Thanksmas

I am way behind on blogging everything, but I figured I needed to get this post cranked out before it was too untimely. 

We spent Thanksgiving this year with Trevor's family and we went ahead and celebrated our Christmas too.   Thus the name "Thanksmas".

Heather and her boyfriend Dave didn't arrive until late Friday night.  So on Thanksgiving we ate lunch at the Emporia church of Christ's Thanksgiving meal that they provide to the community and Dee Ann, Fred, and I stayed and help serve the meal.  Trevor wasn't feeling good so he head back with Adam, Elaine and the kids.  It was nice to feel like you were doing something for someone else on a day that we remember just how blessed we are.

I'll let the pictures tell the story from here:

I couldn't get enough of this little turkey.

I thought Levi's face in the second picture was hilarious!  Allie sure does love her little brother.  Maybe sometimes a little too much... :)

Eating Thanksgiving dinner at the Emporia church.

Grandma & Levi

Piercen came over to play with the kids.

Levi got his first haircut!  

Grandma & Allie made Reindeer Snacks.

Friday was all about football.  We watched the Huskers beat Colorado and then Adam, Elaine, Trevor, I, and the cousins Colin and John went into Emporia to watch the movie, "The Blind Side".  If you haven't seen this movie yet - you need to!  It was REALLY good....even if you don't like football!

Saturday morning we had our Christmas...

We got Allie the movie "Tinker Bell & the Lost Treasure."  She was very excited!  Elaine said they hadn't let her rent it yet since she thought she would get it for Christmas.

Allie and her new dress from Grandma & Grandpa. Here she is twirling in it on Sunday morning!

Trevor had to take a picture of me with one of my "practical" gifts.  I got a Pyrex dish, glass nesting bowls, steak knives, a serrated knife, a pantry storage set, and a new crockpot.  Oh, and a garlic press for my birthday.  I asked for these things - do I sound like a 40-year old lady or what?  And I can hardly wait to organize my pantry and try out the 3-in-1 crockpot! :)

Heather with Dave opening the grilling utensil set we got him.

Levi woke up from his nap and got into the gift opening too!

We were told that he needed "boy toys" so we got him these  trucks that rumble across the floor.  It won't be long and he'll be crawling after these!

Levi apparently wanted to skip the "boy toys" and move straight to the "man gift".  He grabbed this beef jerky the first chance he got.

Trevor wanted to see what his 4WD could do, so he and Adam took off and went somewhere "off-roading".  Just what I would want to do with my new car.  Oh boys...

Saturday night we had our Thanksgiving dinner. 

Look at this cute little boy!

We actually got a picture of all of us!

Somehow some arm wrestling contests got started.  First up was Trent and John....Trent's next victim was Trevor.... 

Let's just say Trevor thought he needed a confidence builder after that, so he called over his dad thinking he'd get an easy win....watch the video to see how that went! :)

Sunday morning before church we snapped some quick pictures...

Adam, Elaine, Allie, & Levi

And we got another picture of the whole family!

What a fun time we all had together!  After getting back to work and hearing everyone's stories of their holidays with their crazy families, I realize that I am now even more thankful for having such a good family for in-laws.  Trevor and I have a lot to be thankful for!

#57: Save Up to Buy Trevor's Next Car (with Cash!)

So this is long overdue, but.....

...Trevor got a new (to us) car at the end of October!

His old beater truck was starting to make funny noises, so we started the search for a replacement.  Trevor really wanted a truck, but after discovering that most of the big ones are too long for our garage, he settled on this Toyota 4Runner that still has lots of space.  He loves it!  And I love it because we paid cash for it and we can continue to not have a car payment!

I kept forgetting to get a picture of it on the weekends...these short, dark days weren't cooperating for getting a picture on a weekday.  So we finally remembered to take some this weekend at his parents house over Thanksgiving.  Trevor worked in his dad's shop for hours to build some bike racks for the top....he was pretty proud of them!

7: Take Family Picture of Duffy Family (All of Us!)

When I was making my 101 in 1001 list, I think I saw on someone else's list that one of their goals was to get a professional picture taken of their whole family.   I started thinking that I don't even have a picture that has everyone in it on my side of the family.  (At the time, I knew I had a picture with everyone in Trevor's side of the family, but now with the addition of Levi, we'll have to get another one!)

While we were at the cabin, we decided to try to get a picture of all of us before church.  We were getting ready to go ask the neighbors in the cabin across from us to take a picture when we heard a knock at the door.  They were coming to ask us to take a picture of all of them!  So after Trevor finished taking their pictures, they kindly took some of us. 

I can't say it's the best picture ever.  The sun was in our eyes, so we're all very squinty and it was hard to get all three (or apparently any) of the little girls to look, but at least we met the requirement of ALL being in the picture.   I do think it's kind of funny that Ryan doesn't really look like he's supposed to be in the picture though! Ha!  Mom's face also makes me laugh every time I look at it.  Oh well, we tried!  It's the memory that counts, right?  Maybe I'll be able to update sometime in the near future with a better picture.

We also took a few other pictures:

The Grandparents with their Grandkids

The Gulbrandsons

The Hinckleys

Trevor and I can never get a good picture.  He's always trying to do something goofy!  I think he was trying to kiss me and I was resisting... :)

That's a little better!

#1: Take a Vacation with Duffy Family

My family has had this trip planned to meet up together at a cabin near Branson for quite some time and we've all been looking forward to it so much!  We had a wonderful time and when the weekend was over, it felt way too short.  I can't wait to see everyone again at Christmas.  I just don't get to see everyone enough (especially Rachel, Ryan, and Caroline!).

Here are tons of pictures of the weekend:

We rode down on Friday afternoon with Mom & Dad.  The rest of the family arrived later that night.  I convinced Mom & Dad to stop at Lambert's, the  "Home of the Throwed Rolls".    Mmmmm!  If you haven't ever been here...you have to go.  It's an experience.  Although the guy throwing the rolls this time was a little off.  For one, he didn't get the rolls right to you.  He also threw one at Dad and when Dad reached for it, he hurt his bad shoulder and pulled his arm and head down quickly because of the pain.  The guy then immediately threw another one when Dad wasn't looking and nailed him in the head.  After we made sure he was ok, we all had a good laugh about it!

Our Cabin

Or should I say our "Cottage"...

Branson was all Christmas-ey already.  Lots of places were decorated, including our cabin!

Our screened-in porch.  We had a great weekend weather-wise...which made it feel even weirder that Christmas decorations were everywhere!

We were all in charge of bringing meals and any snacks we wanted.  Keep in mind that our trip was only from Friday evening until Monday morning.  Can you tell that us Duffy's like to eat?!?

We spent a lot of the weekend loving on my beautiful nieces....This was Alexandra's favorite place in the cabin.  If we couldn't find her she was often in Mom & Dad's room on this rocker.  She would stand up on it and "surf" while it rocked.  Quite a change since the last time I saw her she wasn't even walking!

 This was when we were measuring to see how much taller/longer Alexandra was.  You can't tell in this picture, but she's quite a bit bigger than Caroline and there's only a 3 month difference.  Caroline is just a little peanut!

Here's a funny video of these two interacting.  Caroline is so calm and collected and just keeps taking the book away while Alexandra is about to lose it.  Hopefully they'll think it's funny someday!

We went on walks....

We played some football....

  And, of course, we watched some football!Grandma got Caroline this shirt.  (Her daddy is a big Oklahoma fan, but Rachel has stayed true to her Nebraska roots.  We're hoping Caroline follows in her footsteps!) 

There had been a lot of e-mail trash talking before the NU-OU game, and even though I took part, I really didn't think there was any way Nebraska would pull it out....but we did!  Ryan was a good sport about watching a tough loss with a bunch of Nebraska fans.

We also got to celebrate Caroline's 1st birthday (a little early!).  She'll be one on the 25th.  Trevor and I got her some maracas.

Aunt Kathy...I thought you might want to see Caroline on the horse you gave her.  It looks just the right size for her to ride!

This was such a fun weekend and it makes me appreciate what a great family I have.  Whaddya say family?  Any chance we could make it an annual event!?!

It's the littlest things...

.....that sometimes make the biggest difference.

We ordered some new door handles and hinges online and Trevor's been getting them all installed.  They look great.  I can't wait until we start getting some more finishing touches around here!

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#64: Try 30 New Recipes (11 of 30) - Ooey Gooey Pumpkin Butter Cake

Trevor's Aunt Debby made this cake a few weeks ago and I LOVED it.  She passed on the recipe and I've been tempted to make it since.  After surveying the ingredients (two sticks of butter!), I decided I should wait and make it when I could take it somewhere and not be faced with a whole pan of gooey goodness staring me in the face every night when I get home from work.  I know my limits.

So when we had a treat day this past Friday at work for Halloween, I knew what I was going to make!  It was as good as I remembered....that Paula Deen sure knows what she's doing.

	___________________________________________ Paula Deen's Ooey Gooey Pumpkin Butter Cake
	Ingredients: Cake:
	-1 (18 1/4 oz.) package yellow cake mix
	-1 egg
	-8 tablespoons butter, melted Filling:
	-1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
	-1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin
	-3 eggs
	-1 tsp. vanilla
	- 8 T. butter, melted
	-1 (16 oz.) box powdered sugar
	-1 tsp. cinnamon
	-1 tsp. nutmeg
1	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2	Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.
3	To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to overbake as the center should be a little gooey. ___________________________________________