Update from Daniel (yes I do blog too!)

Well, things have been pretty crazy lately and I thought that it would be good if I got on here and posted some updates for everyone. Jessica does a great job of keeping the blog up to date. But I thought it might be nice for some of you to hear from me.

As I said life is crazy. I have an offer to stay down here, but haven't accepted it yet. We've been trying to tie up some loose ends to figure out what to do first. Part of this was contacting another team also at Intel that I had also interviewed with. In trying to close things up, I ended up scheduling a face to face with the team out in MA and having to extend my response deadline for my current offer!

I'm telling this story because I went to the temple the other day and asked for the Lord's help in this process. I had waited 5 weeks to see a verbal offer become an official one. And the day that I promised to respond, I have another opportunity arise. I find it amazing how the Lord does bless us, but before he does, he stretches us farther than we think is possible. He's really good at getting that last little bit out of us.

As things stand now, I have extended my deadline to respond to my current offer, and I'm scheduled to interview with the other team Jan 2nd. We will be flying out of AZ to CO this Wed and enjoying the holidays with Jessica's family. Then I will fly (and Jessica too if we can make it work) to MA on the first, interview on the 2nd, fly back to CO and then on to AZ on the 3rd, and move out of our apartment by the 6th. We still don't know what state, let alone what apartment, we will be moving into. Good times. But, we both agree that we are where we want to be in the process, and are relying on the Lord to guide us.

Mckenzie and Abby might as well be weeds for how fast they are growing. I never thought that anyone would be able to melt my heart as severely as Mckenzie does when she gives me kisses and hugs. We have wonderful children, and apologize to anyone who has seen them when they forget to be such. Hope everyone is doing well. Merry Christmas. Khristos Voskres.

Dancing Queen

Our little Miss Mckenzie is quite the dancer. It doesn't matter where we are; when she hears music she perks up and dances. This past weekend she has learned a new dance move thanks to Dan. She has become a spinner. She thinks it's the coolest thing to do. She is now incorporating it into her dance moves. Ever since Mckenzie was in the womb, we knew that she had a thing for music. It's fun to see the many ways she enjoys music.

Adventures for Mckenzie

Being here in Arizona, Mckenzie has had many adventures including 115 F heat, mom's paranoia about scorpions (we haven't seen one yet...knock on wood), going to jungle gyms in malls instead of outside, learning that different screams and degrees of loudness mom has depends on how big the spider is and rain. Yes, rain. We've had quite the downfall recently and this weekend it's supposed to be the same. You'd think we were in Seattle. It's GREAT! The other day it was pouring out and I wanted to see what Mckenzie thought of it. She was too little to remember snow and rain the last time she saw it. I took her out the front door and as soon as she saw it she was in awe. The look on her face was the same as a little kid in a candy store. I figured I'd let her play for awhile in it. She went all over the place and of course she wasn't a happy camper when I chased after her and brought in to get dry.

Strong little Abby

Last night, we were watching some t.v. while Abby was doing tummy time. I noticed that she had gone from her tummy to her side and thought that was pretty impressive. Then, this morning while doing tummy time she rolled over. Yes you read correctly, our almost 4 WEEK old rolled over from her tummy to her back. We're not sure if it was a fluke or something, but we're quite impressed yet nervous. If she's doing that already, what are we in store for!?!

Daddy's little girls.

Our silly Mckenzie

Our silly Mckenzie is always doing something funny. She has to be either into something or involved in everything. Dan calls her our Angelic Demon because she's so sweet and innocent, but at the same time can be quite the terror. We sure love our little Miss Mckenzie!



I came back into the dining room to see that Mckenzie had somehow reached the hot glove. Apparently, her food was too hot.



Mckenzie loves our 3rd bedroom. It has tons of books and has become our misc. room filled with things kids would love, but aren't supposed to get into. Whenever she sneaks in there, she always takes the missionary handbooks which include Jesus the Christ, A Marvelous Work and Wonder and so forth. She'll spreads them all out, sits down, open them up and act as if she's reading them. Maybe she's just trying to tell me she wants me to read them with her. Hmm, is she preparing to serve a mission already???



Mckenzie LOVES toothbrushes. It seems like most kids go through that phase where they have to be carrying around a toothbrush. Maybe we have a future dentist on our hands. That'd be nice, no more dental insurance.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was nice. Jessica's family came down since there was no way we were going up to Colorado with a 2 week old. We had Thanksgiving dinner at her aunt's home with all the trimmings while Abby enjoyed her thanksgiving milk. Dan played football in the morning and kickball in the afternoon and needless to say he was very sore that evening. The next day they went to the horse races and watched Jessica's cousin jockey. They didn't place any real bets, but created their own and Dan lost really bad, but it was fun for him anyway. They went swimming, miniture golfing and how can we forget driving... Jessica's family rented a mustang and went for lot's of drives. The boys in her family LOVE to go fast and Jessica refuses to let Mckenzie is the car while they are driving. Dan was a sweetheart and took care of Mckenzie and Abby while Jessica, her mom and sister Bree went shopping. It was nice to have them all down here and we're looking forward to Christmas in Colorado. We want to thank Jessica's family for the great help they've been since Abby was born. It means a lot to us. Here's some pictures we took at Thanksgiving time.