Ruth's First Christmas

We were with my family for Christmas, which meant a trip to Tucson!  It is a place that I love dearly, and I was glad to be able to share more of it with John-Michael.  The last few trips were short with limited time to enjoy Tucson's beautiful terrain.  This time we were there for 10 days, so we fit in a few sight-seeing trips between the Christmas and New Year festivities! JM hiked Finger Rock with a friend and took some beautiful pictures.  I wasn't brave enough with Baby 2 on board but hope to go next time!  As most new parents do, I took a ton of pictures of Ruth's first Christmas.  Below are some of my favorites as well as a few shots of the mountains!

First cookie!

Little water bug--it was warm enough to
swim and we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Ruth especially loved splashing us.
She thought it was hilarious :)

Making Christmas cookies!

Grandpa's favorite present

Baby 2 on board!

Cheesin' with GiGi

I love this man dearly

Happy New Year!

Looking down the mountain to the valley below.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a welcome break for us all this year!  John-Michael has been studying for a graduate certification called the CFP (Certified Financial Planner) since September 2011.  The exam was shortly before Thanksgiving, so it was nice to take a breather with a few days off from work! We enjoyed great food and fellowship and of course spending time with our cute little turkey! She wasn't too sure about mashed potatoes, but she sure loved sweet potato casserole!

Zoo Adventure

My parents were able to stay most of the day on Monday, so we took a trip to the zoo while JM was at work.  It was a lot of fun!  I had taken Ruth to the zoo once before, but she slept through the whole visit.  It was fun to try and get her to see the different animals this time around.  I'm not sure how much she actually noticed, but she was definitely trying to take it all in.

Ruth's favorite toy is Sophie the Giraffe, so this picture was a must!

Checking out the polar bear

We had fun at the sea lion show!

Pumpkin Patch

Well, it has been too long since I have updated our blog.  Sorry about that!!  I'll be playing "catch up" over the next couple of days.  Starting with my parents' visit to Memphis!  They came towards the end of October, and we had some great fall weather.  We spent the majority of time outside, even taking a trip to Priddy Farms in Bartlett.  They had a great little pumpkin patch with lots of places for photo ops!   They even had stations for kiddos to make their own scarecrows--very cute!  We look forward to taking Ruth back when she is a little older.  Who knows, maybe we'll make a yearly visit out of it!

Ruth was rather interested in the pumpkins on her dress...
This was one of the many tactics used to try and get her to look up for a picture!

She also enjoyed gnawing on the Ruth sized
pumpkins she could get her little hands on