MNF - Holiday Edition

Our MNF Group above. Not only was it the last MNF of the season, it was also the Holiday Edition!! :) Santa dropped off some funny presents for everyone, and we had a blast opening them!! This group of people are the greatest people in the world, and oh, what fun we have together. We're both SO BLESSED to have such great people in our lives. Some more pictures below.

Mark and Chanin

Jay and Tiffany. Who definitely got the "best outfit" award. Jay borrowed that sweater from his mom! It was so great! They're so cute..... :-)

Marcus and the LADIES. Rhona, Tiffany, Chanin and I.

Two of the sweetes people ever! Tiffany and Chanin. :) (Since this photo was taken, Tiffany is sporting a new haircut, which is super duper cute! Stay tuned for more photos of that!)

Holiday Traditions

We both had a pretty rough 2007. We started 2008 out on the right foot, vowing to ourselves more than anyone, to make this the best year ever, and to get back on our feet and enjoy life as much as humanly possible.



We sometimes both get a little overemotional or sappy, and this holiday season has been a steady reminder of how grateful we are for what we have and for those that are in our lives. This holiday season, we went out with the old and in with the new, and have made a multitude of new traditions that we will probably carry on for the rest of our lives together. Thought we would share some of them with you all:



Putting up our tree. We put the tree up together the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We put on Christmas music, drank some wine, and hung the ornaments on the tree together. The last ornament to go on the tree was the ornament that we picked up in New Orleans on our summer vacation. We'll pick up another one in Texas this coming year, and hang it right next to the New Orleans Lamp Post.



Sleeping on the floor next to the tree. When we were done putting the tree up, we hauled the mattress out to the living room, and slept on the floor in front of our tree together.



Shopping online together. We did the majority of our shopping online this year. We sat together, on the couch, with our list of those to buy for, and purchased what we could online, making a long list of those we needed to buy for in the store.



Sarah wrapped. Dan lounged. Together. And we loved every second of it. She likes wrapping the presents, and he liked lounging on the couch watching football and chatting while she made the presents beautiful with wrap, ribbon and bows.



Ringing the Salvation Army Bell Together. We went to the West Lafayette WalMart together and stood in the cold and rang the bell for the Salvation Army. It was a fun time, and we laughed almost the entire time. Also made us feel good to know that we were doing good to help someone less fortunate than us.


Christmas Lights and the Living Nativity. Last Saturday night, we went to the Living Nativity in Lafayette. Listened to Christmas music and drank hot chocolate in the car while we waited in line, and after driving through the nativity, drove around looking at Christmas Lights, still drinking the hot chocolate and laughing.

Dinner and the Mall during the hustle and bustle. One thing that Dan wanted to do this year was go to the mall during the "peak" shopping time this year. On the 23rd, we had dinner at the Other Pub, and then headed out to the mall to venture through there with all the other crazy shoppers. Headed home, and curled up with The Christmas Story. It was one of our favorite times this season, and we look forward to it again next year.

Our holidays were amazing! We had such a great time with our family and friends. We have lots more to post, but taking us a while to get through the pictures! :)

Hope the holidays were blessed for you and yours! :)

Much love!

Dan and Sarah

From this........to this.........

I love shopping. I love giving gifts. I love wrapping presents. So, as I'm sure you can imagine, I absolutely LOVE Christmas. I love to pick out that PERFECT present for someone, and enjoy watching them open their gifts. I always strive to be the purchaser of the "FAVORITE GIFT" for each person every year. :) I don't always succeed, but I think I do a decent job of picking out presents. :)

And I especially love to wrap them. I love to pick out different kinds of wrapping paper (although I admit that I seldom open a new roll of paper until all the rolls that I'm currently using are exhausted) and wrap them pretty, complete with lots of ribbon and bows. My brother-in-law recently described my gift wrapped packages as "museum exhibits". I'm not sure that I would got that far, but I do enjoy making them "pretty". This year, I spent lots of hours on the floor in my "newspaper jammers" (as Dan says) wrapping presents while Dan laid on the couch coaching me. :) Fun times...... and holiday memories we'll always have.

This picture was taken several days ago. We've added quite a few presents since then, but this is the best picture that we have. Hard to see the tree completely, but there isn't any ornaments on the tree (with the exception of our New Orleans Ornament that we picked up on vacation this year) that isn't a santa claus. We have wooden santa clauses, good santas, bad santas, religious santas, veterinarian santas, flying santas, black santas, you name it. :) It's fun!

Looking at our tree reminds us how fortunate we are. The other day, Dan said to me, "I was watching the news tonight and it was talking about how, with the economy being so bad this year, a lot of people were either making Christmas gifts or they just weren't buying any. I looked over at our tree and all the presents there, and reminded myself how blessed we are." That's so true. We're blessed. In a lot of ways. Our family and friends are the most amazing people in the world, and we are blessed to have good jobs and steady income. Something that many people in America today cannot attest to.

Happy Holidays to everyone........hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, and enjoy the time spent with family and friends this holiday season. :)

Family Christmas

We had Christmas with my dad's side of the family this past weekend. It's always one of my favorite family get-togethers and we always have an afternoon filled with laughs and fun. It's become a recent tradition in the family to play "Dirty Bingo" each year. People bring small gifts and we play Bingo to win them. Once you Bingo, you can either steal someone else's gift, or open a new, unwrapped one. Of course, I ended up with nothing. Had some good things, but of course, they were good things, so they got stolen. Dan ended up with some Santa Claus potholders. :) Of course. :)

As always, we had a great time, and it reminded me of why I have a lot to be thankful for. My family is great, and I enjoy all the time that we spend together. Of course, the raspberry blush that my aunt makes is an added bonus! ;)

Here's some pictures from the day.

Savannah had some fun crawling up in Gage's bouncy seat. She's too big for hers, (and his, too), but she always loved it. :) We joked that they should make those for adults.

Grandma Moss and Gage. He's such a great little baby.....he just sat right there on her lap and just smiled and laughed and oohed and aahed. Too cute! She loved every minute of it.

Brent, Elizabeth and Olivia. Gage was sleeping. Notice Olivia's little outfit!?!?! It was TOO CUTE! Elizabeth bought it at Hannah Anderson, and she was all decked out with the matching shoes!

Lizzie and Livvie. (I just love typing that.)

Doing puzzles. :)

Aubrey, Julie, Peg and Adrianna.

Jordan and Trevor. Both 14. Act just alike. Will both hate their parents in 3 years.

Savannah, Xavier and Briana. They were the only ones that we could seem to get to pose.

Angelic Aisha

We went to Dan's niece Aisha's Christmas program at her school last week. The program was cute, and although we didn't have the best seats in the house, we enjoyed seeing her sing. She loved getting up on the stage and singing as loud as she could. Seriously. She was louder than the entire grade put together. We loved watching her!

There she is in the center, with her braids. She wore the angel costume, and was proud of her "wings".

The music teacher was in the way, but she did get chosen to play the xylophone in the program. Of course, she was the best one, and did a great job!

We went back to Aisha's classroom after the program, and saw some of her projects and her posters that she has done this year in school. This is a photo of Dan and I and Grandma Virginia.

The whole Crowe bunch. Dad John, Becky, Trevor, Sky, Eddie, Aisha, Myself, Grandma Virginia and Dr. Dan.

Let It Snow!!

My cousin Mike, his wife Kristie, and their family live in Houston, TX. They moved there a couple of years ago with their daughter, Lauren. Since living in Texas, they have added Carter Deane to their family. Kristie sent this picture last week.....it actually SNOWED in Houston, and Lauren was sooo excited that she got to wear her hat and gloves. :) Carter also got to wear a new hat, that his auntie made for him! Way too cute! :)

We miss you guys! Hope to see you soon!! xoxo

Some Recent Pictures of Dan and the Kids....

Dan and Gage.....he's getting SOOO big..... :-) He'll be all caught up to his big sister before we know it. He's already within 10 lbs. of her!

And of course, the princess herself. In my favorite outfit of hers, the pink and maroon plaid jumper. :-)

Salvation Army.....and someone's horrible grammar.....

Dan and I spent a half hour supporting the Purdue Club of Tippecanoe County and the Salvation Army by ringing the bell at WalMart in West Lafayette last Wednesday. We only spent 30 minutes out there, but it was kinda' fun, to be honest. There were tons of people who were supporting the cause, and it made my day to tell little kids "Merry Christmas" who stuck dollar bills into the red can. :)

Although, I would like to point out that the sign that was hanging next to the bell.....can you read it? It said, "Purdue Club of Tippecanoe County is rings bells today!" WHAT? This is alumni that made that sing? I was borderline embarrassed to stand next to it. :)

Christmas Party - Passageways Style......

Passagways Christmas party was this past weekend. It's something that everyone around here anticipates every year, as it's always a great time. Good food, lots of drinks, and an always- hilarious White Elephant Exchange.

This year, the party was at the Trails in their upstairs room. Probably a good thing, since at the end of the night, the party got a tad bit "rowdy".....

Had New York Strip Steak for dinner, which was delish.....Dan had some Prime Rib that was also good. I indulged in several (OK, probably SEVERAL too MANY) gin and tonics, as I had a designated driver for the evening. No complaining there.

As usual, the White Elephant Gift Exchange was a hoot......I ended up walking away with a bottle of wine, which was good, as we've taken a liking to good wine. (Although, KARISSA, that isn't really a white elephant gift. White Elephant gifts are supposed to be funny and stupid, or ugly and used, or inappropriate and raunchy, not a bottle of WINE........however, I'm not complaining.) Most of you can probably guess what we took for our White Elephant Gift.....

Someone.....(honest to God, we're not sure who) gave Dan a toilet paper holder at one point for a gift. I thought it was one person, he thought it was another, his ex thought it was yet even someone different....... It's hideous. Let me describe: The thing stands about mid-thigh height, and is brown, and carved out of wood..... It is a bloodhound dog, whose hands are in front of him, appropriately holding a roll of toilet paper. In addition, the smiling thing had a rack for your reading material while you are using the restroom. (Nice.) To top it all off, it had a clothespin on its nose. I couldn't WAIT to get rid of this thing, and to be honest, Dan wasn't wanting to hold onto it too badly either. It caused fights at the Christmas party. The rule is that the same gift can only be stolen three times. I'm pretty sure it passed hands four times, and then someone else altogether ended up with it. Ha! :) I hope that Chuck and Robin enjoy the prized TP holder. (Dan told Chuck that he was going to miss it. Chuck assured him that he could come over to their house and poop anytime that he wanted.)

However, in my opinion, best gift of the night was not the dog toilet paper holder. It was indeed something different altogether. Let me explain: Back in AUGUST, I was traveling to a conference. During the same time, the company was doing an internal "auction" for charity purposes. Everyone brought an item, we auctioned them off (using our new awesome auction module on our internal portal, of course), and proceeds went to charity. The girls from support (Kim and Karissa) ran across a senior picture of me in a dictionary that was on my desk. (That I obviously had for years.) It's a funny picture, I must admit. It's me, decked out with all my sports attire, trophies, uniforms, and I'm wearing jeans with a t-shirt, TUCKED IN. I have curled under bangs, and look nothing like you all know me today. It's hilarious. The girls blew up the picture, and "autographed" it, and sold it in the auction. It brought a whopping $3. Gail, our CEO bought it. She graciously gave it up, and brought it for the white elephant gift this year. (I laugh aloud as I'm typing this.) The funniest part about it, though, was that Chuck (Evil Chuck, not the Chuck that got the TP holder.) unwrapped it, and he didn't know who it was. He's a fairly new employee, who doesn't have any interaction with me on a day to day basis, and we only typically see one another in passing in the hallway or at the coffee pot. He stood there forever trying to figure out who it was, and why it was funny. Everyone was trying to tell him, "IT'S SARAH!" Finally, when he realized it, he said, "Well, I guess I know what I'm taking home with me tonight!" (Meaning: No one is going to want to steal this from me!) HAHAHA!!!
Anyway, it was a great party, a good time was had by all, and I look forward to another Passageways style party soon to come! :)

Here are a few pictures from the night:

Karissa and I

Lee and Tim. :-)

Andy, Manish, Lee and Paroon. Notice that Andy has the whole roll of tickets for the bar. I'm pretty sure that the 2-drink-ticket-per-person rule was broken.

Dan and I

Newlyweds. Nick and Rachel Rowe.

Dan and Anne

Welcome Home Chanin!

Some of you know our friend Chanin, and some of you don't.....but I just had to share this picture. She recently went to Germany for Thanksgiving to visit her family there. She took this picture in Bamberg, the town that her cousin lives in. I just love it! She should use it for her Christmas cards. The scenery is nice, and she looks absolutely stunning! :)

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Baker!!!

Congratulations to Ryan and Leslie Baker, who got married last weekend in Valparaiso. It was such a fun time, and I was honored to be a part of their day! It was such a great time.......

Here are some pictures from their day!

First Dance as Mr. and Mrs. Baker

The beautiful, beautiful Bride!


Leslie and I at the reception.....

Dr. Dan and I after a few too many Crown & Water's and Gin & Tonic's...... Ha!

Leslie's Bridesmaids. Andrea Baker, Jamie Rudicel, Gretchen Bollhoefer, and me!

Jamie and Jeremy

Jeremy and Julie Warner. (Minus their adorable, gorgeous baby......Natalie, who was probably being passed around somewhere....everyone wanted to hold her!)

Two of my three favorite men on the planet. Dan and Baker. (Marcus, I didn't forget you.)

Marco loves wine......... (no, not so much.)

Shanna, Dan and Gage...... :)

Best wishes to the two of you for a lifetime of joy and happiness. We absolutely adore you both, and can't wait to grow old and grouchy with both of you. You're the best friends that we could ever ask for! Thanks for letting us share in your day! Love you both!

Not a magic cast.....

Dog leg vs car. Shattered distal radius / ulna and carpus. (Wrist) Extensor and flexor tendons gone and muscle is pretty much ground beef.
Goal was to clean, stabilize, and pain control until he could get to an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow.
Ouch...

After extensive wound debridement and cleaning and putting on a light cast to prevent further damage to nerves and blood vessels by stabilizing area until surgical treatment..

Waking up...

Although slow, he walked out of here. Sometimes I worry my casts look so good the owners won't follow up with a surgeon!!
That's not a MAGIC cast folks. The wound and fractures are still there...
Have a good day.
Dr. Dan

Happy 2nd Birthday, Olivia!!!

Olivia celebrated her second birthday this past week. She turned 2 on the 26th of November. It's so hard for me to believe that she's already 2. My, how things have changed in all of our lives in the last 2 years. It seems like yesterday that we were rushing to the hospital the Sunday after Thanksgiving because Elizabeth was in labor. And now, 2 years later, we all look forward to Olivia's early morning phone calls to say "Titi and Dan, Get UP NOW!!" Ha! :)

I am writing this for Olivia:

Dear Livvy Lou,

It's hard for me to tell you in words what joy and happiness you have brought to my life. I still remember the day that you were born, holding you in the hospital. Even though I said that it didn't matter at the time, I'll ALWAYS be proud to have been the first one to ever hold you. (Except your mommy and daddy, of course.) You were a beautiful baby then, and you continue to get more and more beautiful every day.

Most recently, some of my favorite memories of you would be: The day that we took you to the pumpkin patch. You loved the horse, and laughed the whole time that you were on it. On the way back in the car, you said, "Titi, I love you." Seeing you dressed up in your halloween outfit on halloween was fun, too, and I loved that you called me that morning and told me "not to be scared" when I saw you dressed as a kitty cat. I love that you get so excited that you went potty in the big potty, and that you want Titi to take you. I smile just thinking about how much you love your little brother, and how much you love to take care of him, and hold him. I love that you get all excited to see Dan, and even though I complain sometimes, it makes my heart melt that you love him so much. I love your hugs and kisses, and hope that you never get too big to want to give Titi and Dan a hug or kiss.

You have to be one of the luckiest little girls in the entire world. You have so many people who love you, and people who look forward to watching you grow up and be a part of the bright future that we all know you will have. I love you Olivia, and look forward to another year of you growing up, and another year of loving you more than I did yesterday. :)

Happy Birthday, Baby.

Love,
Titi

P.S. Oh yeah, and I hope that you never stop calling me "Titi".....even if you're 20 years old. I like it, and like that you don't even know who "Sarah" is. :) I hope it stays that way.

She got a Dora suitcase full of Dora stuff. One of the things in her suitcase was a Dora container of bubble bath, which is in a hard container, that is NOT meant to be a toy. She loves it and carries it around and sleeps with it. The morning after her party, she woke up, and had her head on Dora. She said, "Mommy, Dora hurt my head!" Ha!

Here, she has the Dora doll, and the Barney doll that my mom and dad bought for her. She LOVED it, and didn't want to put it down. She should have opened that one LAST.....as she didn't want to put it down.

Here she is with Barney.

Leslie with Corbin. He's soooo cute! :)

Dan and I.....