Beaufort instead of Blogging: 3 interesting trips home :)

Sadly, it has been almost a month since I last blogged. I feel the need to explain myself... and I think you will find it all entertaining, I hope ;)

I have been busy with work and a boyfriend and 3 visits home in the last month. I wanted to fill y'all in on my 3 trips to Beaufort:

1. A Redneck Anniversary 
2. Snotty & Scotty
3. A Thanksgiving to Remember

 A Redneck Anniversary

You may remember the redneck wedding I blogged about from last Halloween. Unforgettable, right?

Well, we did lots of reminiscing when the newlyweds came to South Carolina with my aunt and uncle to visit me and my parents for their ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY. I can hardly believe it has been a whole year. 

In true redneck style, there was beer drinkin' and porch sittin', stories about crazy family, and even boiled peanuts and fried green tomatoes. 

Plus, in honor of their Halloween wedding, we went on a ghost tour and visited a graveyard or two. Yes, incredibly romantic, I know.

While we were out shopping one day, I saw this wall art and almost had to buy it in honor of their visit ;)

But, all in all, we had a wonderful time exploring the lowcountry, eating way too much and having family time :) They clean up pretty good too... but don't mind all the dollar bills taped to the wall... clearly we were keepin' it real classy!

Snotty & Scotty

I know I have written lotttsss of blogposts about being single but, now, I'm happy to report that I am taken :) 

However, now that I am no longer single, I am in new territory where I have yet to figure out what all I can post. While boys I have blogged about in the past were in and out of my life, I'm hoping this one will stick around so I can't embarrass him too badly on here! 

A couple weekends ago, he came home to meet the family. Yes!!??!!!

Unfortunately, the day we were supposed to go home, I was really sick :/

I went to the doctor and she said it was just a brutal case of the classic cold.
Um: understatement.
It destroyed me.

My nose was running non-stop and I was sneezing and my cough sounded more like a bark.

This + really dreary, rainy weather cancelled most of our plans.

But, the funny thing is, we still had a great weekend. That's what happens when you have good company :) Colds and cancelled plans don't matter when you have good company and Scott was good company!

He wooed my mom by the end of their first conversation.
He talked football with my grampa and complimented my granny's cookies when they came over for a BBQ and bonfire on Saturday night.
He got the stamp of approval from all my friends, Sunday School teachers and extra grandmas at church.
Plus, my daddy thought he was a nice guy as well :)

Needless to say, he did well for his first visit to my home! 

And he took such good care of me. Even when I was at my worst all snotty and sick, by the end of the weekend he still liked me... so this one is definitely a keeper!

A Thanksgiving to Remember 

Call me anti-social or maybe selfish but I have never brought anyone home for the holidays. 

And, neither has my brother. 

However, this year we had a twin moment and both brought a friend home for Thanksgiving. 

And, you won't believe this: my friend's name was ABBY and my brother's friend was named ABBAS. 

Real life. 

And while we both adore our friends, they aren't exactly the all-American kids next door.

My friend Abby is a tatted up red-head and my brother's friend Abbas is an active Muslim from India. 

Abby is one of the most fashionable people that I know and she always has flawless hair and makeup and cute clothes. I rushed out to meet her after she drove up but I was horrified because my daddy - who doesn't care one thing about fashion - made a comment on my outfit. While I had tried to look cute with a floral top and colorful costume jewelery, I had been cold and chillin' in the house... in my slippers. And they happened to be purple and furry ;)

As I walked out, my daddy I guess didn't realize they were slippers. He said, "Sarah. I think you need to do something about those shoes." Dang. I knew I looked bad if he not only noticed but took the time to comment on my outfit. 

Fortunately, my fashionable friend didn't hold it against me :) 

And Abbas was sweet as he could be! He had a delightfully formal and polite manner and speech. He was very kind and open and grateful. He woke up at 5:30am every day to pray to Allah; he also said his mid-day and evening prayers as well but was very respectful of us and our prayers to Jesus. It was crazy awesome to be around him and hear more about his country and religion. 

We gathered around the table with our friends, my parents and my grandparents to share a delicious meal and laughter and stories. It was a beautiful picture of what the original Thanksgiving was about where different looking people from different backgrounds came together for a meal and being grateful. 

But our fun didn't stop with the food. 

We showed Abbas this American tradition of breaking the wishbone :) And, he won! 

The most fun came the next day. No black Friday shopping for us! 

Instead, our family had tickets to go zip-lining for my daddy's birthday and we brought Abby and Abbas along with us!

Here we are signing our life away so we wouldn't sue anyone if we were injured or killed. Our poor friends didn't realized what they signed up for when they agreed to come home for the holidays with us! 

And before we went up for our first ride, our guide gave us nicknames: 

• Daddy was "Pumpkin"
• Mom was "Sunshine"
• Tyler was "Master of Disaster"
• Abbas was "Cupcake"
• Abby was "Zip Princess"
• I was "Buttercup" 

 
We all had a blast climbing staircases in trees, crossing suspended bridges and jumping about 10 ziplines. Some of them were as high as the treetops and we had to jump off of 4-story-towers, reaching speeds of up to 30 miles an hour!?! Also, did I mention that the only brake we had was our left hand!??!!!??? I wish I was joking :/

 I was a little bit legitimately scared when our guide asked who the youngest person was and it was me. He said that he always offered the youngest person of each group the best ride of the day.

I told him, how could I walk away from that? What it ended up being was riding tandem with him down the longest zip at top speeds of over 40 miles an hour and then he also bounced us up and down at the end.

First, though, he made me dangle over the edge :/

Then, he harnessed himself to me and we both took off at top-speed...

The deal was he would go as fast as he could if I would scream as loud as I could; we both held up on our end of the deal ;)

After 2 hours, we all escaped unscathed and had soooooo much fun! That's me with our super cool guides :)

It was indeed a Thanksgiving to remember :)

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So those were my 3 recent visits to Beaufort and part of the reason I've been so behind on my blogging. However, even in the midst of the holiday season, I'm hoping to stay a bit more on top of my blog...

I hope y'all had a great November filled with family, love, good food and fun as well!