#thedertings

I am a little sad to see my Thanksgiving break come to an end mostly because I have not sat for more than 30 minutes since I got off of work on Tuesday, but that is okay because it has all been worth the memories. I have come to the conclusion that a good life is full of lots of meaningful, cherished memories and lots of yearly, family traditions. With the holidays now in full swing the Derting's are on the right track to creating lots of both of these treasured things :) Wednesday started out with cleaning, waiting on the delivery guys, a quick trip to Hickory, more cleaning and waiting on mom and the boys to arrive. Once mom and the boys (all of my brothers) got here mom and I began cooking for our Thanksgiving feast. However, no Thanksgiving (any occasion for that matter) would be complete without a last minute, late night run to Wal-Mart. That in itself is a tradition that never gets forgotten, we always need a couple of extra things once we start cooking, so we hop in the car...

Thanksgiving is quickly approaching which means I have lots to do before Thursday. We had a good (kind of) weekend, hope you did. Brooks decided last week that we needed a new washer and dryer...which means that we needed a new laundry room and 1/2 bath. We had talked about redoing the laundry room when we redo the kitchen and just make it one big project, but for some reason Brooks got the bright idea to do it the week before Thanksgiving. I of course didn't object considering the last load of clothes I washed on Friday night took 4 hours to dry, so I agreed with him that it was definitely time to retire the old Maytag. Not sure if you know, but THANKFULLY when my husband decides to take on a project he sticks with it from start to finish in a reasonable amount of time. He promised that if he started the project Thursday night he would be done by Monday and he didn't disappoint. Thursday night meant demolition of the 70s tile walls and the pinkish heart wallpaper. We all work...

WOW! The Islands in the Bahamas are breathtaking.....crystal clear, turquoise water, nice, white, sandy beaches, and ALL the fabulous food you can eat...at all hours of the day and night! I was thinking that such a short trip would be rushed and SHORT, but it wasn't at all. It was as if the island consumed us and took all the cares in the world away for 3 days that felt more like 10! I highly recommend a cruise as a vacation.....for the price it is totally worth every penny and more.  Mom and I left NMB at 2:45 am on Friday morning and headed towards 95 for the 9 hours that the GPS told us it would be. I drove 1/2 way and mom the other 1/2. We made excellent time and made it in only 8 hours not 9. We got there by 11:00 and changed from our pj's in the car before we went to check in. We were told to be there by lunch time, but we were not sure why because the boat didn't leave till 4:00...so we were trying to get there by the suggested time, but weren't too worried abou...

I <3 November! This month is such a GREAT month! We have the opportunity to show thanks and be thankful and I am very EXCITED to continue to do that :) I am so THANKFUL for the fantastic weekend that we have had. Brooks and I double dated with the Deane's Friday night. We had dinner and went to see the movie Life As We Know It. The movie had some sad parts, but overall it was so cute and sweet. Bryson spent the night with Grandma Dee Dee and slept till 9:30 for them. I do not understand this because he has NEVER slept that late for us, it makes me very JEALOUS, but I am glad that he was good for them and I am THANKFUL for the time that Brooks and I got to spend together as a couple.  Yesterday morning, I ACCOMPLISHED something that I haven't done in a while. Brooks and I participated in our 3rd Pumpkin Fest 5k. It was a little chilly and I was terrified that I wouldn't make it, but THANKFULLY I did. My 1st mile was 10:54, 2nd was 11:30, and the 3rd was about 14 minutes....

Hey! Hope you had a GREAT weekend, we sure did! The Derting threesome spent a lot of quality time together this weekend and made lots of memorable moments that won't soon be forgotten. My blonde boy transformed into a howling, hairy werewolf for 2 nights in a row! We had planned on only dressing him up Saturday night, but like always we didn't accomplish everything and every place that we had hoped to, so we did it again Sunday night too! I made his costume and Brooks did his hair and make-up so it was a family affair to create the scary wolf. We decided to go to the Statesville Mall on Saturday night and they had a Halloween Costume Contest, so of course we entered him. We were all proud that Bryson went on stage by himself and actually stayed up there without either of us and it paid off because he took 1st place out of 37 kiddos!! He was proud and excited that he got a trophy! We visited MANY friends and family both nights and took lots of pictures to treasure his 5th...