2009

2009 was a pretty big year for us, full of changes & blessings. I will never forget some of the big things that happened last year. God blessed us so much last year & we are so thankful, can't wait to see what's in store for 2010.

Here are some of the highlights from 2009:

My niece, Harper Belle, was born in March

Cousin Megan got married in May

Bekah & Tyler graduated in May

Cousin Alan got married in JuneWent to camp with some great new kids in July

Family vacation at Orange Beach in July

Bought our first house!

Moved!

The best thing of all - Lucy Jane!



Happy New Year!!!

YL happenings

Since Lucy Jane I haven't written too much about what's going on with Young Life. Lots has been happening & it has been fun to do ministry as a family of 3! Last week we took a group of kids down to East Texas to Polar Bear weekend. Our area joined up with areas from DFW to do a winter retreat. This was a new thing to our area so we didn't take a huge number of kids, but we did have a blast with the kids that we took. During the weekend we had 4 clubs & 4 cabin times so all the kids had the opportunity to hear the gospel & talk about it with their leaders. The speaker was great & talked about Jesus is a very clear way. Other than club we had lots of hang-out time, had a tacky Christmas party, did a ropes course, etc. The weekend was great & hopefully it can become a tradition in our area.

Soph. girls at the Christmas party / dance

Fresh girls on the giant jumping pillow

Another first in our area was Mr. Christmas Tree. For our last club of the year we hosted a Mr. Christmas Tree pageant. About a month ago we selected 5 boys to compete for the title of Mr. Christmas Tree. The judges were parents & friends of YL that attended that night. Between kids & adults we had about 300 people there. The night ended with the Christmas story being told to all the folks who attended, it was a great way to end the semester. Once again, we hope this will become a YL tradition.

The boys competed in the following categories for the title of Mr. Christmas tree:

Talent:

Question & Answer:
Swimsuit:

And the parade of trees (they had a Christmas tree taped to them)
Here is the proud winner with his prize:
All the boys had a team of girls who helped them prepare for the night

Both of these things would not have been possible without my amazing nannys who took such great care of Lucy Jane. THANK YOU!!!!!

My sisters came to Polar Bear & spent 2 days loving on Lucy Jane

And Lucy Jane's Monday night Nanny, Pam, held her during Mr. Christmas Tree. Lucy LOVED the all the lights & action from Mr. Christmas Tree that she slept til 8am the next morning!

Merry Christmas!! We were very blessed this year to be able to celebrate Christmas with both sides of the family. Last Friday night we packed up & headed to East Texas to go on Polar Bear, a weekend retreat with our YL kids. After that we went to see my family for a couple of days & celebrated Christmas & my birthday there. Next, we headed up to be with Cody's family for Christmas day. Lucy Jane has LOVED her first Christmas & we have been so blessed to have so much family around to share this special time of year with.

Here are some pictures to document our Christmas celebrations:

Lucy Jane got her first baby doll from Santa

Napping with Uncle Kyle after opening presents

Hanging out in Aunt Jo's rocker in front of the Christmas tree

Just taking a look around at everyone

Watching football with Dad

Christmas Eve

We got all dressed up for a Christmas Eve service only to drive there & find out that they were not having it anymore due to the weather, we were sad :( Lucy is expressing her disappointment in this picture.

28th Birthday

Lucy Jane helping me blow out my birthday candle

I was SO HAPPY that I was able to be at my parents house for my Birthday. I love having my birthday close to Christmas because most of the time it means that I can be with lots of my family. Grammy watched Lucy Jane while Cody & I went out for lunch & a movie, it was great! My mom also fixed a wonderful dinner the night before & we all celebrated.

Early Christmas

Lucy Jane loving being with her aunts

Lucy Jane opening some of her presents

Grammy & Grandpa with Lucy Jane - Lucy loves being held like this by Grandpa, it always makes her happy

And finally, one of Lucy Jane's favorite Christmas memories...the electric knife. My Dad was cutting up a roast with the electric knife & he was talking to Lucy while he was doing it & she absolutely loved it, it was so cute. Here are a couple cute smiles I caught on camera while Lucy Jane was being held by Uncle Drew & being entertained by Grandpa.

White Christmas

It's going to be a white Christmas for Lucy Jane!!

We were outside in the snow for less than a minute & Lucy started falling a part, as you can see she only has one mitten on, the other one is in mid air.

Merry Christmas!

Weekend

We have been trying to get into the Christmas spirit around here. On Friday night we went to a neighborhood Christmas party & then Cody kept Lucy Jane while I went here:

With these girls:The girl leaders & I went to Oklahoma to see a great display of Christmas lights.

Saturday Lucy Jane & I did some Christmas shopping & went to some of Cody's basketball games.

Lucy Jane also got some new hats! We have some pretty cold winds up here so Lucy Jane really needed to keep her warm.

This one is on loan from a friend, isn't she cute!

I found this one on sale at Old Navy, it's a little big but she will grow into it.

Tired from a good weekend

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Cody, Lucy Jane, & I decorated our tree on Sunday night. Our tree sits in front of a big window so everyone who drives by can see. At least they can see that we have some Christmas spirit especially since we don't have any lights up outside yet.

Lucy was a big help with all the decorating - she sat in her bumbo seat & blew bubbles

Lucy Jane hung her first ornament from Grammy & Grandpa

Taking a nap after working so hard on the tree