HAPPY NEW YEAR-2012

WOW... without intention I took a break from blogging for the entire year of 2011!  Normally at the end of the year I print my blog into a book to keep as our family journal... I have a lot of catching up to do for last year!

2011 was a wonderful year for us!  Here are some highlights:

Jay and I got to spend Valentines weekend in Las Vegas!  It was Jay's firs time to Vegas.  We had a great time and enjoyed going to watch the Blue Man Group!  Our favorite part though was the dancing fountain at the Belagio!

In February Jacy had the opportunity to meet Dr. Nyberg, the Dr. who originally diagnosed her Spina Bifida when I was pregnant with her.  It was a wonderful and emotional experience.  This was the Dr. who originally told us that Jacy's quality of life would be so poor that his medical advice was to terminate the pregnancy and try again.  We are SO thankful that we didn't take that advice, and so is he.  Jacy story has give him a true change of heart when he faces other families with a similar diagnoses. 

In March we went to SanDiego for Spring Break/Jacy's birthday.  We got to enjoy the beach for a few days and Sea World for a day.  Jacy's birthday wish was to be kissed by a dolphin.  Cortez the dolphin wasn't giving out kisses, but Jacy did get to feed and pet him.  It was a great family vacation!

The end of April we said goodbye to my sister Janell.  She was called to serve a full-time mission for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in Seoul Korea!!!  It was hard and sad to say goodbye, but we are SO proud of her and are excited about her adventure!

In May we took an incredible family vacation to Washington DC by TRAIN!  We flew to Reno, Nevada to catch the train (it was the route we wanted to see) and took it all the way across the country!  It was SO fun!  We LOVE to travel by train.  The scenery was unbelievable!  The occassion was that Jays cousin Lauren was getting married.  She made a beautiful bride!  It was wonderful to spend so much time with the family.  It was very special being there and celebrating Jay's Grandma Marys 93rd birthday with her!  We didn't have a lot of time to sight see, but we did get in the Air Force memorial, The Abraham Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Wall, the WWII memorial, the Smithsonian, a drive past the White House and the Washington Monument.  The most touching was Arlington Cemetery.  We spent several hours there and were amazed by the never ending rows of headstones.  We got to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and saw a horse drawn carriage bring in a solider who was being laid to rest on the grounds.  Very touching.   

June was our annual trip to Roosevelt.  It was a blast as usual... just a little harder to walk up and down the hill being 8 months pregnant!  Then on to Show Low for 4th of July.  My favorite time to go back home! 

Congrtulations to Jays sister Jennine and her husband Tim!  They welcomed their sweet baby girl, Grace Eden on July 7th!

JULY 25TH WAS THE BEST DAY OF 2011 FOR US!  OUR SWEET BABY JESSIE MARIE WAS BORN!  She was born at 12:48 in the afternoon, weighted 6 lbs 5 oz, and was 19 inches long.  She is SUCH A SWEET BABY!!!  Depending on her facial expression she looks exactly like Jacy or Jake!  She is beautiful in every way! 

August was the start of school... Jacy started 1st grade (how can that be!) and Jake started another round of Pre-School.  It was great timing because Jay was still on on "paternity leave" for the last 2 weeks of summer and got to take the kids to their first days of school.

Congratulations to my brother Jaylen and his wife Blaire who welcomed their baby girl, Lucy, on September 7th!

October was Jake's first soccer season.  He liked it for the first few minutes of each game and then just wanted to sit on the sidelines the rest of the time, or just go home altogether.  He didn't really get out there and enjoy playing until the very last game.  Maybe next season will be better.   Jake turned 4 on October 2nd.  We had a fun Pirate themed birthday party with his friends from school and his soccer team.

This year for Thanksgiving we decided to stay home to celebrate.  That was a first for us but it was really fun!  We had the full traditional Thanksgiving spread, including a delicious turkey that we raised since a chick and slaughtered and prepared ourselves.  It was a good lesson about self preservation for our kids =) 

December brought lots of snow to the White Mountains, so we got to enjoy a white Christmas in Show Low.  We also got to spend the day in St. Johns on Christmas Eve.   It was a great holiday season!

2011 was Awesome, and we can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for us!