Busy, fun December

December was a busy month for us.  We started out by going to Cincinnati on the 8th.  On the 10th, BethAnne had a minor surgery.  It wasn't supposed to be a big deal but then she got an infection and had other difficult complications which made for a stressful trip at times.  In the end, we spent most of the trip trying to get her better (so some of our other objectives weren't accomplished), but we had some productive conversations with doctors, so that was good.


Even with the complications that BethAnne was having, we tried to do some fun things together.  One day we went to the aquarium.  Each of the girls had their own camera at the Aquarium, so it was fun.  Unfortunately we lost BethAnne's camera in Cincinnati (we think at the Zoo), but it was fun while it lasted.

We went to the Cincinnati Zoo one evening to see their Christmas lights, which were quite cool.   We didn't see many animals, because it was dark, but we got to see the Elephants up close in their house and we got to see a new baby giraffe and his Mom in their house.  I think those are the best animals at the Zoo, so that was cool.

 

Here's a picture of a lights show at the Zoo.  It was coordinated to music and it was really neat.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but you get the idea.  The whole zoo was totally lit up, it was very cool.

Pretty Joy at a parking garage :)

Joy and I went home on the 17th so I could get to a doctor's appointment the next day, but on the 18th Mark and the big girls got to go to the Indianapolis Children's Museum (before they flew home). It's one of our favorite places in the world.  The museum was all decked out for the holidays (above is a life size transformer with a scarf).  There was also a large holiday slide that went from one floor to another and there was an exhibit with life size, street legal hotwheel cars (among many other fun things).  They had an awesome time.

 

A couple days after coming home from Cincinnati we headed to Utah for Rick and Hailey's wedding.  We had a fun time at the reception and the wedding ceremony the next day was beautiful.  We're so happy for Rick and Hailey! 

I love this picture of Carl, he did a great job with the pictures!

Mark took this picture of the cakes.  They turned out so pretty (yay Mom and Lisa!) and so yummy too.  What a great idea!

The beautiful bride and groom!

Then we headed back home to Boise and got ready for Christmas.  We had done most of our preparations before Cincinnati, so that was good.  Mark was a huge help through all the trips and at home so I didn't over-do it.  My blood pressure was a little high at my appointment right after Cincinnati, but I think it's coming down now.  I had an ultrasound at that appointment and the baby looks good and healthy so far.  I'm 11 weeks along now and we are hopeful that everything will keep going well.

Here's our family room after Santa came!

Joy got a rocket and she loves it!
 

A new pony castle!

Entertainer Grace got a microphone

I got Mark and the girls an electronic snap circuit set and it's been a hit.  There are a 300 different projects you can make from lights to microphones to a radio.

Here's happy Joy.  She got an apron from Grandma on Christmas Eve and she didn't take it off for a couple days.  She loves to dress up.  In Cincinnati we didn't have any of her dress up clothes so she insisted on wearing her coat and gloves and hat most of the time (even indoors) and she called herself the pink lady (her coat and hat and gloves are pink).  She's such a sweetie!

So that's our update.  I hope you all had a magical Christmas and that you'll have a wonderful New Year.   We're praying for Chrissy and Jon and Lisa and Brian right now.  We hope there will be many good things to come this year.
Love, Aubrey