Q4 2011

I had the opportunity to visit my friend Kendra in Virginia for a quick weekend at the beginning of October. The highlight of the trip (besides seeing Kendra of course) was apple picking. It was a gorgeous day, we became pros at using the picker, only one bag was broken & we made some scrumptious apple donuts with our winnings! So great to spend some quality girl time with my friend!

For Halloween this year, our friends Ressie & Philip hosted a costume party - I'm pretty sure I hadn't been to a costume party since high school.  David came up with a great idea for our costumes & we endeavored the entire week prior to make our costumes.  Can you guess what we were? 

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving together, just the two of us.  Sleeping in, wearing pajamas most all day, football, games, movie, simple turkey dinner together, giving thanks for all the many ways God has blessed & provided for us - it was the perfect day. 

As soon as Thanksgiving was over, out came the daily Christmas music, Christmas decorations & yes, a Christmas tree. It's taller than me, our biggest yet, so fun!! 

Christmas in California is always a requirement (as far as I am concerned) & I am so grateful that we are able to make the trip each year.  We flew into San Diego on Thursday, December 22 (after a delayed flight..), took a trip to the beach and spent Christmas Eve & Christmas morning with the Thornhill's.  Brett was able to come home from Arroyo Grande (yay!) & she planned a "Thornhill Extravaganza" event for all of us: Minute to Win It.  We each participated in 10 events (ex: carrying 5 clothespins between your knees across the room & dropping them into a jar) & the person with the best overall time was the winner.  It was so much fun & I was crowned the victor, with bragging rights for the whole year!  Mom & Dad also created a trivia game where we climbed the steps of the Mayan Temple of Doom.  It involved many gift cards, which is always fun =) 

After stockings on Christmas morning, we traveled up to LA for Christmas with my parents & extended family. Activities were slightly delayed, due to a gas shut-off that morning, but we had a great time - it is always so good to catch-up with my family & see how much my little cousins have grown!  We had Christmas brunch on the 26th with my parents & Grandma, exchanged gifts, then went to Cheesecake for dinner & saw Sherlock Holmes for a second time =)  We enjoyed a few very relaxing days with my parents - sleeping in, playing with our new toys, loving on their cat Bob (& trying to spot Paige), playing ping-pong, staying up late playing games, going out to dinner (yes, El Torito is a tradition) & movies - then headed back to San Diego on the 29th.  

We had a Murder Mystery dinner night with family friends, The Devries, which was lots of fun, and had lunch at Acapulco before departing for Dallas on the 31st.  The weather was beautiful the entire time & not many people can say they went to the beach on Christmas break =) Soo great to see our family - thank you for everything!!

We arrived home to an angry little kitty (she was a little scared with all the New Years noises in our apartment complex), who quickly became delighted in our return & voluntarily stuck close to us all night (usually I have to enforce mandatory cuddle time!).  We ate In-N-Out, drank Martinelli's & watched Parts 1 & 2 of Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows to welcome in the New Year. What a great end to 2011.

newness . chapter 3

We adopted a cat from the Dallas Animal Shelter. She came right up to us & we knew she was the one as soon as we saw her. We picked her out on a Saturday and had to wait almost a full week before we could bring her home (although we are very glad they took care of all her shots). She is approximately 8 months old, so we are declaring her birthday to be on November 7 (July 7 is when we took her home). We intended to get an adult cat, but well, what can you do when she is the one? She is certainly still a kitten with lots of energy & is a troublemaker =)

We brought her home & she claimed her territory very quickly. We played with her & she explored our whole apartment on her first night. She is very comfortable in her new home & is exploring new heights every day. So far she has conquered up to the entertainment center & I think the only thing higher are the bookshelves in David's office. The only time she will go in her bed, which David has now put on his desk, is when he is working, so she can be next to him. It's a good thing we got him a desk with such a large work space =)

All that to say, I finally have my cat (and for those of you who know me, you know that I need me a kitty - I can't deny it) & even though David just agreed to get her because he knew it's what I wanted (thank you hon!!), I'm pretty sure he likes her ; )

newness . chapter 2

Yes, the facebook rumors are true. I cut my hair shorter than it's ever been - about 7 inches off! I finally found the courage to go through with it & I love it. It is great for summer and to answer the all important question, yes, I can still put it in a ponytail. Phew.

Hope you are all surviving this hot hot summer, especially those of you suffering through this Texas heat!!!

newness . chapter 1

New apartment! We moved on February 26, just in time for our 2 year anniversary - I guess we are now past the point of calling ourselves 'newlyweds,' even though it still feels like it in some ways =)

With the help of donuts, pizza & some great friends (despite the broken elevator), we successfully made the transfer from our 1 bedroom, 648 sq ft apartment in The Village on the second floor, to our 2 bedroom apartment in The Ansley on the 3rd floor. Most everything was still in boxes by dinner-time, so some friends made & brought us dinner, ate with us & helped us start unpacking - what a blessing! Bekah & I made some great progress on shelf liner, while Roy & David got the entertainment center set-up (which I am told is the most essential step in unpacking).

Add a little paint, some furniture, a few pictures, some details and it starts to feel like home =) I'm not sure I will ever have all of the wall space filled, so if you see a good sale let me know! We are very happy in our new place. We have a little room to stretch out - David has his work space (an office finally!) and I have a big kitchen (with a window), living room to entertain in & a fireplace with a mantle =) Yes, they do exist in Texas. And yes, ours does turn on with the flip of a switch.

summertime again

Our first act of summer was a vacation with my parents. Literally, the day after finals (Saturday, May 7) we drove down to San Antonio & met them for a long weekend. Especially exciting since this was my Dad's first time to Dallas since I moved here in March '09! We spent two nights in San Antonio. It was definitely on the warm side, so we enjoyed an air-conditioned trolley ride around town and a 'breezy' boat ride on the river walk. And we saw all of the most important sites: The Alamo, the Menger Hotel, the Davy Crocket Hotel, the Riverwalk Mall, the Guenther House and Market Square.

Notable restaurant: La Margarita.

Notable pastries: Mi Tierra.

We drove from San Antonio to Austin, stopping in San Marcos for some serious shopping at the Premium Outlets and cruising up through "Hill Country," with a stop in the cute town of Wimberley. We were a little late in the season to catch the blue bonnets, but it was still a nice change of scenery from the city. We dedicated our entire lone evening in Austin waiting for & watching the famous bat fly out from under the Congress Bridge. It was a unique experience to say the least.

After a quick trip to the Botanical Gardens the next morning, we headed for Dallas - on Tuesday, May 10, if anyone is keeping track of days. Upon arrival, we did a drive by of Dallas Theological Seminary & our old place at the Village, before showing off our new place to Mom & Dad (did I mentioned we moved? Stay tuned for more on that!). They didn't have too much time in Dallas, since their flight left the following afternoon, but we got to spend some time relaxing & they helped furnish our new place =) Learning to love Lowes.

Thanks Mom & Dad for coming out to visit us!!! So great to spend some time relaxing & playing with you guys. Please come visit us again =)

Rewind

So where have we been since August?

As much as we were looking forward to Fall, I think it caught me off guard - I've been trying to catch up ever since! Here are some of the highlights.

Halloween:

We decided to stay in this year since we've been so busy. We made soup, pumkin sandwhiches (like an ice cream sandwhich but with frosting in the middle), amazing spiced apple cider (with cinnamon sticks), rented Ghostbusters (which David had never seen before!) & relaxed for the evening. So nice to just be home.

Retreat:

We took a weekend off & headed to Cedar Creek Lake with our small group from church. Some friends from church have a house that they were gracious enough to let us stay at. We ate meals & hung out on their amazing deck/boat house over the lake, watched the Rangers beat the Yankees, played games & soaked up the silence.

Family visit:

My mom & grandma came to visit us the first week in October. I wore them out & fully enjoyed spending 4 full days with them =) The weather was perfect while they were here, which meant we got to do lots of fun stuff! We went to the Texas State Fair, the Dallas Arboretum and the Dallas World Aquarium (which I think we all would agree was the highlight). There were toucans flying over our heads & monkeys (even a sloth we could have reached out & touched) in the trees around us - it was like being in a rainforest! And they had manatees, which is pretty cool =) My mom & Grandma took me shopping & watched girl movies with me too. So good to be with them.

Friend visit:

Kendra & Greg (our close friends from college who now reside in Virginia) came to visit in September. Greg was coming out for business in Fort Worth, so they made a weekend out of it & came to see us! So fun. It had been over a year since we had seen them (way too long!!). We of course had to play disc golf, so we found this neat course on Lewisville Lake, grabbed some slurpies when we finished (it was pretty hot), & barbequed dinner on White Rock Lake. Sunday we went to Fort Worth Zoo & grabbed some dinner in Sundance Square. Monday I got to spend the day with Kendra, shopping, eating at Snappy Salads =) & chatting. Girl time is so good. I think this weekend went by before I even realized it had come. I was very sad to see them go. It is hard living to far from such close friends, but it is such a huge blessing when we can get together.

Other updates:

1. David is continuing to work part-time at the ESD bookstore through the school year. He has worked there the past 3 summers & they have decided to keep him on staff. Yay!

2. Per bullet point #1, we are considering moving to a slightly larger place nearby. David needs the study space & I could use the closet space =)

3. ThM status: Pending completion date May 2012

4. PhD status: currently considering Wheaton or DTS

5. Lindsay just started co-leading her SWIM Bible study (soon to be leading)

7. We will be in California Dec 23 - Jan 1. Yay!!

Going Solo

I've been in training for about 2 months for my new position at work & this week I am officially "on my own." The last month has been full of anxiety over not knowing how to do my job & fear of Cherith leaving, but as my days with her were dwindling to the number of fingers on my left hand, a peace came over me instead. I love how God does this. I get anxious because I am not trusting my situation to the Lord, then I pray about it because my stomach really can't handle it anymore, and then he gives me the peace I should have had all along. I'm going to be fine.

I am starting to get a little more comfortable in my job & in my office (so fun!) & am very thankful that things are a little quieter around the office at the moment - gives me time to work through things at my slower pace & catch up. This job is challenging and detailed and I like it. Definitely miss Cherith though - we bonded through our two months of training =) She did give me her email & cell if I had questions, so I do have a lifeline. But I also have a fantastic boss, so I am covered. I am so blessed.

Learning to trust the Lord is a continual process, but he proves himself faithful every time. We are so thankful for our jobs & the opportunity David has to be here at Dallas Seminary. Thanks for your continued prayers & support!

Trip to Missouri

Plans for the big, much anticipated Thornhill Reunion were compromised at the last minute due to some unforeseen & unavoidable circumstances, but we headed out to Missouri nonetheless & still had a great time. We drove up on Friday, June 25, with our books on tape: The Hobbit (although it was so painful to listen to, we couldn't finish it) & Adventures in Odyssey (thanks Bekah!). We met David's mom & Brett upon arrival for dinner (they took a road trip out from California for the weekend) & stayed at David's Aunt & Uncle's house. We were still able to have a mini family reunion on Saturday, which of course included games, food & catching up.

On Sunday, we spent some time with David's Aunt & Uncle on his Mom's side of the family & of course played some more games =) I found out that I am not the weakest link - good to know. We headed out that evening in a fantastic thunderstorm for Branson, where we stayed the next two nights with David's mom & sister. We decided that Branson is kind of the Hillbilly version of Las Vegas & it was an interesting drive down the "strip" to our hotel on the way in (which was thankfully off the main road). We did not take part in any of Branson's popular shows, but instead spent the following day at Silver Dollar City - a Knott's Berry Farm type theme park. The weather was perfect & it wasn't too crowded. I think the highlight for me was the folk singers that we sat & listened to - they did a Beatles medley as if the Beatles had been from the Ozarks. It was pretty entertaining & they definitely had me tapping my foot & singing along (even though I think I was embarrassing my family ;) Also, it is pretty safe to say I will avoid the tea cups next time.

Oh yea, and we had an awesome screened in porch at our hotel, so we sat out in the evenings & played games. The weekend came to a close too soon though & we headed for home on Tuesday morning.

While we said goodbye to Missouri on Tuesday, we didn't have to say bye to Mom & Brett until the following Saturday morning! They headed down to Dallas on Wednesday & stayed with us for three nights. I think we mostly served to allow them to rest up before the long trek back to California (before Brett's next trip to Europe!), but we had a great time with them while they were here. We got to visit with David's Aunt & Uncle who live here in Plano, we played some games (thanks again for Pictionary!!) & they visited me at work and took me to lunch at Chick-fil-a (I can't lie..it's becoming a new favorite of mine)!

It was so good to see you guys!

lazy summer

***
Summer = no classes! It is a much needed break for David, although I know he would tell you he is already getting bored. But I welcome the break & admit we have been pretty lazy with our evenings & weekends. Oh so nice to have nothing to do sometimes =) We are both busy at work though - David is working full time at the bookstore again this summer & is in the middle of a move + inventory. I am just starting my new position & very thankful to have my trainer for over a month still! New title: Transfer Administrator. I have business cards. Nothing much else new on the home front =)

***

***

So far, we have managed one round of disc golf in the heat & disc golf means slurpies. Worth it.

There is a cute park down the street where I like to spend time reading, praying & reflecting when I get a chance...although I get distracted taking pictures sometimes =)

***

***

Now that it is summer, I have had to give up some staple dinners like Chicken Tortellini Soup, Chili and other heavier, hot dishes...which means I've been forced to search for alternative, summer-appropriate recipes. I've been trying a lot of new things & finding that I actually am somewhat enjoying it =) This whole "cooking" thing is still kind of new for me, especially cooking on a budget (& with limited time) but I am learning. We finally discovered for ourselves how easy & delicious homemade smoothies are and it's a new weekend favorite. I've made a couple "summer" salads & shish-kabobs, yumm. We also brought back breakfast for dinner! Awesome.

***

***

Last month we got to see my family back in California & next weekend we get to drive up to Missouri for the Thornhill family reunion! This year we are going to Silver Dollar City, in Branson, which I guess is kind of a big deal out here? Anyways, we're excited & also so blessed to have David's mom & Brett coming to visit us in Dallas after the reunion for a few days too! Yay for family.

***

***

Hope you are all enjoying your summers so far!

Monterey, California

Thanks to the generosity of a coworker (letting me use accrued miles for a free plane ticket), we were able to fly home for a short vaca in California with my folks this month. Let me just say this a huge deal because the alternative is only going home once a year at Christmas - and well, I am finding that I really do need to see my family more than once a year. But instead of sitting at home for four days looking at each other, we decided to hit a favorite McIntosh vacation spot: Monterey. Overcast, cool beach weather was just what we needed before heading into our Texas summer!

We left a few days after David finished up his semester & arrived (after some flight delays) @ 10am in LA on Thursday, May 13 & immediately began to make our way north to the beach. And yes, we made our mandatory stop for in-n-out =)

After 6 hours of driving, my parents surprised us with a luxurious hotel right on Cannery Row (complete with a balcony overlooking the ocean AND a mini Zen garden) - it was pretty amazing. We settled in, had dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp & went out to see Iron Man 2, even though we were all pretty tired from the long day of travel.

Our first full day was mainly spent at the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium (I love this place!!), and if you're with someone like me, who needs to see & touch everything, then it can take a while to get through =) David's favorite creatures were the sea turtles & mine were the sea otters, as usual, although they had an awesome display of seahorses too.

We took the rest of the afternoon pretty easy. We drove leisurely up & down the coast, David & I climbed around on the rocks searching in tidepools for more things to stick our fingers in, although we never did find a starfish. David wasn't sure they existed outside the Aquarium after that. We walked down the wharf & attempted to see the seals we could hear in the harbor, although we learned you have to be quick when using those timed binoculars if you want to see anything =) We grabbed some dinner at El Torito (a CA favorite - yum!) & headed back to the hotel for some game time.

Saturday we spent most of the morning on the 17-mile drive, a route along the coast that ends in Pebble Beach, with markers along the way of interesting places to hop out & take pictures (including the Lone Cypress pictured below). I like to stop at pretty much every one, even in the cold (good thing we stashed up on our saltwater taffy before the drive - not sure why, but Monterey has the best!). My mom & I had some girl time @ the outlets in the afternoon, while the guys took their afternoon naps. After dinner & a walk on Cannery Row, we spent the evening getting whooped by my parents at cards.

Oh, and did I mention that the breakfast at our hotel was amazing? Well it was - almost everything came with fresh berries - strawberries, blueberries, blackberries & raspberries piled on. Heaven & certainly worth mentioning...even though this post is getting long. I'm just disappointed I didn't get a picture...I was too distracted with eating it I guess.

Sunday (after aforementioned awesome breakfast), we headed for home, but we made a couple of stops along the way. First pit-stop: SLO-town, well Avila really @ Avila Vally Barn...and I got some Divinity Fudge, an old favorite =) My dad got his boysenberry jelly. Second stop: Carpenteria. My uncle Terry was camping at the beach there with my Aunt Cheryl & Grandma Mac, so we got to stop & have dinner with them & hang out for a bit. And before flying back to Dallas the next day, we had breakfast with my Grandma Lockwood, so I got to see her too! Yep, that's pretty much my entire family =) So good to see them even just briefly!

The trip went by very quickly, but it was relaxing & SO good to see my family & spend some good quality time with my parents. Now summer in Dallas is underway & there is no turning back...no more trips to the beach for an escape =)

Thanks Mom & Dad for everything you do & for a great trip - so good to be with you guys!!!