Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone's 2009 is off to a great start! I decided to start the new year with a new blog! My Xanga renewal was coming up and it seems crazy to pay for a blog subscription with so many free options available and I wanted to be able to do more customizing, etc. Since my business site is currently here on blogspot, I figured I would keep it simple!

A quick rundown...we had an awesome Christmas! We had such a nice time with Jay's family on Christmas Eve where we were all spoiled & then the next day was so much fun. Just to explain to Avery that it was actually Christmas, not Christmas-time, was exciting. He couldn't believe that Santa had came & left him presents, filled his stocking AND ate some chocolate chip cookies! Joe was with us for Christmas Eve this year, so that was a lot of fun! He got to play with his cousins and then wake up with us on Christmas morning. Unfortunately he had to leave at 12 on Christmas Day but we got him back on New Years Eve & he is enjoying playing with all his toys. Mayci had fun also! She was in such a good mood on Christmas Eve, just playing amongst all the kids & wrapping paper in her beautiful Christmas dress.

On Christmas night, we headed to the airport to pick up my sister, niece & nephew...finally! Since finding out they were coming, it's been a long wait. We had such a fun visit! We took a ride up Route 88 through the Superstitions to Canyon Lake, visited the Goldfield Ghost Mine, went to Sedona on the way TO and FROM the Grand Canyon and we got to see SNOW! I am sure that they were not as excited to see the white stuff as me & Avery but we sure had fun playing in it and it was gorgeous to see on the mountains. I am going to work at my pictures in stages today and tomorrow and hopefully get them done, there are MANY - like 300+ pics to go through. They are downloaded, just not edited or organized.

Speaking of edited & organized! Those are some of my key goals for 2009 - I do not really believe in New Years Resolutions so I make goals and hopefully I will reach them or at least get closer to where I want to be with them. My photos are a mess. I have printed photos and countless cd's of photos and unorganized & unedited photos all over my computer. I am not sure how it got so crazy. I do have a cd holder that I store all my photo cd's in but they just seem so scattered that if I am looking for a photo, I have to put it in, scan through it and it is so time consuming. I am going to look at Elements to see about the built in photo organizer with them and if anyone has any tips, I am OPEN!

A pre-Christmas photo of Mayci "eating" like a big girl!

Right before we headed to Nana & Pa's, Mayci konked out on Daddy's lap then I had to stuff her in her carseat in a big puffy dress!

Baby Ryan on Christmas

Mayci & Pa

Mayci & her new dolly's hat!

Mama Margie & Nana

Mayci & her baby

Look how intently Avery is holding Mayci for a group photo...

Avery & his new mailbox...thanks Garza Family!

Jesse & Avery waited so patiently behind a HUGE stack of presents to start opening. Avery got picked to open the first present!!

And, Christmas morning...I wish I would have gotten more/better photos but really it was crazy around here and the camera was hard to manage! Here are a couple to capture the moment...