celebrating earlier in the week, and I guess we ran out of steam. Between carving pumpkins with Mo, exciting Haunted Trails with the Ashmore girls, and treats and tricks from middle school kids, we were worn out. Scott got home (actually to my parents since we're renting out house again--yahoo!) at 7 pm and put his pajamas on. So, to celebrate he and I are babysitting Hayes while the Hollis' go to a festive party. Enjoy the pics below.

Beer - My New Hobby

It's been quite some time since I've posted something here, and I actually have about three things to post. This one is top of the priority list because I'm most excited about this subject. About a month ago, Darren Ashmore and I began talking about brewing our own beer. A friend of ours has been brewing beer for quite some time. After tasting a couple of his beers, Darren and I decided that we wanted to get into this hobby ourselves.

We got together one night and began researching home brew kits and found the one we thought would work well for us. The company that sells the brewing equipment also sells beer ingredient kits. So we bought a beer kit at the same time we purchased the equipment. Both Darren and I like a little bit of a darker, stouter beer. We are both big fans of Southern Pecan, which is a product of the only Mississippi brewery. The beer we chose as our first batch should somewhat resemble Southern Pecan. It's called American Nut Ale.

The equipment and ingredients arrived last Tuesday, October 21. We brewed the beer yesterday. The first step is creating the wort.

This is basically all the ingredients that came with the kit, except for the mesh bag and crystals. The crystals actually looked like saw dust.

To create the wort, we started by putting a few gallons of water in a boiling pot and bringing the temperature to just under 200 degrees. At that point we added this mesh bag that was filled with crystals, or flavoring. This picture was taken just seconds after we dropped the bag into the water. So the coloring turned pretty dark rather quickly. After this steeped for 20 minutes, we got the liquid up to boiling. At that point, we added the malt. We had two cans of liquid malt, which looks a lot like molasses and then a bag of dry malt.

The wort has to boil for an hour. During that hour, three separate hops have to be added at different times throughout the boil. So to keep from completely messing the process up, Darren kept a close eye on the recipe.

This is me mixing in the finishing hops toward the end of the boil. Luckily, we didn't have a messy boil over. We came really close to having one, so we learned quickly that we have to keep an eye on the heat. Because we had a sugary mixture boiling, we also took care to stir the mixture often so the brew didn't burn to the bottom of the pot.

Once the wort has boiled for an hour, this is what it looks like. This is basically a non-alcoholic beer. This mixture smelled really good. The only thing missing from this is alcohol, but Darren and I took steps to remedy that.

This last picture is of the yeast just before it is dumped into the wort. This is a delicate step in the brewing process. The wort has to be at an acceptable temperature. Too hot or too cold and it kills the yeast. The yeast eats the sugar and converts it into alcohol. You can see that we dumped the wort from the boiling pot into what's called a fermentation bucket. We took the wort through a double strainer because there is so much sediment in the wort. Last thing we want is to be picking sediment out of our teeth after drinking a bottle of beer. The fermentation process is where the sugar becomes alcohol. Darren and I were really worried about this step because the temperatures on the wort and yeast mixture weren't exactly pairing up. So we decided to dump the yeast and cross our fingers. The bucket has an air-tight lid with a cylinder on top that is very much like a percolator of an old coffee maker. Once the yeast eats the sugar, it produces CO2, which escapes through the cylinder. If the cylinder is percolating, that means alcohol is being created. Darren called me this morning and happily told me the percolator was popping.

We should have beer that is ready to be bottled in about 6 more days. The bottling process will be a bit tedious. We'll have to sanitize all our bottles (the kit should make about 50 beers), rinse them out and then fill them with the beer mixture. By that time the beer will have been transferred from the fermentation bucket to the bottling bucket, and a sugar agent will have been added so the beer will carbonate once it's in the sealed bottle. Once we cap the bottles, they'll need to sit for about two weeks. Though the beer should improve the longer we let it sit, I'm sure Darren and I will not have the patience to wait any longer to taste our first batch. We're already planning what our next batch will be, and we can't wait to share what we hope is good beer with friends and family!

A few pictures...

...to go along with the earlier post.

Scott and John Grisham


Scott and Shepard Smith


I didn't stick around long enough to get celebrity pics--but I am represented in the following shot. I still get butterflies when I see Mrs. Thompson. ha!

Happy Halloween!

Today you get pictures--lots of them! Scott and Mo and I went to the St. Peter's Pumpkin Patch. Each year St. Peter's, the Episcopal church where Scott is a member, has a wonderful pumpkin patch on their side lawn. The proceeds benefit their youth group. The community has really embraced the pumpkin patch, and many families enjoy the tradition--it makes for great photos and is much more exciting to pick out pumpkins from the church lawn than it is from a bin at Wal-Mart!

Last year we took Mo to the Pumpkin Patch, just as we did today. It was funny to see him racing through the pumpkins, sniffing out the perfect pumpkin! Last year, he was freaked out--granted he was only a few months old!

2007

2008

2007

2008

2007

2007

Yes, he had a costume--he HATED the spider suit!

2008

Again, has a costume--a fun wizard cape, which he also HATES. Below he is rolling in the hay at the pumpkin patch, trying to get that cape off!

We had a fun afternoon! Before much longer we will carve 1 of the 3 pumpkins we got. Can you imagine what I'll be like when we have kids?!? Just imagine...I mean, our puppy just got SEVEN photos from the Pumpkin Patch posted on our blog!!!

October

I cannot believe it's already mid-October! We haven't posted in quite awhile, which is a combination of several things...mostly because we have been busy and usually without a camera. So, this post will not include many photos (if any!). I did want to update you though...

The most exciting (well, most historical) thing that recently took place in our little lives was the first Presidential Debate of 2008. Ole Miss hosted the Debate, which meant that our town was on the national stage--super exciting for so many reasons. For about a month prior to the September 26 Debate we (Oxford and Ole Miss) were busy, busy preparing and celebrating! Scott and I started a blog dedicated to the Debate, which we will one day post and share our many fun photos.

Another historical (although not quite nationally) event in October was the celebration of my birthday!! I love birthdays, and each year try to do something different to mark the special day. I have found, though, that the "older" I get, the less exciting the celebration is (now, that's no offense to anyone who has helped me celebrate in the past few years...it's just one of those growing pains, I suppose). I mean, it wasn't too long ago that I was standing on a chair in the middle of a "nice" restaurant while strobe lights highlighted the room and "Go, Shorty--it's Your Birthday!" blared over the speakers....and not long before that I was probably standing on a bar! This year was a much quieter celebration which stretched over several days and meals! Thursday night we dined with some of my family (Mom, Dad, Sarah, Hayes, Scott and myself) at The Ravine, a nice, newer restaurant that I had not been to yet but had been wanting to try for awhile now. Friday night we ate at the Alumni Homecoming dinner (yes, it was a working weekend for Scott), alongside John Grisham, Glen Ballard, Shephard Smith and about 500 others. Saturday was the Ole Miss Homecoming game--and the weather was beautiful!! After the game Scott surprised me and we went to Como Steakhouse (YUMMMMMMMY!) and enjoyed a quiet night together. Sunday, Sarah treated me to tickets and a trip to the Orpheum to see Avenue Q. (Thanks Sarah--and Jeffrey--for a nice getaway and a fun play!) To wrap up my weekend celebration, Sarah and I joined Scott, Cindi and Eli and Ford for dinner at Nagoya (the newest Japanese restaurant in Oxford.) I really did have a nice weekend, and enjoyed the slow pace and fancy meals with my family and friends. Thanks to all who wished me happy thoughts this year!

The next weekend, Sarah and I kicked off our new business (which I will definitely blog in detail about soon)....Signed Sealed Delivered. It was a fun weekend---and a good start to something that promises to keep us busy!

And this past weekend, Scott and I had a random road trip....to Tuscaloosa via Starkville. Friday night we stayed at Hickory Hill Bed and Breakfast--which was a nice, quaint little cabin on a farm--overlooking a pasture with at least half a dozen horses! I loved it and wish we had more time to explore the woods and gardens. If you are EVER in need of a place to stay in Starkville, please do give this place a try. This is one place I wish we had a camera to snap a few pictures to share with you. We then went to Tuscaloosa for a VERY quick trip to campus for the Ole Miss/Alabama football game---GO REBS/ ROLL TIDE!! We managed to get some last minute tickets--so rolled into town just before game time and headed out right after. I do wish I had gotten to see some of my college friends (sorry y'all!) and visit longer with those that we did see (Dana, Chris, Robyn, Mrs. Gaye-Bird, Brad and precious Wells Sheheane--who was the highlight). It was so so so so fun to be back in T-town--and it made me realize just how much I miss it! I made Scott go to the Chi O house...even inside to check it out. I cannot believe it, but the downstairs HAS NOT CHANGED ONE BIT since we were there! Still has the murals on the wall in the dining room....still has the white "formal" side of the living room where the girls probably still cannot sit/walk....still has the random Chinese paintings, including the one with the chopstick in the girl's ear (Leigh--I pointed that out to Scott just for you!). I sure hope they have changed the upstairs a little bit. We couldn't go up there, because apparently at one of the games someone went upstairs in another sorority house and stole a bunch of valuables. That's terrible, people. On the way out of town we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Mr. G's (just for Drew!).

Okay, I just realized how long this post has gotten....and with NO pictures! Sorry, y'all. I tried to include lots of hyperlinks so that if you were dying for pictures you could find some...If you've read this much you must really be dying to know what we've been up to (Joint--did you hang in there?)....I promise the next several entries will have lots of pictures!

Miss y'all.

A crowd of nephews...

With the addition of Hayes to our family, I realized we have a host of little boys running around! I wonder if Catherine's baby will be a girl just to confuse us all :) Scott and I absolutely love our nephews and enjoy spending time with them as often as possible.

The wild Wilsons are just down the road, so we get to see them a good bit--especially during football season (as seen in the last post). When we head to our seats we always look for Eli and Ford. They are usually too busy pregame to look for us--but we know that when the team takes the field that we'll have Ford settle in right next to us. That kid doesn't miss a play! He loves to watch the game, and pays close attention to every down. I thought the perfect birthday gift for him would be his own binoculars, seeing that he always borrows either Scott's or his moms. When I asked him (mistake #1) he thought about it for a split second and said he'd probably rather have a game for his Playstation. Of course. We usually get a good visit with Eli at the start of the 4th quarter when he's visited with every other fan in the stands. He is quite the social one in the family--he is always running around with his best friend. The good thing is that we like his friend, too, so when they make their way to us we're excited to see them both.

Luke puts a new spin to the word "wild." He is your typical three-year-old, and loves to have the attention of his momma, and that usually means the attention of us all. I cannot believe that he turned three this weekend! He had a pirate party, and from the looks of it everyone had a blast! My mom went to visit for the weekend and said that it was so much fun to see all the little kiddos playing with their costumes and treasures. Catherine--you outdid yourself!! I was so impressed by the cake and decor as well as the games and party favors! You set the bar high! Luke is a lot of fun and I look forward to him being a big brother soon. Although he might not be ready to share, I know he will be a super brother. Below is a picture from his party--it's tough to be still long enough to pose for a picture when you're a pirate!!

And then there is Hayes. What a joy it has been to watch Hayes grow (slowly at first and suddenly very quickly!) as well as to watch Sarah mother. I have always known that she would be an amazing mom! I cannot believe that Hayes is already 8 weeks old--he is filling out and smiling and flirting and even holding his head up! I really do look forward to watching him grow and develop more and more. These pictures are from last night--he was stealing the show, as I'm sure is hard to imagine!

Scott and I are so proud of our nephews and love each of them very much. I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about our family, and I hope they enjoyed their publicity on the world wide web! (Eli and Ford will have to check out the Football blog for their pics!)