Merry Christmas to all....

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. ~Roy L. Smith

Merry Christmas!

Hope's 10th Birthday

I am having a hard time believing that our beautiful little girl just turned 10 years old today! She is becoming a fine young lady and making her mom and dad very proud. We love her witty sense of humor and her compassionate heart.

Most people say that Dec birthday's are terrible. We asked Hope if she would rather celebrate her birthday in May and she gave us a silly look saying "no way".

We had her birthday party in mid december at a horse farm with her good friends: one whom she has known since our first tour in MO, one from Germany and HI who actually visited Hope in the hospital when she was born and her brother whom Hope met in HI, and two of our neighbors that she met this time a round in MO. God is so good with the friends his has put in our lives!

We also brought cake in ice cream to her school the last week of school and then today on her actual birthday she opened more presents and gets a special dinner out at the restaurant of her choice. So in reality she has 3 birthdays, plus Jesus' birthday all in one month!

Happy Birthday Hope!!!

The Cowgirls and Cowboy

"Giddy Up"

After Hope almost pinned the tail on Tiffany she won the game

Daddy's turn

Sleep over!

McFarlain's Family Restaurant, Branson, MO

This picture was taken when we sat down for lunch.

Do you notice anything different?

Charlie and I asked for the special table before we sat down. The table rises slowly while you are eating until your elbows are even with you shoulders. Charlie and I started laughing uncontrollably because nobody said anything about feeling any different. Then our waitress came over to present us with our Certificate of Membership into the Rising Table Society.

Now we are all laughing

LOL

The owners of the restaurant were dining there as well and came over for a group shot!

We love McFarlain's.

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.

~e.e. cummings

Look out Cake Boss!

We love Cake Boss on food network, so we decided we wanted to start making our own cakes. Here is our first attempt at our family cake decorating.

Hope wanted red velvet.

What a mess

Hope's tongue grew

Working on details

Our finished compined effort

We were pleased with our Christmas cake. Even though we have a ways to go before we are as good as Buddy we had fun!

Mom M and Laura's Visit

Charlie's mom and sister came to visit us for 10 days!!! We were so excited to have them and share adventures with them.

The forecast called for snow this weekend so I had to buy Hope a snowsuit to be prepared. She was so excited she wanted to wear it all day. I think she looks so cute!!! We are just ready for some snow! We wanted it to snow so badly for Laura, Charlie's sister, because we thought she had never seen snow before. The next day we did end up having snow flurries, but not enough to stick.

Hope and I enjoyed a swing at the park after we had picked out our tree.

Some whiffle ball

High Five!

I didn't know we were playing fast pitch! Sibling rivalry! Laura is quite a ball player.

Time for hugs

Swinging again

More hugs

Charlie taking our picture

Ok that one is better!

This spring was so crystal clear. We enjoyed watching the fly fisher men and on our way out we saw some scuba divers getting ready to brave the freezing waters.

Every night was a game night!

Hope opening her Birthday and Christmas gift from Grandma!

Thanks Grandma! Love, Hope

Christmas down town. With horse drawn carriage rides, hot dogs, cocoa, and freezing cold weather!

We were able to take a long weekend away in Branson, MO. A great town full of fun. This was the first time we were there for there for the holiday season! It was so festive and we loved it!

Six. These guys were incredible! A group of 6 brothers singing cappella, very entertaining and funny. The next night we went to see the Dixie Stampede which I didn't have my camera for :-(, but was a memorable experience non the less. I was so impressed that both shows spoke of Jesus being the true meaning to the season. Dixie even had a live nativity scene as part of the show!!!!!

Festival of Lights, a drive through a wonderland of Christmas lights!

Unfortunately their visit came to a close, but we were so thankful for our time together and can't wait for them to come again!

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!....

In search of the perfect tree

Mission accomplished. We all agreed on this amazingly plump 6 1/2 foot fir.

Everyone pitched in to help cut it down.

My muscle man

Grandma and Hope

Here I am trying to show off my Gator spirit for the big game against Florida State later that day. This is a huge state rivalry, which is ingrained in our family. As most of you know Charlie has been a Seminole fan and I a Gator since our dating days. Let's just say GO GATORS!!!! They won that day!!! Unfortunately we just had a big loss to Alabama for the division championship. :-(

Charlie made sure our tree wasn't going anywhere but home. We had an experience in Germany where our tree fell off our tiny little European car several times on the way home. My best friend from high school was with us and caught it on video. We all had a good laugh, but we are glad it hasn't happened since!

Decoration time!

Daddy always helps Hope put the angel on for the finishing touches.

....How richly God has decked thee!