Twenty Something

Josh is 28 today! Happy, happy birthday to you!

The most wonderful birthday blessings are wished to you today. Love you J.

And...our little girl was 20 weeks yesterday! We cannot believe we are halfway along this journey.  Whoa.

Happy Birthday Thomas!

Our nephew, Thomas Christopher, is 6 years old today.  He just finished his first soccer season...going to be a pro before we know it.  His Daddy (Christopher) was his coach of course.  We get to see Thomas and Christopher next week and are very excited to catch up with those California boys.

Happy Birthday Thomas!

19 weeks and counting....

We are 19 weeks today and this baby girl is really starting to grow!  She has been moving quite a bit the past couple weeks at all hours of the day.  I cannot wait for Josh to be able to feel her little kicks too!  Check out that belly.

We had a wonderful report from the doctor on Tuesday when we went for our 18.5 week ultrasound.  Baby C is measuring right on time.  I cannot believe we are a week away from being at the half-way mark.  Totally crazy.  We have a lot to do to prepare for this little lady...

It's Christmas Time!

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I cooked a non-traditional meal on Thanksgiving Day for J's family who came to visit for a few days.  We started the day with some Monkey Bread, some appetizers while we watched "the boys", manicotti at halftime, and some Oreo cheesecake for dessert. 

 Monkey Bread = Yumm... the picture makes me want to bake some tonight!

 Appetizers courtesy of my Mom's sweet friend, Stacey.  They are delicious and so simple.  Some flaky biscuits lining the mini muffin cups filled with goodness and a quick pop in the oven.  We use bacon, tomatoes, cheese, and some mayo to hold it all together.  Delicious.

And some manicotti - a favorite of my family.  This recipe has been passed on from my Grandma Rita to my Mom and aunts, and now Ash and I love making this dish.  This is a favorite for J too.

The Friday after Thanksgiving has always been the Garrey Thanksgiving with my mom's family. Ashley and Landon hosted the Garrey crew at their new home this year.  Ash and Lan did such a great job.  The fried turkey was especially delicious. Again, I wish I got more pictures ... it was a great day.

This is Miss Avery -my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Mike's adorable foster baby. We pray this little one gets to join their family one day and share many more holidays with the Garrey family.

Ashley and Landon have a gigantic back yard as I think I mentioned in a post earlier this year.  The kids, young and old, had so much fun playing outside.  The weather was perfect.  Aiden could not get enough of the leaves.

Thank you Ashley and Landon for hosting this year!  We are so grateful we could all be together.

Josh and I finished off our Thanksgiving weekend with a trip to "the farm" for a Creed Thanksgiving with my Dad and Grandmother.   This was the first time in a long time that we had a slumber party at Grandmother's.  It was a blast and Grandmother's house was packed.  Brandon, the boys, Ash, Landon, Dad, J and I of course and my cousin Casey and his family were all there to spend Saturday and Sunday with Grandmother.  To see the smile on Grandmother's face, to have her house filled with so much life, was such a delight.   I didn't get any pictures of our weekend but snagged a few from my cousin.

Logan and his "friend" - Casey's youngest, Coleman.

Dad and Casey cutting some wood for the bonfire.  Yes, there were smores included in our trip!

Check out Grandmother!  I know it is blurry but so cute.  You can see the smile on her face if you strain your eyes just right as she brings out goodies to the bonfire.

Josh and I have so much to be thankful for!!

Oct - Pumpkin Patch

I love everything about the fall.  My mom has a tradition of taking my nephews to the Pumpkin Patch every year and I get so excited when I get to tag along.  Josh had to work that Saturday so he had to miss out on this year's adventure and was pretty bummed.  Brandon, Ash, Mom, and I all headed to "the patch" with Logan and Aiden for some afternoon fun.  Here are some of my favorite pictures from our day.

We are not sure how Brandon fit in the train but he made Logan's day.

We sure to love our brother and think he is a pretty awesome Dad.

Aiden starting getting sleepy close to the end and thought the pumpkins were the perfect place for "night-night".

Love this kid!

I cannot wait to go back next year with Josh and our little one!

Aug, Sept, Oct....

What a busy fall season in the Carson house!  I warn you now, this is going to be a fairly long post... I must get caught up as tomorrow is the big day.  We hope to find out if Baby C is a boy or a girl!  Shall we...

AUGUST

Ashley was honored at a Texas Ranger Game in August for Decatur ISD Teacher of the Year.  We all went to support our favorite teacher of course.  A scorcher of a night but always a fun outing.

 

The Gang - Brandon, Chance, Josh, Me, Landon, and Ash.

SEPTEMBER
 Over Labor Day weekend we had Josh's parents to visit for the long weekend.  We had just found out we were expecting and were able to share the news with them over dinner one evening with my Mom!  It was so fun!  

Our adorable nephew Logan turned 4 in September and had his birthday as Chuck-E-Cheese.  Crazy place to say the least but Logan had a blast and we were so glad we could join him on his special day.

  

 Yep, we think he is pretty adorable too!  Just the sweetest, kindest little guy. 

  

 Don't you worry... Batman is here!

September and October were also full of high school football!  Josh and I were so excited this year to be close enough to catch a few games of our cousins.  Ryan is a senior this year at Plano East and a rockstar on the football field! Jackson, his younger brother, is the starting JV Quarterback, and suits up for the varsity games as well.  We think he is a rockstar too!  They played their hearts out this year and we cannot wait to see where sports takes Ryan next year as he heads off to college.

This was all of the Garrey Boys on Senior Night.  Jackson (#14), Uncle Bob (Dad), Ryan (#1) and Will.  Will was the ball boy for East this year so all of the brothers were on the field this year.  So fun!

Brandon and the boys made it in for a game :)

Ryan is one of two seniors in our family graduating this year.  Ash and I used to babysit the Garrey boys during the summers after gymnastics/cheerleading.  I remember watching Barney with those guys.  Where has the time gone!?  They have grown to be fine young men that is for sure.

October and November coming up in another post....

17 weeks and counting...

Josh and I could not be more excited to meet our first little blessing next May. 

We are 17 1/2 weeks along our journey and Baby C is starting to show a little bump as you can see.  This was a week and half ago... I think Baby C has already grown even more!  We went to our monthly prenatal appointment last Tuesday and heard another wonderful report!  What an amazing time this is...truly a miracle we feel so blessed to experience.

And for those inquiring minds, here are the top 5 Q&As we seem to get most often:

1.  How are you feeling?  Fantastic.  I have not been sick at all and seem to have my energy back from the first trimester. 

2.  When are you due?  Baby C's birthday is projected to be May 5, 2010.  We will be 18 weeks on Thursday.

3.  Do you want to know the sex of the baby?  Yes and no but we decided on yes.  We can see the thrill of waiting until that special day but both decided on finding out the gender and keeping the name our little secret until our little one arrives.  No, we don't have names picked out just yet and no, they will not all start with the same letter.

4.  When do you find out if it's a boy or a girl?  December 7.... just a week away!

5.  Any cravings? The only thing I "crave" is milk.  Totally random for me because I haven't ever been a milk drinker but I have a glass of milk every evening before bed and maybe another with breakfast.

I know I have a couple months of posts to catch up on.... so more to come very soon!

Happy Birthday Little Man!!

Today is this Little Man's birthday. Logan Scott turns 4 today and is becoming quite the little man.  He is growing so big and learning so much every day.  We think he is one rock-star of a nephew!

We love you, Logan and cannot wait to celebrate with you!

River Trip 2010

The Creed siblings took our second annual River Trip the last weekend in July.  Landon, Ash, Brandon, J and I loaded up and headed south for a day float on the Guadalupe River.  We had a blast!  Last year we got rained on but this year it was perfect.  We only had one or two "raging rapid" moments.  Perhaps the best of the day ... J took a tumble at one point and lost one of his Croc shoes.  A couple hours down the river a very nice lady saw that J was floating with only one shoe (nerd) and asked if we lost the other because she picked one up!  Who would have thought!?   We learned a lot last year and were much better prepared this year.  Music, water, food, drinks, and the best siblings around....it was a success.  Now, if we can take better pictures next year...

Yep, that's me.  Basking in the sun and maybe eating a Rice Krispie treat.

Superior.

Superior Lawn Care was back in full effect this past month for two different Saturdays.  Ashley and Landon built a BEAUTIFUL home and moved in this past spring.  My husband volunteered himself (which included all of us) to put in their sprinkler system.  J has done sprinkler systems a time or two (or 100)... no big deal, right?  Well, it is a BIG deal when it rains a monsoon the night before.  Let's just say we all could not move after day one so we had to postpone the front yard to a few weekends later.   I do not think any of us realized how big their lot was until we were digging in dirt and raking in trenches.  It is LARGE.  Perfect for a pool (hint, hint).

Here are some sweet treats I made for Day 1 (Backyard) which happend to be July 3rd.

And that is the extent of pictures from Day 1. 

Just imagine the four of us... wet, covered in mud, and grumpy. 

Ahh Day 2... much better weather.  Yep, that is my hardworker in the picture below. Check out the background.  That is the Smith House... isn't it beautiful!  Can you tell we are over-the-top excited for their new place!?

The Smith Boys.  Chance, Landon's youngest brother, helped us out on Day 2. 

After two long days, we were done! I have to admit, there were times I took the "I am a girl" way out of certain tasks but my sister...jeez. She is not afraid to get dirty.  I think we all made a great team. I know the Smiths are very happy to have it finished but I think their dogs may be more excited. 

No matter what we are doing, we always find a way to smile and laugh when we are all together.  J and I love spending time with the Smiths. They may only live an hour away, but we can always find a reason to still have sleepovers and I think it will still be that way when we are 50....

Summer Highlights

Where did May, June and July go? The summer sure has flown by for us. Here is a quick recap of our summer fun.

MAY: A month for two miracles.

I became a Godmother and the Garrey family grew with grandchild 21. Kate Isabel was born May ... . We are very excited for the Garreys. Aunt Amy and Uncle Bill make such great parents and Joe is quite the big brother already. Kate is such a blessing to our family and is loved very much.

Aiden Cole was born May .... I happened to be in Texas on business the morning Mom got the call from Heather. After a couple phone calls and tears thinking I had to head back to Oklahoma and miss Aiden's birthday, I turned around and met Mom just south of Dallas and off to Temple we went. What a fabulous day!

We headed back to Temple over Memorial Day weekend to see my brother and his family again. It is always so fun when we all get together. We find ourselves starring at Logan play half the time but what a fun sight that is!


JUNE:

In early June, we got to see some of the extended Garrey family at Kate's Christening in Terrell. Bill and Amy asked me to be Kate's Godmother.

Dad took us to the George Strait concert at the NEW Dallas Cowboys Stadium. A construction masterpiece, especially to the men!

JULY:

Sprinkler - no better time to put a sprinkler in your yard than over July 4th. Josh and I put a sprinkler system in our yard over the holiday. Yes - I really did dig, shovel and haul. Needless to say I was sore for about a week. There is a reason you pay people to put those in.

Happy Anniversary to the Smiths!

Float Trip 2009

Happy Anniversary to my man!

AUGUST: Here we are...

4 Years

Dear Josh,
Thanks for asking.
Love always,

Lindsay

Our Life in Boxes ...

What a crazy past couple of months...  crazy enough to put me a couple months behind here. 

So...let's get caught up, shall we. 

Josh and I arrived to Texas with our life packed in a Penske truck on May 26th. With the help of my cousins, sister, brother-in-law, mom and dad - we unloaded the majority of our life in storage and the rest at our temporary home. Not knowing what the next couple months were going to bring, we decided to stay at my Dad's for a bit until we could decide who we were going to build with and where. The house hunt (January to present) was not going too well. We felt all odds were against us since we had been looking for five months, a couple offers that didn't go our way, and the pleasure of meeting some crazy wonderful builders and Realtors along the way. Now we were "homeless". I never fully grasped how HUGE the Dallas metro was until we were looking for houses. Take North Dallas, draw a 30-mile circle around it, and there you have where we were "hunting".

(Disclaimer: iPhone picture (not the best). Josh is holding up a bumper sticker A & L got him for graduation. It reads, "I may not have been born in Texas but I got here as fast as I could".)

 Get on with it right!? We arrived with our life in boxes on the 26th of May, as I mentioned before. We set out on the 27th to look at a house with our realtor that had just came on the market.  One more shot before we focused on our commitment to build.  We liked a lot about this house but it ended up being a "who lives like this" house on the inside.    Needless to say... we thought the odds were still against us but we were willing to wait and "watch it".  A little home improvement project didn't turn us away.

Fast forward to 2:00 pm the same day.  Josh and I are still in the area and I receive an email from our realtor with some more listings.  I browse the listings and come across another house.  I tell Josh literally, "I think we should go see this one.  The pictures are really nice."  Knowing our realtor had another commitment in about an hour, we call her quick and see if she could set up a showing.  Booked.  2:30 it is.

Josh and I got about five feet, maybe ten, inside the door and looked at each other - "this feels like home".  Praise the lord.  We found a house!  Not so fast...we were up against another offer.  And now the game of house hunting really drove me mad gets fun.  Yes, I cried.  Any women would, right?

Long story short.  We got the house!!  We are officially Texas residents as of June 25th.  We had so much support from our families along this crazy ride.  Sounds kind of silly that finding a house was so hard for us.  We cannot thank them enough for their encouragement along the way.

I promise more pictures are on the way...

Mrs. Smith

I have to brag.  Ashley was recently recognized as Decatur's Teacher of the Year which was on top of being named Carson Elementary's Teacher of the Year!   It takes an incredible gift to be teacher and I have so much respect and admiration for Ash, for her kind nature and patient hand.  What a difference she is making in the lives of her second graders and their parents. 

We love you Mrs. Smith and so do your kiddos!

Photo found here: http://www.decaturisd.us/10261022119218957/site/default.asp

Memorial Day Weekend 2010

We spent Memorial Day weekend with the Smiths and ventured out to the lake. It is always so much fun spending time with them!  The lake was perfect and the weather was beautiful!

Mr. Smith

Mrs. Smith

That's Josh... I think he finally gave up after a 30 minute ride.  He was NOT going to be thrown off.

 

Bad picture but that's me!  We had a blast.  The lake is always so much fun.  I couldn't move the next day after skiing and tubing but it was so worth it.  Thank you Ash and Lan for taking us out on the water and opening up your home.

Lake.... Yes, Please.

Wow, the past few weeks flew by for us.  Josh and I took some time off from work this past week.  Before a lot of packing at the start of the week, we enjoyed a great weekend at the lake with some of Josh's classmates and spent this past weekend with the Smiths in Bridgeport.  It really felt like a vacation and was just what we needed.  A lot of rest and relaxation with a little sweating, heavy lifting, and moving in between.

The Shores were wonderful hosts and have a beautiful family lake house on Texoma.  Chelsea (Chase's sister) and Coty are such a sweet couple...we are so glad Chase introduced us and cannot wait until we see everyone again.

Chelsea and Coty

We were in paradise for a couple days.

Beth and Greg

Their pool overlooking the lake... beautiful. 

The picture below is Beth on the slide going from the pool in the picture above to a smaller pool below.  Chase is probably thinking about his next jump off the rocks and I am probably telling him to be careful.

Coty wake boarding.  Sorry it is blurry.

We had a blast... pics to come from the Carson-Smith lake adventure.

Happy Birthday Little Man!!

Today is this precious little man's 1st birthday.
AIDEN COLE CREED 

We love him so much and think he is pretty adorable.  We had a small celebration for the little man this past Sunday when everyone was up in Oklahoma.  Birthdays are a big deal in our family so we seized the opportunity when everyone was together and thanked God for this precious little life.

{Present Time}

Everything goes in the mouth right now...

{Cake Time}

....taking it slow.

He might have ate the whole cake if we let him...

Logan loves his little brother so much and is so sweet with him.  They will be quite the pair in another year or two.

Yes, there was adult supervision at this event but as always, I failed to capture anyone besides the little ones.

Happy Birthday Aiden Cole!  We love you!