Family Beach Vacation

Last week my mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law, niece, nephew, and us took a trip to Florida. We stayed in the cutest community, Watersound, which is right outside of Seaside in the most picturesque house (my SIL wrote a post about the house here). We had the best time playing at the beach, swimming at the pools, eating delicious food, celebrating a birthday, and just spending good quality time together! I have more memories from vacations throughout my life and just got to add another one to the list! It was extra special getting to experience the beach for the first time with our niece, Mia! She thought it was the best and could have stayed out and played in the sand and waves 24-7 had we let her! Since vacations equal food for us, I couldn't post about a vacation without talking about the food we ate!!! We spent half of our meals eating at the house with a friendly cooking competition and the rest of the nights eating out. Here are a list of some of my favorite places...delicious...favorite meal though must go to The Great Southern Cafe; I had some of the most amazing crab and hush puppies EVER!!!

- Bud and Alley's Pizza with an Ocean View

- The Donut Hole, Santa Rosa Beach

- The Great Southern Cafe , Seaside

- The Donut Truck - Aly's Beach

- V at Seagrove for double-date night!

We love our families more that words can express and say a BIG thank you to my mom and dad for an amazing, memory filled vacation!!! Here are just a few alot the the many pictures that we took over the week (also, you can see my SIL's pics here)

We also took family pictures one night. It ended up being such a beautiful night...couldn't have asked for more!!!

YOU + ME = LOVE

On Friday night, all of the men from our small group decided to surprise us with an early Valentine's celebration! Getting dressed up + limo + champagne + amazing dinner + lots of laughs = an incredible Valentine's celebration!!! Eddie V's has moved on to my top 5 favorite places to eat. The meal was DELICIOUS!!! I can't stop talking about it!! I know I am partial, but I have the best husband a girl could ask for that loves me more than I could ever deserve! Thanks guys for planning such a romantic, fun night out to celebrate; we could not ask for more - truly a night to remember!!! (didn't have my good camera to catch the night, so these will have to do!)

The Tree Christmas

I cannot express how greatly the Lord blessed us when he guided us to our young adults/young families class about 5 years ago. We have grown more deeply with the Lord, with eachother in our marriage, and with an amazing group of people through this class. We have had some people come and go from the class, but each person has played a role and been a huge asset! We do life with these people - we learn, grow, are challenged, held accoutable, and enjoy get fellowship (and some great food!). Our annual Tree Christmas Party was once agian held at the Elliots (our faithful leaders)last weekend. I can't say enough about this family and the example that they set for us; we are blessed more than words can express by you as leaders! This night we had lots of good food, fellowship, and a friendly white elephant gift exchange. We ended up a little better this year with Sam grabbing a Starbucks giftcard. I unfortunitly gave away my gift of the night - a UT Nutcracker, no thank you!!!

Italian Christmas Feast

We had our third annual Christmas Dinner this past weekend. The Maenius' and Sam and I prepared an Italian Feast with all of the food we learned to cook in Italy. Various crostinis, prosciutto, cheese, and honey tray, bruschetta, caprese salad, lasagna, homemade arugula pesto pasta, cheesecake with whiskey sauce, and mini tiramisus. After dinner we had a gift exchange and then a fun night of karaoke!! What a blessing we have in each of these people!!

Thanksmas

This past weekend my family celebrated Thanksmas! A late Thanksgiving and early Christmas! We ate lots of yummy food, opened presents, rode the train to the North Pole, saw Santa, made Gingerbread houses (kind of), played some games, and spent lots of good quality time together! We are so blessed with amazing families on both sides and soak up every moment we are able to be together! We love you guys and had such a great weekend!

Attempt at family pics! Tripp had more fun looking at Pops than the camera!!

Meeting Santa on the train to the North Pole

Grancy (my mom) made Mia her very own set of customized dress up clothes. They are amazing...all the princesses, Dorothy, cheerleader, pirate, clown, cowgirl, wedding dress, etc. Sam then made the "closet" for it all to go in. I think Mia will spend hours enjoying all of it!!!

Decorating Gingerbread houses. It might not have lasted long, but was fun!

Presents!

Sweet boy Tripp...I just can't get enough of his sweet smiles. Such an easy-going, fun little guy!

Beach time!!!

For our final stops of the trip we headed to the southern coast of Italy to Sorrento. The first part of the trip was all about touring and walking from sun up until sun down; the second part was all about relaxing and taking in the amazing coastal sites! Sorrento is a gorgeous display of sea cliffs and a luxurious town known for their production of lemons. We had quite the crazy trip to get to Sorrento, but once we arrived we realized it was totally worth it!!! The B&B we stayed at was named Paradise, and it and fully lived up to its name! It was on top of a hill over looking the town of Sorrento, the Gulf of Naples, and the Isle of Capri and Mt. Vesuvius in the distance. The view from our balcony was the most amazing view I have ever experienced...the pictures just don't do it justice. The home was located so high up the hill that our host had to drive us up and down (I won't even try to describe the ride, but just know that each time it was like putting our lives at risk!!!) We spent our time enjoying the charming town, sipping lemon granitas, and taking in the beach!

We took a day trip by jet boat to Capri, the "Island of Dreams". Once we arrived, we hopped on another smaller boat to travel around the island, and then climbed into yet another even smaller boat (max capacity = 5 people) to venture into the Blue Grotto cave. Using a rope our rower pulled us into the cave as we layed in the boat, once in our rowman sang a little tune as he rowed us through the cave lit up with the most amazing blues!!! We spent the rest of the day at a public beach taking in the sun and the local Italians.