Roswell, part 2

While in Roswell we took the kids down to the cute little ski town of Ruidoso. We drove all the way up a crazy winding mountain road to Ski Apache. I think it is the closest skiing place to Texas because 97% of all the cars in the parking lot had Texas license plates. Thankfully it wasn't too cold outside because we forgot to pack anything suitable for less than 50 degrees!

My cousin April, her husband Corey, and their kids Kiley and Elijah.

I must point out here that we are standing on a hill so Brian appears to be 8 inches taller than me, which is not true...

Before we went to Roswell I wasn't sure if Brian would find stuff in common with Corey. I only met Corey at their wedding 5 years ago and didn't get to know him.

Well, I think they really enjoyed hanging out together as much as the kids! They climbed up this large hill so that I could play with the zoom on our new camera. They were up there for the longest time - talking, taking in the view I guess, so I finally just started snapping pictures of them. Then out of nowhere they started to race down the hill!

Sigh - a little healthy comptition between friends. Boys are so much different than girls! Could you imagine April and I racing each other down a mountain?

Roswell

Before you ask, no I didn't go to Roswell for the aliens. In fact if you constantly ask the locals there about alien stuff, they get annoyed with you. I have family in Roswell. Brian has never been there before - so after Christmas I dragged (drug? drugged?!) him down there. The part that he was most hesitant about was the drive there, all 8 hours of it with a toddler in the back seat. Now I wasn't too thrilled about the 8 hours in the car with the toddler and ADD man, but I've made the drive many times before and with the right music and conversation it can fly by.

We survived the drive there just fine - thanks to a wise investment in a portable DVD player and a few Disney DVD's. We stayed with my cousin, April and her family which included 2 built in toddler occupiers:

Kiley

and Elijah

Little Red, Kiley, and Elijah played and played and played the entire time we were there. I think it really helped Red learn how to play with toys. It was awesome to sit back and watch people with endless energy and no responsibility play from dawn until dusk... I'm talking about the kids... When you only have one child you are that child's fulltime playmate. When you have more than one child, they can play with each other... and leave you alone sometimes! Don't read too much into that - I love playing with my girl! I love revisting the joys of childhood; I love showing her things that I've seen a million times but she has never seen before (like choo-choo trains and dandelions).

Here we are with my Grandpa "Papo." As far back as I can remember, Papo has been building houses - as a hobby. When I was a kid we all lived in LA and my mom and I would visit Papo and Mamu (my grandma). They lived in a trailor on the property that he was working on. Anyway, I would follow that man around for hours and I would play in the mud or ask him 1,000 questions. And I collected a lot of rocks. 100's of them I'm sure. I gave most of them to Mamu as presents. Little Red apparently has the same passion for rocks. The entire time we were checking out his new construction project, she was checking out the rocks and bringing them to me as presents "Here go, mommy! Rock!"

Christmas Day

Ah the joys of working healthcare - I had to celebrate my Christmas Day at work with all the little babies and missed out on my baby's 2nd Christmas. But don't worry about her - I doubt she had time to miss me! She went to the zoo with her Daddy, GG, Pappaw, and Aunt Sara. They took some of my all time favorite pictures that day - look for them in my house sometime soon!

And my absolute 100% hands-down favorite picture of Christmas Day:

A visit with Santa

I wish I could have taken a picture of Little Red's reaction to Santa when she first saw him tonight! She had been talking about Santa for weeks; every picture, Christmas light display, and Christmas present we saw she'd declare, "Santa!" We thought she was still too stranger-danger to take her to the mall Santa so we just stuck with the annual personal visit from "Santa" and "Mrs.Claus."

We were in her bedroom putting on her Christmas pajamas when Santa came around the corner... pure terror is the best word I can use to describe her reaction! She froze and screamed and cried - I tried so hard not to laugh (didn't want to terrorize her any further). Santa came and talked her through it all, I think she may have recognized his voice. By the end of the evening she was just fine with it. Sure glad I didn't take her to the mall Santa!

Christmas with Peanut!

Today my friend Amanda came over with her daughter so that the girls could celebrate their Christmas together! The weather was very pleasant so I set up the bounce house in the backyard. I think they both had a great time! "Peanut" gave my girl some Little Golden books and some Little People play sets and she gave Peanut a Disney Fairies nail station. Let the Christmas fun begin!

She Sings!

I am so excited to announce that my sweet baby girl has accomplished an important milestone: she can sing! This is not her best performance, but it makes me super happy and proud!



If you didn't catch it, she is singing 2 songs: the ABC song and "I'm picking up a baby bumblebee" She usually does a very dramatic "Ouch! He stung me!" But this time she let me do it.

I Lost a Friend

Hi everyone. I normally keep this blog very light, but I feel the need to cry out about my friend and co-worker, Shawn. Shawn lost his life in a horrible car wreck the day after Thanksgiving. I still can't believe he is gone. It's like some awful dream, and I can't wake up and go into work, see him and give him a hug and say, "I had the most awful dream last night!"

Shawn was a person who was liked and loved by everyone. He was the life of the party everywhere he went - he always had a smile on his face. It could be the worst, most hectic day of his life and he would still be dancing and smiling saying, "it's all good, girl" Shawn was the easiest person to talk to, he would come down to the NICU to help me and we'd work side by side and talk for hours about anything from important patient care issues to pizza and restaurants. He always tried his best at everything - even if he looked silly. He always had a joke, always had a way to make us smile.

When I'm at work, I see him in my mind all over the hospital, and I can hear his voice in my head, and I think he'll always be in my heart.

I've learned a few hard lessons from this. Shawn had just moved less than 10 minutes from me and we talked about meeting at a local Italian place for pizza soon. There was always some silly reason why we never could, work schedules, football season, someone was sick etc. We never got to go out for that pizza. One of my biggest faults is talking to people about going and doing something, but never following through and actually doing it. I'm going to try very hard to change that.

I have so many people in my life that I love and cherish. If you're reading this (I think I know who reads my blogs), you are one of them. So to you I say thank you for being my friend and I love you. I feel the need to mention a few people here instead of just a blanket statement. (These are in no particular order) Bethany, I think about you daily. You inspire me to read more books and do my dishes with gloves on. You make me want to be more affectionate with my husband because you are so affectionate with yours and you and Dave are so much in love with each other. Holly, you inspire me to be a more energetic mom. On days where Little Red is bored and I don't feel like playing anymore, I think "What would Holly do, how would she make this child happy?" Holly, you are one of those people who does what you say you're going to do. You make plans and you are so thoughtful. I hope to be half as thoughtful as you someday. Melanie, I don't talk to you anymore outside of the blog world but I think about you and your beautiful children often and remember our chats we used to have. You are a very creative writer and I always enjoy reading your posts, and sometimes when I am making an entry of my own I think of how you would word it. Amie, your story inspires me to hold on to my faith in God and he will provide what I need in his own time. That reminds me of someone else - Jenny, I don't know if you read this little blog of mine but you my friend inspire me to hold on to my faith in God as well and to pray pray pray. You have inspired me to journal whats going on in my life so someday when I actually scrapbook again, those memories will be there. Jenny, you are such a good friend to everybody, you are outgoing and you are unique and proud to be who you are. Amanda, you know more about me than I do, you have such an incredible memory I wish I could remember half the stuff you do. And you are never too shy to pick up the phone and say hi. You are what kept our friendship alive when you lived in Oregon and Conn. Kimi, you have taught me that it's normal to be confused by God and to sometimes be a little upset with him too. Katie, you inspire me to slow down when I talk and pronounce my words. Alicia, you have inspired me to play with Little Red more and enjoy her while she's little. Courtney, you have taught me to be patient with the Lord and pray about everything.

I have so many more friends that lift me up and encourage me everyday and it is impossible for me to list everyone. I love you all!

Shawn, enjoy heaven. I'll keep smiling.
Love, Tiff