Cutest Video Ever!

This video doesn't really need any explanation. We took it on the way home from sledding today. How adorable is our daughter?!? SERIOUSLY, she is amazing! She can say Addis Ababa better than we can!

Sledding Video

We went sledding this afternoon after ZiZi's nap. It is actually a drainage ditch near our house, but when it snows it is perfect for sledding. We were not sure how she would do after her meltdown on Tuesday about the snow. But she had so much fun...after each run she would say, "ZiZi's turn!" Craig did much better with her. The 1 (and only!) run I did with her ended up in a bit of a crash. She was fine though, once I got all the snow out of her nose. We only did 5 runs and figured we should leave while she was still having fun and not after another meltdown.

3 feet of snow!

We woke up this morning to 3 feet of snow...IT WAS CRAZY! We tried to walk around the neighborhood and go sledding but the snow was too deep to walk and it was too fluffy for really good sledding.

You can see the picture of Craig with Zizi on his shoulders--the snow is up past his thighs. Zizi got tired 1/2 way through the walk. In some of the pictures it looks like she is laughing but I am pretty sure she was crying. I hope we didn't traumatize her too much!

We stayed in the house the rest of the day. I made Zizi a tutu and we danced around for a while. Craig tried to make it into work but got stuck on the road in front of our house. A few of our neighbors had to come and help him out!

I also straightened Zizi's hair while she was watching Tigger and Pooh. I had wanted to do it for a long time. It doesn't look too great yet. It needs to grow out more and I need to use the right products so that it comes out silky instead of frizzy. But it was fun to see how different she looks with straight hair.

First Snow!

It is snowing and I am putting off going into work and driving in it. It is beautiful to look at, but not so fun to drive in. This is our first snow storm of the year. We got up, had breakfast, and bundled Zamara up in her snow clothes. Since she was so little last year, this is the first year she has ever really played in the snow. We had a great time. Zizi spent a lot of time eating the snow and licking off her runny boogers. We tried to make a snowman but there wasn't really enough snow on the ground. We did make a snow angel, though. After work today we will try to go sledding if the snow sticks around.

Thanksgiving in Denver

Hi everyone. We got home from Denver on Monday evening. We had a great trip visiting Craig's family. We were busy the whole week, but had an amazing time with everyone. Zamara really loves to be with family. I miss those times when we are here in Flagstaff just the 3 of us. Here was our week in a nutshell:

Tuesday: we drove from Flagstaff to Phoenix and spent the night. We had fun swimming in the pool before bedtime

Wednesday: few from Phoenix to Denver. Very uneventful. Got the rental car and stopped at Mustard's Last Stand for hot dogs on the way to Craig's parents house.

Thursday: Thanksgiving, of course! Craig Uncle Ron and Aunt Virginia came over with the 3 boys. Ethan loved Zamara. They held hands most of the day--very cute. Ethan was so good with her.

Friday: early morning shopping, lunch at Parisi, and then off to see Santa Claus at the downtown tree lighting in Littleton.

Saturday: This was a big day--we took Zizi to Casa Bonita for the first time. It's the Disneyland of Mexican Restaurants--as cousin Chris would say (we later found out he stole the line from SouthPark). Zizi loved Casa Bonita! She could have eaten the chicken and cheese enchaladas all night! We also took the lightrail to downtown Denver and walked around for a while before we went to Casa Bonita

Sunday: church, swimming, and celebrating Grammy and Papa's birthdays at Red Robin.

Monday: we flew back to Phoenix and then stopped at the Spaghetti Factory for dinner.

Christmas Gifts

Oh it's that time again...lots of you have been asking what to get ZiZi for Christmas. She would anything you get her. But that being said, here are a few ideas:

1. We are giving her a princess "kitchen" that we found at a baby consignment store in town called Maddie and Mo's--since I had a credit there, it didn't have to pay anything for it. So she could use some things to go with it: play food, pots and pans, dishes, etc...

2 The only other gift we are getting her is a barbie doll. So anything to go along with that would be great. Clothes, accessories, etc...

3. Anything for dress up. She loves hats and clothes and shoes

4. DVD's: Veggietales, Disney, Yo Gabba Gabba.

5. We started a college fund for her so if you would like to contribute to that, we would also appreciate it as well. (And since she is so young she wouldn't know if you gave her that instead of a toy, anyway). I know it is not as exciting, but I know she would love it.

6. She loves books as well. She really likes ones with a lot going on on each page.

7. She also has an American Girl Bitty Baby (thank you uncle Mike and aunt Angie!) and she loves to dress her and undress her, but we only have the one outfit for her. I think Zizi would love to have more outfits for her.

Lastly, Craig and I don't really need anything for Christmas but if you really would like to get us something here are some ideas:

We bought a Wii and a WiiFit so we always like new games for that

Craig loves Jamba Juice, Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, etc...

I love Anthropologie, Bath and Body Works

And as always here are a few recent pictures. The first 2 are from the night we put together our Operation Christmas Child boxes for children all around the world. You can still help out: go to www.occ.org for more info. In the last picture, Zamara finally realized that she has pockets on most of her clothes. Doesn't she look cute?

love, Laura

Some not too bad pieces of media

Hi everyone,

I have been meaning to post about a few things for way too long so here I am. Real quick.

A great song to download..."daylight" by Matt & Kim. I think the album is called Grand.

Other good songs we've recently come across..."Obiero" by Ayub Ogada. Album is called En Mana Kuoyo. We came across this song on a really cool Flagstaff photographer's website. It was Kdi or Ldi photography or something like that. Good luck finding that in a google search! I dare you! Anyway, very cool pix. I think Laura and I have finally found a local photographer that we would be EXCITED about having take pictures. Yeah! I think Beth from Laura's Stroller Strides community recommended that one. Good rec!

Also, another Beth recommendation....."Yo Gabba Gabba". An incredibly cool kid's show. You know that kid's show that you hope exists out there somewhere...the one where the parent AND the child like it.....well "Yo Gabba Gabba" is it! I will try to add pix of those three things. Wish me luck!

Finally, 2 movies Laura and I have liked....2012--not nearly as bad as we thought it would be. It was actually quite enjoyable. A summer popcorn movie in the winter. Perfect.

(500) days of Summer. A group of old ladies left the theater right behind us and said, "that movie didn't go anywhere" or something to that effect. Exactly. Great movie.

(not a)LEGAL DISCLOSURE--I GET NO COMMISSION FOR ANY OF THESE RECOMMENDATIONS UNFORTUNATELY.