2013 in Review....

Happy New Year!  To be honest I'm kinda glad to say goodbye to 2013.  It was a year of change for us and this was a hard year.  Don't get me wrong we've made some great memories and made some major changes in our family but sometimes change is just hard.  Major things that happened to us this year were.....James started a new job with Chevron, Farrah is in Pre-K and we built a house.

Here are some of the highlights of 2013

 Farrah turned four!

We slowed down and played in the rain....a lot!

James' goal for 2013 was to learn something new so he learned how to play the guitar this year.

Farrah completed food therapy.

We had a wonderful Easter.

Watched my niece, Quinn and her softball team make it to Regionals.  Quinn had an AMAZING year!  She had six home runs, All Area, All District and All State 3rd baseman.

James and I had the pleasure of meeting New York Giant's Spencer Paysinger.  We had so much fun getting to hang out with him for a couple of days.

Farrah went on her first camping trip with Lula and Poppa.

Farrah learned how to swim by herself this year.  She doesn't need a lifejacket anymore!

Farrah had a great soccer season.....31 goals for the season!

Watched my niece, Reagan, excel in cross country.

Built our house.

Farrah started Pre-K.

Farrah earned her first bike by not sucking her thumb anymore.

Said goodbye to James' assistant, Sharon.  James started his new job with Chevron!

Loved seeing our favorite internationals, Norm and Grace Barnes!

We took Farrah to her first concert.

LOVED going to the Texas Tech football games!

My favorite picture this year....

The one thing I have learned this year is to slow down.  Slow down and enjoy the little things.  I have seen some really amazing sunsets this year just by slowing down.

I can't wait to see what 2014 holds for our family.  I truly believe 2014 will be our year of the Lord's promises coming forth and that excites me!

Fortner Family pictures!

It's not very often we can get the family together for family pictures but we did it this year!  This was Jean and Jim's Christmas gift this year and they LOVED it!

Jay and Amy's family

Quinn 16 yrs

 Kate 9 yrs

Corey 7 yrs

Jody and Beth's family

Abby 8 yrs

Our family

Farrah 4 yrs.

So blessed to be apart of this Fortner family!

Thank you so much Deborah Hughes for all the great pictures!!

Christmas Vacation and Great Wolf Lodge!

This Christmas my mom and dad surprised us with a family vacation to the Great Wolf Lodge!  The kids were so excited and so were the adults...haha!

James and I decided to take a weekend vacation before everyone came.  We left Friday and the rest of my family was coming to DFW on Sunday.  James had to get back to work by Tuesday so he flew home Monday evening.

We really wanted it to be a family fun weekend.  Farrah does great shopping for a little while but after a couple of hours she gets bored.  We hadn't taken her to the Fort Worth Zoo yet so we did that on Saturday.  She loved the zoo!  And it was the perfect time of year to go!  The weather was perfect and the zoo wasn't crowded at all.  We were able to take our time and go at Farrah's pace.  We saw all the animals and Farrah was actually able to see everything.  Instead of having to push through or just pass by.

I'm always amazed at God's creativity when he made all the animals.  It was fun to slow down and REALLY look at the animals.  We asked Farrah all kinds of questions about the animals and it was pretty comical to hear her answers.

On Sunday while we waited for everyone to arrive I wanted to take Farrah to the American Girl store.  That place was so crazy!  I had no idea what to expect and I was very surprised!  There was a section where you could pay to have your doll's hair done!! I have never seen anything like this in my life!  Then I saw the price of the doll and had a small heart attack!  James told me to buy her one and then he said heck no!  I'm sure Farrah will get one one day but not at four years old.  She will have to be a lot more responsible before that happens.  

The next day we headed to the Great Wolf Lodge and had a BLAST!!  Farrah was so excited because this time she was able to ride all the big slides!  She LOVED the slides!  I had an appointment one day and I'm pretty sure she wore my brother out by riding the big slides over and over....hahaha!

The big kids are old enough to walk around the hotel by themselves so I had to be creative with Farrah.  While the big kids played the hidden jewel game Farrah and I went to the clock tower and heard story time and then they made it "snow" inside.  Farrah thought that was pretty awesome!  After story time I found an easel where Farrah could color and she stayed there for the longest time.

The next night was New Year's Eve and the Great Wolf had a great party for the kids!  There was a magician, balloon artist's, face painting, bouncy houses and all kinds of noise makers!

And the best part at the end of the day was Farrah passed out....HARD!!!

Thanks for the great Christmas gift mom and dad!!!!

Christmas 2013

We had a wonderful Christmas!  This is my favorite time of year.  I love being with family and celebrating Jesus!  This year we had three Christmases.  The Fortner's on Christmas Eve, home with my little family on Christmas day and then Christmas with my family the day after.

On Christmas Eve we loaded the car and headed to Levelland.  It's always so much fun going to the Fortner's for Christmas.  There are five granddaughters on this side so there are lots of giggle and lots of fighting....haha!  Jean's house is always packed with us in there but we love it!  My favorite part is dinner and listening to all the stories of the past of when James and his three brothers were growing up.  It never fails that a new story comes about that we have never heard.  There is always a lot of laughing and teasing with the brothers.

Farrah was and is always spoiled by the Fortner's!  She loves her cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents so much!

 This was the best saying from Farrah all night...She opened her Prince dolls and yelled "I got a man!"

Amy bought the girls BIG bows with their initials on it....Farrah loves it!!

We don't get to see uncle Joel very much but when we do all the girls love messing with him.....I'm pretty sure he likes it to ;-)

After a late night we came home and thankfully we made cookies for Santa the night before, and put cookies out for Santa!

Farrah was so tired that she went right to sleep when she got home.  Santa was pretty tired himself and knew he had an early morning....

Christmas morning we decided to wake Farrah up extra early.  James had to work Christmas day and needed to leave the house by 6:30am.  James went to wake Farrah and she jumped out of bed and ran into the living room.....

It was on after that...haha!  This year James and I decided to cut back on the presents to four gifts.  She got something wanted, something needed, something to read and something to wear.  I was so glad we did this.  She gets so many gifts from both sides of our family and then we have birthday in two months. 

After presents were opened I made a quick breakfast before James headed off to work.

We enjoyed the rest of the day at home and played with new toys.

The day after Christmas we headed back to Levelland to my parents house.

Again, another fun day!  There are more cousins here but these cousins are all older then her.  These cousins pretty much give her anything Farrah wants.....which is not always good.  Haha!

When we arrived to mom and dad's house there was not small talk.....it was time to open gifts! 

Farrah was so excited she got a wig!  She wears this thing everyday!

Her favorite game....Doc McStuffin Operation.

Every year my Meme makes something homemade for all her great grand kids.  This year Meme made blankets with each kids favorite character/hobby.  Farrah LOVES Minnie and this blanket hasn't missed a nap or bedtime.  Such a sweet blessing!

After presents we ate dinner and laughed and played with all the kids new toys.  This year mom and dad gave the whole family three days at the Great Wolf Lodge!  We were all so excited!  I'll post about that next time....