Our Energizer Bunny

When I was little and we were being rowdy at my Nana's house, she'd send us outside to run around the house. Carl and I came up with a new version of wearing Kaylee out:

Christmas in our new home

This Christmas Carl, Kaylee and I are extremely happy and blessed to have a home to call our own! It was a long, frustrating process, but right before Thanksgiving we finally closed. We love our house and have discovered we couldn't have bought in a better area. Our neighbors are so nice and giving.

A week ago I got in a car accident, so our Christmas preparations didn't go as planned. I have bulging disks in my lower neck that cause a LOT of pain, and weakness in my arms. I can't drive because I'm on pain medication, so my normal shopping didn't happen. Kaylee was supposed to be at her dads this year, but it didn't work out, so we got to have her with us! I was excited, but sad because I hadn't made my normal preparations. Carl was nice enough to take me shopping one night, but I had a two hour time limit of being out of the house. Luckily, we got everything bought and home in that time frame!

Being in pain and not able to do the normal material things I usually do has helped me to focus more on the spirit of the holiday. It's hard to feel thankful when I'm in so much pain, but I am very thankful that the accident wasn't worse than it was. And having Carl here to help out, well I can't even imagine going through this without him. He's taken over doing everything, even feeding our pets! Tonight my parents came over for dinner and he did all the cooking and cleaning. And the turkey - AMAZING!! It was so juicy and had the best flavor. I am SO grateful I married someone who loves to cook and is so good at it!

I recently got an iphone, so for Christmas I gave Kaylee my ipod. To say she was excited to get it would be an understatement. Aside from the ipod she got a Zhu Zhu pet, 2 Barbies and a Barbie Horse, Pixos and a ton of clothes. But, this morning you would have thought all she got was an ipod...

And this is one of my favorite pictures of her...


Later she did decide to see what the rest of her presents were... the ZhuZhu pet was a huge hit!



Merry Christmas everyone!

Girls night, gliders & School pic

Where do I start? Kaylee absolutely loves hanging out and playing with Carl, but lately she's been wanting "Mommy & Kaylee time" without Carl around. Tonight, we went out dinner and came home and did "Girly" things. She took a shower, then I gave her a manicure & pedicure and dried and styled her hair. She was one happy little girl when we were done!

Here's a pic of her mid-girly night:

Next up, for Carls birthday I bought him two sugar gliders. I'm allergic to dogs and he's not a fan of cats, so we compromised on these two girls which we named Saba and Kita:

They're not rodents, they're marsupials! Okay, they still look like rodents though LOL! They are the cutest little things, but take a TON of work. We really didn't know what we were getting ourselves into before we got these girls. They require a specific diet that has to be prepared each night for them.

Once gliders are bonded to their owners, they'll go everywhere with them. But, we didn't buy our girls from a breeder, we bought them from a pet store. So, it's taking some time to get them to bond with us. Below are some pics of me feeding them yogurt on a cocktail stirrer. The cocktail stick is necessary because the first time I fed them yogurt from my hand, I got a huge bite! They're warming up to us and even let us pet them tonight :)

Finally, Kaylee got her school pictures back! I am so proud of her, she actually smiled for a picture!

Still alive...

I have been quiet for a while, but we are still around. We recently bought our first home and are loving it! It will be nice when we're all unpacked and can come home at night and relax, but with us both working full time that's a slow process.

My favorite thing about having a house is all the space! Thankfully Kaylee has outgrown her hiding stage. There's been a few times I've gone looking for her because she's been so quiet that I had no idea where she was. She's enjoying exploring all the rooms and making forts wherever she goes.

When we're moved in and the siding is done on the outside of the house we'll post pictures of our new home :)

First Day of Kindergarten

Kaylee officially took the next step in growing up today - she started kindergarten. We went shopping for clothes last week and it was the first time she let me have NO say in what she wanted to wear. That was a really hard one for me. I've been having fun buying clothes for my girl for the past 6 years. Now suddenly, it seems overnight, she knows what she wants to wear and picks out her own clothes. As she was trying the clothes on, I teared up, my little baby in pink and purple fleece is all gone - now she's wearing shirts with leapard print scarves!!

Mommy, would you hurry up! I'm ready to go to school!!:

Kaylee and Matthew:

Not too sure how she's feeling about all these kids and going to school:

Now she's happy again...

Or at least pretending to be LOL!!

When it was time to say goodbye and go get in line with the rest of her class (this picture just breaks my heart!!) Luckily after this she cheered up

The teacher takes a rope down the line and gets all the kids to hold onto it as they walk to class

She really was happy at this point, until I got the camera out. For some reason she doesn't like as many pictures taken as Mommy wants to take!

I am having mixed emotions on this milestone. I am so proud of Kaylee and the person she's becoming. She is smart, happy and outgoing. But, I miss my little cuddlebug too. Thankfully she still likes it when I want to rock her and sing to her at night before bed.

Blessings

Carl Schaible

Alison Schaible

A few months ago I was talking to Amber about trials we go through in life. I had decided that it was my lot in life to go through things alone. I had a career, was working towards buying a house on my own and was pretty happy with my life. Going to church alone wasn't my favorite thing, but it was better than not going at all. Of course I wanted to get married again, but I'd given up on the hope that there was someone out there compatible with me. I thought I'd have to settle if I wanted to be married. So, I'd decided that I'd be happy with my life the way it was and I really was!

Little did I know what Heavenly Father had in store for me. It wasn't long after having that talk with Amber that I met Carl. Tall, dark and handsome, good career, great sense of humor and very patient. For the first month we were dating I was just waiting for something to happen, I thought he was too good to be true.

Every day since we got married I've woken up feeling overwhelmed by how blessed I am. Just when I'd decided that being single was my lot in life and coming to terms with that, here comes this amazing man who swept me off my feet.

It just goes to show that you never know when the next twist in your road will come!

Wedding Pictures

We got our wedding pictures back today! Here are some of our favorites:

Judge Kennedy did a beautiful ceremony

And to answer those of you who've asked me if we really wore sandals to the wedding:

The photographer who did the pictures for our wedding was absolutely amazing! If you're interested in finding out more about his work, go to his website: http://www.jameserickphotography.com/