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.