Honeymoon At Last

FINALLY! We finally went on our honeymoon! It seems like we waited forever, but of course life happens. We spent a lot of time researching and decided we wanted to go to the Outer Banks! Neither Josh or I had ever been there and had heard so many awesome things about it! I think I looked at 100's of cottages and B&B's in the months leading up to our trip. In the end, we decided to stay at the Cypress House Inn in Kill Devil Hills and are SO happy with that decision. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

{Breakfast at Chick-fil-a on our way! I was one happy girl!}

{Our adorable B&B: Cypress House Inn}

{More than welcomed beach time!}

{We planted ourselves in the same spot every day.}

{Headed out to dinner at The Kill Devil Grill}

The Kill Devil Grill is one of those places you can't really imagine having fabulous food, but the line out the door makes you wonder what is going on inside. It looks like an old diner that might seat 15 people, but they have extended it out the back to accommodate a few more. The inn keepers at our B&B suggested it so we went for a quick lunch. We loved it so much we went back for dinner that same night since they wouldn't be open again while we were there. It was definitely worth it. The classic American food with a Southern twist seemed to be out of a 4 star restaurant rather than a diner 100 yards from the beach. If you are ever in the Outer Banks you MUST go and eat there. Oh and get the KEY. LIME. PIE!!!!

{Visiting the Wright Brothers National Memorial}

{View from the monument at the Wright Brothers --our B&B is there in there somewhere.}

{Dinner at Colington Cafe: Another great dining experience in a quirky old house!}

{She crab soup to start off dinner. Oh so decadent!}

On our drive south to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, we stopped to see if we could find any cool shells. We were so lucky to pick up a bag full. I had heard that finding shells in the Outer Banks was difficult.

{Cape Hatteras Lighthouse: We learned it is the tallest brick lighthouse in North America --all 248 steps!}

{We made it to the top!}

{Vacations coinciding!!!!! We loved being able to have lunch with Joe, Jannah and Elliott! We just don't get to see these sweet friends enough.}

{Coffee at Morning View was a daily treat!}

{Josh reading on the beach}

{Feet picture in our last few minutes on the beach!}

We will definitely be going back to the Outer Banks! There is still so much to explore. We foresee family vacations for years to come.

Stephanie

Katie & Tim Get Hitched

Josh's sister, Katie, got married to one of his best friends, Tim. How much more fun can a wedding get than that? We had a blast rounding out our year of weddings (4 siblings got hitched in less than 12 months!) and wanted to share the love. (Sorry for the mix of iPhone pictures! I'm the worst at carrying my camera.)

{Vintage Peacock Shower}

{Practicing hair}

{Showered in balloons -and presents and love, too}

{Bachelorette night at Good Luck --it's now a bridal tradition}

{My first taste of oxtail and tripe}

{It was heavenly!!!}

The wedding was at the Auditorium Center in downtown Rochester. Such a great location!

{Sisters}

{Sisters}

{Complicated, but still clinging to the sisters title}

{Getting ready!}

{Reception Time}

It was such a wonderful celebration of love and the grace God bestows as new journeys begin. Josh and I are incredibly happy to add Tim to the family and can't wait to see the plans God has for their life together!

Stephanie

Mother's Day Surprise

The whole family was plotting my surprise trip to Oklahoma for Mother's Day. My mom had no clue and that's just the way we wanted it. I flew in really late Friday and stayed at my brother's house. His sweet little family planned to have my parents over for a brunch to celebrate Mother's Day. When they arrived Saturday morning, I was hiding in the closet of their guest room in the dark...just in case. You never know with my mom. She's kind of a snoop in the most endearing way.

Once they were there and settled the plan was to FaceTime with Josh and I back in New York (and Toby, too). Josh popped up on FaceTime. They said their hellos, and then he let them know I was in the other room and would be right there. Instead of showing up on the iPad, I walked out of the back room and said, "you can't start FaceTime without me!" I thought my mom was going to have a heart attack and was hoping someone had slipped her a Xanax. She was completely caught of guard. I'm not sure how we pulled this off, but it was totally worth the stress!

The girls went off and shopped and had lunch then we met back up with the gents for dinner. It was wonderful to be in my home church on a Sunday for the first time in almost 9 months. We rounded it out with lunch at Wolfgang Puck and a flight back to New York for me.

I wouldn't trade the stress or exhaustion of pulling off this surprise for anything. Love you mama!

Stephanie

House Pictures

We did more entertaining than usual last week. We had company Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday nights! Thankfully it's easy to keep the house clean when guest just keep coming. On Sunday we did nothing just to have a moment to breathe. (We LOVE entertaining. It's one of our household fundamentals and you can read more about how I feel that's part of God's calling on our lives and the blessing that our home is right here.)

Okay, so with a clean house I could snap a few pictures of the downstairs in it's current state. I took these at night so the lighting is a little yellow. First I'm showing pictures of the house from our closing day. I was very prepared to take lots of before pictures so we could have a visual of the work we were going to do!

As you can see, we haven't changed out the drapes. Thankfully, they aren't so bad that I had to replace them. We also haven't painted any of the rooms I'm showing today. The dining room will be the first to be changed. It's not a bad color, but they used some sort of plaster mixed with paint and the finish is awful. So here it goes.... a little progress!

{Three Seasons Porch Before}

{Three Seasons Porch}

{Living Room Before}

{Living Room}

{Dining Room Before}

 {Dining Room}

{Dining Room with view into Living Room}

Hope you enjoyed this mini tour! More pictures to come as we keep updating.

Stephanie

Easter Update

I know it's way late, but here are a couple pictures of our little family on Easter as well as a recipe to share.

{I like the tradition of taking pictures on our front stoop}

{Josh, Stephanie & Toby}

{Josh looking dapper while I messed with the timer on the camera}

I contributed deviled eggs and ham for our Easter dinner at Josh's mom's house. I think deviled eggs are such a yummy picnic treat (if you can keep them cold), so I'm going to share my recipe. It's from Miss Daisy Celebrates Tennessee by Daisy King, a cookbook my mom and I picked up on a trip to Tennessee over a decade ago. This cookbook has lots of great treats and fun Tennessee trivia tucked inside as well.

Deviled Eggs

Adapted from Miss Daisy Celebrates Tennessee

12 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chilled (I follow the directions from Simply Recipes for perfect hard boiled eggs every time!)

1/4 - 1/3 cup mayonnaise

1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon prepared mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 green onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoons well-drained pickle relish

Paprika for garnish

Assemble all ingredients and utensils. Cut eggs in half lengthwise, remove yolks, reserve whites. In a bowl, mash yolks until smooth. Combine mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt and pepper and add to yolks. Stir in onion and pickle relish. Taste and season with more salt and pepper, if necessary. Fill a ziploc bag or piping bag with yolk filling and pipe into center of the egg whites.  Sprinkle with paprika. Refrigerate until serving. Yields: 24 eggs.

Hope you're enjoying some picnic worthy weather! Rochester may get one last snow, so naturally I'm pining after warm summer nights!!!

Stephanie

Minute To Win It

We are insanely blessed with a fabulous small group. I desperately needed a group to call my own after moving to New York a year ago this past Sunday. In January, we started attending a small group at the church we now attend. I think we just fell right in line with this group and really enjoy doing life with them! So thanks to our new small group for making us feel so welcome!

Last Thursday we had a fun little night with our SG at Brad and Melissa's house. They are wonderful hosts! (We love them doubly because they are about to become family of sorts. Josh's sister is marrying Melissa's brother in June!) The evening was based on NBC's Minute to Win It. Here are a few pictures of the friendly guys vs. girls competition.

{The Happy Couple}

{Our darling ref for the evening, Melissa}

(Josh and Brad competing at Dizzy Mummy -which they lost!}

{My unsuccessful attempt at This Blows} 

{Melissa and Zack competing at the Skittle Scurry}

{Donnie proving his Ping Tac Toe skills}

{Family Pretzel Bobbing rivalry between Yaicha and Todd}

{Grand Finale: Face the Cookie -the guys were lightening fast}

{The evening winners with their loot, a gift card to Cold Stone}

{The evening losers...}

{...who are just so happy to be friends!}

We look forward to much more fun with these sweet new friends in the months and years ahead!

Stephanie