Family Picture

We took a family picture while we were at Shawn's family Thanksgiving. They just emailed it to us so I thought I would share.

Thanksgiving and stuff

Thanksgiving came and went much more quickly than usual. That makes me very sad! Thanksgiving is usually the time that I get to take a mini-vacation and travel down to Texas to visit my sister and her husband. Last year my mom & Eric came down as well. Thanksgiving to me is typically too much food, the Macy's Parade, a AKC Kennel Club dog show, Christmas movies and putting up the Christmad tree...but most of all Thanksgiving is my time with Mimi. Unfortunately I did not get my usual Thanksgiving this year. With all the wedding expenses and Shawn not having any vacation left after the honeymoon, we just couldn't get down to Texas. Although we had a nice holiday with Shawn's family, for me is just isn't the same without Mimi there. I know that my holiday routines will have to change now that I'm married, but it still makes me sad that I missed this Thanksgiving. Mimi had to put up the tree herself...and I still don't know which breed won Best In Show! Although I know it wasn't the Weim or the Dane...boo! I guess I'll just have to try my darnest to make it up to Mimi and myself at Christmas. Mimi & Ian are driving up for Christmas (so they can bring the dogs...yay!). They'll be in Muncie for part of the time but they (as well as Mom, Eric & possibly Sara) are coming here to stay with me & Shawn for Christmas! I have to work Christmas Eve so when I get home Christmas morning my absolute favorite people in the world will be at my house waiting around my Christmas tree. I think it will be pretty close to heaven in my house!

I decided today was the day for the Christmas tree to go up...but as I got started I realized that I need more lights for the tree. What happens in storage every year that half my tree lights die? I planned ahead and bought some white ones last year, but I did not get new blue and now I don't have enough of the blue lights. Guess I'm making a run to Target in the morning. Oh well...we need groceries anyway so it won't be a wasted trip. Not that any trip to Target is wasted :) I will post pictures when the tree is up and beautiful!

Just a side note, Andrew is doing much better. He is in a rehabilitation facility now receiving lots and lots of therapy. His progress is slow, but moving in the right direction. His family is still posting lots of updates on the website so check it out if your curious. Also, she posted a few pictures of him from our wedding in the photos section. I think when you count in the pictures from the reception, there are more pictures of Andrew than anyone else...including me! haha! Its a good thing that I love that guy because otherwise I'd have to take him down!

The Greatest Show On Earth

As I mentioned a few days ago, Shawn won some tickets to the Circus. We won 4 tickets, but we never could find any other people to go with us. It's a shame those extra 2 tickets had to go to waste! We had a pretty good time! I don't remember ever going to the circus as a child, but Mom has informed me that we went several times. It was fun, although the circus really is more fun for children. The kids sitting near us reminded me of how I would have behaved at the circus when I was little. They were laughing so hard at the clowns doing silly stuff...that would have totally been me! Haha!

Since we were at the circus we had to get popcorn and cotton candy! I also remember cotton candy tasting better when I was a kid but it came with a cool hat (Shawn is wearing the hat in some later pictures).

The elephants had pretty cool clothes in the opening number...and it really was an opening number. There was a lot of singing and dancing. Seemed kinda odd! There was one whole big musical thing in the middle that was designed to remind the kids not to try this stuff at home! It was kinda of strange...
Welcome to the Circus!

These acrobats were hanging from some long pieces of material. They were interesting.

These dogs were awesome! Best part of the show thus far. I was pretty happy to get a shot of the poodle in mid-jump! They had a second ring of dogs on the other side doing some cool stuff too. They even had a slide :)

This was an interesting twist on the trapeze. It was actually pretty cool looking, although not quite as cool as the original type of trapeze. This did look significantly safer though! The people had the weirdest outfits on though. The girls were wearing this plastic blue hat things that were like wigs or something. It was kinda creepy.

We didn't get a very good view of the tight rope thing though because of where they had it positioned. It looked like it was pretty cool though.

They did two different things with shooting someone out of a canon. The first one was stupid...totally an illusion and no one really got shot out. The second one was cool though. They actually shot two women out of side by side canons all the way across the room. It was pretty sweet!

Me and Shawn with his cool wizard hat that he wore all the way home on the train!

Shawn couldn're resist getting a snow cone...what a cute little bowl it came in though, right?

These acrobats were pretty awesome! This guy was doing a flip through the flaming ring! I think this was Shawn's favorite part!

The elephants were awesome! The ladies dancing around were kind of stupid though, but Shawn liked them. Shocking!

The tigers were pretty scary. I was pretty sure that the trainer guy was gonna get mauled! The tigers were swiping thier paws at the guy and showing their teeth. He survived though!

These guys were last but they were my favorite. They were so awesome! One of them did a thing at the end that was pretty scary...but he pulled it off and it was cool!

The Grand Finale!

We had a great time although I think we'll hold off from going again until we have kids that are old enough to enjoy it.

Wedding Picture Website

We received the photos from our photographer so we created a website on Shutterfly.com. If you would like to see the pictures or order some for yourself just check out the website. I also posted the pictures from our honeymoon. The website is:

http://lachmcgaugheywedding.shutterfly.com

The Circus?

Shawn called me from work yesterday afternoon (and woke me up) with some fairly exciting news. He had put our names in a drawing a the YMCA for tickets to the Circus while it's in town. Amazingly, he won 4 tickets to the circus for this Wednesday (which is tomorrow now!) We never win anything! It is pretty exciting! I can't remember ever going to the circus...I'm pretty sure I did once as a child though. I think it will be great, but we only need 2 of the tickets because we can't find 2 people to go with us. What a waste! Its a Wednesday night, so that kind of puts a crimp in people's availability. Oh well...it will be fun and we're excited. We'll be sure to take lots of pictures!

Men's Wearhouse Holiday Party

This past weekend Shawn had his Holiday Party for work. Men's Wearhouse has a huge get together for all the employees in the Chicagoland area (which includes NW Indiana and parts of Iowa I guess). The dinner & awards banquet was held at the Hyatt Regency on Wacker downtown. That is a pretty nice venue and from our experience with yummy Hyatt food we were expecting the food to be pretty tasty! The party was black tie (the guys who work for the company all got free tux rental for the party - I still had to buy a dress!). We had a good time (not great though because the DJ sucked! Majorly sucked!) and the food was tasty! We each got two free drinks from the bar as well, so nice added bonus! Shawn's store did not receive any awards but then again, they are a pretty small store. The CEO of the company (the guy from the commercials) was there to present the awards. I discovered that the company gives away what they call Aloha Awards at these banquets. They gave away 5 at this particular party so I can't imagine how many they give out over the whole country, but probably a lot! The Aloha Award is a $3500 voucher for a vacation anywhere in the world for you and a guest! Pretty sweet, right? I told Shawn that since I know of this award now it must be his goal to win it! So...check back next year to check on that! Here are a few pictures of us looking pretty snazzy in our classy attire!

McGaughey. Shawn McGaughey.

Doesn't he look so James Bond?

Nothing really to say about my picture...I got the most awesome shoes though to go with my dress. They were kind of expensive but I LOVE them!
Me and My Love just about to walk out the door. Don't we look classy?

Caleb & Lindsey's Wedding

This weekend we made a quick journey back to Carroll County, Indiana: Shawn's hometown. One of his best friends from high school, Caleb Stevens, was getting married! Caleb and his family are basically a second family to Shawn so he was really looking forward to this wedding. Caleb's Mom, Cecilia did a reading at our wedding and his dad, Mark, was our DJ. The ceremony was beautiful (and looooong) and the reception was a great time! During the ceremony Caleb's sister Savanah sang "The Prayer". It was so beautiful! Once Shawn gets the video uploaded I will put the video up of h er singing. It brought her parents as well as Caleb and his brothers to tears. A lot of Shawn's old friends from Carroll County High School were there as well as some friends that he and Caleb made at Vincennes University. As is typical when you get the CC crew together there is a lot of drinking and even more craziness, so it is no surprise that things got a little crazy! We'll get to that though...

Caleb & his mother, Cecilia, walking down the aisle.Lindsey (the beautiful bride) & her Dad, Mark, making their way down the aisle.

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Stevens!
Time for the reception. We have been married two months now! How much longer are we considered newlyweds?

The groom, Caleb, in the middle, taking shots with his brother (and best man) Jonah and his dad. Yes, I said shots. Tequila. I told you things were going to get wild!

The newlyweds! They are heading to a cabin in Gaitlinburg, TN for their honeymoon.

Friends! Friends for Life! So...the night ends with Caleb, Jonah and Jordan wrestling in the street in their tuxes after they left the post-wedding bar trip. Mark, the groom's dad, drank more than he usually does and Shawn and I ended up helping him back to his hotel room after the reception. Then...Shawn had to help Lindsey get Caleb back to his hotel room too after the bar. What a wedding. What a wedding. Boys. What can you do?

Shawn and I will be spending Thanksgiving with his family this year back in Carroll County. Caleb is quite a musician and he'll be performing at a bar in Burlington the night before Thanksgiving so I'll finally get to hear him perform! I'm looking forward to that!