Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hope you are all enjoying Christmas with family and friends. 

Love,

Joey and Lindsey

New Camera...

Equals lots of Blog updates (hopefully)!!

Yesterday made the rainy drive down to Capistrano Beach to visit the Higerd family. 

The girls have gotten SO big since we last saw them and we loved meeting the newest addition to the Higerd clan. 

Caroline still has Joey wrapped around her little finger. We watched from inside the warm house while the two of them played outside in the rain and mud. 

A perfect mixture of her parents...cute orange toenail polish and muddy feet. 

Annabelle preferred cuddling with her Dad inside. 

Mari...how did I end up without a picture with you in it?

Can't wait for these guys to move out here in a few months so we can spend a lot more time with them.

It's Here!

CHRISTMAS week!

And the Olsens are starting the week off right. 

Schmitke/Baker family Chocolate/White chocolate/Pistachio/Cranberry Bark.

And the Olsen family English Toffee (my first attempt this year, but I think it came out pretty well!)

We both work through Thursday and are hoping this week flies by so we can get up to Oregon with the family! 

Happy Christmas week to you! 

hot hot hot!

I had to take this picture yesterday on our way to visit Joey's grandma.

90 degrees in the middle of December!?!?!

 Enjoying wearing shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops for a few days before the cold hits again.

"Lazy Boy Lifts" and a prayer request

Today was a good one. I had a good day at work, came home and got a lot done around the house, and I decided I would get a good workout in before Joey came home. I popped in my workout dvd and did the warm up/stretching activities, when I reached around for our remote so I could turn the volume up and...

To the floor I fell....and stayed.  Awful back spasms and pain that I haven't felt in years.

Thank God that my sister lives so close. I was able to crawl over to the door to unlock it so she could come in and feed me motrin, make me a bed of ice, and keep me company while I was helpless on the floor until Joey got home from work. 

After almost three hours on the floor (I refused Joey's offers to take pictures for our blog), I finally made it up to an upright position. I have become SO incredibly thankful for the "Lazy-Boy Lift" chairs that we inherited from Joey's grandparents! I dont have to sit down or stand it, I just back right in and it does the work for me. SO great!!!

Enough about me :)

More importantly,

My dear friends Clint and Haley are going to meet their baby boy tomorrow for the first time. PLEASE keep them in your prayers! Haley's c-section is at 7 in the morning. Check out their blog to learn more about their little family. 

Meet Philippe

Our cute little Christmas tree. 

He is a little bit lopsided but I guess thats what you get when you buy a tree that is still wrapped up in the rope. We decided to take the risk and love our "special" tree. 

Our Christmas shopping is done. Christmas music is on. Christmas candles are lit. 

Christmas here we come! 

Our little chef

Myles came over tonight to help me make our pizza for dinner. He definitely took control and made us a great meal! 

And he was pretty precious while doing it. We are thankful we have such a cute little nephew. 

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving weekend this year with Joey's family in up in Dublin. We had a great weekend and are still feeling full from all of the amazing food! 

The Dunlops joined us for thanksgiving day, and the family (including max) enjoyed having Ruby around for her first thanksgiving. 

 Ruby checking out the wine before dinner. 

 Max checking out Ruby

Ruby is a little more comfortable with her Uncle by her side. 

Max giving her a check to make sure she is okay. 

Ruby and Max have become a lot more comfortable with each other.

Time for a little relaxing with her new friend. 

Jim and Renee with their amazing turkey!

Dinner time. 

Ruby enjoyed her first thanksgiving dinner...I promise. She really did! 

On friday evening we had the chance to go out wine tasting thelp celebrate Annie and Chris' engagement. Congrats to the two of you! 

Its here!

I love the holiday season. So glad that its here 

again! 

We had a thanksgiving feast with friends tonight and it was amazing! 

Pete carving the perfect Turkey that Holly made.

Our wonderful hosts. Thanks Berrys! 

Holly and her sweet 8 week old niece

Our entertainment for the evening... The Berry's and their nieces and nephew put on a play for us. Precious! 

We are both looking forward to Wed. night when we hop on a plane and head up to spend thanksgiving with the Olsens in Dublin! 

Hope the next few days go fast. 

What would I do without her?

Family crescent roll recipe + 9 (or more) phone calls later + Over 1 hour of video chatting + Kitchen Aid

=

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

Thanks Mom! Don't know what I would do without you!!!!

The best yet!

We just made the best ice cream creation yet. Its wonderful. 

Vanilla homemade ice cream with crushed dark chocolate covered Peppermint Joe Joe's. I told Joey we might have to  buy a ton of these and keep them in the freezer so whenever we crave this new favorite we will have it available. 

SO GOOD!!

We want more!

These people have been a big part of our lives for the past five months.

We (yes both of us) have shed many tears, laughed a lot, and felt like we have learned exactly what it would be like to work in the white house while we watched the 7 seasons of the West Wing. 

We will miss our political friends greatly.

I just cant get enough...

Of this cute little thing!!!

How precious is she? 

We had a great weekend with the Dunlop family. We ate. We shopped. We napped. We Kayaked. We blew raspberries. We relaxed. 

Found out that these great friends were around and got to have breakfast. So fun! 

The boys in their kayaking gear.

Relaxing with this cute one. 

Family time! 

Pumpkin patch

This corn maze was really hard. 

Great weekend. Great friends.

Taking it back....

Sometimes I love the rain (usually when I am at home on the couch in sweats). Recently I have been a little tired of teaching in the rain. The kids are crazy, I end up doing PE in hallways or any empty classroom I can find, and I am getting a little tired of being stuck inside! 

But, today was WONDERFUL! I explained to both my high school and middle school classes that we were having a "Take it back" to Elementary school day. They were a little hesitant at first, but once we started they absolutely loved it and asked to play again tomorrow....

Think Red Light-Green Light, Duck-Duck-Goose, Red Rover, Follow the leader, and tag. 

I wanted to take pictures because they were having so much fun, but I am pretty sure its not legal to put them online. 

Only one more day of work for us this week before time with family on Friday and then a quick getaway weekend. Hope we get to see some sun!

Palm Springs

This weekend in Palm Springs with Andy and Kateigh was a wonderful little getaway. We drove down on Saturday morning and spent the afternoon shopping at the best outlet mall ever, on the way to our hotel.

We went to the Mavericks vs. Suns preseason outdoor game on Saturday evening and had a great time!

We enjoyed our Sunday relaxing at the pool before heading home. It was a great way to spend a quick weekend away. 

Thank you Williams!!! 

Fun Fridays

I love my job. I get to have "fun fridays" at the end of every week. My kids love fridays and it makes that last day of the week so much easier! 

Today consisted of playing on the playground and with a parachute with my first two elementary school classes, a vote in my high school class for a game of "bucket baseball", a vote in my middle school class for some "krazy kickball" (a class favorite), and ending my day with this... 

Well...it looks a lot better when its blown up, but we had the huge air mat out for my last elementary school class to play with (sorry for the awful picture quality, it was taken on my phone).

Joey had his own "Fun Friday." He had today off, and from what I can tell he spent most of his (very much deserved) day playing this...

AND...

We are off to Palm Springs this weekend with the newlywed Williams and are very much looking forward to the weekend. Outlet shopping, swimming, games, good friends, and a preseason Mavericks vs. Suns game (hot dogs, nachos, and licorice ropes here we come!). 

Enjoy your weekend!

Lucky

Looks like a sweatpants and sweatshirt kind of day. 

And that is exactly what I wore to work today (plus a rain jacket and tennis shoes). 

I call myself LUCKY!!! 

Williams wedding

This weekend we attended the beautiful wedding of our friends Andy and Kateigh. 

Joey was in the wedding as a groomsman, and I got to take part in the festivities as the wedding coordinator for the ceremony. Everything went smoothly and it was an absolutely gorgeous! 

Once everything was set up it looked like it was straight out of a magazine. Beautiful (just like the bride and groom)!

Here are a few pictures from the event.