The Davis Family

Monday, January 5, 2009

Bed and Breakfast in Charlottesville

OK so we didn't actually stay at a bed and breakfast but it felt like and was better than a bed and breakfast. We went to this amazing home out in Charlottesville owned by one of Jared's friends parents. They had 220 acres of land, horses, chickens, a guest house (gorgeous), a pool and jacuzzi, and a beautiful home. They fed us dinner and breakfast, we played games, stayed warm by the fireplaces in every room, enjoyed great company and even took a dip in the jacuzzi. Talen got to feed the horses and collect the fresh eggs in the morning from the kitchn. Kendal got to eat and eat and eat all night long (seems to be her favorite thing to do these days)and everything was just so enjoyable.

The great thing about the experience was that the guy who owned the property is retired and used to be in the advertising field - he went to school, worked for a few years, started his own agency, sold it and now he is happily retired with no worries about finances. As I layed in the fluffy bed in one of the gorgeous guest rooms I hoped that I was experiencing my future... here's hoping. Anyway there's not many pictures- we decided to enjoy ourselves and not worry about taking pictures, but Jared's friend took a few for us below. I hope to go back a few more times.

The Davis Family quartet (in the making)

This video makes me smile. The tuner we're playing with is for a guitar so it doesn't actually work for what we're all using it for in the video (which I guess makes it even funnier). Kendal loves to sing - whenever we're at church singing or just singing around the house she's always eager to chime right in. So the whole goal of this video was to get her to sing. Anyway... Enjoy.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Happy Birthday Jared

Jared had his birthday last week on the 30th of December below are some pics. He's getting old. 28.

So a little bit about Jared, well he's hot, he's cute, he's funny, he's a fantastic father, a pretty good husband, and an ok student. In his spare time he enjoys making fun of his wife as much as he possibly can (and since I'm perfect he has to be extremely creative), playing video games, reading Time Magazine, watching football, cooking up something tasty to eat, did I mention watching football, and eating ice cream.

Anyways...

I got Jared an Aero Garden. It's an indoor herb garden for those with no gardening talent whatsoever - basically it's completely idiot-proof. He's been wanting one for awhile. Talen took this photo for us by the way (it was his first time we trusted him enough to do it - he had a really hard time getting us in the view finder and then pushing the button at the same time - it's amazing how much coordination something like that takes that we don't even think about as adults)

Talen got him a remote control Airplane - he was probably more excited about it than daddy.

Kendal got him a new frisbee and a new soccer ball to play with outside.

Mommy wrote him a little song on the guitar...no I'm not good at the guitar, but yes I do try to plunk around on it now and again.

This is his cake - don't laugh. I tried really really hard to make this beautiful chocolate orange cake for him - and well... it was an utter and complete failure. He was a good sport and ate it anyway. Some of you may be wondering where Kendal was for all of this - because the silly cake took me so ridiculously long to make we didn't even celebrate until like 8:30pm, which would mean that Kendal was toasty and asleep long before then.

Here is a cute video of Talen singing to Jared

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Christmas

We had a pretty good Christmas. The pictures below don't do justice what we actually received. Thanks so much to all of our wonderful family members for remembering us and spoiling us rotten. The kids loved all of their presents and Jared and I feel very blessed.

On another note, the only thing that would have made this Christmas a little more enjoyable would be the blessing of health - which was not something we've enjoyed in our home this past week. Talen came down with a stomach bug on Christmas Eve and threw up about 7 or 8 times from Christmas Eve through to Christmas Day evening. He was up all night Christmas Eve begging us for water because he was so hungry (from throwing up) and every time we would give him a drink of water he would just throw it up - so it was a heart breaking and long night - Once in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve Jared awoke to Talen in our pitch dark room sitting on the floor next to our bed. He had managed his way from his bed to our room and gotten one of Jared's bottles of water off of his night stand, unscrewed the lid, and drank it all before Jared woke up, we found him and took him to his room, only to discover that his bed was covered in yet another spill of vomit. He was so desperate for a drink that we was not going to rest until he got it only to throw it up a few minutes later - very very frustrating, emotional and exhausting. Christmas day went ok but then Friday morning I woke up vomiting (among other things). Luckily Kendal and Jared have not caught this very contagious stomach flu yet and we're hoping it will be out of the house soon. Talen and I are mostly recovered, but it is not something I would ever wish upon anyone - very nasty bug indeed.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas Trip to DC

We went to DC a few days before Christmas to see the lights at the DC Temple and to the Air and Space Museum. We also planned to go see the National Tree but we ran out of time.

The DC Temple Visitors Center was decked out for the holiday's with a 90-something collection of Nativity's from around the world as well as a collection of Photography depicting Christ's life called Reflections of Christ (this was my favorite part because photography makes him and his life seem so much more real than paintings)The photography was beautiful. I took Talen around to all the pictures and told him what was going on in them. He loved talking about the baby Jesus and "Jophes" (Joseph) and Mary and the Angels. We got to the picture of Jesus on the cross and he said "oh we need to get some band aids for Jesus... cause he's hurt" I thought that was one of the sweetest things I've ever heard. When we left Talen said, "Happy Birthday baby Jesus, I love you." They also had tons of Christmas trees decorated from all around the world, a musical concert, a harpist and then of course the lights around the grounds. It was a fun little day trip.

Kendal's Birthday

We had a great party for Kendal a couple of weeks ago! I can't believe how fast time flies. I probably sound like a broken record but I feel like I just had her yesterday - This year went by way way way too fast for me. I can only imagine how much faster time flies with every additional child. Anyway she had a great party - our closest friends came to celebrate and to be our family away from family. Everyone spoiled her rotten and we know she is very very loved.

Well a quick summary about Kendal - she hates the word "no" and will cry every time you say it to her regardless of your tone - very very sensative, she loves to do whatever her big brother is doing. She loves to lay down and snuggle on anything soft (pillows, blankets, the dog, stuffed animals, dirty laundry), she finally popped one tooth just last week, she loves to bring us presents from all over the house (usually the pantry), she loves to give slobbery kisses and hugs, and she loves to read books and eat anything she can find off the floor. Her favorite words to say are "baby, boo, hi, and daddy and uh oh." She is a fantastic and joyful little girl and we just hope the next year doesn't go by as quickly as the first did.

Just about a year ago - our tiny little baby girl.

Her new Winter dress and Birthday dress from Grandma.

This was the last present she opened (from grandma) and she loved it! Thanks Mom.

My good friend Aimee Toomey and her cute little boy Brock brought this baby doll for Kendal for her birthday and all I can say is she hasn't let it out of her sight since she opened it.

This photo is deceiving, Kendal may look like she is thoroughly enjoying her cake but she actually hardly touched it.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Better Late than never... right?

So... Below is a bunch of slide shows. Do not feel inclined to view all of them in one sitting - blogging for too long can cause brain damage ya know. I haven't blogged for a while so I wanted to catch everyone up... and the easiest way to do that is with slide shows. I know the music sucks by the way on the slide shows - but the tunes were free ... so just pretend like you have no taste in music and then you'll love them!