To a T

20 January 2011

From Snowmen to Palm Trees

Around the end of ~~January~~ October, I start to get really tired of the cold weather. I just really want all of the snow to melt. So, I was incredibly happy when we went from this:

To this:

Troy wanted to attend an event here in the desert and I jumped on board immediately with his plan.

The boys weren't opposed to the location change either. We'll soak up any sunshine we can get before we go home to a few more months of winter.

11 January 2011

Triumphant

Troy came up with several pick up lines for Nash to use when he is older about filling the hole in his heart.

Thankfully, he won't get to use them, because that hole is now repaired.

Nash's surgery for his Patent Ductus Arteriosis went really well. The recovery has been a little more difficult, but we are sure that this resilient boy will bounce back to himself in no time.

We are so grateful for modern medicine and excellent doctors. We thank our lucky stars every day that we live near such a phenomenal children's hospital.

We have felt so much love and support from our loved ones and others that we barely know throughout this process. We have really felt the power of prayer for our sweet little baby, and we can't thank you enough for remembering our small family.

10 January 2011

Pending Surgery

Nash goes in tomorrow for his heart surgery (read more here).

We are gearing up for a long couple of days at the hospital. We are incredibly grateful for all of the kind thoughts and prayers that have been sent our way.

(I also realized that I never did an 11 month post for Nash - so I stuck it in where it should have gone back here. And yes, he is finally crawling - go check out the video (mom) if you are interested.)

07 January 2011

Eve 2011

Each year, I set expectations for New Year's Eve to be exciting and set apart from other nights. I always end up disappointed when we inevitably do the same things that we do all the time. We eat, we put the kids to bed, we watch a movie, we stay up a little later than usual, blah, blah, boring.

So, this year, I really wanted to make our New Year's Eve celebration memorable and distinguishable from the monotony of every other night. We joined together with the Tanners and Sanders (cousins) to par-tay. The evening was ushered in with three types of cheese fondue which in my opinion is the greatest meal ever. We finished off the chocolate course just before the clock struck midnight.

For entertainment, I created a photo booth with handmade props. It was simple to put together; a fabric backdrop, painted old frames, decorated masks, and some creative relatives. Tricia helped me with the final touches and we shot away. (Please excuse the shadows - the lighting wasn't the best and I was trying to get used to a lens I borrowed while mine was being repaired from a slip-on-ice tragedy back in December.)

I was thoroughly satisfied when the evening turned out to be both memorable and distinguishable, and I think we may have started a new tradition.

06 January 2011

Snowed In

Ironically, the day that we had all planned on getting out of the cabin for various activities, we woke up to this:

There was no way we were getting out. The snow plow didn't even come until the early evening because the freeway was shut down all day.

I love the way the snow even stuck to the icicles and the stones lining the garage.

I am not the hugest fan of snow and voluntarily participating in activities that cause coldness, but who could resist the opportunity to play in this much snow? I am still in disbelief at how much snow there was.

The boys shoveled out a few paths for us to trudge through.

And Blake was pretty much on cloud nine when Jacob dug him a tunnel to crawl in.

We bundled up Nash as well so that he could have his first real blizzard experience.

It was short lived. It turned out that being wrapped up in pounds of too-big snow gear and being hit constantly in the face with snowflakes didn't make him the happiest.