18 month check up among other things...

I'm sorry, I haven't updated since Christmas Eve!!

We went for Cara's 18 month checkup on Tuesday, here are her stats:
30 pounds! (96%)
33.25 inches (80%)
head is 42%, can't remember!

They said she's doing great. She is certainly getting heavy! She eats fruits, veggies, whole grains, cheese, milk, yogurt, and everything that is good for her. She loves water (wa-wa) and milk. She signs EVERYTHING and tries to say most things. I even asked her to say Kroger today when we were there and she she "Koga." She can say Yaya and Papa (my parents) and on Christmas day, she said Nana to Eric's mom for the first time (she realizes if she says it, it's like banana too). She's still having trouble with Grandad, but she signs it and says "Da-da", so it's coming. She's started even saying Beebee for my sister Bailey, it is too cute! I've taught her to say A, B, C, D, E. She thinks that's it and then usually says "YEAAA!!!!" :) She can't recognize the letters yet, but we're working on that. She got a slide for Christmas, and she waits for me at the top to count "1, 2, 3, WEEEEE." So, she's learning her numbers. She's so funny when she says numbers or letters, she moves her fingers, because she knows there's a sign, but she just doesn't know them yet! That's about the only signs she doesn't know. It was so funny over Christmas, we were at the Newsome's house and she kept signing different things telling me what she wanted. Eric's mom said, "Cara, you are so smart," and Cara signed smart! Can you tell that she's heard that a time or two!!

My best friend, Trayce, had her 2nd little girl on December 6th, Emma Victoria. She is such a beauty, and looks just like her big sis Julianne. There are pics on my flickr account (you have to look before Christmas!).

If you haven't heard, our computer crashed. Luckily, I use Flickr, so I have an archive of all our pictures (which I had also started saving them to CD as well). The only problem is I lost a lot of our little short videos of Cara from Feb 2007-Nov 2007 :(. Drop shots was full, so I didn't upload many. I also lost LOTS of tax return files, so if I do your taxes normally, and I sent you a PDF file last year of your return, PLEASE resend it this year when I do them again!!!

We had a great time over Christmas, and got to see both sides of the family. I even went to Bailey's one day for scrapbooking, while Eric watched Cara. On the 27th, I attempted my first ever turkey, recipe here, and it turned out amazing! We cooked the turkey, green bean casserole, broccoli rice and cheese, rolls, salad, and a fudgey pecan pie. We had Eric's good friend Benny, his wife, Alexis, and their new baby girl Avery Jean over, and everything was delicious. The boys took turns playing guitar hero after Cara went to bed. We spent New Year's Eve with Eric's best friend Ronnie, his wife Amanda, their 2 kiddos Kyler and Gabe, and some other friends from HS. It was a blast, literally. Ronnie is somewhat a pyro, but he wouldn't start popping the fireworks until midnight! So needless to say we were outside until about 2:30 that morning. (Cara was in bed by 7, Ronnie's mom had the monitor and was watching TV). So Cara had a great nights' sleep, not so much for us.

Right before Christmas I reached "Virtual Franchisee" (which is my 2nd promotion) in my Juice Plus business. It has been so great for our family to be able to take this amazing food product, for free! We are making some nice money doing it and it's been so much fun!! If you are interested, let me know and I'll mail you a CD.

Eric and I started Dr. Oz's book "You on a Diet" last Sunday. We have stuck to it really well. We are never hungry for anything else because you are eating a meal or eating a snack all day long. Last night we made these cinnamon apple a la mode (fat free frozen yogurt was the a la mode) for our dessert, and we were blown away. We are looking to see a 2 inch reduction in waist size after the first 14 days. I will let you know. I love the book, it incorporates DAILY activity with proper food selection!

I start a Bible study at our church next Thursday that I am really looking forward too. I love learning, fellowshiping and meeting with other women in our church, that have the same goal as myself: to better their intimacy with Jesus. I can't wait!

Well, I guess that's lengthy enough. I guess this can count as my "Christmas letter," since I don't send one out. God Bless!