New Year's Eve

Carissa was helping me peel carrots for our New Year's Eve traditional cabbage and carrots soup. I did most of the peeling.

Ugly Sweater

We're getting ready for an Ugly Christmas Sweater party this weekend with Christina's family, with a contest for the ugliest. Carissa is not very excited about it. You could say she's a *bit* upset. We are going totally going to win :)

Christmas Smile

We got Carissa a kitchen set for Christmas. She absolutely loves it, as evidenced by the smile. Already tonight, she "cooked" something and then had me feed her baby doll. Yum!

Splash Time

Carissa loves bath time, can't you tell?

Little Bunny Foo Foo

Carissa sang Little Bunny Foo Foo with Christina tonight after she opened the rest of her gifts from us.

Ayres Family 2009

This is our Ayres family photo for the year. You'll notice Carissa is holding the remote, so she gets photographic credit. We've been having a great time hanging out with the family getting ready for Grant and Ashley's wedding tomorrow.

There's A Hitchin' This Weekend

We're up in Jefferson City this weekend getting ready for my brother's wedding. This is his lovely, soon-to-be wife, Ashley. We are excited to have her join the family. Carissa is also the flower girl so there will be plenty more pictures to come from the weekend.

Christmas Eve

This is Carissa with two of her gifts. The stroller is really for the doll but she thought she needed to sit in it too. It's not broken yet...

Top 8 Albums of the Decade

First of all, sorry for the random post here. I realize this has nothing to do with Carissa or our family even. But enjoy my top picks for the decade anyways :)

Some of links are to iTunes. Download it here.

8. Jose Gonzalez, In Our Nature (2007)

This Swede knows how to strum some good tunes on his classical guitar. Nuf said.

In Our Nature, on LaLa.

7. Iron and Wine, The Creek Drank the Cradle (2002)

Sam Beam is awesome. I enjoy this album a bit more than his others because he sticks with his voice and guitar only.

Lion's Mane, on LaLa.

6. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago (2008)

Pronounced bone ee-vair, Bon Iver is one of the best singer/songwriters of the decade. Justin Vernon shut himself off in the winter woods of Wisconsin and emerged with this album.

Skinny Love, on LaLa.

5. Death Cab For Cutie, Plans (2005)

I heard lead singer Ben Gibbard's work first in The Postal Service. His vocals are easy to fall in love with.

What Sarah Said, on LaLa.

4. Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)

As someone else has already said, "Parts of this innovative work sound as though Radiohead broke into the studio and jacked with the tracks." And oh, how amazingly jacked up they are.

Heavy Metal Drummer, on LaLa.

3. Imogen Heap, Speak For Yourself (2005)

I was introduced to Imogen Heap from the show So You Think You Can Dance. My wife loves this stuff. The music is heavily produced, yet so creative.

Hide and Seek, on LaLa.

2. The Postal Service, Give Up (2003)

This is a mash-up of Death Cab for Cutie lead singer, Ben Gibbard, and producer Jimmy Tamborello. Another electronica band that has more loops than Velcro.

Such Great Heights, on LaLa.

1. Underoath, They're Only Chasing Safety (2004)

This album changed music for me. While I love how Underoath has refined their sound since this album (check out Define the Great Line), this was the height of the decade for me. It is the perfect blend of high, soaring vocals from drummer, Aaron Gillespie, and harsh, scream vocals from lead vocalist, Spencer Chamberlain. For more of Aaron's vocals, check out his side project The Almost.

A Boy Brushed Red Living in Black and White, on LaLa.


And, as part of my commitment to full disclosure, I will state that over the past year, Owl City, Ocean Eyes, is the most played album for me. Not sure what that says about me, but transparency is king.

Granny

This is Granny, Carissa's great-grandmother, and Christina's maternal grandmother. She was so excited when Carissa was born. She drove down the next day (Carissa was born around 7pm) to see her in the hospital in this picture.

She passed away this past Saturday after a rather unexpected heart attack. Some of you knew and have been praying for us and Christina's family. We appreciate that so much. It has made the holidays interesting, but we're spending it with more family that we ever would have planned which is really special.

She was a pretty cool lady. You always knew what Granny thought. She was very proud of her family, especially the great-grand kids (she has nine). She survived breast cancer. But, most of all, she loved God and her church family.

The Herd

The horses were running around yesterday. It is something to see the herd move back and forth together like a flock of birds.

Young Photog

I had the camera set up on a tripod last night and gave Carissa the remote. She took over 80 pictures in 5 minutes. Here's a time-lapse of the photos. Enjoy!

First Snow

We had our first snow last night. It wasn't much at all. Some of you northerners may laugh at the fact I'm even calling it snow. If you can't tell in the photo there really is a light dusting :)

Carissa just had to go outside today, even though it's 26F or so.

Also, note the bruise on her forehead. She head butted the corner of the desk at work and lost. No blood, just a bruise. Hopefully, it's gone by my brother's wedding next weekend. Flower girls shouldn't have bruised foreheads.

The Welch is Coming Out

In case you haven't seen it before, that is what I like to call a "Welch tongue". It comes out when a Welch is thinking or working hard at something. I've seen Christina do it and I've seen her dad do it. Carissa's last name may be Ayres, but there is Welch blood in her for sure :)

This photo was from earlier this week, on a windy but much warmer day than today.

4 Years Ago Today

This was us four years ago today. We're a bit different from ourselves then. Which is good. I actually might be skinnier, but that's not a good thing. No one wants to stay the same. We should all have the expectation that we would be changing, specifically becoming more like who Jesus intends us to be.

I'm so proud of how Christina and I have grown and changed over the past several years. I truly love her even more each day we're together. And I know that God has even greater things planned for us.

Baby's First Boo Boo

Carissa hurt her finger falling today. It's her first boo boo and first band aid.

*I should add that she made it until 18 months before she broke skin. That's pretty good, right?*

We've Got A Mechanic

My chair was getting a little loose so I was tightening up the screws. Carissa wanted to help.

Never Too Big

Carissa is having a blast in the exersaucer at church. She doesn't fit real well but that doesn't matter to her.

Office Fun

Carissa was "loving" on me at the office yesterday. Our childrens director caught it on camera.

Best of 2009

So here at the end of the year, I've decided this is my favorite shot from 2009. We took a bunch of shots of Carissa in her princess dress in order to put a few on her first birthday party invitation.

Play Tent

Carissa found a book light to play with in her tent at Grandma and Grandpa Ayres'.

The Patient Dog

Tillie has been given the gift of patience from God. That may seem weird but there is no other way to explain how she can be so sweet with Carissa and have her tail pulled. She still waits for Carissa to throw the ball even though it is only thrown a few feet. Carissa is learning to treat Tillie with kindness but Tillie is being so patient with with the process.