Happy 2014!

Happy New Year Friends and Family! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and your new year is starting off just right! We are all doing great! After a short, but much needed trip back to the States, we are settled back into daily life here in Turkey.

It was nice to be back in the USA after being gone for a year. It was nice to drive down the highway, and no other cars, buses, scooters, horse and buggies, or man pulled carts were trying to share the lane with us. There was also very little honking. I had almost forgotten that driving could actually be a peaceful experience. Of course, it was also great making the rounds and getting to hang out with our families.


This was Brennan's first Christmas in Indiana. He had a blast!


He was apparently a very good boy in 2013, because Santa found him at Grandma Brenda's house, and also left him a letter saying there were presents under the tree back in Turkey, too.


Santa was smart and left the lightsabers in Turkey!


Unfortunately, we did have to leave this little beauty back in Indiana with her parents. And who is this darling girl, you ask? Introducing Miss Paisley Elizabeth, our new grand daughter! We are over-the-top excited! She was born back in early December, and I do believe she was everyone's best Christmas present. :)


The happy parents. :)


Four generations.


I know, it's hard to stand the cuteness! Congratulations Shanny and Logan!

And one more today, just because I had to...

Tammy and Jason. This is Jason's cousin, Tammy, who also has the distinction of being one of the blog's biggest fans! We don't get to see her very often (like in over ten years), but our trips to Indiana overlapped this time, and it was great to see her! I warned her that pictures on my camera were fair game for blogging, so I totally had to follow through with that, right!?

Happy 2014!

Strawberry Love

Brennan loves strawberries.  And not just a little.  If we would let him, he would eat a whole gallon.  It was strawberry season when we were in Indiana, and he could snoop out the strawberries everywhere we went.  While we were there, Grandma Brenda made a couple of batches of shortcake strawberries.

Brennan was in heaven.  And as always, he was a big helper.


He pulled his chair right up so he could get a good look at how mixing up strawberries works.


"You keep mixing Grandma, I'll just have one."


"OK, maybe just one more."


That one must have been sour!


"That one looks just right!"


"I better get one more!"


"Who me?  I wasn't eating all the strawberries out of the bowl!"

Oh My.  I don't think the Utah growing season will be enough to supply this kid.  I wonder if I can grow strawberry plants in my laundry room.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I thought the best way to start out the new blog would be by sharing some photos from Brennan's first days until now.

You know, some of the same pictures I used to send out in mass emails.

I have taken so many pictures over the course of the last year and a half, it was hard to narrow it down to just a few. It was amazing going back though all my old photos. It's still unbelievable how much Brennan has changed in such a short amount of time. He's turning into such a big boy now, walking around and saying a few words, it's hard to believe that a year ago he was sitting in his Bumbo seat and eating rice cereal for the first time.

Here are some of my favorites.



Ultrasound, Our first amazing peek at our little guy.




Brennan's Birth Day




18 days old




One Month Old - It was Spring Break for Shanny and Andrew, so everyone came down to visit. Brennan's first time meeting his brother and sister, Grandma Brenda and Harry.




Six Weeks Old




Three Months Old




Four months old, and eating cereal for the first time.




Five months old, this was one of the first pictures taken in our new house.




Six Months




Seven Months




Eight Months - First Halloween




Eight Months - In the Pumpkin Patch with Nana




Nine Months - Thanksgiving




Ten Months




Eleven Months




First Birthday




February 2009, Mardi Gras Parade




March 2009, A day at the beach




April 2009, Easter Egg Hunting




May 2009, Mother's Day




June 2009, Swinging in the Park