Thanksgiving Vacation

After Celebrate the Season on the Friday before Thanksgiving, we headed west for a short vacation. Our friends, the Farells, have a house in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. We joined them and the Stewarts for a few days in the mountains.

The guys played golf. Here's Les fishing for golf balls.


The girls went shopping. Mackenzie loves to shop - can't you tell?




The kids played.








We went hiking. Let me just say that when the sign with the trail description says 2.5 miles, it really means 2.5 miles. It. was. cold. (and exhausting!) but the views were amazing!






We also enjoyed staying up late playing games after the kids went to bed. It was so much fun to spend time laughing and talking with each other. Thanks, Farells for inviting us - we had a blast!

Thank


goodness


it's


Friday!!!

Visit from the Grandparents

Sitting up (sorta)!


Grammy & Mackenzie


Playing dress-up.


More dress-up.


Cheesin' with Daddy.

Weekend in review

Well, we finally had a weekend where we didn't have anything going on... no traveling, no out-of-town guests, no social events of any kind. Not that we haven't enjoyed being "on the go" these past few weekends, but it was time for a break. After a low-key dinner with friends on Friday night, we hung around the house on Saturday and then ran some errands just to get out for a few hours. Sunday we went to church and listened to the guest speaker, Kirk Cameron. He has an awesome testimony. It was neat to see him go from an '80's teenage heartthrob to a Christian father of six kids under the age of twelve! After church we did some yard work and M hung out in her stroller. She eventually fell asleep holding onto Bunny. I hope your weekend was just as relaxing!


Posing for a rare shot with Mom.


Looking stylish in her red and animal print combo.


Little fashionista all ready for church. Her daddy thought she looked like a painter (he wasn't a fan of the beret). Annie thought she was like a cute little cupcake. I'm not sure what she looked like but I know she was precious, and got lots of attention at church :-)


Hanging out with Mom & Dad on the patio.


Too tired to stay awake any longer - taking a nap with Bunny.

Baby Dedication

We dedicated our little girl to the Lord at church last Sunday. It was such a special occasion, and we enjoyed being able to celebrate it with our family.


The church gave us this card - I love that it has the meaning of her name.


Grandpa & Daddy with Mackenzie before church


Looking cool with her shades while hanging out with Gigi.


Posing with Aunt Kimberly.


Stylin' in her new "mink" coat.


Granddad with his two girls.


Uncle Matt & Aunt Kimberly came up on Saturday to hang out.

Dinner with friends

Last night we had dinner with our good friends the Tolivers. We went to a fun neighborhood Italian restaurant, and Mackenzie slept through a good portion of the meal so that we could eat and visit. She looked pretty cute in her new outfit, and you know I couldn't pass up a good photo opportunity!

Sweet Girl

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.
Psalm 139:13-14

Doing big girl stuff!

We've been busy around here... I suppose "busy" is a relative term, and it's probably way overused, but I'll go ahead and use it here because, after all, it's my blog, and I can write whatever I want :-) Due to aforementioned "busyness", I've been a blog slacker, so I wanted to go ahead and post some pictures of how we've been spending our time. Our weeks have been filled with - both Steven and I have been putting in extra hours. We've done a lot of traveling on the weekends. (I'll be posting Lubbock pictures later) During all of that, Mackenzie has been doing a bunch of big girl stuff. I can't believe how fast she's growing!

She's holding her head up really well:

She's started eating stage 1 baby foods:

And LOVES them:

Notice how she's trying to grab the spoon:

Good Morning, Sunshine!

Good morning, good morning, good morning,
It's time to rise and shine.

Good morning, good morning, good morning,
I hope you're feeling fine.

Come on and get up, Get out of bed,
You've got to get up you sleepy-head,

The day is dawning just for you,
And all your dreams are coming true

Doodle-la-doo, doodle-la-doo, doodle-la-doo
Good morning, good morning, good morning,

It's time to rise and shine!

My mom used to sing this to us to wake us up in the morning. I'm sure it was better received this morning than when Mackenzie becomes a teenager. I'll have to post pics in a few years so you all can compare. Happy Friday, friends!

You're always 17 in your hometown...

We went to Sweetwater last weekend for Steven's 10 year high school reunion. I can't believe it's been 10 years. Steven and I started dating during the spring semester of his senior year, so I already knew most of his classmates. It was interesting to see how some had changed. (and how some hadn't changed at all!) Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very good for the Homecoming football game. It was rainy, so we only went for a little while. Mackenzie was really cute in the red dress her Grammy made for her. I even bought her some red patent shoes to match. The guys braved the weather on Saturday for a round of golf. Susan came over and spent the afternoon with us. Saturday night we went to the reunion at the country club. Sunday we went to church and visited with Kerri and Annie. M was really good all weekend - I can't believe how much she's growing. She'll be 3 when we go back for my 10 year reunion. Kinda crazy to think about! Here are a few pictures: