HAPPY 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

I'm a little late since our anniversary was actually the 24th - but it's only 12:38am on the 25th and this is the first chance I've gotten to sit down all day... :)

To my husband:

I LOVE YOU HONEY!! I am so blessed to have the most wonderful and giving husband that I could ever dream of! You came into my life like a true knight in shining armour. I am lucky to have a man who constantly makes me a better woman, and each day you make me happier (when I don't even think it's possible to be any happIER). You have given me the most joyful and rewarding gift, a beautiful, healthy, happy baby girl. Our love only grows stronger everyday and I am so excited to experience the rest of our lives together!!

I love you and I thank God for you everyday!!

We're home...but still just the two of us

Zoriah and I made the long drive back to Mountain Home yesterday, with my Mom (soo thankful for her and all she's done to help us over the past six months!!). I was so stressed about returning to our empty house at such a late hour, and still having to move all of our furniture back into the house from the garage (our house flooded while we were gone and so in order to replace all of the carpet and linolium throughout the house, our furniture had to be packed into our garage - and then left there for us to move back in ourselves). My Mom had a brilliant idea to call my Dad and ask him to get my Grandpa and Grandma to go on base before we arrived to get all the heavy stuff in. In the two hours they had before we arrived, not only were they able to get ALL the furniture moved in, but they even got it all put into the right rooms and put together!! Oh my goodness, it was such a relief to have it pretty much done because Zoriah was exhausted from the eight and a half hours in the truck and was ready to stretch out in her crib for the night!

So, now I have two weeks before we pick up Jaron at the airport (SOOOO EXCITED!!!)....and there is sooo much to do at the house to get it all prepared for him to come back to a comfortable, clean, completely finished home. It's going to be a VERY busy next two weeks, but it's all going to be worth it! Jaron will have two-three weeks of vacation when he gets back, and I'd love for him to not have to do a thing! Just kick back and play with our baby! She's going to be soooo happy he's not just in the computer everyday, he's right there for her to climb on and pull on and hang on and give LOTS & LOTS of kisses (which she's just learned to do)!!!





PS. Oh, and the Saints won today in overtime.... YAY!!!!.... Superbowl bound for the first time EVER and the three of us are gonna be decked out in our black & gold!! :)

4 WEEKS LEFT!!!

ONLY FOUR WEEKS LEFT TIL DADDY IS HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zoriah and I are getting SUPER excited for Daddy's deployment to finish!! Then we'll all be back home and things can get back to normal!

This last week was a wonderful chance to get to see lots of friends and family in and around Boise for the holidays. Most everyone back home hasn't seen Zo since she was only 3 months old, they were all so happy and excited to see how much she's grown and all the new things she's learned in such a short time! Here are some pictures from the last week:

Cousin Angie & Zo Christmas Day at Great Gpa & Gma Miller's

Great Uncle Terry & Zo playin Wii Golf

Great Aunt Vicky & Zo

And of course Godmama Sarah & Zo bein SiLLy!!!

Christmas Just Isn't The Same

Christmas is a week away, but with Jaron not being home, and living where there isn't any snow, it just doesn't seem at all the same. I do have so much to be thankful for, and I'm still trying to make it special since it's Zoriah's first. I even did the whole standing-in-line thing to let her sit on Santa's lap (and let me tell you, at one of the bigger Portland mall's, not so much fun with a tired baby)....she plopped right down on his lap, turned around to see who was holding her, moving slowly from his beard, up to his chin, up to his glasses...and let out a huge wailing cry! Poor thing was so frightened, and didn't calm down til she was back in her Mama's arms. So after waiting in line, we decided we'd still get a pic, so please don't mind me.....

And only 6 more weeks til we have Daddy back!! We're soooooo anxious!! Zoriah will be excited to see her Daddy again (live in person, instead of on Skype)....and I am already gettin butterflies just thinking about waiting to see him come through the glass doors at the airport!! :)

Was It All A Dream?

Right after I got done webcamming with Jaron this afternoon, I was playin with Zo on the floor, and she crawled right over to her caterpillar toy! I was soooo happy, I picked her up and kissed her all over telling her "GOOD JOB ZORIAH!!!" and "YOU FINALLY DID IT!!!" and "I KNEW YOU COULD!!!" and she just looked at me with this huuuge grin on her face!! :) I immediately called my Mom (who is out of town on a business trip) and told her the wonderful news. After that Zoriah was ready for her nap.

Three hours later and following her peas, peaches and bottle, I couldn't wait to get her on the floor again to see her get right to crawling again. So I put her toys spread out all over the living room floor, put her down in the middle of them all and waited...

And waited...

And waited...

=) Zoriah was back to spinning on her tummy, rockin out on her knees, and flipping back and forth from her tummy to her back......

So the only thing I can think of is that she must've thought she was dreaming about crawling, and totally forgot how to do it! Guess we're back to square one tomorrow! =)

Such A BIG Girl!

Zoriah has already been showing signs of wanting to be older than she is - pretty much since day one! She started pushing herself up early, could turn over both ways early, shocked her doctor with being able to sit on her own throughout her whole 4-month checkup (which she'd already been doing on her own for a couple weeks prior), and now she wants to walk before she even learns to crawl (which she can almost do too-she rocks out like crazy!). As you can see she loves to hold herself up, she gets this "I'm so proud of myself!" look on her face everytime! And anytime I try to sit her on her bum she straightens her legs out, only wanting to stand! She's so funny!!

So, since Jaron left on his deployment, I've made it a mission to get Zo's first word to be "Dada", and so I've been saying "Say Dada" to her allday, everyday since he left. Well Zo was babbling on and on yesterday evening, and of course I was saying "Say Dada" and then out of nowhere she looks right at me and says "DAADAA!" I couldn't believe it!! I emailed Jaron right away and told him, even though I knew we wouldn't get to talk about it until today when we could Skype in the morning.

So when we got on Skype this morning, sure enough Jaron wanted to hear it first hand, but Zoriah was not in the talking mood, instead she just stared at him on the computer screen. =) Then when it was time for Zo's naptime I was telling her to "Say bye to Daddy" all of a sudden she felt like talking and Jaron got to hear her say "DAADAA"....haven't seen such a big smile on his face since he's been deployed!! Such a proud Daddy!

Now it's my turn... get ready to be hearin "Mama" allday, everyday Zo! =)

A lot of new things to update today.....Okay, so Zoriah has been teething now since she was about 2 months old, so basically that means she's been a drool-machine for over four months! She has a huuuge assortment of bibs, and goes through at least three per day! Well, it's all finally paid off -- this morning I felt and saw her two bottom teeth!! Our baby girl is growing right before our very eyes, and it's the most wonderful experience of my entire life!!

Finally Blogging

Well, I created our family's blog address back in August of this year...I guess four months of procrastination isn't too bad! I've spent the last three hours on the page layout, so it'll definitely be a work-in-progress.

I really wanted to start this blog as a way to keep memories of our life as a new family of three. This is also a great way to let our family and friends take a peek in, especially since we're all so spread out!

I hope all who read enjoy, and welcome to our family blog -- it's at least my version of how things are! =)