Vacation!

We have been enjoying an awesome vacation from school, work, everything! We had a wonderful Christmas here in Tucson with just the 3 of us. It was super, super relaxing! It was really nice to stay in one place and just enjoy each other's company. Mike and I both commented that we can't ever see leaving AZ at Christmas time--it's just so nice here! :)

On the 26th we headed over to Albuquerque to stay with our friends for a few days. Wow was it cold there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! However, we had a blast playing games, playing wii, talking, eating, visiting Albuquerque hot spots and relaxing! Lots of relaxing!!! Albuquerque is a beautiful city and our friends were wonderful hosts.

Today we went to Old Tucson Studios. Mike's class gave us tickets as part of his Christmas present. Many movies and TV shows have been made in Tucson at the studios. Little House on the Prairie, The Three Amigos and Arizona are the only three I can remember right now. They have all the sets, some rides, some western shows and historic buildings to see. It was a really fun day! I recommend a visit to Old Tucson Studios for sure!

Tonight Mike went to church by himself while I stayed home with K. He needed to go to bed early since he only napped for 15 minutes during the car ride home today. When Mike gets home we'll play some wii games we rented and eat some guacamole I made earlier today. Pretty low key New Year's Eve in this house! :)

I am so thankful for vacations. We get to spend time together as a family and escape "reality" for a bit. Not that our reality is bad, but it's fun to just live in the moment and play games all day long too! :) Reality will slowly come trickling back now as I clean K's room tomorrow (It looks like a toy store exploded in there!) and Mike heads to school to work for a bit. I should probably pay some bills and wash some laundry too. Spring Break isn't that far away, right? :)

I pray that 2009 brings a buyer for our WI house, continued health for my family, a safe move to IL for my parents, and many more additions to God's family of believers!

God's blessing to you in 2009!!!

(I'll try to post pictures from vacation soon--so check back!)

Zoo, Bike, Dog

Last weekend we went to see Reid Park Zoo all lit up for Christmas. We got in free by bringing Toys for Tots. I want K to know that not every child in America has 5 million toys like he does! It was great to see bags and bags of toys!!!! The zoo was beautiful! The best part was the snow machine!! You should have seen how giddy everyone (including me!) got when it started to make snow! Everyone was trying to catch it. K risked his life in the crowd to try to get in on the fun! The best part was when he started sticking out his tongue to catch some in his mouth! :) (A picture I didn't get b/c people kept walking in front of me.)

K is the proud owner of a new "big boy" bike!! He won it in a drawing. He needs to grow like an 1/8 of inch to be able to really use the pedals, but he loves it anyway. It will get a lot of use down here in warm Arizona!

I am including a picture of my dog today. I made her dress up in a reindeer costume. :) What can I say? I really get into the Christmas spirit! :)

I've been a little stressed with everything that has been going on this holiday time. God sent me some great reminders last night--reminders to look to Him and to relax and focus on what is important: His Son! I'm trying--I really am--to let the stress go and focus on the cross. I'm also a little emotional because my parents are moving from the home I've known since I was 12. It's the place where the whole family gathers and has so many memories for me. I guess it's also hard because being so far away from family wasn't so bad because I could always go home to my familiar "home" in MN and know that my sis (and family) and brothers would come "home" too and we would all be together. I just can't help feeling like that might not happen again for a really long time. Of course, I'll visit my parents in IL, but will my brothers and sister be able to visit at the same time now that it's further away for everyone?!?!? Will it feel like "home"? Change takes time to adjust to and I feel like it's even harder when I'm sooo far away. I didn't think I'd be affected by their moving, but it's been difficult to think about. I'd appreciate your prayers for my parents as they make this big change in their lives. (You can say a prayer for me too, if you want!) :)

Cookies!

K and I had a fun time making gingerbread cookies this morning. He really got into and caught on quickly. Of course, he wanted to eat ALL of them when they came out of the oven. I talked him down to just one decorated one. :) It's so fun that he's at the age where he can do stuff like that with me. I loved watching him jam out to Mannheim Steamroller in-between rolling the dough. My heart is just so full of love for my little guy. :)

Busy Day

I got so much done today! It feels great!!! My house is all Christmasy, I checked lots of things off my "to do" list, and my dog is clean. Life is good! :) Mike is grooming Kasha right now--she is going to look so nice! He worked at school all day getting tons done too. If I only I could accomplish this much everyday! :)

It's that time of year!!

I am so excited that it's time to start putting up the Christmas decorations! I LOVE this time of year!! Our extra room closet is full of boxes loaded with Christmas related things! I think I might put out just about everything this year...we'll see!
December is always such a busy month. My to-do list is quite long--Christmas shopping, Christmas cards, wrapping presents, decorating, planning a Christmas party, celebrating Las Posadas (http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/christmas.html) and doing our regular daily activities too. However, I LOVE doing all of those things so it's a fun time of year for me. :) In all the chaos it's easy to forget the true reason we are celebrating Christmas. K loves to tell me the story of Jesus' birth--that's what it is all about!!
Tonight we are kicking off the holidays with a visit to Tohono Chul Park. Listed as one of the "Ten Great Botanical Gardens in the World", the park is decorated with 500,000 lights and luminaries! We are going to walk through and enjoy the beauty and then eat some cookies. :) Frosty the Snowman is supposed to be there too! It does not get anymore exciting than that!!!

Prayers

We have come to "know" many people through adopting from Guatemala. I recently started to follow a blog of someone who adopted her daughter from Guatemala. She in turn, posted about a beautiful little girl named Abby who was also adopted. Abby needs prayers--lots of prayers. Please check out her blog and add her to your prayer list. I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like to watch my 3 yr old battle cancer.

http://www.riggsfamilyblog.com/

Halloween

There were a few firsts for Halloween 2008...


The first time Mike and I made K's costume!

The first time we didn't go house to house, but trunk to trunk at "Trunk or Treating" at school!

The first time I wore SHORTS and a t-shirt on Halloween night!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook