Lizzie's 1st Christmas

Surrounded by a FEW of her presents!
Unfortunately we weren't able to be with Lizzie, Jessica and Robert for the actual day. But we got to talk with them and get our "Lizzie fix" by hearing her coo and laugh. I thought I'd share a few pictures that Jessica shared on her myspace. Enjoy!!!

Just look at that happy face!

Oh, I just want to plant kisses on those sweet cheeks!

Lizzie with her Daddy

Our Christmas Eve Blessing...

...came in the form of an off duty border patrol agent. Here's the story:

Tabitha was working today at Great Harvest Bread. A regular, everyday family came in to purchase their bread for the holiday about an hour before the store was closing. While eating his sample of bread the Father of this family turned around and looked out the business window out into the parking lot. The next thing the GH bread workers saw this man say a few swear words and bolt out the door. They didn't know what in the world was happening and had to wait for his return (as did his family).

Upon his return this off duty border patrol agent said he saw a man looking into the store with tatoos on his face. These were not ordinary tattoos, they were tattoos that were linked to a gang from Honduras. A gang that is notorious for robbery and killing at random. This off duty border patrol agent was not able to catch the man so he called the Bellingham police who stayed nearby to monitor the store to make sure he didn't return. All the GH workers received police escorts to the cars tonight.

You can bet we all hugged Tabitha a bit tighter when she came home tonight after having a wonderful Christmas Eve with Josh's family. Tonight we are grateful to our Heavenly Father by placing this border patrol agent in this Great Harvest store today and protecting our daughter and the other workers.

Have a wonderful Christmas!!! Hug your kids a bit tighter!

Happy Birthday to Amy!!

Well, happy birthday (yesterday) to me :O)since I'm the one that keeps up on the blog! It didn't start out like it was my birthday since there were SO many little errands to run. I had to take Rob in for a follow-up appointment for his cataract surgery (everything is good there), Amber to the ortho (braces come off in 3 weeks!), then to bassoon lessons (Amber has a recital on Saturday) and then Tabitha locked her keys in the van when she went to pay for gas so I got to rescue her since Rob couldn't drive yet.

But it got better once we got home for the day!! Rob supervised the kids making me dinner and I had my FAVORITE birthday dessert ~ mint chocolate chunk ice cream pie from Mallards. Nummy!!! And my gifts were wonderful! In addition to the usual kids presents Rob gave mine early. On Saturday we had 13th row tickets to see Bon Jovi in Vancouver, BC!! It was the most incredible concert EVER!!! INCREDIBLE!!! It was a 2 1/2 hour concert! Boy, did my feet ever hurt! There is a small slide show at the end of this entry and I was SO glad they let us take pictures. Jon Bon Jovi was literally 3 ft. from us during the time he came down off the stage. THAT made the concert for both me & Rob.

To get a sneak peek of our concert go to this link http://bonjovi.aeglive.com/holiday/ It takes a few minutes to download since there are 3 songs from OUR concert!!! You can imagine our excitment when we saw this!!!

Off to get ready for Christmas! So much to do and so little time to do it all in. But we'll enjoy just being together and relaxing and having fun. Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy day ~ it made me feel loved.

LOTS of pictures!!!

Here's just a small sampling of the pictures we took during Robert, Jessica & Lizzie's visit. We SO enjoyed our visit ~ which was waaayy too short. It was a wonderful extended weekend. Lizzie has taken a piece of our hearts with her back to Utah and she completely has every one of us wrapped around her little finger. She's such a good baby. It was great to spend time with Robert & Jessica. Oh, how we miss them!!!

This Little Peanut....

... will be here TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Along with her Mom & Dad :O) We're really looking forward to spending time with everyone for the next few days.

More Snow!!!

IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!

We're getting snow this morning!!!! Forecasters have been prediciting 2 - 5" all week long but last night I heard 3 - 8". I think the kids (and me too) want the 8" so we can go sledding!!
Well, it's time to announce our winner, actually winnerS for the "How Much Did the Tree Cost?" contest. First here's what the tree looks like finished (minus the tree skirt).
This one was taken from the stairs

This one the dining room.

We had guesses ranging from $5 (okay Cathy, it's been a loooong time since you lived in WA) up to $135. So we actually have TWO winners. So first the cost of the tree was $35

And our winners are: (are you hearing that drum roll)................................................

SALLY with her guess of $25

AND

BEV with her guess of $45

CONGRATS ladies!!! Your RAK will be on it's way on Monday. So Bev, can I keep this tree farm?

RAK thread

I thought I'd start a different section for your guesses on how much the tree cost. Remember that picture is NOT the tree we cut down. The one we picked was 8 - 9'. Leave your quesses in the comments or you can email me. You have until Saturday!!

Whew! What a week!

We had a great Thanksgiving. It's been fun, busy and relaxing. Can I have a few more days? Here's just a few of the things we've been doing.

The day after T-day, Rob goes out in the backyard to put a few things away ~ namely the hose cart. He opens the lid to put in some stuff and look what he finds! The rainbird sprinkler is completely frozen!



Yep! It's been THAT cold at night!

We then head out to cut the Christmas tree. Our favorite place is Fullner Tree Farm out in Deming (Nuggent's Corner to be exact). This is the tree that was saved. From a distance it looked like the perfect tree. That is until Rob went and stood next to it. Um, just a little too tall!


The one we wound up getting measured between 8 - 9ft. Who can guess how much that cost? An RAK is involved!


Aren't they adorable? I LOVE this picture!

On Saturday we went bridal dress shopping. And SUCCESS!!! But I can't show you here because I'm sure Josh takes a peek here every once in a while. If you want to see which one she picked, just email me and I'll send you an attachment. Until then, here's a teaser picture of some of the dresses that she tried on that day.


While decorating the house last night, Amber and David went into David's room to put up some decorations when we hear them yelling "It's Snowing! It's Snowing!" Yeah, right!! You're not going to fool us! That was until we looked outside and it WAS snowing! Go figure!!! Of course it was all melted by this morning. But it sure added to the holiday spirit.

It's Lizzie time! (Again)

Okay, hopefully you're not getting bored or annoyed with me showing off our sweet little granddaughter. If you are ~ too bad!!! :O) HA! I thought I'd share with you all a few of the pictures Rob took while in Utah last week.

A Happy Grandpa! (Oooh, that's weird to say)


Feeding Lizzie. Don't you love those flexed feet?

Snuggle time! Yes, I'm SO jealous but I get to do this in a little over 2 weeks! And I can't wait!

Such a Beautiful Family. I love Lizzie's fuzzy hair.


Cell phone pictures ~ pardon the quality but the subject is adorable!!!
Sleeping in the car

Oh, we're all in trouble with those eyes.