Enjoying our Simple Little Life

Holiday Greetings from Noblesville!!! Well, here we are about to celebrate our 2nd Christmas away from the only home we have ever known--Sunny SoCal! It has been snowing here off and on all week and weather forecasts predict a "White Christmas" in Indy this year... Unfortunately, we will be unable to frolic in the white stuff, as we will be spending Christmas in "Sweet Home Alabama" with Ryan's cousin Chris and his wife, Janet. Then it will be off to the beaches of Florida for some fishing fun! We can't wait! We LOVE to travel and see new places. We have both never been to Florida before!Here is a pic of my car covered in the white stuff...moral of the story is that I should've parked in the garage!!! When your windshield gets iced over, you have to scrape and scrape with a handy dandy ice scraper! I'm not going to lie...IT SUCKS!!! One of our kiddos LOVES the snow...
The other one- NOT SO MUCH!!! He prefers to be bundled up in the garage while we are out and about in the front yard. Having snow requires shoveling- but that is a good thing....How else will we get a workout in this kind of weather??? After shoveling comes the salt...Trust me you do NOT want to slip and fall on your bum!
Then comes the fun part...enjoying the magic of winter! This is a HIDEOUS pic of us...fresh out of bed! We still wake up and whoever gets out of bed first goes "Yay, it's snowing!!!" or "Come look outside- it snowed last night...Let's go play in it!!!"As you can see, the snow is starting to pile up. Here is a shot of this morning's fresh powder... Our happy snow doggie :) Our cul-de-sac...snow is soooo much more enjoyable when it occurs on your Christmas Vacation and you do not have to stress over driving in it :)We LOOOOOOVE it!!! I hope it is still snowy when Erin and Kel get here for New Year's! Yes, two of our VERY BEST friends are flying in from California to ring in 2010 with us and we can't wait!!!! Nothing SCREAMS Christmas more than a blanket of snow covering the front yard! It was Kristin's 30th birthday in late November and all of us girls have been sooooo busy with the holidays approaching that we had to wait a few weeks until we were all able to do something special for her. Here we are getting pedicures- After all, what girl doesn't like to be pampered?? From back to front- Sabrina, Liz, me and Kristin :)

The birthday girl!!! Kristin is such a sweet person...she is a nurse, a mom, a wife and a great friend with a very genuine heart. We are very lucky to have her in our lives :)

Cheeeeeeese :) An evening of pampering would not be complete without toting along the youngest lil' beauty!!! Here is Elise and her mommy... Sabrina doting over the lil' princess-As you can clearly see, the poor child gets absolutely NO attention from anyone...heehee :) Ahhhhhh....a girl could get used to this! The finished products.... I have the "Colts Toes." I have to support our undefeated, record setting team!!! Go Blue!!! After our pedicures, we headed over to Red Robin for her birthday dinner. Kristin was so cute!!! She was sooooo embarrassed when the servers sang to her :) Happy Birthday to you... What a fun night!!! Liz,the 2nd youngest at 26 (Lisa- not pictured is the baby of the group) asked Kristin if turning 30 felt different. She said not really, but that it did remind her that she was getting older. Don't worry girl- I'm joining Club 30 with you in May! You won't have to suffer your 3rd decade of existence alone ;) When we got home, we joined some of the guys in an intense game of Texas Hold'Em in our loft... Here are Brian and Eric trying to "play their cards right...." Sabrina and Brian... Me and Ry Guy...like my Colts wine glass??? Hand painted by yours truly :) The next time I blog will probably be in January. Ryan and I would like to wish all of our family and friends a VERY Merry Christmas!!! We love all of you soooo much~Life is NOTHING without a loving family and good friends. As our world continues to become more superficial and corrupt, please take time to reflect on the true meaning of the holiday season. Remember to be thankful for all the blessings that have been given to you!!! Until next time...xo

Perfectly Progressive Christmas Countdown...

Well, we FINALLY received our first snow...not a whole lot- just enough to cover the ground and look festive ! I love the snow so much! It makes everything look clean and pretty. The thing we have to be careful with is "Black Ice." If it rains and then freezes, an invisible sheet of ice will form on the asphalt causing our cars to slip and slide all over the place. I had my first experience with black ice last Monday. I spun out into a field near our house. I was okay, but it was scary!

This week was such a blast! First I want to start off with congratulating our Indianapolis Colts for setting the NFL record for the most consecutive wins in a regular season!!! Woo-Hoo!!! Here are Liz and Elise posing in their Colt's gear :) Gangstas Sabrina and Brian...LOL Me and Lisa :) Baby Elise watching the game-She is definitely the cutest and littlest Colts fan :) Ryan and I never watched football until we moved to Indy...I swear, football is a way of life out here. Sunday is football time- it is an expectation that you WILL watch the game. People even wear their jerseys to church...IT IS CRAZY!!! After the game, these cuties came knocking on Eric and Liz's door...Christmas Carolers!!! It was the most adorable thing EVER!!! We NEVER had carolers come to our houses in California as kids or adults...It was so cool to see everyone in the holiday spirit! On Thursday night, we had our first annual Progressive Dinner with our neighbors. We had originally called ourselves the "BLERBS," (which was an acronym we had made with our initials), but our group has grown, so now we call ourselves the "Rowdie Bushes" (after the name of our subdivision, Roudebush Farms). Here is a picture of our kitchen island prepped and ready to go the night before our big celebration....

So what is a Progressive Dinner? It starts out at one house, and you move on to the next house and then the next house, and so forth for each course of the meal until you are finished. Since we hang out with our neighbors ALL the time, we thought this would work out great!

We started the evening out at Zach and Kristin's house, where we had appetizers and drinks...

Zach and Kristin :)

Here is Zach and Kristin's tree...Here is everyone leaving Zach and Kristin's en route to Brian and Sabrina's...

"The ants go marching one by one hurrah, hurrah....." Brian and Sabrina's house... We ate salad and bread at the Gilbert house... Here is Brian and Sabrina's tree... Yum!!!

Me and Lisa :)

Brian and Sabrina :)

Mmmmmmm...Good Friends, Good Food, Good Wine- Doesn't get any better than that! After we finished our salad, we were all on our way to the Beckner house for the main course... Liz and Eric's dining room...Since Liz is home on maternity leave, she graciously volunteered to make the main course of our dinner...ham, scalloped potatoes and green beans! Not to sell Eric short, he made his grandma's homemade noodles for us to enjoy... Eric and Liz's tree... Having a great time... Liz and Elise in her "First Christmas" Santa hat :) Eric, Liz and Elise :) All the girls: Sabrina, me, Liz, Lisa and Kristin :) Cheers!

Yum-Yum!!!After our fabulous dinner, it was off to Steave and Lisa's for dessert...

Steave and Lisa's tree...

Steave and Lisa :)

It was delicious! We had apple pie and chocolate turtle pie...

Last but not least, we were off to our house for after-dinner drinks and the gift exchange... It STILL cracks me up that ALL 5 couples have the SAME floor plan and 3 couples have the SAME outside elevation...

Me and Ry :)Ryan made hot buttered rum for everyone- After sipping our piping hot goodness, we congregated into our living room to do the gift exchange... Layne :) Ryan :) Sabrina :) Liz and cuite pie Elise :) Our dinner was a success and hopefully a tradition we can carry out in years to come... On Friday night, Ryan and I went to my work Christmas party. It was held at our custodian Edmundo's family restauraunt called "Spuds." There was a White Elephant gift exchange where Ryan won this "Beer Snuggie" blanket...Well, actually I stole it back for him because he just HAD to have it- LOL I have some really sweet co-workers at my new school, but I still miss my friends at Bear Valley soooooo much!!!. Here I am with my friend Laura (Special Ed teacher), Blaire (Title 1 teacher), Erin (Speech Therapist) and me. Well, we only have one more week of work to go and then we have made it to Christmas Break!!! The time off is the BEST part of our profession! I can't wait to spend 2 weeks relaxing with my love... Until next time...xo