for your viewing pleasure

On Christmas morning we woke up to find that Santa left some presents for the kids....

And a major winter blizzard.

It blizzard all day and night and into the next morning. It was my first blizzard experience if your not counting a Oreo Cookie one from DQ. The wind howled, blowing the snow so hard you could hardly see down the block. It dropped the temperatures and closed down just about everything in the state of North Dakota, including every major highway and interstate.

So we were stuck. But we were stuck as a family and that made it okay. It was Christmas Day! We played more games, ate cookies, watched tv and just looked outside. At least until 1:00 the next day.

It was still snowing but the plow came through, the wind died down and people started venturing out. There was a lot of snow to blow and shovel away. 4 feet drifts! But we were SO bundled up that we started to sweat! I actually love to shovel.

The next day after that the weather cleared and warmed up making it fun to play outside. In fact there was so much snow that Wyatt was able to jump off the deck and not hurt himself.
But now I am happy to say we are back home and don't have to worry about driving or flying in the snow anymore this year!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone

A Heringer Christmas photo after church on Christmas Eve.

"A King is Born"

winter wonderland

We did not get the winter blizzard that they were predicting (yet) but it did snow about 5 inches. However along with the soft blowing snow came the extreme temperature. Today with wind chill it is - 22. But that didn't stop us from playing in the snow.

The entire Heringer family is now together. That makes 4 kids and 7 adults. We got on our snow pants and boots to venture out in the snow.

Abigail was completely covered head to toes and was completely stuck in the snow.

Grandpa Wayne was busy giving sled rides and the kids were busy cheering and running around to keep warm.
This is Wyatt with us.
We had a fun time. We didn't stay out too long but I wasn't worried that Abigail was cold. She could hardly see behind her snow pants, sweater, coat, hat, hood, gloves, boots and scarf! But then again it was -22.

home for the holidays

We had another great day being together. The smell of cookies lingered in the house, we worked on puzzles and even enjoyed the snow.

Auntie T is a wonderful piano player and was helping Abigail play.

Grandma Jude giving Abigail much to giggle at.

I love how her little belly is sticking out. She likes the lights.

We went sledding. It was fun but a little cold.

It may be cold outside but it was fun to have the fireplace on and rest under big blankets or the Snuggie.

flight to the north

The day we left in the morning we were at a Christmas party where our children were running around in short sleeves and socks on. The party was outside, umbrella's were out for shade, and the chocolate cookies were melting from the rays. It was around 73 degrees.

By evening we were on a plane flying across the country to land that is frozen over, frosty and white. It is actually quite beautiful.

Beautiful to look at. And stay inside with our warm family. It really isn't too bad outside with temps in the low 20's. It is cold, crisp and Jake & I keep saying how good it smells outside.

Jake's sister Auntie Tanya is here and we stayed up late talking and catching up a bit.

Abigail has warmed up to her Grandparents already and loves to explore the new house, new toys and Christmas decorations.

Grandma Jude was prepared to having 2 kids around that are 17 months and one year old so she decorated her tree to make Christmas kid friendly!

We can also tell that there is a soon to be dentist and a hygienist around because under the tree sits a big box of toothpaste that Abigail found!

McCormick Railroad park

We went to McCormick Railroad Park in Scottsdale. If you haven't been there I highly recommended it. It's a wonderful park filled with trains, a carousal, swing sets, playground equipment and lots of grass to run.

We met Racquel and Micah. It was wonderful weather and Abigail's hat lasted maybe a few minutes. Abigail soon was chasing after Micah wanting to play with what he was playing with.

Abigail found a love for the slides and it worked out well having Racquel to help catch or drop Abigail. Abigail's face coming down the slide was awestruck and so funny for me to see.


Here we are after our train ride. It was really nice and it took us all around the park. They have the park decorated for Christmas and it is so cute. We have never been to PHX Zoo lights but Racquel likes this place better. And it's only 2 dollars for the train ride!
So cute!

On the carousal...and she loved it.

They made not be able to talk to each other but the kids sure did have fun together today!

early Christmas

Since we are going to be traveling over the Christmas season we decided to have Christmas at our house early. Just the 3 of us.

Church was great today and we even sang carols. Abigail still likes the nursery and comes home pretty tired, usually taking her nap early. It is rare these days for her to lay on us but today she was so chill and a little sleepy. Jake enjoyed this moment.

Later on she opened some presents from us. She liked the new toys. It was funny though because I bought some candy for Jake and I....

But Abigail liked them the best. She kept shaking them back and forth until we ate it.

All season Abigail has loved looking at our Christmas houses. They light up and play music which just captures her attention. Today I pulled my kitchen step stool up to them so she could stand and watch.

so glad

Abigail is getting to be such a big girl. Yet she is still our little baby! Over the last 3 and 4 months Abigail has had such a difficult time going to church and enjoying playing in the nursery. Week after week she basically cried during the entire time. It was hard leaving her there. After being out on rotation she had a break from the nursery which made us curious to see how she would adjust being back at home. The first Sunday was not good. However last week and this week she did NOT cry the entire service! I am so happy. She happily played with the other kids and workers. And she did not have a meltdown once we picked her back up. So great!

Check out that big tooth coming in! She is really starting to have a mouth full of white.

just for fun

Just for fun we went to the mall today. Had lunch with Jake. Went for a walk. Took a nice nap. Read books. Pet a little dog. Practiced drinking milk from a sippy. Listened to Christmas tunes...

It was a good day. Sometimes the simplest days are most fun.

giving thanks

Today we were able to spend Thanksgiving with our family. Of course dinner was awesome but being able to spend the day with family talking, laughing, playing and relaxing was even better. We have so much to be thankful for and it brings me so much joy. Here are some of the pictures.

Being outside on a gorgeous November day. The kids all have such fun together.

A group picture of all the kids.

Uncle Thomas became the "ride" that scooped the big kids up and down making them laugh and scream for more.

While that was going on Abigail completely ignored them and was busy pushing and being pushed in the baby stroller.

Uncle Darrell & Aunt Carolyn

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope you all had a great day.

sneak preview

I recently dressed Abigail in her Christmas outfit and we went out on a photo shoot. I had so much fun taking pictures of Abigail that I decided to show some pictures that won't be in our Christmas card.
We went to a little spot in town with a waterfall and rock garden. They have it decorated for Christmas and it was so pretty. The waterfall was a little scary because it had no fence so I was taking pictures from a distance and then running to Abigail making sure she wouldn't fall in the water!





To make Abigail smile for me I started saying HELLOOO to her and she thought that was the funniest thing. It looks like she is bent over in a belly laugh.

In a few weeks you will get to see the final picture in our Christmas card!! But first, Thanksgiving.