SNOW!!!

Eric's parents have a cabin in Pinetop, AZ, so last weekend we were able to make a weekend trip there. It had snowed the prior week and we got lucky enough as there was still lots of snow on the ground. Kylie loved getting bundled up and would say over and over "no, no, no" her version of "snow, snow, snow!" I'm so grateful that we have a place like this that we can come visit, but I have a huge appreciation for any of you that have to dress your kids like this on a daily basis- I'll stick with the Phoenix weather right now :)

A Trip to the Zoo

My cousin, Erin, and I finally had an opportunity to get together with our kids at the zoo. This was the perfect time for Kylie because she has just recently started to fall in love with animals and learn all the noises that they make. One of Kylie's favorite animals right now is the giraffe. She loves the long neck and big ears and bright colors, and it was so fun for her to see the animal in person! You can see just a little bit of her excitement in this picture.


Kylie and her cousins, Lilly & Caleb

A few of my favorite things

Kylie has been enjoying her new Christmas toys so much! The house is definitely much more scattered with lots of stuff and we're now learning how to put away one toy before getting another out. It's a hard lesson to learn because she forgets about her other new toys while she is playing with one, and her excitement to move to the other toys is overwhelming! Recently, one of her favorite activities is to have tea parties with her animals. The teapot has a button that you push that plays "I'm a little teapot" and she squeals with excitement every time she pushes it! Here are a few of her tea party pictures!





Another favorite activity since she could walk is to play with the tupperware drawer in the kitchen. This has always been the drawer that she is allowed to play in while mom & dad are in the kitchen. Sometimes I wonder if this was truly the best option when we spend 15 minutes picking up lids & containers scattered around the house :0




Another favorite is the Dora 4X4 that Kylie got from her Uncle Travis. She loved it Christmas day and drove it all around. Then, for about 2 weeks, she wanted nothing to do with it - we think she had a bad dream about a car crash or something :) She's finally come back around and loves to ride it and give her babies rides too!

A Sunset to die for!

Last weekend, I walked outside and literally the sky took my breath away. I couldn't pass up an opportunity to stop and stare at amazement at the amazing colors that God decided to paint our sky with that night. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Praise Him for such creativity!

Welcome home 2008

On New Year's Eve, we decided to "hire" our parents and let Kylie have a night out alone without us. Well, I guess maybe it was the other way around, but we had a wonderful time remembering what it was like to have a full day and night and morning
So, we rang in the new year with great friends at Amy & Andrew Price's home. Boy can they throw a party! There were more yummy appetizers and food there than we've had in a long time! Thanks for such a great night guys! We played games and at 11:55 finally decided to turn on the tv and ring in the new year. Just a note, wasn't it sad to watch Dick Clark after his stroke, my heart broke when I saw it! The guys decided to go outside in the blistering cold & wind and try their hand at some fireworks. (Leave it to the Fire Fighter and soon-to-be-firefighter to play with fire outside on a windy night :0)


Jackie, Me, & Amy

After going home a few hours later when the poker game ended, we slept until 10 the next morning and then got so much done!
without a child in the house. We dropped her off at lunch and she stayed with the grandparents until the next evening!!! Please don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade my life today for anything, but it was pretty wierd when Eric and I walked back into our house with Kylie and looked at each other to say "what do we do now?!?" And I'm not sure who had more fun with this arrangement, Kylie, the grandparents, or us?!?!?! I think we are going to try to make this a more consistent activity because we all had a great time and we realized how nice it was to have that break, as much as we love our baby girl.



Fireworks in the midnight sky

Our prayer is that 2008 will bring happiness and contentment to each of us and that God will continue to shower his blessings upon us as he has continually done. It's so easy to look back and say I wish I could have changed this or that, or I wish this had worked out differently, but I read a really awesome blurb from Beth Moore the other night from her book "Get Out of That Pit." She and her husband were discussing life and his comment was, "I wonder what I would have been like if I hadn't had XYZ happen, and done this or that" and I love the response that Beth gave, "Honey, you're a much neater person HEALED than you would have been well." I love the perspective that any of us could be "fine" with "normal" life circumstances, but the Lord loves us enough to give us trials that make us 10 times neater than fine! Is that not the coolest thing! Happy New Year :)