Thanksgiving and Christmas Decorating Time!

Thanksgiving time! Christmas time! I absolutely can't believe my favorite time of the year is here! Lots of joy and lots of cheer! Sorry, couldn't help myself because it is very true! 

So as you may know or not, Cody and I very happily hosted our very first Thanksgiving! It took place in our apartment and it was extra special because we were able to show our place to family members who had never seen it before! We had also one day before, just finished putting up all of the wedding pictures and made our place 100% perfect (to our standards). We had different family members bring their ''famous'' dishes and Cody took care of the ham, turkey, and gravy. It was the best of both worlds. We basically custom made our own Thanksgiving with our favorite Thanksgiving food! Every single person helped pitch in and we are so grateful for that! 

The week leading up to Thanksgiving we cleaned our apartment top to bottom, even the bathrooms! ;) but seriously! We were so proud of ourselves, we changed burned-out light bulbs, scrubbed the toilets, mopped the floors, washed the washcloths, made the bed for the second time in 6 months, and vacuumed the floors! And that's only the beginning! We decked out our place with Thanksgiving paraphernalia, thanks to mom, and welcomed everyone in Thanksgiving morning! The day started off a little rough with family threatening to cancel their plans (for no reason whatsoever) left and right, which i'm going to be honest brought a few internal tears from my side because we had worked so hard and were so excited, plus had food to feed 20+ and only a few showed up, but it all worked out, everyone eventually showed up and we welcomed them with open arms. It was especially frustrating because the day before we were promised 25 people total and in that morning and into the celebration, we only had 5 INCLUDING Cody and I and that was going to be it. Anyways, like I said, it all worked out and our celebration lasted from 12:45pm to 8:45pm! Just what I envisioned it being for years! Cody and I have always dreamed of having family over like this for over two years! It was so incredibly fun! Everyone came in two waves, the first wave ate food food with us and had 11 people, and the second wave had 10 people and ate dessert with us. We won't be doing this again but were so glad we decided this, we may reconsider when we get our first house!!:)

12:00pm waiting for what we thought were going to be a crowd of 20 family members.

The night before! We were good to go! I love the turkey holding the flowers!!

I felt so proud of our little collection :)

From Cody's mom we had the green stuff (yes it is really called that and is amazing), cranberry sauce, and dressing. From my mom, we had the decorations, rolls, green beans, festive paper plates and napkins. Form my Nana we had the sweet tea, sweet potato casserole (my absolute favorite), more cranberry sauce, and dad's recipe mashed potatoes. From Cody's Nana, we had the deviled eggs! Of course, Cody's gravy, turkey and ham, Oh and I made the mac n' cheese! My very first time to make it!

Original Dyar girls!

When people started to trickle in, this was one of the first things we showed them! Our blown-up wedding pictures above the bed! Cody and I love how they turned out! The only thing we worry about is having 13 pound frames fall on our head in our sleep....well Cody's not worried but I am a little. Don't worry, he hung them really well with 50 pound capacity hooks. The picture on the right reminds me of our BlueBird Hill venue in Knoxville on our wedding day! The wood matched the barn and the blanket and bird pillow on the bed just brought it all together. Turquoise was a big theme for our wedding!

Our first wave of visitors, from front to back, left to right....Me, Morgan, aunt Jody, my cousin-in-law Laura, Nana, top row, mom, Cody, cousin Nick, Laura's brother DJ, Edgar, and uncle Wade!

Our second wave of family, from left to right, Tyler my bro-in-law, me, Amy my sis-in-law, Nana, Travis my brother-in-law, Miles my father-in-law, Kaden my Nephew, Jamie my mother-in-law, Cody, and Papa. 

It was so much fun talking, laughing, telling stories and carrying on good conversations. We also played some board games with both groups!

Once everyone left we basically collapsed. A special thank you to my mom for helping clean everything up! Cody and I went straight to bed at 9pm and woke late the next morning so so excited! We were going to put up our Christmas tree and decorations! We got up, cleaned up the Thanksgiving decorations and got out the tree and everything! Above is a picture of our Christmas tree handed down from Cody's mom since she got a new tree this year! We are blessed to not have to purchase our first tree! Each ornament we placed on our tree has a special story to us and I love them so much. Each one has a sentimental value and were usually collected at places we went over the 5 years we dated. The first ornament we started to collect for our future apartment and tree, was at our first Christmas. We had only been dating for 8 months at the time and it was a picture of Cody and I holding a football together; perfect for us right 😂 ;)

We also excitedly hung our stockings I designed for us last year on our "fireplace". That was so cool to see my vision last year come to life! (And why yes that is a guitar hero in the background you see 😁it is the only 'musical instrument' I can play)

On our island which is our kitchen table, we put up the tin Christmas tree box that had held my engagement ring for over a year in Cody's room. I didn't know at the time but it became an important box! Also, if you can see closely, next to the box, that is a picture of Cody as a kid at Christmas time when he was probably 4 or 5. He was SO cute dressed up in his little superman costume he got for Christmas holding his little superman action figure (yes I had to refrain from calling it a doll #onlysisterslife). If our kids even look 1/4 as cute as Cody did as a kid...wowza, I can't wait!

So fast forward to this past weekend. Cody and I went to Knoxville for the weekend to help out with a church event at my previous church. What a wonderful way to celebrate our 6 month anniversary! I can't believe we have been married for over half a year now! Time sure does fly. I can honestly say these past 6 months have been the best 6 months of my life 

Friday afternoon my sweet mama and I had a mother-daughter day and shopped for Christmas presents for Cody and other family members. The picture above shows the little park with lights we went through. I am so thankful my mama loves to go on walks just as much as I do. I could easily walk 3 or more hours a day, there is just something about it that just calms my mind and body. 

We later had a delicious dinner at Gigi's house, played with the dog and went to Nana's house to watch the Farragut game in the state championship! It was the most exciting football game since UT vs. Florida this past season! I lost my voice the entire day after from yelling and screaming with joy at the TV with Nana. And the very best part is that we won! Farragut high school is very important to my family. My late grandfather coached with and was very close with the head coach therefore knowing our entire family, and my mom, dad, and both uncles graduated from there. Also Cody student taught there and helped out with their football team last year if you remember!

So the next morning rolled around and me, Nana, and my mom, made our way to church for the breakfast with Santa for the little kids. We were in charge of running the welcome table. I of course had to wear my cute ugly sweater and my TN Santa hat! The breakfast with Santa was a wonderful success and it was such a joy to see all the little kids so excited to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they have been wanting for Christmas. One little girl cracked me up, when Santa asked her what she wanted, she replied, "Gosh, I've already told you at the mall AND at the fantasy of trees festival!" 😂 Made my day!

Me and my beautiful mama at the breakfast!

Me and gorgeous Nana helping out as Santa's little elves!

In between Nana and I is pastor Ann. She is and has been such an incredible blessing in me and Cody's life and was the one who married us! In this very church! She has the biggest heart and follows her calling of sharing God's word with such grace, knowledge, and passion! She is awesome!!

After the church event, Cody and I went to the UT vs. Georgia Tech basketball game and had an absolute blast! Thank you Nana for letting us borrowing your season seats! We won by 20 points which is much needed for the UT basketball program. I love so much that Cody and I love sports equally. I just love to play and watch most sports! Fun fact: I played basketball for 4 years and loved it, I was just never tall enough. 

After the game, Cody and I visited our favorite restaurant which happens to be where our rehearsal dinner took place. We hadn't been back since then so it brought back so many memories. We got lost in conversation throughout the whole dinner. Cody is such an interesting person and I feel like I get to unwrap a little more of him every day. I love hearing his heart!

The next day, Sunday, after church we helped Nana with her Christmas decorations and planning for her Christmas which takes place in Gatlinburg again in less than 2 weeks! We watched criminal minds, made sugar cookies, and played Rummi kub! I won one game!!! Huge surprise!

Nana's Christmas tree was the only thing getting me through rough times last year around January before I started my last semester in college. I was dreading it more than anything and was a little down especially since the holidays were over and it was time to go back to the torture at school. Nana had kept her tree up until mid January and the day before I went back to school and Cody was back at Martin, I stared at it alone in the house for over 2 hours. It brought back my joy and hope. Christmas time means so much to me because it lets me re-live the beautiful and happy memories of the past 22 years worth of Chrismas' in my life. So before we went back home this weekend, I took one last look at this beautiful meticulous tree with the biggest smile, grabbed Cody's hand and made our way to the car back to our apartment in Chattanooga. Life is good y'all, life is good. 

Stay tuned for the blog posts to come! I will be elaborating about Nana's Christmas', Gigi's Christmas, Cody's parents Christmas, my parents Christmas, and Cody and I's very first married Christmas together!! Tis the season!

Love,

The Raborns

12-7-16

P.S. Hello to my friends in Texas! I hope all is well and you have a wonderful Christmas!!! Thinking of you!

Fall time and Biltmore Trip!

Fall time is my favorite time in the whole world! October, November, and December! I could live with those months repeating over and over, taking out the other months. I mean, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas is during fall time! Especially since in Tennessee it doesn't get really cold anymore until January. During this time of the year, God shows us his beauty all around in nature, the leaves are changing and everything is more relaxed and things are slowed down. I couldn't help but go on a walk at least once a week to the local greenway! This image below is a little nook along the trail where the path goes over the water but under the running train tracks so when you walk along, the train sound is deafening above but the turtles are so cute in the pond below!

And just look at those trees! This along with the rolling mountains (hills) makes Tennessee the best state in the U.S. in my opinion!

We also managed to attend the UT vs. Tennessee tech game and had a blast! Morgan and Edgar were there too just 14 rows below us! It was so much fun joining up after half time to watch the rest of the frigid game together! Also right before the game, I took Cody to my Engineering alumni tailgating since it was the homecoming game. I have to say, my first time as an alumni at the homecoming game was so special. All that hard work, all that time spent, all that tuition :/ to sit here and say I am apart of the greatest school. It's great to be a Tennessee Vol! #VFL

We are continuing loving our new church and married bible study class so incredibly much! It really brings us together as a married couple strengthening our marriage every week keeping our focus on the true center and focus, God! 

Our church also has different beautiful flowers by the podium every Sunday and most Sundays I just have to go down after service and just gaze at the beauty!

There's nothing I love more in this world than date nights with my hubby! A few weeks ago we went to Red Robin for dinner and man oh man, just look at that magnificent sky! Only God could paint something so amazing! Date nights are such a blessing to be able to re-connect after a long week with the man of my dreams.

By the way you have to try the triple cheese mega grilled cheese at Red Robin. Easily the best thing I have ever tasted in my entire life!

Two weeks ago Cody told me he had an early Christmas present for me! So all week he told me he couldn't tell me but he could tell me what to pack. So Saturday morning rolls around and we leave my Nana's house and I still don't know where we are going. The only hint he gives me is that I had been wanting us to go since we started dating. So the wheels started turning and still I couldn't figure it out. Eventually I saw this Biltmore sign in front of these pretty trees and it clicked! I freaked out and asked if that was it and it was indeed! I have always wanted to go back to Biltmore and especially during Christmas time with the decorations!! I was ecstatic to say the least!! He is so sweet and thoughtful and always thinks of me! I haven't mentioned the Biltmore house in years! So I enjoyed seeing the beautiful scenery through North Carolina at 8am and we finally arrived at the entrance pictured below. 

We drove around the seemingly billion acre land to park and walked around the grounds around the mansion/castle, my face full of joy!

We even bought the listening phones to walk around the rooms and hear the back story! Best $13 decision EVER! (I'm a big facts/numbers person if you hadn't already figured that out ;)) And the Biltmore house has like 246 rooms and 76 fireplaces!

Cody insisted taking my picture with the mountains in the background. It was so windy it was actually moving my body *hence my toes being off the ground :)

We then visited the gorgeous gardens! We loved seeing all the different types of flowers that were able to survive the cold weather in the greenhouse!

Another one of Cody's works. He always makes me feel so beautiful and compliments me frequently. Also isn't he like a professional photographer or something?!? I mean this picture!!!!😍

Once inside the house, the amazing-ness began!

This room is 7 stories high and was where the Vanderbilt family ate their 5 course dinner! I would just make it my entire house!💖 After the two hour tour, I enjoyed pretty much just as much, touring around their property drinking warm hot chocolate from the cafe, exploring the toy shops, and Christmas shops. The Christmas atmosphere really put us in the Christmas mood. The temperature was just right being 50 degrees. We ate in this cozy little stable where the Vanderbilt's horses used to stay. The food was so delicious, Cornish hens for Cody and this chilled olive oil cous cous salad with a pimento cheese grilled cheese for me! Pretty good! The whole atmosphere was so cozy, I couldn't help but snuggle up with Cody walking around the "farm" part watching horseshoes being made and rocking in rocking chairs near the store's fireplace with Christmas music in the background. HEAVEN. So incredibly at peace💗

The drive home didn't disappoint! Sunset and red trees make for a fun drive home. Oh and of course with Christmas music!!

Later the next week we celebrated an early Thanksgiving at the assisted living place Cody's grandfather lives. He was so happy to see all of us and we had some decent food and sang and danced! It is so much fun to spend time with family! 

Stay tuned for the next post to hear about our Thanksgiving and early Christmas decorating!!

With so much love,

Kayla and Cody Raborn!

12-5-16

Terror Weekend and Halloween

Hey everyone! It hasn't been long at all since the last blog but I HAD to post about this past weekend and today because Halloween was so much fun and to keep in my memories forever. Well the beginning of this Weekend/Halloween started off as the scariest weekend of my life. I actually feared my life, Cody's parents life, and Cody's life for a little while Friday night. 

So the weekend started off as any weekend for us, on Friday at 4:00pm I left to Cody's parents house to drive to Codys football game together. Towards the end of the game were losing like usual 40-0 with 5 minutes left of the last game of the season, and then a fight broke out. I have trouble writing this because it was slightly traumatic. But basically Brainerd and Tyner are both rival inner city schools and they got mad at each other and the fans erupted out of the stadium to fight the Brainerd coaches and players and the other fans started attacking us and they trapped us all in the small high school stadium. Kids were being hit, I was shoved, kids were thrown in front of moving cars, it was like rabid animals gone wild. Cody's parents and I couldn't get out and were trapped between the TWO police men and the Brainerd team fighting the fans, and they gassed us. THEY TEAR GASSED US. THEY FREAKING TEAR GASSED US. The worst part is is it didn't even phase the 300 people fighting. The most terrifying part is we couldn't find Cody. But then I saw him. RIGHT. IN. THE. MIDDLE. I literally couldn't breathe for like 10 seconds. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't sure if he was hurt, being punched, or worse stabbed/shot. Cody's dad ran in there and got him away from the center and we all ran to our cars only to realize the Tyner kids were walking around bashing car windows in with spiked clubs. We got out of there after dodging kids only to find the Brainerd kids fighting each other now back at the Brainerd school. It was terrifying and scary especially with no control or order. So once we all got home we soaked our faces in milk because we had 1st degree burns on our faces from the tear gas and mace. :( :( Worst night of my life. I praise God we made it out unhurt for the most part and alive. Cody dislocated his finger trying to get out of the riot so we're dealing with that. It was just terrifying and the worst experience. I will not be attending any more football games of inner city schools or against inner city schools under ANY circumstance. EVER AGAIN. :( 

So the next day after we got over that night, I woke up early to run errands with mom! We got me and Cody's large wedding pictures framed at Michael's, and got lunch. We finished up the afternoon walking Sasha at Imagination Station. She's not quite that ready for social interaction but we're getting there very slowly. 

Look at my beautiful mama! She is radiant inside and out! 50 looks so good on you mom! I only hope and pray I look just like you when I'm your age. Seriously. 

The fall colors on the walk were to die for. My personal favorite thing about fall/October. 

So jump forward to Halloween. I woke up early and made us cinnamon rolls! The best part about marriage is the realization that you get to make your own traditions for your little family to follow forever! So I am starting to think now what Cody and I would like that to be. So for Halloween I decided we will eat cinnamon buns/rolls for breakfast, have as much family over as possible, grill out hot dogs and chili for dinner and have jello shaped with pumpkins for "dessert", and trick-or-treat till we drop. This will be the best when we have kids one day!!!

Here is my attempt of the jello pumpkin, skull, and ghost along with our other Halloween decor! Even though the jello was not cooperating in being the exact shapes I wanted them to be, they tasted AMAZING!

So when Cody came home after a long day of work, we quickly dressed up and headed out the door. We had a lot on our list for the night! We couldn't find Cody's ax murderers mask so we went with the matching theme. And get this...if Cody and I are ever matching, know it was not planned and we have found that we just have very similar taste in like, everything. But yes, it worked out perfectly and we were our honeymoon Mickey and Minnie bride and groom! My shirts says wifey!! (Yes I wore the skirt and shirt to one of my bridal showers but that's ok!) And I've already got next years costume planned out!

Never grow up. I know I am, and always will be a kid at heart. And I love that about me. There is a time for work and a time for play. I think the time for play is slowly diminishing in this world. 

Our first stop out the door was to surprise my aunt and uncle at their house! They haven't had a trick-or-treater visit them in their neighborhood once in the 5 years they have been there, weird. So we decided to stop in and surprise them! Let me tell you what, they were SO surprised and got a kick out of the fact we dressed up! We stayed with them a good hour before we had to leave to Cody's  families house for dinner. We had a great time and loved spending time with Wade and Jody so much! #favauntanduncle We can't wait to see them for Thanksgiving! Oh and the picture above is the gorgeous sunset on the hills my aunt and uncle live on. It is like fire in the sky! So breathtaking!

We headed to Cody's house and his mom made us a good southern comfort meal, meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans. We are so thankful for having us over to share a meal. You have no idea. #newlywedbudget We had a great time with them and showed them our costumes and about after an hour went on our way. 

Next we surprised Cody's Grandparents and they were SO surprised too, and also got a huge kick out of the fact we dressed up. It brings you such joy to make other people happy and it makes you happy too! And you both get good company! Win win! We had so much fun with Cody's grandparents chatting up a storm and catching up  with each other. After an hour of chatting, they dumped us with a bag of their left over candy :) and drove home. 

We finished out the night coming home to this, our bowl of candy half empty!! Oh I was so happy!! They ate our candy!!!!!!! Eeeeks! Someone or hopefully lots of people and kids got to enjoy our candy!! And yes the sign says 'Please only take 2 pieces of candy, Santa is watching" Had too. We wanted to make sure everyone who was going to come got candy and we had to hold them accountable to remind them that Santa is watching them! ;) 

Cody and I made a warm cup of hot chocolate and then went to sleep. Now bring on November!! I am SO EXCITED!!!

Love,

The Raborns

11-1-16

P.S.- Cody and I managed to get tickets for the Vols game this coming weekend for homecoming (my first alumni homecoming!) so we will be heading to Knoxvegas soon!

The Maize Maze! (Updated Pictures!)

Hello everyone! I of course had to do a whole blog post in dedication to my absolute favorite 3 months of the year, and my families annual corn maze adventure hence the fancy play-on-words title ;), get it maize is corn, and it was a corn maze. Ok ok, I know you knew, just had to say;)

So we drove to Cleveland TN after a rather chaotic morning (wont get into that) and met Nana there to spend the day. Let me just start with this corn maze was AWESOME. We have been to a different one for the past 10 years and this one by far is our favorite. It has the most things to do, is the most beautiful, and was just plain fun. We spent only about 3 hours there and still had so much more we had to see. We only left at that time to eat dinner. But there were so many things to do for people of all ages. It probably was geared more for middle/high school kids but that's right up our alley. We love to let go of our stiff stressful lives and be like kids again. I think that is very important for adults and our health. We have so many expectations and stress to meet them, and difficult jobs and overbooked schedules, if you look and be with the kids and let your mind marvel at the little things in life, for that day/moment everything is going to be ok. Then you can get back to your normal life refreshed! Ok that soap box speech is over. :)

So we went through the corn maze, soybean maze, rope maze, jumped on the bouncy mat, petted goats, explored the river trail, shot corn at targets, picked pumpkins, rode hayrides, played in corn kernels, through footballs and basketballs through targets and so much more!

Sorry for the slightly blurry picture #phonequalitylife but here is the gang minus Nana the super photographer! We were so blessed to have Nana move around her schedule for us and be able to share the day together! 

A celebratory end of the maze group picture (minus Cody and Edgar). It took us approximately an hour to get through. There were 10 stations to mark off and when we were looking for 6 we found 1. We had made a HUGE loop. But that's ok! That's the fun in it! The River Valley corn maze was very impressive, it was Christian based with christian music and biblical trivia to get us through the maze at the checkpoints. This was very special and important to my family to see a small family owned "business" open to the public and Christian!

Bull in a china shop this one is. But in the corn maze he was right at home, leading the way, charging across the 1 acre maze. At one point I looked up and he was clear across the field almost to the point I couldn't see him he was so far away. Nana asked what I gave him and I guess it was the coffee? He was the most hyper I had ever seen him! Right up my alley!

So we rode on the hay ride on to the pumpkin patch we went! Cody found a "special" pumpkin. It was flatter than a pancake. 

I found a cool warty looking pumpkin so of course I had to take it home!  

He is such a sweetheart! 

Cody, my favorite photographer ;) had to take my picture. He said hurry dear, stand right here, you look like an angel in the lighting :):) he knows how to make my heart smile!

Yes that is my husband standing on a log in the middle of the river. He was feeling very adventurous. I'm so glad he didn't fall in the icy water!

About 5 minutes after this picture above was taken, we found a grey and black snake blocking the path back to the corn maze. We freaked out to say the least. Ok so Mom, Morgan, and I freaked out. It took everything in me to get Cody NOT to touch it.

So after the corn maze we all met our cousin Nathan at Red Robin to eat. It was delicious and we were probably the loudest table there. There's no other option when you have Nathan AND me in the same spot. People kept staring at our table but we couldn't help it! We were having so much fun! We never get to see each other so take in every second we can when we are together. I haven't laughed so much in a long time!

After that we all headed to me and Cody's apartment to show cousin Nathan for the first time and to show Nana our finishing touches! We all played board games until about 11pm and then Cody and I surprisingly stayed up late talking, and watching tv! He NEVER stays up past 10 so that was the best treat of the day. And of course it ended with snuggling. I think that is very important in a marriage; Being close to each other is extremely important because through the hustle and bustle you forget to really stop and just be. The next morning we were super tired for church but love our church and newlywed bible class so much!

(later the night before) We indulged in hot chocolate with pumpkin marshed yellows as my family calls it, and when I say my family I mean only me haha ;)

And yes you are seeing correctly. This is part of the photo chaos from picking and choosing for our frames around the apartment. So much fun but soooo many pictures. I love pictures more than anythings so that was my birthday present! Hey if you think this is bad, wait until we have kids!! Pray we don't have any for a while for your own sake ;) 

With so much love,

The Raborns

10-27-16