Christmas Newsletter 2013

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family!!

The Davis family Christmas card and newsletter is coming to you via this blog this year because I simply have been too tired and too overwhelmed to get out our standard card this year. While it saddens me that we have broken this 6 year tradition, it seriously was stressing me out, and being 38 weeks pregnant this girl decided to let it go. Don't be worried though, we will be back to sending them out next year!!

2013 brought a year of excitement and new experiences to the Davis family! 

Carter is loving and doing so well (I'm gonna brag on him here) in his position as Youth and Family Minister at the Woodinville Church of Christ. This position kept him very busy all summer long in particular as he attended 3 different church camps (one of which he directed), as well as a mission trip to Portland with our youth group. We were also able to chaperon a group of perspective students to our Alma mater OC and it was great getting to visit campus and see several of our friends who we haven't seen in years! During his spare time Carter has recently been able to get back to "the mats" and pick up jiu-jitsu in Woodinville where he is making new connections and enjoying "rolling around". 

Amber has enjoyed getting to be a permanent stay at home mom this year and loves all the time she has gotten to spend with Mason as well as engaging in play dates and library story time. She has also spent most of this year "baking" our new baby girl who is due January 2nd, but really could come any day now. This pregnancy has treated Amber well and she was even able to participate in 2 different Church camps over the summer which she loved getting to do! Amber and Mason also got to fly to California this fall and catch up with all of the family there! 

Mason has grown and changed so much over the past year! He went from crawling to now Running, not talking to spitting out 9+ word sentences, playing by himself to enjoying playing with us and friends!! Mason's favorite toys right now are his Thomas train set and Lego's, but he also loves to be read too (sometimes the same book, over and over and over again). Mason also has a great set of friends from church and it is so fun so see them play together and he asks to play with them all the time which we as parents love to see!

As 2013 comes to a close we really cannot believe how fast this year went by. We are looking forward to slowing down for a few months after Molly Rose joins us but anticipate an equally busy and productive 2014. We are so grateful for the blessings God has given to us and want to continue working for him and his kingdom as long as we are able and look forward to this busyness. 

May God bless you and your family in 2014!!

With Love, The Davis'

Saved by The False Prophet

This is Carter. I don't blog, or take pictures...so you'll have to take my word for what comes next. My life was saved by a false prophet.

It started as a normal hike up to the Lake of the Angels (LOA) in the Olympic Mountains. Myself and two of my buddies were planning a three day venture. You know, do something manly. Our number had already been dwindled down from something like 7 guys, but we were going to make the best of things.

We get on the trail around noon, considerably later than I wanted. I didn't anticipate it being a problem, We had plenty of time before dark...so I thought.

I have been hiking up to LOA for over half my life, since I was 13 years old. The longest I've ever spent on this trail in one day is 5 hrs. Don't misunderstand me, it's an aggressive hike. Only 4 miles each way, but it boasts a 3500 ft elevation gain. In the Washington Trails book they call it "Aggressive." It is mostly vertical, very little flat. Full of roots, rocks, and rivers. It also contains a few rock climbing moments along the way. So, it's hard, but it's still only 4 miles one way. Long story short, we were on the trail for 9 hours. Not a typo, 9 full hours on the trail.

For you math majors out there, that has us stopping around 9PM. That's darkish. To make matters so much better, it began to rain about 5 hrs into our trek. A pretty solid rain too. Not at first, but eventually we were being assaulted by a solid Washingtonian rain.

We had been on the trail for so long, we figured that we had to be close, right? How in the world could the lake be much further? We decided that I should run ahead to find out. I knew that the Lake of the False Prophet was the last landmark before LOA, but I wasn't exactly sure about where to do next. I went the wrong way. I lost the trail and ended up completely lost...for about 10 min. I know it doesn't seem like much, but I was in the wilderness. I panicked. Just for a second, but I panicked. I had no idea where I was, but I also knew that if I got back to the Lake of the False Prophet I'd be alright. Eventually, I found the False Prophet and made my way back to my companions.

They thought I had died and were preparing to mount a search party. As much as I appreciate that, it would have made things so much worse.

This is the end of the story...we didn't make it. It got dark, and was still raining. So we stopped and camped for the night. I set my tent up...kinda. We didn't eat, we didn't change out of our wet clothes, we didn't really sleep. Everything was wet, everything. My sleeping bag, my tent, ALL my clothes, my sleeping pad, all of it. It was so wet I "slept" with a moat of water inside my tent around my sleeping pad. It was awful, just awful.

The next morning, we got up and went home.

...So, that's my story.

Happy Valentines Day!!!

We hope your day is filled with Love in one way or another!

13 Months

Bear with me, I am REALLY BEHIND and am trying to catch up!! Also, I forgot to take the Mickey picture for the next two months, Yikes how has this happened and he is only the first.

10/8/12- Now signing more
10/9/12-signing all done (kinda), it looks more like a wave
10/9/12- Can identify and show us your mouth
10/9/12- First storytime at the library


You now lean your head in for kisses

Love sitting in your toy box surrounded by all of your toys.

Get so excited when you stand and walk with us but the second we let you go you throw yourself to the floor, you just expect us to catch you every time regardless.

Get all excited pushing lightening McQueen push toy. You are better now about it not "getting away from you" and you can push it in a more upright position.

Trunk-or-treat at church was fun. Our family won the "family ties" award for best coordinating family costume. We were robbers and you were our bag of money. Mommy was excited that your costume turned out so well.

Having a "Ball"

Mason got this ball pit for his birthday but this is only the second time we've pulled it out. It will only stay out for a couple of weeks, but oh man he loves it!

Snow!!

We were invited to lunch yesterday by a family at church. They only live 15 minutes away from us but had 2-3 inches of snow on the ground. Mason got to experienced being pushed and pulled on a disc sled for the first time and he LOVED IT!! When sat on the snow though, he wasn't too happy about that.