October fun!

We went to the pumpkin patch this weekend to enjoy some fall fun! They had hay rides, jump castles and of course all the pumpkins you could choose from. Anna had fun sitting on the pumpkins and picking out the small pumpkins that were her size. We thought of trying to get her face painted but thought next year might work better. She kind of enjoyed the hayride and wanted to jump on the little jump castle but we were afraid we might not get her out! It was a lot of fun and we can't wait to go back next year! Here are some pics from the day.

The new baby is...

A GIRL!!! Anna is going to have a little sister sometime between December 30th and Jan 9th at the last check up here measurements were two weeks ahead of schedule. So either this is going to be a huge baby born in Jan or normal size born in Dec. Who knows maybe she will be the first baby born in 2009:)! We don't have any names picked out yet just still throwing some around. Anna is excited I think... she points to my belly and says baby and gives it a kiss, so whether she fully understands or not it is pretty cute! We went to Galveston over the Labor Day weekend and reconfirmed the fact that Anna is a true born beach baby. She LOVED it!! She played in the sand and ran in the waves which were luckily still pretty small despite the hurricane churning in the gulf. So next year we will have to make a trip out to Florida and spend a little longer at the beach, than just the day! Here are some pictures from the day. Oh we had an accident in our bathing suit so we spent the rest of the day in a swim diaper, but she acutally preferred this!
At lunch Anna is ready to get in the water!

Anna is carrying her shovel out to the beach.

Anna getting dirty in the sand!

Grabbing a snack in the shade.

Writing in the sand with seashells.

Video of Anna playing in the water.

Finally I post a new blog!!

Sorry it has been so long! We found out when we returned from Spain that we were expecting our second child already and so since then I haven't been feeling that great I haven't been keeping up with this blog. Actually I have felt terrible but now it is getting better. The new baby is due Jan 6-9th according the doctor she is not sure on an exact date. So we will just be ready after the first of the year! With the new baby coming we thought it might be a good idea to get Anna ready to switch from her crib to a toddler bed. Last night was her first night in the crib with the front taken off to create a toddler bed. She did great!! Didn't get up and slept until 9 (she hasn't slept that late in a long time!) So maybe she likes it, I will give it a week to make sure. She is getting so big running around everywhere. Her word list is growing by the day, and she says much more than we can understand. She is identifying many animals mostly by the sound they make instead of their name. This summer we have been going to the pool a lot our subdivision has a little splash pool that is great for Anna. And lately it has been too hot to do much else. She does not really like the TV but prefers to listen to the radio and dance or play in her playroom getting everything out! Anna loves chasing the dogs, mainly Kiwi around the house. It is pretty funny. That is about it for now I will try to keep this updated a little better. Oh we find out what the new baby is at the end of August!

Espana!

Spain was great!! We saw everything we could and Anna did great! Just rode around with us all day waving to as many Spainards as she could:)! We went to Valencia first which is were my sister Meghan has been living this past year and she was our official tour guide. She did great we saw pretty much everything Valencia had to offer to tourists. We saw the worlds second largerst aquairum, climbed a crazy high bell tower, the Holy Grail and much more. We then went on to Barcelona just up the Mediterranian coast. Here we went all over the city seeing as much as possible from the Sagrada Familia (Barcelona's Guadi cathedral they have been building for the past 100 years, where we also experienced Spains craziness two men walking around as tourists wearing only shoes yes fully exposed YUK!) to the Picasso museum and who could leave out the beach! By the way Spain has a different idea of a daily schedule where they eat lunch around 2-4 and dinner some time after 9:00pm which at first we thought there will be no way and for lunch we did not quite make the late time but by the last day when we sat down for dinner Meghan said look you guys are becoming Spainish, it was 9:00 and yes Anna was eating with us! She was becoming a little Spainard baby. On the way to the airport the last day we saw a Bovis project which is the company Nathan works for... so who knows maybe we will become Spainards for a couple years some time in the future... But in the mean time here are some pictures only some though because we took over 600!

Valencia by night

The water was actually really cold but Anna did not care!

One of the many markets we went to.

A large playground shaped like Gulliver from Gulliver's Travels in the Turia in Valencia

The Placa de Catalunya in Barcelona

Aunty Meghan and Anna

Anna at Europe's largest aquarium she really wanted to get in with the fish!

Happy Birthday!!! One year old!!!

We celebrated Anna's first birthday party this weekend, it was so much fun. Thanks to everyone who came Anna is so blessed to have so many people who love her. We had cupcakes and opened lots of presents. Anna did so good despite not having a nap all day, she did not cry once. She let everyone pass her around and played with all who came to see her on her special day! When she ate the cake she played with it in her hands at first but once she got a taste it was all a mess from there! When we opened presents she sat and opened them all and tried to play with them. She got so many great things, it will keep her busy for months, we will just bring out one new toy a week so the newness lasts and lasts... yeah right! Anna was so tired at the end of the day we put her to sleep at 7pm and she didn't wake up until 8:30 the next day! Mommy and Daddy were so tired too and we went to sleep at 8:30 it was the best nights sleep in a long time!! Here are some pictures from the day! (Anna's real birthday is April 16th we had her party a few days early).

Some are homemade and some are from Central Market.

Anna's new play gym

Let's go Granny and Great Grammy!

Happy Birthday to you!!!

Feeling it out...

And now its on and yes she is eating with a spoon, very advanced;) and neat;)

The crowd watching on

And more crowd all with cameras out (paparazzi already!)

Say cheese with Great Aunt Rita, Mommy, Grandma Sherry and Great Nana

Yeah presents!!!

Oh come here baby doll I will give you a hug!

And this baby doll gets a kiss.

Come on babies lets go for a ride in my new car!!!

Kiwi had to get in on the driving action:)

What a great day! Thanks again for making Anna's first birthday perfect!!

Happy Easter!!

The Friday before was my birthday, Anna and I went to the park with Granny Lissa to see the ducks because it was a great warm day. Here are some pictures.

Easter was a good day, the days before were beautiful great weather. But the true to form Easter morning came and it was chilly. Anna got an Easter basket and she is still playing with the eggs and little chick that makes the sound cheep cheep. Then we went over to Gram and Grandad's for lunch. Here are a few pictures from the day.

My first Ski Trip!!

Well we just returned from Park City, Utah and Anna's first ski trip (no she wasn't up on skis yet but next year!) Utah is a great place to ski, good snow, and very easy to get to! It was a hard time getting out of DFW because of the freak March snow storm on the very day we were leaving. Our flight was scheduled to leave Thursday night and that day we received about 6 inches of snow at our house, just crazy, I dont think I have ever seen that much snow here... It was pretty though. So needless to say our flight was cancelled and we were put on a flight in the morning which was then cancelled that night. So we were stuck with a nonrefundable condo and rental car in Park City and us in Fort Worth, luckily after long conversations with the airlines they managed to get us out on Saturday (but barely, we got the last six seats) on Delta instead of American and we came back on Wednesday. The trip was originally supposed to be Thursday night thru Monday night. But it all worked out and we had a good time despite the difficulties getting out. On top of the travel troubles Anna and I were sick with a head and chest cold but I guess it isn't a true ski trip unless you have a stopped up head and a cough. We are in recovery now Anna is on her first round of antibiotics of her life and I am living on Tynenol cold. We hope to be well before Easter! Nathan and I celebrated our 5th year being married while we were there, we enjoyed the evening with a horse drawn sleigh ride up the mountain to the Snowed Inn where they served a delicious meal with great musical entertainment! It was a great evening, full circle from when we got engaged 6 yrs before at the Swan Mountain Inn in Breckenridge CO. Nothing like a romantic evening in the mountains! Here are some pictures of our trip couldn't get them all on here but the best ones at least. The people who went on the trip were my cousins Hunter and Cole their mom Emily (my aunt), my mom (who watched Anna), and Nathan and Ariel. 7 in all, a lot of people:)!

This is Aspen in the snow in our back yard, she loved it and look how deep it got!

Ariel Nathan and Anna at the Park City sign.

Nathan and Ariel at the Snowed Inn

The crew of slope shredders! R to L Emily, Ariel, Hunter, Cole and Nathan.

Ariel and Nathan on a ski lift heading up!

Hunter, Ariel and Nathan riding up the Gondola at the Canyons Resort.

Anna and Mommy sliding down the hill, she loved it!!

Anna and Daddy shopping, she says how cool do I look!!

Granny Lissa and Anna outside the condo.

Anna walking on the snow! It is kinda loud, might want to turn your sound down before viewing.