Yes, we are still alive!

As you may have noticed, we have been neglecting our blog lately. I can't believe I've let a whole month go by. That means I have a few entries to catch up on.


The biggest and funnest thing we had going on recently was, of course, our Thanksgiving weekend. Since we knew we couldn't leave Provo this time, we were fortunate to have some family come to us (I think it was Megan's great idea...Thank you, Megan!). Mom and Dad Brown and Mark came out from Washington (State) and Angelene came out from Maryland. It was so much fun being able to have them around, and very much a godsend as well.

Matt has taken on a second job in the past couple months as a mentor for troubled teens. He likes it fairly well, but the hours are a bit demanding. Vanessa and I only get to see him Monday and Friday nights, Saturday mornings and a variable amount on Sunday. Despite not seeing each other much, it has been a blessing to us. It is, however, a bit more lonely these days here at home.

I mention this to show how wonderful it was to get to be around so much family while we've still been adjusting to this new schedule. I realized how lonely I had been. It was wonderful to have my sister to hang out with each day as well as my wonderful in-laws who have become as dear to me as my own family. And, despite his schedule, Matt did get to enjoy being around the family a bit, too. Thank goodness for holidays!


So, to catch up on our holidays, I put a few pictures up. Some are just Vanessa, but some are from our Thanksgiving dinner. (By the way, the first one is just typical Vanessa. She has shifted from just being a thumb-sucker, to one who plays with her belly button and sucks her thumb).




During the holiday weekend, Vanessa got sick with a viral infection which gave her pretty bad stomach cramps. Again it was nice to have family around when Matt had to work, because Vanessa needed a blessing, and her "Ma-ga" and "Uncle J" were able to give her a blessing, and everyone came with us to urgent care that night. Thank you for being there!


Grandpa also did a good job being Vanessa's cuddle buddy when Daddy had to be gone. Don't they look so sweet snuggled up together?



Right after everyone hopped back on their planes for home, we got our first snow. Since last year Vanessa was too little, this was her first real experience with "no" (She always leaves off the "s"). I was so excited to show her so I bundled her up and we went outside. She thought it was pretty neat, but kept walking around the snow and never touching it (they had just shoveled the walkways). So I had this bright idea to hold her hand and "lead" her into the snow...





...but one step and she fell right in it, face first. (I wiped the snow off her face before taking this picture). Needless to say, that was the end of our snow excursion. I keep hoping it will snow again so I can get second chance to convince her it really is fun. At least she still likes looking at snow.