Happy Birthday!!

Yesterday was my hubby's Birthday!

We had a great day starting by waking up to a feast at Chris's house. He made banana pancakes with peanut butter syrup, venison sausage scrambled eggs, and to top it off he served mimosa's. What a great brother!

We headed back to the house where Jeff watched football as I made him his Birthday dessert. He wanted something I had never made before so I searched through cookbooks and called mom for suggestions. The final vote was a Milk Chocolate Bar Cake. Yummm!

His parents, Chris, and Kristy came over for cocktails and for presents before we headed down to the Peabody. Then we went to one of my favorite places in Memphis for dinner -- Flight!! If you have not been then I suggest you go for your next night out! There are so many options and everything they cook is fantastic. Although we were all full and didn't need dessert we managed to find a little room for his birthday cake.

A quick shout out!

Jeff I love you soo much! You are the best husband and I am soo lucky to have you in my life!


Here are a few pics from his past!

Jeff with his older brother Chris

Loving his blond hair!

Milk Chocolate Bar Cake

1 (18.25 oz) package Swiss Chocolate cake mix
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powered sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
10 (1.5 oz) milk chocolate candy bar with almonds, divided
1 (12 oz) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Prepare cake batter according to package directions. Pour into 3 greased and floured 8-inch round cake pans. Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool pans on wire rack fro 10 minutes. Beat cream cheese, powered sugar, and granulated sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until it is creamy. Chop 8 candy bars finely. Fold cream cheese mixture and chopped candy into whipped topping. Spread icing between layers and on top and sides of the cake. Chop remaining 2 candy bars over cake. Press remaining chopped candy along the edge of the cake. Yield: 1 (3 layer) cake.

Modifications: I made a few changes to the recipe. I only did a 2 layer cake simply because I did not have an extra cake pan. I poured 1/2 cup of Kahlua on the cakes after they came out of the oven to spice it up a bit. I probably could have added more but I was afraid it would get too soft and fall apart as I was icing it. I bought 5 (4.25 oz) candy bars instead of the size listed in the recipe.

Fun to be Home!!

We drove to Pensacola today and it's soo good being home!!
A gush of emotions came over me as I drove over the Mobile bay bridge looking
at the Gulf Coast - such a warm reunion!!

Jeff and I have been very busy with Christmas parties, a trip to Nashville, Christmas #1 at the Brooks', and finishing my Christmas shopping!
(More on all that later - they were all fun and deserve a proper post)

Coming home ("home" being Pensacola) for Christmas is always great. I mean who wouldn't want to come home to this:


Family


Venison Lolli-pops


A little Tottie
(courtesy of Uncle John)

And of course the Dogs!!

We have a busy week ahead of us, full of planning, partying, and celebrating
Christmas with Family and Friends.


Hope you all have a great Christmas Week!

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays!!


We were lucky to have both families get together for Thanksgiving! Both Jeff's family and mine all met down at the Laughing Place to celebrate Thanksgiving and have a great time! It was the biggest gathering our family had every had for Thanksgiving, 13 in total for the big day. That's pretty big considering we grew up as a family of four. Having the extra company made the day even more special.
The overall weekend was great although, we did have a few people get sick and one major accident resulting in a broken bone :( Leave it to Jim-bo to start the weekend with a bang. No worries though, luckily he is a doctor and was able to schedule his own surgery. It's important to note that Anne and Jimmy were planning on leaving that next day to go to her 10 year reunion. Hmmm - I know Jimmy wasn't looking forward to it, but didn't think he would go to that big of an extreme just to get out of it. Don't blame him though :)
After a hour and half drive to Birmingham, a couple of screws placed in his wrist, short recovery time, and the drive back to the camp they joined us again as we watched football and ate leftovers.


Jeff and I were on top of things this year and set our tree up right when we got back. (Well to be honest its not hard to decorate our 5 foot tree and our town house) But still, I like to have ample time to enjoy everything before the season is over and therefore try to get everything decorated as soon as possible. I just love this time of year and sometimes wish the lights could stay up all year long.

Below are a few of my favorite ornaments

Above is a Pensacola Beach ornament mimicked off of our Beach sign.
Dad got us all one a few years ago and it is by far one of my favorites!

A Christopher Radko Peabody Duck!

I can't live in Memphis and not have a Peabody Duck ornament!

Maryland Blue Crab!
Reminds me of crabbing off the sea wall in Annapolis Maryland

(Sorry for the blurry pictures- maybe Santa will bring me a new camera one day!)