Happy Memorial Day

These are American Soldiers. They are also my uncles. They ensure, through their service, that I grow up in a free country. Thank you Uncle Anthony and Uncle Rodney for all that you do for these United States.

This is me sporting my red white and blue.

This is me, getting tickled as my mommy waves the star spangled banner.

This is me, hypnotizing daddy. This looks gets him all the time, and will get me stuff I want all the time.

This is me, singing along with my mommy. One day I hope to be able to sing as well as she does.

Happy Memorial Day everyone.

Happy Mother's Day

We want to wish all of you mothers, grandmothers, aunties, and nurturers a very very happy mother's day and share a smile with you all. You've probably seen this YouTube video before but having grown up with siblings it makes us giggle everytime we view it. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PFfPyEMRpk to see the Mother's day video. Love from Texas!

Weekend Savannah Jo Pics

A worthy Dad

I was fortunate to have grown up in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. My whole life I've been surrounded by wonderful examples of Christ's love in my family and in the church. And given the amazing childhood that I had, I wanted my future family to feel the same direction and love that I did. SO my whole adolescence I dreamt of my spiritual future which entailed finding someone worthy to take me to the temple and worthy to bless me and our children through the holy priesthood. I am fortunate that I found such a worthy companion. Not only is he my best friend and companion for life, Michael is the father that I always wanted for my children... I adore how he dotes over Savannah and at the amount of pictures that he insists on taking of us. He is so smitten and such a loving daddy. He jumps at the opportunity to bottle-feed her, change her diapers, bathe her, etc. Since I returned to work this week he has been getting off of work earlier than me and picking her up so that he can have quality one-on-one time with his beloved daughter. I am so glad that the Lord has blessed me with such a man. AND I want him to know how grateful I am to him for the priesthood that he holds and how he uses it to bless our family. This past Sunday Michael gave Savannah a Name and a Blessing at church. (This ceremony is similar to a "christening" in other Christian churches.) We dressed Savannah in a white gown (it was one that I wore as an infant) and then during our Sacrament meeting (general meeting, like a Mass) a handful of priesthood holders encircled Michael and Savannah as Michael prayed for all of the blessings a father could desire for his daughter (health, a belief in Christ, a desire for serving her fellow beings, the desire to gain an education, etc.) It was a beautiful experience to see and listen to my sweet husband pray for such blessings in Savannah's life and it reaffirmed my testimony that I truly married a worthy and loving man to be the father of my children. Thank you for your service and your example sweetheart. Savannah and I appreciate all that you do to provide for us. Love you forever.

A visit from Grandma & Grandpa

This past weekend Savannah (and us) had the privilege of spending time with Grandma & Grandpa D. They came down to Texas to be with us for Savannah's special blessing day on Sunday. We enjoyed having them so much and giggled at the fact that another 500+ pictures were taken in such a short time span! :) Savannah perks up whenever she hears the little musical tone that the digital camera makes as it starts up...it's as if she knows that this sound means it is time to smile. What a joy it was to have my parents around and to smile at the joy that they have in their grand-daughter. We all hope that they are able to make more trips to visit us and that we can find our way to see them often as well.

Thanks for all of your help and love this weekend Mom & Dad. We really appreciated having you here for Savannah's special blessing day. We hope that you have a safe journey home and continue to enjoy your week back in Portland. Love you forever.

Two weeks old

We were brave and took Savannah to the mall for her first official photo-shoot at two weeks old. She wasn't entirely happy about this plan. In fact she was rather annoyed that we kept shifting her around and changing positions for the different shots, but as you can see there were some lovely pictures that resulted. We decided that our blog can serve as a virtual birth announcement but if you would like an actual photograph of our little angel or our little family feel free to email us with your request and we will happily oblige. :) FYI- we'll be taking her 3 month old pictures next month so watch for another post soon.

Savannah's Houston friends

Our good friends in the Houston area were very very kind to throw a baby shower for Savannah this past weekend. It was a fun time for all of us as we played games and did a little bit of catching up. A special thank you to Shelly Mauzy and Monica Cupp for organizing the affair! It was really great to get to see some of the sisters from the Waller ward and other dear friends as well. AND it was great to be able to introduce Savannah to all of you that make up our Texas family.

We look forward to seeing you all again soon and to spending more time catching up and counting our many blessings. Thank you for the adorable gifts and for always showing your support and love for our little family through the years. We love and miss you all.