Amelia in her Little Red Wagon

Amelia being cute...

Amelia's 1st Christmas- opening presents

Amelia's First Christmas

We are especially Thankful this Christmas for all our blessings. Life has changed so much for us... new baby, home, "job". Life is Good.

Our Friend Christy took this picture at Green Lake- near Seattle.... stunning!

I'm not so sure I like this stuff....

Amelia had her first "real" experience in the snow! I had heard that Costco's bunting suits were at a record low of $5, so I snatched one up the other day. Good thing I only paid five bucks, since we maybe spent a total of about five minutes at most in the yard. Amelia wasn't too impressed with the cold flakes and wind blowing in her face. Well, at least we got a few pictures!

Amelia and I had a great daddy daughter date last weekend. We went to the motorcycle show and even went out to dinner together. What a great day it was.

I know how to wave now- look!

I love to talk!

Meet some of my friends... I really like Froggy!

Look Santa.. I'm a big girl now!

I will be walking soon! No Doubt. Look out world.

Daddy still likes to read to me!

teething- it's not so bad!

When you get to have a frozen mixture of blueberries, apples, pears! YUM And feels great on the gums!

Notice to All Employees:

As of November 5, 2008, when President Obama is officially elected into office, our company will instill a few new policies which are in keeping with his new, inspiring issues of change and fairness:

1. All salespeople will be pooling their sales bonuses into a common pool that will be divided equally between all of you. This will serve to give those of you who are underachieving a "fair shake."

2. All low level workers will be pooling their wages, including overtime, into a common pool, dividing it equally amongst yourselves. This will help those who are "too busy for overtime" to reap the rewards from those who have more spare time and can work extra hours.

3. All top management will now be referred to as "the government." We will not participate in this "pooling" experience because the law doesn't apply to us.

4. The "government" will give eloquent speeches to all employees every week, encouraging its workers to continue to work hard "for the good of all."

5. The employees will be thrilled with these new policies because it's "good to spread the wealth." Those of you who have underachieved will finally get an opportunity; those of you who have worked hard and had success will feel more "patriotic."

6. The last few people who were hired should clean out their desks. Don't feel bad though, because President Obama will give you free health care, free handouts, free oil for heating your home, free food stamps, and he'll let you stay in your home for as long as you want even if you can't pay your mortgage. If you appeal directly to our democratic congress, you might even get a free flat screen TV and a coupon for free haircuts (shouldn't all Americans be
entitled to nice looking hair?)

If for any reason you are not happy with the new policies, you may want to re-think your vote on November 4th.

Amelia's shopping trip- driving miss Sam!

Given the look on her face... I'm not sure if I should be worried or not when she turns 16! Ha!

The Great Pumkin Patch dust bowl

The great Pumkin Patch

We spent the weekend with some friends of ours in Spokane this past weekend. What a great time and amazing weather. Thank you Robert and Tracy for being such great host. It was so fun to let the girls play together. I look forward to the years ahead watching them become friends.

"blogging"

What a funny little word. Blogging! I realized that we (I) have gotten into the bad habit of simply posting pictures with little captions. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but there is nothing like writing. I am impressed with the blogs that my sister in law Holly writes. So well written and articulated. I am inspired by our other friends who mostly write and post fewer pictures.

So I begin my Blog... I will give an honest attempt to keep up the writing portion of my Blog. What I need to do is get Heather to do it for me... but that would mean teaching and I must admit I am not so good at that skill.

It is with admiration that I contemplate my favorite writers... like CS Lewis. I admire their deep thought and ability to see things in a more enlightening perspective. How does one gain such perspective. I remember the deep theological questions we would ponder all night in my college days. Is it somehow the continuation of that life? I picture CS Lewis sitting in an English pub or some college library in discourse with those around him from all walks of life and of all types of theology- shaping his very perspective on eternity and how that fit into what Jesus taught when he was on earth. Then Blogging about it. Where do I find such a Pub? cuz I sure ain't going to the library!

I leave that to ponder as I get my favorite drink- MaCallan on the rocks and begin my journey.

Life is Good! :-)

Jason and Mimi on the Seattle Waterfront.... Life is good!

Mayer family at Pike Place Market.

Look close at Amelia's eyes... you might want to make the picture bigger by clicking on it.

0- 60 in 3.2 seconds!

I like my new Baby Legs... they are so comfy!

"look Ma... I fit!"

"yeah.. I got you wrapped around my little finger"

Life is Good...

Cattle Point on San Juan Island... what a great vacation. We had some professional portraits done with the islands and lighthouse behind us. Can't wait to see the final product on a large canvas portrait.

Amelia and Ramsey Cousins

So- Amelia got to meet her cousins from Dallas- Taylor and Bree. Cute matching dresses. The funny thing is they could care less about getting the picture taken. I don't blame them...we (adults) were all acting like the paparazzi!

Amelia and Mommy.

What... I can drive... see!

This is really cool Daddy.

Amelia Takes the Ferry

We took a ferry ride to Edmonds today. Amelia had a great time pretending to drive and looking out at the sunset on the trip home.

"Whatch you talk'n 'bout willis"

Expressions

Goofy expressions.... :-)

What were we thinking?

We decided to take advantage of the nice weather this afternoon and decided to check out a little secluded "trail" we had discovered a few months ago. Just right down the street from our home and hidden for the most part. Thankfully we chose to take our really cool B.O.B., the top of the line high tech stroller from REI with really cool suspension and everything else you would want to have if hiking on a rough trail. Well let me tell you, "rough" was an understatement. After machettying (sp?) the nettles and careening around the edges of cliffs, we finally made it to the bottom where it stunk like rotting seaweed. Needless to say, we didn't spend much time at the destination and started our way back up. Luckily we found the "easy" path back up, but I'm not sure if we'll do that trail again! Chalk it up to funny memories!

These are the days we dream of

This is the view of the Olympics that we see every day as we drive out of our driveway. We sure live in a beautiful slice of the world!

Six Months Old

Can you believe it? We can't! This weekend marked Amelia's six month birthday. Before trying rice cereal for the first time, Amelia visited Dr. Larson for a checkup. She is now a whopping 12 lbs. 8oz. and is 24.75" long. We then tried cereal at Grandma and Grandpa's house. She had a blast grabbing the spoon and trying to get it to her mouth. Not much cereal made it in, but she sure had fun! Check out her high chair - it was the one I had when I was a baby....can you tell?!

We are finally in the new house. Whew!

Well, We are moved and slowly unpacking. No pictures yet to share but we are excited about the new house. It's been three nights so far and all is great. Tuppy has been good but I think he is stressed over the move. Thanks to Ed & Carey Kerr who took care of him, he made it through just fine.

Amelia loves it here and has been doing better then I expected. Stay tuned for more pictures. Better yet- come on by for a visit. We'd love to see you.

Guess what I found in the wash....

A couple days ago, my sister posted a blog about what she discovered in her washing machine - her shoe (Ramsey family blog). Ironically, I was pulling out a load just the next day, and guess what I found...Tuppy's ball! It was twisted up in a bed sheet - for those of you who are wondering, no, we don't play ball in bed! I honestly have no idea how it got there, but hey, he's got a clean ball now!

Does this diaper make my butt look big?

Amelia has been so fun lately....

she has really started to take on a personality... she seems really happy and curious about the world around her. Pretty amazing to watch.

Back of new house

Inside of new house

We bought a new house!

The Mayer family is moving a little further out toward Seabeck. The area we've come to really love. So peaceful and quiet. We had deer running through the property this afternoon. We will get you more info after we actually make the move the end of June. We are really excited about the new house and feel like it will fit our family well.

Amelia enjoying green grass on the one day of summer we've had.

Amelia wants to drink Dad's coffee

So Amelia was on Daddy's lap while he was enjoying his Saturday Morning coffee when she decided she wanted some. She grabs the mug and pulls it over before he even knew what was going on... she knows a good thing when she sees it. (Don't worry- we didn't give her any) :-)