Fall fun...

To kick off October we had a little pumpkin party;

Mine was already rotting on the inside, so we decided to just leave him be. Instead, my task was the pumpkin seeds!

Gooey- Bleh! But once the seeds were cleaned, salted and in the oven we watched an episode of House. About 30 minutes later I realized I forgot to set the timer- Our little party was not a success on my end!
Not to mention the pumpkins all went bad in a about a week!


A few days after tossing the pumpkins in the garbage it was time for me to fly home! I was there for 10 days, and just in time for the arrival of my newest nephew Logan. He is such a sweet baby and I miss him already!

I also got to take my other nephew to our Church's Harvest party, which he was way excited about!

As was my bff, who helped out. That's one gorgeous pirate!

I also got to witness my nephew learning to use the potty, haha! How darling!

And finally, I had to say goodbye to a dear friend;

We had good times ol' girl, sorry to have to end it this soon!

It was great to hang out with the world's greatest fam and to see all my friends and church family. I landed back here on Nov 3rd, to James who was on day three of supporting "Movember" (http://us.movember.com/). This pic is more recent, however...

I can't wait til November 30th! I just might greet him at the door with his razor that evening! Regardless, it is great to be reunited with my love again, though when I returned, I was even more homesick than before I went home. *Tear*

So, to help me get back into the excitement of being in Italy, James signed us up for a weekend get-a-way in Emilia Romagno. I must admit, I was excited to get out, but I wasn't sure I was excited about the different parts of the trip. However, it ended up being awesome!
After the eight hour drive, our first stop was at a Parma-ham factory. It's a top of the line ham here. We got a tour of the factory and an in-depth walk through of the process. Luckily we only saw pigs legs and nothing more! Though nothing on the pig goes to waste apparently. Parma-Ham is a two year process!
Ham Anyone?

Each leg is worth 350 Euro!


After that we went to a traditional balsamic vinaigrette place. Once again we got to learn how it's made. Traditional balsamic takes a minimum of 12 years to make! So, chances are, if you've only had store bought, you've probably never had the real stuff- now days they just make imitation because it's a lot quicker. I felt kind of lied to when I found that out! It was so good we had to buy a bottle. We bought the 16-ish year old bottle for 60 Euro! Kind of steep but well worth it! It's good for 25 years and you're not supposed to refrigerate it.
Taste test!


Finally, we grabbed some pizza and went to our hotel. The next morning we got breakfast in the hotel (Italian continental breakfast is no joke! Sorry I didn't think to take pics!) and headed out to a Parmigiano Reggiano factory/store. It's top of the line Parmesan cheese, Mmmm. For this kind of cheese, it has to age for at least a year but this place let's it age for two years! The flavor is so strong and oh so good!

Us with one of the owners and tons of cheese... and the mustache...

Each wheel is worth 300 Euro!

Then, our final stop was the Ferrari Museum!

Normally I wouldn't go for a yellow car, but I'd be willing to make an exception...

All the cars were, of course, amazing!!!

And now I want one more than ever!
They have a place where you can test drive them (15 mins for 60 Euro) but we decided that we would wait til we could bring my sister and her husband, as I'm sure they'd LOVE it! And maybe my dad too... we shall see! I can't wait!!!

And now we're back on track...Whew...