January 4 - Esther

Hope you all had a wonderful Janurary! Here's Esther wearing her "I Love Daddy" sleeper.
Esther with some more of her grandparents -
Esther and Great Grandpa -
Esther and Great Grandma -

Jaunuary 3 - A Birth and an Anniversary

My sister-in-law had a baby boy - Jeriah Alvin (Alvin is my mom's dad's middle name) - we went over and saw him and he's very cute - and looks very tiny next to Esther :)

On our anniversary we got our wedding cake out of the freezer - it tasted pretty fresh and this time we had time to eat all we wanted :)

I couldn't decide which frost pictures to post...

January 2 - Frost

We got up the other day and there was a beautiful frost out - Aaron took a bunch of pictures, so I'm going to post a bunch - you'll have to use your imagination a little though, because pictures just can't quite capture the beauty of God's winter.
The view from out kitchen window -

January 1 - Sledding and Squash

On Saturday our Sunday school kids (and some adults) went sledding at our local hill - it was pretty cold, but not too bad and a fresh layer of snow made for great sledding! This is the view from the top of the hill -

and this is the view from the bottom of the hill. It's a long walk up!

They got a fire going in the lodge there and we drank hot chocolate and ate cookies.

We recently finished our butternut squash from last summer, and here Aaron's cooking up the acorn squash. We've also been working on the buttercup squash!

I keep trying to get pictures of Esther smiling....

Esther and Esther

Esther and her cousin Esther (3 years old) - I know this doesn't look safe, but I was right there!

Isaac and Esther - he says babies are like calves - his pets!

Miriam and Esther -

"Mommy" and Esther :)

Abby and Esther - I'm trying to get pictures of her with other relatives too...

Esther in TN

Esther and two of her older cousins -
Our family again! We went over to Aaron's grandmother's one night and took some pictures.
Four generations - Aaron, his grandma, Esther, and Aaron's mom.
Esther and her Great-Grandma -
Esther with Grandpa and Grandma S. - They all enjoyed her down there and offered to keep her, but we didn't agree :)

Esther and Leah

We tried taking pictures of Esther and her cousin (9 months older) - a lot of them were cute, but neither girl would sit still and smile :)

Checking out those tiny feet -

What are you doing to us?

Most of Aaron's nieces and nephews are in their teens, but these are the three little ones. Caleb, Leah, and Esther -

Christmas 6 of 6

One night we went out for supper with Aaron's brother and sister-in-law.

Nathan and Cassie -

Aaron's parents anniversary is the day after ours - and it's 40 years for them! The siblings surprised them with a special cake in honor of the occasion.

Julie and Tanya! Their family was on their way to visit some family in TN and took the time to stop by for a few hours - I hadn't seen Julie since March, so that was fun.

Aaron and his dad cracked some walnuts from a neighbor's tree - I got to try a couple too.

So, we had a great Christmas and now we're settled back into the everyday work. I have some more pictures from Christmas of Esther with different relatives, so I'll try to post those next time I get a chance. Keep warm!

One Year Ago Today....

We got married!! In a lot of ways it's hard to believe I've been married for a whole year, but on the other hand, so much has happened that the wedding seems like a long time ago.

Our cousin, Hannah, took most of the formal pictures, but I don't have them on this computer, so if you want to see them, you'll have to ask to see our wedding album (which I'm still not completely done with....) sometime.

Out of the 30 or so cake mixes I made up, we only got one bite of cake! We froze the top layer though and tonight we're going to try it out.

I used to think that I'd like to be engaged and all, but I wasn't sure if I really wanted to be married - however, I've since decided that being married is way better than being engaged! - that is, being married to Aaron - I think he must be the best husband in the whole world and I love him so much more now than I did a year ago :)

Dad walking me down the aisle -

Aaron, Grandpa, and I -

Aaron and I during the ceremony -

Lighting the unity candle -

Preparing for the kiss!

Christmas 5 of 6 - more TN

Aaron opening his stocking - his mom, like mine, loves to buy and give gifts! She also loves to decorate and the house looked like something out of a magazine :)
These are on Christmas Day - they had a meal in the evening followed by the gift opening, then some of them went to Aaron's sister's home for desserts.
Aaron has 2 sisters and 4 brothers - they were all there over the couple weeks, but not all at the same time - even so, with nieces and nephews and an aunt and uncle and grandparents, there was almost always a bunch of people around!
Some of us in the dining room -
Caleb, Aaron's nephew, and Dawson, got there own little table :)