Toby & Daryl

In the middle of opening gifts we gave Toby and Daryl their gifts from their cousins. They are very happy with their gifts and would like to thank them, Mischeif, Zoey, Zues, & Maverick. Abby watched them open their gifts and smiled. Toby didn't want to give it up.
Smells good!
Can I take it?

Daryl has been in trouble lately for getting into things he shouldn't, so he was very cautious about opening his gifts this morning. As you can see in pictures below Toby had no worries!


Very Yummy!

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas Everyone! We know this is pre christmas. We wanted to thank my sisters and their families for their gifts to Abby also. She loves her purple coat in this picture, she wore it to church last sunday. Thanks!

Mammie and Grampa gave these and some more great gifts to Abby this year for christmas. I pick these pictures to post because she looks so cute in them. I will post her dress they gave her when she wears it. It has teddy bears and hearts. Thanks for all your thoughtfulness.


Josiah received the cast iron from my parents and he loves it. I should go and take a picture of his motorcycle and show everyone his new pipes. We are enjoying them, Abby and I know when daddy is home now.
Josiah was the very kind to me this year and I got the rocking chair from him in this picture. I received the book from my mother. I love it, thanks for all the great gifts.

Merry Christmas Mom and Dad. She is the best gift we could ever ask for!
I think that I am all done for now. Good Night!

Poor Abigail was pooped at the end of opening gifts and of course being one herself!

This was at the end of our day. We were invited over to the Brod's home for pie. It was really good pie. We feel blessed this holiday season to be able to have a wounderful daughter and great family and friends. Thanks to everyone for your support and gifts.

Abigail's Christmas Dresses

This cute dress and shoes that Mammie, (my mom), gave her. She did really well keeping these on today. They came off at the end of church, perfect.

One of the sisters in our ward gave Abigail this dress. She wore it to church last week. She has started a new thing of blowing bubbles and she will smile when she is done.
See my pretty new dress everyone.
Thank you Megan for the bling. She wore it last sunday to church and She received a lot of nice comments about it.

Abigail's Christmas Outfits

This hat came with the booties below. She wore this outfit to our ward Christmas party. She slept most of the time, but of course when they served us dinner she wanted to eat. I have no idea how babies know when we want to eat, somehow she has this down to a science.

This outfit my mother gave us for her 1st Christmas. I loved the butt so I had to take a picture of her backside.

These are so cute, I had to pick them up for her. She was really good, and kept them on the whole time. They have stayed on very well when I put her in the carrier to walk around.

Pictures are in!!!

We went a couple of weeks ago and had pictures taken. Dana did a awesome job on them. I will be adding some more as time goes on. I ended up keeping about 70 or more pictures. I had a very hard time saying no to a picture. Mommy & beautiful Abigail
She must be having a wounderful dream!
Daddy Hands
Welcome Abigail to our family!
Daddy - Daughter I will cherish this one.

Laughter....

What is it about laughing that is so much fun? Yeah, probably being laughed at isn't that great but laughing in general is fun. And I do laugh at myself quite a bit. (Just did it the other day.)

For the first time in our life we have Directv. Yeah, 200 channels and still nothing is on, although I do search out comedy central and other comedy sitcoms. One of my favorites to watch is Jeff Dunham and his puppets. What a riot!! He really brings them to life. He makes fun of himself, people in the audience, society... he is really good.

Everybody Loves Raymond. Who can not associate their family (or their spouse's family) to Raymond's? With a meddling mother, cranky father, gloomy and full of selfpity brother, and yourself not too smooth with words and getting yourself in trouble, how can it not be funny to watch? The things that get brought up are so close to truth. Sarah and I keep pointing out things during the show. "Hey, that's you." "Do I do that?"

It's fun to laugh. It's a stress release. Maybe if people laughed more we wouldn't have so many problems in the world.

Laugh Much. Enjoy Life.

Yeah, I Got Promoted!

Monday, Dec 3rd, I got promoted to Specialist (E-4). It's not a huge step in life but it is an important one. I have to have six months in grade before I can get my Sergeants stripes which is the big promotion. I have a lot of work ahead of me before I can get them.

It's nice to start moving up the food chain. As an civilian you can ask for a raise whenever you feel like you are worth more than you are getting paid. Here in the military it's almost socialistic. Everyone in the same rank/grade gets paid the same regardless of job. You're paid salary so sometimes you may work a 40 hour week or maybe a 80 hour week. You still get paid the same. You have to work at getting promoted.


Sarah got to pin me (velcro me?) which was really nice.

1st Doctors Appointment

Our little one

is growing up. We had our one month check up on December 4. She is now 10lbs and 9.5 ozs as you can see in her picture. The nurse was so nice to let me take a picture of her. She loved the scale and wiggled all around on it. She however didn't like it when the nurse had her pull out long to see her length. She grew .1 inches, so now she is 21.1 inches long and her head is now 14.5 inches instead of the 14 inches.

She was really good for the doctor too. She didn't cry at all. I on the other hand wasn't so lucky, I needed to get the flu shot and my arm is still sore from that. She goes back in a month and that time I believe she will have to get shots. I am not looking forward to that visit.

Oh, by the way...

The Saturday before we left for Maine, to pick up Abigail, we went to Sea World San Antonio with another couple. It was fun to relax and to see all of the animals.
These sea lions were part of a skit. It was pretty funny and quite entertaining.
What a beautiful day! The temp. was very nice and we thought it was even a bit hot but I guess the Texans didn't agree because the waterpark was closed. What a bummer.





Sarah and Lauren thinking that they needed to toss a couple of kids out of the way to take their pirate pictures. (JUST KIDDING) And they say that us husbands are childish and embarrassing.

And of course we had to see Shamu, the killer whale. The trainers must spend a good amount of time working with the animals to get them to respond so well. It was impressive to see them jumping out of the water, doing flips, splashing the audience,... I thought that going without children was a little silly but we all enjoyed it. The Army gave us free tickets to go. We plan on taking Abigail in a couple of years if we're still here in Texas.