2am Wake up Call...

Will and I had the pleasure of being woken up at 2am last night to the fire alarm going off in our apartment building! In the spirit of post-Thanksgiving -- instead of complaining about how we had to scramble around in a half-woken stupor trying to collect keys, phones, dog leashes, etc. and walk down five flights of stairs to hang around in the freezing parking garage and find out it wasn't anything -- I will say that I am THANKFUL that is was in fact not a real fire, I am THANKFUL to know that we are able to hear the fire alarms LOUD AND CLEAR, I am THANKFUL that we were able to get up and going fast enough to be one of the first people downstairs, I am THANKFUL that even though I forgot to grab my wedding rings and all the other items I always thought I would grab before running out of a fire, I had the most important things with me, the hubs and the dog (some people that live in our building that I know for a fact have pets definitely came downstairs solo...I don't care if it's 2am you grab your dog! We had no idea at the time if it was real or not!), and did I mention I am THANKFUL it was not a real fire?! So needless to say we were both tired this morning so Will went in to work late and I slept in :) However, I do not feel very rejuvinated because I am currently battling a nasty cough and sore throat :( Hopefully it goes away before work tomorrow...

Speaking of tomorrow....it is one day closer to Christmas! And speaking of Christmas (like that transition?) below are some pictures of our newly decorated apartment! I am in loooove with our Christmas tree...to say the least :)

our first christmas tree!

close up

winter wonderland decor

stockings!

*hoot hoot*

I think it's safe to say we've got the Christmas spirit!

xo, Lynds

Our First Thanksgiving!

William and I had a wonderful first Thanksgiving! We are so thankful that our families live relatively close to one another so we were able to spend part of the day with both! I don't know what we will do when/if either of our families move, we are so selfish (in a good way!) about spending time with both. We started the day early and went to my parents house and then on to my aunt's who was hosting this year. We stayed long enough to visit and draw names for the Christmas exchange and when they began to eat, we hit the road! It was the first year I have never eaten with my fam (tear) but we had to make it to Will's house and I of course made my mom promise to save me some of my faves! An hour or so later we were at Will's celebrating with his family and their close friends. Since Will's family is pretty spread out, Thanksgiving is usually just immediate family so they invite their friends from Albania over to eat. Thanksgiving isn't a traditional holiday for them, but it is fun to have friends over and the extra Albanian food definitely doesn't suck! I mean isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about anyways?!? Sharing fun and food?? So we had turkey and stuffing along with some homemade dishes that I can't pronounce...but they were AMAZING!

Look at that spread!

We spent the rest of Thanksgiving day watching football (Go Cowboys! Go UT!), playing boardgames and napping, the usual :) We had a wonderful first Thanksgiving!

Friday the whole Lofland clan drove out to Lyndale, Texas to the Trail Creek Farm to get our first Christmas tree! We actually pick out and CUT DOWN our own tree -- the Loflands have been doing it since Will was a baby so I'm pretty sure this is a tradition that wont be going anywhere anytime soon -- good thing it's really fun! And this year we added a new tradition - two trees! Will and I chose a 7.5 foot tree for our apartment and Jennifer picked out a 9 foot tree for their house. We got there just as it opened and were the first people out to find our trees so we got some really pretty ones AND totally missed the torrential downpour that started when we were inside the barn paying/waiting for them to shake and wrap our trees. It was an all day adventure and even though we were exhausted when we finally got home we definitely had the entire tree decorated before we went to bed! Some pics of us at the tree farm...

before we rode on the covered wagon

in front of our christmas tree!

sawing

Trail Creek Farm

xo, Lynds

Happy Turkey Day!!

Gobble Gobble!!

Did I mention?...
Happy 6 Months to Me and Will!!!

In honor of the magic number...

6 Reasons why I LOVE William:
1. He's suprisingly easy to shop for :) He is DYING to know what I got him for Christmas because it's pretty much the perfect gift!
2. He lets me watch all the cheesy ABC family movies I want without complaining...much
3. He enjoys cooking dinner with me. He does the meat, I make the sides!
4. He wont let me do his laundry because I do it wrong -- AKA I don't have to do his laundry! Fine with me!
5. He's really really tall (6'4") -- very conveniant for someone who is 5'4" and trying to reach something on the top shelf :)
6. He looooves me and the Toula more than anything! And we love him!

6 months ago today

Love you Puffin! xxx

**UPDATED**

2 dozen roses just for me!!

happy 6 months to us!

xo, Lynds

suprise suprise, another busy weekend!

We didn't travel anywhere (except Southlake and the mall many, many times) but we did and saw many things! Friday my mom and I drove out to Allen to go to thier outlet mall when we picked up xmas presents and some more decorations for Will and I! Saturday Will and I woke up super early (Toula's bday!) and headed out to Northpark (another mall) We shopped there for a few hours, got more xmas gifts, then crashed on the couch for some college football which Will definitely deserved for being such a good sport with all the shopping! That night I left him at home while I went to a bachelorette party for a few hours. It was so good to catch up with college friends -- some I haven't seen since last semester! That will change -- I will be more social! It's hard to tear myself away from Willard sometimes :)

SUNDAY was a great day! Not ONLY was is my dad's bday -- 51!, but some of our cousin's and their families stopped by my parents house for a few days on their way to spend Thanksgiving in Louisiana. So we headed to Southlake to visit and play with the kiddies all day. We played football, decorated cupcakes, my five year old cousin read me a book (such a smartie!) and watched Polar Express. Will and I also snuck away for a few hours to go where? THE MALL! I think I'm taking xmas shopping a little overboard but we are seriously almost finished and it's not even Thanksgiving yet!

J.J., Jack, and Jenny taste testing their cupcakes :)

J.J. reading --he did so well!

Will and caroline being silly -- so precious!

xo, Lynds

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOULA BABY!!!

Today our baby girl is 2 years old! I guess that means she's what, 14?? Eh, she'll always be our baby! We got her a yummy (and doggie friendly) cookie which she has already devoured half of. We wanted to take her to the dog park, but it finally decided to get cold outside so we're all snuggling up together on the couch for some college football instead. Here are some pics I took of her earlier with her Happy Birthday bone!

Me: "Toula, look at mama!"

Toula: "Gimme Gimme Gimme!"

Picture with the Birthday Girl

Literally jumping up and down with joy!

Two years ago today (roughly) when she looked like a little rat :)

You're a mess Toula, but mommy and daddy LOVE you!!

xo, Lynds

Austin

Monday and Tuesday my family (except Will who had to work, boo) went down to Austin for my brother's swearing in ceremony to become a legit Texas attorney! He found out he passed the bar the week before (thank GOD!) so this was just a formality, but it was a good excuse to take a mini-vaca! Monday we spent the day visiting the capital and we ate lunch at a Greek restaurant...FYI, you could tell you're in Austin when half of the menu is catered towards vegetarians/vegans :) The waitress actually thought I was a vegetarian because I ordered dolmas and greek potatos (both happen to be meatless) ME? VEGETARIAN? HA!

That night we went to a reception that the dean of Nate's law school put together -- open bar and delicious appetizers! Afterwards we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant called Romeo's that happened to be one of my parent's friend's brother's or cousin's place that they remembered eating at like 5 years ago! We ended the night with a trip to 6th street -- apparently the place to go in Austin if you're young. Hmm I've never been... We ended up at a bar playing shuffleboard for like an hour and it's my new obsession! So fun!

Tuesday was the big day, too bad it only lasted an hour at most and was really boring. It was all I could do to not bust out laughing everytime they chanted "Oh Yea Oh Yea Oh Yea" when the judge's came out! The actual swearing in part was pretty cool. We pretty much left immediatly afterwards for home, stopping of course in RoundRock at their amazing outlet mall of which I benefitted quite a bit :)

The rest of this week has been slow -- I haven't been able to work because it's so close to the holidays and teachers just aren't taking days off. So I've been hanging out at the house and Christmas shopping. Will and I put up our christmas stocking and Christmas lights last night, all one measly strand of them along our balcony...but I still think they're pretty :)

Outside the Capital

Dinner pic

After the ceremony

Happy Friday!

xo, Lynds