"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"

Sweet Pea, Apple of My Eye

Lima Bean Stevenson

Due on or around September 27, 2011

Brent and I saw the squirmy little gummy bear today and heard the baby's heartbeat.  We are beyond thrilled to finally make this announcement.  Thank you to all who have supported us on this journey to becoming parents - we can now officially say that it's begun!   



A Great February Week

This last week has been wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!  Brent's new boss was cool with him taking our Cancun vacation that we booked back in September, despite the fact that he had only worked there two weeks before leaving on vacation.  Sidebar: Brent's job is going well so far and he really likes the people in his new office.  Just in case you were curious how it is going.  :)   

Before we left on vacation, Brent and I worked like dogs getting our house ready to list.  As we left for the airport at 4:00 a.m. Monday morning, I sent a very satisfying email to our realtor to say it was finally ready for pictures.  She replied back at 5:59, had the photographer there that morning, and listed the house by the next morning.  We've already had an open house and there's a showing scheduled tomorrow morning.  Lord, please let it sell fast.  I'm not used to maintaining a house this clean.

We had been looking forward to this vacation with our friends Jay and Christi for quite some time, and it did not disappoint!  We stayed four nights at the Secrets Capri in Playa del Carmen.  It was a very nice resort and we had such a relaxing week.  I won't go through the day by day activities with you, because every day was like this:


6:30 - We take turns sacrificing a little sleep to reserve four lounge chairs by the pool.  I kid you not, by 7:30 all the lounges were gone.  Insane.

7:00 - 8:30 - The boys run, we all do yoga, and/or everyone but Lindsey is up and getting around for the day.


9:00ish - Buffet breakfast.  Definitely the best meal of the day.

9:30 - 1:00 - No one moves from their pool lounge, unless the service happened to be a little slow (which it seldom was) and we had to go up to the bar ourselves.

1:00 - Lunch at the Cactus Club. Boys consume mass quantities of fish tacos.


1:45 - 4:00 - More lounging.  Lindsey and Brent retreat under the umbrella by this point in the day.

4:00 - 6:30 - Working out, playing ping-pong, showering.


6:30 - 10:00 - Dinner, drinks, cards in the lounge. 

Lather, rinse, repeat...four days in paradise.  Thanks for a great trip, friends!!
 

Bonnie stayed at the Lucky Dog Retreat while we were gone.  This is the place I take her occasionally for daycare, and as part of the boarding price she got to play with the other dogs from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. before turning in for the night.  She is absolutely exhausted, as expected.  I love the people at Lucky Dog and think they take such great care of my dog.  They always seem happy to see her arrive (perhaps a show?) and tell me they love having her. 

This next week is the week when I become a better blogger.  I promise...but don't hold me to it. 

 
 

My grandma sent me a sweater.

And now Mom can find me in all the sleet/ice/snow/general winter depression in our yard and driveway.

Thanks, Grandma! 

Any Baby-sitter's Club Fans Out There?

I stumbled upon this Where Are They Now article today and I can't stop laughing.  It makes me want to go out and buy the entire set just to have them again.  The Super Specials were my favorite.

One Long Afternoon of HGTV

My cousin, Megan, and I were texting back and forth a couple of weeks ago and discussing our move when she said, "Your life is like one big episode of HGTV right now!". So true. I was planning on doing a really cutesy post comparing our life to different home improvement shows, but since I've only done one post thus far in January it's probably best to just give a no-flare update before things get any crazier here!

Brent and I spent the long weekend in Denver to find a place to live. We looked at ten houses, two apartments, and drove 370 miles (and never left the Denver metro area). By the time we were waiting in the Dallas airport during a three hour layover, we had made the decision to go with a short term lease at an apartment in Golden. It has an attached garage and is right next to several running trails, plus it's quite a bit cheaper than any of the houses we looked at.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we have been frantically trying to get our house ready to list. The goal is to have it done by next weekend, but we'll see. A stager came to our house last Monday and didn't leave until we had a list of 85 things to change/improve. I wish I was kidding. There were a few things that we crossed off right away with a big NO WAY, like replace the kitchen countertops, kitchen sink, and bathtub upstairs. The other 82 things are in progress. I'm trying to take before and after pictures of each room, so I'll post those as soon as we get a room finished!

That's a very quick update, but I'll try to be a better blogger in the coming weeks!

2011 - The Year without Resolution

A wise woman once told me that everything about how I looked on my wedding day was perfect - because my hair, make-up, and dress all were "me", just a little more glam.  She said I had created the best version of myself that day. 

This year, I am not holding myself to any resolutions except for this one thing - create the best version of myself.

The things that create your best self are fairly simple, and it's the convergence of all of these things that create a sparkly, classy you.

So here's what I plan to do this year to make 2011 the year of being the best Lindsey I can be:

1. Center myself in God - giving up my worries, being thankful for His blessings, and asking for His guidance.
2. Keep everything simple.   
3. Be pleasant even when I don't feel like it, and not so hard on people for their stupid choices.
4. Get at least 30 minutes of exercise 4-5 times a week - and it doesn't have to be running. 
5. Respond to email/messages immediately.
6. Less time on Facebook and The Bump - more time reading thoughtful articles and the news.
7. Be more attentive to family and friends - send birthday cards, celebrate accomplishments, and provide support.

I can think of more ways to create my best self, but the list is getting a little long as it is, and the whole point is to keep it simple.  I'm taking a little break from the Life List this year, but I'm at least bound to knock off two more Presidential Libraries - Truman and Eisenhower - that are located on I-70 between here and Denver. 

Happy 2011, blog readers!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

I love the preparation of Christmas and all the events that lead up to Christmas Eve and the actual day.  Even though we usually don't take any vacation days during the holidays, work is way more relaxed during those two weeks, which makes it worth it to save the time off for other times of the year.

'Twas The Weekend Before Christmas...
The first event of Christmas week this year was seeing Wicked on Friday the 17th with Lana.  I have always been waiting to see it on Broadway, but since I have no New York plans in the works for probably a long, long time I decided to see it while the show was in town.  I'm glad I didn't wait any longer!  Loved it.

The next day we went to Effingham for Christmas with Mom's side of the family.  Between that night and Sunday afternoon we saw everyone except for one of my mom's brothers and his family.  It was great to be together!

Tiny hats for Snowmen cupcakes - tiny hat for Lori. 

Grandpa wrangles the terrier so the wee ones can open presents without a dog in their faces.

MaMa got a Dyson from all of us.  Several family members were involved in the unwrapping/set-up of the gift...

Using the Dyson box as a pretend drum.

Landon trying it out...

Michael gives it a spin...

The Evolution of the Cousin Picture:

2010



1983

Jaime, Megan, Lindsey, and Michael

Cousin Picture - the 2nd generation:

Landon, Grant, and the brand new Harper Isabella

 

Christmas Eve...

Brent and I stayed put on Christmas Eve because we wanted to go to the midnight service at our own church, plus traveling early in the morning on Christmas Day is less hectic than heading north the day before with everyone else in Indy.  I made a Wake-Up Casserole and yummy Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls the night before and we had a great breakfast on Christmas Eve.

We opened presents from each other after breakfast.  I got an iPad and Brent opened up several of his race medals that I had engraved with his times, plus other random things like a cordorouy blazer and Dockers, an ID tag for his running shoes, and a Netflix subscription.

Christmas Day...

We had Christmas lunch at the Stevensons and then went to Kendallville for supper.  Neighbors Cathy and Mike joined us for dinner and Pounce.  It was a very excellent Christmas Day!  No pictures were taken, sadly. 

Week Between Christmas and NYE...

We worked all week, but we had dinner plans three of the five nights this week...so that was fun!  We're trying to eat at all our Indianapolis favorites this month before Brent leaves for Denver, so our Tuesday night dinner with the Sinders was at Scotty's.  I'm really, really going to miss Scotty's, among many other things.

We took Larry and Diane out to dinner at Oceanaire on Thursday night as part of their Christmas gift.  We gave them a "date night" of sorts - dinner followed by one of the last showings of Wicked. 

NYE...

New Year's Eve 2011 (or is it 2010?) was a great one!  We ate at Michael's with the Sinders, then Lindsay and Craig joined us for games and to watch the ball drop.  Brent and I didn't go to bed until 3:30 this morning.  I could not even tell you the last time that happened!  I can already tell that 2011 is going to rock! 

Please notice where our obnoxious dog is laying.  Seriously, she is just too much.  I don't know any other way to describe it.

NYD...

We didn't exactly roll out of bed at the crack of dawn today, as you can imagine.  Mom and Dad came down this afternoon and we went to Bub's Burgers to have a Big Ugly Burger.  Brent was considering doing two, but ended up just eating one since he didn't run this morning.  I had only had the quarter pounder because my pants are a little tight and I may as well start the New Year's Detox now.  

Ugly Never Looked So Good.

We came back to watch the Rose Bowl (thus ending the Big Ten Bowl Pounding of the 2010 season) and hang out.  Here's Bonnie in her "Mom and Grandma Sandwich of Love".  Mom made that up, not me. 

The True Meaning of Christmas...

The holiday season is meant to be a time to reflect and relax, be thankful for the blessings of the passing year, and look ahead to what will come in the next.  The message at our Christmas Eve service so simply put the hope of Christmas into words for me.

Jesus came to us to be a light in the darkness.  The light does not make the darkness disappear, but the darkness cannot extinguish the light by itself.  Go into the world and shine your light.