2009 You Were Good To Us

I feel like we blinked and this year has come and gone. I started the year very pregnant and having no idea how I would ever love another baby the way I love Tanner. On 2-20 we welcomed Peyton into our hearts and I realized that it is possible to be head over heals for both my kids.
I am happy to say that I am ending this year 60 lbs lighter than I started it. Chasing after 2 busy kids sure helped with that. It has been a great year and here are some highlights looking back.

January: An amazing trip to Clear Lake with our dear friends the Tompkins. Tanner moved into a new room with a big boy bed. I finished my church job at MVCC.

February: Welcoming our little girl and got used to being a family of 4.

March: Tanner turned 2. I loved my maternity leave and being a mommy of .

April: We welcomed Karis Jade Howerton into our family. Karis and Peyton are 2 months apart.
May: I went back to work a few days a week to finish out the school year.

June: Finished up the school year and moved classrooms. Kipp had knee surgery.

July: I felt like super mom taking 2 kids to the beach several time each week. We had a great summer.

August: Went to vistit my brother in Washington and had a great time. Peyton started to crawl.

September: My mom and I moved down to Kindergarten from 1st grade. It was a big adjustment. I am still sharing a contract so I am working 1/2 time and home with the kids the rest of the time.

October: Tanner was a dragon and Peyton was Piglet for Halloween.

November: Had Thanksgiving with all the Howertons-Michael and his fam were down for a week, and had Thanksgiving with The Lyons. We have so much to be thankful for.

December: We went on a winter vacation with our college friends to Flagstaff. My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Peyton got her two front teeth for Christmas. Now she has 4 teeth. She is pulling up on things and standing on her own. I feel like walking is just around the corner. We get to spend New Years with Kipp's sister, Kelle!

I am truly blown away by this life I get to live. I am so blessed to have close relationships with my nieces, nephews, brothers, sister-in-laws, parents and in-laws. I love spending time with my family. I am blessed to have a husband who loves me and his kids with all his heart. I love that I can work part time and spend so much quality time with my beautiful children. Tanner is a great big brother and as Peyton gets older I love watching them play and laugh together. Being a mom is what I have always wanted to be and I feel like it is better than I ever thought possible.

My hope for the new year is more of the same...
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Polar Express

Polar Express with college friends.

I will never forget this day as long as I live. It may have been the most stressful drive I had even been on. We saw several cars that had slid off the road. We had a bit of bad luck with our chains and Kipp had to buy 2 sets. I was very scared when Kipp had to pull over on the snowy road to check the chains. I had visions of my brother's car accident where he was hit by a car while outside of his car on the freeway. I crawled in the back with my kids and was just telling that how much I loved them, meanwhile ever car that drove by my whole body clinched up.

The train ride was so much fun and the kids were full of delight. Looking at this picture you wouldn't know that there was a blizzard going on outside. Everyone wore their PJ's. Tanner sat with Haley and Lexi to hear the story of the Polar Express. Tan would stand up in his seat and yell at Carson, "Hi Buddy!"

Driving home that night we were the only 3 cars on the freeway. We found out later that night that they had closed that freeway. We almost made it home but our Jeep ended up not making it up the hill to the cabin. We ended up in a ditch with a snowplow pulling Kipp out. We got home about midnight that night and I was praising Jesus that we all made it home safe.

An unforgettable trip to say the least.

Winter Wonderland Vacation

We have been home for 3 days now and I am still tired. This was one of those vacations where you need a vacation after your vacation. Our friends Jaime and Ashley Wooldridge invited us to a cabin in Arizona. We were so excited to show Tanner the snow for the first time. We were there for almost a week and I took about a million pictures so I will blog about the first 1/2 of our trip now and the second 1/2 another time.
Kids in this photo:Sydney Tompkins, Carson Tompkins, Peyton, Kenadee Wooldridge, Tanner and Carlee Wooldridge.
We went with some of our college friends. At the end of our trip there were 8 adults and 9 kids. We were so happy that all of the kids got along so well. It was so cold that we tried to find things to do that were inside. One day we took a trip to the Flagstaff Mall. It was so fun to take time this busy holiday season and relax with our family and friends.
Peyton fell in love with Ashley. She has started to give hugs but they are really moe like head-butts. Kenadee loved playing with all of the babies too.
Here is Jaime and Ashley's youngest, Avaree. She is about 5 months older than Peyton.
This is before the snowfall of the year hit. On the first day Ash gave us a Ranger ride down to a park. We were all bundled up for the cold weather.
Jen and I didn't last very long outside in the cold with our little girls. I was really cold!
Carson and Tanner were really out numbered with all of the girls in the cabin. Even though these boys only see each other a few times a year they really do love each other. Earlier this year I was asking Tanner the names of people in our family and he told me that Carson was his brother! Too cute! They love to wrestle together. I think they might get that from their dads who were roommates all through college.
One day we went to an indoor pool and water park. I love this look on Carson's face. They were really excited.
Merry Christmas! More to come soon. It was an amazing trip and we are so blessed by these friends.