Fond Farewell

Carson had to say goodbye today to his classmates and teacher at Rancho Santa Fe. We've really enjoyed this school and Carson has grown up so much in these last few months! He wanted pictures of his friends so he wouldn't forget his first school buddies.

Carson, Leiya

Brianna, Carson, Deoni

Mrs. Smith, Carson

Allison, Ainslee, Carson

Gabby, Carson, Christian

Kayla, Kahleen, Caleb, Carson

Alexis, Carson, Vanessa

Robert, Carson

Fond Farewell

Ridley, Damien, Dallas, Carson, Dominic

Dallas, Carson

New House!

our new master bath...
front of the house (yeah, no order here, sorry)
our new living room--look guys, it's identical to our old one! even the paint!
our neighborhood pool :)

So things have been crazy here lately, and if you're related to us you know all about why. No time for playing--any free time we have is spent laying half comatose on the couch for what we are now calling "quality time", since the last week or so we've had precious little time to have a conversation and when we do we are far too tired to talk. LOL We'll get back to normal shortly, I know it.

So we have a new house in Panama City Beach, FL and we are VERY excited about it. It's gorgeous and very familiar looking! It looks eerily similar to our old house in Navarre, so we should feel right at home. Even some of the paint colors are the same as what we chose! Here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure and then I'm being yelled at to pack the pantry. So off I go!

Carson on MLK, Jr

No school on MLK day last monday, and I wasn't sure Carson was even aware of the reason. But while we were at home, a commercial showing Mr. King came on with some words from his speech. Carson gets on his serious face and says:
"I know why I'm home today, mom. Today is Martin Lufer King day and he was a man who slept alot, so he had lots of dreams, and in his dreams we all had the same kind of skin. You know, like people and animals...we all looked the same, so nobody felt bad because they weren't a person or a boy or a zebra. We were just all..the same."

I said "So, which one were we, if we were all the same?"

Carson: "Huh?"

"If he wanted us all to be the same, which one did he want us to be? Zebras or people or boys or what?"

"I don't think it works that way, mom. I think it was just a dream and he meant good things, okay?"

Sadly, I think he was more right than he realises. I tried to explain that it was really just for people, for people to be equal, and he just nodded. "That's what I said."

I love this kid.

So I guess we can share

the good news! Reed's old boss and favorite "mentor" from Florida has kept in touch with him all these years we've been gone, and has finally decided to get back into business! He's taken all this time off to cruise, lucky duck! So he asked Reed to come back to Florida and be a part of his newest venture. It didn't take much convincing!! So we're headed back east, back to the south that we love and I must say it's not a hardship to live next to those beautiful beaches either! :)

We don't have exact dates yet, except that it will be early this spring, so we'll keep you posted. And of course, if you want to come visit, let us know!! We'd love to have company...especially if you want to come help unpack, heehee.

We've been very blessed this year with lots of good things, and having this great opportunity just feels like a confirmation that we're headed down the right path. I truly think things happen for a reason, even if they don't happen the way or when you want them to!

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Mormon Lake Lodge

On the road! Trevor, Carson and Kimberly

First snow sighting of the year!

And the required snow angel...

So we drove a short way to find a good sledding hill. I think this is the San Francisco Peaks.

Carson was very brave!

Reed doing his sasquatch pose through the woods.

The view from our cabin--or as Trevor called it, the "Cabinet".

Speaking of the Cabinet...here it is.

the kids had a good snowball fight with Daddy.
My boys

the rare shot of me.

Family Pic

at Mormon Lake Lodge in Arizona. Who thinks of snow when they think of Arizona?

Mmmm Snow

Trevor enjoying a good chunk of snow. lol

Boy, am I lazy

We've had some sickies in the house, from plain old colds to strep and ear infections. So we've been taking it easy. Lots of movies and pj's and playing games, which is fine by me because the weather has been less than beautiful the past few weeks. I haven't even been taking pictures! But I did get a few pictures of sweet Savannah sent by her mom, and here they are. I promise to get back into something interesting so this isn't just a rambling bore. LOL

Happy New Year

I know I've been quiet the last few days, just been busy, but I wanted to say Happy New Year to everyone! If you go out, make sure to drive carefully!

A Daddy's Pride

I thought this was a bit embarrassing, but of course his daddy took great pride in this little story:
We were at the store day after Christmas (stupidly, I know, but we needed milk) so of course it was packed. Carson and Trevor mentioned they wanted to go home and watch a movie with popcorn, and started good naturedly arguing about sharing one bag and decided we'd all need our own bag to eat. I told them if we each ate a whole bag ourselves we'd be fat! They thought this was funny and then started competing about who would be the fattest once we were finished.
Carson: "I will be the fattest, because I can eat popcorn faster than you!"
Trevor: (exasperated by the competition at this point, stands up in the cart in front of a store full of people as we approach the VERY long checkout lines)"No! I will be the fattest, AND the tallest, and I will have the BIGGEST PENI!!!!!" (that's as close to grammatically correct as I will let my youngsters go)

He got tons of chuckles and mirthful grins and the cashier gave him a high five. The boy is three, y'all. What am I going to do when he's 15?? And no, we don't have discussions with our children about how having a big "peni" might be a good thing, he's just a boy, and this is possibly genetically inserted along with the amniotic stuff.

Christmas Miracle of Sorts

As some of you know, Reed's daughter Savannah went "missing" with her mother a year and a half ago. One weekend we saw her, the next...they were gone. To say we were upset is an understatement, but since her mom has full custody, there was really nothing we could do, and we had no forwarding information to contact her all this time.
I've been searching the internet for anything we can use to get in touch with them, and this week I finally found it. I found her mom on the computer, and emailed her. She emailed back right away with their number so I called.
Lo and behold, they are back in North Carolina, and looked for us upon returning only to find that WE were now gone.
I gave Reed her number as an early "Christmas present" and he was ecstatic. He called immediately and talked to her for quite a bit and made plans for a weekly phone call. She is doing well, is very happy, and is in her school chorus--even got to sing a solo at the last concert!
We are truly happy to have reconnected to this wonderful little girl and look forward to many more calls and visits in the near future. I think the moral of the story is, if it's important, keep trying.
Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. We've been a bit under the weather lately and trying to make christmas presents, buy some, get them wrapped and keep up with daily life, and time slips by. Hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas!