Trip to Arizona!!!

I can't believe we got home a week ago today and I am just now getting around to posting this! We just had so much fun visiting sunny, warm Arizona and especially visiting family! We decided to drive all through the night to get there so that Anne could sleep, other than us being really tired the next day, I think it was a good choice.

Antonia just fell in love with her cousins. This is Anne with Mason and Kristen in their back yard. The weather was so nice. It was in the high 70's and low 80's the whole time we were down there. It was so hard coming back to snow and smog...at least the smog has cleared out for now.

Jessica and her kids decided we needed to have a birthday party for everyone so Anne got to eat some cake! She loved it...and had a hard time getting to sleep that night!

Mostly we just hung out at their house and enjoyed spending time together but we did do a few fun things outside of the house too. This day, we went to the pool. Unfortunately, Mason had to go to school and Chris had to get some sleep after getting off a night shift. We had so much fun though regardless. They had the main pool area for us to play in with toys, a slide, a showering water feature and this is the warm pool. Not as hot as a hot tub and also much bigger. The kids liked this and the slide the best.

Wednesday, our last day there, they took us to the boarder to see the new fence they have dividing the U.S. from Mexico. It was really interesting to see and the whole time, Dan and I were keeping our eyes open to see if we could see anyone.

Then we made a quick stop at a visitor's center close by and Dan got dressed up. Chris was a good sport and played the part of the guy that was run through. This isn't really how Dan feels about Chris...even though he is smiling!

We just want to thank Chris and Jessica for such a fun little trip down to visit them and for taking such great care of us! We took almost 200 pictures so it was hard (once again) to have to pick only a few! We can't wait to see you later this year! We love you guys!!!

A New Home for Red

Red got a new home today. After much "deliberation" between Dan and I, we decided the best thing for Red was to find him a new home.

A friend of mine told me about a program where they place Golden Retrievers into good homes. Their website is http://www.slcgoldenrescue.org/index.htm and they are very particular about who is able to adopt. After over a year of knowing about this program, we finally decided it was time for us to let Red go. One of the hardest decisions we have had to make.

We took him to his foster home today where he will stay until a new family is able to adopt him. They had another dog in their home just a month or so ago and it only took a week to find her a home. We are very hopeful that Red will get a great home soon. The couple he is staying with are wonderful and they helped us say goodbye to him today. Somehow I managed to hold back the tears until we were on the front porch, heading back to our car.

Although we can never replace Red, we are hopeful that someday we will have a dog again but for now, we are just happy knowing he isn't sitting in a kennel all day anymore. We are thankful for Taylor and Heather though for letting him stay with them while we took the time to get used to the idea. We love you Red and will miss you so much!

Anne's First Hockey Game

This photo of us is a little blury but we still appreciate the nice guys next to us that offered to take our picture.

We had so much fun last night at the Grizzlies hockey game. It took Anne a little while to figure out what was going on. She didn't like it when her Daddy would make loud noises but she eventually got used to it.

After her Daddy got her a churro after the first period, she seemed to really get into the game. Can we say sugar high? She was dancing and laughing and she would even yell and clap her hands. She got the attention of everyone around us.

Anne was one tired girl after the game and went right to sleep when we got home. We're happy that she had a good time!

Happy Birthday, Travis!!!

Hey Travis...happy, happy birthday!!! I hope this day is very special for you!

I was thinking of some memories that I have of you growing up! I remember after you were born, Dad took Jessica and I to a store to buy you a truck and then we were able to give it to you at the hospital. I also remember that you were always a gentleman and would open the doors for us girls. And who could forget "Whatchamacallit!"...I'm still so, so, so sorry!!!

I was trying to find some really great photos that I could embarrass you with but I decided since it is YOUR birthday that I would be nice!

Good luck with all of your schooling and work! You are awesome and we are so thankful for you. You are such a smart and talented man. Just remember to leave some time to do fun things for yourself. You can't be helping others ALL of the time! =)

We love you Trav and hope you have a most fantastic day!!!

Antonia is 10 months old today!

I can't believe that we have had this little bundle of joy in our home for 10 months now! What did we ever do without her...well, it doesn't matter what we did. We are having too much fun now to care!

Anne's little personality is really starting to shine now! She is so much fun! She finally has figured out how to get to something going straight...kind of like crawling, more like military crawl. She has also figured out how to sit herself up and thus she is getting into more and more things all of the time. We really have to keep our eyes on her now!

We just love this little kiddo and are so excited for all of the fun that this next month is going to bring us!

New Year's Eve 2008

We rang in the New Year at Taylor and Heather's this year. Bracken decided to start of the entertainment right away...he's such a good dancer!

Anne loves her cousin Bracken.

Bracken loves to flirt with all of the girls! Watch out, Trav!

Mom trying out her new video camera

Vinnie and Bryce taking a pre-party nap!

Just about everyone tried their hand at karaoke.

It was hilarious!!!

Nana got a fun game for the kids to play with...and the kids decided to make their own game out of it!

At the stroke of midnight...or there abouts...we popped poppers, drank sparkling cider and sang Happy Birthday to Heather! It was so much fun! Anne and I were the first go to sleep at 12:30...I can't believe she stayed up that long!