My mom, dad, and sis had to leave this last Sunday, but we took some pictures before they skipped town. This is probably one of the best Downing family (minus little sis) pictures that we have taken in a long time. Of course, the little one who would not relinquish the toothbrush added just the right amount of cute to the picture ;-) .

That would be an almost 30° shift from the last few days. I guess we all needed a break.

Not to be totally depressing, but I just hate saying goodbye to my family when they leave. Today, my parents and my sister started on their drive to California. I miss them very much. And next week, we’ll have to say good bye to Josh’s mom. Darn it!!! 

But, we will have so many wonderful memories from the visits, most of them involving a very chatty baby that has suddenly decided that everyone she sees deserves a "hi" or "bye". . . loudly . . . regardless of whether or not the pastor is praying.

Here’s a picture of Abby with her Grandma "Soni" on a trip to the mall. I’ll make sure to post more pictures from the visits later.

Pictured Above: One baby who just woke up from a long nap, and one mommy who should have napped at the same time.

Give Abby a porch, a sunny day, and a bike ( "buck" ) and you have yourself one happy little 1 year old.

We got a surprise visit from some friends from Camarillo a couple of weeks ago. Andy and Kathy came for, you guessed it, an Alaskan Cruise, and stopped by Pathways for the morning.  Its always such a wonderful blessing for me and Josh when we see familiar people from "home" walk through the doors of our church, and to know that they came out or their way to see US is just so special. This was also their first time seeing Abby, so we were all a little bit emotional.

Thank you guys for the spontaneous visit. We love you guys and we hope to see you very soon.

We will be celebrating Abby’s birthday for a couple weeks, with family staying with us through most of the month. However, Monday, the day before Abby’s birthday, we had a party. A big party. With lots of the people in our lives who love Abby. The weather was beautiful…the punch was flowing…and the baby was as adorable as can be. Here is a little bit of what the day looked like.

…and the cake

God has blessed me and your Daddy more than we ever thought possible when he sent you to be our little one.  We love you so, so much and can’t wait to celebrate more life with you. We love you.

Note to self…bridal showers aren’t too much fun with a baby.  Now, that’s not to say that Abby didn’t have fun on Crystal’s special day…

(Thanks Dianne for the wonderful pictures…again!!!)

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