Travels & Christmas

A special, four generation photo

I have much to update on my blog. I'll give a rundown and upload a few pictures while I have some time.

Taeya and I made a quick trip to CA to spend some time with family from Dec. 13-21. It was a short-notice type trip but it was good and I got to meet my newest, beautiful little niece, Hannah, for the first time. Taeya and I flew back on the 21st and I then unpacked, did a lot of laundry and repacked for a Christmas trip to VA. Our whole little family flew to VA on Christmas Eve where we arrived at 11:00pm. I couldn't blog about this trip previously because Phil's grandparents didn't know we were coming to VA and we wanted to surprise them on Christmas morning. Although the surprise was almost given away a number of times over the past 2 months, we managed to surprise them with Taeya sitting in the living room floor when they walked in. It was so much fun and such a blessing to be with family for Christmas. This was Phil's and my 5th Christmas together since being married and our first celebrating with family.

Except for the stomache flu going around, we've had a WONDERFUL trip here spending quality time with family. (Everyone's gotten the flu except for Phil, Taeya, myself and Phil's mom). We're praying that we don't get it!

Taeya and her Uncle Timmy. She crawled right over to him and just sat with him for a little while.


Great-grandma & grandpa were both so surprised to see Taeya, Phil and I on Christmas morning.

Waving to all her blog readers.

Timmy was so sick on Christmas that he opened his presents after all of us...while laying down on the couch. Poor kid.

A special moment shared with Grandpa.

Our first family Christmas photo.

Taeya enjoyed making friends with Bruiser. He wasn't to sure about her at first but after she started sharing her food with him, he's warmed up to her quite a bit.

Taeya, Grandma and Megan

Phil's sister, Sarah

Redding Trip

I just got back from visiting my family in CA. I visited my parents in Redding, along with my sister, nieces and aunt. I took a few pics on my camera but Sarah's was more available during the trip so most of the Redding pictures are on her camera. She just posted a blog with some pictures so if you'd like to see some recent pics from our trip, just jump over to Sarah's blog. http://mothersarah.blogspot.com/2008/12/megan-taeya-aunt-jennifer-bekah-hannah.html

PS. I can't believe Taeya is turning ONE in four days!!! aaaggghhh!

Blog Break

Taeya tormenting Puma. Notice Puma's not-so-happy face? She tolerates Taeya for a few seconds before she moves to a safer spot.

Taeya chillin' in the doctor's office---again. She's been there way too much lately.

Taeya and her family visitor, Wendy. As you can see, she enjoys hanging out with Wendy.

If you haven't noticed by now, I'm taking a bit of a blogging break. For the next month I may blog once or twice or not at all. Much is going on in my life right now.

By mid-January, I plan to start blogging fairly regularly again. Just thought I'd let my faithful few know so you don't wonder where I'm at. :) If I have a chance, I'll try to post a little within the next month.

I can't believe that my darling baby is turning 1 year old in just two weeks. Where has the time gone? She's changed so much and yet it seems like she can't be almost one! She is now signing "all done" and waving both "hi" and "goodbye" very frequently. She also makes some simple sounds that tell me "yes, more, mama and dada." It's so very sweet to watch and hear.

Charity Raffle

If you'd like a chance at winning a pretty cool raffle prize and would like to donate to some great charaties...go here. This really cool blog is giving away a Canon Digital Rebel XSi prize package and donating all of the raffle proceeds to three worthy charaties.

Thanks

Thanks everyone for your reader comments on my last post.

I'm thinking maybe I should clarify that my house doesn't stink...at least I don't think it does. I am not trying to cover-up any smell just give my house a light, pleasant smell when someone walks in. It just doesn't have a special, good smell unless I'm baking (which I do a lot but the smell disappears so quickly).

I DO use a diaper genie (which smells even when there's just a few diapers in it) and Phil and I keep the litterbox very clean because our cat poops on the carpet if it's not cleaned daily. Oh, and I bought a new litter last time just to try something different and Phil actually told me "Wow, that litter smells great!" It was the Arm & Hammer Odor Alert I believe and although I laughed when he told me that, it does smell good without a "masking the odor" type smell.

Anyways, thanks for all the suggestions. I'll have to look into wallflowers. They sound interesting and I don't know what they are. Thanks also for the specific smell suggestions that you enjoy.

Reader Survey!

Between poopy baby diapers and a cat litter box in our home, the aroma of my home isn't always the sweetest. I'd like to purchase some kind of air freshener that will help my home smell great when I walk in the front door or am home all day. I always have trouble picking out good smells at the store. It gets overwhelming and by the time I get home, they don't smell as good as I thought they would. I don't like frilly, flowery or overpowering scents. Just something that will provide a pleasant smell when I enter my home. Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't usually light candles so I'm looking for something that I can set out, plug into a light switch and forget about it for awhile. Let me know what YOU like and why. Thanks!