Texas Trip

Highlights of our Texas trip visiting my family

-Going to the beach. The water was actually really clear, clean and warm; usually the water is pretty gross. Afton loved chasing the waves and trying to swim in 1 in of water. It was awesome. Tanner loved eating the sand- nothing comes between him and his stomach.

Afton and her cousins, Mary Jane and Lyla, and her Aunt Becca

-My nephews double-dog dared me to crack an egg on my brother's head. Seriously, give me something hard to do. Lets just say I got the favorite aunt of the night award and my brother is still talking to me, to boot. :) It was awesome.

-Hanging with family. Its been a really long time since I've seen all of my family. It was great! Afton loved playing with her cousins. Tanner loved all the extra attention and spoilation of being the baby of the family.

- Afton loved feeding and playing with the chickens. She especially liked collecting the eggs. We also saw a frog and she screamed like a little girl when her cousin, Mary Jane tried to get her to hold it. Hilarious!

I have more pics, but I have to find them first so oh well. It was great time.

Work Travel

So, I've been travelling a lot for work recently.  In the past year, I've been to Amsterdam (twice), Sydney, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, and my most recent trip: Johannesburg, South Africa!


While I will admit some of it was fun (Sydney), I don't recommend spending large amounts of time in airplanes as a career decision, even if you are the one flying the plane.  I was soooo bored.

Anyway, pictures from Jo'Burg:

Happy Birthday Tanner!!

  Can't believe he's one and Thank Goodness!!!

Afton helped me make the cake. She swears its a dragon...it's supposed to be a dinosaur.

Man, he really likes cake!

Yummm....give me more!

Hairy Afton

Afton: Mom, am I getting older because I have hair on my arms and legs now?
Mom: (Laughing), Uhmm...yes
Afton: I'm really glad I have hair on my arms and legs.

Hmmm....maybe  we should move to Paris?

Swimming Afton

So we decided to sign Afton up for the swim team this summer. She is loving it. Her team name is the flying ducks. How cool is that? Makes me want to watch, yes all three, The Mighty Ducks. I'm going to totally do the "Quack! Quack! Quack!" cheer at one of the swim meets. :)

Goodbye Chang....

 















HELLO TANNER!!!

Family Time

I've been really bad at posting lately-funny how a new baby does that, at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. :)

So here are the fall highlights:
-Tanner being born. Can I tell you-drugs are wonderful, especially when they work. :) He was born Sept 18, 8 lbs. 9 oz. and 21 in long. He came out screaming, and not much has changed. JK, mostly.

-Rene and Margaret were able to do a short visit. We went to Cox Farms, hung out and generally had a really good time. Afton loves it when grandma comes to visit!

-Halloween was awesome. Holidays are so much more fun when kids are involved. We were characters from Tangled. Joe was Flynn Rider, I was the "mean mom," (Mother Gothel), Afton was Rapunzel and Tanner was Pascal. We had a lot of fun trick or treating. Afton especially likes the treating part. :)

-Tanner was blessed on the 13th of November. My parents came and visited for the week before. It was a lot of fun-we did chucky cheese, drove through Shenandoah and enjoyed the fall view. Rene and Margaret were able to join us during the weekend and we had a lot of fun hanging out and enjoying one another's company. I am really thankful when we get a chance to hang out with the fam since we don't see each other very often. Afton especially enjoys being spoiled while they are here.

-Joe rolled his kayak in the Ahren's pool and is very proud. He is such a nerd! (but a cute one. Go Mr. Matt Damon!! :) )

-Joe went to Amsterdam for work. It was mostly rainy and drizzly, but he was able to see the sights for one evening. I must admit I'm a little jealous that his passport got stamped before mine.