way behind

It has been so long since I have posted, and there is so much to post about! This is just a quick update with a warning that it will probably be a while more before I post again. Tomorrow is our last day here...we are moving. It is sad because we have met some really neat people here and have enjoyed our time in albuquerque. I'm sure we will be back to visit. So we have been busy preparing for the move, watching all our stuff get packed up, finding renters for our house, and cleaning our house. We have been in a Hotel for the past week and the kids have been great thru all of the craziness and change. Jake loves going down to the lobby in the moring to get breakfast. Grace decided that this past week would be the perfect time to master crawling. So inbetween cleaning and packing, we have to keep a close eye on her because she is EVERYWHERE. It is fun though and I think she is enjoying her new found mobility.

In a nut shell, that is what we have been up to. I don't think we will have access to internet for a while, so pardon the lapse.

she's trying

Grace has yet to master crawling.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.  It is kindof nice to know that when i set her down, she will be in the same spot when i go to pick her up.  But, now i think she is getting a little frustrated with staying in the same spot.  There is way too much for her to explore, right?!?  Well, she is getting better at getting in the crawl pose, and she will even start to move a little...except she goes backwards.  That frustrates her too.  I'm sure she will catch on soon, so i guess i better watch out!  There are other tricks she is getting good at, waving, clapping, snapping and feeding herself.  She is just growing up so fast!  

The other day I went in to check on her while she was napping and this is what i found.  She usually props a leg up on the bumper pad while she sleeps, so this was new....and cute.

The weather was beautiful outside today so Jake spent some time out back.  It can be deceiving here because it is usually sunny, but it isn't always as warm as it looks.  

silly faces

On Sunday we had a few spare minutes before we needed to leave for church, so i pulled out that camera to take a few pictures of Jake.  As you can see, he was in rare form.  Every day we are amazed at how fast he is growing up.  Sunday was his first day in Sunbeams (a primary class for 3 year olds) and this next Sunday he will be giving his first talk in Primary.  He is a great kid and keeps things fun around the house.

Our Trip

I didn't have a chance to type anything yesterday when I posted pictures from our vacation.  Here is a little synopsis of what we did.  We spent our first day in Florida at Sea World we enjoyed the sun and had a great day at the park.  If you ask Jake what his favorite ride was, he will tell you it was the dinosaur ride...this was at Dinoland at Sea World.  

The next day was Animal Kingdom.  The coolest part about this park was the safari ride they have there.  We were taken on a ride thru the preserve they had set up in the park.  I think it was over 100 acres and it was so cool to see all the animals close up.  I know you see them close up in a zoo, but this was different.  I'm not that into animals, but i really enjoyed it.  We got a little rained on that day, but luckily we were in building when the skies opened, so only the stroller got soaked.  Let me pause in the story here.  I must sing praises to the sit and stand stroller that we decided to buy before the trip.  There is NO WAY  jakes little legs would have lasted long with all the walking we were doing, so it was great for him to be able to hop on his seat whenever he wanted to.  We actually found it on sale at target a few days before we left for the trip.  It wasn't marked down or anything, but my mother-in-law said she saw that it was on sale at her Target.  So, i dragged it to a worker and had them scan it for me....64.99!!!  I wanted to do cartwheels in the store!  Ok, back to the story...

Day 3 was Magic Kingdom.  Classic Disney everywhere.  Jake wanted nothing to do with the characters.  He was fine just waving to them as we passed.  This worked out fine with us because then we didn't have to wait in any long picture lines.  (just the long ride lines)

Day 4 was Epcot Center.  Lots of cool stuff here.  We ate some good Italian food and enjoyed the different country pavilions.

Day 5 we went to Disneys Hollywood Studios.  Our favorite ride was the Toy Story Mania.  We wanted to ride on it again, but the line was too long.  

It was a great trip.  The kids were troopers and did so good being dragged (or wheeled) around all day.  We went on some great rides.  I am a bit of a chicken when it comes to the more intense rides, but with Brookes encouragement I went on all of them.  Mostly i ended up enjoying them (except the tower of terror.  i did NOT like that).  We were glad to spend time together and with Brooke's family.

After our week in Florida, we were off to Vancouver for another week.  We stayed with my parents and had fun visiting my brothers and their families.  I feel like i have typed too much, so i'll stop now.  Here are a few pictures of grace and jake from today.  

If you look close, you can see her 2 bottom teeth coming in.  We first noticed them when we were at Sea World and they are making their way up!

Here she is chomping away at her Ritz cracker....man does this girl love her big people food!  There isn't much we give her that she won't eat.  Actually, what she doesn't like is baby food.  I've been making her baby food and on the trip she didn't want anything to do with the store bought stuff.

After taking a few shots of Grace, Jake wanted in on the action and asked me to take his picture.

Disney World....

redneck playpen

Happy New Years!

Here's some pictures of Gracie to start you new years off with a smile on your face.