Baby Ella

I have a new niece and my sister, Melissa and her husband, Walter have a beautiful daughter! That's right, folks - there is an actual baby girl in our family now!! She is precious and round and pink and I love her!

I am pleased to introduce to you (drumroll, please) ...Baby Ella!

I'm thinking she favors her Aunt Stephanie. Maybe?
Oh, all right. She looks like her mommy(who incidentally looks a lot like me - I'm just sayin').

Check out the look of adoration my niece is giving me!
Don't laugh, she's very advanced for her age (which is 12 hours old right now!).




Sweet! Here's the happy Mommy and her baby girl!




Hayden (the big brother) is giving Ella her first doll!





Nana is holding Hayden while he is checking out his new sister.
Shortly after this picture was taken, Ella began to cry. Without missing a beat, Hayden leaned in to ask, "You need a paci?".





The proud big brother!




Sleep tight, Baby Ella!
Aunt Stephanie will be back tomorrow with her camera!

Yikes!

I received an email yesterday from a neighbor warning of a bear sighting on the road that runs behind our house. A 400 pound bear. Near my house.

So this is what I've been seeing in my mind ever since...


I sure do love living in the mountains!!

Blake

This is my cousin Blake. He looks very serious in this photo, but he is one of the sweetest kids I know. I babysat him and went to his t-ball games and I've watched him grow up into this handsome soldier (I'm the oldest grandchild and he is the youngest).

Blake is headed to Afghanistan now. He'll be caring for the wounded and being the compassionate, sweet guy he has always been. I am proud to know him and proud of the serious work that he will be doing.

I am praying for him, and I would appreciate your prayers, too.

Prom Night

A little over 16 years ago, Kevin and I attended our first prom together. We were so lame.

Here's evidence of that...





Yes, my dress is completely made of sequined fish. Not sure what I was thinking, but I LOVED it at the time!

This past weekend, we got to see, firsthand, just how lame we really were. We went to the Grove Park Inn to see our babysitter extraordinaire, Sarah, with all of her friends as they had their pictures made for the prom. I have to say that I loved seeing all of the girls in their beautiful dresses and watching the boys trying to act comfortable in tuxedos! It really took us back to the days that we were cheesing for pictures before the big dance. Ahh...memories!

Davis and Sarah

Sarah and her date, Dale.

Sarah and her pretty friends. They had planned to wear black Converse sneakers with their dresses, but I think that the Moms intervened at the last minute. They were all stunning and tall in their heels!

Tried to get Drew to smile the entire night, but I think that he was nervous about being around the big kids. His way of acting cool was to roll his eyes and refuse to smile in pictures!

Rocking on the porch at the Grove Park.
Davis is making, what he calls, his "precious face". Lord help his prom date one day!

Sarah and the boys.

Thanks for including us in your big day, Sarah!