Our first successful Craigs list sale! We finally sold my sisters washer and dryer that have been hanging out on our back porch. We attempted selling them a few months ago but were probably asking too much. Anyway, they were just loaded away in someone else's truck!

Our adoption profile is working now! For the past week the pictures haven't been showing up due to a glitch in the system, but now they're up. Yay! Of course reading through it I found several typos (is that how you spell "typos?" hee hee! that's funny! I can't even spell when writing about my spelling errors!). I went back and fixed them but I think it will take some time for them to update it again. Oh well! So check out our profile by clicking on the link to the right. --->

We just got this picture on Geoff's family blog and I thought it was great! These are all the nieces and nephews on Geoff's side, excluding his oldest nephew who is on a mission in Italy. We just found out his release date is in March and we're excited to see him again.

Geoff just watched the videos I put on the blog and his comment was "You're such a goober!" Well, you can see where I get it! You can also see my brother got it, too!

One of the best parts of the trip to Mexico was listening to and watching my mom with her Christmas present. Let me give some background. She served a mission in Argentina and brought some records home of her favorite music. I grew up listening to these records and still really enjoy the music. My mom has been wanting to get these records on CD and a year or so ago I told her I'd get it done for her. Well, time passed and I just barely got it done this Christmas. So I brought the CD's along and that's what we listened to the whole trip. Picture us driving through Guaymas and San Carlos with all the windows down (my mom's and brother's idea,) the music blaring, and all of us (except my sister-in-law) singing along! It cracks me up!

I went to San Carlos, Mexico for New Years with my parents brother and his wife. Geoff couldn't take the time off work :( We enjoyed lots of good Mexican food (yum!), lounged on the beach, took walks, hiked around the hotel, and just took it easy.

Note my brother's Mexi-stash in these pictures!

Here's proof that I got in! It was COLD but the water was so beautiful I couldn't resist. That's my dad next to me. He got in at least once a day, one day 3 times!

This is actually a view of the hotel where we stayed. It was perfect, very quiet, right on the beach.

Being on the beach brought back a lot of memories from my mission having served on the coast of South Africa. I'm homesick for it! Luckily my sister-in-law also served in South Africa so we got to swap stories and compare experiences while we were there. The previous time I'd been to San Carlos we stayed in a hotel more in the bay, which was like a lake. I was disappointed at the time because the last time I'd seen the ocean was in South Africa and it was not like a lake! This trip I was not disappointed because the hotel where we stayed was more on the open ocean and we got to hear waves crashing right outside our window. What a peaceful way to fall asleep.

We went up north to spend Christmas with my family. We got to see all of my siblings except my sister who lives in Ohio. It was great to see everybody. The picture at the left is missing a few people (like my sister in Ohio and her family) but you get to see my newest nephews in the front row. We acted out the nativity and that was my niece Sierra's favorite part of the holiday. She kept asking to reinact it and play each part. It was cute.

Geoff and I got to sleep in a Wigwam! I actually really enjoy it because they're cozy, warm (I crank up the heat!) and you can hear the trains go by, which is what I fell asleep to growing up.

We said goodbye to Kidder after

Thanksgiving :( Well, she went to her "mom" so it was a good thing. My dad loves Kidder and spent the week they stayed with us spoiling her: taking her on walks twice a day (with no attempt at making her heel!), letting her sit on his lap, paying all sorts of attention to her. She started whining in the morning if he wasn't up soon enough to pay attention to her! Good thing we gave her back to her mom!

My niece and nephew miss Kidder, too, but it was good timing because Geoff and I are planning on remodeling in a month or so and weren't sure what we were going to do with Kidder! I could just see her running down the street when someone left the back gate open, thinking what a fun game it was to have us chase her! Hmm! Last I heard Kidder was enjoying her new home, had dogs next door to play with, and has already had to be chased around the neighborhood. Oh yeah, and she has fleas! I swear she didn't get them here! I'm sure we would have noticed! Ah well, maybe we won't get our own dog after all :) (Don't mention that to Geoff!)
Notice Kidder sitting safely on my lap in this picture. She followed me around for protection when the kids came over, a little annoying when I couldn't walk in the kitchen without stepping on her! You'd think she would be able to figure out a place other than right under by feet to be "safe!" Silly dog. I do miss her.