Blessed Christmas 3 and 4...

We finally made it to the frozen tundra that is Minnesota this weekend to spend the Christmas weekend with Nick's family.

We miss them everyday, but you never realize how much until you are there...and as always, it went by way too fast.

Adelyn I think is making peace with the dog population :) She warmed up to Auggie (Sara and Kyle's dog) after a bit. She was pretty hesitant at first, but he's pretty mild tempered and didn't knock her over, so she eventually decided he was okay :)

We were able to spend time with Nana........as well as Grandpa and Ellen.

Sara and Kyle (and little Baby Roberts) were with us everyday too (thank you, you guys, for fitting us into your busy life!)

It was a fun time and we were super sad to leave...thankfully we will see most of them for Addy's ONE YEAR birthday next weekend, so that helps with the separation...a little... :)

We love you, Flies family. Thank you for everything. We miss you and can't wait to see you SOON.

On a side note...Adelyn started taking steps sans help a week or so ago....while we were in MN, however, she became a PRO. She no longer crawls, except to get to a solid standing object to pull herself up. She discovered her balance and walks everywhere now...she doesn't fall as much, but when she does, she crawls over to the closest object, stands, and off she goes again...clapping and talking along the way :) I still can't believe it...

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Merry Christmas #2

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm wondering if the weather changed your plans like it did ours? We were planning on spending Christmas Eve with my family and then heading up to MN to be with Nick's family....long story short--the Lord taught us about communication and trust....and we stayed in IA (we are going up to MN tomorrow morning, though...yay!)
Last night we went to church with my mom, step-dad, brothers and 2 of my step-brothers.
Adelyn was so sweet in the dress my mom had got last year on sale (I'm stoked that it fit!).... why is her tongue ALWAYS haning out? I have NO idea...

Adelyn was more interested in the bows than the gifts....but it was still fun to watch her try and get into everyone's bags and boxes :)

We turned one of the air mattresses into a "trampoline"...that was fun :)

This morning Adelyn enjoyed cuddling her new blanket (thank you, G-Grandma J.!) and reading her new books (thank you, Grandpa&Grandma and G-Grandma Doris!) and toys (thank you, Grandpa&Grandma!). We went back to Mom and Rob's for lunch...

...and after all that fun....

Merry Christmas!!

p.s....more pictures on our picasa site :) AND my mom got most of the family pictures with my brothers on her camera...I'll share when I can get them :)

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Merry Christmas

We had Christmas at my dad and step-mom's this weekend. All 3 of my brothers were there and then Josh's little boy, Noah. It was fun to just be with family.
Adelyn handled her nap-free afternoon pretty well (we tried, but she wouldn't sleep...), she wanted to "help" open the gifts (by ripping off and chewing on the bows)...with the sweet face, though, who could say no? ;)
Yes, her mini-skirt is up under her arm pits.... (thank you, Auntie Steph, Uncle Alan and Cousin Nora for the leg warmers!)
It was a great afternoon...it's always good, though, to get together...holidays or not! :)
Merry Christmas! (1 down...3 to go!) :)



picture captions going clockwise:
top left: Adelyn grinning at Grandpa after starting to open his gifts. The family (Caleb, Dad, Jacob, Pam, Josh with Noah, Nick, Adelyn and I). Adelyn on her new rocking horse (thank you, Grandpa and Grandma Pam). Dad with his new guitar strap. Noah's wiped (for two seconds) and Adelyn just wanted to play!

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can you believe it?!...

...we've been married for 4 years today! Well....TECHNICALLY a full 4 years around 6:30pm tonight....if you want to be thorough... :)
It's been amazing, fun, interesting, frustrating, wonderful, irritating, weird, happy, not so happy, good, bad and not so pretty...and simply fantastic! :)
I'm beginning to understand how people can say they love someone more now than the day they got married.
Babe, I love you. I have been so blessed by you. Thank you for your love and patience :)
Thank you for your desire to glorify God with this marriage. Thank you for challenging me to look to the Lord and not to you always. Thank you for your kind heart. Thank you for the example you are setting for Adelyn in loving the Lord and serving Him.
You are an amazing husband and I can't wait to see what the following years bring us :)
I love you.

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CAUTION...

...baby crossing...

I know I posted already today, but this weekend Addy started taking steps on her own while she was staying with my mom and stepdad....tonight she's been going crazy! She likes to hang around the ottoman and play with her books/toys up there...but now without warning she will just walk off without needing to be coaxed...it's crazy! We had to coax her for this video b/c I really wanted to catch it...and she's walked further since I took this! It's crazy...I can't believe my baby is WALKING! Lord help me....
;)

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we love...

I love to read...and I think Addy is getting that from me :) I think we read through our supply of books every two days!
Her favorites are the Building Christian Character books (Nick is reading her one here), Curious George, and anything else! ;)

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O Christmas tree.....I know...2 posts in 2 days...

...well what else do we do?! Snowed in and it's still coming down (by the way, 3 more people--including the mail man--have gotten stuck outside our house today...Nick's been getting his excercise helping shovel and push them out!). I love love love it--the snow I mean, not people getting stuck (did I mention that?). It's so pretty...but we can't go anywhere and I'm not in the mood to read and Addy is sleeping and Nick is doing some work...

I LOVE Christmas decorations. I don't go too crazy, but my favorite thing is the tree. We have Nick's mom's old tree (it's 10 years old, but hey, it works and it's huge!). I bought red and silver decorations 3 years ago when we had our first tree to decorate (we didn't have one the first year we were married since we were on our honeymoon the week before Christmas)...this year I added the fake holly berry sticks that I had left over from our wedding reception...usually I stick them in this huge vase I had, but I thought I'd shake it up a little bit ;)

Every year for as long as I can remember, my mom has given my brothers and I an ornament for Christmas thinking that when we moved out we could take them and have our tree decorations started...well, she couldn't bear to part with them so when Nick and I got married we bought the decorations and then Mom still gives both of us ornaments so we are working our way there again (can you guess whose ornaments are in the pictures?) :) I think as we accumulate more, the pretty sparkly stuff may take backseat...but I really like them, so we'll see :)

Anyway...I love Christmas trees and the ambience of the twinkling lights. I love sitting with Nick and night and we sometimes just stare at the tree and talk...

On a side note...last year I was just curious about the history behind Christmas trees and why we decorate them, I found this interesting website that briefly shares the history behind the trees and decorating them....anyway...enjoy if you'd like :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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let it snow let it snow let it snow!

It is snowing like crazy today! I love love love it. Apparently we are getting the same storm system that went through Scottsdale yesterday...I'm not complaining in the least, but I really wish we had a fire place...in lieu of that crackling, cozy warmth I have a few candles lit and the blinds slightly shut to mute the white light glare :) Adelyn has had some fun just watching out the window (I think it helps that the plow people have been working right outside most of the morning...). I did open the door for a bit to see what she would do...she crawled almost right out the door, got a feel of the snow and immediately came back and looked at me as the cold registered on her hands...she definitely didn't like it so much. I did hold her hands up to the heater for a bit and once they warmed back up she was fine :)
Anyway...I'm making some hot tea while baby sleeps....Christmas music is playing ("Elf" soundtrack to be exact), book is waiting, slippers are ready for my feet.
aaahhh...

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Meet the Bonnstetter/Thompson/Kapoor/Flies cousins :)

I feel we were so blessed when my mom married my step-dad, Rob, in 2001. One of the ways is he has the nicest family. He has 4 kids (a daughter and 3 sons) and now a daughter in law and son in law and grandkids! I love it when they are all able to come into town...Thanksgiving was sort of one of those times (my stepbrother, Jesup, is in Brazil teaching and wasn't able to come). All 3 of my brothers and then Rob's kids were in town along with all the kids! :)

From the left:
Naveen (newest addition), Adelyn, Evelyn, Noah (my brother's son), and Lily (Evelyn's big sis).
My step sister in law (is that even how it goes?) is pregnant with their 3rd and cousin #6...she's due in January...we can't wait to meet the little one!

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DIY: stepstool

I get 99.5% of my projects from someone else's idea...this is one of them :)
My sister-in-law, Steph, is super creative and comes up with so many fun things...she did these modge podge letters for Nora's room this summer....I did them for Adelyn's room a few months ago and they are SUPER CUTE. I had some left over scrapbook paper and was itching for a project today and decided to decorate this white stool I got at Target yesterday. I LOVE it and wanted to share :) I free-handed the letters, but I did see that Michael's has a great selection of stencils...or you can print off a Word document and make your own stencil.
Anyway...just cut what you want and Modge Podge it to the stool :)

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