Weekending - October 30, 2020

Welcome to November!  This is a big birthday month in our family.  We celebrate my husband, mom, mother-in-law, and myself!  We kicked off all the festivities this weekend by celebrating Eric's birthday a few days early.  Let's rewind and see some highlights from the whole weekend ~
 

When Eric got home from work on Friday, we went to scope out a park where I could take some pictures on Sunday.  We found the perfect fall tree!  I spent the rest of the evening and all day Saturday praying the wind didn't make all the leaves float to the ground.

Good news - the closet is FINALLY done!  We spent just a little time on Saturday morning wrapping it up and now I can move on to other projects.  All the hangers are the same, the shoes are on the shelves and the dresser is back in the closet.  What started as simply replacing the light fixture turned into a much bigger project, but now it's done.  It's a great feeling being able to actually walk in the closet and not feel like it's one big dumping ground.  

I'm starting a new Bible study with friends from work this week and spent time Saturday morning reviewing some scripture.  Funny - I've been a Christian all my life, have sat through countless sermons and served on boards at church but until this year never really studied the Bible.  Definitely is something good that's coming out of 2020 for me!

I had put together a trick or treat bag for Ian and Kayla and found this cute tea I thought was perfect for Halloween.  Next year I might buy more and hand them out to all my tea-loving friends.  

Saturday night Eric and I rewatched one of our favorite movies - Moneyball.  I had forgotten how much I liked that movie!  So looking forward to the movie industry picking back up.

Our Trader Joe's has had a line a mile long to get in every time we've gone by there, so I've all but given up on getting my favorite pumpkin rolls this year.  Sunday morning I decided to take matters into my own hands and try to make something close to them.  I had a can of cinnamon rolls in the frig, so I unrolled them and slathered pumpkin puree on the dough.  Rolled them back up and spread a bit more pumpkin on the top before baking.  They were a close second to my favorite Trader Joe's version.

Sunday was a busy day.  We were having our son and daughter-in-law over for dinner to celebrate Eric's birthday and we were meeting a family to take their pictures in the afternoon.  I decided to do a little early prep for dinner and realized how much I love my Pioneer Woman bowls and knife.  I had been saving the bowls for only special things, but you know, life is too short for that!  They bring me joy and I'm going to start using all the stuff that makes me happy.  I took this picture and sent it off to my friend, Linda, with a thank you for gifting both the bowls and the knife to me years ago.  

A wonderful friend of our family indulged me Sunday afternoon by letting me pretend to be a photographer.  We had so much fun!  The tree we picked out on Friday still had leaves and we were able get some fun fall shots.  Five hundred and fourteen pictures later (seriously, that's how many pictures I snapped), I'm hoping to have a handful of good ones!  :)

Sunday evening we had an early celebration for Eric's birthday.  For weeks I have been trying to keep his gift a surprise and couldn't wait for the big reveal.  Guys - this game is so fun!  If you are in need of an idea for Christmas for those hard to buy for people, check out this Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset.  

We immediately busted open the box and started playing it.  My goal is for Eric and me to become a bit more active and less like couch potatoes.  We had played Beat Saber before and it is so fun with the added benefit of exercise.  The old Oculus version had to be set up on your computer.  This version is a total stand alone.  The gift was definitely a hit!

The birthday boy got to choose what we had for dinner.  The menu included dijon sirloin tips (RECIPE here), roasted sweet potatoes (RECIPE here), green beans in the air fryer, cherry Coke jello (recipe coming soon) and cheesecake for dessert (recipe also coming soon).  The cherry Coke jello has been a family favorite for years and I'm looking forward to sharing the recipe later this week.

Hope your November is off to a great start!  Only two months left in the year.  Time to start making sure your 2020 goals are getting checked off the list.  And don't forget to vote tomorrow if you haven't done that already.  See you back here soon!