Visiting

While we were home for Christmas vacation we were able to see some old friends and visit with extended family. One night we went to Dean and Michelle's house. Sean and Anika came, too. We met little Leah for the first time, and found out that Anika is pregnant again. Soon we will all have two kids. It has been fun to watch each of our little families grow. I forgot to bring my camera that night, so I copied these pictures from Anika's blog. (I hope you don't mind, Anika!)



Terryn giving Lucy loves.




















Terryn and Kara had fun playing together. As you can see in the background, Josh only had eyes for the train set. I believe I have already mentioned that he is a little obsessed...



The whole gang together. We all knew each other in the Singles Branch, but since we've all been married, I don't think we've lived near each other for more than 6 months at a time. Dean and Michelle were off at school in Iowa for a few years, and now that they are back in Washington, we are in Texas, and Sean and Anika are in Vietnam. I'm so glad we are still able to get together when we're all home for holidays and things like that.

I was also able to spend an afternoon with my mom's sisters and my girl cousins on my mom's side. They always crack my up when we hang out. I love being able to spend time with them playing games, eating good food and talking and laughing. Alas, no pictures :(

I got to go do a puzzle with my good friend Megan from our old ward in Spanaway. I was great to just sit and talk while we did the puzzle and catch up on each other's lives. I miss being able to talk to her all the time.

I also go to spend an afternoon with some old friends that I grew up with. Alycia, Katherine, Beverli and I were in the same ward growing up, and I was roommates with Alicia and Katherine for a few years at college. When I got back from college, I taught seminary with Bev for the last few months of the school year. Alycia and Bev were bridesmaids at my wedding. We haven't all been in the same room together for many years now, and since Bev and I were in town for Christmas, we decided to have a little get together. It was so much fun!! We made pizzas for lunch, and just talked and talked and talked. And played a little Nertz, too.


I love catching up with old friends!

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Day at my parents' house. My brother and his family came over in the morning to open presents and have breakfast. Christmas breakfast has become one of my favorite traditions over the years. When we were kids, we rarely had sugar cereal, so for Christmas morning, we could have whatever cereal we wanted. (My favorite has long been Lucky Charms.) My mom would also make cinnamon rolls and we would have hot chocolate and sometimes warm Christmas punch. Mmmmm...I love Christmas breakfast!

In the early afternoon, my Aunt Catherine came over, and Adam's parents also came over. We had a late afternoon Christmas dinner, followed by games and chatting. It was a fun, relaxing day. We got Josh a Thomas the Tank Engine track set. He LOVES it and played with it the rest of our vacation. He is pretty much obsessed with trains.

Christmas Eve

We were able to go home to Washington for two weeks for Christmas vacation. We stayed with my parents and had so much fun visiting with family and friends. We spent Christmas Eve with Adam's family at his brother and sister-in-law's house in Edgewood. They have a dog and three cats that Josh just went NUTS over. He LOVED to chase them around the house and love on them. Lucy also liked to watch them and laugh at them. We had brunch, opened presents, and had a yummy Christmas dinner. After dinner we played games and chatted. It was great to see Adam's parents and brothers and sis-in-laws and their families. The hardest thing about being in Texas is being so far from our families.

11 Months Old!

I realize I'm very late with this post (her birthday is next week!) but I wanted to get a couple pictures up and do a small update on our Baby Girl before I do all the Christmas vacation blog posts.

That month between 10 and 11 months old, Lucy seemed to grow up so much. She became more interested in lots of different kinds of foods and really started to enjoy feeding herself. She became very disinterested in anything we tried to give her with a spoon. It was finger foods all the way! She continued to become stronger and more confident in her moving around, creeping along the furniture. Occasionally, she would also stand all by herself for a few seconds. She had a couple more teeth come in, and is now flashing toothy grins with 8 whole teeth.



















She continues to be the happiest baby ever and we just love her!

Riding Bikes

Last weekend, Adam had Friday off of work for the Thanksgiving holiday, so we did all our usual Saturday grocery shopping and errands on Friday, and had the whole day on Saturday to play. We went to a park that had some space for Josh to practice riding his tricycle. He likes to ride on the sidewalk in front of our house, but he doesn't really have much room on the sidewalk to figure out how to steer and other things like that. He really enjoyed riding around, although he still doesn't quite understand the concept of turning yet.



















































When Josh got tired of riding his bike, we played at the park for awhile. It was a fun family day.