Julie Comes to Texas...

On January 21st Julie was able to fly to Texas for 3 days, without the kiddos, and spend sometime with us. This trip was actually a surprise for her, that Mike and I told her about at Christmas. You see, Julie LOVES Jon and Kate Plus 8 and I had found out that Kate Gosselin, along with Renee Swope and Lysa TerKeurst were coming to speak at a church, literally down the street from me. So, the plan began.

Julie flew on Wednesday and on Thursday was the Girls Night Out with Kate Gosselin. The rest of the time was spent showing Julie around our town. The time went by much to fast! I loved having her here and showing her where we live. Now she can picture it when I say "I'm in the game room", or "picking Emma up from preschool." I love that.

Having dinner on Friday night at Pappasitos (Mexican food).

Emma, me and Julie at Pappasitos.

Girls Night Out with Renee Swope and Lysa TerKeurst...

and Kate Gosselin.

Julie and I having our picture taken "with" Kate. You can just see her in the background. There were 4,000 women there so they had us moving thorugh the line pretty quick. "No posing" was what we kept hearing.

All in all, we had a wonderful time and I can't wait until she can come back again. I love you Julie!

One Year Ago Today...

Emma and I got on an airplane in Orange County, California and flew to Texas...to our new home. I can not believe how fast this year has gone. Maybe it helped that we got to go back to CA many, many times, and see friends and family. Maybe making friends so quickly helped. Certainly God's grace made it possible.

Yes, it's been a tough year for us. Adjusting to a new environment, not being with most of our family, starting Emma in a new school and not having friends. But when we look back, God has taken care of us and blessed us greatly.

For that I am thankful.

Here I Am!...

Since we got back from CA, for Christmas, it's been pretty busy here. Emma went back to school, a week later ended up with Strep Throat, I held my first Cookie Lee Jewelry Open House, Barry went to Tennessee and Arizona, I started playing tennis and my sister came to visit. So, now that things have settled, I'm getting back to blogging.

The pics are my from my Open House last weekend. I started selling Cookie Lee Jewelry and I'm having a lot of fun with it. I just the love the jewelry! It's pretty "hot" in CA, but it's just making it's way to the TX area, so this is a great opportunity to tap into the market. I have a link posted, to the left, that will take you to my website and you can view the catalog online.

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve and we've pretty much got Emma down for bed, not asleep yet, but she will be soon. We're in California with our family and having a great time, although, it's pretty darn cold! One thing Barry and I have been thankful for is the view of the mountains with snow, how we miss seeing those mountains! We've also made a conscious effort NOT to complain about the traffic, it just comes with living in this beautiful place.

We celebrated our Christmas in Texas, before heading out to CA (Dec. 18) so Emma's excited to have two Christmas'. She's just slightly worried that Santa might not know she's in CA, however, we've assured her that he knows where she's at.

I've attached a few pictures of our Christmas in Texas...enjoy and Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Party...

On Saturday evening we had our Sunday School Christmas party (it was a busy weekend)! Three of us girls, me, Lara, and Machelle, planned the evening and we had a great time. There were about 21 adults and 10 kids running around the Jones' house. Lots of noise and lots of laughing...

D sitting with me on the couch reading a book. She likes to snuggle in close.

Diana, Leigh, and Debbie chatting in the kitchen before dinner.

Since this is a "family life class" we decided it would be fun if each family dressed the dad up like a reindeer. All the dads were a good sport in playing along. After a vote, the winner received a prize...a family game.

In the process of decorating the dads!

Debbie, Steve, Victor, baby A and Heather. Victor and Heather ended up winning the game.

Barry didn't do to bad either. Only his nose didn't want to stay lit for some reason.

A Walk Through Bethlehem...

On Saturday we went with our friends to A Walk Through Bethlehem, put on by a local church. It was a really fun time to see the kids playing and learning what it was "like" back in the days when Jesus was born. Although the sun was shining, it was about 52 degrees outside!

They made snow for the kids to play in, and this was the first time Emma was in snow, so she was trying to make a snow angel.

Barry with Emma and our friends.

Emma's showing us her snowball! Watch out!!

Mr. Brian with the kids learning how they make butter?? I can't remember.

Emma going for a donkey ride.

They LOVED the camel ride. I was so proud of Emma for doing this. The camel is so high up and we did not ride with her, I thought she might back out. Yeah! Look at that smile.

Gingerbread House...

I know what y'all are thinking, "It's been a while." Yes, it has. Honestly, there has not been much going on around our neck of the woods. But, alas, we finally have some fun things to write about. Now that December has rolled around all the festivities have started - like making a gingerbread house. We have never done this before, so I thought it would be fun, however, it was a little messy, which is not my favorite thing, but Emma enjoyed it. Sorry this pictures are out of order, but you get the idea.