rushley & crew

Well folks, I think I settled on an annual party I'd like to throw -- Pie Night! I first heard of pie night shortly after I entered Russ's family, because one of his aunts does this every year (for her immediate family I think, but that's how I heard about it). In case you're unfamiliar with it, the idea is that on Thanksgiving Day, you get too full from all the other good food, that by the time it's time to eat pie, you can't fully enjoy it. Thus, you have a "pie night" some other time, where you can thoroughly enjoy all the pie. Pie Night is a great party to throw because it's relatively easy and cheap! Decor is already taken care of because Thanksgiving decor counts; all I had to do food-wise is make (or buy!) one pie, and then I provided milk, cool whip, and reddiwhip; and my only costs were basically paper products, printing costs (for invitations, printable, and food tent labels), and I really splurged with the three dollar store p...

Apparently, a lot of people don't decorate for Thanksgiving. And honestly, I can see why, because over the years as I've browsed Pinterest for ideas, it's honestly way harder to find decor I like for Thanksgiving than it is to find decor for Halloween or Christmas. There's a lot of fall decor, but I like decor that is more specifically "Thanksgiving." A few years ago, I made a Thanksgiving Turkey art piece that I still love. I also did the gold-tipped feather garland, "so blessed" pumpkin, bunch of wheat, and filled hurricane vase in past years. But this year I really finished up the whole Thanksgiving look with my pie garland , "thanks and giving" printable , and my "thankful" garland. I now feel like my Thanksgiving decor is complete! this quote piece used to just be thanksgiving decor, but now i leave it up year-round.  Can't forget Tomothy the Thankful T(h)urkey ! Do you decorate...

For our four years of marriage, we've rotated which family we spend holidays with. This year it was time for a Holmes Thanksgiving. Planning ahead, I knew that I probably wouldn't want to drive up to Boise (where Mom and Dad live, 6 hours away) with a new-ish baby, and I also knew I wouldn't want to host. But my sister-in-law Lacey, who lives just under an hour away, just bought a house this year, so I thought maybe she'd be interested in hosting. Lucky for me, she was! So she hosted Mom and Dad Holmes; Lance, Mackenzi, and Zander; Russ, Ada, and me; and Russ's cousin, Amber. Having a baby sure does change things. Maybe not everyone is this way, but I felt kind of distracted/preoccupied because of her. Thanksgiving happened around her worst nap of the day, so Russ and I kept having to go in to calm her because she was screaming. We also took turns holding her while actually eating Thanksgiving dinner, which we hadn't really done up to this point (hadn't he...

My faaaavorite part about Thanksgiving week was actually an impromptu snowball fight. We had just returned home from our Christmas experience  and there was snow on the driveway. Russ and I were first to arrive, and because Russ knows how much my mom hates driving on the driveway when there's snow on it (because it packs it down and makes it harder to get rid of), he started shoveling the driveway. After a minute or two, I followed suit and got to work on the driveway (aka it took me longer to feel charitable than it took him haha). When Brooke and Ryan and the girls got home, those Texas girls were super excited about the newly fallen snow, and they wanted to play! At first, I was just focused on getting the work done, but then decided, why not join this spontaneous snowball fight? There's no reason good enough not to! (I'm hoping when I'm a parent someday, I'll be really good at letting my kids be little and have fun and I won't shut them down all the time b...

luis, kristalyn, aubrianne, hadley, dad, max, mom, carol ann, ryan, russ, me, marisa, brooke, amy, grandma, mckenna, savannah, bree, mike  It was a big Thanksgiving this year! It was our year (and Brandon's year) to spend it with my family, and we were also joined by my big sister Brooke and her family. Not only that, but we also spent the holiday with my mom's sister and mom and all the family that goes along with them. There were 22 of us altogether. Kristalyn and Aubrianne are some of my favorite cousins and our families usually do Thanksgiving together. The meal was delicious. Amazingly, for the first time ever , I did not go back for seconds. I felt full, but not overstuffed like usual. That made pie time better than ever because it didn't make me want to explode! The company was also fun, but it felt like there wasn't enough time together! One of my favorite moments of meal prep was this one: Russ is the designated rol...