New Year's Eve

This is us deciding to join in the game of Apples to Apples. I highly recommend it, skeptical at first but ended up having a great time. Our friends Ursula and Paul opened their home to us churchies, kids and all (but Tayla stayed with G&G Thorn). It was great fun with more food than was necassary but an adequate amount of "New Years" beverages :). We played with my friends Angie (pastor's wife), her nephew Levi (who totally rocked and beat the pants off us adults)and her son Knox, Julie, her parents, and Ursula (but she was taking the picture). Fun times, we are so thankful for our new church The Vine (offshoot of Mars Hill, and an Acts 29 network church) and our awesome friends! Happy New Year!

Darik and Tracy on Christmas

We started a new tradition this year that who-ever handed out presents had to wear the Santa hat. Tayla was kind enough to take a nap for most of the gift opening which made for a relaxing morning. We headed to the cabin for the rest of the holiday weekend since Darik got to feeling a bit better. Merry Christmas!

My 1st Christmas

Tayla get's a drum. Although it looks as though she was interested she wasn't too into Christmas. Even the paper and bows didn't occupy her very long, but she did enjoy her new toys once we got them home.

Christmas Morning 2005

We spent Christmas Eve with Tracy's extended family at the Thorn's house and went back in the morning for a quiet morning with the immediate family. First we went to church and then made a stop at Grandma and Grandpa DenHerder's where Tayla got to open a few presents like the coat and walker she poses with here.

Bow-head

I've got bows on my head, but don't call me a bow-head! (andy melanakis, via MTV)

The Family

It was hard to get a pic of the family this Christmas because Darik was very sick. He has gotten pretty run down working 12 hour days on little sleep. He finally put in his two week notice at Starbucks on 1/6, yeah! He will be able to join the land of the living and kick all the sickies once and for all!

Mommy and Me

I love my baby!

4 Kids on a Couch

The older cousin's Kaylee and Kameron (Erin's older children) decided to give the babies some attention. Tayla loved watching them run around all night!

More Cousin's!

Finally, some Christmas pic's! Tayla Rae (10 months) and her second-cousin Peyton (6 1/2 months) were able to enjoy each-other's company this Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. Erin has two older kids, too, I'm trying my best to get caught up!

Santa is Scary!

What a picture! Tayla was not thrilled with her visit to Santa but we found the picture hilarious! Better luck next year...

It's Snowing

We had November snow this year, so I couldn't resist taking Blue and Tayla to the dog park to enjoy the snow coming down! It's a good thing I did because after only a couple days of snow it all dissapeared! Hopefully we'll get more later this season, until then at least we have to pic's!

My First Walking Shoes!

Tayla got her first pair of Stride-Rite's! She is a week away from 9 months and growing like a weed! She is cruising the furniture and working on standing all alone. It won't be long before she's taking her first steps. She crawls like a maniac when she needs to get somewhere in a hurry but enjoys practicing her standing the most. This is such a fun age, we are really enjoying our happy little girl!

Snow Baby!

We made the most of a free weekend and snow in the passes and headed up to "Snow-qualmie". This is Tayla's first encounter with the fluffy stuff and she seemed to enjoy herself but was happiest when she got to eat it.

Need a Lift?

Hyak wasn't open yet so the lifts weren't moving, which made for fun picture time! Blue loves the snow, he runs around licking the snow as he goes! It's quite comical! It takes a lot to get him to stop running around when he gets in his snow frenzy.

Mom and Tayla

Here Kitty, Kitty

Tayla was a kitty-cat for halloween this year! We found this little outfit at a second-hand store for about 3 bucks! What a steal! It even had a sound chip in the kitty face that meow-ed when it was pushed, how cute! Tayla didn't trick-or-treat but we went out to eat with Grandma and Grandpa Thorn at Fatburger so she could show off her outfit.

Happy Halloween!

Tayla was not too sure about having make-up on her face so most of it came off before she ever left the house!

7 1/2 Months!

Although as I am posting this she is going on 8 1/2 months! But at least I'm getting up to date finally. She is our little climber now, she can climb all the way up the stairs but not down! She pulls up on everything and crawls like a maniac. She started crawling at 6 1/2 months which amazed us, we quickly had to start child-proofing! She is finally getting some consonants, she uses "d", "g", "k" and "b", every now and then I hear a "m". She actually uses these sounds appropriately, too! "Ra" for Ralphie, "Ki" for kitty, "Ga" for Grandma and Grandpa and so on.... We know it won't be long before we get a true word! Her newest thing is raising her hands above her head when asked "How big is Tayla?". So cute!

Palm Springs, CA!

Hooray for vacations! With all the job craziness we were in need of some sunny destressing! Lucky for us my mom and dad invited us to join them in Palm Springs. Greg and Holly(my bro' and sis-in-law) joined us from LA for the weekend which was fun. Darik had an interview so he met us down there a few days late but still got a good 5 days. Tayla taught herself to pull-up on the bathtub on this trip and now is unstoppable. We had a wonderful week and came back refreshed!

Mommy and Me (again)

I'm not so camera-shy now that I've got my Tayla-Rae. I love posing for pic's with my girl! Here we are at some supposedly cool historic lookout, we weren't overly impressed but it was sunny and warm and that's really all that matters! And yes, I cut my hair and lightened it up. I'm not at all in love with it so it's brown again now and in the process of growing (isn't it always?). Feel free to email frequetly reminding me that I satisfied my curiosity and to never do it again.