Happy in Houston

Well, we are finally here in Houston! We are so thankful to have such a wonderful church to live life with, a fun new city to explore, and a beautiful home to decorate. Thanks to our parents we were able to move in without incident and get settled quickly. Here are a few pictures of Gracie's first few weeks of this new adventure.

Gracie eating cheerios and watching her favorite show Boz, while we do some unpacking.

There is a little window by the our front door that Gracie loves! She looks out every day to see the ducks and to see her Daddy come home. We have a pond across the street which is home to many ducks that wander in our front yard searching for food. They're cute, but the duck poop in the yard is no bueno. She sure does love them!

Gracie and Papa feeding the ducks. Gracie usually gives some bread to the ducks then takes a bite for herself.

Gracie and Kaymi feeding the ducks. It is crazy how aggressive these ducks can be. I always put her on the table in case one of them gets a little crazy and I have to drop kick it! :) No, I love the ducks, I just love my daughter more!

One of Gracie's favorite things is going to the park across the street to swing, and if Daddy's there it is perfect!

YAY!! Swinging!!! She loves to go as high as we'll let her. Look at our little dare devil!

Two Lines Again!

Here we go again! The pregnancy test revealed two pink lines (actually all 3 pregnancy tests revealed two pink lines). I am definitely with child! I have so many questions!!! How many are in there? Is it a boy? Girl? We are so excited to take in this life-changing experience once again! We recognize the blessing this is and we praise the Lord for another little one!

Some things I am looking forward to the next 9 months:
1. feeling the baby kick
2. watching Gracie's reaction to my growing belly
3. hearing the heartbeat for the first time
4. seeing the sonogram of our precious little one
5. deciding on a name

Some things I am NOT looking forward to the next 9 months:
1. the nausea, oh the nausea!!!!!!
2. excess saliva (you heard me right, this is a real thing that makes you want to spit all the time)
3. the swelling. the lips I can live with, but the cankles need to go
4. the sleepless nights due to the baby on the bladder and the huge uncomfortable big belly
5. changing Gracie's diaper (made me want to gag before, now with my heightened sense of smell, it's virtually impossible)

Oh the changes our bodies go through to bring life into the world!

Easter 2011

This was Gracie last Easter. A week old. So peaceful. So calm.

...and this was Gracie this Easter. 13 months old. Frustrated with tights. Full of life!

Oh how the time has flown by! Her little personality is coming out which is spunky, outgoing, and passionate. She is her own little person. She loves to laugh and make people laugh. She has this fake laugh that she uses on strangers when we go to the store (gets them every time!) She uses the words "uh oh" and "whoa" about a hundred times a day and she despises milk. Her favorite things to do are to swing, listen to music, and just be outside. Every time "na na" (momma) comes out of her mouth I melt. She is a snuggler, especially at night. She gives the best hugs! She wraps her little arms around my neck and will squeeze with all her might. She will say "na na" and pat me as she lays her head on my shoulder. Sometimes when I am holding her at night, when I think she is asleep, she will lean back and plant a big kiss right on my lips. Makes me want to cry every time. I love my life.

My Baby is One!!!

My little girl is one! I knew this day would come, but I never dreamed how fast! We decided to celebrate her first birthday in style with a carnival extravaganza! We played games, painted faces, opened presents, ate delicious sweets, and loved on Gracie as we celebrated her first year of life. What a special day! A big thanks to my mom, sister, and Donna Kay for making this party happen!

This was the dessert table. How cute are the cones of cotton candy Nicole made?

Can you say sugar high? Yummy!!!!

Mom was manning the prize table. The kids took home a lot of loot!

Games Games Games!!!

A break from the festivities to love on Kaymi!

Gracie giving Drew a push on the tricycle

The delicious desserts for the guests

Gracie's birthday cake experience. This was her first taste of cake. If you can't tell she LOVED it!

And the end result...Gracie covered in delicious cake goodness!

Be My Valentine

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved."

Thank you God for loving us like you do and for allowing us to give and receive love from those you have placed in our lives.

Check out more pictures from our family's Valentines Day photo shoot at www.raspberryrainimages.com

Super Bowl Sunday

This year's Super Bowl was a little different than most I've watched in the past. Why? Mainly because of a little cutie named Gracie. We tried to watch the game between feeding her, watching her do her tricks, loving on her, and trying to get her down. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade it for anything, and since I really didn't care who won this year, I appreciated Gracie keeping things fun! On a side note, we were able to teach her a new trick tonight - touchdown! She raises up her hands in excitement as we yell "touchdown!" So cute!

Snow Day! (Part 2)

Well, today was one of my all time favorite days! Jonathan and I decided to go play outside in the snow when Gracie went down for her nap. Play? I think not! WAR! The biggest snowball fight of the century, and here is how it played out in pictures.

Pre Snowball fight (notice no one is covered in snow yet and each of us still have our pride; also notice the cute ear warmer that makes Gracie cry every time I put it on)

We divided the yard in two, made piles of snowballs strategically placed, counted to 3, and started throwing. First one to hit the other 5 times was the winner. This is just an example of what went on ALL GAME!

I call this picture VICTORY! (and man is it sweet!)
We made up after Johnny forgave me for crushing him in the first annual Williams Family Snowball War.
One day Gracie you will get to pick sides and play with us. Choose me baby if you want to DOMINATE!

Snow Day!

Well, today we finally braved the cold weather and actually left the house. Gracie and I have been sick and the weather has been snowy and freezing so we have been cooped up in the house for 3 days now. We bundled up, braved the cold, and snapped a few pics along the way. Here is our cutie in one of the warmest things we could find. Oh, and the bear feeties make me want to cry they're so cute!

Fun with Photoshop

I decided to start getting a little creative with pictures to keep things fun. This was the result this week. I wonder what Gracie will think of this picture of her when she gets a little older.

Just Some Random Cuteness

Gracie does not like things in her hair these days, but I was able to snap a few pictures of her before she yanked out her cute flower hair clip.


Daddy's the coolest!

She is very interested in momma's camera!


Hi everybody!!!

The Run Down at 9 Months

What is her newest trick? She has been crawling and pulling up for a few weeks and she is in to everything! She is now walking around all of the furniture. She'll fall down, bump her little noggin, and get right up again. Another thing she is doing now is giving kisses. She will lean in and give me a slobbery, but absolutely perfect kiss!

What words is she saying? She is saying "da da" like crazy! She says it for almost everything, but she has a cute little intense way of saying it when referring to her Daddy. She also says hi and ball.

What is her favorite toy? Her favorite toy right now is her sleep sheep. It is a stuffed animal that has soothing noises that she falls asleep to. When she wakes up, she no longer reaches for us first. She reaches for her sleep sheep and hugs and kisses it. I'm a little jealous of that thing! :)

What makes her sad? She has been really clingy lately, so sometimes she gets really sad when momma puts her down. She has been teething which makes for some hard nights. I hate that she is in pain, but that toothy grin is too cute for words!

What makes her mad? She gets the most mad when she is confined. The carseat, the shopping cart, the stroller, the changing table are all horrible. Oh the changing table! She hates it the worst because she is on her back.

What is her favorite food? Her absolute favorite are puffs (basically Cheetohs for babies). Her other favorite foods are oatmeal (which she eats twice a day), turkey from the deli, biscuits, and macaroni and cheese.

What is her least favorite food? She hates green vegetables. Usually I mix them in with the mac and cheese to get her to eat them.

How is she sleeping? She usually goes down between 7:00 and 8:00 which we LOVE! She might wake up once during the night, but it has been pretty easy to get her back down. She wakes up between 6:30 and 7:30 in the morning, so her momma is getting some good sleep! Yay!

One Big Fat Adventure

I often wonder what Gracie will be like when she is older. What will she be passionate about? What will make her laugh? What will make her cry? What will she be when she grows up? When I was a child, I wanted to be either a veterinarian or a McDonald's employee (they got to push the cool buttons on the cash register). I ended up becoming a personal trainer/teacher/wife/photographer/mother. I am so thankful life doesn't always end up the way we plan. This life is one big fat adventure and I am just hanging on trying to document in pictures along the way!

Free as a Bird

Our little bluebird is growing up. She can crawl now and she pulls up on everything, giving her a new found freedom that she is LOVING! A part of me is sad to let go of the baby that, when in our arms, was perfectly content. But another part of me is so excited to get to know this perfect little person God has so graciously put in our lives. Our baby girl has her own desires, her own agenda, a mind of her own. I am just trying to learn her and keep up! I already adore her personality and she can't even talk yet. She loves to laugh! She loves to make people laugh. She has been doing the fake cough for a while now, but she has started fake sneezing (head motion and all). I laugh everytime she does it, so she does it quite often! She is funny like her dad, animated like her mom, and crazy passionate about life. What a ride!

Teething Bites!

Wow! I really underestimated the whole teething thing! Who knew that one little tooth could create so much chaos - runny nose, fussiness, fever, sleepless nights, and chewing on everything! It has been kind of crazy around here lately with her little teeth coming in, but one look at that cute little toothy grin makes it all worth while (I am going to miss that gummy smile though)!

1.1.11

(this is a fun pic from 2010; I miss her crazy hair!)

Happy New Year! I can't believe it is 2011! I can't believe this time last year we hadn't even met our little girl yet. I can't believe how much God did last year. Here are a few big things that happened... Jungle Sunrise was published, Raspberry Rain became official, lots of very helpful baby showers, we moved into a house, we became minivan owners, Gracie was born, Gracie started crawling, Gracie got her first tooth, and there were 5 baptisms at BodyLife! What a year!

I am so excited for this new year and all God is going to do.

Some New Year's resolutions I have (keep me accountable people!!):

1. Go on a mission trip
2. Run a half marathon
3. Expand our photography business
4. Learn to snow board or get pregnant again :)
5. Blog more regularly