Merry Christmas!

It's been quite a wild ride in the Felton household this year.


We rang in the New Year while still in our home in Hawaii. We watched Matt's ship, the USS Rueben James leave for a 4.5 month deployment with Matt by our side at the beginning of February because only two short weeks later we started on our next adventure. In mid February we said goodbye to our friends and wished farewell to the Hawaiian islands. Matt went directly to Coronado Island to train for six weeks for his new position as a Naval Gunfire Liaison Officer while Adalyn and I went to Washington to stay with my parents and Emma went to play with Ebony at the Ceausu household. Thanks again Vince and Kristen! I loved having an extended stay in Washington to connect with friends and family I've been missing and all the yummy food and gorgeous scenery Washington has to offer. Matt joined us in Washington towards the end of March and we celebrated Adalyn's first birthday a couple of weeks early with a small birthday party at my parents home with a flower theme. How could she possibly be one already? Time sure is going by faster then ever.

April was just around the corner and that signaled the time for Matt to check into his new duty station at Camp Pendleton Marine Corp Base in Oceanside, CA. California here we come! We decided to make a little vacation out of it and detoured from I-5 for the Pacific Coast Highway. We made quite a few stops on the way including Lincoln City, OR, Bandon, OR, Ferndale, CA, San Francisco, CA, and Santa Barbara, CA. Adalyn was amazing the whole trip and we really enjoyed the spectacular coast line, farmland, and redwoods. We were even able to drive through a tree!

We arrived to our new home a few days before Adalyn's birthday and quickly settled into our new place. We live at the end of a cul-ta-sac only 1.5 miles away from Matt's new job. Matt has enjoyed the shorter hours and long lunch breaks compared to his position in Hawaii and has had lots and lots of time to spend playing with Adalyn and enjoying his hobbies.

We spent the summer getting to know San Diego county. We love Balboa park. We were able to spend 10 days in Montana with Matt's family and friends and I made a trip to visit my dear friend Brooke and her precious baby, Brayden, in North Carolina.

We also enjoyed having lots of visitors come stay with us. My parents came three times, several members of our Hawaii family, Stacey and Erika enroute to RI and Amanda on her way back to HI, came to stay with us, Matt's brother, Clay, and his family came, and we are currently lucky enough to be hosting Matt's parents for Christmas this year.

We struggled for several months this fall with the diagnosis of Trisomy 18 for our unborn son, David Jeremiah. We never imagined we'd be able to endure this kind of grief and sorrow. We have so many of our friends and family lifting us up in prayer and we were comforted by a never ending peace from God. David was stillborn on November 26 at 29 weeks gestation. Thank you to all who have kept us in your thoughts. We were blessed to have a midwife who not only supported each and every decision we made regarding the pregnancy, but was touched deeply by David's short life.

We spoiled Adalyn for Christmas this year. Matt made her a dollhouse and I tried my hand at a little woodworking and made her a play kitchen. We also gave a face lift to a VW Beetle power wheels we found at a garage sale with a fresh coat of paint and a new battery. We can't wait to watch her cruise around the neighborhood in it.

We enjoyed every bit of 2011 and we hope you did too! We are looking forward to seeing what the new year will bring to the Felton family. We are anticipating a big move in the fall of 2012. Hopefully it'll be close to you.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Matthew, Amy, Adalyn, and Emma the dog

Twenty Five Weeks

We've got trouble! This girl can stand up in her crib!



Looking super cool in her retro shades during a trip to the dog park



Can you tell that these two like each other?



This girl melts my heart!



We went to Bayfest at the Marine Corp base in Kaneohe. It was super hot out on the pavement, but we did our best to stay cool and covered. I was quite a bit surprised by how many parents didn't have their little ones covered up at all. Miss A had on a light weight long sleeve shirt and pants, baby sunscreen on exposed areas, and our favorite little hat we got from Kristen C. and her jogging stroller with a big attached umbrella on it. I think maybe I got a little sun though. Matt and I were astonished at the capabilities of the F-22A Raptor and the aerobatics of the Blue Angels.



Bathing Cutie



Sunset from our backyard

Twenty Three Weeks

This big girl turned Twenty Three weeks! I can't believe it.



Adalyn helped Matthew and I celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary on September 9th.


We enjoyed our traditional anniversary bottle of wine. Each year we purchase a bottle of wine and save it to enjoy on our next anniversary. This Three Blondes Gewurtztraminer from Icicle Ridge Winery in Leavenworth is a delicious light and crisp wine we've enjoyed on several occasions.



We past up a fancy evening out this year and we enjoyed a tasty king crab dinner at home.



We also had another exciting event to celebrate on September 9th. Emma turned two!



and Adalyn helped celebrate!



Just a cute pic of my lil lady


We decided to head out to Waikiki and enjoy a big brunch at the Hale Koa Hotel as a family. Then we went on a nice long walk down the beach.












We ended up at the Aquarium. We took a nice rest in their lush green lawn before we enjoyed all the colorful creatures inside Waikiki's small yet beautiful aquarium.


This was Adalyn's second aquarium trip. She had already visited the Seattle Aquarium only a few weeks early on our trip to the mainland.

Twenty Two Weeks

This girl is Twenty Two Weeks old, oh my! It's bedtime at the end of week twenty two and we must remember to take some photos of this lil nugget before she falls fast asleep.

As you can see she starts off very relaxed and snuggly,

Then she is all about the photo shoot! 'Look at me, I'm cute!',

Then, as most of you may not believe, things can turn ugly quickly!

Looks like we've got ourselves a serious case of the miss crankypants.

Adalyn, Matthew, and I visited the Mighty Mo this week for a VIP tour of the USS Missouri. If you watch the new Hawaii 5-0 on Monday nights, you'll be seeing a lot of this ship. It was a very hot tour as I was 'wearing' Adalyn on this ship with a serious lack or AC in cramped quarters, but we stuck with the tour the whole time and learned lots about the Mo's long history.

I finally broke down and bought the must have item most mom's seem to all rave about. The Baby Bumbo! All you mainlanders might be surprised to hear that here on the islands this seat will run you 50 smackaroos brand new. I wasn't about to spend that much money on a hideous rubber seat, so we ebayed it for half the price. That's why it's blue instead of pink or purple or some other girly color. Maybe it'll come in handy if somewhere down the road number two is a boy.

Twenty One Weeks

Here's our little girl at 21 weeks. The dress she's wearing I picked out 41 weeks prior, right after I found out that our lil bun in the oven was a girl bun. She's such a little cutie!

Matt's wonderful three week vacation ended during this week and he had to go back to the ship, so Adalyn and I enjoyed time together at home taking it easy after all the vacation fun!

As you can see Miss A has quite a bit of personality. I think she would look great with blue hair. Don't you?

Adalyn received this cute as a button dress from her Aunt Brooke at her (my) baby shower. She finally fits in it. Well, it's a tad big, but close enough. I even had the perfect matching headband to accessorize!

Adalyn had her first experience swimming in the blue Hawaiian waters. She HATED it! Guess we'll try again next time.

Twenty Weeks

Little Miss A Rae turned twenty weeks old. What a big girl!

This was the last week of vacation and we spent most of the week in Washington visiting with my family.

Adalyn sure loves Grandpa R.

Matt and I spent one day of our vacation in beautiful Island County 

We started with some shopping and a lunch of clam strips in La Conner.

Then we headed over to spectacular Deception Pass

We enjoyed some beach time at the state park. This definitely ain't the swimsuit type of beach.

We're all smiles!

Adalyn loves her daddy!

Deception Pass Bridge

Puget Sound

We ended our day trip at Tim and Brooke Story's house for a wonderful homemade meal made by the hostess with the mostest!

 We spent a couple beautiful afternoons at the Northwest Washington Fair

Enjoying a little down time in the shade on the fairgrounds.



Adalyn's first time on a tractor

 

Matt and I enjoyed two different grandstand shows. The infamous Demo Derby and superstar Kenny Rogers

We were sad to go, but we were happy to be able to spend the last day in Washington with the family

Getting a pic with Uncle Tim. Breakfast at Arlis's before we hit the road to Seattle

Then we made the rounds at Pike Place Market. Matt and I took this same photo of the two of us after we had been dating for four months. Crazy how four years changes things.

Love, love, love the flowers!

Grandma and baby love the flowers too!

I've got to get into the photo op action too.

Then we hit the Aquarium! The last time Matt and I were here was the day before we moved to Hawaii.



Mesmerized by the fishies



There's some big ones in there!

Adalyn digs the sea otters. They're my favorite too!

Finally we made it home to Hawai and we hit the beach in a hurry!
What do you think? With or without the shades? Either way she's dang cute!