Fun with friends in San Marcos!

Claire and Mommy got to go visit some good friends this past weekend in San Marcos. We had so much fun together and were kind of sad when we had to leave.

 Trying to get both girls to smile at the same time was very difficult! Here Taylor

is trying her hardest to not smile!

 We went to Peter Piper's Pizza for dinner one night. It is very similar to Chuck e Cheese. 

The girls both had enough tickets from playing games to each get a little coin purse. They were very proud of their winnings!

 Surprisingly, Claire wasn't scared of the two large dogs. Here she is getting Mason to "shake"

 We spent one afternoon at a beautiful park. God blessed us with amazing weather! The kids were able to play on the playground, play ball, and climb trees. It was so much fun to watch them all play together!

Claire enjoyed trying all of the different climbing things on the playground and playing 

tag with Caleb and Taylor.

We were able to take a little train ride around the park after playing. It sure was nice to spend some time with our good friends the Standlee family!

My grocery shopping helper

Claire and I went to Kroger for groceries after school today. She was such a big helper

and actually did the shopping almost all by herself! She selected her cart, found the items on our list,

scanned them in the self checkout, bagged the groceries, and paid with Mommy's card. Mommy 

was there just to supervise.

  

 When we got to the car, Claire unloaded all of the groceries by herself and then went to return the cart back inside the store.

It is so much fun watching Claire grow up more every day. We had a blast today!

Funny faces

 Claire and Mommy being silly while waiting in car line at school

 On Sunday, Claire was cheering for the Broncos to win the football game so 

she had Daddy paint her fingernails and toenails bright orange!

Another funny face while at the park!

God is so good!

This past week has been a wonderful one. Grandpa has been feeling pretty well and we have definitely enjoyed the moments we have gotten to spend with him. Claire had a blast going shopping with Grandma and Grandpa. She had to be the leader and direct where they went of course. She also had to be sure to hold Grandpa's hand the entire time to be sure he didn't get lost! When we got home from the store, we spent time together frosting cupcakes as Claire instructed us to! Grandpa went a little crazy and decided to frost my nose and his nose too! Today we got to play grocery store from our pantry with Grandma. Claire loved to get the items we requested, scan them, bag them, and then exchange money with us. I treasure every single moment we get to spend with Grandma and Grandpa.
God has done amazing things for our family this past 11 months. I believe that trials come about to draw us closer to God and He will get our attention one way or another. As a family we have all grown much stronger in our faith and have learned the importance of putting Him first in our lives. We continue to pray for healing for Grandpa and for memories to be made that are too many to count! God is good!

Christmas in Minnesota

Jeff, Claire and I were able to spend Christmas in freezing Minnesota this year. It was so wonderful to see our family and friends again. A huge thank you to Scott and Shannon for hosting us all week long. We were blessed to spend lots of time with Scott, Shannon, Brandon, and Annie and our niece and nephews. We were also able to see many relatives that we haven't seen in a few years. Mom and Dad were stuck in Texas for treatment but we were able to Skype with them a few times so they could watch the grandchildren open presents and so they could see some of their relatives. They got to share in some of the fun without being overstimulated and could just turn us off when it got to be too much! They also got warmer weather! We had an amazing time but are happy to be back home again where we can breathe without it hurting when we go outside! We look forward to what God has in store for our family this year. Many blessings to y'all!