Grand Canyon and Phoenix

We took a long weekend and went to visit the Grand Canyon and our friends the Creegers in Phoenix. The Grand Canyon was amazing! It's absolutely beautiful. The girls had fun playing in the snow and making snowballs. It was in the upper 40s, but didn't feel cold in the intense sun. It was such a dream to be so warm and to play in the snow at the same time! Zoe especially loved the Grand Canyon model in the museum and both girls had a lot of fun in the watch tower. We stayed a couple nights at the Grand Hotel and then headed to Phoenix midday on Saturday. It was great to see the Creegers! The kids all started playing like they were the best of friends. They started off in the kids Jeep, jumped on the trampoline, and had fun at the park by Jacob's baseball scrimmage. April, Scott, Frank and I stayed up ultra late, eating dinner at like 10:30, and we finished the night relaxing in the hot tub out back listening to music. Need I say we miss Phoenix already! On Sunday we went for a hike and enjoyed some beautiful scenery complete with hundreds of amazingly large cactus. It was classic Arizona. The Creegers were amazing hosts and treated us like royalty. We had a great time, and can't wait to visit again soon!

The Grand Canyon:

Phoenix:

All the kids - McKenna, Jacob, Zoe, Landon, and Jenna

The view at the top of our hike

April and Frank * Jenna and McKenna

West Point, NY

We had a fabulous time in New York visiting my sister and meeting our new niece Rachael. She was adorable and so teeny tiny, it is amazing how soon you forget how small they start! Zoe came with me and was super thrilled to see the cousins again. They played non-stop and were so happy to be together. Frank stayed home with Jenna and got some quality daddy/daughter time with her while we were away. It was a nice long weekend for everyone.

Me, Laura, and baby Rachael * Zoe, Alex, and Nathan leaving a West Point basketball game


All the cousins at dinnertime * Zoe and Brittany Jo

Tent Rocks

We drove to Tent Rocks NP here in NM over MLK Day weekend. It's only about an hour away, and very worth the trip! The girls and us hiked for about 1-1/2 hours. Their favorite part was all the patches of snow they found and got to jump in. We don't see snow too aften around here! We all liked the cave a lot too, tho it's much harder to get into (and out of) than I thought it would be! We will definately try and get here again before we move.

The girls luved the snow! * View from inside the cave

Me and girls inside cave * Jenna found her very own teeny weeny cave

Happy 4th Birthday Zoe!

Zoe had a great 4th birthday. She had a party at McDonalds on Saturday. Her and her friends ran around the play area for almost two hours straight, with only a few stops to munch on a Happy Meal or eat cake. She was all smiles the whole time! Her official birthday was Sunday, so we had a little more cake and opened presents from the family. It was a nice birthday weekend.

Zoe's McD's Party:

Her birthday at home:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We opened presents from friends and family on Christmas Eve and then presents from mom and dad and Santa on Christmas morning. It worked out well, especially since at this age they want to play with whatever they open first before going on to open the next present. The girls and us were thankful for everything. The only unfortunate thing was that Frank's parents were not able to join us as planned for Christmas due to some very bad weather. Hopefully we can re-schedule another trip sometime soon!

The girls on Christmas Eve

Frank and I on Christmas Eve

The girls on Christmas morning!

Video from Christmas morning. Our favorite line: Zoe saying "Maybe he knows what kids want!" He meaning Santa.

Video of Zoe and Jenna singing Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer together. Too cute!

For New Years the girls and I went to our friends the Bishops. Frank was returning late from a trip for work, but managed to make it home just in time at 11:45 PM! What a new year's present!

New years cuties.

We tried unsuccessfully to get the kids to sleep before midnight. Well, how could we resist the girls getting to see daddy on new years?!?

Welcome Rachael Grace!

Frank and my new niece (and the girls' new cousin) was born today December 29th at 1:34pm at Keller Army Hospital at West Point, NY! To see pictures of the beautiful new baby girl, visit my sister's blog at http://themackclan.blogspot.com/

Congratulations to the Macks!

Christmas Festivities

Zoe's ballet class put on the cutest little ballet show! The outfits they wore were priceless!

Zoe's class

Here is a video of Zoe's Christmas Ballet Show. Zoe is easy to spot - she's the blonde with the two pony-tails (you start to see her at about 10 seconds in).

In other Christmas news, we took a trip to Durango, CO to ride the Polar Express. We rode true to Polar Express fashion, pj's and all. We did this last year, but this year was extra special because we had watched the movie and read the book, and Zoe especially knew exactly what was going on. It was so funny, on the train ride to the North Pole (about a 1/2 hour each way), Zoe asked if we were going to cross the Polar Ice Cap. I laughed so much. I think she must of seen that in the movie.

Me and Jenna * Hot, hot, hot - hot chocolate!

On the train

Santa! aka Mr. C

Thanksgiving Celebration

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my folks, aka grammy and pop pop. They drove down from Kansas and visited for about 3 days. It was a fun time - we ate lots of turkey, got to a Zoe ballet class, and even picked out a Christmas tree! It was a special treat to have grammie and pop pop help put the lights and ornaments up! Mom and I did several Target runs - at all hours - but we had tons of fun and got lots of wonderful Christmas shopping done. It was a great holiday!

Making Thanksgiving dinner * Enchilada night!

Getting ready for Christmas


At the tree farm


Zoe showing showing off her ballet * Lunch at our favorite place Taco Cabanas!


Presents for the grandkids * Big goodnight hugs!