Kate, Colin and Anna Lou...

My friends Kelly and Janet came over last week with their little ones Colin and Kate. Colin and Kate are about 7 months old and I think as tall and heavy as my 15 month old. They are so cute and just sat there chewing on toys while Anna Lou ran around like a crazy woman!

Later that afternoon, AL and I were in the front yard, when she found the mud! She tends to do this a lot and really enjoys it!

Top 10 Reasons I Love Doha!

As most of you know, my sister and her family moved to Doha, Qatar last fall. I had the amazing opportunity to go visit a few weeks ago! Shannon, Wendi's dear friend, went too and we had an unforgettable week! You have probably already seen all of these pics and heard about the trip on Wendi and Shannon's blogs. I finally got my pics ready and got them on here, so here are a few highlights from our trip.

THE TOP 10 REASONS I LOVE DOHA...

10. SKYPE!

SKYPE and blogs help us remember what each other look like! JK! But SKYPE is amazing! Here we are doing a little Skyping with Honey and Papa while I was there. Aren't these boys beautiful!

#9. Interesting food like Chicken Schwarmas! sp?

The chicken fajitas of the Middle East! Yummy! I don't have a pic of the schwarmas, but here are some interesting pancakes in the grocery store for sale. I guess you get a little side of syrup. hmmm!? I guess no Bisquick in Doha!

#8. The Night Life!

Doha is a city that stays up late! It really is beautiful with all of the architecture and lights! Our awesome dinner at an Italian restaurant.

#7. Incredible Architecture

Doha has tons of growth and is becoming more and more commercialized! The buildings are so interesting and you never really know what each building is. We went into a mall that looked like an office building and into Brooks' and Barrett's school that looked like a house.

#6. Their malls put our malls to shame!! Yes, this is inside the mall! Want to take a ride on a gondola? H&M...Hello!Although these manikins were a little strange! Shannon and I decided to try out the poses.And the advertisements cracked us up! (Ummm..."I'd like to buy that.")Another funny poster.

#5. Beautiful Beaches!

And Saudi is just a hop, skip, jump and short swim away! This is it in the distance.And we got a girls trip too to a beautiful resort with more beautiful beaches!!

#4. Camel rides and "Duning" are a regular outing.

#3 Dairy Queen

This is DQ Country! (I thought Texas was, but we will give it to Doha.) Something of the South made it over there and they still turn your blizzards upside down! Way to keep it real!

#2. The Junods live there!!

My amazing brother-in-law and sister and their two precious boys, Brooks and Barrett live there. This city is so lucky to have this family!! This is why I love Doha!

#1. My BFF in the whole wild world, Wendi, lives there!

I do not know one person that would handle moving so far away to the Middle East like she has! When I say our family is close, I mean crazy close! She has done it with great courage, confidence, trust and obedience! She has handled the tasks of being a mom, wife, sister, daughter, friend and woman with grace and a true Godly heart!

Harper and ALH

Our friends Sarah and Harper came over for lunch and to play today. Harper is such a cutie! Harper's daddy is a high school coach too, so we have very similar crazy lives!! Anna Lou trying to give Harper a kiss.The sun actually came out for a little bit, so we headed outside for a little swinging.

Playing with Charlie...

With all of this raining weather, playdates have had to get a little creative lately. We were supposed to go to the Arboretum, but turned out meeting our friends Cabell and little Charlie at Northpark instead. The girls had a great time watching the ducks swim in the little pond. Anna Lou is crazy about animals and got so excited when they would swim by. I was just afraid she was going to go swimming with them! After watching some much older kids climb on this "wall thingy" they thought they needed to try it.

Cute Charlie!

AL so happy to see the ducks! Her bow looks enormous, must be the camera angle. I promise it isn't that big!
Attempting to climb and slide.

Meeting Jacob...

My friend Jerica had her second baby boy last Monday. We were all sick around our house last week/ weekend so we just got to meet him yesterday.

He is beautiful and doing great! Jerica is going to be a champ at being a mom of two! Also, we are so sad that they are moving to Oklahoma!!!

Anna Lou checking out Baby Jake. I missed several photo ops of them, but this is the best I got.
Jake looks very happy! AL and Jack love playing together. Jack yells "Anna" every time he sees her!