So much to be thankful for...

So true - we have so many blessings to be grateful for ALL year long!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with our families, and enjoyed celebrating our first Thanksgiving with our cute little turkey! Unfortunately I did a really bad job of capturing all the fun that we had, but there are a few highlights...

We drove up to Dillon Wednesday night and I experienced my first trip to South of the Border...can  you believe?!? {if you've driven along I-95 you know what i'm talking about} I was so excited that I thought I might cry.

:)

We had dinner at The Peddler with the whole fam. It was dark when we got there, but I'm looking forward to another trip where I can check it all out. You know, see the sites.

We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.

Family pic on Thanksgiving Day

The guys played two rounds of golf {big surprise}

And we watched football and played in the FIRST {annual} corn hole tournament. I should have taken some pictures b/c it was pretty funny.  Then it got later...and the mischief began...

You see, Betsy and Alto left the Thanksgiving party a little early...

{b/c Alto was on call and they had to get the kids to bed}

And their house is only golf cart distance away...

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Unfortunately I couldn't get their car and side of the house in the pictures...but it looked like a mummy.

And now the "game has been brought" and we will probably all pay...because Alto is the biggest prankster guy of all time, and we just woke a sleeping bear, so to speak.

Unfortunately Nicholas had a headache and was asleep during all of this. He said if he had known the wrath of Alto would come his way he would at least have participated to make it worth it. Sorry, bud.

The whole town knew about it the next day.

It was a rolling of love, though! :)

Friday morning we did a little house hunting, and then Friday afternoon we headed up to Clemson to see  my family and attend the Clemson/USC game.

Saturday afternoon, MaMa, Myra, and Peyton came over to play.

and they brought some goodies for Millsy - he loves his tiger hat!

Have you ever seen a cuter TIGER?!?

We headed to the game just in time to tailgate for a few minutes before heading inside.

Me and Anna!

gametime

Awful angle/picture of the two of us, but I was trying to take this as fast as possible so I could *enjoy* the festivities, however I don't think people appreciated me doing it during the national anthem, which I didn't really realize was going on b/c we had JUST gotten to our seats, and anywho, long story short, bad pic but documents we were there, ha.

not that we really want to prove that after the way the game went. :)

you know, the "most exciting 25 seconds in college football"... aka the most exciting 25 seconds of the Clemson/Carolina game.  Other than a touchdown on our first possession, that was the extent of the excitement.  Luckily I was totally prepared for us to get stomped, so it wasn't overly upsetting.

The tailgating was totally worth going anyway.

On Sunday we had a special visit with Santa - he came to my mom's house to see Mills and Peyton!!!

Unfortunately I can't show you the pictures b/c you'll probably see one or two on our Christmas card and how much of a spoiler would that be?!? But I will give you this one...

of their first meeting, and tell you that Santa accidentally slept in, so instead of coming at 9:30 he came at 10:30am. 10:30 is the little guy's nap time, so you can guess how well that went over, haha!

oh wait, I'll give you a glimpse of that, too...

So let's just say that we had to get creative with our Santa shots, HAHA!

And of course all of the girls (plus Mills) wanted to get on one shot with the big jolly man! :)

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving as well. We're getting our Christmas tree today - woohoo - and are loving this holiday season!

Fall...what?!?

It's a little difficult to drink a pumpkin spice latte, wear my cute boots & scarf, and get in the Thanksgiving/fall spirit...when it's 75+ degrees outside! Wowsers!

I'm sure it will be a tad bit cooler when we're up here this weekend though...

for our post-Thanksgiving festivities.

Let's just hope we have something to be thankful for Saturday night.

ha.

Because that will be a miracle in itself if we beat USC this weekend.

Although don't forget the overall record is wayyyy in Clemson's favor, friends. 

It's just been a rough year.

Ahh, God's country!

Even Nicholas agrees! :)

(by the way this was at the N.C. State game a few weekends back...thankfully they've won the two games we've been to this year...lucky charms? we're hoping so!) :)

This was also the same weekend that we introduced Mills to Walhalla Steakhouse! We used to eat there after church like E-V-E-R-Y Sunday...oh my heart!

turkey and dressing, green beans, apple dumpling, yum!

{in case you've never been, they actually don't serve steak. name is deceiving, i know. but it's way better than a steak dinner}

poor little buddy's vest was scrunched up around his neck, haha, but he was enjoying some green beans and mac & cheese for sure.

Chillin' with Gammy...

And Mollie, too!

And even Great MaMa! :)

{sorry, mom, I know you're making a funny face in this one} 

mills' momma was doing some funny things to get him to look at the camera...hence the funny face. obviously Mom and MaMa thought it was pretty funny, too.

Looking forward to another fun weekend ahead!

Thankful for friends...

...and fun, and {baby} feet, and food! But more on those later...

We had a super fun Thanksgiving play date this morning.

After some fun inside, we headed across the street to the park to gather some leaves for our "thankful trees"...well, the big kids did...Mills didn't partake in this one...maybe next year. :)

The Saylors Siblings!

Miss Anna hopped in for a pic, too!

Mills and his buddies...obviously the boys were more interested in the leaves and dirt than posing for the camera...what's up with that?!? ;) typical boys...

"No, Calee and Mom, we would never do anything crazy like...you know...eat leaves. Not us!!!"

leaf on the chin...

BUSTED! :)

kickin' around in his new kicks from aunt jesser! cute lil baby uggs!

more sweet siblings - Frances and Charles!

Big kids crafting...

...while the little guys played.

hey sweet boy!

Then it was time for a craft we could enjoy! Oreos, candy corn, malt balls (or a hershey kiss, whatever leftover halloween candy you have!), and a little icing in a ziploc bag with the corner cut off...

And there you have it, a turkey day masterpiece!

unfortunately my camera's flash was off for these, but you get the point. :)

And Mills' favorite part? He got to eat the two leftover un-iced sides of the oreo!!

Trying to escape to the backyard...the boy loves doors!

SUGAR HIGH!!! :)

And then we spent the rest of the time just playing away with lots of friends.

We're so thankful for our buddies!

Mills and Finley

Little man took a long nap when we got home, and then he was so tired he couldn't even finish his dinner! He went to bed at 6:30!!! Which means we're probably looking at a 6:30 am morning instead of a 9:30 one tomorrow morning - yowsers! Momma better go to bed NOW! ha!

I also wanted to share a Thanksgiving craft of our own that Mills and I made a few weeks back! Since babies aren't exactly the best "hand printers," I wanted to come up with a turkey using his little chunky feet. And there you have it!

I just used scrapbook paper and pre-cut card stock that I had in the closet. I used acrylic paint that I had leftover from making the letters in his nursery, cut out a little turkey body out of brown card stock, and cut out the features from junk mail that I was getting ready to throw out, ha! The little label was in with my scrapbooking supplies so I didn't even have to cut it out! AND, I had the frame already in my closet, an old find from TJ MAXX.  So the best part about it {other than those sweet baby footprints}...the project was FREE!

And I found the perfect little spot for it - already planning ideas for Christmas artwork to be placed there! :)

On a side note, and too good not to share, I cooked some amazing Chicken Enchilada Pasta {recipe found HERE} tonight for dinner. Wowsers, delish and filling and mmmmmmm!!!  I used whole wheat penne (and 2% cheddar b/c that's what I had on hand) and the whole thing probably cost me about $15 and it will definitely serve 4+, which means leftovers for us this week! I was going to take pictures and all, but Cara did such a great job over at her blog, so why bother! ;) Either way, DO IT!

{by the way, side note to calee, make this for robert and he will no longer special order the sonora chicken pasta from ruby tuesday, haha! this recipe made me think of him and that story!}

So there you have it - thankful for friends, fun, feet, and food...told ya I'd get to it all!