It was a great holiday...

We had a really nice holiday this year. We spent Christmas Eve with Joe's family...everyone was here from out of town. On Christmas morning, Joe and I (and Lucy) opened our gifts from each other and then had dinner at our place with my Mom and my brother and his family. It was great to spend the entire afternoon just hanging out with family...it was a very nice day. I also got a call from my Dad, in New York, and had a nice conversation catching up on things. He plans on being her in Phx for my nieces' and nephew's fall school break in October. Wouldn't it be awesome if we somehow were back with Lauren by then. I know it's not likely, but anything can happen.

Here are a few of my favorite gifts this year. This first one is for Lauren from Grandma...a cute little soft blankie and bib...


Joe gave me this beautiful necklace. He said the three connected hearts caught his eye signifying the two of us and Lauren. I thought that was SO sweet and I love it!



My brother, sister-in-law, and mom, gave me a software bundle of Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 with Adobe Premiere Elements 4.

This seems to be the most popular choice for digital scrapbooking...many more bells and whistles than the software I use now. Plus, I can't wait to try out the video making software. This will come in SO handy for all the China video and photos!

Question for those of you who already have this software...what's the best book for tips and tricks on how to best use it? Any suggestions?