6 glorious years is something to celebrate!

We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this past weekend, and had a grand time! Our actual anniversary was on Friday, which was a fairly typical day for us (I mentioned this in a previous post). I came home to a beautiful surprise, and very unexpected, as we were not going to be doing anything out of the ordinary that day - we were saving it all for our Disneyland trip the following day. These roses still look this great, even after 5 days. Nothing better than my favorite flowers, in my favorite color, from my favorite guy!
We woke up bright and early on Saturday in order to get to the park at a decent time and have a good start. We were walking down Main street by 9:15, ready to take on the fun! We headed over to Tomorrowland, where we parked our stroller and got in line for Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters ride. The ride was entertaining and we enjoyed ourselves. As we turned the corner toward the stroller parking area, we both silently noticed our stroller wasn't around. Without saying a word, we both looked around the area, desperately trying to find the stroller, as anxiety crept in that it had been stolen. The most important point in this story is that this very thing happened to the Himes' family back in 2002 when we came to Disneyland over New Year's; the stroller was stolen. We could not believe it!! We are very careful to take everything out of our stroller with us (ever since the incident in '02), and we have our name written on the stroller. Over the course of the next 40 minutes, we spoke with some employees about the situation, were given a rental stroller from the park, Brant filed a claim for our stroller and Maddie and I stayed put where our stroller had been taken. I had been on the phone with my sister during the peak of my frustration, ranting and raving about what a bad turn our day had taken as Brant returned from filing his claim. I hang up the phone, he fills me in on the information from the claim, and just as we turn to leave the area, a confused and fearful looking family walks up...with our stroller...!! Yes, they had mistakenly taken the wrong stroller. We all breathed a sigh of relief, apologies were offered, forgiveness was given and we all went our separate ways with only an hour set-back to our days.

I've done enough talking for a bit, I'll let the pictures tell more of the story. :) We enjoyed Its a Small World, in all its holiday glory!
Happy in the warm weather! :)Holiday magic, Disney-style.
We had a marvelous dinner over in California Adventures Park. It was calm, not crowded and Maddie had plenty of entertainment to keep her happy, with the live ducks swimming in the water next to her and the huge face of Mickey Mouse smiling at her from the ferris wheel! The red button on Brant's shirt says, "Happy Anniversary!" All day long, whenever a cast member passed us, no matter what they were doing, they wished us a happy anniversary. It was awesome. :)
Our new favorite family photo!Maddie enjoyed practicing her mad-jumping-skills while waiting in line for the ferris wheel. She was pretty animated, alert and happy, for only taking a 30 minute nap and being up way past her bed time!How cute are they?!Around 8:30, we decided to leave California Adventures and head back over to Disneyland for some more holiday fun, and of course some night time magical pictures!
I think this ice-castle is the prettiest thing I've ever seen. It is absolutely enchanting and hard not to keep staring at it. Beautiful!
Happy Anniversary to us! We had such an unbelievably fun day, despite how it got started. We got home around midnight, went to bed and woke the next morning to find ourselves making the crazy (but awesome) decision to go back for round 2!! That's right. We packed our lunch and headed out the door for a few more hours at the park. We hosted a Christmas party that evening at our house, so we only stayed at the park for about 4 hours, which was just the right amount of time to get our fix in. We had to, you know, because we will be away for several weeks and won't be back to Disneyland for about a month! Somehow, I think we will manage.

Christmas craft revealed

Okay, the wait is over. I have been busily working on our family advent calender for the past month and it is practically done. Whew! It has been quite the labor of love, it makes me tired just thinking about it! I took these pictures quickly before I left for work this morning and the location of the tree on the wall is in a bad place for me to get directly in front of it for a good picture. I think you can still see it okay, though.

The idea came to me when I was desperately searching for a craft to do for Christmas. I have a lot of free time while at work, when both of the kids are napping, and I was bit by the craft bug! This was the perfect thing for me. I started by sketching out all of my ideas for each of the pockets you see on the tree. Each pocket is 3 inches by 4 inches in size, with the tree measuring just under 5 feet (including the star and trunk)! Wohoo!

After I sketched out my ideas, I started the task of creating and cutting out little designs for the pockets out of felt. I glued each piece on to the pockets with felt glue, which worked wonderfully. Next, I cut out the tree and pinned the pockets onto the tree in the order we wanted them in. I found a fabric pencil to lightly sketch my numbers onto the tree, and individually stitched each number onto the tree. After I added the numbers, I stitched the pockets into place. Did I forget to mention that I do not own a sewing machine? As I said in the beginning, this was a true labor of love. :)

Unfortunately, (or fortunately), I am a serious perfectionist. I found several numbers and pockets that were not straight enough for me. Knowing I was going to be living with this on my wall for years and years to come, I knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't fix the "imperfections," so I took apart about 10 numbers and 15 pockets and repositioned them in the right places.

I did what is called a "blanket stitch" to sew the front and back of the tree together, the star and also the trunk. This took an incredible amount of patience, as it was tedious and annoying at times, but I accomplished it! This helped give the tree a nice finished look, especially without a sewing machine to help me out.

The only thing I have left to do is come up with an appropriate "counter" to mark each of the passing days. For the time being (since we just put it up yesterday and are leaving town this week), we are using a red ball-point pen. :) We have all sorts of ideas for the coming years, but this will do just fine for now.

I am very proud of my advent tree and hope it will be a treasured heirloom for years to come. For all of you living in Portland, I will be packing it into my suitcase so I can show you when we see you - I have to show it off a little bit. ;)

Still here!

To my faithful blog readers, I apologize for my severe absence as of late. I've been incredibly preoccupied with a Christmas craft and it has been consuming all of my time. I promise to post pictures of it within the next few days. Which brings me to the other reason I have been so lame with posting lately. I don't know if you recall, but my camera broke about 4 weeks ago, leaving me with nothing to take pictures with for several weeks before we were able to get a new one.

Additionally, I have not neglected the fact that today is our 6th wedding anniversary!! We can hardly believe it has been 6 years. That's really "getting up there!" We had a nice day, complete with me going to work and Brant turning in his final term paper to close off the quarter. :) My sweetie didn't forget that it was a special day and gave me a beautiful bouquet of red roses (my favorite!). We spent our evening frosting sugar cookies for a Christmas party we are hosting on Sunday evening, and watching a movie. Simple and sweet. :) We will be continuing our celebration tomorrow, when we head off to our Happiest Place on Earth!! We haven't been in 4 weeks, which is the longest we have been away since we first got our annual passes (go ahead, make your comments, we're not ashamed). We are ready to celebrate our love, our marriage, our family and Brant's completion of his first quarter in the PhD program!

Next week we will close things up around here and head up to Portland for 2 wonderful, fun-filled weeks with family and friends. We are excited to see so many of you, and only wish we could see all of you. Just so you know, the weather down here is fiiiiine, and anytime you need a break from the seasonal weather you all are having elsewhere, give us a call and come for a visit!

Anyway, I just wanted to give a quick shout out to let you know I'm still here. Keep a look out for many more posts in the coming days!

A little friendly family competition never hurt anyone...

Two families.

Two teams.

One game.

Beavers = Jackie's family. Ducks = Brant's family.

As devoted children, we want to be sure our daughter is favored by both sets of grandparents. And so, we wait. Will the Beavers take the victory in tomorrow's civil war football game? Or will the Ducks take the win? Maddie is playing it safe and staying neutral. :)

I miss the little buddy

We have a wonderful life. We do! We are blessed in so many ways, several of which I point out on this blog all the time. I cannot deny that life in Pasadena has treated us very well so far. However, lately I've been feeling incomplete and lonely for someone. I mean, look at that face!! How could you not miss the cuddly little buddy?! So, I write this post in tribute to our dog, Tucker, who we finally get to see in 1 month when we go home for Christmas, and we are so excited! (In fact, Brant and I are arriving on separate days and have a playful banter going on as to who will get to see Tucker first!)
Take a walk down memory lane with me, won't you?...

This is when we picked Tucker up from Seatac Airport. Yes, the airport. We bought Tucker online from a breeder based in Indiana. Ha! I still think that is hilarious, considering we had never met Tucker before owning him and had him shipped across the country to us! I remember he was shaking terribly when we picked him up! He was so little!Cute little family on our first night together. (Also thinking, "What the heck did we just do?!) So sweet.Super dog, playing with my niece, Adalie, for the first time. They've been special friends ever since! No words. :) Tucker is always such a good sport!And we love him for it!Tucker stuck by my side through my whole pregnancy and always made sure I was loved. :)This was the day we came home from the hospital with our newest family member, and this is how we found Tucker, snuggling with one of her blankets.There may be someone new in the family, and although he has to make room, he is sure to remind us who was here first.Best friends for life, I just know it!Tucker loves to cuddle, anytime there is a lap open. His little sister always tastes so yummy!This is the last picture I have of Tucker, since we've seen him. My, how he's grown over the years! Our lives have been richer because of Tucker, and our home has been happier and complete with him in it. Tucker, you will always be a part of our family, even if this temporary season has you away from us. We love you, little buddy!!

Snow in SoCal?

We went to Disneyland on Saturday, to enjoy the 80 degree weather and welcome in the holiday season at the resort. This is the only picture I got from our trip because my camera broke after this one was taken (don't get me started on that one). Regardless, we didn't let that completely dampen our magical time.
The resort was decked out in all its holiday splendor and we found ourselves in awe all day long (too bad I don't have pictures to show you!). "It's a Small World" was transformed for the season which was a real treat. The castle was definitely the highlight, as it has been transformed into an ice castle - truly spectacular at night!
Brant is winding down (or gearing up) for the end of the quarter, which means a massive increase in reading, researching and writing his term paper. As a result, Brant welcomed a day at our favorite place with open arms. We both left feeling refreshed and very thankful for the precious family time we experienced.
The end of the day found us watching the holiday fireworks show over the castle, which was as beautiful as to be expected. The craziest thing for us was when the show ended and snow started to fall down on us! Well, yes, fake snow, but that's not the point! It was a warm evening, we were wearing flip-flops, and there was Christmas music playing while snow was falling on our heads. How cool is that?! Maddie's body language said it all, as she was enamored by the experience! It was priceless.
So, yes, another day at Disneyland to be marked down a huge success. Would you expect anything less? :)

Madelyn's Dedication

Last Sunday, we had the unbelievable joy of publically dedicating Madelyn Mae to the Lord. The service took place at our church, Lake Avenue, and it was beautiful. We were asked to choose a Bible verse for Maddie, which was read for her during the dedication. After each child was introduced, we made a public promise to raise Maddie to love and serve the Lord. The congregation made a promise to us, to lift us up in prayer and support us as we raise our child. Finally, family and friends were invited to join us up front and pray over us. It was a wonderful, wonderful time.
My mom flew down from Portland to join us for this special occasion. On Saturday, Mom and I went out shopping to find the perfect dress for Maddie, and she looked adorable! If you can imagine, she was quite animated, looking all around and finding her picture on the big screen up behind us.God has blessed us abundantly with this beautiful child of His. We were humbled to dedicate our family to the Lord in this public way.