But I really do love fall...

Typically I look forward to Thanksgiving all year long. The food, the smells, baking, family time ---I love it all. For some reason this year is different. I hate to say it but I am trying to wish it away too quickly. I am not trying to seem ungrateful because I am very grateful in fact. I have a wonderful husband, a great family, & the cutest little house but like I said this year I feel .... indifferent.

Here is the problem---I love being married but with marriage comes the splitting of holidays... Nathan's family is wonderful & am excited to be a part of it but at the end of the day they aren't my incredible parents, my fun sisters & my comical Memie. It will be my first holiday to ever be away from them. I am pretty sure I will probably cry in my room or something on Thanksgiving & more than likely I won't be able to call them because that will make me miss them even more...sorry Mom!

Sorry, I don't mean to be such a downer I just love my family that much & I am going to miss them a ton! On the bright side, I am making Pumpkin Cookies AND we are doing more remodel work at Nathan's Dad's house during the break. We are planning to paint the dining room and the hallway. I know, not incredibly exciting but it is 2 more rooms checked off the list!

Here are a few before pictures

We are going to put dining room furniture in here eventually too. It's just not in the budget right now....

What a difference it will make when all the trim, walls, & ceilings are not all the same color!!

Check back next weekend for the after pictures! It won't be before that because it would take hours to upload pictures on dial-up in Sabinal....

Happy Birthday Janna Rae!!!

Just wanted to wish a Happy 21st Birthday to one of my best friends --- Janna Rae!! (She is the one making the mean face on the right in the oval frame) She is an amazing friend that brings lots of laughs & signature "Janna" dance moves!! Love you so much & hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Enjoy the new background! I know it may be a little early but I am just too excited about Christmas! I have been dying to put up my decorations but have forced myself to enjoy what is left of fall decor! All in time...

Happy Fall!!!

The Best Pumpkin Cookies You Will EVER Have!!!

Yield: About 5 dozen


Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
½ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1-1/3 cup granola without raisins
1-1/3 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1-1/3 cup vanilla or white chips

Icing:
¼ cup butter, softened
2-3 cups confectioner’s sugar (may need more)
3 tablespoons milk

• In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and pumpkin. Combine the flours, cinnamon, baking powder, ginger, salt, baking soda, nutmeg and cloves; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in the granola, nuts, and chips.


• Drop by tablespoonfuls (or cookie scoop) 2 in. apart onto a greased (or parchment paper) baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.


• In a small mixing bowl, combine icing ingredients until smooth. Frost cookies with small spatula or use a piping bag with a decorative tip for a more impressive cookie! Also, if you would like, set on wax paper and drizzle warm butterscotch or caramel sauce over the cookies. Store in the refrigerator.

I made these for 2 of my friends that are in the Miss UMHB Pageant on Friday as good luck treats. They loved them, as did the ladies at my work and all Nathan's friends that come over to watch the baseball World Series! So, go try them out---they were amazing and it will make everyone want to be your friend!!

We didn't kill each other!!

I told you in my last post that Nathan & I were about to delve into the world of house remodeling... Well, we have officially started! There are lots of pictures so I will try to be brief. Ever since Nathan & I started dating, my OCD has been dying to scrape this old paint off the walls and slap on a new and brighter color. I was always a little hesitant because I didn't want to overstep as the "girlfriend" but I have now officially been the "wife" and a part of the family for 2 weeks so here we go!! Enjoy the transformation!

The paint is literally falling off the walls in every room.

All the trim took 3 coats of paint unfortunately...I refused to let the boys help me with trim for the most part. I sent them hunting instead ;) I think they gladly welcomed the break!

It took forever to scrape this lovely LEAD paint off the ceiling and walls...

This was Nathan's scary Halloween costume!

After the first coat of primer...


Ta-Dah! It's finished!! All of our hard work paid off because Kenneth loved it and can't wait for us to start on the rest of the house---We are going to have to wait a little while though. We are poor newlyweds so feel free to make donations ;) Totally kidding!


It still needs some finishing touches such as pictures on the walls and "girly stuff" (as Kenneth calls it) on the dresser.


Ok, funny story. Look closely at the trim in this picture---notice 1/3 of it is a different color. This measured all of the Meyer boys heights while they grew up so there was no way we could paint over that! We figured it would be comical and a unique detail that only their house would have!

Look how much brighter a new coat of paint, white trim, & new curtains make!

Oh & in case you were wondering, Nathan & I did great! No arguments at all! What a miracle!! We have lots left to do so I will keep you posted as it comes along!

All settled in..finally!

As you can see we started off our married life quite well! Look at all those gifts that people were so gracious to give us! We really are so grateful but seriously, it looked like a bomb went off in our house after opening these! After a lot of sweat, hard work & a really late Friday night, I think things are finally back in order. Below, I added a few pics of the house! Oh and don't worry, Nathan did not suffer through all of this...he went hunting to avoid it! Go figure!


Turquoise piece is a Round Top find & the rest are mostly wedding gifts!

Finally got my painting from Peru hung!

Living Room

Nathan gets all the credit for this cute little thing! He picked it out at an estate sale down the street from our house for $10. It was in pretty bad shape --- unpainted, falling apart, and really dirty! He cleaned it up & painted it. How cute did it turn out?!? Oh how far he has come since we first met. He has become quite the antique shopper!

The yellow piece was another Round Top find --- also used at the cookie bar at the wedding! I've had a hard time filling this corner & I think this did the trick. I am still thinking about taking all the frames down behind it...I think they might make it too busy. What do you think? Is it too much?
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Now on to married life...
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So far Nathan & I are thoroughly enjoying it. It has been so nice to wake up and fall asleep with my best friend! Every day brings a new adventure and something to laugh about. Last Saturday Nathan looks at me and asks, "Can we have corn dogs with mac & cheese for dinner?" Of course I said yes and we quickly headed to the store to purchase our gourmet dinner. (In you don't know, we don't EVER eat like this!!)
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I grew up with Velveeta Mac & Cheese so that's what we got --- surprisingly, not as good as I had once remembered it being. Nathan grew up with Kraft so he of course wanted to prove it was better! It might have been better, until he entered the kitchen.... Things quickly spiraled downhill after this! He cockily made the mac & cheese and kept rubbing it in my face how great of a "chef" he was. That was until he put cloves in the Mac & Cheese instead of pepper!! haha It was disgusting but of course he kept saying it wasn't that bad and continued to eat ALL of it to prove his point! This story will now go down in history with My Dad's lemon peanut butter cookies that even our dogs wouldn't eat!!! Gotta love it!
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As you can see we are really enjoying things so far!! I hope I don't regret that statement by the end of this weekend ;) We are heading to Sabinal to do an Extreme Makeover on his Dad's house! We are so excited but our personalities and differences always seem to come out during projects. Our biggest conflict so far has been over paint color --- fortunately my wise mother helped us pick one out to spare us the trouble! My parents also keeps giving us advice about starting such big projects after only being married for 2 weeks...
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Oh man, should I be worried!?! haha I will let you know how it goes after the weekend!!

"For Better or For Worse"

I apologize for not posting anything any sooner but I have been buried in thank you notes and wedding gifts for the past week! The thanks you's are almost finished and the gifts will hopefully all be put away by the end of the weekend...hopefully! Please ignore my grammar and spelling...I am just trying to get something posted so Mom doesn't kill me! ;) OK, now on to the wedding details.

For those of you that were unable to attend the wedding this past weekend, you truly missed out! It was the most perfect day to have a wedding! The much prayed for weather could not have turned out better! Actually, I really cannot imagine anything about the wedding going any better! There were so many people that came the groomsmen had to come out and start ushering!! Ahh...it was so much fun to have everyone there to celebrate with us!!

The funniest wedding moment was when Dad & I walked out the back doors to walk down the aisle. In the surrealness (I think I might have just made that word up) and emotion of it all I couldn't even think clearly and forgot my bouquet. As we started walking down the stairs I heard the caterers yelling "Where is her bouquet?!". Mrs. Fathauer being as wonderful as she is quickly ran in and got it for me! It was such a great moment because it helped alleviate a lot of the emotion going on and helped everyone (mainly Nathan) to relax and more importantly to laugh!

My family, bridesmaids, and friends were absolutely wonderful through it all. I started typing everything that everyone did to help but quickly realized there was no way I could cover it all and even if I tried I may be typing forever! Everyone was so helpful and willing to do whatever was asked of them. I hope I don't offend anyone by not mentioning every one's names---I'm really sorry, there are just SO many! Just know that there is no way we could have gotten everything done on our own so thank you so much to everyone!

Here are a few big thank you's:

The food was catered by Royer's Cafe out of Round Top and was to die for! Better than the food was the amazing help from Tara Royer and her sister-in-law. They were there from 8 am to the end of cleanup that night. I cannot thank them enough for their creativity, helping the reception to go smoothly and most of all---for finally making my Mom quit working to go take and shower & get ready for the wedding ;)

Another huge thank you goes to my sister Haley (Owner of The Muffin Top) who baked all the pastries for the wedding! In the midst of teaching, grading, submitting 6 weeks grades, conducting her first program for parents & closing out all the details of the lease with her apartment in Austin she somehow found time to make over 1,000 mini cupcakes and 750 giant cookies! There are definitely some funny stories that go along with all of that baking but I will leave that to her to tell... I'm not sure if I can ever thank her enough---or ask her for forgiveness for baking everything for the wedding! haha All of the pastries were excellent by the way and we couldn't keep people's hands off them! People were eating the cupcakes before dinner was even being served! I am still bummed that I didn't get to eat one of her famous carrot cake cupcakes---oh well, guess I didn't need the calories!

Thanks once again to our super creative photographer Lynsey Kramer! She did a wonderful job keeping everyone in line and keeping us on schedule. She had 2 other assistants helping her take pictures so I'm sure there will be tons of great photos! I really cannot thank her enough for everything she did for the wedding and beyond that, for being a great friend! Now I am just going to anxiously await the final product of her creative genius!

The most important thank you goes to my parents who worked non-stop for the last 4 months to make our wedding absolutely perfect and let me tell you---it was!! I have been so blessed to have parents that modeled out a Christ-centered marriage and I couldn't be more thankful for that. They have helped Nathan & I in more ways than I ever thought possible and we love them so much for it! I think we will forever be indebted to them for all of their hard work! It was so meaningful having our wedding out at their house so thank God for beautiful weather!

The thing that was neat about the wedding was being able to look around and truly be able to see everyone having fun. We had outdoor games, a photo booth, fun music, and tons of food for people to enjoy. Granted, Nathan & I did not get to eat much but what bride & groom ever do --- Luckily Tara sent us with plates for the road!

To top everything off, I did happen to marry a wonderful man that absolutely ADORES me! If you were at the wedding or the rehearsal dinner you would definitely know that by now. I really did marry the sweetest, most tender-hearted man that there is. (These qualities help me to overlook his foot-in-mouth moments!) We are completely loving married life! It is so nice to start and finish each day together! I am blessed beyond measure! I will say the only problem we are having so far is adjusting to each other's sleeping habits in a full size bed... Supposedly I hog the bed but he unknowingly steals my pillows & the covers, talks in his sleep, and tosses & turns like no other. Oh the joys of marriage ;)

It's TOMORROW!!!

Well, we are down to 1 day and the wedding chaos is moving forward in full force! We have been baking hundreds of cookies and Haley has baked over 1000 mini cupcakes!! And they are going to be amazing! Nathan & Dad worked in the yard all weekend while Mom & I worked on random details. Pretty much all of the big things are taken care, we are just burried in the details. I think Mom has a list a mile long of those "details".

Through it all, we actually have not been too stressed, just excited! I cannot wait to marry that boy! On Saturday night, it was so funny to watch Nathan fold napkins and Dad cutting rafia! Everyone has helped out so much with everything we needed done. Tori helped Mom with the programs, Sarah & Debbie Fathauer came out and helped with wrapping silverware! I can't even list everyone that is helping out because the list just goes on! Just know we are so appreciate of all of you!