Christmas, Cookout and Colts

This week we received some surprises in the mail. First, we received these AWESOME Angel Santa hats!!! My Mom sent them to us~ She also sent our Christmas present early....a new digital camera!!! Yay! It will be perfect to snap pics of the upcoming holiday and festivities... This week, Ryan was toying with our new camera and thinking...hmmmm, I want to have a bar-be-que with our neighbors. I would really like to try out my new smoker and smoke some baby back ribs.. So on Saturday night, we had Liz, Eric, Brian, Steave and Lisa over for dinner. Sabrina had to work and Zach and Kristin already had plans...but that's what so great about having so many neighbors close by~ we ALWAYS have someone to hang out with!Liz spent the last 2 weeks in Chicago with her family. Since she is on Maternity leave, she stayed in Illinois to visit with her mom and dad. Eric drove back to Indy after Thanksgiving to return to work. Liz just got back on Saturday... Elise is getting SOOOO big!!! She is NOT a fan of my camera. :(Awwwww our little lovebirds! Steave and Lisa are getting married in May. We are all going to Nashville for their Bachelor and Bachelorette parties! They are sooooooo cute! This picture looks familiar...LOL :) I think I have a picture similar to this in each of our kitchens! It is like the "Trademark " picture of Noblesville, Indiana. Here is Ryan grilling brauts and chicken. On the other side, he is smokin' the ribs... Mmmmmmm....D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!!! On Sunday, we were very fortunate to be able to go to the Colt's game. Ryan and I chaperoned 15 students from my school, along with my co-worker, Casey. Here is a pic of the lil' rug-rats posing in front of a Colts truck on display at Lucas Oil Stadium. Here we are posing with the field in the background before the game... Ryan and his co-worker, Eric Here is a pic of me and my neighbor, Brian... (2 kids did not show up for the field trip, so we had 2 extra tickets at the last minute. My principal told us we could invite our friends so the tickets wouldn't go to waste...as you can imagine, Brian and Eric were more than happy to take those tickets off our hands...heehee). Our seats were high, but we had a great view of the field. It was so fun!!! The stadium got REALLY loud!!! Football fans are CRAZY I tell ya! Half-Time show... The Colts played the Tennessee Titans. They won their 12th straight game of the season!!!! 12-0 BABY...WOOOOO-HOOOOO!!! I am hoping one day soon to see a 2010 World Champions flag!!!

GO COLTS!!!

Until next time...xo

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

We hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for...our family, our friends (both Mid-West and West Coast), home, health and most importantly each other! We were fortunate to have family visit this year. Ryan's parents (Terry and Carol) flew in the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and stayed with us until Sunday. Ryan made the Alton Brown "Good Eats" turkey again this year. Here he is pulling the bird out of a brine. Ryan's father is looking on in the background... Ryan soaked the bird in a brine made with vegetable broth, sugar, salt, black peppercorns and all-spice berries for over 12 hours... Here was our food before the "great" transformation...Ryan put the turkey in the oven mid-morning...While we were waiting, we bundled up and went on a walk. Unfortunately our walk was short-lived as the drizzle got the best of us...We decided that the warm living room was a much better place to hang out while the turkey was a roastin'...Ryan and his dad were in charge of the bird. Carol and I made the sides...Here is a pic of Terry and Ryan carving the birdHere is a picture of Carol making green bean casserole... YUMMY!!!We had rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, yams, corn casserole, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, stuffing, turkey and Aunt Karen's mac and cheese....DELICIOUS!!!! Here is our holiday spread...Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
The day after Thanksgiving, we drove to Downtown Indianapolis for the "Circle of Lights" ceremony. Every year, the War Monument is decorated to look like a tree. There is a big celebration during the lighting...Christmas was in the air!!!! Even this lab got into the holiday spirit!Happy Holidays! There was a stage set up at the base of the monument for singers and performers to entertain everyone...While we were waiting for evening to set in, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings and ate dinner... After we finished, we walked down the street toward the monument. As you can see, the streets were already starting to fill....It was chilly, but we had hot cocoa to keep us warm and toasty :) Here it is all lit up!!! YAY!!!

BEAUTIFUL.... Christmas "Indy" Style... Going to the Festival of Lights, motivated us to decorate our own house. Here is Ryan and his mom ringing in some holiday cheer by decorating our lil' Charlie Brown tree... We decided to put the tree in the dining room, so it can be seen from our front window. Ta-Da!!! We really wanted a real tree, but will have to wait until next year, as we will be in the Sunshine state...not California people!!!! Florida to be exact. We will be spending time with Ryan's cousin Chris and his wife, Janet over our Christmas Break...

I changed out our flower boxes from orangy autumn-colored flowers, to Christmas foliage...

We still have not had any snow this fall/winter...In fact, on Saturday, the temps almost reached 60 degrees~ But don't worry, as soon as we get some of the white stuff, we'll let you know!!! Until next time...xo

Oh so Thankful...

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It is a time for all of us to reflect back on all things we are grateful for. This year, I am thankful for many things. The first and most important one being my husband. Ryan is such a wonderful person. He is patient, loving and just an all-around good guy. I am thankful we were able to sell our home in California and move to Indy. We really love it here. It was the right move for us. Being able to experience the seasons and wide open spaces has really been a blessing...We went to Kroger this weekend to get all of our food for Thursday's feast. Ryan's parents are flying out and we are thrilled to be able to spend some quality time together. We are both so thankful for our friends and families. Not a day goes by that we do not think about all of you!!!Here is Ryan pushing the cart of goodies...Our pantry is filled to the brim with Thanksgiving goodness...Do you see all those cans of vegetable broth??? Yep, Ryan is going to make that Alton Brown turkey again! I think I have mentioned before that Ryan is OBSESSED with the show Good Eats.

Here is our bird chillin' in the fridge awaiting its Thanksgiving debut... I ended up changing the new window coverings I bought last weekend...Our living room felt like a theater...too "drapey" for my liking. I ended up going to Target (the ONLY store out of the seven I went to last weekend that I did not go to for window coverings- go figure)!

I found EXACTLY what I was looking for. These striped valances are MUCH better- simple and more color. My abrupt change in decor made me think of my mom...that is sooooo something she would do. Haha :) Ryan and I spent most of the weekend cleaning...I'm talking HEAVY DUTY- vacuuming, dusting, bathrooms, oven, baseboards, laundry, mopping, windows...you name it, we did it! Ahhhhh...I don't know what I love more- the clean house or the fact that my hubby helped me clean it. I'm telling you, the man's a gem!

I was able to get away for a few hours to hit the movie theater with the girls. It was "New Moon" weekend. Lisa and I went to the movie to hang with our friends. Sabrina and Liz went because they are Twilight ADDICTS... I thought it was better than the first movie, but I still don't get what all the hype is about!Lastly I am thankful for Fall smells and flavors...hazelnut, gingerbread, cinnamon, pumpkin- I love them all!!! Here I am holding a pumpkin spice shake from Culver's- a local burger joint...

Until next time...xo