Another post with lots of pictures

Today was a big event for us - we joined out church! We made a pledge to support the church and they made a pledge to support us. With a possible long deployment looming in the not so distant future that means a lot to us. Sorry we don't have pictures, but we didn't really get a chance to take one!

This afternoon I volunteered with some others from our sunday school class at something called Come to Christmas. Church members (mostly kids and their parents) visit different rooms with different themes. Our room was for making Jesse Tree ornaments. I'd never hear of this, but it's pretty cool. There's a symbolic ornament for different members of Jesus' lineage. There was a star for David, an altar for Abraham, a rainbow for Noah, etc. We got to help cute little kids make crafts all afternoon - so much fun!

Kelly, Jen, Lauren, and I

Helping Ellie and Rachel make their ornaments. Liberal use of glitter here.

While I was at Come to Christmas sweet Nick did all of the grocery shopping and household chores. I know I don't give him enough credit for this, but he does stuff like that all the time. Our household would be in shambles without him!

Once I got home we had dinner and decorated our little Christmas tree. The one we bought this year is really small. Since it rained all day yesterday we couldn't cut our own and had to go with whatever Lowe's had to offer. Our Christmas tree photo shoot was an adventure - I'm including an out-take for your viewing pleasure. Fin was a good helper!Real family photo

On one attempt we almost dropped Finlay. Almost.

Thanksgiving in pictures

Since we only got Thursday and Friday off work and since we will be in Texas for almost two weeks at Christmas, Nick and I spent this Thanksgiving in Columbia, just us and Finlay. Since we did both Turkey Day and Christmas on our own last year, we've become old pro's. I think you'll enjoy seeing rather than hearing about our holiday so here you go:

Welcome to Thanksgiving at the Hall House!!

Nick, Fin, and I watched the parade, but I refused to be photographed without make-up!I spent the day in the kitchen...We have a problem with our oven and the smoke alarm. It went off when I was cooking the butternut squash - no they were not burning AT ALL - so I had to research plan B on the internet.Poor Fin was not a fan of the smoke alarm. He hid by the hookah.Fin got some relief this afternoon - we took him out to play in the field behind our apartment.Shot with Mom.Shot with Dad.

Yes, we ate Thanksgiving dinner at the coffee table. However, I made it look nice anyway! Why the coffee table, you ask? The dinner was ready at 4:30, 3:30 for you central time-zoners, and the Cowboys game was starting.

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We're thankful for all our friends and family, in South Carolina and at home in Texas. For those of you in the Lone Star State, we'll see you next month!!

Cousin Date!

My cousin Matt has been in Charleston for business this week so we decided to meet up for dinner tonight. Now, Charleston is over 2 hours away so either of us going all the way to the other was out of the question on a weeknight. We agreed to meet in Orangeburg, which is about the only civilized area between Columbia and Charleston. We thought Waffle House would be a nice idea.

I was still 10 minutes away when Matt called to say he'd made it to Waffle House and it was "questionable." Ok, no problem. His GPS told us that there was a Pizza Hut mere miles away. We got to Pizza Hut - even more sketch. We finally arrived at a local pizza place we'd passed whose parking lot was full of cars. LeCirque it was not, but we shared a tasty pizza and a few hours of great catch-up conversation. It was great! We're scheming to get Stephanie out to Charleston for a weekend tagged onto one of Matt's trips so that all four of us can explore the city together.

Lucky Matt will be dining at Hyman's tomorrow night (maybe the best seafood place in Charleston) so don't feel too sorry for him. Thanks, Matt for having dinner with me tonight! I had a great time, and I can't wait to see the whole Smith family in December.

Yea for family!

I have great news. My cousing Matt is coming to South Carolina this week! We are going to have dinner on Tuesday. I've also added his family's blog to the ones I watch. I lost the link when my tower computer quit on me several months ago, but Stephanie's blog is the one that really gave me the idea for my own. Now I can better keep up with the Smiths like they keep up with my ramblings. For all those Colvin-Reitmeier-Smith-White family members who read this blog, I'll be sure to get a picture when we meet at Waffle House Tuesday night.

Where is Bahrain?

Mom, I didn't forget my promise to show you where Bahrain is. Here you go:

He's Gone Again

Well, Nick is gone again. This afternoon I dropped him off at the airport, bound for Bahrain. He'll just be there for this coming week so he's not gone for long. All the same - I miss him already!

I did a little retail therapy this afternoon - bought some stuff from Target and Pier One. I think either the people who live above or below us must smoke in their apartment so there's always this funky smell seeping into ours. I'm trying to solve this with lots of good-smelling things. I'm also hoping that this plan doesn't backfire, creating a mixture of yucky and yummy smells.

My ultimate goal in shopping today was to buy a church dress. Think it should be simple? Think again. I've got some money to spend - thanks to Mom and Dad for my birthday gift - so it's not even like I'm on a tight budget. However, I scoured the best mall here with my friend Rachel last weekend. Nothing. Today I went to some of the higher-end boutiques here, but even if I'd wanted to spend $400 on a church dress (no thanks!) I still didn't find anything acceptable. I also visited a stand-alone Belk's and Talbots (yes, Mom, I resorted to your favorite store). Nada. Zip, zero, zilch. No luck.

So here is my question: have any of my blog readers found a cute church-appropriate winter dress lately? If so, PLEASE tell me where you found it! I'm getting desperate.

Finally, I will end this post by asking for all your prayers. It's getting to be about the time that Nick and I have to make some big decisions for the next few years. Will Nick go on a long tour overseas? Should we move to Florida, California, or Germany? Clearly, there are other considerations too - I'm not going to spell them out for you. Please pray that we will be given wisdom and guidance as we try to make the best choices.

And very, very finally...Sic-em Bears! Beat the Aggies!!!

Nick's Texas Hunting Trip

Last weekend I (Nick) went back to Texas for a hunting trip with Philip and Amanda and my Dad. We camped out at Philip's family's ranch near Barnheart for two nights and had a great time! Thanks Amanda, Philip, and Philip's family for doing a great job putting everything together, it was great to see ya'll. Anyway, here are some pictures of the weekend.

Setting up camp

Getting ready to sight 'em in

West Texas Sunset


Philip and Amanda

Philip and I with my 10 point Whitetail

Nice work! (you don't want to see what it looked like on the ground...)

Me, my dad, and our deer

Election Results

Yes we are happy! No, we are not drinking the kool-aid. I'd say we're cautiously optimistic. I'd say that above and beyond anything I (Lindsay) personally am glad to not have someone in the White House who wants to continue sending Nick and his fellow soldiers back and forth to Iraq indefinitely. Those are my thoughts at midnight on the East Coast. I'm going to bed, and will try to post something better tomorrow.

Happy Early Birthday!!!

Have I ever mentioned that I have the world's most thoughtful husband? Well, I do. Yesterday we celebrated my birthday early because Nick had a plan that would only work on a Saturday. I started out the day with a birthday basket full of goodies:

In it were a subsciption to my favorite magazine: Cooking Light, a cookbook all about making sauces (not sure if this is more for me of for him!), a bottle of California sparkling wine, a copy of Baby Mama (the movie)from Fin, and a gift certificate for a couple's massage!

We had an appointment for a couple's massage yesterday morning at Urban Nirvana, which is only a block from our house. You can check out their website here: http://www.urbannirvana.com/. It was fabulous! And it was so much more enjoyable since Nick was there with me.

We spent the afternoon watching college football then went out to pick up a few things for Nick's hunting trip to Texas next weekend. We finished up the night out with dinner at a great Thai bistro here called Baan Sawan. I had seared tuna with three sauces - so tasty!
We picked up some dessert at Fresh Market before heading home to pick up the South Carolina and Texas games. It was a great early birthday. Thanks honey!!

My yummy creme brulee and a mini cannoli - I couldn't decide!