Happy Birthday

My wonderful daddy celebrated a birthday last friday! Peter and I were able to take a quick trip down to Natchez to surprise him on Friday. We had a wonderful homemade dinner with dad, mom, and my grandparents. It was so good to see them, even if it was for less than 24 hours! Happy birthday, daddy! Thank you for being the best dad a girl could ask for!



Mom, Laura, Brandon, Rachel, and Peter and I gave daddy an ipad2 for his birthday! I think he was surprised!

Inspiration

Wow.......it has been a very long time since I have posted! Recently my younger sister, Rachel, started a blog (rayholloway.blogspot.com) and she inspired me to keep up with ours again. So, here is my second shot at keeping up our blog!

A lot has happened in our lives over the past two years! I am not going to attempt to summarize everything, so I will just fast-track to what is going on now. Last August, Peter and I sold our house in Madison and moved to Baton Rouge. Peter is in the process of getting his Masters of Landscape Architecture degree at LSU. I am so proud of him for all of the hard work he is doing in school. Last semester he had a 4.0 GPA, and I am sure he will be so embarrassed that I shared that! He will graduate in May 2012, so we are almost half-way there! He was awarded with an assistantship, which means he is a research assistant to one of his professors. He is a very busy boy!
I spent last semester traveling back and forth to Jackson to continue my job at UMC. It was very hard to stay away from Pete for long periods of time, but we did it so I could be vested in the state retirement system. We hope it will be worth it when we are older. February 2 was my last day at UMC. I was so very sad to leave all of my friends and the sweet babies in the NICU, but I am happy to be down in Baton Rouge with Peter full time. I just accepted a position in the day surgery center at Our Lady of the Lake hospital, and my first day is Monday. That's right, I have had an entire month off work and it has been fabulous! It makes me rethink my occupation; I should have been a teacher!
As for Molly, she is still chasing balls and squirrels, trying to get used to apartment living! She is sleeping soundly on the couch beside me dreaming of yellow tennis balls now. Here are several pictures from the last two years.


In August 2009, Peter and I went to Savannah, GA for a little vacation. It was beautiful!


In March 2010, we lost our sweet Pappaw Hammack to cancer. He was such a wonderful grandfather and we miss him so very much! Peter and I are so blessed to have amazing grandparents.


Peter's brother, Zack, got married to Laura on April 24, 2010. We love our new wonderful sister-in-law!


Rachel graduated high school May 2010, and she is at Mississippi State now! We are so proud of her!



In June, Mom, Rachel, Laura and I went to Destin for a few days! It was so much fun! We were just a tad sunburned!


In July, one of my very best friends got married! It was a beautiful wedding!



Our first home was so good to us!


Mardi Gras in Fairhope last weekend!


These sweet nephews of ours are growing like crazy!


Last, but not least, just because we are in Baton Rouge and Peter is a LSU student it does NOT mean we are LSU fans! Go Mississippi State!

Weddings and a Birthday

Wow! I didn't realize how long it has been since I have posted! We have had a busy month! One of my very best friends, Sarah Womack, got married March 7th in Natchez. She was a beautiful bride! It was great to catch up with a lot of my high school friends, and for Peter to meet some of them for the first time. I can't believe how long it has been since we graduated! I am so glad I was a part of Sarah and Billy's special day!

Peter's friend Neil got married April 25th in Fairhope.  The ceremony was held in Rebecca's church, and the reception was in the Fairhope Yacht Club.  The weather was perfect, and it turned out to be a beautiful wedding.  I was able to meet a lot of Peter's friends from high school at this wedding, so it was fun! We had a great time visiting with his friends and family. I was unable to get a picture of the bride and groom, but I am posting a few others. Congratulations, Neil and Rebecca!

Most recently, our nephew, Grayson, turned two! His birthday was April 27th, but we were able to go to his birthday party this past weekend in Natchez. I was able to go down to Natchez on Thursday and stay all weekend, because Peter was in Washington D.C. until Saturday. It was nice to spend some quality time with my family and not be so rushed! I think our sweet Grayson had a great birthday party! He is talking up a storm now, and is really funny to listen to! We don't get to see them often enough! Rachel and I came back to walk a 5K for The March of Dimes Saturday morning and took Peter back with us.  Here are a few pictures from the party!

Loss

My great-grandfather, John Clyde Campbell passed away last weekend at the age of 95 years old. What a long and wonderful life he had! He was my granny Holloway's father. He was a loving grandfather who was always so caring for his family. As my granny said, although we were mentally prepared for his death, none of us were emotionally prepared. Thankfully, we were in Natchez for my friend Sarah's wedding, as well as Laura and Brandon. We were able to spend time with relatives who came to Natchez for the funeral. Through all of this I learned I am truly blessed to have known four great-grandparents, and still have four grandparents with me today. My family means so much to me and I thank God for allowing me to have them in my life. Please pray for my grandmother and her siblings as they go through this tough time of loss.

New Recipe!

I recently bought a new cookbook from Williams-Sonoma that has some really great and quick recipes. Tuesday night, I tried one of the recipes and we really liked it! So, I decided to share!

Lemongrass chicken & asparagus

Ingredients:

Skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - 4, about 1&1/2 lb, cut into thin strips

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Peanut or canola oil - 2 tablespoons

Green onions - 3/4 cup thinly sliced

Ginger - 2 tablespoons minced

Lemongrass - 1 stalk, bulb part only, trimmed and finely chopped

*If you can't find lemongrass, substitute 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 2 teaspoons grated

lemon zest. Add the juice and zest to the pan along with the garlic and ginger.

Garlic - 3 cloves, minced

Slender asparagus - 1/2 lb, trimmed and sliced on the diagonal

Chicken broth - 3/4 cup

Asian fish sauce - 2 tablespoons

Peanuts - 1/4 cup chopped

Steamed white rice

Directions:

Step 1: Stir-fry the chicken

Season the chicken lightly with salt and pepper. In a wok or frying pan over high heat, warm the oil. Add the chicken and stir-fry until golden on the outside and opaque throughout, 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add the green onions and stir-fry until fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Add the ginger, lemongrass, and garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the asparagus and stir-fry just until tender-crisp, 2-3 minutes.

Step 2: Finish the dish

Add the broth and fish sauce to the pan and bring to a simmer. Return the chicken and any juices from the plate to the pan, reduce the hear to medium-low, and simmer for 1 minute to hear through. Sprinkle with the peanuts. Spoon the rice onto individual plates, top with the chicken and asparagus, and serve.

Here's how ours turned out!

Landry Warner

Congratulations to our friends Gene and Kellie! Their baby boy Landry was born on Tuesday weighing 9 lbs 5 oz. He is one sweet little baby!

Tagged

Claire tagged me to do this, so I will try to be as creative as possible! Enjoy...

Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real. . .nothing made up! If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name for the boy/girl name question.

1. What is your name? Heather
2. A four-letter word: hoop
3. A boy's name: Hayes
4. A girl's name: Haley
5. An occupation: hygienist
6. A color: hazel
7. Something you wear: hat
8. A food: hummus
9. Something found in the bathroom: hairbrush
10. A place: Hawaii
11. A reason for being late: hungry
12. Something you shout: HEY!
13. A movie title: Happy Gilmore
14. Something you drink: hot chocolate
15. A musical group: Hanson
16. An animal: hippopotamus
17. A street name: Homochitto (for Claire and Ashley!:))
18. A type of car: Hummer
19. A song title: How to save a life
20. A verb: hustle