Big news!!

Larry and I are very excited to announce that we are going to the temple on January 2, 2010. We have worked so hard for this and are very grateful for all the preparation we have taken to get here. We are ready to take this next step in our lives and make the life long commitment that is involved. We are also very excited to be sealed together as a family, which we are doing on the same day. It's an exciting moment in our lives that we can barely wait for.
We are very grateful for all the love and support we have received from family and friends. We know how important this moment will be for the rest of our lives. We are blessed with so many wonderful people that have contributed to the happiness we feel in our lives.

November

November has been an exciting month. Our pickle bug celebrated her 2nd birthday with lots of friends and family. I couldn't believe our little home held so many people. It was a great time and wonderful company! She really enjoyed being sung to and eating her cake.
The picture of the car above is from November 28th from the Twinkle Light Parade in Albuquerque. It was a lot of fun. The rain was a little bit of a bummer but we all stayed pretty warm and dry.


Of course it's that wonderful time of year when joy, thanksgiving and thoughtfulness is in the air. There is something about Christmas time that just makes the soul sing. For the McCracken household its time for lights. We have our house decorated and are sharing our joy with all who want to see it. We are hoping each year it can get bigger and better. Larry really enjoys putting up the lights and did a pretty fantastic job! We plan on putting our tree up here really soon. We seem to keep our selves so incredibly busy this year. Good news is that the semester is almost over for a nice little break!

We were able to spend Thanksgiving with my parents, sibilings, The McQuarries and Larry's parents; all at one time!! It was great. It was a feast with a lot of people. I couldn't imagine life any other way. I love being surround with people that I love and love me. After the big gathering, Larry and were able to make it to his Grandma Smith's house to again, be surrounded by wonderful loving company. We showed up a little early and were able to visit and hear cool stories from Grandma. it was a great Thanksgiving and we truly are grateful for all the blessings in our life. Our 1 1/2 kids, who have really brought us joy, for the gospel, for repentance, for family, for school and the support we give each other to make all our dreams come true.

YUM!!

Since I have been pregnant, Larry and I have been a lot better about our time management. I have tried to incorporate more baking into my time. I really love cooking/baking and being in the kitchen. The best part is Larry gets such a sweet tooth when I am pregnant so all my goodies have a place to go. I found this website on my friend Jessica's blog and took a look at all the cute ideas for treats. I found this recipe for pumpkin bites that look so magically delightful. I thought I would share it with everyone, since they look so dangerous. I hope to make them here soon. When I do I will let everyone know how they are.

http://www.bakerella.com/pumpkin-pie-bites/

I'm blue.......

So there is nothing like doing your homework and thinking your child is quietly playing or watching the T.V. I suppose for the first rule of parenting is: If you can not hear your child check on your child. A quiet child is always bound to be getting into something.

Larry and I were busy doing our homework the other day thinking how well behaved our little angel was being. Larry was on the phone when little miss angel comes up to me with blue hands. I was far from happy that she had colored her hands and left her in the living room with her daddy to get a baby wipe to clean. Needless to say a baby wipe was far from what we needed. When I made my way back to the living room I found Larry laughing as hard as he possibly could and Lana as embarrassed as can be. Not only did she manage to color her hands, and her mouth, she decided to color from her chest down to her pants. I couldn't believe her. She was a huge mess.




Our little artist in training. Why she had to pick herself as her the canvas I don't know.

Flying kites

We bought a kite at Smith's that was marked down. We had so much fun flying the kite and playing at the park. It was a lot of fun. It's amazing that the wind is strong enough in the fall to enjoy the kite.

Balloons

We took the time out to check out the balloons on opening day of the Balloon Fiesta. It was pretty neat. We didn't go to the actual balloon fiesta park, we went close enough to get a good view. We were able to see the balloon inflate and everything from where we were. It beat sitting in traffic and dealing with all the people.

Chase that balloon!!

Some Sunday mornings are more eventful then others. This happened to be one of them. This past Sunday (September 20th) Larry was making his special Sunday breakfast when out little outdoor toddler spotted hot air balloons. Our house is a good place to watch balloons, they constantly fly over us. Last year one landed up the street from our house.

We saw how excited Lana was about the balloon, so when we saw two descending close to our house we jumped in the car and followed them. My work is about 2 or so miles away from the house and a lot of balloons land in the open lots. Lana and Larry had seen one land up the street from my work about a week earlier. Well anyways we followed one balloon to find a different balloon getting ready to land. We pulled up just in time to watch it land.

While we were out watching the balloon be taken down, Lana got so scared. The loud noise that the burner made scared her so bad she wouldn't let us put her down.