Back on the Blogging Horse

Well, we're back from our vacation. We had a great time in Washington, and now we're back to normal life. Alyssa starts school today, but Brian doesn't start until next week. Here's some highlights from our trip (pictures to come soon):

• Brian's sister came to visit from Indiana, so Alyssa was able to hang out with cousins (Amy and Anna) she doesn't get to see very often.
• We went to the cabin after Christmas. The snow was so deep, and I felt like a pioneer woman carrying Marcus through the cold until Brian's dad came to rescue us with a snowmobile.
• The snow wasn't wet enough to make a snowman, so Brian and I tried to build a "makeout house" by digging a hole in the snow. We didn't get it very deep or big, but we used it anyway.
• Marcus was blessed. My mom made his blessing outfit, and we forgot to buy buttons, so she used some from one of my dad's old shirts, and my grandma did the crochet work around the edges of his jacket. How's that for getting the family involved? I wanted it to look like Peter Rabbit's jacket - you'll see when the pictures are put up. It turned out so cute!
  
• We spent New Year's at Mike and Tallia's. Everyone else left early, but we made it to midnight. We celebrated by spilling sparkling cider on the floor when we made toasts. (That was Tallia and Josh, by the way, not the kids)
• We got a new camera, and we're picking it up today. Our camera broke in the hospital when we had Marcus, so we took it in to a shop a few weeks ago to be fixed. Instead of being done in three hours like they said, it took much longer, and they ended up calling us to say that they really broke our camera and were buying us a new one.
• Ethan is now saying "Mama" and "Dada" sometimes, only when he really wants to, and I think he said "yes" this morning. He'll talk someday!