Reno Christmas

Since we will be spending Christmas out of town this year we had our parents over on the 18th to celebrate and to watch Lucy "open" her Christmas gifts.  We had a nice meal, finally using our fine china and crystal for the first time, and really enjoyed watching Lucy's equal enthusiasm for wrapping paper (tasty!) and actual presents

Mommy helps Lucy open another box full of footed PJs while Pappy look on

The dress she is wearing was mine when I was a baby

Lucy's stocking is nearly bigger than she is

Lucy checks out My First Spanish Word Book.  Feliz Navidad!

Lucy with her loot!

Meeting Baby Priya

Lucy still seems like such a tiny baby to me, but when we rerecently went to meet her new friend Priya Donahoe, born December 3, she seemed so big!  Priya is just gorgeous and we were very excited to meet her and congratulate her ecstatic parents, Tim and Seema.  Lucy was very excited and was kind of panting and very eager to touch Priya's head.  I felt proud that she was fairly gentle and thankful that Tim and Seema (and Priya) humored her curiosity.

Tim and David have been friends since grade school!

 

Air Force Weapons School Graduation - Vegas, Baby!

A couple of weeks ago we flew to Las Vegas to attend the Air Force Weapons School Class 10B Graduation. Click here for an article with a little bit more about the program.  Our dear friend Captain Karen Barth, one of my roommates from Notre Dame, was among the graduates of this intense and prestigious program.  Karen studied at Nellis Air Force Base, near Las Vegas, for months as a part of this program.  She is an Intelligence Officer and now she is also a weapons expert!  Watch it!  We had such a great time celebrating Karen's achievement and visiting with her family.  The weekend also included several firsts for Lucy: first flight, first formal dinner and first time in Vegas, baby!

A special thank you to Karen and Guy and all the members of our armed forces for serving our country.

Lucy's first flight. RNO to LAS on SWA.

Karen Receiving Her Diploma

Karen and Lucy!

Check out Karen's cumberbund!



Major Christopher "Guy" Barth, Captain Karen Barth, Courtney, Lucy, David



Guy is a natural with babies.  Lucy slept on his chest during part of the dinner.

We returned to the dinner after this and then Lucy spit up down the side of my dress.  Very glamorous!

Lucy and David retired to our hotel room after the dinner while I went out with Karen and Guy to celebrate with their friends.  When I returned I discovered them both sleeping peacefully like this.  So cute!  (Poor photo quality due to cell phone photography).

With Guy before he flew an F-16 back to Florida, where his squadron is based.

Riding on Daddy's shoulders at Caesar's



Those Eyes!

Just melts my heart!

Lucy meets Santa

So thankful for our Lucy on the Feast of St. Lucy!

Prayer of St. Lucy:

Saint Lucy, you did not hide your light under a basket, but let it shine for the whole world, for all the centuries to see. We may not suffer torture in our lives the way you did, but we are still called to let the light of our Christianity illumine our daily lives. Please help us to have the courage to bring our Christianity into our work, our recreation, our relationships, our conversation -- every corner of our day. Amen

Learn more about St. Lucy  at Catholic Online and  the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Big Sur Half Marathon Weekend

We enjoyed a fun weekend trip a few weeks back when we traveled to the East Bay to visit Great-Grandma Dana and the Gagnons and with the Burkes to Carmel/Monterey for the Big Sur Half Marathon.  Jamie and I ran nice 10 minute miles the entire race and everyone had a great time!

Lucy and Hayden (I think this is Hayden) checking each other out

Grace and Lucy playing

Lucy visits the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Carmel by the Sea.

The Burkes with Chloe

Courtney and Jamie running the last few hundred meters of the 2010 Big Sur Monterey Bay Half Marathon

Lucy meets Kelly Young (speed demon!) after the race

Happy and fit mommy, happy baby

Baby Tricks - Sitting Up!

Lucy really mastered sitting in November.  She has such strong little baby abs and is really good at keeping her balance while reaching for things.  I arranged these chronologically and you can see how she gets stronger over the course of the month.  At first she could balance for just a few seconds and now she can sit for as long as she likes.  Check it out!

first week of November

 

Thanksgiving