Sharing good times, bearing hard times, trusting in God to show us the way...
Laughing and living, trusting, forgiving, together in love, side by side everyday.
Here I am again! Posting, wow huh! It hasn't even been a month :)
I love Lubbock weather. One day it's 70 degrees outside and the next you have this winter wonderland.
I couldn't get over how gorgeous all the trees around town were, all encapsulated in ice! The sunlight would catch them just right and I realized why we put clear glass ornaments on our Christmas trees - mesmerizing! :) (Too bad my point and click couldn't really capture the beauty)
Of course, since Lubbock doesn't get a ton of snow the citizens aren't used to the hazardous conditions... Schools shut down because of icy roadways. Pace and I had classes cancel on both Thursday and Friday, which made for a wonderful, unexpected break and an extra long weekend.
We had a ball!!
Drew's first experience with snow:
Used all his 5 senses to explore the intriguing white fluffy stuff everywhere...
Pace loved playing with them, and the kids had a great time too!
I can't believe I'm all caught up!! I skimmed over everything, but those are the highlights of the past two months. Now our blog is updated, and I'm ready to begin a New Year and a new semester at Tech. I have 5 classes to finish by April 30th (when this baby is due) so wish me luck! Two of them are online, so I hope life will be manageable as I get big and fat. Here are some hopes I have for the upcoming months:
1. I hope Drew will learn to walk soon :) The kid weighs 30 pounds and my aching pregnant belly is tired to lifting him. But he is so cute and so fun! 2. I want a rocker recliner!! I hope by tomorrow I can say that we found one and Pace bought it for me :( I'm such a brat, the dude has been wanting a flat screen for months... But the chair outweighs the TV literally, ha. One day you'll get your TV babe! For now, enjoy the 3 we have that work just fine :) 3. That's it really - I just hope life is manageable, like I said, over the next several months! Cause we have a lot going on! Oh! And.. 4. I hope you all take time to skim through my posts - I spent HOURS on here getting this stupid thing up to speed :) It's all for the posterity huh? See you on the blog again soon!
I locked Drew in the car with my keys last week! I was parked outside Pace's parents' house, ready to leave - I never do that! Luckily it wasn't too warm out (could you imagine if it were summer in AZ?)! Pace's dad called the Captain in the Fire Department (a friend of his) and a truck with 4 firemen came and jimmied Drew out. Sad, crazy huh? Here are some pictures, Pace had me take them, thought Drew would enjoy the story later in life
THE NEXT DAY, I was showering and had Drew playing in the bathroom with me. Some guy insulating my in-laws' attic fell through the ceiling right by Drew! I was out drying off and saw first his foot, then his leg come down, so I (naked) shriek, "Wait! Let me get my baby!" I jerked Drew out of the way but he still was covered in insulation. Anyway, no one was hurt, thank heavens and I was laughing within minutes - crazy! No pictures of that incident :) Sorry!!
We had FIVE Christmases total. No complaints from our children of course :) My Mom was thrilled to see us, surprised her for sure. That made my day - after the long, hard trek her joy made it more worth while!
Surprise Mom!
Sydney had a blast seeing her cousins again
My sister-in-law's camera took a much better photo, but here's what I captured. All the Rawlins grand-kids :)
Christmas Eve party with Rawlins and Kalafs:
The kids sang a couple songs for Great Gma & Gpa Kalaf :)
What a memorable night! Everyone was there!
I've decided I really didn't take enough pictures. I have a lot of videos but they take so long to upload! Christmas morning we slept in at my mom's, opened gifts with her and Peter, then headed to the Rawlins' for more gift giving and breakfast Rawlins grand kids had on matching pajamas Christmas morning :) Drew's signature pucker :) This baby loves his eggs!
Once Ashleigh & Anthon's came home from Show Low (where they spent Christmas with Anthon's family) we met at their place to exchange more gifts
Drew and Roman played and wrestled together :) Ash made Syd a dress up chest filled with various character dresses - her favorite of course was the Cinderella look-alike dress
She kept changing dresses every 5 minutes - her Aunt taught her that, ha thanks again for that Nash!
Another lamentation - we shared Christmas dinner with my cousins the Sorensons - delicious, and FUN time, love those guys!! But no pictures! At least we could hang out a lot while we were in Arizona. Feels like I'm on vacation when I travel back home now, I love it! But it has been great to get back home, especially after the 12 hour drive back. Luckily there were no delays this time, stopped only twice for potty/gas/food breaks. Kids did great! See you all next summer!
Originally Pace and I wanted to stay in Lubbock for Christmas, then head to Arizona the day after to visit family for a couple weeks. Once we realized that we'd be silly to not go spend it with them while we could (who knows what next year will be like), we determined to head over the 23rd, surprise my Mom, and spend Christmas Eve at her house.
First, our card:
My friend Natalie Mitchell took our pictures - she does great work!
Merry Christmas Everyone!
We opened our gifts here early :)
Sydney helped Drew open his, they were excited with new toys! Then we packed and prepared for our journey to Arizona.
On the way to Arizona....
We left early (5 AM Arizona time), and it was smooth sailing the first 9-10 hours of the trip. We stopped only twice for potty/gas breaks - amazing when you have a potty trained three year old and a one year old stuck in a car seat for that long! The kids were happy, we were happy...
Then we got into Overguard and the snow storm hit. People at the gas station warned us, "Fill your tank, bring water, cause it's a mess down there. Cars off the road everywhere, some upside down; rigs jack-knifed..." We thought,"Oh, we'll be careful, no big deal, we're almost home!" SEVEN HOURS we sat in our car outside Forest Lakes. Should've been down off the mountain and at my sister's by 5PM, nope, we rolled in at 2AM! I have never been so nauseous in my life as I was driving down that icy mountain! My stomach was in KNOTS, and I seriously thought I'd throw up behind the wheel there a time or two. It was CRAZY (this was 10:30 at night when we finally were able to follow the snow plow and begin our decent). The kids were amazingly fine for the first 5 hours or so of sitting there. We had no DVD player, no IPOD, NOTHING to entertain the poor things, and it was freezing outside so we all just sat in our seats. Here are some pictures we took while we still had the energy to make it fun. :)
Lots of cars in front of us Lots more behind us Pace jumped out to see what the deal was... We were stuck behind a jack knifed rig, and between road closures - not good. The kids were excited to see all the snow at first
We invited a freezing FedEx driver to sit with us (bummer, no pic). He was nearly out of gas and couldn't leave the truck and heat running. We had a full tank so were nice and toasty. At 7:30 we had to bring the kids up front and rock them to sleep, both were crying hard. We all fell asleep around 9:00, woke once we could follow the plow down the mountain. Holy cow what a night! So glad we made it, but pray we never have too do that again!
The Wednesday before Christmas Pace & I found out our third baby is growing fine, everything looks good, and yes, we have another boy joining the ranks! Hooray!!
Our Little Frog Prince: I think he'll forgive me when he's older, but doesn't he look cute! It was half off at Babies R Us the week before Halloween. It really was exactly what I wanted, I was so thrilled! Although he looks a little sad here, he was totally mellow in the outfit. Didn't mind wearing the suit or the hat one bit! And it kept him warm What a change from last year's screaming and tugging fit Sydney threw in her Tinkerbell costume - "Get off get off!" :) Now she loves to play dress up while she watches Tinkerbell... I love this girl :) Speaking of Sydney and her fairytale make believe.... She bit into 8 apples then fell asleep in her Cinderella dress :) Her fun & imagination is never ending!
The Princess & The Frog Prince This year Sydney was the most "beau'ful, wonderful - Gorilla!" in her cinderelladress. Gorilla is how she pronounces any double-L word :) Hilarious. I bought the dress a little early, and after three days of wear and tear it really was worn and torn. My friend Cherisse altered it for me, salvaged it really, and made it what it is today - thank you Cherisse!! Sydney actually got into trick or treating this year - so cute!! She was timid at first but once she saw they were giving out candy she exclaimed, "Oh! OH!! Okay!" and stuck out her silver Cinderella bag (compliments of Cherisse); she was as friendly as could be. At the third house she tried to walk in once they opened the door! Cracked us up. We trick or treated 7 houses or so before going to our friends', the Stebbings, Halloween party. We had a wonderful evening!
Drew's First Haircut Before: He was super chill during it, barely whined... That's our Drewby :) After: Handsome little boy! (Mom got her hair trimmed too)
Here he is in action, at bedtime the other night :)
He is growing up so fast! We can't wait for his first birthday - in just a week and a half. Lots of photos and a video clip or two of the party to come! :) Happy Belated Halloween everyone!
Pace and I were married in June of 2005. We met in a singles ward after returning from our separate missions in Spain. We have three children, Sydney, Drew, and Lincoln. Although originally from Mesa, we currently live in Lubbock, TX where Pace is studying law at Texas Tech. I am working on my Finance degree while maintaining home and children. It's a busy time, but we are loving this life together!
