Christmas

Christmas was a blast this year.

James and I visited family in Utah early in the month.

We visited Santa and rode his reindeer carousel. 

We dressed up as shepherds

We had a wonderful Christmas morning and day; opening presents, eating good food and going to the park.

Merry Christmas!

It's About Time

I had almost complete forgot about this little blog, until the other day Sam emailed me the link with the subject of, "memory lane." As I scanned through my older post I was sad that I don't have a good record of the past several months, so I'm back on it.

This summer flew by with a trip to Lake Powell, followed by a couple weeks in Logan. I said good bye to my sister as she left for the Santa Rosa, California Mission. I then drove back to Dallas with my sweet mother who agreed to make the drive with me. It was my first time ever hauling a trailer and I have to say Sam (and my father-in-law) would have been proud at my mad backing skills displayed at the Ramada, in Santa Fe.

Things slowed down back in Texas, as I was really sick most of July and August. I think this is where James developed is love of Milo and Otis, as on bad days it was not unusual for him to watch it a few times a day. Yet, now the sickness is over and the heat has subsided in Texas and everyone is feeling great.

The end of August we made the drive to Destin, Florida where we met up with the Salmon crew for a fantastic family reunion. Filled with the beach, great food and great company it will be a family reunion never to be forgotten. While there us Lee's were able to visit the grave site of a few amazing ancestors, who showed great faith in joining the church and giving up comforts to live the gospel. It was a special feeling to visit there resting places.

We have a sweet baby girl coming to our family the end of February and I could not be more excited. James is clueless. He seems to be growing up so fast!

Family Time

Sam took our family to the Dallas Arboretum a few weeks ago. It was so fun to see all the flowers in bloom, along with all the fifteen year olds in their quinceanera garb. James was loving the grass. The grass in Dallas is pretty much just green weeds all mowed to look like grass, but the arboretum had genuine Kentucky blue.

James turned one. I can't believe it. He is such a joy and everyday we are so grateful he is apart of our family.  We had a low key birthday celebration for our boy. We decided to go with kid classics for our menu: homemade mini corns dog and mac and cheese. I think we enjoyed more than James. 

Sam finished school last summer but commencement is only held in the spring, so we decided to surprise everyone and go to Utah. It was so fun to visit with family. I always get emotional at graduations, and it was special to see my love walk the stage. 

Brian and MJ came out from New York the same weekend so my entire family was together. We got some family photo which if you click here you can see on Mary-Jane blog. 

James got a second birthday party at the Powells and we had so much fun playing with his cousins. Sadly I was slacking on the picture taking, but I got a few from our trip to the Tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point. 

Can't wait until our next visit home!

March

March was a month full of fun. My sister came to visit during her spring break. Sam was in Utah for a conference so is was a girl party everyday. We went to the Forth Worth Zoo, on what I think was the busy day of the whole year. It was half price Wednesday and spring break for all the schools.

You can see cars lined up to enter the parking lot.

This is the line to get in, if you can call it a line. 

It was so warm we went swimming, but the water was freezing so we didn't dare leave the stairs.  James loved it!

James had so much fun with his Auntie. We will miss her while is she is serving her mission.

For Easter weekend we made the 16 hour drive to Boone NC, where Sam's older brother Nate and his family are living while Nate attends Appalachian State University. They blessed their little baby boy Owen on Easter Sunday. It was so nice to be there and share the day with them.

Tons of people in the Boone ward were commenting on how Morgan and James looked so similar. I had never thought that before. 

Gary and Andrea, Sam's parents, made the trip to Boone as well. It was nice to see them and spend some much needed time together.  Grandma and Grandpa were loving baby duty.

Discovering Dallas

My mom came to visit us, we had a bast.

We went to the swings.

James got tired so he rested his ear on the edge of the swing. 

We went to the Dallas Art Museum. 

It was a great museum. It had a little bit of everything; ancient, classic, modern, and my favorite home furnishings.

We went to an old drug store that had a diner inside.

We got there just before the diner was closing and they were so nice to serve us. 

We went to the Dallas Zoo.

You can see James little face poking out from behind the gorilla.

This is the same monorail that two days later broke down and all the riders had to berescued by the fire department. I just wonder which animal enclosure they had to get off in. 

There were a tone of people who had paid for "giraffe food" trying to get the giraffes to come close to them with little success. We walked over to the other side and a friendly giraffe came right over to us. You can see the progression and just how close he came to us. 

And we played.

Thanks for coming and visiting Grandma Lee we had so much fun!

Birthday Wishes

Yesterday was my mom birthday so James and I decided to give her some warm wishes. Between eating grass, crawling away, dropping his hat, eating the poster, being distracted by dog barks and car engines, we manage to get one good picture. We both had to take a nap after.

Happy birthday mom, thanks for all the many things you have done for me and continue to do.