Adieu, 2008.

A Year in Pictures

January

black seniors

February

Valentine's dinner

March

Go Mavs!

April

bridal shower...all my lovely BMs

May

Wedding trumps gradutation but I'm proud of myself so I posted both :)

June

cohabitation.

July

twenty-four

August

twenty-two

September

Prost!

October

spooktacular!

November

Baylor homecoming

December

*snow*

xo, Lynds

my poor, sick puppy

Toula baby is having a rough day. Since about 4am she has thrown up three times. Will and I figured it was just an overdose on rawhide, but then I saw blood when she went to the bathroom. I called Will immediately and he is calling his uncle (who is also our vet) to see if we should bring her in this afternoon or if it can wait until tomorrow. And now she has to stay shut up in the bathroom because I really don't want to clean anymore throw up/diarrhea from the carpet...poor puppy :(

Christmas Day Recap

5:30 am: Will's alarm goes off because it's Thursday and it is automatically set to go off on weekdays for work. Will turns it off.

6:00 am: I can no longer attempt to go back to sleep as I am still five years old and force Will to get out of bed because...IT'S CHRISTMAS!

6-7:30 am-ish: open our gifts/stockings from each other and for Toula. Sadly, I have zero pictures of us on Christmas morning because my camera crapped out on us not too long ago. We do have it on video but it's probably not that entertaining to anyone but us. Except one part...which we later deleted. I did howevere go back and take pics of our surprise gifts to each other....

Merry Christmas to Will!

Bull and Bear cufflinks from Tiffany's. He knew I got him something from Tiffany's, courtesy of the lovely little blue box, but did not know exactly what. Lucky for me, these were exactly what he was hoping for! :)

Merry Christmas to me!

A David Yurman bracelet! I had NO idea!

We had gone into David Yurman back in November because I wanted to try on a ring. I've been really needing another ring to "balance out my hands" and was hinting at this ring for our first anniversary next May. Coincidentally, the gemstones on this bracelet match the gemstones on the ring! *wink wink*

I also got Will a couple DVD's and some courds from J. Crew. He got me a DVD, boots --that I had to take back, boo :( -- and a Burberry coat, which I thought was my big gift, but Santa obviously had bigger plans.

Toula enjoyed her doggie cookies, candy cane rawhides, and reindeer ball/rope thing.

9:30 am: Arrive at Will's parent's house. Wake up his sister. Chat. Open gifts. Chat. Lunch. Chat. Nap. Chat. All good fun!

Mrs. Lofland made all of these, very impressive!

digging in

family portrait!

Will's parents loved the wine rack we got them which they were able to almost completely fill up immediately! Jennifer loved her scarf (note her wearing it already in the pic) and her clothes as well. Will and I were very blessed by the Loflands and we got many many wonderful gifts. Our "joint" gift was a GPS system that Will is absolutely over the moon for. We used it on the way to my parents house even though they live a whopping 45 min away and we drive that route weekly. I just want it to tell me where to go with a British accent. So cool.

3:00 pm: Arrive at my parent's house. Greet Mom, Dad, Nate, Melinda, Mamaw and Papaw! We pretty much open gifts immediately because Nathan and Melinda have to leave at 5pm and then spend the rest of the afternoon visiting.

3-4pm: Get greatly spoiled again by my parents and watch with joy as they open their presents (both complete surprises) and love them!

Dad's first iPod!

Serving bowl from Williams' Sonoma

They have a new line of chicken/rooster tableware and I'm going to collect all the pieces for her to put in her log cabin. She commented once that they seemd "log cabiny." I agree.

Kid's stockings (Melinda's and Will's are nameless but that's okay)

These were ordered from the same place, but mine and Nathan's are from the 80's. Note the increase in size over the years. That's kind of sad...

Joint gift from my parents: New Camera!

The Nikon S60, the one with the touchscreen! Eat your heart out Ashton.

SO excited about my Holiday Barbie!

Yes, I still collect them. Don't you?

After Nathan and Melinda and my grandparents left, we ate dinner and me and Will and my parents went to see Marley and Me. O.M.G. I do not remember the last time I cried that much during a movie, honestly. My mom and I were boohooing pretty much the entire last half hour. My dad and Will even admitted to tearing up! It was the greatest movie that I will probably never watch again because my heart can't take it.

Our first Christmas was, dare I say it, PERFECT. We got to spend copious amounts of time with both our families, everyone was in great spirits, the weather was great, the food was great, the gifts were great. I really can't think of anything I would change. I am just so blessed to have a loving husband and two amazing families to share it with, and I CANNOT wait for next year!

HO-HO-HO!

xo, Lynds

'Tis The Season To Be Tacky!

The tacky sweater party was a hit! Will and I squeezed 15 tacky-clad family members into our apartment along with about a million christmas gifts and every side item and dessert you can think of! Along with the 20 lb. turkey my mom and I had been cooking since 6am :)

For our your embarassment enjoyment...

oh my, mom and dad!

"prom pose" Nate and Melinda

Thumbs up for Christmas!

Mamaw and Papaw getting in the spirit!

All the grandchildren and great-grandchildren

Nathan and his turtleneck won first prize!

Quick story: In this picture my mom and I are wearing matching aprons a friend of hers made for us when I was four. Still fits like a glove (ha!). Avery (left) and Sydney (right) just got their aprons from my mom to wear while they cook with their easybake oven and she got them personalized. While they were modeling them, my dad looks at Avery's and says, "Why does it say A Very Lil' Chef?!?" Oh, dad!

After the festivites ended, we all relaxed for a bit and then headed off to church (in normal clothes, I promise). Mom, Dad, Nathan and Melinda all stayed at our apartment and went with us to our church's Christmas Eve service. Even thought we arrived a few minutes late (Will and I could have sworn the service was at 7:30 but lo and behold, it was at 7...oops), the service was beautiful and it had a great Christmas message....to see is not to believe, but to BELIEVE is to see...

Before heading off to Christmas Eve Service

Afterwards Will and I watched A Christmas Story, filled each other's stockings, and snuggled up in bed to wait for Santa! :)

Christmas day to follow as soon as I get pics!

xo, Lynds

to see is not to believe,

to BELIEVE is to see

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

xo, The Loflands

My Husband, The Rockstar

Let me take a minute and brag about my husband, the rockstar.

We are all aware the market has seen better days, and during this time, many many people with jobs in the financial arena have been laid off.

William just started his job as a Financial Advisor with Merril Lynch about six months ago. Out of all the new hirees (?) Will has been one of the only ones in his office to pass all of his tests (Series 7, 66, etc) and with flying colors I might add. About a month into his job is when the market began to turn. Then not too long ago, Merril was bought out by Bank of America and they decided it was time to clean house. Last week alone, 14 people were laid off at Will's office! Many of whom had been there longer than Will but were simply not able to make their quota due to people not wanting to invest at the moment (who can blame them?). Will has been lucky enough to obtain the accounts of his family and some family friends which has significantly moved him up the totem pole. But there was still that what if in the back of our minds because he's so new.

Well, he called me today with AMAZING news! He has been invited by some of the senior FA's to form a partnership. He will get a small percentage of their shares and from there they will split all new clients. The greatest blessing is that this partnership will practically guarantee job security for William! They chose him from all the new people because they say he has the most potential for longterm success. I am sooo proud of him!!

This will all take place Jan 1, 2009 and I can't tell you how relieved and excited we are about the new year! And the market really has no where to go but up, so I'm thinking 2009 is looking pretty good for us!

Congratulations baby!

All this and he's still home by five everyday and helps me cook dinner :)

xo, Lynds

Biker Chick

My cousin Taylor is two years younger than me and has been trying to get me to go for a ride on his motorcycle for months. And I have declined every time with a very polite, "No, thanks. I'm too young to die." Well, yesterday I finally broke down and agreed to go for a short, slow ride around the block.

And I survived.

And it was kind of fun.

But I don't think I'll be doing it again so we made sure to document.

Taylor explaining how to get on while I continue to decide how important my life is to me...

Already gripping on for dear life

I did it!

My next fear to face:

Getting this apartment spick and span for our party guests!

Countdown to D-day...2 days!

Countdown to C-day...3 days!

xo, Lynds