Merry Christmas from the Kussee's!

We didn't quite make it in time to sending our Christmas cards out by snail mail this year... so digital Christmas cards it is for 2014!  

We have been abundantly blessed this year.  Rylee Girl has been our perfect little present for the past 7 months.  Every day she wakes up, it's like unwrapping a new gift with how much she changes and develops!  We have loved every moment with her and we make sure not to take our time with her for granted.   We are so grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ and His birth.  He is the Ultimate Gift.  The Prince of Peace.  Our Savior and our King

/ / "A thousand times in history a baby has become a king, but only once in history did a King become a baby." / /

#ShareTheGift

it's independence day.

Our Independence Day brought started out with sleeping in (even though we'd planned to run to the balloon festival... obviously that didn't happen!) and getting out of bed later in the morning.  After a quick breakfast for the three of us, we headed to the Freedom Festival for our annual sunglasses run.  We ended up not finding any sunglasses that caught our fancy this year, but we did find the Tornado Fries that T LOVES.  So of course we bought some and ate them to our stomachs content!

Then we headed home, fed Rylee, and headed up to Aspen Hills to visit the family at their cabins.  We caught most of them at their naptime, so we handed Rylee off to Grandma and Grandpa to finish her nap, and played a game of Scrabble and Skip-Bo with Myst.

I spy with my little eye a sleeping grandpa and baby in the background...

Bonding time with Grandma (who happens to actually be sitting down for once!).

Lady took over Rylee's new blanket from Katie.  It's becoming one of our favorite blankets too- a muslin blanket that's not white?!  We love it.

And then it was a quick transfer over to grandpa...

After games and naps, we ate our 4th of July dinner of bacon hot dogs (compliments of Misty!), chips, salads, sides, brownie cupcakes, and delicious cherries.  Yum!

Then we headed out to take a couple of pictures before the sun went down...

[bonding with Aunt Misty]

We convinced everyone to take a group picture (amazing how once you mention that the baby needs a picture with everyone, they're in a little bit of a better mood to take a picture with everyone!).  Hello explosion of red, white, and blue.

We headed home right after we saw some of Moroni's fireworks and Mt. Pleasant's fireworks.  We hit some clogged up traffic on the way home and were stopped for a good half hour due to a terrible accident that killed three people and left three others that had to be life-flighted out.  Such a sad story for Independence Day.  We said a prayer for those involved in the accident and slowly headed toward Provo once more.

We finally got home after midnight and hit the sack!

All in all, it was a fantastic, lazy, low-key 4th of July spent with each other and family.  It was exactly what we needed and wanted!

 Happy first 4th of July, Rylee girl!

...AND this weekend meant we got to get together with JaeKaeNae for a visit while Kate and Dave were down from Idaho for a visit!  Kate got to meet Rylee and Kole for the first time and brought us freezer meals, toys, and homemade blankets for our kiddos!  It was exceptionally wonderful to be together with besties and see Kate in her 2nd pregnancy glory.  Can't wait to meet her 2nd Baby Girl in September!

 

Gratefulness Overload

Today I am grateful.

I am grateful to be in love with the most dashing, lovable, and adorable man I could have ever married. He's changed my life for the better and makes me laugh and smile on a daily basis. He's my everything.

I'm grateful for sisters who are my best friends (one sister not pictured). I love how we can talk about anything and help each other out with life. My sisters are always there for me if anything goes wrong in life and are part of the amazing supportive family I come from.


I'm grateful for my parents.
My parents are some of the most compassionate, loving, and phenomenal people I know. they give and give and give and never expect anything in return. They know the definition of hard work and taught me and my sisters how to work and take pride in doing things with our hands. Ever since I married T, my already close relationship with my parents has escalated to another level. I can see their wisdom a lot more and I rely on their advice.


I'm grateful for T's side of the family.
I'm grateful that I finally get to experience life with both a younger and older brother. I love having younger sisters and two more amazing parents who are fun to be around and give sound advice. I have certainly been blessed to have married into quite the remarkable family!

I'm also extremely grateful to be working where I do with the children I get to teach. I have an incredible class who go above and beyond to learn and to please me. I love them like I would my own children and wish I could take them all home with me! I get to meet some amazing parents and work with top-notch educators.
(Due to privacy rights, I don't show picture of my students.)

I'm also grateful to one especially wonderful woman in my life. A woman who has shared stories, love, and laughter with me since I was born. A woman who bought me and T a beautiful picture of Christ for our living room. Not only is it beautiful, it invites the spirit into our home and lets those that enter it know that our life centers on Christ.
We love you, Becky.

Life is going so well and I love every moment of it. I love teaching- it is truly my passion and one of the major talents Heavenly Father blessed me with.

I am grateful.