Christmas in Maryland 2008

my mom made me a t-shirt quilt using all my t-shirts from college. i love it!

the Lyons men

hanging with Grandpa

My brother and parents flew out to Maryland to spend the holidays with us this year. Again we played a lot of games and ate a lot :) We were able to spend Christmas Eve with Jordan's mom (Julie), brother (Logan) and grandparents which was fun. Christmas day was spend at our house and Julie, Logan and Grandmom and Pop came over. We ate egg casserole and homemade cinnamon rolls (courtesy of Sam) for breakfast before opening gifts. On a side note: Jordan and I have been completely obsessed with the movie Twilight, so for christmas she got me a Twilight calender and made me a collage of Twilight pictures. I bought her a Twilight puzzle. Hehe, I'm not ashamed to admit how much I love this movie and the books! We've seen the movie 5 times.... Anyway, back to the main topic: Christmas. My parents gave Nick Guitar Hero for Christmas so naturally we had to play it immediately :) that is an awesome game! It was so nice to spend the week with my family and I'm very glad they were able to make it out here. It was weird not being in IL but at least we were all together and that's the most important thing.

Thanksgiving in Illinois 2008

Hanging with Grandma

checking out the christmas tree

Mac and Uncle Sam

all of us right after we picked out our christmas tree!!!

-----Yes, I am still alive. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not very good about keeping up with the consistant bloggage :) Anyhoo, these past few months have been very eventful! At the end of November, Nick, Jordan, Mac and I all flew home to spend Thanksgiving with my parents. We stayed in IL for a week and had a wonderful time! We definitely watched A LOT of movies, played A LOT of cards, slept A LOT and ate A LOT of food. I was able to go up to Olivet and spend the day with a few of my friends who are still undergrads there. It was so great to be back on campus, I almost felt like a true college student again. I miss it sometimes... :)

D.C.!!!

This past weekend, my friend Maggie and I drove up to Washington D.C. and spent the night in the city. I had so much fun! We arrived downtown around 2:30 on Sunday afternoon and for the next few hours, we walked around and did a lot of sightseeing. We saw the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Monument, World War 2 Memorial and Vietnam Memorial Wall, among other things. It was all so amazing! I felt very proud and blessed to have the opportunity to be in the nation's capitol, the weekend before the election. The next day, we didn't do as much sightseeing, but we did go to the Holocaust Museum, which was unlike anything I have ever seen. Very surreal and emotional. After that, we grabbed lunch at a local vendor and then headed home. It was a short and busy weekend, but I had so much fun sightseeing and exploring the city with Maggie!
nighttime view of Lincoln Memorial

Maggie and I in front of the Capitol Building

Honest Abe

part of the World War 2 Memorial

Washington Monument

not so good picture of the White House

I love fall.

on our way to Philly

On the wall in the Consitution Center

Betsy Ross's house

Liberty Bell

Old City Hall


Independence Hall

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Philly to visit Maggie, my best friend from high school. She has been a travel nurse for the past year and her most recent assignment has been in Philadelphia, which is about an hour from me, which has been awesome! We've been able to hang out for about 5 or 6 weekends so that's been great, especially since she's leaving at the beginning of December :( During my second visit to the city, we went and visited the historical section of the city, which conveniently is about two blocks from where Maggie's apartment building is. I had a great time hanging with her and sightseeing!

Nick as a Bears "super fan"

McCarthy, as a Bears player, the "Ice Chip"

Me, as a flapper girl, Jordan, as a Bears cheerleader and Ginny, as a gangster

These are some pics from our friends' halloween party last weekend. We had a lot of fun! This was the first time in a very LONG time that I have dressed up for halloween so it was really fun to have a costume. I'm already looking forward to next year!

I absolutely love this picture of Mac. I love how you can see the reflection somewhat in his eyes and I think his expression is precious. Oh how I love this child! I will update hopefully tomorrow about our adventures this past weekend!

a case of the giggles

On Sunday after church, I hung out in the car with McCarthy while Julie shopped at a local store. He was in a VERY good mood and I soon learned that I could make him laugh when I said the word "uh-oh" in a quick, high-pitched voice. Well, his little giggle-fest was so cute that I just had to record for all of you readers out there. This is by far the most laughing that I've seen him do at any given moment. Enjoy! :)

UGH

It's the worst feeling when you have to go back to work after a long four day weekend. Am I right? I'm right. After work today we're going to meet up with Jordan's brother and pick our draft for our Fantasy Football league. THIS should be interesting. I'll write more later. Also, please feel free to leave comments so I know who's reading the blog. Thanks! :)

Fun in the sun

This past weekend, Nick, Jordan, Mac, myself, Julie (Jordan's mom) and Grandmom and Pop all headed to Rehoboth Beach, DE for the weekend for some good ol' relaxation and soakage of the sun. Grandmom and Pop own a trailor/beach house about 1o minutes from the beach. It's an amazing little place and I sure am thankful that we can stay there and not worry about spending gobs of money at one of the local inns. Grandmom and Pop are so kind and generous. Anyway, so we were able to head to the beach every day that we were there, which was amazing! I can even proudly admit that I acquired a pretty decent tan while I was there :) Before we left for the beach, Nick, Jordan and I all ran to the library and checked out a "few" books to entertain ourselves while at the beach. I saw "few" very lightly....between the three of us, we checked out about 20 books, no joke! We take our reading very seriously. It was simply amazing, lying out in the sand, feeling the cool breeze and listening to the crashing waves. I know that sounds a little cheesy, but it's true! I love the beach! I immensely enjoyed watching McCarthy's reaction to the water and waves, he seemed to be ok with it most of the time. During a few of our nights there, we walked along the boardwalk by the beach and browsed all of the cute little shops and stands. There is such a great diversity of objects offered there and it's so much fun to window shop. Our last night at the boardwalk, Nick, Jordan and I went to Funland, which is this huge arcade. It brought me back to my childhood trips to Chuck-ee Cheese (or however you spell it). Anyway, I played a couple of games of Skee-Ball (oh how I love that game) and I won a little stuffed dog for McCarthy. I'm not going to lie, I was quite pleased with myself, for I hardly ever win anything at those things.

Needless to say, I was not really looking forward to coming back to work on tuesday, but one must make a living so I didn't really have a choice :) This week has gone by pretty fast, I can't believe tomorrow is Friday! Tomorrow after work, all of my co-workers and I are going to a local Japenese restaurant for a staff get-together and then Nick, Jordan, Mac and I are going over to a friend's house afterwards to hang out and watch movies. I'm very excited. On saturday, I'm going to turn in a few resumes, work apps., and then it's off to the birthday party of a child who's in my class. Then on sunday, it's church and then lunch with a few friends. I'm very excited for the weekend!

My Brother

This is a picture of me and my "little" brother Nick. We're only 361 days apart and have been pretty close for as long as I can remember. We went through grade school, jr. high, high school and even part of college together. He's been there for me through alot and I love him dearly.

Almost four weeks ago, he became very sick and had huge migraines. When they weren't getting any better, his wife Jordan took him to the hospital where they found a blood clot in a major vein that ran along his brain and he was transported to a larger hospital in Delaware. I can't begin to tell you how frightened I was. I was scared out of my mind during most of his stay at the hospital. He was there for two weeks, in and out of pain, and they found two additional clots as well. I struggled a lot during this time with trusting in God that he would take care of my brother. I know that he his a God of healing and miracles and I just had to have faith that Nick would be ok. I have to admit that this wasn't an easy thing to do, as I had to keep myself from thinking of the worst.

God remained faithful and Nick did come home. He's had double vision ever since, which we've found out is a result of one of his veins being swollen which is pinching his optic nerve. However, yesterday, he didn't have to wear his eye patch at all in the morning until sometime later that day, which is awesome!! I'm so glad that his eyesight is improving. Each day gets a little better and I couldn't ask for more. Please continue to keep him in your prayers though. Praise God for his continued recovery!!

BBQ Fest

Yesterday, Nick, Jordan and I along with our good friends Ginny (she works at the center with us), her husband Peter and their son Xander (he's in my class at the center) all went into Bel Air where there was Maryland's BBQ Tour. Now, I've never been to a BBQ fest before so I didn't know quite what to expect. Apparently, BBQ makers and extrordinaires come from all over the state to compete for the best quality BBQ. When we got there, there where dozens of vendors set up and let me tell you, the smells were DELICIOUS. It was kind of overwhelming at first because there are all of these vendors and you don't know which food to try. Well, we chose the stand with the shortest line (that should have tipped us off right there). Nick and I got a brisket sandwhich and Jordan got a pulled pork sandwhich. All were $7 a piece. Well, the sandwhiches were so so. The brisket had a lot of fat on it, which I really dislike. All in all, they were ok, but not for $7, but that's just my opinion :) After we ate, we went and looked at the craft stands which were a little ways from the BBQ vendors. I liked looking at all of the cute purses, jewelry and candles, etc. Jeez, I'm such a girl. This made me homesick for all of the flea markets back home. We had a really good time. Afterwards, Ginny, Jordan, the kids and I all went shopping while Nick and Pete went to Barnes & Noble. I was able to find a pair of jeans for $20 at AE, a pair of shorts for $14 at New York & Company and two shirts and a zip up hoodie for $14 at Old Navy. Yay for sales! I was quite pleased with myself. This week we will be working 7:30-6 Monday through Thursday and then we are off to the beach through Monday!! I'm so excited!!!

More Mac

He sure does love his grandparents!!! The picture at the top is him lounging on the quilt his Grammi Lyons made him, and the picture just above is of him in his "Grandpa is my Hero" one-zie. We love you Grandma and Grandpa Lyons!!!! :)

a moment with my Buddy

I Freaking Love This Kid....

....I've known him for four months now and still can't stop getting used to him. Everyday he has a new facial expression or does something that is so gosh darn cute or funny. I just can't get enough of him! Oh how I love my Little Buddy. I know I'm predjudiced but he is the most beautiful baby in the world to me!