Friday Flashback!

As Hannah's first birthday approaches (WAY TOO QUICKLY), I have been looking back through her pictures and found this video that Michael and I took our first night with her in the hospital. We couldn't get over how alert she was and we were just taking it all in! The video is fuzzy, but I couldn't help but share it with you!

Also, we get on the road today to head to Oklahoma for Christmas, it is a 24 hour drive with an 11 month old, so any prayers sent our way are appreciated!

Sneak Peek...

We went and tried to take some family pictures on the beach today. Hannah didn't cooperate quite as well as I had hoped, but I think we got a few good ones. There was just too much going on distracting her from looking at the camera! I have some editing to do and will eventually post some others...

Thanksgiving in UT!

Well, we hopped in the car on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving around 1 in the afternoon and arrived at the Poret's house at 2:30 am! It was a pretty easy drive with Hannah and we tried to look at it as a trial run for our 24 hour drive home for Christmas! She had a few moments when she made it very clear that she was tired of being in her carseat, but we were always pretty close to a fuel stop anyways, so we didn't have to hold her off long! I know I mentioned this before, but when I am having a good time, I forget to get my camera out, so here is a combination of the few pics that I have and the few that Yolonda sent me! While we were there Yolonda made some homemade bread and the first batch she turned into these awesome monster sized pecan cinnamon rolls with caramel icing! They were AMAZING!! While we were cooking the Thanksgiving feast we made the second batch into rolls. I definitely have a new desire to learn the art of homemade bread now (and Michael is waiting on some more homemade cinnamon rolls)! We got to eat dinner with the Irick's and the Lawson's. It was a great time and there was enough food for about five families!This was on Thanksgiving Day! This pic is of us trying to recover from having WAY TOO much food! On Saturday we went to breakfast with Tonya and her family. We didn't get Bob or Michael in the photo because they were the camera men! This is Tonya, Tessa and Caleb! It was good seeing her and getting caught up, plus I was able to spend a little time with Bob. I can't believe how big her kids have gotten!! After breakfast we headed over to Dave and Cori's house and got to spend a few minutes with them. They had family in town and plans, but at least we got a few minutes with them! Later in the day I had a Mary Kay Party and got to see some of my friends. We were limited on space so I could only invite a few people, but we had a great time and I was able to meet my goal of 30 faces in 3o days! I didn't get a pic of Jody or Janene, but they were there! Here is Christina and Teri...and Me and Elizabeth!Before we left (at 1o PM) on Saturday night, I made them get a few pics of us together. Glenn was being himself and picking on Michael!This one of Michael isn't great, but we are all looking at the camera!Me and Yo (and a pic of the hair that Hannah is finally getting!)...and Glenn and Hannah! :)We drove straight through the night and Hannah slept all but 90 minutes of the drive! It was a great decision, but I hated leaving sooner than we had planned. I truly miss tons of people there and we only got to see a few of the people that we had hoped to, but we were glad that we got to spend quality time with Yo and Glenn! We were truly thankful to God for all of our blessings this year and equally grateful for wonderful memories of Hannah's first Thanksgiving!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...

So, last Tuesday (the day we left for UT) Hannah FINALLY got her first tooth through her gums! Michael and I were so excited! She has been teething off and on for about four months and we could see the teeth making progress along her gum line, but FINALLY one of her bottom teeth made it through! She is about to get her other bottom one and her two top ones and we are hoping she has them by Christmas or at least her birthday! There are so many foods that most kids her age are eating that she just can't eat because she has no teeth and I am ready for her to catch up and be able to eat more stuff!

I have been trying to get a picture of her tooth, but it just isn't working out well! Even when you try to put your finger in her mouth to feel, she will stick her tongue out to push your finger out of her mouth! This is the best I could do, and it isn't great! You will just have to use your imagination! I am working on a post about our trip to UT, but I am waiting on pics from the Poret's since as usual, I didn't get my camera out like I should have!

Mashed Potatoes

Here is a fun quiz for Thanksgiving! Enjoy!

You Are Mashed Potatoes

Ordinary, comforting, and more than a little predictable You're the glue that holds everyone together.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

Walking...

Well, it is official. She has been taking one to two steps while leaning for a little over a week, but now she can take two to three controlled steps before losing it. I am not sure that I am ready for this, but ready or not, it is happening! Here are two quick videos I took this morning.

Michael's Trip

Now it is time to show you what Michael did while Hannah and I were in Oklahoma! He left on Monday and headed to Tinaja Hills, AZ (which is just outside of Tuscon) to go to CAT school. Caterpillar opens their training facility once a year for Granite employees to come and do training. This year it was the Safety Department's turn. There were 68 Granite safety employees on this trip to learn the function, safety, repair, and troubleshooting on different machines. Michael got to play on a CAT 345 Excavator (track hoe) and a 980H Loader. Here are some of the pics: 1)the guys having a meeting 2)demonstration of the bulldozers 3) what Michael did, the machine he ran and yes, he had to put the dirt in the back of a truck driven by someone in his group 4)closer view of the excavator.
As a side note, I have added a few more links in my blogs that I like list including Carla and Heath's new blog about her pregnancy. Feel free to check them out!

OOOOOOklahoma

Gas prices in Oklahoma. I looked when I got back to California and it is $2.65. One of the many things about living "out west" that is not fair!On to the real post! So as usual, I was terrible at taking pictures while I was home and as usual, I am hoping to get copies from the others that took pictures (Kristen, Mom, Tammie, Rhonda...)! So, lets start with my first pictures from the trip, Kiwanis Pancakes on election day! My uncle has always worked the early shift and made our pancakes in the shape of Mickey Mouse. It is one them many unintentional traditions that was made over the years and this year I was able to share the tradition with Hannah! Of course, once I got to the community building, I didn't get to hold Hannah, so Tammie fed Hannah her few bites of Mickey pancakes.Poor Hannah's sleep schedule was so messed up since there is already a two hour time difference, but also the night we got there was Daylight's Savings and so she was three hours off schedule! She fought going to sleep and missed many naps, luckily, her PaPa helped her go to sleep whenever the opportunity came up!We were able to see all the aunts and uncles while we were home as well. Carla came in town on Saturday and Sunday, Clay was home Saturday to Tuesday morning, Kristen got in late Monday and left mid-day Wednesday and then came back on Thursday and left mid-day Friday. It is a little easier catching Jacki and Brett since they live in Durant, but it was nice that we got to see everyone while we were there! Here is a picture of Hannah with GG and Uncle Clay reading some Dr. Seuss, one of her with Aunt KK, and one of her with Aunt Jacki. I didn't get any with Aunt Carla, Uncle Heath, or Uncle Brett...sorry guys! We were also able to get together with Grandpa Joe and Grandma Betty (my grandparents) a few times while we were in town. Hannah loved playing with their dog, JJ. He would run in circles and she would chase after him trying to catch up and he would lap her and about knock her over! They were hilarious to watch! Also, whenever one of my grandparents would hold Hannah, JJ would go to the other one and beg to be picked up! On Friday night, Hannah was able to attend her first High School football game! It was nice that she was able to cheer for the Durant Lions her first game, and we beat Ardmore, so it was icing on the cake! It was cold at the game and she was so tired she ended up falling asleep! At the game we were able to see Jimmy and Wendy that were in town visiting from Tulsa! It was good getting to see them! Hannah was so over stimulated with all the people yelling, clapping, ringing cow bells, and using air horns! She wasn't sure what was going on, but she turned on the charm and smiled at everyone around us!I have a few pics of Hannah and I playing with her cousin Jacob. He is so big! He is almost as tall as she is and he weighs about two pounds more! He is three months younger, but he looks about the same age!I got a couple of pictures at the airport. Mom and Kathy took us back and Kathy let her chew on her change purse while I went through the ticket line. It was soggy by the time she got it back in her purse, but it kept her quiet and entertained! We had a great time and are glad that it is only about six weeks before we go back for Christmas! I will have another update later about Michael's trip to Arizona while we were gone!

Happy Halloween! :)

We were invited over to a friends house where we trick-or-treated through their neighborhood! There were over 20 kids in the group! I couldn't get a picture with all of them, so I got who I could!

I got one of our Elephant friend HannahLee!

And a few crazy ones of Hannah not looking! :)This is Tobey, he was born on April 5th, the day after Jacob!

This is how we walked through most of the neighborhood!

And the other part of the time, in mom's arms!