Emma is adorable in White

Here are some pics from our last photo studio visit. Emma really is so beautiful in white! She was 6 months old in these pics...now she is over 7 months old. My baby is gettting older...but she is as cute as ever! Lately her word of choice has been "bababababa" We did hear a "maba" the other day...hmmm...getting closer. :)

"Berrey" McCHRISTMAS 2007

We had an awesome Christmas break this year!

Emma was able to meet her 2 McKee cousins and

some of her Berrey cousins. We spent most of the trip at Becky and George's (Ben's parents) in Washington. We had so much fun...we went to the Woodland Park Zoo and the Pacific Science Center and we ate super good food and also enjoyed playing games and just relaxing. And Makayla made Emma laugh so hard...cackle, really. It was so cute. And Emma and Allison I'm sure will become the best of friends, too as they get older. Its neat having 2 baby girls in the family!

We spent a few days down in Eugene to visit my brother Mike's family and my parents. Emma was of course instantly hugged, kissed, and adored by all! And we loved playing with our nieces and nephews. Ben was the wrestling buddy and I was the "hey Katie, look what I can do" and the"Hey Katie, guess what..."person. I love Mike and Kiana's kids...and of course we love Mike and Kiana, too.

To sum it all up, we were spoiled this Christmas! We are so blessed to have such loving family members!

My Benjamin

This blog is supposed to have stuff about Ben, too! Well, he just finished his 4th trimester at Palmer!...woo hoo! And he has been training to do a Triathlon this summer. He loves being a dad...and he is so good at it. I love seeing him smile at Emma...pure joy! This last fall Ben participated in the Chiro Games down in Florida...he swam...and of course he won all the breaststroke events!...and his team took 1st in the swimming competition. During Christmas break Ben was able to go skiing with his dad...he loved it! And it was nice spending time up in Washington...he hadn't been home in 2 years. Whenever Ben looks up the weather online he always checks the weather in San Antonio...just to show how much better it is there! He once said that if heck were to freeze over it would be called Iowa!

February Creations

I have three things to share for the month of February. The first is Emma's blessing day scrapbook page. I love red, black, and white together...it makes it dramatic...plus, it makes Emma's beautiful white dress pop! The second is Ben's valentine's day card. I used the same paper as the scrapbook page and the same black sticker chipboard letters. I am a huge fan of chipboard letters...no cutting or coloring...and they look great!

The third creation is a Mexican Pasta recipe. Ben and I ate this pasta dish last night...mmmm. This is a modification of Becky's "Easy Mexicali Dinner."

Ingredients:

• ~1lb beef
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 3 cups cooked pasta (i used bowtie)
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes with lime juice & cilantro
• 1 can corn
• 1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 small can sliced olives
• ~1 cup chedder cheese (divided)

Directions:

1. In a large skillet brown hamburger with the onion. Pour off fat. Cook pasta while browning the meat.


2. Add cooked pasta and the remaining ingredients to the skillet, except just half the cheese. Mix together, then top with remaining cheese. Cover and let simmer for ~10 minutes.


3. Serve with ranch dressing or sour cream. We also had biscuits. Yum!

Katie's Creations

So every month I am going to post pics of stuff I have made-scrapbook pages, cards, etc. and recipes I have come up with (or modified from another recipe). I want to do this to give ideas if someone is feeling a little stuck and because I love being creative. I love projects!