Merry New Year

At least that is how they say it in Turks and Caicos.  James and I spent five days on the island of Providenciales the week after Christmas.  Words cannot even describe how much I loved that place and how much fun we had.   

I need to mention first that somehow my camera did not make it into my bag for the trip.  I was devastated!!  We bought a disposable camera when we got there though.  And I have to say that was actually pretty fun.  It took me back about 15 years.  It was fun to take a picture that you had no idea how it was going to turn out.  And I had even more fun picking up my pictures from Wal-Mart!

The view from our room

I will stop anyone, anywhere and ask them to take our picture.  James hates that :)
We went to this store for souvenirs, and the next thing I know the salesmen had convinced James to buy some cigars.  Funny!!

The food on this island is amazing (and expensive)!!  And another thing that I loved about this place was very little humidity.  I was able to wear my hair straight at the beach, and for a frizzy hair girl like me, that is a BIG deal!


Our ill-fated fishing trip!  The only thing that James really wanted to do was go fishing!  So we found someone to take us for $650.00.  I thought that was outrageous, but he really wanted to go.  So we headed out that morning with complete strangers to go fishing.  And then about 20 minutes after we started, the boat started sinking.  If you notice James' shorts are wet because he had to get out and help push the boat to shore.  It turned out to be a really funny trip with no fish to show for it!




As much as I miss the kids when James and I go on one of these trips, I am always thankful for the memories that just the two of us get to share!

Christmas

Well, I have so many things to write about, but I thought I would start with Christmas.  This Christmas was wonderful for us.  We are so grateful for all of our blessings.  We managed to see almost everyone from both sides of the family.  I know Ava and Sam enjoyed seeing everyone, and I hope we made some good memories :)  Here are some of our favorite pictures from a few of our Christmas celebrations.  I will share more later!
Ava posing in her Christmas outfit
 Pretty girls!!!


Erica and Nick


My dad makes a Lebanese feast every year for our Christmas celebration - it is one of my favorite traditions!! 

Sam has perfected the art of the bottom lip :)

We tried getting a picture of all of the grand kids - of the 25 that I took this is the best one!

After the grand kids, we had a photo session in front of the fireplace!!




At home on Christmas Eve - this is the one shot I got of us making cookies.  I let Ava roll out the dough and then Sam got in on the action with the icing and the sprinkles.  It got a little wild!!

Ava couldn't take her eyes off of the cookies.  Loving Sam's smile!!! 


Christmas morning - Ava's favorite gift is her Rapunzel "salon."

Sam's new train table!  If we even mentioned Santa, Sam said, "choo choo."  I think he liked it!!

Barbies everywhere!!!

 Roar!!!


Barbie Dream House

We celebrated Christmas with my mom, and then went to Texas the next day and spent some time with James' parents.  And then James and I went on an AMAZING vacation, so there are definitely more posts coming soon!!