Thankful

We are very thankful for family and friends this week.  Ryan's dad made it successfully through heart surgery this week.  We are so thankful that he is doing great considering and has such a wonderful attitude about it.  Max was sick and had to be evaluated at Children's Hospital (all turned out fine).  My mom and Jim watched the kids for us while we spent many worried hours at both hospitals.  We received many calls/emails and offers of help from the rest of our family and all of the wonderful friends we have.  We feel so blessed this week with the outcomes of both Bill and Max's health and the pouring of love and support from our friends and family.  We are so grateful for the people we have in our lives.  THANK YOU!!!!  

Playa Del Carmen-Jan 2009

Ethan and Justin swimming in the ocean after the wedding

Erika and Jeff, the bride and groom

Erika and I before the groom's dinner

Ryan, Ethan and I at Ipanemas Grill, a Brazilian steakhouse

Ethan experiencing Senor Frogs our first night there

Our trip to Playa Del Carmen for Erika and Jeff's wedding in January was one of the best vacations I've been on.  We had a great group, 21 I think we counted with kids, perfect weather and a purpose...a Mexican wedding!  Ethan joined us for this trip and got to experience his first plane ride.  He was so excited that when we were taking off, he could hardly talk because he was giggling so hard!  He really enjoyed himself and was great with everything.  Though we were in a foreign country with much to see and do, he was most excited by the fact that he did not need to be in a carseat, he could go to the swim up bar for "heena" coladas as he called them whenever he wanted and that he could have ice cream at the ice cream bar at 3pm each day.  He loved vacation so much that he told us he really wants to live in Mexico.  I told him to ask his dad about that!  Erika and Jeff got married on Saturday morning on the beach.  It was a perfect day.  The ceremony was very nice, cake and champagne afterwards and then Jeff carried Erika into the ocean, wedding dress and all.  Following them, all of the kids ran in with their wedding clothes on and had a blast running and jumping over the waves.  It was one of the neatest moments I've ever experienced at a wedding.  Sunday we spent the day at a place south of Playa called Xel-Ha.  It was a park of sorts where you could snorkel, tube, swim with dolphins and relax.  Everyone enjoyed themselves, well, except for Leah.  As we were cliff diving, she stubbed her toe on the edge of the cliff and thought she had broken her toe!  Although vacations always go too fast and it is hard to come home, we missed Brynn and Max so much and were excited to see them.  Thank you to G&G Talley and G&G B. for watching them while we enjoyed some quality time with Ethan and friends!!

(Late) Recap of Christmas!!

OK, so I'm really not punctual on this lately at all.  You know how the saying goes...better late than never!  Hopefully I get a few points of forgiveness for having three kids 5 and under and have a total lack of time!  Anyway, our Christmas was fabulous and here are the pictures to prove it!  We celebrated with Dad, Sue and Nativa at Haley and Matt's during a major snow storm.  Thankfully, Ryan, the kids and I went up Friday night instead of Saturday or I'm not sure we would have made it.  The guys had fun anyway on a spur of the moment snowmobile ride that lasted well into the wee hours of the morning!  A few days later, we visited my grandparents and had a wonderful lunch with them and my dad.  I cherish the time I have with them as there is just not enough of it.  They are such kind and wonderful people and I'm so thankful that I have and still have them in my family's life.  Christmas Eve was spent here with my mom and Jim (Haley and Matt also) and then to Spanier's on Christmas Day.  Thank you to everyone for making it a great Christmas season!!  We are so fortunate to have the family that we have and always have so much fun hanging out!!  Love you all!

'Tis the time for many exciting events!!

Brynn and Daddy

Brynn and Mommy

Brynn dressed and ready to go for her JFK performance 12/14/08

Kendall's baptism 12/7/08

Max's 2nd birthday 11/20/08--so happy with his new gift!

It has been a busy month!  Max turned 2 on November 20th.  We will have his party with the other kids in March, but celebrated that night with dinner at the Green Mill and he opened his present from Ryan and I (a Hot Wheels--see photo above!) which he LOVED...you can probably tell by the photo.  He was so excited and kept saying, "Yook what I got for my pwesent!" ("look what I got for my present!").  It was quite humorous!  He is a self proclaimed "big boy" now and thinks that his brother and sister are the best and will mimic ANYTHING and EVERYTHING they do, which is not always good with his siblings being 5 and 3 years old!!  He is a really good boy, though, and really keeps us laughing with his goofy sense of humor and his amazing speech for being so little!  Our precious niece, Kendall, was baptized on December 7th.  She is SO adorable with a lot of hair and chunky thighs!!  She is a very good and happy baby and will smile and giggle at the most minor of things.  We are so happy to have her in our lives.  Brynn started Just For Kix this fall and had her first performance on December 14th at Elk River High School.  She was beyond excited to dance, wear her "beautiful" costume and do her hair/put make up on for her performance.  She did really well and said she had a lot of fun when she was done.  The smile on her face told us how proud she was of herself and how much she really loves dance.  We had a little party here with some appetizers and lunch after her performance and I think she really enjoyed being the center of attention for the day!  We celebrated Christmas with part of my side of the family this past weekend (whoa!  the snow!) as well as the Spanier side and will celebrate with the remainder of my side and Ryan's side this week.  I was also fortunate to have been able to have lunch with my Grandma and Grandpa B. yesterday.  They are so wonderful and it is always a blessing to be able to spend time with them.  Haven't downloaded those pics, so will post them soon along with our Christmas pics from last weekend!  Happy holidays to those who read this!

Dress up day

These two post-Halloween dress up pics were too silly not to share.  Here are Ethan and Brynn modeling gifts they received for Halloween from Grandma and Grandpa B and Nativa!

Trick or Treat, Smelly Feet...

I can't tell you how many times the kids said it..."trick or treat, smelly feet, give me something good to eat!".  Too many times, that's all I know!   Brynn and Max may have had their costume roles mixed up (ha!), but they had a great time!  We got together with our neighbors as we have done for a few years.  This year we ventured out in our neighborhood with the help of Paul's trailer and Troy's driving skills.  It made getting around to the houses much easier...and more fun I'm sure the kids would say!

The day after Halloween we left early in the morning to

head up to Orr to set up deer stands.  The car ride is LONG and the kids did really great...we were very proud.  They also did very well walking out in the woods and being patient as Ryan desperately tried to get his stand up in a rotten tree.  He finally had success in another tree!

We spent the evening at the (only) hotel in Orr.  It had a water slide and kiddie pool which worked perfect for the kids.  Ryan sat through opening weekend in his new stand without any luck, but we are heading up there this weekend and the following, so I'm hoping to be posting about a MONSTER buck that one of us got!!  Regardless of the success, the hunting weekends are always fun due to the group that goes.  It is a fun group...never a dull moment!

While the guys are gone, the rest of us play!!

While Ryan was in Wyoming mid October elk hunting and enjoying the beautiful scenery (no luck with the elk but as the picture shows, the scenery is unbelievable!!) and Matt was away hunting as well, Haley and kids came down to spend a long weekend with us .  It was a lot of fun spending time with them.  We went to Benihana for lunch and to the Science Museum.  Aside from that, we did a little shopping and the FIVE kids kept us quite busy for the remainder of the time!!  I always enjoy time with my sister and seeing my niece and nephew is always special.  We all missed Ryan quite a bit.  He was gone for 8 nights...the longest we've ever been apart.  Glad they all had a safe hunt and trip out and back!  Paul, Pete and their uncle all got elk, so those pics were really fun to see.