Merry Christmas

This Christmas was different from any other Christmas in my past. I got to share Christmas with John's family and with my family. Christmas Eve Brunch was at my aunt Beth's house, Christmas Eve dinner was at John's Maw Maw's house, Christmas morning was my very last ever with my parents and John, Christmas lunch was at Granny's, and we ended with having Christmas night at the house with April, Larry, Bryce, Josh, John, and my parents.
It was a very relaxing two days. Everything was stretched out over the days so that we wouldn't have to rush from place to place. Christmas morning was not too sad for me like I thought it would be. It was very enjoyable and it lasted a long time. Josh and I actualy woke up early Christmas morning. I think both of us were very excited! Granny's was great as usual and very peaceful. Mom and Dad's Christmas was so fun. We always play cherades and it is always full of laughs and jokes.
Christmas next year will be a little different not being at my parents house on Christmas morning but I'm so ready, and excited to start new traditions with John.
Now, after many months of saying "Yeah, we'll just plan the wedding more after Christmas." ...Well, here we go! Let the planning begin and hit full force! I'm beginning today by going to Hobby Lobby and buying all Christmas decor for mine and John's home next year! Merry Christmas

A Merry Titans Christmas

John and I had the oppertunity to go to the Titans vs. Jets game yesterday. We were very excited to get to have a fun date. So we bundled up with many sweaters and clothes to make sure we weren't freezing once the sun went down. I had a NY Yankees noogie on, without thinking. On our long trec to the stadium from our $20.00 parking spot (one would think that $20.00 would have you right there by the field.) there were some Jet's fans behind us. That is where it hit me...I'm wearing a NY hat...great. So, thinking maybe noone would notice, as we are walking to our seats in the stadium someone shouts out, "Go Yankees". I felt threatened and a bit embarrassed so I took the noogie off and put on my ear warmers...which were not as warm sadly. John and I found the whole situation amusing. We had a great time and really enjoyed the game. We left at the beginning of the fourth just to skip traffic. Interestingly enough, by the time we got to our car the game was almost over! More to come: Christmas Eve!

New Traditions-The Maholland Christmas

John's mom decided to begin a new tradition this year for Christmas. Every year now John's parents and brothers plus me will eat dinner and open gifts from each other on Christmas Eve-Eve. We kicked off the tradition last night. It was nice to start Christmas early! We had one amazing dinner, my future mother-in-law is one heck of a cook, and we enjoyed presents from each other! Afterward we played Twister, John and I got Luke that for Christmas!
It's really nice to be a part of a new family! With all boys, John's mom seems to love to have a girl around the house a lot!
I'm really looking forward to starting my own family with me and John. Only 5 months and 4 weeks away, my heart starts pounding a bit just thinking about the excitment and our big day to start the rest of our lives together!

Step-Kick-Step-Kick

The Rockettes! John and I went to the Rockettes last night for our anniversary. It was so amazing! We had never been and really didn't know what to expect but only women dancing and kicking about the stage! It was so much more than that. We enjoyed every moment of the show. We ate at P.F. Changs afterward. It was yummy yummy food. We had such a fun time together.
The ending of the Rockettes was the very best! The Rockettes left the stage and the ending scene was amazing. I will leave you all with this important message given to hundreds of guests at the show last night.

He was born in an obscure willage, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village, where He work in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itnerant preacher. He never had a family or owned a home. He never set foor insice a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never wrote a book, or held an office. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. While He was still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends deserted Him. He was turned over to His enemies, and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two theives. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had-his coat. When He was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave. Two thousand years have come and gone, and today He is the central figure for much of the human race. Al the armies that ever marches, all the navies that ever sailed, and all the parliaments that ever sad and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of a man upon this earth as powerfully as the "one Solitary Life."

More Decorating

We put up our Christmas tree tonight for my last time with my parents. It was fun! We played Christmas music like we always do, broke ornaments like we always do, and we were pleased with the outcome, like we always are! The first ornament on our tree this year was a Lucy ornament that I got last Christmas! Unfortunately, when mom broke a glass ball, like we do every year, it scared me and I broke Lucy's megaphone off! It was funny, and it can be fixed! We just laughed! Funny enough the picture of me and Lucy was taken just before the catastrophe! I love my parents, and it was very nice to get to spend time with them doing something we love to do together each year.

Doesn't It Feel Like Christmas?

It's amazing how much stuff I forget I had every year when I did out all of my Christmas decor. Over the years I have collected quite a few things. Tonight I was digging for all of my Christmas cd's to listen to while decorating. I found a strange burned cd of hip-hop Christmas music that I've never heard of before. It's pretty interesting. I kind of liked it! Our big tree is in storage and we forgot it was so we have to put off the big tree until later, but I got all of my room decor up tonight!

Christmas Shopping

I knocked a little Christmas shopping out of the way this afternoon after classes. I have something at school tonight and I didn't want to drive all the way home and all teh way back up here. That is a waste of gas, and I have to do that tomorrow anyways. But, I really got to enjoy time to myself! I ate lunch with myself at Fazolies and really enjoyed just sitting in silence for a while, I went to Lifeway to get an accompainant track for Sunday morning for Aprils church (I'm singing "O Holy night" at her church!), I went to target and got some gifts, the mall to get my ring cleaned and smell the new Bath & Body scents, Books a Million to relax in the Wedding book isle dreaming of amazing ideas for mine and Johns perfect day, and I treated myself to a Starbucks Pepermint White Mocha...(OH wow! yum!) All in all, today was nice and relaxing. I got all accomplished that I needed. I hate STILL being here but, I get to go home soon and relax! This is the last week of school! Only 6 days of classes left! It doesn't really feellike it. My professors haven't really talked about finals or acted like it's the end of the semester at all. It's a bit strange feeling!

More Lights!

Last night was nice. Jenny,

Leslie, her new boyfriend, and I all went to Chili's in OpryMills and we went to the hotel to see lights. We were there for a long time so we got to enjoy every little detail! Here are a few snapshots!

Thanksgiving Rush

This Thanksgiving was a bit different then normal for us. I'm used to a nice Thanksgiving lunch, relaxing on the couch spending time with family, and relaxing all day. Now that John is, obviously, a large part of my life there are more fun things to get to do! We ate the tradition lunch with my mom's side then rushed to Belvue to eat with some of his family. We enjoyed the quiet time on out long trip to our second stop so I think it reengergized us a bit. We spent a long time at his family's house and decided we ought to go. On our way home we decided we wanted some time for just us. Being the college students we decided we couldn't spend money but we would just go see the lights at Opryland to get in the Christmas spirit! I definately worked. We even played Christmas music on the way to Opryland. Here is a picture of our fun night together! Side note: I get to re-live the "tennessee christmas" tonight at opryland hotel. Leslie is in town and we are going to go get her in the Christmas spirit tonight with shopping and lights!

Ouch!

Yesterday we spent Thansgiving with John's family. We had amazing food and really enjoyed spending time with family. Something that I have gotten quite good at is throwing a football. Apparently, catching a football isn't always easy for me! I catch it just fun, but my finger just so happened to get in my way yesterday so now my right ring finger is twice the size and blue all around my knuckle. John says I just jammed it really bad, but it hurts and i can't play piano at the moment right now at all. It's all bent over and it won't bend to my paml or straighten out, it looks stupid! I believe it was even fatter today when I woke up! Instead of taking gross pics of my finger I thought I would share a few of my soon to be new family from a camping trip last month! And yes, I carved that tree myself!

Three More Semesters. . . Not Two

It's amazing how my life seems to LOVE to NOT go the way I plan it! I originally planned out my college plan to graduate a semester a head of time-so that means I would only have two semesters left. After meeting with my advisor today she encouraged me to just take it slow and finish on time and not early. I was sad after this, so I called John. He was so encouraging and was so great about the whole thing. So, looks like I'm here for three more semesters-gag! Oh well, what's one more than expected...which really I'm just ifnishing on time, so it's really no big deal! ANWAYS! Back to the true reason for this blog! I received one amazing gift in the mail today from a dear friend from my team this summer. Here are many pictures that I wanted to share of special moments that really touched my heart this summer.

I preface this by saying you must understand that all of these pictures illustarate love, fun, boredom, and confusion.

(1) I found and held hostage a "baby" from the babysitting track time and took pics of it all week in different places!

(2)My "official" Lindsey Picture

(3)Me, the "Alternators" Bible study leader at OMC

(4)All apparently confused during training week

(5) Doing what I loved

Do I Have To Burn Everything?

The answer. . . apparently yes. I made John's favorite quick and cheap meal tonight and it was great! No burning surprisingly. But, the cookies I have been craving all week were horrible! I went to the oven and opened it wide to only find little round brown cookies. I got them out and looked at John and said in a whiny voice,"They don't look like the picture." It was pretty funny. We though it would be funny to show the world my horrible cooking. The picture is the backside...John tol dme to flip it over to make the picture funnier. I think it makes me look like an even worse cook! At least dinner was great! I'm getting better! I can follow a recipe. . . just not sticking dough in an oven. . . that's a problem. Stay tuned for . . . "My Monday Off"

Halloween

Last night the single's group, "The Bridge", had a trunk at the church's trunk or treat. Our trunk was sports themed. There were a few "cheerleaders",baseball players, football players, and Holly and I were the homecoming queens. It was really fun!

Not much else is going on. The end of the semester is taking a steep drop with a lot of work to be complete. I'm changing my minor as of ASAP tomorrow. Religious studies is not exactly what I was expecting or need. I hate it to be honest, so I switching to family studies! I probably won't get to finish early but that's something John and I are continuing to pray about!

Pumkins- The Cat and The Bat

Yesterday I got to spend the whole day with my mom. We went to Home Goods and Ross'. The bedspread John and I registered for was, finallly decided, too much money so mom and I looked for an alternative one at a few places. We actually found onethat looks pretty much just like it only better! It came with three decorative pillows too! That was my favorite part! I bought some new "fashionable" jeans and some more pants. We a full, very productive day together!

John came over later last night and we carved pumpkins! I got the creative idea of searching for cool patterns online. We orginally wanted a princess crown and deer antlers but we couldn't find any that creative. We stuck with the spider and the cat on the moon. I thought my cat would be easy, but I have a few difficulties with it. A few peices broke off in places and they had to be "toothpicked" back together! (note: I felt really smart when I figured that out!) All in all we had a blast working on our pumkins! Here are our finished products! Enjoy!

Last October Mom and I went to Florida together and I thought I would share a picture from our day at the Seaside Yardsale!

Heeeeey Shuuuuuuug

The title, in a great deep south accent, was my million dollar line this summer. I was "earlene" the best racecar driver on the track! I found this on my friends site and had to snag it to share with all of you!

My how time flies! I can't believe October has come, and practically gone! The semester is almost over and then it will be Christmas! I can't wait until the holiday season! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! No worry about presents, just spending time with family, eating food and wearing baggy pants, looking at the sales paper, and waking up early on black friday! It's all such a blessing to spend time with all of the family.

I got to spend a lot of time with mom tonight. It was so nice! I really missed her while she was gone for two weeks. She is really happy to be back home I can tell!

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head

Picture this. . . It's 6:30 in the morning, I go outside to figure out what the weather is like and it feels fairly warm. So, I thought t-shirt and my cute boating shoes. On my way to school at 7:00 in the morning the sky starts to get dark but not too threatening. John drops me off at my class and I go about my 8:00 class business with no worry. Towards the end of my class I look outside and notice that it is pitch black with rain gushing down from the sky. I think "Great, no umbrella, no hood on my jacket, no car. And I'm about to have to walk from one end of the campus to the straight other end." Which, is completely true. . . it takes a while to get to the "other side" So I get out of my first class and walk outside under the pavillion just staring at this beatly rain contemplating to take the long 10 minute walk over there. For, we all know, that it's pointless to run in the rain or avoid the rain in college, you just gotta walk in it. It's nasty! So I worked up my nerves and stepped out into the great mess. By the time I reached the nursing building for the stupid class of sociology (core. . . it's all dumb to me.) I thought to myself, hmm...John is in here somewhere I'm sure he'l go get my umbrella in my car for me so I won't get soaked when I venture back to the music building after this class. Point being, I was soaked, sat through my entire class so amazed to how my Sperry boating shoes just soaked up the water with no problem and walked all the way back to the music building to my next class with no rain gear. John never answered so I was pushed to walk and get even more wet because the rain had picked up even more. I thought, gosh, how stupid could i be to not have any rain gear. People had rain boots, umbrella, ponchos. . .everything! and i had nothing! i was cold and nasty and wet! I felt bad until I saw one very hakarious girl walking. . .barefoot (ew gross!) with a skirt that was not appropriate for her stature and was probably about 7 inches long in length. It was just bad! So I got up a little encouragement for not being that ignorant! I spent the rest of my day drying off in the rest of my classes thankfully, in the music building.

Beep Beep

Monday and Tuesday was my fall break. On Friday after classes John and I drove to his family to camp out at a campground that we all love. It was a nice getaway, and very cold great camping weather too! On our way home from camping John and I talked a long about married life and about all the stuff we are wanting for our home. We then started getting VERY excited about our gift registry. We planned to do it on our Christmas break, but with several people convincing us and with our uncontained excitement, we went Monday. We first began at Dillards and moved on the Bed Bath & Beyond. We had a blast! We were pretty stress-free and enjoyed each moment. John was happy because it was his special job to use the scanner! We loved making our decisions for our new life together. We created a cool little site for all kinds of information for our wedding and our journey together. We would love for you all to check it out! mywedding.com/johnandlindsey

Bliiiiing!

Thought you may like to see a picture of the ring my amazing man gave me! Some of you may not have seen it! Anywho. . . I'm currently patiently waiting to eat dinner at 8:30 tonight. My head is currently splitting from concentrating so hard from practicing my music and from the lack of food. Yes, it is too late to eat but I am being a good friend and waiting for company to join me! Mid-terms are approaching quickly as October is pretty much here and will be gone before we all know it! I'm not too worried about it. Like I said, I'm pretty carefree. I decided a while back that this semester is in God's hands and I turned it all over to Him to take care of.

Life Cruisin' Right Along

Life is just going steady. Everything is in cruise control going day to day. I refuse to let school kick my behind this semester so I can graduate early! Mom left for Florida for two weeks Friday so I'm missing her a lot. April and her family are gone this week as well so John has kept me a lot of company. We went to a really beautiful wedding this weekend and had a lot of fun! I hung out at his house a lot yesterday afternoon and just relaxed with his family. Life seems to be pretty carefree! That's why I chose this picture from this summer! It was 80's themes party night and apparently I was really into something here! I was in Shawnee, OK here having a blast! And I'm not gonna lie. . . i actually wear those black pants around the house. The other picture is one night after a Party we were "terrific!"

Date on a Deck

John and I went to the grocery store last night after my lesson was over and bought stuff to grill steaks, baked potatos, and salad. I marinated the steaks and he grilled. I'm not very good at that part! I set up little tea lights along the whole edge of the deck. There were more then there are in the picture. By the time we finished cooking and sat down the sun was setting and we enjoyed each other by candle light for a good two hours. It was nice to be alone and to get to put life on pause for a bit to just talk. We loved it! We accomplished a lot in our conversation! We decided when we move we will both clean out our stuff together, label, and organize each box accordingly. . . we'll see! We're both clean, ocd freaks! I'm so lucky to have found another one like myself!

Saturday Smile

It seems each night of the week I have to run somewhere and then work on homework into the wee hours of the night and then wake up early the next day and do it all over again. I know, "welcome to the real world" blah blah. Yes, I know. But those days where you can sleep in a little longer, don't have to wake up to an alarm, and have nothing on a to-do list definately do not come around often if even at all. Today was one of those days for me. I woke up and sat on the couch and drank coffee with my parents and talked. I feel like i never even get to just talk to them during the week of crazy running from place to place. Mom, April, Bryce and I went "Yard-saling" today and had a picnic at the park so Bryce could play. When they showed up at the house April really looked like she brought two and not just one. She is showing so much with her belly now! I just saw her the other night and you couldn't really tell she was pregnant but today we all got so excited! "It was happened over night!" she said! we got really excited about her pudge! It's so cute! April is due in April on her birthday! How fun is that! All is well with her and baby! Tonight I had a girls night and watched a movie and ate entirely too many rice crispy treats with Boober. It was so nice to relax all day long! I', really looking forward to my FAVORITE day of they week, Sunday! I get to teach my 6th grade girls and my piano student! Me and John are grilling out tomorrow and having a "date" night! We are really looking forward to that! Updated actual pictures to come soon!

Petals From Heaven

Mom and I met with the flower lady, Vickie yesterday after church. After a few wrong turns and joyful bickering , we finally made it to her home. She is such a sweet lady, we immediately loved her. We met for about 3 hours about all the details. For the first time, I got a bit overwhelmed and everything started lokoing the same. Once we sat down and Vickie calmed us a bit mom and I got really excited about how everything is going to look on mine and John's special day. After making many desicions and several headaches later, I went back to the church to teach my first piano lesson. It went so well! My student is great and she learns very fast! That's always a plus! I had a pretty tough Music history test today. It was our first one for this class and well. . . i felt like it was a midterm. It was crazy long and very detailed. Which was fine, becaus eI knew all the answers, it just took forever. But I'm not complaining because now I'm relaxing in a silent computer lab with the buzz of flurecent lights and clicking mice and I have nothing to do until 10:00! Tonight I get to entertain myself and write a paper on Buddha for my world religions class. Interesting, yet annoying. Boober puts it like this: "In the light of eternity, it doesn't really matter." If I look at this brief time that I have left in school compared to the rest of my life here then it's just a glimpse and that makes me relieved! This picture is again not something you will be seeing at my wedding, it's just something I found online.

Wedding Wedding Wedding

Mom and I met with the photographer today about our pictures. We are very excited with our desicion! We meet with the flower lady tomorrow right after church at her house. I'm super excited about that! I don't really have a good idea of what I want with my flowers, but I guess I'll find out tomorrow! This stage of planning is fun because you have to reserve places and people this far ahead before someone else does. Photographers book up fast! I was surprised we got the one we did! No worries, I hate this cake, but I thought the "M" was festive and apporpriate for this blog. I can't wait to marry my best friend. I'm not caught up in the planning and details as much as I am caught up in the fact that I get to spend the rest of my LIFE with the man that I couldn't imagine my life without. It's an exciting thing and I can't wait!

The Junior Year Slump

This is my hardest semester so far. To be honest, it has been stressful and quite discouraging. I went through what felt like a little bit lower then a "slump" like you get your sophomore year of college. This was deeper then a slump it was like a skimming the bottom and not being able to get up for air type of junior year slump. This was a new thing and I wasn't enjoying this feeling towards school at all.

God is so good that He has a way to give you this great amount of peace. Just when you think you can't take it anymore He lifts you up. I feel so much better about school now. With Boobers great idea of scheduling out time to do what homework every hour of the afternoon, I feel far more productive. School definately has not ogtten easier since I've been out of my skimming the bottom slump, but I've stopped worrying because I have great faith in God that He will carry me through this semester with great victory!

Here is a random picture from Centri-Kid this summer in MO. It was "Celebrating Being God's Princess'" day ( i just kinda made up my own stuff for this day)and well. . . I always went all out for the No Boys Allowed track time! The paint is from OMC earlier that day where my Alternators won the "Golden Coop" I might add!

Fun in the Sun for Free

After class on Wednesday me and Holly left for the deep south Florida sun! We were on our way to an all expence paid trip for four glorious nights in Panama City Beach. The trip was long, and once I started driving the second half at night, it began to get even longer. We got stuck in rush hour traffic and pouring sheets of rain. At 11:00 that night we arrived safely to our hotel and finally got settled in. We got some energy once we got to our room but it wasn't too long until we settled in for some sleep. We woke up bright and early Thursday and hit the beach. Florida is my FAVORITE in the fall because it's a bunch of retired people, the water is SO clear and clean and it's very peaaceful and quiet. That night, we realized we didn't like it AS much because everything closes at 10:00! Karaoke was that night at our hotel and we thought we would mix up the Patsy Cline and Jonny Cash and add in a little Dixie Chicks "Earl Had to Die" in there on them. They seemed to like it, especially the "acting out" of the song as well! It was quite the performance! With our belly's full from Escargot, Tropical drinks, King crab legs, and Chocolate cake. . . ALL for free, we headed to bed with much energy and excitement for the next new day! Friday was a little overcast, but night for a good tan! We rode the waves all afternoon until the rain stoped us for about an hour which left us time to work out and eat lunch and warm up in the steam room. For the rest of the afternoon we laid on our sun deck and fell asleep for a much needed nap. That night for dinner I had popcorn shrimp and a salad. I didn't go all out like the night before!

Saturday, our last full day of fun was spent laying out on the beach and riding jet skiis for an hour and a half. . . did i mention. . . all for free?! We got out as early as we could and stayed as late as we could! We left for dinner and enjoyed a nice 10 oz. file minon (i could NOT pass up the steak!) and a baked potato! Afterward Holly and I headed to some souvenier shops and bought us some sunglasses, sweatshirts, and sweatpants all on sale! We were pretty cold with our crazy sun burns that we got that day so sweats sounded very nice! And plus we just had to have "going home" outfits! We got home a little later than planned but we made alright time last night. It was a great trip for us two to get closer and to relax before finishing up the second half of our semester!

Here Again

It has been a while! And I figured since I made a few changed to the look of this blog I wouldn't get away with not posting! Holly, Sam, John, and I went camping last weekend. While there we had the best idea ever to rent an extrememly nice boat and a tube. This was my first experience with tubing and it was lots of fun! The boat was ours for 6 whole hours. We felt like rich celebrities!

I started school with 18 hours and it's definately one busy schedule.

I start teaching 6th grade girls Sunday school this week and I can't wait. I fixed up our room for them today. It's definately more bright and cheery now!

Two Major Events

The past two weekends we have had two major events! Last weekend my cousin, Audrey got married. I sang at her wedding; it was lots of fun. The picture of me and John in the blue is frmo the wedding. It was HOT oh my it was hot! It was outside, but it was gorgeous. John turned 21 yesterday! I took him out for his birthday to the Cheescake Factory. He has never been there before so I wanted to take him there. He loved his gifts I got him. We will celebrate his birthday some more this weekend with friends and family..for we all know you can't just celebrate on one day! We love "birthday weeks"!

A Day With The Girls

I FINALLY got to see the Hines today! I picked them up from school shared the news with them and headed to Rivergate for shopping and Starbucks! It was a GREAT afternoon! Here is a picture we took in traffic with our BIG sunglasses! We're being high fashion super stars!

Guess What?!

John and I went to Gatlinburg right when I got back from Centri Kid. It was a nice getaway time to recover and rest! The afternoon we got to Pigeon Forge we dropped our bags and headed for Gatlinburg. I had never been in to Gatlinburg so i was supoer pumped! He took me past the Burg to the nature trails in the mountains to take some pictures and show me some places that were his favorite as a kid. I loved it! I loved it so much I told him to pull over so I could take some pictures of the mountains at Campbell overlook...which is seen below! Little did I know I would be getting more than some pictures at that moment. John came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. In his hands was a RING! I FLIPPED out! he said "There's something I've been meaning to ask you" and I just started screaming. It was one awesome proposal! He is the most amazing, Godly, man. I couldn't ask for a more perfect man to go through life with. This summer God really revealed a lot of stuff to us being apart and it made us so much stronger as a couple. We can't wait to start our ministry as one and further His kingdom together!! yah!

The Last of CK 5

Here is a glimpse of the last worship together as "Stayin' Alive" there were LOTS of tears shed that is for sure! it was an AMAZING ride and one heck of an adventure! over 6,000 miles was a BLAST to do. It was amazing how God worked through 22 people to make camp happen every week by traveling to a different location each week! We were flexible, we were stretched, and we were definately used to further the Kingdom of heaven!