A Hanlin/Heath/Coleman/Fox Thanksgiving

We weren't sure it was going to be possible, but after a 4 am alarm on Wednesday morning, 5:30 departure,  5 states and 12 hours in my faithful steed the Focus, Jared and I made it to Atlanta, Georgia for a short but wonderful Thanksgiving visit with the family.  Wanting to contribute to the meal, I searched my new Southern Living Desserts Cookbook for a fun and festive recipe, and landed on Pecan Pie Cookies.



<----  The picture looks good, right?  So Tuesday evening, I braved the crowds (who knew that everyone goes to Wal-Mart two days before Thanksgiving?  I might not have survived had I gone Wednesday!) and made it out with the ingredients.  A couple hours, some love and nurturing later, and we get this:








Not quite as pretty, but they went fast, so I choose to believe they were good.  I had bought some Cranberry Pecan rolls at Stone Mill Bakery earlier that day, so I felt pretty good about my food contributions.  The next morning we left, and the drive was long, but we made good time and got to Atlanta in time to see everyone and head out for a great dinner of greek pizza.  That night Jared and I got some much needed sleep, and were up and ready for some family time Thursday.

It's funny how months can go by without seeing family, but when you get back together, its like no time has passed at all.  All day Thursday we visited with family, and ate ate and ate some more.

Friday came faster than we wanted, but we spent some time in the morning hanging out with the fam a little more, and ate a few times (I swear I still haven't been able to muster up hunger yet).  On the way out of town, we drove past my Mema and Papa's old house as has become tradition for us, and it as always brought back so many memories from my childhood.  Twelve hours later and we pulled into Fayetteville to unpack and go to bed.  The car ride wasn't my favorite, but it was definitely worth it to spend time with our family, and we are so thankful for every one of them.

Fall in the Ozarks

So all of a sudden it was fall here in the Ozarks, and Jared and I wanted to get outside and do something fun to enjoy the beautiful weather.  I had the whole weekend off (which hadn't happened in almost a month) and we wanted to do something fun together.  I searched around online for something we could make a day trip out of, and midweek we bought tickets for a scenic train excursion through the mountains on the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad.  It sounded like a great chance to get out of the office and see the beautiful fall colors.  So, first thing Saturday morning we got up and drove about an hour to Van Buren.  Imagine a little downtown area lined with antique shops, an ice cream parlor, beautiful old historic buildings, and of course, a train station.

We park and wait to board the train with all the other senior citizens (apparently I can't pick age appropriate outings-only families with little kids at the pumpkin patch, and old people on the scenic train ride...oh well) and...we're off!  Poor Jared, he is so sweet to humor  me.  Anyway, I am tickled about our old people trip, taking tons of pictures, pointing out the adorable conductor who looks like he's at least 80 years old, and jabbering away like I tend to do.  I think Jared had fun too, but I don't think he'd tell me if he didn't.  After the ride we had lunch at a restaurant in the midst of downtown, and afterwards we walked around and checked out the little antique stores and other shops.  

So, I had fun, I hope Jared did too, but it was nice to spend all day together without work, school or rehearsals getting in the way.