Winter Wonderland

I'd been wanting to get a winter wonderland shot before we left. We decided to pull over on our way out and Stephen warned me as we walked over that there was a slippery spot. I was fortunate enough to not hurt Taya, who I was carrying....just left my back sore for a couple weeks. That's why Taya's so happy in this picture. And no, it was NOT warm enough for a short sleeve shirt....even for Stephen. It's only because we were just hopping (or should I say slipping) in and out of a warm car that he didn't have a jacket on and the rest of us weren't dressed any warmer.

Kim's Wedding

My sister, Kim got married on December 11, 2009 in Lake Tahoe. I was dreading the destination wedding a little bit, but it all went amazingly well. It turned into a great family vacation. I take credit for some smart decisions:

1) Talking my way into a great price on a mini-van rental for my parents and our family together instead of 2 separate cars. This proved to be a great decision because we were all together with poor weather road conditions, we only had to worry about chains on one vehicle and we saved on gas.

2) We shared a sweet 2 room hotel suite with my parents, who helped a ton with our kids and provided quality pinochle time.....although we decided altitude must mess with good pinochle playing. Our scores were in the negative more than the positives and I think every game was finished by being 100 apart in the negative.

3) I believe I was the smartie who decided we should grocery shop in Reno before heading up to Tahoe and plan to eat in a lot. It turned out there was very limited food available near the hotel and with the bad weather everyone was limiting their driving. Almost all the wedding guests ended up doing the grocery shopping idea but paying double in Tahoe.

This picture has a great story. This is Kim's husband Green at the pizza dinner they provided for everyone. Green's not a kid person and I can't recall a single time he's held either of my kids. I was shocked when I saw him holding Kyler (the ring bearer) and was giving him a hard time and threw Zoe in his arms too. I honestly think that's the first time he's held her or Taya.

I was shocked she chose me as her Maid of Honor. I hope I didn't disappoint. It really was an honor. Love you sister! Now have some babies so my kids can have more cousins....and I can't wait to see you as a mom.

Monkey See...

This was priceless. Zoe definitely does everything her big sister does....and I mean everything. It's a challenge to teach a 3 year old that someone is looking up to them and will do anything and everything they do so she needs to be careful. So glad to have caught this moment.