USC vs. Clemson

"Gamecocks rule! Clemson drools!"-Jake.

That about sums it up. The Gamecocks killed Clemson! Aaron's teams usually lose but not this weekend. SC won their basketball and football games. The Bobcats (NBA) won their game. Sadly the Panthers (NFL) lost but that is a bit of a trend this season...But Saturday was a good day.

A little pregame wii competition.

Can you say redneck? We can. Riding Matt's 4 wheeler before the game.

Yes, a TV was brought outside so they could watch while they fried the wings.

Don't worry that isn't alcohol.

Even though we had just eaten like pigs 2 days earlier, we decided to party SC style. The "Fry Daddy" was warmed up for cheese on a stick. (otherwise known as constipation on a stick!)

Ranee's yummy sausage cheese dip! (one pound sausage, one cube of cream cheese, and one can of Roteli's...this is trippled and gone before the game was over)

Blenheims ginger ale (if your congested this stuff will burn it out of you) and Aaron's wing's (these will too. Ten pounds were fried and only a small plate was leftover. I am not a wing fan but I was told they were good)

Jake enjoying some wings.

Nana trying the cheese on a stick.

Did I mention that I made 7 batches of rolls in 3 days. This was all that was left from the leaning tower of rolls on Thanksgiving. (this picture was actually taken friday.)

Jake was totally into the game...

So was Addie snuggled in with Ranee.

And why not fry something else! Yummy funnel cakes with a side of ice cream...We are only eating salad for the next month... (did I mention Aaron was going to fry pickles but forgot the batter ingredients?)

There ain't not party like a South Carolina party! (I don't really say ain't, it was just for effect...) Go Gamecocks!!!!

Black Friday

Do they call it "Black Friday" because it is pitch black outside when you get up and go shopping? My alarm was set for 4:10 am and I slept horribly the whole night. I don't do great with alarms when they aren't going off at my regular time. I toss and turn. I wake up and check the clock just knowing it has gone off and I missed it. And then there are the dreams. I dream that I slept through my alarm and missed a very important exam...(No I am not going to school. I still have bad dreams about it sometimes though.) I am not a morning person no matter what time I get up, but we had a mission and we were going to complete it. We, being my crazy sister-in-laws and me. The mission being: saving a few dollars on things we could have gotten on line, but instead choose to wake up way early, fight the crowds, and buy all our items at various stores. All before 7:00 in the morning.

Mission completed!

This was our first stop: Academy Sports. It was 4:50 am and cold when we arrived. We were standing in line and I had to document the occasion. I had to prove I was in fact stupid enough to actually have done it. I pulled my camera out and Ranee started laughing and saying "this is so stupid!" She meant taking the picture, not the being up insanely early...Did I mention we could have bought this stuff on line?
Erin and Ranee laughing as I took the picture. They will ask me for it later...they always do.

Ranee and Me. Ranee looks all dressed up and nice. She had to go to work after this. I rolled out of bed and called it good. I planned on rolling back in bed when I got back home, but the shopping adrenaline wouldln't let me!

This is us leaving the store with all the things we came for! And who do you think said we needed to take a picture with our bags in front of the store? Ranee...That's right, not so stupid after all! (I was going to take the picture any way but I had to remind her that she had just said it was stupid!) Erin and me with our purchases.

We also went and stood in an insanely long line at Target and got what we needed. We were literally texting eachother-"I got the (fill in the blank with a Christmas gift that can not be devulged)!" "Did you find the (you get the picture right?)? Grab it for me!" We are such pros. Kudos to their employees! We were at the back of the store in a line that wrapped all the way around in almost a circle to check out and we only waited like 30 minutes! We had so much time left over we swung over to Walmart. It was about 6:30 and the chaos was already over there.
We had enough time to enjoy a nice breakfast at Denny's. It really is all about the memories not the shopping. Only Ranee could get me out of bed at 4:10 to buy things that I could buy online. I have done the whole Black Friday thing, but only in Spartanburg with that crazy women! This was Erin's first Black Friday and she is already planning for next year. We are making memories here people! :)


We came home to find our husbands working hard at the house...Good job guys!

Happy Thanksgiving Harmon Style

We went to Spartanburg (South Carolina, for those who don't know, Aaron's hometown) for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time. We joke about being homeless now, but honestly I am feeling like we have a lot of homes. We lived in Spartanburg for a year and a half before we moved to the Mountains and we miss it. We loved having cousins within walking distance and Aaron's aunt and uncle as neighbors (2nd cousins down the street...) It is and always will be one of our homes. Especially since Aaron's parents, two of his siblings and there families, aunt, uncle, and some cousins (1st cousins...2nd and 3rd...etc!) all live there. We ate, laughed (a lot!) and made memories. I love Thanksgiving.

Emily loves Aaron's parents house. She can roam the woods and play with her "cousin" Penny. We got home at about 2:30 this afternoon and Emily has been sleeping the whole time.She is worn out from playing all weekend. This Penny "helping" by carrying (chewing on) one of the kiddos water bottles.

The cousins working on a fort in the woods. They were going to make a tree house but since they already have one that Papa made them, they started a fort. They also had some adventures down in Pine Cone Valley.

Nana (Aaron's mom) insn't always a fan of having her picture taken so I have to sneak them.

Aaron and Papa Harmon (Aaron's dad) getting the turkey in the fryer.

They even struck a pose for me!

While the turkey was frying and lots of other yummy things were cooking, I enlisted the help of the cousins on batch #4 of rolls.

They came out perfect!

And so did the turkey!

Is your mouth watering?..mine is.

While the men watched over the turkey breast (Nana didn't want to cook all weekend so she made extra that day. Smart lady!)...

..We ladies cooked and planned our attack for black Friday. Two of my awesome sister-in-laws (Ranee and Erin) with the newspaper inserts!

The "feast" as Jake calls it!

The leaning tower of rolls...

The kiddos had their own special plates. I love compartment plates.

The kids table.

Look at all that food...

Check out the size of these plates. They are those big holiday cookie plates. No need to go back for seconds with these plates!

And of course dessert! (I forgot to take a picture of us all sitting at the table...)

The inevitable afternoon naps...This is when Ranee, Erin, and I slipped out the door to head to Old Navy for some pre-black Friday shopping!

My "original" family (Erin is new to the family and made the mistake of saying "I wonder if my family is eating turkey again". My brother-in-law quickly reminded her, as only Jeremy can, that we are her family and yes we are eating turkey. So, we created the term "original family") was in Uraguay (how do you spell that...) celebrating 4 birthdays and of course Thanksgiving. Happy Birthdays Sam, Anika, Tina, and Ben! We miss you and love you!

New Moon

See how I am posting again so quickly hoping you won't notice my weigh in results...Any way! (I have been blogging like crazy to catch up the past couple of days!) Have I ever mentioned that I am a Twilight fan? That I have read all the books 2 times, except the last one (what the heck is it called? I am totally drawing a blank and it is going to drive me crazy!) which I don't own. I have just read it one time. I am waiting for it to come out on paperback...Back to the point! I saw New Moon on Saturday and I loved it!!! Kind of. Edward really is much more wonderful in the books than anyone could ever portray on screen. Also the movie didn't really have time to character build a whole lot...Why did they put so much more makeup on Bella? How are they going to make her **SPOILER-for those who haven't read them all yet** more beautiful in the 4th movie? They should have kept the makeup simple until...she changes. I am trying not to give it all a way to those of you who haven't read them and may want to. But really you know what is going to happen right? I loved the movie Twilight enough to make me read all the books (I was dragged to it with a friend who was trying to convince me to read the books that I thought were so, I am going to say the "s" word-STUPID! They aren't by the way...They are addicting!)But I watched Twilight again (for the 5 or 6 time..) with the friend (Elizabeth) that I am trying to convince to read the books and it seemed a little cheesy..But I still love it! I dragged her to New Moon and she is more excited about reading them now. (She may be team Jacob though so I made sure I gave her Twilight to read.) I loved New Moon, but it is not as good as the book. I am trying to figure out if I really love the movie or if I want to love it more because I love the books...Does that make sense? I guess I will just have to see it again to figure it out! If you saw New Moon what did you think?

Week 10 Results

I thought I was going to lose. Aaron even said he could tell I had lost weight. Well I didn't! I gained 2 pounds. I am bummed. I did however come in first place on the Wii Biggest Loser challenge. That counts for something right?...And it is Thanksgiving on Thursday. I will not gain again next week if it kills me! (Picture me pouting and discouraged...)

Leaf blowing

My parents house has lots of big trees that drop lots of leaves. We have been raking but we couldn't keep up. Last Friday Jake and I searched the shed and found the leaf blower. Jake was in guy heaven. If it is loud and powerful than what guy could resist?! But even loud and powerful only work for so long. Since the leaf blower was pretty heavy Jake gave up after he did half the front yard. No problem that is half less for me to do...That night when Aaron came up from SC he mentioned that he thought we had used the leaf blower because there were leaves every were. I looked out and just a few short hours after we had worked so hard, you would not have known it. I am waiting for the rest to fall before I do it again!

Jake's Saturn Project

Jake did his first presentation, project, and paper on Saturn. He worked really hard. We both did. We know a lot about Saturn. Did you know that Saturn had 61 known moons? Did you know on October 9th of this year they discovered another ring? Did you know that it takes Saturn 39 1/2 years to orbit the sun? Did you know that Saturn would float on water it is so light? Did you know some of its rings appear to be twisted into a braid? Now you do. Ask us anything about Saturn we could tell you the answer!...We...I mean Jake got a "100% A!" (that is what Jake said when I asked him what he got on the project). Saturn is pretty cool. So cool it is Jake's favorite planet. Here are a couple pictures of him working hard.

Merry Christmas to ME!

I dropped my beloved camera and broke it a few months ago. I have been using Aaron's horrible old work one ever since...Until today! I saw a camera on sale that called out my name...Well, actually let me back up a few days. On Saturday Jake and I were at Sam's club and I bought a really cheap, (turns out in more ways than one), camera! I was so excited. Until I brought it home. I worried it seemed a little cheaply made. Aaron asked me what drew me to it. Was it the price tag or was this really the camera I wanted? Well, I took a couple of pictures and realized I hated that cheap camera so I returned today. Aaron told me he was going to buy me one for Christmas any way, so not to worry!..Now back to my wonderful camera. Jake and I were at Target waiting for his prescription to be filled and we were just looking around. And there it was. My new camera, on sale for a great price. It was a cheap price but not cheap in quality! I took several pictures with it in Target and fell in love. Don't get me wrong. This is not a fancy expensive camera. But it does what I need it to do. It fits in my purse (Aaron says I should really call it an overnight bag. All my "purses" are big, but I have everything you could possible need in it. I will prove that to you soon, right here on my blog.) It takes pictures right when I turn it on, rather than waiting for it to warm up or something. It also takes pictures that aren't blurry or so delayed people are walking a way before it even takes it! I am so happy. Jake isn't as thrilled as I am. I think it is because I made him pose for a few...okay, fine a lot of pictures. Here are a few of them. I know I am not a photographer, but humor me people. These are pictures that I just snapped and was happy with! You can't do that with just any camera. Definitely not cheap ones or old junkie work ones. Thanks Aaron! I love my Christmas present!

I just had to see if it would focus close up because the old camera never would have!

Just looking up at the pretty trees

My new camera has the squares that pop up to show you what it is focusing on. I wanted to see if it would still focus quickly if I tilted it. It did! Love that face.

Is Jake a cute boy or what? He was waiting for me to feed him in this one...


I took a picture of Emily when Jake started getting annoyed. She is so shiny. I love that dog. She doesn't care if I take her picture.

Just had to see how close up I could get! Jake is excited because I just heard that drinking hot drinks or eating hot soups helps wash virus germs out of your mouth and into your stomach. Supposedly your stomach acid kills a lot of them so he is drinking hot cocoa every night! If this isn't true don't tell me...(I keep thinking how come your stomach acid doesn't kill the stomach virus..), I enjoy imagining that hot cocoa takes care of germs! Any help my germ-a-phob self gets with germs is a good thing.

I can't help it. He is such a photogenic kid! Yes, I did feed him eggo waffles for dinner...Aaron isn't here during the week so easy works.

And here he is ignoring me...I got the picture and put the camera a way...