Happy Christmas, New Year, and One Month

I can't believe all that we've done in the last month! The holidays were wonderful and we had a white Christmas here in Colorado. I never did get out tree up in our new apartment, but I'm ok with that - I had a few other things to do!

We had the Zincke's come to visit in early December and we were able to bless Zoe in church that Sunday. John did a beautiful job and I was so touched by this amazing daughter we've welcomed into our family.

Zoe turned one month old on December 29th so we had a birthday party! Mostly it was just an excuse for me to make cupcakes... We had my family over for lunch and cake then we played Mario Kart on the Wii. Zoe's first party was a hit!

I think I'm finally settling into motherhood and I can't believe what a challenge it has been! I've learned and changed so much in the last month. Here are just a few things I've discovered since Zoe arrived:

I have more respect and love for my own parents
Being a mom is harder than I ever imagined
Being a mom is more amazing than I ever imagined
Having a baby involves a lot of pain but it's worth it in the end
Nothing melts your heart faster than your child's smile
Even 10 minutes of sleep is to be cherished
John is totally smitten (I wasn't sure he would be)
Family really is the most important

And now the pictures! (For the full album you can go here.)

Wedding in Oakland

A week after our trip to San Antonio my cousin Mark married Neeley in the Oakland temple. We drove up to attend and had a fantastic time visiting with family. And we got to see Dave and Kristy Tibbs, too!

And here you can see the other pictures of our trip.

Wedding in San Antonio

Srun and Val were married in San Antonio at the end of July. It was quite the trip for us, but we are so glad we went! We stayed in a house with the Golden's and did some great sight seeing. It was my first time to San Antonio and I had a lovely trip!

Click here to see the rest of the pictures from our trip!

Baby Shower in Utah

We drove up to Utah for the 4th of July and Mom Zincke hosted a baby shower/open house. We had a great time, even though we didn't know we were having a girl yet.

Click here to see the rest of the pictures from our trip to Utah.

Cross Country Move Days 3 & 4

We left Louisville early the next morning and drove to St. Louis, Missouri. We stopped by our old neighborhood there to see our house. It looks the same as it did when we lived there, which was a strange feeling. It brought back a lot of memories to see everything look the same.

We had dinner with the Makowski's and the Losli's. We had a wonderful time catching up with them and hearing about the things they've been up to in the last few months. It was too short, though.

The next morning we got up early again so we could visit with the Gomes and the Taylor's. It was so great to see everyone again and we're sorry we couldn't spend more time with everyone. On our way out of town we stopped for lunch at Rich and Charlie's, a Zincke family favorite.

Then we left for Kansas and saw an awful lot of this: