Merry Christmas!!

Nana Grace's ornament

Hanging it with Gracie

Christmas tree!

Christmas tree

Looking cute in her shades!

Time to open some presents!!

My little pony toys

Babies from Nana & Papa

A swing for Gracie's babies

Grace holding Alan's dog Maxine

And yes, the dog is wearing shoes

More presents - camo monkey pants

Annette getting an ornament with Richard on it. We miss you.

Grace's recliner that matches our couch

Grace's new bike!!

Helmet and pads on and ready to go!

Look daddy.. I can ride my bike!!

After a long day of fun Grace CRASHED!

Well, we got moved into our new house a couple of days before Christmas and so far we are about 90% moved in. It is funny how excited Grace was to get into our new place. The day that we were moving she looked sad and said daddy, I'm going to miss this house as we were getting all of the stuff put onto the truck. Later when we got to the new house I asked her if she was still sad that we were moving and this time she said no, this house is bigger so I'm not going to miss the other house. I thought it was pretty funny. She was very ready for Christmas. We ended up putting up our Christmas tree before we finished unpacking all of our stuff. We still have some boxes in the garage that need to be unpacked but we'll get it done. I'm very glad that we were able to get moved in before Christmas so we were able to have people over and actually have the room to make people feel comfortable. Christmas was nice, we started the day off with Annette and Nicolette making breakfast for everyone.. they made eggs, sausage, waffles, fruit, toast, juice.. you get the point. After a while of talking and hanging out, it was that time -- time to dig into the presents! I don't know who was more excited, me or Grace. I was excited to see her open her presents like I always am. She got a lot of presents from mommy & daddy, Nana & Papa sent some really nice things to her, Grandma, Alan & Bobbi, and Peter and Nicole. (Sorry if I left someone out) She really loves the stroller that she got to push her dolls in and the bike that she was given. The holidays have been great this year. I really missed my family with them being so far away, although it was great to go home and see them in November! We all missed Richard this year during Thanksgiving and Christmas. With the holidays here and me missing my family and Richard, it was still very nice to have the company of the people who were here. I have realized very much this past year how much of a blessing each day is and to really cherish the time that you get to spend with your loved ones and your friends. Maybe next year I will take Nic and Grace to spend Christmas on the East Coast. That would be great! ~12/29/09

Moving day in 2 days!!

So we are finally about to move into our new place. We are going to be renting a house with the option to purchase it if we want to. I will be happy just to have the extra room. Our current house is getting smaller by the day! The home that we are moving to is a shade under 3,000 sq ft. which is a bit bigger than the one we are living in now. It will be a lot easier to have people over and not be sitting on eachother's lap all the time. We have a large kitchen, living room and play room for Grace. The back yard is very nice! It is big and has a fence all around it so Grace can go play outside and we won't have to worry about her quite as much. There is a big shed with an attached playhouse for Grace to play in. We are all very excited about living there.. not so excited about having to move! We are lucky to have some of Nicolette's family there to help out. Bye for now, just wanted to make a quick post before I take down my computer. ~12/16/09

Thankful

I just wanted to write a quick note to say how very thankful I am for the health of my family. Nicolette and I just got done watching My Sister's Keeper and it was one of the saddest movies that I have ever seen. It was a movie about a family dealing with a little girl with leukemia. As I was watching it I started to think about Grace and what I would do and how I would feel if we were in that position. The movie brought tears to my eyes and made me think about how precious life is and how thankful I am that my family has good health. That is about all I wanted to say, I was just really moved by that film and figured I'd post my thoughts on it. I recommend watching it if you haven't seen it. Just make sure you have your kleenex! ~12/13/09

Grace's 1st time bowling!!

Grace playing in the arcade at the bowling alley

More arcade guns..

Grace and Mommy making a build a bear

Grace sewing up her bear

What a goof ball

Waiting to see how many pins she knocked down

Grace and Daddy bowling!

Good job Gracie!!

Best day I've ever had bowling!!!

Grace bowling

Grace getting her bowling shoes on

On December 6th after we went and visited Richard's grave site for his birthday we went down to Narrows Plaza Bowl to celebrate Ahna's 4th birthday. This is the first time that Grace came bowling with me and it was AWESOME! Every week that I go bowling for my league she always says that when she gets bigger she will come bowling with me. We had a lot of fun and she was so excited. She was in such a rush to get her little bowling shoes on and get down on the lanes to bowl. We got her a 6 pound ball and I went up to the foul line with her and we counted to three and threw the ball down the lane. I loved watching how happy she was to watch the ball go down and hit the pins. This kind of thing is the best part of being a daddy! After a couple of games she got a little tired and wanted to stop and go play in the arcade where we played for about a half hour. Next it was back to the party where the kids were all making little build a bear type stuffed animals. Grace and Mommy made a little panda bear. It was a great day! We had such a good time bowling that I took her back a couple of days later and we did it again. I told her that the next day that I have off of work that we would go to the bowling alley and bowl a few games and then go to a movie and after that I'd take her to lunch. I don't know who is more excited, me or her. I love my little girl! ~12/11/09

Remembering Grandpa on his birthday

Richard's grave stone

Annette placing wreath ornament on his grave

Happy Birthday Richard

We miss you!

Gracie's balloon for Grandpa

Grace

Annette writing a birthday message to Richard

Nicolette writing to her dad

Grandkids visiting Grandpa's grave site

Releasing the balloons for their Dad/Grandpa

Off they go..

Balloons going to heaven for Grandpa

Well it has been a while since I've posted anything, so much has been going on.. On December 6th, 2009 it was Richard's 56th birthday. We all took the day off and remembered him and thought of him. It is hard to believe that he has been gone for 2 months now. We all went up to Tahoma National Cemetery where he is buried and saw his grave site for the first time since his funeral and saw his headstone for the first time. Desiree came up with the words that are written on the headstone and they say, Full Of Wisdon And Generosity, it was very nice. It was a good day to remember him. The only knock on the day was that it was VERY COLD! I'm getting a little tired of this cold front that we are getting lately.. For his birthday we all had balloons that we wrote a little message on for him and we released them for him at the same time. It was pretty neat. Grace said that we were sending the balloons to heaven for Grandpa, she is so sweet. It is kind of funny though, every time she sees a balloon now she wants to get it and let it go outside so it can fly up to Grandpa. ~12/11/09