Four Christmases

This Christmas was certainly different than our Christmases in Alaska. It was always a little sad being away from family during Christmas but it was sure a lot less hectic. Over the past week we had 4 different Christmases, 2 Christmas dinners (including one more to come on Sunday) in 3 different states. Rayna did really well with all the driving. (To anyone planning on traveling with a 1-year-old my advice is to get a portable dvd player-- and lots of Baby Einstein videos).

Rayna made out like a bandit this year. John's mom and step-dad got her this cute Dora table with a basket in the middle. At John's big family Christmas (which I didn't get any pictures of) there were only 2 little kids there and the mound of presents for just the two of them was as big as the couch.

John's dad and step-mom got her this tricycle. She can't peddle it yet but I'm sure you can tell from her face how much she likes it.

We had Christmas just the 3 of us today. We got her a bag of rocks since she always likes to collect them outside. I made the mistake of giving those to her first and we had a hard time getting her to open presents because she wouldn't put the rocks down.

To all of our friends and family- we hope your Christmas was enjoyable too. May you all enjoy your time with family and not forget what we're celebrating-- the birth of Jesus. Merry Christmas!!

Away in a Manger

My grandmother's church does a live nativity every year. So I thought it would be good to take Rayna since I've been trying to teach her about the Christmas story. We got there before they set up and Rayna was able to check out all the animals. They had a cow, a donkey, a sheep, a goat and a llama in place of a camel. Not surprisingly Rayna loved the animals. She especially liked the donkey because he would eat hay from her hand. She tried feeding the other animals hay but they weren't having it. I didn't let her get close to the cow though. He had crazy eyes and I didn't trust him.

I tried pointing out Mary and the shepherds to her but she wasn't interested. Oh well, maybe next year.

Hey Look at Me

Rayna is turning out to be quite a ham. When she sees that you've got a camera she'll do one of two things: a) run over and grab the camera or b) cheese it up. Here are some prime examples.

Here she was playing with John's safety glasses. I put them on her and she even waited for me to get the camera.

This morning she wore this really cute dress to church and I wanted to get a picture of her. I surprised her with the first picture but once she realized what was going on she gave me a big grin.

She likes to step into our shoes but usually they're too heavy for her to walk in. But she was walking around the house in these. Once I had the camera she kept looking back at me and grinning like, "Hey, are you getting this, Mom?"

Our House

Ok, people have asked me to post some pictures of our house so here you go. I took these awhile ago but never put them on, and I kept meaning to go out front and take a picture of the outside of the house but as you can tell that didn't happen. And now it is 10:15 and dark, so sorry.

It already looks different. We've painted and hung up curtains and such. But it's a two story with a living room and a den downstairs along with the kitchen and a half bath. Upstairs are 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. Anyway, we are really happy with it.

Happy Halloween (or "You Want Me to Wear That?")

So last year I found this peanut costume on clearance. But as Halloween got closer I wasn't sure where she could wear it. Since we haven't found a church yet there was no fall festival to take her to and I thought she was probably too young to take trick-or-treating. But the costume was so cute I didn't want it to go to waste.

So I just took to some of the houses on our street. She actually seemed to enjoy it and it was a good way for me to meet some of the neighbors I hadn't met yet. When we got home I let her have one of the suckers which she enjoyed (although her aim wasn't that great and she ended up with a very sticky face).

She also liked all the other trick-or-treaters and hung around the door most of the night as I handed out candy.

San Antonio at Last

From Missouri we went down to San Antonio. My Grandma was nice enough to let us stay with her indefinitely. She lives out in the country and Rayna just loved being outside. She loved to gather as many rocks as she could hold in her hand. She also really likes the cows (she moos now).

She gets along well with my Grandma (we call here Ma-maw for Rayna). Rayna brings her her shoes so Ma-maw will take her outside.

We ended up only staying with Grandma for about 3 weeks. After only about a week of looking we found a house we both really liked and we were able to get into it pretty quickly. I'm going to try and do a post soon with pictures of the house and more details so I won't go into that now.

Alright, well it's time to catch everyone up on what has happened the past month and a half. We're finally settled in our house (more on that later) and have our computer up so here goes.

After we left John's mom's house in OKC we went to his dad's in Missouri. Rayna took to her Ma and Pa pretty quickly. She really liked their cat and liked going to feed the chickens with Pa.

She also got to have her 3rd birthday party. I'm sure you can tell from the pictures but she made quick work of that cake.

John went hunting with his dad and he did get small doe. It may have been small but it tastes really good.

We had been house hunting online and we found a house we really liked. So we asked my grandma (who was acting as our realtor) to look into it. It was in a perfect location, close to the base, on a cul-de-sac and had a huge backyard. Grandma looked at it and liked it and since we trusted her opinion we put on offer on it. We didn't get it but we weren't upset about it. We knew that God had a plan and if that wasn't the house there was another one.

Birthday Bash

On Saturday we had a big party with John's family for Rayna's birthday. It was princess themed, she even got a birthday princess outfit. She was a little unsure of all the new people at first but she warmed up to everyone. I think she started to like having an audience (just like a true princess).

This was her cake before she got ahold of it.

I found this crown for her. I wasn't sure if she would wear it or not but once she saw the cake she forgot all about the crown.

Here is the princess at the end of a very good day.

Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day weekend we all went out to John's Uncle Jay and Aunt Connie's. They live north of Stillwater. Rayna got to see horses for the first time and really liked them, but she kept calling them "dogs."

Rayna got to see her first Oklahoma thunderstorm. She kept wanting to play in the water so finally Grandma took her out and she got drenched.

Happy Birthday Rayna

We celebrated Rayna's first birthday while we were with my parents and Uncle Clark and Aunt Mupp (aka Danielle).  Giving her the cake was pretty funny.   It took her a minute to decide what to do but you can see she dove right in.  She was a chocolatey mess.  She also got to open some presents including a princess doll.  She'll have another birthday party with John's family once he gets down.  She ought to be pro at eating cake by then.

Water Baby

Rayna was finally able to play in a pool.  Nana and Padron got her a frog pool for her birthday (Grandma and Grandpa got her one too, but it rained nearly the whole time we were at their house).  She really had a good time and she really liked the water that sprayed out.  I guess she's not too disappointed that we aren't in Alaska anymore.

We're Here

Well, Rayna and I are in Oklahoma now. We got here Friday morning. Rayna did pretty well on the plane. The wait at the Anchorage airport was rough. She was getting cranky and wanted to move around but I couldn't leave or stuff, then when we got on the plane she wanted to crawl all around and wouldn't stay in her seat. I was hoping she would go to sleep since it was a six hour overnight flight and she eventually did but I didn't. I thought we were going to miss our connecting flight in Dallas because I had the wrong gate number but it ended up being late anyway. Then because of weather we sat on the runway for over an hour waiting to take off. It was a very long night and I'm glad it's over but all in all she did very well. But anyway, we're here and now we're just waiting for John and Riley to come down. They should leave next week.

Little Lady

I just had to post these pictures. Yesterday when we got home from church, I let the dog out. Rayna likes to watch him do his doggy business. She looked so cute standing there in her little fairy dress. She looks like a little girl now and not a baby (sigh).

Well, this is definitely my last post from Alaska. The movers come on Wednesday and Rayna and I leave Thursday. I can't believe it's already here. If you had told me 4 years ago I would be this sad to leave Alaska, I would have thought you were crazy. God has really blessed us here. I'm glad He brought us here (despite my protests) and I'm glad He doesn't always give us what we want.

I know it's been a long time since the last post-- we've been having computer issues. This may be my last post from Alaska. Rayna and I have less than 2 weeks before we leave. I was hoping we would get to do more around here before we left but it just hasn't panned out. The weather's been pretty crappy and John's been working nights. But last week we went out to McHugh Creek and hiked around. It was perfect-- John's one day off that week that he didn't have to do anything and the one day it wasn't cloudy or rainy. Here's Rayna hiking with John.




Here is Rayna sitting in front of McHugh Creek.

Here you can see the Turnagain arm (the water) in the background. I'm definitely going to miss scenery like this.

Here's a picture from the most recent "photo shoot" that Carina did with Rayna and Abigail. They're both 11 months now and unfortunately we won't get to see them grow together anymore.

Moving Update

We've finally begun to nail down some moving dates. So here is what it looks like so far. I'm planning on flying down with Rayna and John's dad is going to fly up and then drive down with him (and Riley of course). The movers will be here August 13-15th. Rayna and I will fly out on the night of the 14th and get into OKC on the 15th. I'll stay in OKC for about a week or so, probably until John leaves Alaska which should be around the 20th or 21st. Then I'll go down to Altus until John makes it to Oklahoma which should be about a week. Then we'll be in OKC again for 2 weeks? I'm not sure about that, I think that may depend on how long it takes them to drive down. Then we'll drive to Missouri and spend I think 2 weeks there as well. Then we'll drive down to San Antonio.

So that's how it looks now--it makes me tired just thinking about it. But I'm excited to see everyone again. So if you are interested in seeing us in any of those areas, just let us know and hopefully we can get together. As it gets closer we should know more definitive dates for everything.

Also we would appreciate prayer as we get ready for this because it is really stressful. Pray that my flight with Rayna would go smoothly (I'm not looking forward to flying by myself with a 12 month old!), that John and his dad would be safe driving down, that everything would go smoothly with the movers, carpet cleaners, house inspections ect, and for us finding a house in San Antonio.

4th of July

This was Rayna's first 4th of July. We went to the parade downtown. She enjoyed it but it was just too much for a baby I guess.

Happy 4th of July!!