Well, ladies and gentlemen, it has been almost exactly eight months since we've been on here! Whew, but it's been a busy year! Last time I looked, we put up pics the day Elle stood up in her crib for the very first time....and how time has flown since then! Now she eats by herself ( but not neatly) ,walks, climbs, "talks" and learns more and more daily:-) Hopefully we'll get better at this bloggin thing along with everything else in life.
We are still in Kentucky, Adam's working hard everyday to care for our little family (and does an amazing job of leading us!) I have the privilege and calling of being a "keeper at home" and am living my dream doing that! How many people get to say that?? Especially before they turn 30??!:-)
Well, I had better get going. It's getting late and tomorrow always seems to start early.....

~the Shephards

Finishing Touches

Goofing off!

My sister stayed with Elle several days ago and gave her a bath. Angela is a photographer that LOVES to practice, so here are a few of her cute shots of our cute daughter:-)

Elle's Naptime

Yes, this is what Eliana's naptime looked like today! I know, usually we sleep during naptime, laying down, but she couldn't manage that this time:-) She pulled herself up in the crib for the first time this afternoon. She looks quite pleased with her new feat, if you can get past the tearstained face...hopefully naptime with be more peaceful tomorrow....yes! there is always tomorrow!

Pepper Steak!!!!Yes!!

Eliana has this hilarious thing she does when we put her in the high chair to feed her! I think she just loves to eat:-) Last night was pepper steak and she was thrilled!

The Drive To Florida!!!

We decided to go on vacation down in Floridafor about 10 days after Christmas. Jessica has family that lives on Marco Island and we headed down Christmas Night. The drive started off pretty good leaving only about 30 or 45 minutes later than we planned. Not bad. Everything flowed smoothly until just after the Florida border. I was driving and the engine started heating up. I took an exit immediately and it was actually an entrance to another interstate. On the way to the first exit it got to hot so I pulled over. The belt was off and stretched out. After unloading half of the trunk I got to the tools and put the belt back on. The belt came off immediately after starting the car, so we drove very slowly to the exit. Jessica's parents weren't far behind us so they got off and went to the town to see what was there. After about two miles at 25 MPH we had to stop and let it cool. Three stops later a female sheriff's deputy pulled up behind us. She wasn't real happy because Elle's car seat was covered and she thought we didn't have a seat for her. Then Jessica's parents pulled up behind her. Cops don't like that a whole lot either. She escorted us to the next stop at a NAPA store and a city police officer met us (also a female). The girls couldn't help but laugh at them. On cop had pink hand cuffs and went on about how she loved the other's ear piece. We had to go to a body shop that was another couple miles. We made it most of the way there and only had a hill left to go over when the car died. After a jump in the middle of the road we barely made it over the hill. Jessica got terribly excited because we were going to get to run a red light, but it turned green right before we went through it. It turned out that the tension pulley had broken, so we had to get it replaced and get a new belt. The body shop had some really neat dogs the we played with while they fixed the car. Three and a half hours later we got back on the road. There weren't any more problems from that point. We made it all the way to Naples and had lunch with Alison's fiance Aaron. Then we finished the drive to Marco.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day!! That was another exciting event for us all, mainly because we all got to watch Eliana open presents from more family that loves her. I think it is hilarious how much she loves the wrapping paper! Except for one book that my mom gave her. She sat and looked intently at each picture. This was definitely a fun year:-)