Christmas in Indiana

Christmas at my parents' house was wonderful. All of my family was together, and we had such a great time spending time with everyone. Caleb especially loved "Mamaw's house." He was often the center of attention due to his being the only grandson/nephew. His vocabulary exploded with essential new phrases such as "Go Boyers!" and "Go Coats!" ** And, he received more presents than I can describe. My parents are amazing. Thanks, Mom and Dad.



He loved building towers with his new alphabet blocks with "Gam-pa..."



...and loved destroying them even more.



He received a set of golf clubs from Uncle Patrick and Aunt Hannah and did the only thing he knew to do with them...use them as microphones. :-)



But then he got a new guitar with real strings!



And of course he had to have a few jam sessions!





And the boys did what they do every Christmas...gamble away their Christmas money. :-) Well, not really. They do what they call "Cross betting." They never really call up the debts. They're so cute.





** Translation: "Go Boilers (Purdue)" and "Co Colts"

More Family Black and Whites

I have taken countless pictures since we have been traveling, but I am not uploading any of them to my computer. Unfortunately, I have completely filled my computer with music and photos...and am having a hard time getting the files backed up. So, the only recent pics that are actually on my computer are those I am using for projects.

These are some of the pics I took for a Christmas present I did for my parents. And to answer your questions, Angie, I use natural light and place them by a window with indirect light. I usually place the velvet (I think it's two and a half yards long) on a wall at a ninety degree angle from the window...and just try to get it to stay up however I can. This time I attached one corner with the binder clip to the top of some blinds and stuck the other corner into my parents' wall with one of those corn on the cob holders. Yay for improvisation.

I really have no idea what I am doing. I am just figuring it out as I go along. But I did want to answer you. :-)


MIKE (my brother who is two years younger than me) and his girlfriend of two years, MELISSA

He is a lawyer in Colorado Springs and loves hiking and photography. So, he's always fun to talk to. Melissa I met for the first time this week, and she is such a sweetheart. She fits so well in our family, and I hope to get to see lots more of her over the years.



PATRICK (my brother who is 4 years younger than me) and his wife, HANNAH

They have been married for almost four years now and live in Indianapolis. After many years in the army including service as a medic in Iraq, he is in school at IUPUI and is beginning his studies to be a doctor. He got all A's and a B, and I am so proud of him. Hannah is wonderful and an amazing wife for him. She is a property manager, so they get their housing for free. Pretty sweet deal.



BRANDON and ME

I think that, if you are reading this, you know who we are. :-)



JEFFREY (my brother six years younger than me) and CALEB

Caleb loves Jeff, so I thought that I could coax Jeff into getting his picture taken by having Caleb pose with him. But, Jeffrey is purely nocturnal and never seemed to wake up until Caleb was down for his nap. And by the time our little man was up, it was dark outside and I could no longer get the picture I wanted. So, in the end, we used a bounced flash, a bribe of chocolate and some Colts jerseys. :-)

Cousins

We are spending lots of time with family as we travel...and it has been so great. We were sad to leave the Carbaughs. It is always such good quality time with Christine and Tony, and Caleb loved playing with his cousins: Makkedah, Seth, Courtney and Emily. We would love to live closer to them. This morning, we took these pics of the kids before we left.

And Sarah, to answer your question, I bought a piece of black velvet at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon (love those!). I just hang it in the background with binder clips. So easy and it makes backgrounds so simple and undistracting.

Welcome Noel Isaac Pelton!

Our sweet little nephew was born last night, and both he and his mommy are doing well. Jeff, Brandon's brother, and Julia welcomed their second child into the world at a little after midnight Atlanta time. We are so excited he's here...and hope it won't be too long before we get to meet him. It is so hard sometimes living across the country from our family.

Check out their blog for more pictures of this sweet little thing.

GREAT JOB, Julia! We're really excited for you guys...and so grateful to God for the precious gifts that He has given to the world in your children. :-)

We love you!

A Trip to the Zoo

Brandon's mom, Hope, has been in town since Thursday.  We have loved having her visit, and we will be sad when she leaves.  She is always so fun and easy to be around.  

Although we have read countless books about all kinds of animals, Caleb had never seen so many of them in real life.  So, we decided to spend Saturday afternoon at the El Paso zoo.  

My mom loves elephants, and so Caleb has a rocking elephant, an elephant pillow, and several elephant toys and books.  But, no scaled down model can prepare you for seeing the pure immensity of an elephant in real life.  

This was his reaction:

The sea lions were a fun surprise.  

And I really liked this guy. 

We were so impressed with the zoo, and it won't be long before we are back again. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Dad!

We love you!  :-)  

More Indiana

These pictures are for my dad.  He asked for them.   Their house has all sorts of wonderful natural light.  Caleb wasn't very cooperative, however.  

Caleb was fascinated by my dad's treadmill.  

He loved spending time with his grandparents. 

Caleb loved spending time with his Uncle Jeff...one of two.  :-)

We went to a Jimmy Buffett concert.  My brother had tickets, and I love concerts and my family.  I  still am not much of a fan, but I had lots of fun with them. 

This is Chicago through our airplane window.  My little boy was yelling the entire time I took this, and the woman next to me ended up taking him from me to calm him down.  What kind of mom tunes her kid out like that...for a picture?  

There were finger prints all over the window, and I didn't realize it until we had passed the city.  I love that town.  

p.s.  Em and Laura, Caleb and I waved at you down there.  Em, I thought I saw your house.  :-)

Good Times

We had a wonderful time in Indiana.  Thanks, Mom and Dad!  Flying with Caleb was an adventure as always (as seen in Caleb's pants-less picture).  Spending time with friends was so much fun...though I would have loved to see more of them.  Being without a car makes it hard to see everyone, but I will take what I can get.  Caleb (and I) loved spending time with Grandma and Grandpa.  We look forward to seeing them again at Christmas. 

Brandon was super busy over the week we were gone.  I will post some pics of his work on our house as soon as I get them uploaded.  :-) 

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

(Patrick, Hannah and Nerps at my parents' house over Thanksgiving)

So, technically it's not her birthday anymore, but I did want to say happy birthday to Hannah!  She is my brother Patrick's wife, and we are all crazy blessed to have her in our family...especially Patrick.  She is so great for him.  

Though we don't get to see them nearly as often as we would like, we're grateful for the opportunities we do get to see them. 

Happy Birthday, sweet Hannah!  We love you!

***edited to add***

  I guess my blog is on Pacific time because it marks this post on Sunday still.  Yay...guess I made it in time.  :-)

Hope and Barry Visit

Brandon's parents, Hope and Barry, came to visit this week.  They were in Albuquerque for a bowling tournament and were able to drive down and spend a few days in our little piece of the desert. 

We had a great time with them.  They are always so easy and fun to be around.  We ate a lot, shopped, blew lots of bubbles, and played several games of Cribbage.  We even made a trip to White Sands National Monument...a trip that ended unfortunately with us eating in the car due to a windstorm pelting the beautiful white sand in our food and faces.  It was still a good time nonetheless.  

We love having family visit...especially since we probably won't be making our annual summer trips out their way.  Thanks so much, you guys, for a wonderful visit.  

WE LOVE YOU!