This Christmas has been especially fun for us as Hannah is aware of so much. She's been singing "Jingle Bells" around the house and after tasting her first candy cane cannot get enough of them. She was at first afraid of Santa but warmed up to him well enough to sit on his lap and smile for her picture. She has brought so much joy to our family life in every way.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving we enjoyed some very yummy fried turkey with dear friends and family on an absolutely beautiful cloudy day in So. Cal. We all worked together to prepare the food and atmosphere for a day to give thanks for so much!

We are especially looking forward to the holidays with Hannah at the age she is. Suddenly she is speaking up a storm! She said her first three sentences in November, "Daddy come home!", "Mommy turn", and "Mommy, where are you?" and now she is talking non stop. She also walks around the house singing all her favorite Barney tunes. Her voice is so precious!

Trick-or-Treat

Our little Goldilocks had a great time trick-or-treating this Halloween! She kept saying, "Candy! Candy! Candy!"

Lovin' Fall

Boy, life is flying by...school is in full swing, Joey's playing on a great flag football team (we are a sure thing to win the championship!), Hannah has started a little early-start preschool and Daniel has begun sparing in Tae Kwon Do. Although our favorite team is really hurting this year we are still enjoying college football. We can't wait for the holidays to come with the kids the ages that they are!

Just feeling really thankful tonight to have my health and to have these amazing miracles in my life. I shared my cancer story with nursing students last night at APU and am once again reminded of all I've come through and all I have to be grateful for. My kids are tangible reminders of what life is all about!

Beach Baby

We celebrated Hannah's Gotcha Day on August 4th with such gratitude! It's been one year since we brought this little gift home and boy how she has flourished!

Spending a couple of weeks down in Newport was the best way to commemorate our first year with her. We had gone down last year at this time and being there brought back so many memories of our first few weeks with her.

Auntie "Da" (my dear friend Wendy who traveled with me to get Hannah) came down for a visit. Hannah kept calling her Da in Kyrgyzstan and the name has since stuck.

More Summer Pictures!

Here are a few more pictures of some of what we have been up to this summer!