Aloooooooha!!!

Happy Ten Year anniversary to us! Due to work schedules, we weren't able to REALLY celebrate our decade until this last week. We spent a week doing this:

And this:

And we had a very romantic beach dinner doing this:

That's pretty much all the pictures I have from that week. It was the laziest and most wonderful week. :o) Then we planned to fly Maddie over and spend some time with her at the Disney hotel because I got an awesome discount with my travel agent card. It's a kids' dream. Big kids and little kids of all ages.

My favorite thing there is this little magical tour of the hotel. Maddie and I did it on our last night there and we both loved it. When you get there some day, don't miss it.

There are also water slides and kids activities and safe snorkeling, etc. Here are Maddie and I modeling our same hairstyle/flower in our hair. I love having a mini-me.

I also took her to BYU Hawaii and showed her where "Mom went to college." She was absolutely shocked when she saw the inside of the dorm room. "But it's only the size of my bathroom!" I know Maddie. I know.

Then we went to The Polynesian Cultural Center next door. I told her how I got to dance there with my Tahitian dance club and her eyes got big. I don't know if she realized that I used to be a "person" long before I was her mom. I think the PCC is the best family place to go in all of Hawaii.

We saw some other well known Hawaii sights as we drove around the island.

And we did a lot more of this. Pretty much every day. It was awesome.

And Maddie added a few more freckles. Man, I love her freckles.

Introducing Mr. Angus Harris

Maddie is sweet. Most of the time. There is definitely an evil side of her. That's why she asked Santa for a dog this year. Because she knows that her mom and dad are NOT dog people. Blah. Disgusting. Ick. But Santa always comes through!

And I'll just tell you now, that I'm in love. LOOK AT THIS FACE!!! You know how people with new babies are obsessed with sharing pictures of their new babies? Well, that's kind of how I'm going to be. Sorry about that. And yes, he will probably be in our Christmas card pictures too. Sorry about that also.

Yeah, yeah, I know he's not a baby. But don't tell him that! He loves being the baby in the family and following his "big sister" Maddie everywhere she goes.

P.S. Yes - he was named after THAT Angus. Hence, the plaid/schoolboy collar.

Christmas 2011

Mother/Daughter Date Night - "The Nutcracker" ballet and super fancy dinner. I loved it!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care. I loved having so much family here for Christmas this year.

Josh read "The Grinch"

We checked the Santa radar just about every fifteen minutes.

We had a Tingey family nativity with two VERY fancy angels.

We put out carrots for the reindeer.

Um....I mean....We put out carrots for sneaky-sneak-Bennett.

And we made Christmas brownies - and licked the spoons clean.

More December Happenings....

Worked at the soup kitchen. Three years and counting.

Some Beach Time.

Decorate for the "fabulous party." I will NOT be surprised when Maddie becomes the next Martha Stewart Party Planner Lady.

Maddie had her first guitar concert. Played "Silent Night" flawlessly. I forgot to video tape it because I was so amazed. She is fearless.

I went to my first NFL game. I freaking loved it. Now I'm a crazed football fan. But I don't really have a home team I root for, and I won't go to a football game if it is raining, snowing, or below 60 degrees. Sounds like San Diego Chargers is the team for me!

Poor little Cinnamon the Frog left this world. I told Maddie that now her brothers will take care of the frog and have a pet, and that made her much happier. Rest in peace my little frog man.

I got hit in the lip from a golf ball going about 50 mph. Somehow, luck was on my side and it didn't blind me or break my nose or knock out a tooth or kill me. I basically just looked like I had free lip injections - a la Angelina Jolie - for about a week.

We got our Disney day in. Maddie is taking after her parents here with the navigating and planning business.

Uncle Kyle also graduated - busy month for him! - from law school. I hate that he started law school after me and graduated well ahead of me. Darn him!

Winter Wedding

December was filled with the joyous event of my baby brother's wedding. (Sorry for the quality. I took pictures of the pictures on the computer.)

I am super happy to have another sister in my family. I love my sisters. Pictures like these make me sad that Maddie doesn't have any. Hopefully she will marry into a wonderful family and have close relationships with her sisters-in-law some day.

The cousins:

The groomsmen - in their suspenders!

I adore these pictures. Don't worry, they are posed - kind of. :o) My dear baby brother has a lot of motherhen big sisters who like to take care of him and tell him what to do. Well, we agreed that now that he has a wife we can step back. Just a little bit. :o)