Nickelodeon Flashback

Kevin and I dressed up for our Young Adult Halloween party this evening.  Do you remember Doug from Nickelodeon back in the day?

photo credit

Yep, Quail Man (Doug) and Patti Mayonnaise!

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

Britt and Ben came over last night, and we all carved pumpkins (and one watermelon)!  

Ben's Companion Cube (from Portal video game)

Britt's Martha Stewart Pumpkin

Beautiful pattern

After a night full of pumpkin carving!

My Australian Shepherd pumpkin - with the help of Ben's Dremmel and an awesome BH&G template

I'm so proud of it!

Kevin and I did an angry bird and pig (the pig is done with a watermelon) - we love them!

Kevin's Turret from Portal video game - Kevin is so precise!

Looks good, even without the candle!

I love it!

4th Celebration

Kevin and I had a great time with Britt and Ben on July 3rd to celebrate the 4th.  A few fireworks and barbeque made a great evening!

Sorry, B2, I didn't get any pics of both of you :(  This will have to do.

Youthville

This year, Kevin and I decided to participate in the Youthville Christmas ornament program.  Children in foster homes make lists of things they would like for Christmas, and the lists are put on ornaments.  We chose an 11 year old girl (almost the same age as Kevin's sisters).  We had such a wonderful time picking out the gifts from her list!

They included:

A bike

photo courtesy of Target.com

Build-a-Bear clothes    

photos courtesy of buildabear.com

We hope she has a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas in my Office

Can I just say, I love working at a Christian institution.  There are many perks, and one of my favorites is decorating my office with not just holiday items, but Christmas items. 

 My tree! We have enough artificial trees at TCW for everyone to have one in our offices.  I picked the purple ornaments - I can still show my Alma mater colors at another higher ed institution...just in small ways.

My Advent calendar - I enjoy opening a new box every morning. It's sort of my brief morning devotion, and it always puts a smile on my face.  

 

Christmas Decorations 2010

We trimmed the tree! The nativity is out! The stockings are hung! It's looking like Christmas at the Reynolds' house!

We love our tree!  We have many ornaments that we've collected together since we first started dating. Every year, we get at least one new ornament (usually two or three, though), and we get sentimental ones for special occasions, too. 

Our First Christmas Ornament from last year

Our fireplace

Merry Christmas!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

 This Saturday, Kevin and I picked out our Christmas tree!  We ventured to Prairie Pines, and we had a great time finding our tree!

 The horses took everyone out to the different fields. 

 We found the perfect tree!  Instead of waiting for the wagons to come back, my dad (who came with his truck to help us bring our tree home since we both have cars) and Kevin decided to just walk it back to the store.

 I loved the horses! So pretty

 This chandelier was really fun!

All in all, we really enjoyed Prairie Pines.  We will likely make this a tradition every year, especially once we have children. And, we LOVE our tree! It's a Virginian pine, and our entire house smells so wonderful!

I'm So Thankful

A tradition with many families is saying what you are thankful for around the Thanksgiving table. With my work changes, I've started thinking of all my blessings a little early this year.

My wonderful, supportive husband

Great parents, sister, in-laws, and extended family

Being able to challenge myself in a job career that I am loving

A precious pooch that makes me smile every single day

A house that is a home

My husband's career and his strong work ethic

Friends that I am just as quick to call whether I have great or sad news

Happy Thanksgiving!

4th festivities

Kevin and I had a wonderful, restful weekend. Saturday, we relaxed most of the day and had a date night. We saw Knight and Day, and really enjoyed it. After the movie, we ate dinner at Abuelo's.

Not the best photo, but we were in a hurry to head to the movie.Sunday, we did some major cooking! Kevin grilled a fabulous flank steak, and we had potato salad, green beans and bacon, watermelon, and blueberry cheesecake for dessert.
We hosted Emily and Jose Sunday evening after going with Kevin's aunt and grandparents to see fireworks (Emily's brother was in a fireworks accident in Manhattan and had to be moved to Via Christi's burn unit in Wichita. Thankfully, he is doing much better now).

Monday morning, Kevin made a wonderful quiche for breakfast, and later I did some shopping while Kevin enjoyed playing video games. It was so great to have a long weekend!
Benton also enjoyed himself, but we found him in a secluded corner Monday morning with his blanket. Apparently, he had about as much fun as he could take!