Crazy Times!

Happy belated New year!

This is Dan and since I NEVER post here I figured I should state that so ya'll dont think you are about to read a Chrystal post. Unfortunatley this one has no pictures or pretty scrapbook pages.

It has been a whirlwind couple of months for us and thought I would just throw in an update and hopefully soon Chrystal will be back at the helm.

Where to start, for Christmas we had my little brother and his family in town for the holidays. It was great having them down and we now know that our home is NOT child proof but we are grateful for pocket doors and the ability section off most of the house. Don't get me wrong we loved having them down and hope they can make it again but when you place a 2 year old in the hands of a couple who only has dogs it's comical at times to say the least. Love you Marsh and Emily.

The same day Marsh and Emily took their family back to Idaho, our roommate completed her internship and left for home as well. I believe it was the 2nd of January. This was the calm before the storm and it was really interesting to actually be able to hear clocks tick again. We had a full week of just us. (yes thats how subdued we are at times)

The "storm" is the amount of Travel we have and will do in just the first month of the new year. I spent a week in Charlotte, North Carolina for work. Chrystal was in Toronto, Canada for work, for 4 days. Once she got home it was time to wash and re-pack since she will be leaving for Scotland for work. Luckily I am able to join her in Scotland for the last week of her trip as a vacation. During Chrystal's first week in Scotland I will also get to spend some time with my Dad before he comes to stay in our home, entertain the pups and take me to the airport.

Considering that is just in January and February we hope the rest of the year can be come as subdued as our home. So far we can see that our schedule lightens up in April. Whoo Hoo!

We hope you all have a Happy New Year and 2011 brings many blessings for you all. Oh and don't worry, knowing me it will be another year before I post again.

Dan

Merry Christmas!

The past couple of months have been g0 - Go - GO! for us. It seems like we haven't had a chance to just sit and breathe and remember that - oh, yeah! - it's Christmas! Since Thursday and Friday are holidays this week for me, and Dan is still working, I took some time yesterday (amid the cleaning and baking and shopping) to do some scrapbooking. I haven't scrapbooked in a very, very long time. Here's what I came up with:

In 2011, I'm getting back on the photo-a-day bandwagon, and starting with Project Life for the first time. Project Life is a Becky Higgins creation, geared toward preserving everyday memories. You can check it out here: http://www.beckyhiggins.com/products/

With that, I'm off to start a 2nd page (gasp!)

Merry Christmas to all!!

More...

This week in bullet points:

1. Have not had water pressure for going on 3 days now. City is "working on it." Cannot do any regular Saturday activities: laundry, dishwasher, etc. Showering is even tricky. What do you think the chances are they fix this over the weekend?

2. Had a delicious dinner last night at Ouisie's Table. It was my company Christmas party - and it was a lot of fun.

3. Today we will decorate for Christmas! And then dinner & games with the neighbors. Should be a fun day!

4. Still working on this cute family's photos. (click to enlarge)

I couldn't resist...

just this one more tonight. Aren't they adorable?

(click to enlarge)

For Robin

I'm processing some photos from a recent family photo shoot. Here are a few of my favorites so far. I especially love the last one. (click to enlarge)

Family History Project

I have spent a lot of time this weekend working on family history project. I am taking a class by Jessica Sprague and despite some frustrations, I am beginning to enjoy it!

The project focuses on 4 generations - me, my parents, my grandparents, and my great-grandparents. At first I thought it would be easy to track down this information, but it took a bit more work than I expected. Photos were the most difficult part, especially on my father's side of the family.

So far, the family tree looks like this (I'm sorry it's fuzzy; I can't figure out how to get photos to post clearly lately):

Any of you McCoppins or Skokans out there - if you have stories or anecdotes to share, please let me know! The next few pages will be dedicated to the "details" of each couple. Needless to say, I am short of information for that side of the family and would appreciate any help you can render!

Despite the frustrations, it has been fun to put faces with names, and sift through some old photo albums my mom sent me years ago that I just never had the time to look through. :)

baby photos!

I got the privilege of my first-ever newborn photo shoot this afternoon. I've got a lot to learn, but for the new parents, here is a little preview. :) Thanks for letting me come over and play with little Logan!