Holiday Valley 2013

Do you have any family traditions?

One of ours is to go to Holiday Valley with my parents next door neighbors.

We started as a group of 9.. that has grown to 16 {including 2 kids!}

We had perfect weather this past weekend
{the whole group}
{down the run, Ballet}
{sunset/night skiing at the top of one of the hills}

every day the guys lay out all of our equipment

all of a sudden Alli and I looked up and saw the skis set up

it was a perfect set up for Teo'ing

our picture with Teo's girlfriend and friend

I hope you had an amazing weekend as well!

Heaven received a new angel today...

my great grandma went to be with my great grandpa this afternoon.

She has been battling pancreatic cancer for the last few months

and she is one of the strongest people I have ever met.

I am so fortunate to have known my grandma for 28 years of my life

during her 95 years here on earth

{she was SO mad that I made her sit in her walker for my sisters wedding while I wheeled her up to the reception.. she was even more mad that the photographer captured a picture! but i am SO thankful he did!!!}

when I look back over my fondest memories these are a few that come to mind:

making my t-shirt quilt together the summer after I graduated college

her love for Texas Roadhouse

her always giving me a "peace out" when i left, rather than a wave good-bye

her love for The Bachelor and Dancing With The Stars

my phone conversations with her on my drives home from the office

her constantly giving me a hard time if I hadn't post on my blog for a while

always tapping her on the top of her head regardless if she had just gotten her hair done

her always telling me that "life is not fair, and I can't retire yet"

{myself, my great grandma, my mom, sister and grandma at Alli's wedding shower this fall}

she is the person that have always bragged about with her ability to use a computer and not be afraid of it when she is 95 years old

her ability was not just limited to a game of solitaire {which she happened to LOVE}, but also getting on Facebook, reading my blog, and previously used to chat with her sister every day at 8am through AIM.

so when people tell me they are too old to use a computer, I tell them about my grandma!

I will miss the little memories most about my great grandma

but so fortunate to have so many fun and wonderful ones that I have.

she was one of the most independent and stubborn person I have ever met

but I truly believe she is part of the reason I am such an independent person myself

She was a first born female, along with my grandma, my mother and myself

It always drove my sister crazy when we wanted to get a picture of the 4 first born generations.. and then we would always follow it up with all the girls and include my sister

I think my sister said it best when she said, I prayed to Grandpa last night telling him he better be ready because Grandma was about to join him again!

Her presence will be greatly missed but her memories will live on forever.

Rest in peace Grandma!

I love you!!

Christmas Wrap Up

I hope this post finds you filled with joy after the holiday season.

Ours was filled with lots of cheer and family time

Christmas Eve is always spent at my dad's mom's house

Nan and DB's

This year we had 2 new additions to the family

My cousin and his wife just had Rylan, December 8th

She's just a little peanut

and it was also Palmer's first christmas, who is 2 months old

and Palmer's sister, Addison

After Christmas at Nan's we all head to the 11pm church service

Christmas morning we woke up and had Justin's parents over for breakfast and to exchange gifts

After breakfast, we headed down to Justin's cousin's house in Lancaster to celebrate another Christmas

and then back to my parents house for my immediate family Christmas

on our way back to my parents house, I turned to Justin and asked how Santa does it all.. because I was EXHAUSTED!

My dad is probably one of the biggest rudolph fans out there

{which I didn't know until I came home from college one year, and I declared I was home, and he said.. shhh rudolph is on! who knew that he liked rudolph SO much}

so when I saw this bumble sucker I had to get it for him and add it to the top of his gift

{yukon cornelius is from his co-workers this year}

even Lily dressed up for the holiday

My sister and brother in law received an ice cream attachment for their mixer as one of their wedding gifts, and we have been fortunate enough for Alli to make us home made ice creams twice thus far.

Christmas dinner she made a peppermint ice cream with dark chocolate brownies!

Hello heavenly! seriously!

Last Christmas Justin, my mom, dad and I went bowling with several other family members after Christmas dinner, and this year was no different, except Alli and Doug were able to join us

AND

my dad wore this shirt!

I about died when he pulled this shirt out, it was given to him by his neighbor across the street. The neighbor was about 80 and he gave him the shirt in 1983 {i'm pretty sure its safe to say this shirt is every bit of 50+ years old!}.. it was his favorite bowling shirt and he wanted my dad to have it!

I'm so thankful he has held onto it all this time!

I sure do hope you had as much fun and family time as we did!

Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc449/blueluxstudio/LindseyH/LindsH_Sig.png" style="border: 0pt none; margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt;">

Happy 30th wedding anniversary Mom and Dad!

I couldn't ask for two more perfect role models of what an amazing relationship is all about!

I have learned from both of you that sometimes its just easier to just agree with Mom, to pick your battles, but most of all through thick and thin love always prevails and at the end of the day that is what is most important!

Growing up I was beyond disgusted that you two would dance around the kitchen and kiss one another, and although I'm still a little disgusted by the thought of my parents kissing, I'm just thankful that you two are still head over heels in love with one another.

Happy 30th Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Cheers to many more:)

In desperate need of a recap....

Hello there my faithful readers!
Its been a minute since I last posted, and I do apologize.. however, I feel as if we either have SO much going on that I don't have time to post, or my life is so routine, that if I posted, you all would be bored out of your mind! so I thought I could catch us all up to speed really quickly on what is new/going in my life

So recently, we celebrated my cousin Wes's graduation

my aunt always does a taco bar for all of her kids graduations - it goes over so well, and its delish!
We also celebrated my sister's birthday
and I have to give a lot of credit to Doug, her fiance for picking out this mustard color purse all on his own. Alli had a yellow purse that was on its last leg and he took the liberty to get her a new one!
I have always whined about the month of June. Between my mom and sister's birthday [as well as her fiance's] and fathers day.. the month pretty much makes me broke!
So my mom decided to surprise me with my birthday and xmas present
and if you can't tell by the look on my face - i was just a teeny bit excited about my gift/toy:)
Since opening her up, I have been practicing taking pictures
Its amazing how much of a difference the lens protector makes
without
with
and then one night during a beautiful summer evening, i was channeling my inner kelle hampton by taking pictures of the sky
and the other night there was a male and female cardinals on our patio and of course i had to try to be a "professional photographer" and try and get the perfect picture - ha!

This past weekend we went with Molly and her family to a local Jazz and Blue's festival. She was being a complete and total ham. We took her out of her stroller to walk around and she would put one foot behind the other, pause, and look up at a total stranger and wave and say "hi", after they acknowledged her she would move onto the next person who she hoped would pay attention to her!

Katie took her on the merry go round and she LOVED it...
So that's a quick recap of what has been happening in the past few weeks!
I promise to be a better blogger soon... I miss all of you!

These are a few of my favorite things....

Last week Kelly from Keeping up with Kelly tagged me to do a little survey about my favorite things!

I thought this was a great way for some of my newer followers to get to know me [if your new, please let me know by leaving a comment and tell me something about you, or something that you love!! I love to getting to know my followers :)]

[1.] My family

I think its safe to say that even though my family is not a "thing" they mean the world to me! I think your family gives you a foundation of who you are, and you make yourself out of the foundation. I have come to realize that over the years, I am VERY fortunate to have such a strong relationship with my family. I look forward to getting together every Sunday, its a way for us all to stay connected, and I thoroughly enjoy the company.

Although Alli and I have not always had the most "my sister is my best friend" type of a relationship, I believe through the past few years we have become much closer, and I can think we can attribute this to the boys! Somehow Justin and Doug, make us appreciate each other more! ha! and to that i'm very thankful to as well. The boys have come into our family and have pretty much made our family of 4 now 6 and I LOVE it!!


[2.] My phone

I hate that this is my 2nd most favorite item, but honestly it is my lifeline! I have an iPhone - and I would be lost without it. I obviously use it for a phone, text, and email, but it seriously keeps me connected with the world. Between a game of Words With Friends, Twitter, Angry Birds, Sky Burger, updates on the latest sports scores, keeping track of my runs, an ipod... seriously - what is not to love about her??? And yes, it is a her, and her name is Bella, which is short of Isabella the iPhone. [I'm still a little jealous of a co-worker who came up with the name Fiona, as in Fiona Apple, for her phone! 10 pts for creativity goes to MaryBeth!]

[3.] My T-Shirt Quilt

My great grandma and grandma make amazing quilts. I had always wanted to make a quilt with them but never really needed one. However, when i graduated college, rather than making a t-shirt blanket with all of my sorority shirts, I thought I would make a quilt, and ask my great grandma to help me. I thoroughly enjoyed going over every Tuesday evening one summer and quilting with her. Every time I look at the quilt it brings back both college memories and the time we spent together during the summer making this masterpiece.

[4.] Hint of Lime Tositos and Sour Patch Watermelons
It is a good trip to the grocery store if I can get out of there without treating myself to 1 of these two items. I honestly eat very healthy, however these 2 items are seriously my weakness! its horrible!

via

via
[5.] The Ohio State Buckeyes

I think its more of a religion than a team here in Columbus, Ohio, to love the buckeyes. I'm a little anxious about this season, however, I'm still looking forward to fall, and the anticipation of another great season from our beloved buckeyes!

[6.] Restaurant Ranch Dressing

I don't know what it is about restaurant ranch dressing, but its SO much better than anything you can buy at the grocery store. My friend Jaci and I will debate where we go to dinner at times based off of the salad dressings. Its a toss up between Red Robin and Texas Roadhouse for the best ranch dressing. Do you have a favorite?!?

[7.] Snowboarding

I love snowboarding, it is something that we can do as a family and its something I hope to do one day with my family as well.

Dropping into the half pipe at Buttermilk in Aspen last year
[this is the one used for the XGames]
[and no, i'm not that good, I just went down the middle of it and screamed like a little girl with excitement!]

[8.] Diet Coke

I would be lost without diet coke. But I'll lay it all out there for you, a fountain diet coke, in a Styrofoam cup with chipped ice, is my ABSOLUTE favorite! its honestly heaven in a cup to me! It is a special treat when I drive by a Sonic and pick myself up a Route 44 Diet Coke with EZ ice.

[9.] Christmas

There is just something about Christmas that just makes me absolutely giddy 24/7. I love the season. People are filled with cheer, there is music on specifically for this holiday, houses are decorated to look more like homes, families gather together, and you get to give lots of presents. I just LOVE it! I wish it could be Christmas ALL year round!

[10.] Baby Names

I love thinking up baby names. I love unique names, however I don't want them to be so far out in left field that my child will be looked at funny when his name is called on the first day of school, however I want them to be a one of a kind in their classroom! My list is constantly changing, but I have names right now that I'm pretty much OVER the moon excited about!

[11.] Vacations

After getting back from our cruise, I think Justin and I both realized that we may need to plan more vacations. it was SO nice to just be the two of us, and not have a care in the world, just relaxing. I'm ready to go back!? Who's coming with us!
[12.] Running

Although I mainly dread going to the gym, or hitting the pavement, and I really hate going for a run when I'm out there, the sense of accomplishment once I finish a long run/race is totally worth it all. We are signed up for the 1/2 marathon on Saturday and I'm so ready to start the race and more importantly ready to finish it. I just want to beat my time from last year!
[13.] Blogging Friends

I LOVE my blogging friends. Its amazing how supportive everyone is to one another. I think its amazing that here we are, all over the US, and we have gotten to know one another through our daily chronicles that we share via an electronic diary. I think there is a sense of community that we get as a blogger, that others don't understand unless they are into blogging as well. I appreciate the friendships that I have made/built over the last year and a half more than I ever thought I would. I originally started blogging just to link up to Kelly's Korner SUYL series, and it has become so much more! and for that I am forever thankful!


So now that you know a few things that I love, I want to hear what you LOVE!

Jess First Comes Love
Anna A Pair of Kings
Caroline Simply Smithwick
Shannon Life After I "Dew"
Brittany Sweet and Sassy and Oh So Classy
Sonja For the Love of Stilettos
Emily The Simple Frills
Stephanie The Professors Wife
Jenny Life, Love and Marathons
Holly Running in Stilettos

Happy Thursday Blog Friends!!!

30 Day Challenge - Day 13 and 14

Day 13

Goals

I find myself each year making a new set of goals... this year was no different. I did a recap of my new years resolution goals here - but i thought this would be a perfect time to re-visit them to see how they are coming since we are 3/4 through this year... updates are in teal

• Overcome my fear of numbers... and by numbers I mean my bank account and my weight. I never like looking at my bank account number because the number is constantly going down and I hate looking at my weight because it is constantly going up... so I am hoping this year my fear of numbers will go away because my bank account will creep up and my weight will dwindle down
  

**I have to admit - that I am becoming much more comfortable with this - I am much happier to step on the scale in the morning [as a matter of fact - i can't wait to go to the dr to prove to her that I can loose weight!] and paying my bills has becoming much easier - not stressing month to month has been so nice!**

• While were on the topic of weight.. I have really struggled since college with my weight (actually my entire life) however, I have really noticed since I have been dating Justin (not that it is his fault at all - but just because I am more comfortable than ever) I have lost interest in working out and focusing on my physical health. My goal for this year is start towards my ideal weight loss goal - to loose 23% of my current weight, and I would be where I would ideally want to weigh

**I have lost about 10% of my body weight since the beginning of the year - this is just a start in my weight loss challenge. I feel better than ever and I can't wait to get down to my ideal weight**

• Back to saving money - I want to save enough money to fly down and see my grandma and great grandma in Florida. I miss both of them dearly and the older I get the more time they spend down in Florida

**still working on this one - i promise!**

• I would also love to furnish the basement with Justin's help.
  

**we have the couch - now we just need to figure out the rest of the decorations - not as easy as I thought it would be!**

• Although I'm not a runner I would like to participate in one race this year - like a 5k - lets start off small and work and I can work my way up to a bigger race or more 5ks throughout the year if I get really ambitious

**never thought I would be able to run this - but I ran a 1/2 marathon. Unfortunately I was not able to run the 1/2 last week, however I plan on running the 1/2 again next May and the full next October.... yes I said a full... it was a challenge from my VP - and I don't/ can't back down from a challenge**

• I would also love to find a way to calculate walking/running 2oo miles this year.

**unfortunately I haven't logged this - I plan on doing this next year though. **
SOME FUN RESOLUTIONS

• Blog 350 days this year... so far were off to a good start

** Don't know if I'm going to make this one.... but I can still aim for it - right!**

• Paint my nails and keep them looking nice
  

**thankfully i got a manicure this weekend - but i can't guarantee they always look as nice as they do right now **

• Go on a date with Justin once a month... Although we go out to dinner together, sometimes its just so I dont have to make dinner and I'm being lazy or have no creative ideas - I want our dates to be planned

**We have gone on a few - and I love every time we do - its just a special time for the 2 of of us together!**

• Host a a girls night out once a month for my girlfriends. I am so fortunate to have such a large group of friends who live here locally, and I love it when I am able to get together with them frequently (scarf exchange, Saturday morning movie and breakfast, dinner, ect)

**sorry girls - you know that i have not done well on this one - hopefully my martini party will make up for our missed months during the summer!*

• Have my parents and Justin's parents over for dinner once a month
  **Some months are better than others at this**
  
• Write notes to my friends who may need encouragement, thank you notes to people who encourage me, just saying hi letters to my friends I might not get to see all the time, and an occasional love notes to Justin
• Continue to volunteer at my church nursery once a month

**They no longer need my sister and my help, there were too many people and not enough kids, so we no longer volunteer.**

Day 14

Picture that you love

Please know - that there i s nothing worse to me than a crying baby
I instantly want to comfort the baby and help them, however a picture of a crying baby to me is pretty much priceless. I know that Molly is very well cared for - and she rarely cries... so with that being said - this picture makes me laugh every time I see it!

one of my other favorite pictures is this picture of my great grandma, grandma, mom, sister and I at my sisters graduation 3 years ago. 4 generations. i love it!
Remember about my $35 CSN give-a-way! Don't forget to sign up - you have until Wednesday to sign up!

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 4 - My Parents

Day #4
My Parents

Meet Brad and Laura, my wonderful parents

[and yes, I have called them Brad and Laura ever since I was little
the would be much more likely to come if i was in the grocery store
if i called out Laura than Mom, when 254786 other mom's looked my direction!]

[our family is not big into taking pictures together - don't ask why... and this is after i ran the 1/2 marathon in the rain... JS!]

They are my role models as to how a relationship should be - the have been married for 29 years and are still crazy about one another!

Mi Madre
at her 50th bday party last year in Put-In-Bay

hard worker - detail oriented - organized - budgeter - coupon cutting - wine loving -skier - fun loving - health conscious - stubborn [i blame your mom and grandma on this one!] - decision maker - and a wonderful role model!
{and as much as i thought i wanted to avoid becoming just like you, i know that you see more and more of it happening every day!}

Daddy-o
at my dad's surprise 50th bday party last year

driven business man - golfer- clean freak - meticulous - has a love for boats - snowboarder - loyal -miller lite lover - quiet unless he has something valuable to say [i think this may be because he lived for 22+ years with 3 girls in the house!] - love shack singer - tiki torch lighter - someone who i know I can rely on at any time and he will be there for me!


My sister and I are so fortunate to have such amazing parents! They know when to take the time to "parent/mold" us into the girls they would like to be but they also know when and how to have fun with us!
a family trip to Vail a few years ago - hanging out in the George!


I think my sister's fiance said it best when describing our family dynamics... you know that they love one another and you know that they would be there for each other in a heart beat, however they are not always vocal about it.... which is so true!
love it!