Happy Birthday!

Happy First Birthday K. I love this age! They are growing and leaning so much yet they don't get into too much trouble :) Our little girl is such a joy, and delight. I have loved every second of her. So Today we are blessed to celebrate her birth. K (Gracie) you have brought nothing but hope, light, and love into our lives. We love you and couldn't imagine our lives without you.

Family Night

This week for family night we decided to focus on the "activity" which was bowling. After Letty saw Curious George go bowling she has continually asked if we could go. It turned out to be a fun night topped off with frozen yogurt. I won't disclose actual scores as to not embarrass T-man :) but I came out ahead! (it always feels good to beat T) even Letty beat him hee, hee! He was having a bit of an off night.

Later in the week Letty and I made gak which kept her busy for quite a while. I love those kind of projects. She has relentlessly been asking to make crafts and do activities, so we've been making lots of "things."

What break?

Christmas break was very eventful! An extra week or two would have made it actually feel like a break. During our time out of school we:

• moved into an apartment. Last night we hung pictures on the walls so it our move-in is now official.


• attended Elyse's (T-man's cousin) wedding. Lots of quality time with cousins and a spectacular reception in the capital rotunda.
  
• spent a week with T-man's family in Rexburg. We made a rare ski trip while in Idaho and I am proud to say that S braved an intermediate run and made it down with out falling! Go Cali girl!


• took family pictures. Letty and Gracie did very well.


• got snowed in at Mountain River Ranch in rural Idaho. Letty loved the horse-drawn sleigh and music, but slept through the exciting ride home through highly drifted roads.


• shoveled, shovled and shovled some more (though not nearly as much as our Spokane friends)


• built a snow mansion, held an epic snowball fight, went caroling, snow surfing and sledding, and played numerous games of Ticket to Ride.


• celebrated T-man's entering into a new decade of life

Stuff

I love the Holidays, but hate how crazy I feel. I keep thinking "why didn't I start this earlier" except that I probably wouldn't have anyway. Much has happened lately and I don't have very many pictures to represent because either 1. someone else was taking pictures and I thought I would just get some from them (which hasn't happened) or 2. T-man left the camera at his grandma's house again :) you always want something more when it's not there. So here is a short list of our going ons:

1. T-man got an internship this summer with American Express in New York City so we will be living there from mid-May to mid-August. We are excited.

2. We found a place to live next semester, it's actually right next to where we lived when we first got married (fun fact). Moving does put a damper on the holiday excitement since it brings much stress with it but it is such a relief.

3. Letty had her first dance recital, it was very cute. She has been a bit shy lately and clingy but did great.

4. Letty and cousin got to go on the "polar express" a very cute 1/2 mile mini train ride where they got to stop at the north pole and visit Santa in his workshop. It then continued, and along the rest of the way were beautiful pictures that depicted Christ's life. It was very fun for her.

5. T-man is done with finals tomorrow and then we are mostly moving out Thursday before we head to see the family for Christmas.

"Santa at the North Pole"

"Polar Express"

Who says girls don't wrestle? I know random picture, oh well.

Ice Skating and Cookies

It was really nice to enjoy a few days off for Thanksgiving, it's such a wonderful holiday! Our family plus T-Mans sister went ice skating the day before Thanksgiving, good times.

We took turns pushing Gracie around on the ice in her stroller until someone told us we couldn't do that. :(

This little piece of plastic kept her entertained for quite a while...


T-Man enjoyed playing with the cones... between that and the stroller we were being rather delinquent!

Letty and Aunt J making funny faces.

We spoke in church on Sunday and to persuade Letty from wanting to go up to the stand with dad I told her we would make Christmas cookies. I think she only wants to make cookies so she can sample dough, yummy!

Feet, Feet and More Feet!

I have three feet stories. The first is a rather sad and a bit traumatic for Letty. On Saturday there was what they call "gifts from the heart exchange", you can take things you want to get rid of and pick up whatever you want. Everything is FREE! So we decided to go and check it out. We get there, Letty finds some friends and then later comes to me with her shoes off (pretty typical). I inquire about them and she points in the direction she left them. It came time to leave and her shoes were no where to be found. It seems someone thought they were a great find and are now enjoying them. It was all very upsetting to her because usually when you take your shoes off someone doesn't run off with them. Luckily we found a pair of shoes that fit so we could leave, since we had planned to run a couple of errands.

Gracie is discovering her feet can be used for more than chew toys.

Here is Letty sporting my shoes. I remember wearing my moms high heels and loving it.

Primary Program

So for our Primary Program today our Letty had a solo part singing the second verse of "I am a Child of God". She got a little stage fright but made it through. I wouldn't have even gone up to the mic at her age. She was pretty wiggly up there but I think it bothered us more than anyone else. We were proud of her.
It's too bad you can't video sacrament meeting.