A visit from the Great Grandparents

Rylee's great-grandparents came to visit for Christmas this year. Rylee had a blast playing with Grandma Arlyss and listening to Grandpa Willis' radio. We wish they lived closer so we could see them more often! Miss you guys!

Merry Christmas 2010

I can't believe Christmas is over already! It came and went so fast. We had a wonderful holiday filled with family, friends, and great food and wine.
Rylee really enjoyed her presents this year. Her favorite was a dancing Mickey Mouse from Auntie Mandy. She could watch him for hours.

A close second was this cute little baby that talks and moves from Great Grandma Arlyss.

This Christmas was the best by far for us. It was so much fun watching Rylee play in all the wrapping paper. She played so hard on Christmas that she slept over 13 hours that night!

She also enjoyed opening her stocking on Christmas morning.

Even the dogs got to share in the festivities.

Rylee and Auntie got in some special bonding time.

This is a shot of the guys on Christmas eve. We hosted our annual Christmas eve party complete with the Santa gift exchange.

Also a pic of the lovely ladies!

Rylee loved the Christmas tree and all of the ornaments. She loves to pull off the big sparkly ones and then show them to us.

We were even able to paint her teeny toes a festive red! I can't tell you how cute it is to see those little toes painted!!! I don't think she'll ever have bare toes again!

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

BFF's

Rylee + Coulee = BFF's

Rylee update

It's been a while since I've written about Rylee. Both of our computers have been down so I haven't been able to do much. Also, Rylee is running around like crazy and never sitting still, so it's hard to take pictures these days. When she hears the word "cheese" she looks the other way!
She is doing great. 14 months and a few days old. Running around like mad. Getting into absolutely everything. Climbing on (and in) everything in sight. She is talking quite well now. She copies everything we say. She can make many animal noises on cue (dog, sheep, horse, monkey, duck, elephant, cow). She says please and thank you. She can sign eat, more, and milk (we are working on others). She loves to give kisses and hugs. She is so full of life. It is so much fun to watch her learn about her universe. (The above pic is of her and her cousin Ace hanging out on Thanksgiving).

She is officially pacifier free and has been since the day after Thanksgiving. We hadn't planned on cutting her off yet, but we forgot it one day and haven't gone back since. In fact, Rylee helped me throw them all away the other day. She's done really well. Nap time can be a challenge sometimes, but bedtimes are still nice and easy.

We are busy getting ready for the holidays (and new carpet this weekend... yay!!), but I will try and keep you updated with new pictures soon!

"Mini Vegas"

Every year my best girlfriends and I get together and spend the night in a hotel. It is our Christmas present to each other. The last 3 years we've gone to the Tulalip Resort. We love it. It's just like a "mini Vegas." It's so nice to know that no matter what happens in life, we all still have each other. I love you girls!

A weekend in Napa

A few weekends ago Lance and I visited Napa Valley (alone I might add!!!) My parents watched her for 3 nights so we could celebrate my birthday in wine country.
I love Napa this time of year. The colors are so beautiful. The weather is usually decent, but it drizzled on us this time. We didn't mind, we were just there to taste wine!

We spent our days visiting wineries, enjoying the scenery, and eating out. Very relaxing!

It was nice to get some alone time and finally get a chance to catch up on each other. Don't get me wrong, we missed that baby so much, but were happy to reconnect with each other. I know she enjoyed her grandparent time as well.

We ended up buying 2 cases of wine from our favorite winery, Peju, and 10 bottles from the other wineries we visited. Guess what our friends are getting for Christmas!! =)