Holiday Pictures!

I look forward to holiday pictures every single year. Tyler and I have done a Christmas card each year since we have been married, and have always had pictures made for the cards. Now that we have Anslee, holiday pictures have become just another way to watch her grow from year to year. What a special and simple tradition that I will always treasure!

Here are some of the holiday pictures that we are not using on the card, but that we took and love anyway. Tyler's cousin Courtney has a nice camera, so while our family got together over the Thanksgiving holidays, she let her brother Trevor use the camera (in her absence) to snap a few shots of us. I think both Trevor and Courtney ought to look into photography. They both take great pictures!







She was not cooperating at this point.









...and I will end this post with a picture of how our photo session started.



Thank you Watson Cousins for your taking the time to take our pictures and for letting us use your super cool camera. We could not love them more!

In Jon's Honor

September 26, 2008 is a day I will absolutely never forget. I do not think there was another day that year I waited for so anxiously.

Why? This was the day Tyler graduated from the Department of Public Safety Trooper Academy.

What a wonderful day it was. It was a day to celebrate and that paved the way for our growing (I was 20 weeks pregnant) family's future. We could not get down to Austin, Texas fast enough to watch Tyler and his entire recruit class receive their Commission from the State.

This was also the day I had the privilege and honor of meeting Laura McDonald.

Laura looked like me (not physically)! She was a young wife of a Trooper-to-be. We both had the excitement in our eyes of getting our husbands back at the end of the day, after 6 long months of being separated from them by the Academy.

I took my seat next to her and immediately we struck up conversation about how excited we were that they day had finally come. See, she had been dealing with all the emotion of being away from her husband in the same way I had been, so even though we had just met, we had something special in common.

I felt like we became instant friends. Her and Jon were stationed in Post, Texas. They went to a station in an area in which they were familiar and were ready to start life as a Trooper and soon to be teacher!

Laura gave birth to sweet Kacyn Shae McDonald 6 months ago. A family of 3!

I kept up with Laura mostly through facebook. I always thought she was the proudest Trooper wife in all of Texas. Jon had a gem of a wife in her, you see, being a Trooper Wife is not an easy task!

This Monday night, at 10:30 pm Jon was tragically killed in a car accident. What was he doing? Serving. He was on duty on his way to a call to take care of wreck. (A situation that is all to routine for me) There is reason to believe that a tire on his car blew out causing him to loose control of his car and hit a covert on the highway sending his patrol car into flames.

Tyler and I could not believe the news when we heard. We immediately went into tears. Yes, we had heard of Troopers loosing their lives in the line of duty. None that Tyler bunked with in the Academy. None that I had meet the family. None that seemed to be just like us.

Tyler said Jon was a good recruit, and therefore made a good solid Troop. Tyler remembers exactly where Jon sat in their classroom during those dreadful 6 months. They did everything in alphabetical order, and McDonald is not too far from Moses.

To the McDonald Family:
We so appreciate the service of Trooper Jonathan McDonald. We know that he was not only a Trooper, but a loving husband and nurturing father to his baby girl. His life will always be remembered with much honor, and our hearts and prayers go out to you.

Being a Trooper family is risky, but I am so very proud to be apart of one. Thank you, Tyler, and Troopers like Jon who do what you do for the safety of the people of Texas.

Click here for the news story on this tragic event.

The Sisters!

People. No one was more shocked than I when I saw my sweet Kensington on the sonogram monitor and she looked like a mini unborn version of her big sister.

I assumed the two would share some similar features. I thought they would resemble each other enough that people would recognize them as siblings.

At this point, I know Kensington is growing bigger and faster than Anslee did. Her movements are stronger and I can feel her from one side of my belly to the other side at the same time. The obvious, of course, is that while my weight gain has been steady and the same as it was with Anslee up to this point, I am much bigger this go around.

So, while the pregnancies have been different, and in some ways the same, I did not expect them to LOOK this much alike.

Here is Anslee at 28 weeks gestation.



Here is Kensignton at 28 weeks gestation.




Sure, there is no way to really be able to compare the two until Kensington gets here, but this is what we have for now, and based off what I see, I think I am in luck for another cute little girl!

Here is a side by side pic. K on the left, A on the right.



What do you think? Do they look alike?!

Whats the Buzz all about?

Anslee of course! In her bumblebee costume for Halloween!

What fun we had dressing up this year! We had 3 opportunities to be a bumblebee this Halloween season.

She wore her costume to Wee Kids the Wednesday before Halloween, when they had their fall festival/carnival for all the little ones. She is so blessed to be able to be apart of such a wonderful Mothers Day Out program. She has grown leaps and bounds by being in the program. They have wonderful directors, teachers, helpers, and classmates! I feel like she is reaping so many benefits from going twice a week.

Here she is wondering why Mommy is hanging around at school.


On their way to the Carnival. They all hold on to the ring to stay in a line whenever they leave the classroom.



Look at what a fun carnival they put on for the kids!



Playing toddler Ski Ball with her buddy, Caleb, who was Santa Clause this year for Halloween!



Enjoying some of the treats they got from the carnival!



Our whole family was able to go the Church wide fall festival the day before Halloween as well. We were so excited that daddy got to join us this year, as last year he had patrol duty! We had a blast and there was a huge turn out this year!



Playing games with Daddy!



They even had a mini bounce house



The First Baptist Church in Coleman, where Tyler's parents attend, also had a Fall Festival that we went too. We had so much fun there too!



She won 1st place in the costume contest!




Next Halloween, I will have an almost 3 year old and an almost 1 year old. Whoa. We have a lot to look forward too in the next year!

Now, on to Thanksgiving where candy is not as big of a deal, but comfort food is!