Red River Ski Vacation

I have been so so so excited to post this post. For Christmas with my family this year, we didn't exchange gifts. Instead, we decided to take a trip. The location was Red River, NM to snow ski!!! Just thinking/writing about this trip makes me smile. I have to say it was by far one of the best vacations I have EVER been on. I never would have guessed how much I would enjoy skiing.

The trip started on Saturday, December 26. Barrett and I flew to Dallas. Early Sunday morning we all piled in the Expedition to start the 12 hour drive to Red River.

Junk in the car...

Here are a few pictures of Reid, Nana and Lisa piled in the car!!!

We stayed at the Auslander. It was within walking distance to the slopes.

Sunday night, after the long drive, we bundled up to walk around the downtown area of Red River. Here are a few of the group photos we took:

Me, Mom, Nana & Reid

Dad & Mom
Me, Barrett, Reid & Lisa
Monday we decided to do a little research on the best price for snow gear and plan out our trip. We spent time shopping around Red River and enjoying the mountainous scenery.

Barrett and Me


Reid and Lisa
Dad & Mom

The Grandkids and Nana!

After walking around awhile, we stopped to enjoy coffee!!!


Reid and Lisa

My Daddy and Me3 generations! Nana, Me & Mom

My Daddy and My Hubby! I am one lucky girl!
Monday afternoon me, Dad, Reid and Barrett (the skiers) picked up our snow gear. As you can tell, Reid couldn't wait to try his out!



Tuesday was Day #1 of skiing and lesson day. Since Lisa, Nana, and Mom didn't ski they shopped and explored around Red River. They stopped by to take pictures of us during our lessons:

Reid, Dad & Me getting ready for lessons
All the skiers getting ready for lessons!
Reid bending down adjusting his "french fries"

Me and B at lessons

Reid and Me getting the hang of it!

Reid and Dad
Barrett and Me! WHOO HOO

Everyone feeling good after lessons!
Wednesday was Day #2 of skiing. We were so excited to hit the trails. I was sad Barrett wasn't in but one of these pictures, but his knees could only take half a day on the slopes. These are pictures I took when we were riding up in the lift and when we were on top of the mountain.

Me and Reid

Reid and Dad

Me and B
Me, Reid & Dad
Riding up the mountain again

Being goofy
Awesome!Breathtaking

Father and Son!

Thursday was the snowmobiling day! Here are pictures from our 2 hour snowmobile ride!

Dad & Mom

Reid & Lisa

Me & B
The whole gang!

While we skied and snowmobiled Nana enjoyed a nice relaxing massage and down time at the room! Isn't she the cutest?!?

Friday we loaded our things and started the long drive home. It was time to say goodbye to Red River. I have a feeling we will be seeing you again!!!

Christmas with the Earnests

So, I am still playing "catch up" with my blog. I have to put things/events in order or they bother me, so now it is time for me to post about Christmas!

We were very blessed this Christmas! We stayed in Tennessee and enjoyed time with Barrett's side of the family. Christmas Eve night we opened gifts with Barrett's immediate family. There were WAY TOO MANY presents and the living room was a disaster once all the gifts had been opened. I have to say that the best part of the whole gift opening experience was watching Aubrey (our 19 month old niece) open her gifts! Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve:

Aubrey opening her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD from us!

Barrett's Dad gave us an Alabama snuggie!

Aubrey in her Alabama cheerleader outfit from Pops
The theme of my gifts was Alabama and houndstooth! LOVE IT!
Me, Aubrey (grabbing Bindi's ear), and B! Aubrey LOVES "Binnie"!

Christmas Day Barrett's grandmother made everyone breakfast and we opened gifts. Here are a few pictures and group shots from Christmas Day:

Barrett and his favorite niece!

Me with my favorite niece! :)

Paula, Me, and Miss Aubrey Grace.

Aubrey feels the same about pictures as her Uncle B!

Almost the whole group!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Thanksgiving in TEXAS

Sorry this post is so late...Better late than never, right?!?

Thanksgiving was wonderful! We spent Thanksgiving in Texas with my family. We were able to travel on Tuesday and spend four solid days with my family! Here is a picture of Bindi and me while we were driving:

Wednesday we went to Denton to see the house my brother has been living in. Wednesday night Barrett went to see The Blindside with my brother while I hung out at the house with my parents! Turkey Day was spent in Sherman visiting mom and dad's sides of the family. My granny cooked a great Thanksgiving lunch. Here are some pictures of our visit at their house:

Papa & Granny

My brother with Nana
Me, my brother & cousin Rhonda

LOVE HER!

My hubby

Turkey Day night was spent at my Nana's house. Nana made a great stew and cornbread. I had a great time catching up with my cousins! Friday and Saturday we shopped, and shopped, and shopped! It was FABULOUS! I have really really missed the shopping near my parents house. Not to mention, I have missed my shopping buddy!

Our Thanksgiving was great! I love my family and was so glad to spend time with them. I wish I would have had more time to see some of my friends, maybe next visit!

Friday's Food

Friday's food is brought to you by none other than Paula Deen!!! My mother-in-law introduced me to these sweet chicken bacon wraps a couple weeks ago. I tried my hand at them tonight, and they were DELICIOUS!

Here is what you will need:

• 1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (about 4 breasts)
• 1 (1-pound) package sliced bacon
• 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• toothpicks
  

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut chicken into 1 inch cubes. Cut bacon slices into thirds. Wrap each chicken cube with a piece of bacon and pierce with a toothpick. Mix the chili powder and brown sugar in a separate bowl. Coat chicken/bacon pieces with the mixture. Place on baking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes or until bacon is crispy. Let cool and ENJOY!

Date Night with "The Boss"

Last night Barrett and I went to see Bruce Springsteen in concert. I have to be honest, I only know the chorus of 2 Bruce Springsteen songs, but I will not pass up a good concert and a date night with my honey! ;)

Here is a picture of us before the concert started.

(Not the most flattering picture, but if you know Barrett, getting a picture is like pulling teeth!)

I have to say that although I didn't know many of the songs played, it was a great concert. The band played for 3 hours straight and put on a great show! Thanks for a fun night babe!

Girl's Trip - Gatlinburg, TN

Last weekend me, Barrett's mom (Deb), Barrett's sister (Paula), and Aubrey went on a little girl's weekend get-a-way. We left on Thursday night and came back on Sunday. Here is a glimpse of our trip!

On Friday we drove to Asheville, North Carolina to the Biltmore Estate. For those who don't know, the Biltmore is the largest private residential home in the United States. It was built by the Vanderbilt family in 1895. The home sits on more than 8,000 acres, has 255 rooms, and is over 2.4 million cubic feet of home. To say the least it is INCREDIBLE!!! To read more about the Biltmore Home go here. Asheville is usually a 1.5 hour drive from Gatlinburg, but a land slide shut the interstate down, so we had to go an alternate way that took a little over 2 hours. This is what Aubrey and I did on the way to the Biltmore...


This is what you see when you are walking up to the property...


I could not get over just how large and spectacular this home was. Oh, and I forgot to mention it belonged to a family of 3!!!!



This is a picture of me standing on one of the many balcony/overlooks. Beautiful view!

They do not allow photography while you are inside the home, so if you want to see more of the Biltmore go to the website above!

After touring the home, we headed to small little cafe/bistro on the property to get an ice cream cone before starting the drive home. This is what that area of the property looked like:

I snapped this picture of Aubrey and made it into a sketch! So cute!


On the drive home traffic was backed up going down the mountains, and we could not figure out why. Finally, we realized everyone was stopping to take a picture of this little guy off the road.

(sorry it's blurry!)

On Saturday we headed to the outlet mall to Christmas shop. Here is a picture of me and Aubrey getting ready to get our shop on!


At the outlet mall there were tons and tons of people. We had not expected the large crowds, so our shopping adventure ended prematurely without a lot of bags! We spent Saturday night watching the Tide roll over Mississippi State! ROLL TIDE

Sunday, we stopped at a few shops we had missed Saturday before we started the long haul home.

It was a fun weekend with the girls!

Game 11 - End of Season

Friday was our first playoff game at Camden. The sign for the game was AWESOME and was my personal favorite for the year. Way to go cheerleaders! Here is it:

It says, "If the Panthers didn't have a chance we wouldn't be here!" The hidden message (yellow letters) spell out FAITH!

I also got a picture of Barrett on top of the press box at the game. He is the second from the right.

The game did not have a good ending for the Panthers. We lost the game 35-7. I always hate the last game of the season. Our seniors were very emotional and some of the coaches were too. I was proud of Barrett, he has completed his second year of coaching. I am disappointed in myself...while I was posting this blog I realized I didn't get a picture of me and Barrett from the season :( Maybe next year...

Until the 2010 football season....

GO PANTHERS!