What a delight

Ok so I know I have been very bad about posting blogs but today I realized I was going about it the wrong way, I don't need to update it and write everything down and make a big deal. I am going to treat it more like a daily journal to my friends and family. And this starts today.

I just want to say tonight was such a delightful surprise, David and I were sitting around thinking about what we were going to do and decided to call our friend Jane who is facing some challenges right now and invite her over for dinner. It was wonderful, uplifting and a pure delight. An evening filled with good food, drink and stories always puts a smile on my face and my heart.

The Past Year = A Whirl Wind

I can't believe what has happened this past year, or even two years. August of 2010 David and I had just decided that he would go to graduate school for his masters in fine arts and then we learned we were pregnant leading us to believe our lives would change; however it is very difficult to image how much your life will change.

We decided to go into this completely open minded and faithful, knowing the lord would lead us where he wanted us to be, and he waited until after we had Emmett in April 2011, to let us know that Arizona State University would be the best place for David, almost as far from our parents as we could get while staying in the same country, with of course a brand new baby. But we believed that this would be a great adventure and we were both excited and anxious.

Taking time off to introduce Emmett to friends and family across the U.S. on our way to Arizona we enjoyed seeing our so many things, relaxing, preparing for the change in culture and work and play. Arriving in Arizona in August, 110 degrees most days, was a rude awakening however David's new professors, my new coworkers and Emmett's daycare staff all welcomed us with open arms and made us feel at home right from the start.

Over the past nine months life continues to change as we progress in our work here and Emmett changes everyday, now walking and evening climbing, we are so blessed to have a new place for all of us to explore. We will admit that we miss our families and friends daily but having our own space to form our own family unit has also been such a blessing.

As Emmett's first birthday approached I was a bit nervous to celebrate this huge event with new friends, mostly nervous that no one would show up to drink and be merry with us as we acknowledged that all of us (David, Emmett and myself) made it through the first year without any major scares. But as the party began I realized that we were forming a family far from our blood family and it made me so happy to share this time with them.






We still are loving when family and friends from home come to visit and when we get a chance to catch up in person. We hope that over the next couple years while we are here we can share this amazing place with everyone who can make it out here. And we want to thank you all for always being supportive, thinking and praying for us, sending us wonderful messages, emails, letters, and gifts. It is hard to be so far away but we are doing it with pizzazz, or at least I believe so.

Ultimate Relaxation

                       Emmett perfecting relaxing in his swing (sorry it's so blurry in the beginning)

The mornings here are bliss. The birds chirping, Emmett's little voice gabbing as he plays with Olive, a cool breeze. I love getting up early and sitting in the backyard when it's like this, I think we all do. It brings us such peace, joy and wonderful quiet time for us.

Josh and Paige come to Arizona

It was so wonderful to have our good friends, Josh and Paige visit during the holidays. Coming for a week they spent the weekends with us and went up north to Sedona and the Grand Canyon. It was refreshing for us to have familiar faces in our home and

tohave time to catch up. Just look at all the fun we had here in sunny Arizona! In the middle of December it was in the 70s and sunny. Take note of this all you northeastern friends! If you come down to visit us you could get a tan. Paige and Josh did. We took Paige and Josh to Tortilla flat and on a hike up the Boulder Canyon trail in the Superstition Wilderness.

It was a blast, except for the fact that Olive stepped on a cactus. Then, in the process of biting the cactus spikes out of her paw, she got them stuck in her tongue. Cactus spikes in the tongue! Can you believe it? We had to perform a trailside surgery on her tongue and paw to remove the spikes, during which Alison got a spike in the thumb. I bravely pulled the spike out of Alison's thumb and Olive's tongue. All was well capping a super fun visit from our friends up north.

We are starting a band based on the visit. This is our album cover art for our first release titled "Cactus Rising." Look for it this spring.

Emmett and Alison's Big Adventure

410 miles, leaving during Phoenix rush hour, driving through the desert alone with a 6 monthold and at night, I might be crazy, but despite it sounding crazy it was really great. Emmett and I went to Los Angeles, CA last weekend to visit good friends of David and mine from high school. It was a ton of fun especially since it wascool, foggy and cloudy which we haven't seen since May.

Emmett and I enjoyed Mary and Jesse's hospitality, taking us

down to the beach, up and down Main St in Santa Monica where we enjoyed excellent cappucino and a stroll through UCLA campus where Jesse is studying to get his PhD. We also enjoyed and amazing dinner at a vegan

restaurant in downtown Santa Monica, I believe it was called Real Food Diner (RFD), it was delicious!!!!

Sunday Mary, Emmett and I went down to the Farmer's Market to enjoy some fresh coffee, fresh food, fresh grass and Courtney's company. And then Mary joined us for the drive back to Phoenix which was a great drive and made for a fun week when she was visiting.

Visitors

David, Emmett, Olive and I have had a very busy October with wonderful visits from family and friends. My parents came for about 10 days and despite everyone getting sick except me during
that time we had a wonderful time visiting, hiking, exploring, enjoying the cooler weather and eating. We went north about 2hrs to Payson, AZ which is a beautiful evergreen forest for miles and miles. We also went hiking in Phoenix on South Mountain which is the largest inner citypark in the United States.

The week after my parents left, Wendy was in Scottsdale, AZ for a conference and we were able to get together for dinner one evening and enjoy a local vegan restaurant, Green, near her hotel.

We are hoping next year when she comes for the conference

her and my brother will visit for the weekend.

We then had a wonderful visit from Mary who now lives in LA with our good friend Jesse who happens to be her husband. Emmett and I went to visit them for the weekend in LA. I know I'm sort of crazy driving 400mi through the desert by myself with a 6mo old but it was a great drive, Emmett did awesome and our weekend there was amazing. For the drive home Mary came with us and spent a couple days in Phoenix and then flew back to LA on Wed. I'll post a separate blog for Emmett and my big adventure to LA.

Right now we feel reguvenated from our visits because we miss everyone so much but we are also enjoying our first slow weekend in weeks; Emmett is loving lounging in his early Christmas present from my parents, while we are thoroughly enjoying the cooler weather and being able to be outside with Emmett and Olive.

Best Laugh Ever

We always find a new game to play