Birthday Weekend and other Misc. stuff

Ok, so this is a hodge-podge kind of post...
First, on Dec. 29th Andrew turned 4 years old. He finally got the BuzzLightyear toy he had been eyeing for months. Just seeing him open it made it worth the stress of trying to find it after Christmas and the results of the storm that weekend... whewww!!
On Dec 31st Davis turned 7 years old and we didn't get any really good present opening pics.
We decided to celebrate the boys birthdays along with Miles' birthday which was Jan. 2nd, we spent the weekend in Kansas City! The kids REALLY loved the family suite we stayed in, can you tell?????

Lincoln's favorite thing about the whole trip was the full length mirror he could look into. And being able to WALK all over the big room!

"Who is that cute little man?"

We wasted no time getting to the celebrating...

1st stop, T-Rex Cafe... Made by the guy who does the Rainforest Cafe. Lots of fun for everyone... just a little scary for the weak at heart. Here is Davis at the front of the restaurant with a little editing effect.

This pic is kind of dark... more of the restaurant

"Happy Birthday to you... RRRRRaaarrrrrr!"

2nd stop - Powerplay!!! A little (and big) kids dream indoor entertainment center...

This was the boys favorite ride.

If this is any indication, Sydni should not handle any real weapons!

Nothing like competition... Dance Dance Revolution, they have done this in PE at school and had a blast!

Lincoln enjoyed all the lights and activity mostly from the stroller and was a good sport about it!

This has always been my favorite carnival ride... so I HAD to enjoy it with the boys. Sydni was scared and wanted to go with Daddy... big mistake for her... haha!!

Indoor GO-Karts!

And all the video games you could imagine. Davis actually did really well with all the driving games!

Indoor cosmic mini-golf... I think Davis was the only one who really enjoyed this. Maybe Lincoln enjoyed the weird lighting.

3rd stop - Crown Center, which was beautiful but it was entirely too cold to be enjoyed. We were not prepared enough to ride the train or ice skate or even walk around outside for that matter. But the lighting and decor was beautiful. We did spend some time inside at the shops and at the the Crayola store.

So here is the proof... Lincoln is WALKING... all over the place, in fact he hasn't played with his toys as much. He just spends a lot of time walking all over the place!!! So cute!!

And then we began this week with a very sick boy! After 3 long days, he is slowly recovering from a serious run in with strep throat and puking... gross!!

What is not pictured...

We went to the Cheesecake Factory for Miles' birthday dinner... YUM!

We spent 2 meals and some shopping with Leigh!!

We waited for 15 minutes in line for Panda Express (our fav Cali chinese food) at the drive-thru and our food was sitting at the window the whole time!

We got lost in the city because our GPS hasn't been updated in years!

It snowed the night before and morning of when we were supposed to leave to come home... gave us an excuse to hang around a little longer!
Good thing we hung around, we saw several cars in the ditch or being pulled including a semi!

Whew... 2010 has started off crazy-busy!!!

Ooops!!

I have no pictures yet to with this but I forgot to let you all know that Lincoln got his 1st tooth on my mom's birthday and is already working on the 2nd.
AND he is walking!! All the way across the living room!!
Pictures will be coming soon with the birthday post! Happy New Year!

Short Christmas Post

Christmas 2009... we enjoyed the morning together as a family. In the afternoon we were invited over to some friends of ours. So we spent the rest of the day, literally, dinner and all over there. I felt very blessed to have such great friends only down the street since we don't live near any family.
Yes, the cats got a toy too. Penney was interested in sharing but Chloe eventually didn't give her a choice!

The 26th was Salyna's mom's birthday. We spent the day shopping with our gift cards from Christmas, going out to lunch, and Salyna went out that evening with a good friend.

Next... Birthday post!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It is Christmas Eve and the snow is finally sticking... looks like it will be a white Christmas! The past couple of weeks have been an emotional rollercoaster for me (Salyna). Christmas was my mom's favorite time of year. The last two years we have been in California for Christmas so I have been trying to get excited about being home this year... I think I am only excited about wearing jammies all day and not rushing around. We have put up one of my mom's favorite decorations... a lighted train now adorns our porch railing. It is still a struggle to want to send pictures to Mimi or to just call her.
Lincoln discovered the photo albums. He pulled out my old one from when I was a kid and I couldn't help but cry when I saw this one, so I thought I'd share it! I'm not sure if this was 1979 or 1980... the resemblence is kinda crazy, but I love it!

Finally putting up the tree.

Lincoln's very first Christmas gift, an ornament from Grandma Ries.

Sydni, Davis, Andrew, and Salyna were part of the Christmas program, "Silent Night, Holy Night" at Lighthouse Community Church. Sydni was an angel, the one who appeared to Joseph. Davis was one of the wise men. Andrew played a part where we put an ornament on the tree. Salyna was the narrator. It was a lot of fun and there was a packed house for the show.

I love how "Joseph" was just chillin in the stable!!!

This year we hosted the Good Samaritan Clinic Christmas party at our house. We had four different soups, lots of yummy appetizers, and way too much dessert!! We played a white elephant gift exchange game and had lots of laughs!!

Food, Fellowship, and Fun!

This hat was one of the most entertaining gifts! Did we ever decide on Dennis' pope name???

So we've had the program and the party and we have decorations, gifts, and even snow! It does look and feel like Christmas. May we all remember the true meaning of Christmas...

Emmanuel - God with us!

Thanksgiving #2

So here are the pictures from Zapata Falls. Uncle George led the troops up the frozen creek!

We could hear and see the water running under the ice in a lot of places. Very, very beautiful!

This is the view of the valley and sand dunes from the falls trailhead.
And we got some great family pics! Enjoy!

The girls... notice the boys walking away in the background... it would be nearly an hour before they made it back!!

Next.... Christmas!!!!

Thanksgiving #1

(Once again thanks to Blogger, there are 2 posts)

POST #1

We got to spend a wonderful long weekend in Colorado with Miles' mom's side of the family. Grandma Cookie and Grandpa Don opened up their house to our 6 plus Miles' sister and fiance, Michelle and George. We hadn't seen Michelle since our wedding which means she had never met any of the kids! It was great to spend so much time together.

Beautiful sunrise over the mountains... this was the view from the backporch.

Grandpa Don's new tractor was a big attraction and I think he got it out everyday so the kids could take turns steering/riding on it! And the big kids played on it a little too! We saw the beautiful Rio Grande River with ice chunks in it.
Did you know that there are sand dunes in Colorado?? We didn't either!!

Grandma & Grandpa with the kids... um... where did Andrew go???

In the middle of a valley surrounded by mountains on all sides, near where we stayed, is Sand Dunes National Monument. We were going to just "see" them... well, thanks to Uncle George daring the boys they couldn't make it to the top... they tried. Then Miles and Grandpa (and eventually George too) had to go after them. That was something that WASN'T part of the plan. Next time we will be prepared with sleds in tow! Those little dots in the middle of the picture in the sand... those are people!!
From the dunes we headed 7 miles south to Zapata Falls with a half-mile rocky, nearly straight up, hike. But it was worth it!
(please see the Thanksgiving #2 post for the rest of the pictures)

We have been having a terrible time with Blogger and posting pictures... SO, we may be changing our site soon!!
And a little side note... On the 25th of November we celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary!!
Reflecting on the past 9yrs was quite overwhelming. We have been through SO much, good and bad. But we are thankful for ALL of what the Lord has brought us through and we hope for many, many more years!!