celebrations.

this year we spent christmas and new years in texas with the hatchs. we always have so much fun all the time that we end up forgetting to stop and take a picture or two. here are some favorites we did manage to get along the way:

favorite hatch tradition: blowing up gingerbread houses on new years eve. 

(i definitely scored the best family you could marry into) 

this year's theme--blowing up ranger school...mountain phase. 

NOLA.

after several months of continuous army trainings, a weekend trip to new orleans was just what we needed. we stayed in a renovated inn hotel that had all the historical charms of the french quarter.

and the location could not have been any better. we were steps from jackson square, a popular hotspot of the french quarter, filled with historical architecture, musicians, and artists. 

we were two blocks from the famous bourbon street, which reminded us of an old time, and perhaps the original vegas strip.

we were also one block from the glorious cafe du monde, which has beignets to die for. we went there three times over the weekend, seriously could not get enough. 

overall the amazing food was our favorite part of new orleans. words cannot describe the delicious goodness we enjoyed during our stay.

we tried a little bit of everything new orleans is known for, and classics of grilled oysters (ACME oyster house) and red beans & rice (the Gumbo shop) were our favorites of the weekend. these were so good i  tried to get austin to go back to those restaurants twice during out stay. we also tried some gumbo, crawfish, and gator po-boys that were fabulous.

we fell in love with new orleans. in a town that truly never sleeps, we enjoyed the continued hustle and bustle of unique sights, sounds, and tastes. and we will definitely be visiting again sometime in the future. 

a snapshot of some holiday cheer from nola.

yehaw.

we scored some tickets to a local rodeo in alabama and we spent saturday night watching bucking horses and roping cattle. this was my first rodeo and austin was so excited to show me what the rodeo was all about. we even dressed the part.

painted faces.

halloween traditions. usually we do the normal pumpkin carving at halloween time, but because georgia is so humid, you can't really carve pumpkins because they will deflate into grandma pumpkins within 24 hours. so this year we painted our pumpkins instead.

recon.

the next military training completed on austin's bucket list: the army reconnaissance course (ARC). pretty much a bunch of sneaking around and spying in the woods, he totally loved it! as a part of his uniform for the sneaking, we had to make a ghillie suit.

the wolf's den.

austin and i love to go hiking and exploring, and the rolling green hills and woods of georgia make this so fun.

one saturday we visited FDR state park and hiked the wolf's den. it's about a 7 mile loop that follows a beautiful trail through the woods and along several small waterfalls. we loved it!

we had some adventuring fun along the way...

war eagle.

scored some free tickets to an auburn university football game = instant fans!

 we were super stoked to experience one of the south's greatest traditions of college football!

the game atmosphere was great with a phenomenal half-time show...

seriously, what marching band can do that!? they were insanely good!

fun fact: auburn's mascot is the tigers. however war eagle seems to be their slogan, and they iconically release an eagle that circles around the field before every home game (austin made sure we didn't miss this highlight of the game). so what is it auburn...war eagle or tigers? either way, auburn dominated the other small college team, and we ended up leaving after half-time, feeling proud of our new home team--although we could never give up USC or UT, ever.

trips to the city.

atlanta is a good 1.5-2 hours away from columbus, so when we go we like to make it into a day trip. atlanta is a huge city, with interesting skylines and architectural features. realistically we try to go about every other month and make a trip to the temple.

after our temple trip we of course need a good bite to eat, and look at the little gem we found right in atlanta...

chuys! one of our most favorite restaurants in texas, with the best creamy jalapeno and salsa you could imagine. austin was amazed that the restaurant had expanded out of texas, and was even more shocked that it was not bursting with people--he eventually concluded that it had to be new to atlanta and therefore no one quite knew about it yet. we were so excited to find a piece of home here in georiga, we now go as tradition after every temple trip. 

on a steel horse i ride.

well we made it through a georgia summer, and austin made it through his armor-basic officer leadership course. with long in the heat and woods, i am so proud he made it through with high achievements and was recognized on the commadant's list. he never ceases to amaze me. however, austin was most proud of his stetson hat. yes, this beloved hat, which lives in a precious box and only comes out for special occasions, is his pride and joy. the stetson hat is a traditional symbol for cavalry units, who historically rode on horseback but now ride the steel horse of tanks, strikers, hum-vs. the graduation was short, the celebration sweet, and we enjoyed our time with great friends we have met here along the way.

found myself a real cowboy

inspiring story: a group of us went out to dinner later in the day to celebrate. all still dressed in our celebratory outfits, we enjoyed our time together reminiscing about the past and looking forward to the future. in the end, when we went to pay our individual checks, we were informed by our server that our entire party's bill had been paid in full, which had to amount to at least a couple hundred dollars. feeling greatly indebted, we asked for his table number or name, but the server said he had already gone and she pointed to his empty seat at the bar. we were tremendously disappointed that we could not thank this man for his overwhelming kindness, but i later found him in the left side of a random picture austin and i snapped during dinner. we were all greatly touched by this man's generosity, and someday i hope we can follow his example and pay his goodness forward .

labor day play.

labor day weekend my family came to visit georgia and we squeezed in as much fun and goodness columbus has to offer during their stay. 

first off, we explored fort benning, which included spotting some gators in the pond 

and getting up close and personal with the tanks. austin was able to get dill inside a tank! anyone that knows dill, knows that this was a dream come true for him. it was awesome to see his excitement! 

annnd we had to take my family to our favorite place in columbus, the animal safari! it was hilarious to watch each person's reaction to feeding the various animals...lots of screams and laughs..we had a blast!

we also spent an afternoon at flat rock park and explored rock waterfall slides. and it wouldn't be a sarmiento trip without some kind of clumsy event which took place as dill slipped, while climbing around the falls, and then slid several feet into kayla, who then also slipped, and the two continued sliding down the falls together. it was a comedy in the making. apart from a few wet bums, everyone was okay and we laughed about it the rest of the day.

we also got to celebrate dad's 50th birthday. the big five zero! with a cake for the diabetic man...

such a fun weekend! we loved having them visit and can't wait for their next trip!

life is like a box of chocolates.

while in georgia we want to get in as much southern hospitality as we can, so we decided to take a long-weekend trip to georgia's oldest town, savannah.

along the way, we first stopped at a real southern, georgia peach farm. it was something like a picture book, it was so surreal to drive through the beautiful and endless peach and pecan orchards.

i had to try out the john deere

best dang peach cobbler i have ever had! it was so good (and so hot out) the ice cream melted before it got to your mouth.

and of course out in the country we saw this along the way...which was only funny for like the .5 seconds it took to take the picture and then my LA self started in about how horrible the traffic was behind this guy. (i guess you can take a girl out of california but can never take california out of a girl...hey y'all, i'm just a different kind of southern...)

and then we finally made it to savannah, and i fell in love. i can't even begin to describe my amazement with the history and beauty of the town. every street was lined with overhanging trees and spanish moss. it was like being in a movie...

but seriously...they filmed forrest gump right here.

check it out:

our overall goal for the weekend was to try and do the best that savannah could offer. so naturally we started with the food. the first night we ate on the river at a seafood restaurant and tried shrimp and grits, a southern classic, and i now know why--delicious! our favorite by far was our second night, dining at the pirate house. a little history about savannah: it is the oldest town in georgia. being that, the oldest building in the oldest town is the pirate house, and yes, real pirates use to live and dine there! so of course, we had to try it out! and it was most definitely decorated theme appropriate.

and this my friends is a picture of the best piece of fried chicken on this great, green earth. another southern and georgia classic, pecan-crusted fried chicken. no words can express the goodness that was in every bite.

the second biggest highlight of our trip was a ghost-walking tour. because not only is savannah the oldest town in georgia, it is also 'the most haunted town in america'! so going on a ghost hunt was a given. sadly we did not see any roaming spirits during out night-time stroll, but we did learn some spooky and educational facts about savannah, such as: this use to be the hanging square of the town, and people use to hang in this tree here; or the sidewalk is sunken in where you are standing because there are graves below and the ground has given way. we found it fascinating! 

some other fun things we did over the weekend included going to fort pulaski, a civil war monument where the south fell to the north and we got to watch 19th century cannons fire; visiting every candy shop in town; making a stop to the paula deen store and getting a 'hey y'all' sign souvenir; and i certainly could not leave out a trip to the juliette gordon low house.

proud girl scout!

savannah, georgia checked off our bucket list! with all the southern charm and hospitality, we will definitely be back soon!