Merry Christmas!

I put the faucet on a slow drip and she entertains herself for a very long time...with only a little water to clean up, oh and the occasional run-to-me-crying-"shirt wet!!!!" incidents...but worth it!
I asked if she wanted the tutu on her head...she acquiesced...
Kind of a scary grimace/smile, but we had to show off her somewhat holiday-inspired dress. Matt got her all ready (minus the hair) and chose her outfit for her.

I decided since I probably wasn't going to do much updating of the blog this next week (nothing exciting going on) and then we leave for vacation...I better put these pictures on and say Merry Christmas! I'm so grateful for a time of the year where we can all be a little more kind and caring and follow the example of our Savior.

Anyway, I'm sure the entire blog world will be deluged with all the holiday photos once everyone returns to work/school after the New Year, but until then...enjoy your holidays and be safe!

Tetris

It's been a difficult weekend

Isabel tripped while holding a book and bit her lip open. After a lot of blood and a lot more crying, she finally settled down and was fine...until at church she tripped and hit her lip in my hand and it all started again. Poor Matt, because I was busy in a mtg, he had to take care of her all by himself. Poor girl!
We had our Branch Christmas Party, but Isabel wasn't all that happy. She was scared to death of Santa and then even sadder that she didn't get a stocking like the rest of the kids...by the time I went to ask Santa if he had extra, he had run out. Too bad. :(

Photos

Isabel rocking and singing to her baby. It was her idea to put on the diaper, give her baby the blanket and go rock. It was my idea to ask her to sing. :)
Playing with a string of lights on our bed.

Go BYU!
Isabel's self-designed fashion forward look.
Winter is really here...fortunately, Isabel isn't too big a fan of going outside in the snow, so she's content to play with me inside.
The Domes are some enclosed habitats. Here is the tropical rainforest!
Felt like I was back home in the western desert.

PSA for bloggers

After our combined RS/PH meeting on Sun. on using the internet for good/spreading the Gospel, we also talked about filters and making sure your internet is safe for us. So that made me think more about going private. Now, I'm not quite ready to make our blog private. But, for all those who choose to do so, I applaud you. However, if you want to make it less accessible to the general public, here's some good tips.

Under the "settings" tab on blogger, you can choose to NOT list your blog under Blogger's listings. Also, you can choose to NOT let search engines find your blog. Try it.

Try googling "Rowan Family Blog" and you still won't find our blog. Same goes for searching any other content related to our blog, it won't pull find it. So, in order to even access our blog, you have to either type in the address manually or follow it from a link on someone else's blog. Not completely private, but it makes me rationalize that if you are clicking on our blog link from a friend's blog, then you are probably not a psycho and have a reason to be looking at their blog and are friendly. Make sense?

Anyway, wanted to put that out there in case other people were in the same boat as us...worried about privacy, but not ready to completely close off their blog to friends and whatnot who might stumble across it and make contact. You're welcome. :)