Catching Up From December

What a whirlwind of activity! December was full of F-U-N, and we have the pictures to prove it! Along with the Christmas parties, we had family come for the holidays. It was so refreshing to be home for a vacation instead of being the travelers. We actually got to relax and soak in our time off, which was invaluable and so very enjoyable.


As planned, my family came for Christmas, all but Seth, Amy and the kids (we missed you!). Anna had never seen the Grand Canyon, so Mom, Dad, Caleb & Anna braved the freezing snowy weather to trek up north to see it. While they were gone, we received a phone call from Kevin's sister Linda... She and Naomi had a "now or never" opportunity to get out of town that they had to seize! What about a little extra company for Christmas? Sure! The more, the merrier; come on down!


Well, after hearing that Linda and Omi would be making the road trip south alone, Kevin's mom Lynn preferred that Brian come with them. After all, it's a long drive, and it would be good to have two drivers rather than one. So three days before Christmas, the three of them made their way down from Washington. Destination: Arizona sunshine and warmer weather!



Well, all we can say is that this Christmas and New Years was full of fun and precious family time for both of us. Everything was perfect and certainly blessed by God, for which we are truly so thankful.

Zoolights

The day Caleb & Anna arrived in town, we went to the Phoenix Zoo for their annual Zoolights. This was our first time going, so we were pretty excited to see them. The zoo was filled with trees and cactus covered in Christmas lights and displays made up of animal scenes.

Here's just a tiny glimpse of some of the lights... unfortunately not many of the pictures came out too well.

Mom & Dad with an African animal light display behind them... I guess our camera doesn't do night-time at a distance...

Oh, there's some antelope behind Caleb and Anna!

It was a lot of fun and so cool to see all the lights... but not really the right time of day for Isaac. What was normally his wind down and go to bed time ended up being filled with a crowd of people and lot of loud Christmas music. So ... note to self, wait until he's old enough to appreciate the lights til we go next time.

Not really in the mood for a photo op... Oh well, next time!

Caught Red-Handed

This was about a week before Christmas. Isaac got a little curious, so we let him in on the fun a little early. And good thing we gave him a headstart... it ended up taking him four days to open all of his gifts! Sheer volume + short attention span = more days of Christmas for Isaac!

What is it?

I'm not sure, but tearing this paper is pretty fun!

A guitar!

Yeah, I'm jammin'!

Free Entertainment

Isaac enjoyed all eyes on him while we had a full house. He's such a ham sometimes... which reminds me of his father (as Linda pointed out at the end), and I'm glad Isaac got that characteristic. Life is more fun with my two hams! Hahahaha... You know what I mean.

This was on one of Isaac's four days of Christmas, after opening some gifts. He got quite a few new books, which is great. He loves books!

Going for Walks & Exploring the World

We went on so many walks together, but here is one sample... it was so fun to play outside. I felt like a kid again!

My little cutie playing peek-a-boo.

Linda, Naomi, me & Isaac - a grand ol' time!

Naomi & Linda

Naomi's feet - expressing our carefree days...

His new favorite pasttime - riding down the hill on his "guck" (truck).

Christmas

What a fun, fun, FUN and special Christmas we had this year! We felt so blessed to share it with members from both of our families.

Merry Christmas!!

First order of the day: Get the Yule Log going...

It offers a nice ambiance, doesn't it? Um, nevermind the open door and sunny weather...

Small rewind: After a delicious breakfast we gathered for a morning devotional before opening our gifts. We really wanted to stop and focus on what this day was all about and to keep that perspective as we celebrated together with gifts and food. Thank God for His glorious grace in sending Jesus as our Savior. Praise Him for this amazing gift in saving us from sin and death and giving us eternal life. Without Jesus, we would have no hope! This is the best gift of all: that Jesus would lay down His life for us. Thank you, Lord!

And it's with that in mind that we celebrate Jesus' birth by giving gifts to each other... let the joy begin!

"BIG GUCK!!" Actually, Isaac, it's a bull dozer. "BIG GUUUUUUCK!!" Okay, it's a truck then... This was the gift of all gifts in Isaac's eyes. Daddy's pick was a big hit!

Thanks to technology were even joined by more of Kevin's family via Skype: There's Kevin's parents Lynn & Bob and sister Julie.

I know, Linda, isn't that fire so cozy? Ha ha.... yeah yeah, but we're in Arizona, okay?

And here we are after a delicious Christmas meal. (L - R) Me, Kevin, Isaac, Mom, Caleb, Anna, Dad, Brian, Linda, and Naomi. What a great day.

Cookies!!!

(In my head I'm saying that with the voice of the Cookie Monster - it's more fun).

We had a ladies only Christmas cookie exchange on Thursday, and it was SWEET! Each of us brought a delicious treat to share and enjoyed a type of dessert buffet as we gabbed. Really, who needs Christmas to spark this occasion? I think this should be a year-round festivity!

Everybody say Baklava!!!! This became our festive exclamation for the night. I think it was the sugar talking.... we did get a little crazay! (L-R: Megan, me, Autumn, Jaimie, Leslie, Amanda, Kate, and Krista)

Thank you, dear Autumn, for modeling our treats for us. We joyfully partook in turtle cookies, mini caramel pecan cheesecakes, white chocolate peanut butter truffles, sugar cookies, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, chocolate mint cookies, butterscotch haystacks, chocolate chip cookies and white chocolate raspberry cheesecake bars. Mmmmmmmmmm, can you say sugar??

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we struggled to list the amount of things that we are thankful for simply because of the sheer magnitude of the blessings that God has bestowed upon us. We are not worthy, and we feel the weight of His bountiful love and blessings. What could we ever do to repay Him; we are overwhelmed! In the joys He brings to our lives, His Fatherly goodness and lovingkindness are warmly felt. And through our trials, we also proclaim God's incredible faithfulness and grace in how He uses these to teach us and to make us more like Him. Truly, truly how great is our God!!! We cannot thank Him enough!
This year we joined our friends Rachel & Brian and Sara & Russell for Thanksgiving. None of us have family in the area, so we adopted each other! Everything was perfect.

( L-R: Brian, Rachel, Russell, Sara, Kevin, Isaac, and me)

Hanging out outside after our delicious Thanksgiving dinner. We played some "Hill-Billy Golf" as Brian calls it. It was a gorgeous day!

"Say 'sneeeeeeze'!" (This is my new way of getting him to smile. That word makes him laugh, and it's the cutest thing!) Isaac preferred to play in the rocks, in accordance with his love for getting dirty. He also preferred a hot dog over the turkey (what's up with that?).

Me and my Sweetie, waiting for our turn to play "golf."

A little reminiscing before putting the food away. Mmmmm, that was goooooooood. We had a feast of all the traditional food: turkey & gravy, mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing, cranberry jello salad, and green bean casserolle.... followed by PIE!! But we devoured that too quickly to catch a picture...

And how about some leisurely Ping Pong to get the heart rate up?

After warming up with rounds of ping pong, the guys challenged each other to a duel - or two... "Corn Fed" (a.k.a. Brian) and Russell engaged in a sword fight that ended in tragedy for Russell. Excellent stance, Corn Fed.

We ladies opted for a more civilized and sophisticated pastime - Scategories!

Whew! What a fun time...