...thanksgiving & babies!

we had the best time in susanville for thanksgiving. good food & fun was had by all! everyone was able to make it (including gigi marlene all the way from texas & shannon & kevin from idaho)! paige had fun playing in the leaves and in boxes- who needs toys? paige is smitten with uncle kevin (watch out daddy- you have some competition). nana paula & paige had fun sweeping the leaves in the back yard (nana swept - paige trampled through her pile - nana swept & it went on like that). we also had our christmas celebration and got to open presents! one of the highlights for me was getting to cut down our own christmas tree. if you know me well you know that i LOVE christmas and apart from my love of santa it is hard to compete with my love of christmas trees. i used to drive my family crazy at the lot trying to pick out the perfect tree. the tree we picked out is beautiful and HUGE...it was fun to see aaron chop it down! i have used every last strand of lights i can find in my stash of decorations to cover it. so fun. thank you papa randy for taking us up in the hills of susanville for my beloved tree!

in other news baby #2 is doing well- i am almost half way through the pregnancy!

if you want to see some pictures of paige from a few weeks ago check out the zakaryan blog. kim took them during our trip to southern california for katie's shower (we anticipate baby smith coming arrival this month- hopefully sooner than later for katie's sake)!

and finally- here are a few goofy pictures that the sherfields took/manipulated on their computer while babysitting paige. i guess it was really funny seeing her reaction to each new image as she of course said "baby" a million times (that is her favorite word and favorite thing for the moment...we hear "babies" a billion times a day).

baby

block head baby

alien cat baby

dumb jock baby

road trip 2008 (part 1)...easter & the "ville"!

last month we went on a road trip to susanville (the "ville") & idaho to visit family and get some vacation time. it was a beautiful drive, a wonderful time with family and an exciting adventure. paige was a great traveler and we even got to spend easter with family. here are just a few highlights...we also got to watch all three godfather movies (i had never seen them)...also a highlight of the trip. another highlight was having the stomach flu for the first five days of our trip...i loved being curled up on the couch with no appetite and an upset tummy. it also made the drive to susanville particularly special considering that feather river canyon has a ton of curvy roads...i was so sure i was pregnant and experiencing morning sickness that i took 3 pregnancy tests...but i was just sick. thankfully paige and aaron did not get it.

easter was great and included decorating easter eggs and paige's first easter egg hunt!

it is as if she already knows we are crazy!

she was tired and kind of out of it...not really sure what to think.

oh i just love my new toys now that i can eat them...thanks easter bunny!

daddy was a good sport...easter egg hunting is not his thing...but he played along for the sake of paige!

i love my girl! i never knew i could love her as much as i do...but i am just crazy about this little, wonderful person that i get to love and raise and know!

our little easter bunny!

easter ended with plenty of peeps, candy and new toys & clothes for paige...along with a wonderful feast prepared by grandma paula. we also got to go easter egg hunting with the french family...we always love seeing them when we are in susanville.

just hanging around granddad and grandma's house...

i loved sleeping on grandma's shoulder...and riding around in my new toy...the bug mobile!

saying goodbye...and heading up to idaho!

paige loves grandma paula.
...and of course she loves her granddad as well!our stop in wagon tire...yes that is the name of a town...population 5 or something. we drove up highway 395 to idaho and it was breathtaking. there were miles of beautiful lakes and different sized mountains. some had snow...some had green moss...some were more like the desert. there were tons of small towns scattered along the drive and we even got to drive through oregon where the speed limit dropped by like 15 miles (yuck).

paige would wake up...talk...go back to sleep...wake up...and then cry...we would feed her, change her stretch and then do it all over again for another couple of hours. it was about 9 hours to boise and she did great until the last few hours when she screamed her head off!