Christmas 2008

Ok... I can't believe it has been a month since I posted photos! There are so many and so much has happened that I am going to put a link at the bottom of this post so if you so desire to look at all of them you can! I tried to explain what everything was so you get the drift of who and where we are! Here are a couple of photos of Christmas Eve at my mom and dad's house (aka. Nana and Grandpa's) Every year we get new Christmas jammies from Santa Nana. This year Ariana got her first jammies.

Here is a link to our December Photos:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ViewSlideshow.action?&collidparam=51778314303.980091677603.1230701762454

December

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! I was doing good for a while. I am trying to get a handle on using my video camera to take pictures right now. It is actually a great camera but the downloading process takes a lot longer and I am trying to figure out the easy way! My other digital camera has has officially bit the dust! If any of you have seen me take photos with it you will agree that it is time to bury that thing! I will get photos up soon.

We have been SUPER busy this month. I feel like we just got back from our Thanksgiving trip to Missouri but somehow a month went by in a blink of an eye! Some things that we have been doing this month is hosting our first Annual High School Friends Holiday Party at our house! It was a blast!!!! Jen, Melanie, Shana, Talia, and Kya (and their hubby's and kids) came over for a feast! We had what could of been the funniest White Elephant Gift Exchange ever! The rules were that you couldn't buy anything and it was hilarious to see what everyone brought! We also made a quick trip to South Lake Tahoe to meet up with Sean's good friend from back home that now lives in LA. It was fun to get up there and also so crazy to not see any snow! We also have had lots of Holiday Parties, Cookie Baking Extravaganzas, playing with friends and now we are gearing up for a week of Holiday Parties with the family and some close friends!

OH... and our little girl is starting to walk! More pics to come on that in a little bit. If I can get a video on here I will! She has taken about 4-5 steps at a time and is so excited and proud of her new found independence. We are so looking forward to having our first family Christmas at home with her this year!

Happy Holidays!

Ariana's First Thanksgiving

Ariana celebrated her first Thanksgiving in Washingtion, Missouri this year with Sean's family. We did so much and had so much fun I don't know where to begin with our trip. First off Ariana had her own seat on the way to Chicago for our connecting flight to St. Louis. This really helped with us getting a semi break but she was in our laps most of the time. She only slept 30 minutes the entire trip which was crazy!!! We didn't get into St. Louis until almost midnight so it was a LONG day to say the least and mommy and daddy were exhausted! (The flight back was even more crazy because she wanted to be up the entire time. Add that to a full seven days of fun, off schedule, too much sugar, another cold, teething, and we were in the makings for a horrible return flight. Let's just say mommy and daddy agree that we won't be getting on a plane with her anytime soon!)

We celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas while we were there! What a whirlwind it was. We never sat still very long even though we were on vacation!

Enjoying the Annual Washington, MO Holiday Lights Parade

Ariana eating her first Thanksgiving meal

3 out of the 4 cousins posing (and actually looking at the camera)

Our first Thanksgiving as a family of three

The little cousins in their matching outfits

We woke up one morning to it snowing! Ariana was excited!

Hiking to get Aunt Dani and Uncle Tim's tree in the snow!

Playing with Grandad

Getting hot chocolate with Maddie

The Bushmann Family Christmas Tree (a true Griswald moment)

Macy helping select a tree

If you would like to see more photos you can click on this link to view all 133 of them!!!!!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ViewSlideshow.action?&collidparam=51778314303.678018386603.1228776600721

I hate high heels

I should clarify, I like the look of high heels but I hate wearing them. I am always so uncomfortable, I always end up taking them off when I do wear them, so why should I even wear them anymore??!!! Well... see the post below from the Dallas Hextell Foundation Launch Party. It was a great party. See my cute gold shirt, well I have these cute gold heels that matched them and thought, what the heck, it is the holidays, I should wear them. (Side Note: My feet grew half a size when I was pregnant with Ariana and I haven't replaced any of my heels because, why should I, I never wear them.) So when I tried on my gold heels they were a little tight but I thought, it won't matter, I will be sitting most of the time and they were cute. Well as a result I ended up with a stress fracture in my left foot. Not worth it if you ask me!!!! Now I am sporting this lovely black boot for the next four weeks and can't exercise or do anything! I am happy to report that it feels much better with the boot on. I have already been able to figure out how to hobble up the stairs with Ariana in one arm.

The even crazier part of the story is my sister, Kathy, has a stress fracture too in her right foot!!!! What are the chances of that???? Hers is from running in a bad pair of running shoes!!! I will post of pic of our matching boots soon!

Dallas Hextell Foundation Launch Party

We had the pleasure of attending the Dallas Hextell Foundation Launch Party at Mason's last night. Not only was it a great night out with our wonderful friends it was for a great cause. I won't even attempt to try and tell their story but I strongly encourage you to read their story at http://www.dallashextellfoundation.org/. I can't even do it justice. It is truly an amazing journey for this little boy that was born with cerebral palsy. Dallas' mom, Cynthia, is my hair stylist and I have seen and listened to his story for the last year and a half. Because Derak and Cynthia decided to bank Dallas' cord blood at birth they were able to change his life. It is because of them that we banked Ariana's cord blood at birth (with the hopes of never having to use it but... ) but we would have never really given it a second thought had I not known Cynthia. If you are an expecting mom or plan on having more children please consider it. It is like an insurance policy on your children. I encourage you to talk to your doctor's about it too. It was very informative for Sean and I before we had Ariana.

Dallas got to come to the party for a while! He was such a cutie walking all over. Something that he couldn't do a while ago!!

Cynthia, Jen, and I (resting our feet... who invented heels?)

Derak and Cynthia

Daddy and his boy

Me and Jen

Play Date with Trent Smiley

During our stay in San Jose we were able to get together with Trent for a play date. Trent's mommy, Celeste, and I were college roomies! Trent is almost a year older than Ariana but they had fun with all of his toys!!! This was our best attempt at getting them to look at the camera and smile!!! Trent is a cutie!!!

Trent was nice enough to let Ariana play with his Elmo.

This is Ariana giving "hugs" (she loves giving hugs and kisses now!)

Stanford and Coffeecake

Ariana and I decided to head to San Jose/Palo Alto this week to hang out with daddy who is working here for the week. So we have set up house in a 1 bedroom/1 loft/2 bath place about 3 miles from Stanford University. It is kinda fun being on the road with daddy... well at least for a few days. Today Ariana and I decided to get out daddy's hair so he could make some calls between meetings so we headed towards Stanford. We saw the stadium and part of campus and then stopped for a little shopping and shared some coffeecake. We had fun on our little adventure and she even scored her very first pair of puma running shoes for our big trip back to St. Louis next week. Her other shoes are finally too small!

Enjoying the fall air

Ariana's 9 Month Professional Pictures

I promised to post some of Ariana's professional photo shoot...so here you go! We are very happy with them! If you would like to view all of them here is the link:

http://capturedbyjoelle.smugmug.com/gallery/6515156_HrjsR/1/413960795_pdy2R

Password: cramsey2008

A Night in San Francisco

Saturday I drove into San Francisco to hang out with 3 out of the 5 college roommates from Cal Poly! Amy lives in the city, Samira flew up from LA, and Celeste drove up from San Jose. It was so much fun, it always is when we get together. This weekend was extra special because we got to meet Amy's new man. He is so nice and it was great to meet him! We spent the day walking around the boutique shops and then headed to Sushi for dinner! Samira's sister lives in the city now too and it was her birthday so we celebrated that as well! So much to celebrate plus I got the night off! Daddy stayed home with Ariana and they had a blast too! Oh and did I mention how HOT it was in San Francisco. Those two words usually never go in the same sentence but we are having some kind of warm trend... It was a gorgeous weekend in the city!

I love these girls!! We don't see each other enough! We missed Summer and Kristy though!

From Left to Right (Me, Samira, Amy, and Celeste)

Ariana's First High School Football Game

Tonight we headed to Ariana's first High School Football game. Our neighbor's have 4 boys AND all of them play football!!! The oldest boy is on the Freshman team for our local high school and he is doing so well this year that they are moving him up to Varsity. His parents, and our wonderful neighbors, invited a bunch of us out tonight to see him play his last Freshman game!! He did awesome!!! Ariana loved it of course, staring at all the people, loved the big lights, was passed around to everyone!! We were so happy to get out of the house. Ariana got sick over the weekend and then passed it to me, so between her and I, we haven't been out of the house since Sunday.... We aren't 100% but we had to get out of the house!!! Besides the game today we headed out to run errands (so exciting to just go somewhere), stopped in a Christmas store that Ariana went crazy in (she loves the holiday lights and Christmas trees), went to Elk Grove to take professional pictures with her 5 other cousins (I will post those soon..so cute....), and then back to the game. Nana also came over yesterday to keep us company and we decided to make banana bread and pumpkin bread! I feel the Christmas season in the air!

Last time I was at a High School Football game was probably when I was in high school.

Inderkum VS. Natomas High
She made her own little bench and was so proud

Our neighbor, Melissa, proud mother of 4 boys! She loved having Ariana sit on her lap!

Wine Tasting in Amador County

What a beautiful day to go wine tasting in the foothills! We celebrated our good friend, Jason's, 30th Birthday today by going to brunch at a yummy place and then headed to Amador County to go wine tasting for the day. My wonderful husband ended up staying back with my little Ariana who wasn't feeling so well this morning. She was all set to spend the day with Auntie and go to a birthday party but woke up with a runny nose and not feeling so hot. So my wonderful hubby stayed back with her so I could go and enjoy the day!! Thank you!!! It was so much fun....

The birthday boy and his wife, Melanie (they were married just a month ago!)

My two best buds... Jen and Melanie

Our limo ride (thanks Melanie!!) with Jen Scott and Melanie

9 Month Professional Pictures

Coming soon.... I don't have have any pictures to post just yet but we had a great session at the park today with Joelle of Captured by Joelle. She took some family photos of the three of us and then some of Miss Ariana all by herself. Ariana loves the camera and was a true model!!! I can't wait to see the final product. Until then you can check her blog for a sneak peak (should be up in the next couple of days.) I will of course put them on our blog as soon as I get any of them!!! Stay tuned!!! http://joellesphotojournal.blogspot.com/

I am pulling my hair out!

We had a play date yesterday with our friends Norah and Natalie. Norah is the one who has that amazing hair and is only a week younger than Ariana. I thought I was the only one jealous about her hair, but it seems my daughter is too. I didn't get a great photo of her pulling on Norah's hair like 100 times because I was trying to get her not to hurt little Norah.

They had fun until....

Ariana saw her hair....

They did pretty good at sharing... and overall had a great time.

Then we went home and all she did the rest of the day was try and pull her own hair out! This was the outcome at the end of the night. I told her not to pull her hair out because as you can see, she doesn't have much to pull!!