Night out with the cousins

It is a new tradition, a night out with our cousins:) Mom and Aunt Sue were our babysitting warriors so BK, Wayne, Erin and I could bond with the cousins baby free. We met at Erin and Wayne's (new home) for appitizers and then went bowling. It was a fabulous evening. I am so grateful for cousins, and siblings that I can call friends. Here are some great pics from the evening.

Guilfoil Girls minus Julie (we missed you Julie)

Rebecca and Katie

Who is a better bowler?

Secrets with Ame are fun!

Dave introduces his new girlfriend Erin (she is fun)

Erin and Wayne share some love

Christmas

I can't remember a year I have ever been more excited for Christmas. I knew Quint would be so excited to open presents:) I wish he could grasp the whole meaning of Christmas but that will come in time. For now, it is fun to spoil him...or watch Aunt Rebecca, Grammy and Papa spoil him! As always it was a very festive Taylor Christmas! I was spoiled too, but like usually Rebecca surprised me the most with a remote car starter. When it is zero, I have to warm the car up for a long time before driving, so I always have to run out and freeze my booty off starting the car...not anymore!!!!

A Long Trip to NY

BK and I had a bad feeling about our drive to my parents for Christmas from the beginning. We even had Chuck checked out before the drive just for peace of mind. Monday night we loaded up and headed out. The trip should have taken 13 hours. Lets just say, we made it safely, but that was the best part. Here is our trip in a nutshell

20 hours

4 gas ups

10 episodes of Veggie Tales

1 patch of black ice

1 spinning car

1 crash into the guard rail

0 the number of seconds it takes for me to feel like we were going to die

1 semi truck with flashers on coming straight at us!

2 cop cars

10 dollars for rope to tie done the hood

2 hours in McDonalds decompressing and waiting for the sun to come up (no more driving in the dark!)

40 (the mph I would let BK drive after the accident)

4 safe family members

600-1000 the quote to fix Chuck so we can drive him home

It was traumatic! I am convinced I am not meant to live where their is ice and snow! Praise God for protection, it could have been so much worse. We are especially thankful this Christmas season.

Below Zero

Today the temperature never got above zero! Just in case you are wondering that is Fahrenheit:) It hovered between -5 and warmed up to -1 but tonight it is supposed to bottom out at a toasty -15! That is without the windchill. We decided to stay inside in our warm apartment all day. The snow is gorgeous, but we are dreaming of warm, sunny California winters:)

So Sad.

What a waste.
Beautiful beachcruisers covered in snow.
We can not wait till we can ride these again year-round!

By the way, in Iowa City yesterday the high was 10 with a -23 degree windchill!

2nd Lieutenant BK

BK swears in to the National Guard

Signing the papers to make it official

Quint, Russell, and I with our 2nd Lieutenant!

This has been in the works since we called to inquire over the summer when we were still living in NY. We researched and read everything thoroughly and we feel it is a win-win. BK is so excited to be a part of the military, where he will learn to shoot guns and lots of other cool skills. He is also excited to work with such an amazing patient population when he is officially a doctor. I am excited because there is just something about a men in uniform:) We are so grateful that it pays for most of medical school, what a tremendous blessing. Thank you so much to Kathy our fantastic recruiter who did so much work to get BK in the ASR program.

Russell is 6 months!

Russell has stolen our hearts. He is 6 months today. Here are a few things that we love about him at this age:

1. He is our rolie-polie. He doesn't crawl but if you look away for a few minutes he will be across the room. He pivots on his belly and rolls to where he wants to go. It is so funny because Quint rolled a few times to prove he could do it, but then decided to crawl. But, Russell seems to love to roll!

2. When you carry him he nuzzles right into your neck, wraps his arm around your neck, and holds on tight. It is so cuddly. I hope he never stops hugging like that.

3. He is a little chatter box. He is constantly cooing and exploring his voice, and laughing. It is so cute.

4. He is a social butterfly. He loves people, especially people who give him attention.

5.He is our baby giant. He is 97% for length and wears 18 month clothes:) Maybe he will be taller than BK someday.

6. He is so mellow. Loves to play, eat and sleep. If he is crying it is probably because he wants more attention:) He also just started sleeping 12 hours at night! Hopefully he will keep it up:)

He is a fabulous addition to our family. Watching him grow and change is such an amazing experience. We are bursting with love for our little Russ Rob.

Christmas is coming!

We took time to set our our trusty tree today. Our little tree has been in every apartment with us. Quint was a big helper decorating the tree. Russell and Dad took the pictures;)

Speaking of giving thanks....

How fantastic is this!

If you are wondering why unleaded plus is cheaper it is because it has some ethanol in it which is cheaper I guess. At least in Iowa:)
Either way thank goodness we don't have to sell a kidney to buy gas anymore!