Valentine's Day

We went over to my parent's house for a Valentine's Day dinner. We love seafood in our family and my mom was so sweet to get a bunch of fresh crab for all of us. I am happy to say that Ryan enjoys seafood now almost as much as I do! As usual we ate way too much but had lot's of fun...hope you had a special Valentine's Day too!

CRAB!

I made homemade oreos

Mom, Jake and Kiara
The next two pictures cracked us up. We love Jake...even though it may not look like it!


Happy Valentine's Day!!

California

Last weekend I was able to go back home for little Cooper's funeral. While I would have rather gone under different circumstances, it was an honor to be there and feel the sweet spirit that was present all weekend.

Lindsay and Patrick (Cooper's mom and dad) with Bets and I

I love this picture of Cooper It was a short trip but the day before I left it was so beautiful so we went sightseeing.
Ryan is extremely jealous because the last time I went home for a visit he came with me and it was so foggy he didn't get to see the bridge once. I wish he could have been there on this day!Next time babe.

Steve took me for a ride around the city on his scooter, the easiest way to get around.
I so miss the beach, maybe one day we will live near it again

Sweet Cooper

Two weeks ago today our dear friends Lindsay and Patrick unexpectedly lost their sweet little boy Cooper. I went out to California for the funeral last weekend and was able to experience the most peaceful, sweet spirit that was present that day. Lindsay and Patrick are amazing examples of parents that we look up to every day. Like us, Allie misses little Cooper, but she says it best when she tells us that "little Cooper went back to Heavenly Father, and one day I'm gonna see him up there again and we can play."

Denial

Nala just won't accept the fact that she is much bigger than she used to be and some things don't work anymore...

case in point

Better late than never!

Happy New Year! I can't believe it's the middle of January already. Christmas is going to be here again before we know it but until then, here is what our Christmas 2009 looked like...

Grandpa Taggart and Allie shoveling the snow

We spent Christmas Eve with Ryan's family. We had a huge delicious brunch and opened presents.

Jeff, Brenda, Saylee, and Cameron

Ryan's mom made all the girls these cute aprons. They have so much fun together!

Brayden

Ryan's mom also made gorgeous quilts for the girls. They are each a little different and so cute. Allie loves it and sleeps with it every night. Thanks Grandma :)

On Christmas day we headed to my parents house for round #2. Betsy and Steve came into town from San Francisco! We missed our brothers and their families this year but had fun with just the girls.

Allie has recently discovered The Littlest Petshop and is addicted.

My sister's husband Steve is a master screen printer these days. I don't know it yet but I'm about to open the sweetest shirt ever that he made for each of my sisters and I...
If you don't watch Friday Night Lights, shame on you. Thanks Steve!!

Do you see what Steve is holding? It's our favorite appliance right now. When my family gets together we have game night EVERY NIGHT. Come about 9pm, we are sitting around the table for hours playing card and board games. This year we had delicious hot cocoa from the Cocoa Latte while we played our games. If you don't own one you should. I was lucky enough to get my own from Ryan. Thanks babe.

Betsy enjoying her gift from us

Our cute Mom and Dad

A few days after Christmas we had a party with our Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. Here are a few of the ladies.

Some of the younger ladies

If the dogs weren't doing this...

They were doing this.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Our little dancer

Allie started dance this year and just had her first recital. It was The Nutcracker and she was a mouse. It was such a cute show and all the little girls did great! All of the grandparents were able to come and so did her great-grandma Mary! She loved having everyone there, thanks everyone for coming and supporting our little dancer :)

The Avondets, Taggarts, McRaes, and Heywoods

We love going to Sophie and Emma's dance recitals every year and Allie was so excited that they got to come to her first one this year

Are you feeling crafty?

A couple of years ago I got this gift that would be so simple to make...it's a cute dish with star cut-outs and on each star is an activity to do each day in December as a family. They say all sorts of things like "sing a Christmas song," "decorate Christmas cookies," "do a good deed for someone else," "share a favorite Christmas memory" etc. I have added several that I know Allie would enjoy and that's the best part, you can make them say whatever your family would enjoy the most. Most activities are short and sweet so it makes it easy to take a few minutes out of every day to spend together. Just thought I'd pass this along in case you're looking for a little Christmas fun :)

Ryan and Allie belting out Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

I love December