December wrap up!

Here are the festivities that rounded out our Christmas season.

The botanic gardens here in Abq have what they call The River of Lights during the holidays. We went and had a great time. We were glad it wasn't too cold!

Jesse got to sing with his school music group The Mustang Chorale at a senior center. They did a great job.

Our only snow day so far. They ended up canceling the last day of school which made for 2 very unhappy kids...they were sad because they were supposed to have their class parties that day. Grace even got mad at me as if I had done it on purpose! They were somewhat appeased when we ended up spending the day playing with friends.
We actually got a fair amount of snow and it stuck around through the next day so the kids and Danny were able to have a snow war.
James preferred the safety of the playground...and Dylan wouldn't even get out of the car!

Danny, Jess and Grace stayed out for quite a while and had a great time. Eventually James and I retreated to the car, but we all had a good time playing in the snow.

Finally, Christmas day was here.
The kids were very happy with their haul. It was nice to have such a relaxing, fun day. Although it was a little lonely without family. We missed you all!

The aftermath!!
Hope everyone else had a great Christmas as well.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

ChRIsTmaS

It's our family tradition to set up the Christmas tree and decorations the day after Thanksgiving. So in keeping with tradition...
And just look at this happy camper...he loved setting up the tree!
And the fruits of our labors...

I also got the opportunity to set a table for our Relief Society Christmas dinner. It turned out so pretty, I had to take some pictures. I am a terrible photographer...it was a lot prettier in person!
Bring on Santa! We're ready!

Halloween

Better late than never!

I know...terrible pictures and none of Jesse. Jess took off the moment we got to the ward party and I never saw him again until we left. But he was a Jungle native and he made his own mask for it. It was really creative and I wish I had gotten a picture of it before it was destroyed!

It was a fun, low-key Halloween. We went to the ward party on Friday night and then the kids passed out candy on Sunday while we watched Amazing Race. I think the kids had just as much fun as they would have had we gone trick or treating.

Now...bring on the rest of the holiday madness...ready or not!

IT'S A...

GIRL!!!

Finally!

Whew...I am all updated. It wasn't as painful as I was fearing it would be.

I am feeling much better and, to tell you the truth, this has been my easiest pregnancy. But I do not like to even be a little bit sick, so I have been putting off most things except the essentials. Then when I started feeling better, I dreaded the thought of all that I needed to update, but I finally took the plunge today and here it is.

I updated by month, so scroll down so you don't miss all the riveting details!

Tomorrow I have another ultrasound and am hoping that they will be able to tell us what we are having.

I will not wait so long to update next time...stay tuned!

PS I added a poll to the sidebar...just for fun!

A family outing

This past weekend we took a trip to the Botanic gardens. It was a beautiful day and we had a fun time all together.

The Childrens GardenThe Harvest Festival at the farmThe Bug Boy
And the Japanese Garden (my favorite...it is so beautiful)
It was the end of the afternoon as is evidenced in that last picture of all the kids! Someone was in desperate need of a nap!

Despite the mini fallout at the end a great time was had by all.

September

September brought with it...

**"School" for DylanIt's actually just a program through the parks and rec here in town. They have a free pre-k program through the school district, but we didn't have the lucky lottery number!! We are still on the waiting list and hope to make it into the school before too much longer. In the meantime he is having a good time at Kidzone.

**A trip to Dixon apple farms with the Hatches for some delicious Champagne apples. The best in NM (or so we are told.) It was a beautiful drive up to the orchards and we had fun getting the apples from the source. We drove away with over 150 lbs of apples...40 of which were for us, the rest were delivered to friends.
**And lucky number 7 for GraceThe highlight of the day being a trip to the mall with Mom to get her ears pierced (she's been waiting for over a year) and to buy some new school clothes.

We also had a flower cake (per request) and her daddy "turned" her 7.
We love Grace...the princess of the family. So glad that you are ours!

August

In August, we celebrated 4 years of Dylan:It was a low-key birthday as Mom was not feeling her best, but the birthday boy enjoyed shopping with Mom and picking out his own presents and decorating his own cake. We love our Dylan and are glad that he is a part of our family.

Back to School We were all very ready for school to start this year. The kids have great teachers and are doing very well in school.

I think that the rest of August was spent trying to survive morning sickness and extreme fatigue! It is kind of a blur!

The final act!

And the reason I have been MIA for the past several weeks!
We are excited to meet him or her at the end of March 2011!

July

Take me out to the ball game! We got to go see the Isotopes (our minor league baseball team, associated with the Dodgers) play a game. It was fun to go with the kids and they seemed to enjoy it as well.

We also got a visit from the Allens-some good friends from our Simi days. They were passing through Abq on their cross country trip from CA to FL. We were so glad that they pit-stopped with us for a day. It was fun to see how grown up everyone keeps getting and to catch up.

We did celebrate the 4th of July this year, but the party was at our house and I was the host, so no pictures were taken. It was fun, nonetheless and we had a great time celebrating our freedoms.

A solo camping trip

I know...I have been terrible about posting. I'm sure that I have lost all of my loyal fans! It's just that I have been feeling lazy and uninspired, besides not many noteworthy happenings going on lately...that is until this past weekend! I apologize and commit to doing better in the future...I hope you will come back and visit me!

So, I convinced Danny to take a day off this past Friday (amazing feat, I know!) and we headed for the hills (the mountains really) to do our very first camping trip all by ourselves! We have only been camping a couple of times since we've been married and it was with my family both times.

We felt so grown up heading out to the wild! We went to the Jemez Mountains that are only a little more than an hour's drive from our house, but a world away! It was so beautiful!
As soon as we got our camp set up (and after the rain subsided!) we went on a little hike to Jemez Falls.

On the trail
The falls and scenery

It was just gorgeous. The kids even got to play in the pools above the falls. That would've been more fun if it wasn't raining and cool at that moment!

Soon after we got back to camp, the clouds drifted away and the sun was bright and warm again. Good thing, too, because we had a little rain get into the tent and soak Grace's sleeping bag, but it dried before it was time for bed...gotta love the dry, NM air!

Around camp

We just stayed over one night...it was a trial run...but the trip was declared a success. We had a great time and survived a night out in the woods. And best of all, we created some fun memories!

Side note: Here are the skies over our house this evening during one of our monsoons. Just beautiful!
The pictures do not do it justice! Click on the pictures and you can see that it is a double rainbow, full arches. It was just too close to get a full picture. I just love the NM skies.

Arizona

On the way home from CA, we stopped in Mesa to visit with our old neighbors and good friends, the Widdisons. We had a fun time playing, visiting and catching up. Thanks for a fun time.
While in AZ we also got to visit with my oldest friend, Danielle, and her family. We have known each other since we were in nursery together 30 some odd years ago. I haven't seen her for many years and it was fun to catch up and get to know her family a little bit. I wish that I had taken more pictures of this leg of the trip!

Good times in AZ!

California

Here is what we did in pictures....I am a feeling uninspired in writing!

Our pit stop on the ride down

Mom & Larry's weddingMemorial Day at the beach

Water PlayAnother trip to the beachAnd a day at Legoland

Not captured in photos, but a special event worth mentioning. We got to attend the baptism of our new niece and nephew Suzzy and Eli. They were officially adopted by Danny's brother, Steve, and his wife, Kirsten. We were so happy to welcome them to the family and see them join the church. What a special day!

We had a great time in CA and as always it was sad to say goodbye to family, but we are grateful for the good times we had and the memories that were created.

BC (before California)

There were several things that I needed to catch up on before we left for California, but blogger wasn't cooperating, so it did not get done. Well, here is the abbreviated version of the things that I felt were most worth mentioning. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!!

Grace was the only kindergartner to receive this award!

I'm so proud of these kids. They did such a great job in school this year. I am thankful for these terrific kids!

At the hospital

James really enjoyed his time at the hospital. He got to be an only child for the first time in his little life and was the darling of the General Peds unit. Because he wasn't sick, he cruised the floor flirting with the nurses, walking into any open room and making his presence known. Although it was not the most fun to be at the hospital for a week and a half, it was really fun for me to see his little personality blossom.

The night we got there...

In his "cage"

Making friends...

With Zack (in orange-he has cystic fibrosis and has to come into the hospital for 2-3 weeks every 3 months for "maintenance" where he is hooked up to antibiotics for most of the day) and Diego (he got burned when his brother caught some gasoline on fire and accidentally spilled it all down his right side-he was so cute with James...always giving him treats and gifts and showing him how to play his new PSP. His parents were also so sweet and kind. There are wonderful people in this world!)

A visit from sibs...

They were having a fundraiser for cancer while we were there and had all kinds of fun things to see.

Hanging out with his feeding tube...

Nothing could hold him down.

I am so glad to be home and that James is alright (as far as we know-we are still waiting on the results for the cystic fibrosis test, but I am not concerned.) Most of the other children on the floor were really sick or injured and I felt almost guilty that James was just running all over the place, happy as a clam! I am so grateful for good health and pray that it will stay with us. My heart goes out to all of those affected by serious injury or illness. It was very isolating being there at the hospital and very eye opening. I hope I will be of better service in the future to those in similar situations...I sure plan on it.
I need to make mention that I think that nurses are just about the most wonderful people on earth. We had several nurses over the time that we were there and they were genuinely concerned about us and helped us with anything that we needed. There is a special place in heaven for nurses, that is for sure. They made an otherwise difficult situation much more bearable.
Thanks to all of you who expressed concern and offered prayers on our behalf...they really helped us through.
As far as what's happening now with James...he still has a feeding tube and they are planning on keeping him on it for a little while to chub him up a bit. We have a follow up appt. on Monday and will hopefully have a better idea about things. I am a bit conflicted because I feel like he is just fine and that all of this is unnecessary. But, on the other hand, I want to make sure that I don't "pull the plug" on his nightly feedings if they really are necessary. So for now we will ride this out a little further. A little extra weight on our pip-squeek won't hurt anyone!

PS: a big thanks to my wonderful mom who dropped everything and came running the moment I called. It would have been extremely difficult with out her. And thanks to all my awesome friends that filled in the gaps when she had to go home. I owe you big!