Holiday

I love, love, love vacation time :) In fact, this has been the first time Daryl and I have had "vacation" time (not just weekends which are great) off since we've been married. It has been a BLAST!

To start things off we had my grandparents and parents over for dinner. This was an extreme challenge for me as my grandmother has been a domestic guru - yes, guru, for years, and they eat foods Daryl and I don't typically cook.

Daryl is a pie connoisseur, so he did that. Want to see?

BEFORE

AFTER :) mmm

And I made my first stuffed roasted chicken. I would like to say everything went smoothly, but the chicken took about 45 minutes longer to cook than my recipe said. Oops. Thankfully everyone seemed to have a good time and after eating the pie, I don't think anyone minded the wait. Here we are, four generations (one is invisible to the eye, and if I were you, I would be thankful for that)...

Then on Friday Daryl and I packed up and headed to Columbus, Ohio to see the Newsboys in concert. I bought the tickets LONG, LONG ago because he mentioned at Kingsfest he would like to see them alone in concert and I wanted to get good seats at a place semi-close to us.

Packing was an adventure because shirts I had fit into just fine the week before now looked quite silly. I had a breakdown in our closet. Simon told Daryl and he had to come console me! (Lucky me - he encouraged me to go shopping!!!!! Hee hee)

Regarding our little mini-trip, he was super excited, and so was I! We had booked a hotel for the night because in the morning we were driving to my brother and sister-in-laws in Richmond to help them move to DC.

We really enjoyed the hotel, but unfortunately we arrived at the 7pm starting concert at 9:15pm because of a huge wreck that leaked some toxin all over I-70. By the time we got into the concert they had about 4 songs left. So much for our great seats :)

It was actually incredibly humorous and I didn't mind not being there very long. We actually skipped out right before the last song because the bass was SO intense I was a little worried about Baby Reynolds. Over protective already, I know, but you always hear those stories about how when things with weak hearts get really scared...well...you know.

Anyways, here's a picture of Daryl outside the hotel the following morning.



At least they had continental breakfast :)

Then it took like 8 hours to get to my brothers. GPS said we had "2 hours left" 3 different times that I checked in the span of 5 hours. That was interesting. Thankfully Cabellas was on the way and there were plenty of Sheetz. We stopped more often than usual :)

We had a BLAST with Jarod and Kadie and can I just say that when people have a moving company involved it is MUCH easier?

Jarod and Daryl took things down in the old house, fixed stuff up, etc.

Kadie and Lauren after a hard days work at Babies R Us, Motherhood Maternity, Coscos, and Firebirds. :) Daryl encouraged me to shop, remember?

Daryl and Lauren after helping clean up the old place. Unfortunately the new place kept us much more busy - unpacking, washing dishes, folding linens, directing movers, etc, so I didn't take any pictures. We left them with still quite a mess but both of their parents are in now, so I think they'll be just fine.

Daryl and I were delirious by the time we drove home! I'm sure we spent more than a day in the car total by the time we came home! We listened to more 80's music than I ever want to listen to again, laughed harder than we ever had before, and enjoyed John Piper sermon's as always (can I just say that the more I hang out with my husband the more I want to hang out with him? God is so good!).

Anyways, we came home and since then have been sleeping, eating, sleeping, watching football and old movies, sleeping, and decorating for Christmas...

Dad and Daryl carrying in our FIRST Christmas tree together and the first one Daryl's had since living at home!

Lauren - I wasn't sitting sideways, I just can't figure out how to turn this thing - decorating at 1am after having to run to Wal-Mart for more ornament hooks and a tree topper. We didn't find a tree topper we liked yet, but here's our tree so far (also sideways)....


Trying to get a family picture after Thanksgiving dinner with at my extended families....Daryl didn't quite make it in this one!


EVERYONE! Unfortunately it's blurry and Simon wouldn't look at the camera (he doesn't understand that he's supposed to be posing), but that's as good as it gets with a tripod!

Yesterday we spent the day registering at Babies R Us which was also HUGE FUN! We were pretty much clueless except from a few helpful tips from friends - btw, I love to see Titus 2 in action through my friends - they have given me such AWESOME practical advice and we are SO grateful!

Anyways, we literally went through one section of the store (there were 3) and decided we needed a break. We took our "faser" (which Daryl being a sci-fi fan loved that it was named) up to the counter and said, "can we go and come back in like an hour?" They said yes, we went to the mall food court and ate pizza, rested our feet, only to head back and up sitting in these awesome microfiber rockers they have there for like another hour discussing car seats. Who knew carrying a baby would be less complicated than shopping for it?

I think that's it.

Now that "vacation" is wrapping up, hopefully I'll blog more often.

Love and blessings to you all!!!!!!!! Hope you had a fantastic holiday!!!!

"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." 1 Timothy 6:17