Fifth New State!

#24: See 5 new states, not including airports.
Another goal COMPLETE!

Tom's grandparents live in San Antonio, and last week they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary (!), so a lot of the extended family flew/drove down there to celebrate with them. We had a great time!

I'd already been to Texas a couple times before, so I couldn't count that as a new state. But then Tom's parents told us that they were going to drive from Tennessee to SA and back, and that Tom and I were going to fly down there and drive back with them. This meant traveling through Arkansas, which is a new state for me!

(Thank you to Patrick, who took this photo for me because he was sitting in the front seat. Also, thank you to Instagram for making it look cool.)

Arkansas doesn't look at all like I imagined it. I always thought it was flat and dry and dusty, but the parts that I saw were actually pretty green. Flat, absolutely. But dry and dusty, not so much. Interesting!

Time with Friends

#24: See 5 new states.

New state #4 is...West Virginia! Our friends Scott and Amanda Whitaker moved to Morgantown, WV last summer, and we got to go visit them this weekend!

Our friend Jeff (far right) was also visiting Morgantown this weekend...we had a great time!

#1: 100 new recipes.

The first time I heard about zucchini bread, I thought it was the weirdest idea ever. Then I tried some at an arts and crafts festival in Charleston, and my mind was forever changed. It is delicious! It's actually a lot like banana bread, but not quite as sweet. Well, thanks to my Paula Deen Southern Cooking Bible (another great Christmas gift from Patrick), I can now make my own zucchini bread. And on Thursday night, that's just what I did.

Even better than I remembered! (I realize this photo makes it look more like meatloaf, but whatev.)

We tried a new recipe in WV on Saturday too: pizza with a crust made of...cauliflower! Yes, really! We were a little unsure as to how it would turn out, but I think it was pretty good, and it seemed to go over well with the small crowd that had gathered at the Whitakers' that night!

Ladies' Weekend

I just got back from a women's conference with my mom and sister (and, oh, about 15,000 other women from all over the world)! OK, so this picture was obviously taken not at the conference, but at the Hard Rock Cafe...but I put it in anyway because it's the only picture of the three of us from the weekend. We had a great time!

#24: Visit 5 new states.

The conference was in St. Louis; Mom and Beulah flew in from Charleston, and I drove there to meet them. So, in addition to seeing part of Missouri for the first time, I also got to see part of Illinois on the way there and back.

Two more states to go!!!

#1: 100 new recipes.
Thursday was Beulah's birthday, and I wanted to make her something special. Now, I don't know about you, but when I think of a treat for a girls' weekend, I automatically think of cupcakes. But why not take those cute little things one step further and add another element loved by girls everywhere: cookie dough?

Oh yes, I did. I was good, though; I only brought one cupcake for each of us. I mean, let's not get too crazy here... :-p

Happy Birthday, Honey!

#24: See 5 new states.
#29: Do something big and unexpected for Tom.

OHIO!

OK, we thought about passing this off as the welcome sign...but you're too smart for that. The real sign was in a weird place when we crossed the state line, and we couldn't get a picture of it.

"Why were you in Ohio this weekend?" one might ask. Well, Tom's birthday is this Wednesday, and his gift this year was a surprise visit to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton!

We drove up right after work on Friday and spent most of Saturday at the HOF. Tom was like a kid in a candy store; he had a great time, and I had almost as great a time watching him get so excited.

As a bonus, we got to spend some time with our good friends, Ted and Amy Hall!

They just recently moved to Medina, OH to pastor a church, and Tom and I co-led worship there on Sunday morning. We had a great time with them!