Christmas # 1

A few weeks ago, we drove to St. Cloud to have our 1st of 3 Christmas celebrations with B's family. They're a pretty big crew, so we typically hold the get-together at a hotel, which works well. The St. Cloud hotel had a few pools and a kiddy pool for the young kids in the family. We had a great time and the roads were way better this year than last year! Last year, it was snowing a lot!! So we were thankful that everyone got there and back home safely! Enjoy the pictures!

Here's the whole crew...including little Cayden in the Santa hat and Cylee in her Christmas dress. How cute! Oh and can you find Bill...?? :)

Mommy kissing Santa Claus :)

Cylee smiling. I tried to get a good one of her with her full smile, but this was pretty close. She's such a sweetheart!

Cayden all dressed up as Santa!

Cheryl and her girls (Shannon, Sara, Cheryl, Allie)

Happy New Year!

I don't typically make New Year's resolutions, but this year I made a few. One of them was to actually post more stuff on this blog of mine that I started. That's what it's for! So I'm trying to start out the year on a good foot, posting on the 2nd day of the year. We have a ton of pictures from Christmas, so I'll get to posting those. But for today, the only quick picture that's available is (not suprisingly) of Daisy! Daisy and B&I wish all of you a Happy New Year and hope this year brings you all many blessings and wonderful memories!

Here she is, trying to "help" with the wrapping of Christmas presents. She is notorious for sprawling herself out across whatever it is that we are trying to use at that moment. Crazy cat.

Daisy is older than us!

Our cat, Daisy, turned 5 years old a couple weeks ago. We were trying to figure out how old she would be in human years, so we looked online to help. Well, that sort of worked. Depending on the website, it showed that Daisy is anywhere from 35 to 48 years old! So she's now the eldest member of our household and is therefore, the boss...as if she wasn't already. Haha! Here are a few recent favorites of our cuddly kitty!

Those first couple pictures show how we recently found her sleeping. All 4 of her paws were together, all stretched out in front of her. She's all folded up! It oddly must have been comfortable, because she slept like that for quite some time!

Here's another angle of the folded up sleeper. How funny!

This one and the next one show her latest routine. If either one of us stretches out on the couch with this blue blanket, she hops up and will sleep on us! It happens almost every single time!! It's sure cozy!

I just had to throw this one in the mix too. She's normally either all curled up when she sleeps or completely stretched out...rarely anywhere in between. Ha! She'll stay on this rug for a loooong time during the day if the sun is shining in! What a cutie. :)

Happy Birthday Sara!

This Tuesday was B's "little" sister Sara's birthday...and she's 17!! I first met her when she was just 10, so it's been fun to be a part of her life when she's grown up so much! Here are a few pictures of Sara over the years! Hope you enjoyed your birthday, Sara! See you soon! Love ya!

With B at his graduation from Dunwoody

At our wedding, looking fancy with Brad

Auntie Sara...holding Cayden when he was first born last August

With B and me last October

With B this spring

Triplets!

A few weekends ago, B&I went to the wedding of one of my camp friends, Traci. The summer of 2001, I worked at Camp Emmaus near Menahga, MN. 2 of my best friends that summer were Sonja and Traci. I was later roommates with Sonja at Concordia too! Anyway, the 3 of us somehow were given the nickname "The Triplets" during the summer. Here are a few pictures from the wedding weekend! After those pictures, you'll find some pictures from our summer together at Camp Emmaus years ago. Enjoy!

Me, Traci, and Sonja

B&I tried taking a good picture of ourselves in the car...you be the judge. :)

Sonja and her fiance, Trevor. They're getting married next weekend! B and Trevor had a nice visit while Sonja and I talked the night away...imagine. :)

The best picture of us Triplets. This picture and all the pictures following this are a bit fuzzy since I took a picture of the picture, then posted it here. Not ideal, but it worked ok!

Sonja and I being weird

Each of us acting very counselor-like

Traci and me

This picture shows us in our favorite outfits. :) Ha! No...it was for a skit, which come to think of it, didn't really require us to dress up so terribly, but we took every opportunity to be crazy that summer. Ah memories!

5 Years Ago!

Today is our 5-year anniversary! I just spent some time looking through all our wedding pictures and that in itself was so fun! It was such a special day! These aren't in any order, but these are a few favorites!

This was taken right before we went into our reception

This was before the ceremony when we were taking all the formal pictures

Everyone helping me get ready before pictures!

This is one of my favorites of me and all my "sisters"...Carrie, Shelley, and Sara!

At the reception by the wedding party's table

I think this one is my favorite picture of B & me on our big day!

Snuggling Sweetie

Daisy has always had a knack for finding the coziest spots around our home. If the sun is shining in, she's likely sprawled out in the sunlight for her nap. Here are a few of our recent favorites of her doing what she does best...being snuggley!

This one has a bit of a story with it. I had gone to a Women's event at a church in town where a co-worker of mine was speaking. She spoke on the book of Esther and her story. The talk that night was fairly brief, so there were parts of the story I didn't catch the first time through. So I looked it up in my own Bible that weekend. This picture was the result of me leaving it unattended. Daisy loves to plant herself directly on top of things...and if it's in the sun, that's just an added bonus!

A common sight on a sunny day. She doesn't appear to be concerned with acting like a lady, now does she? Her front paw always seems to be up by her face when she sleeps, just like the first picture earlier on in this posting.

Another common pose of hers. The loveseat on which she is perched is at the top of our stairway. She oftentimes is there to greet us as we come home! She normally gets up and has a big yawn and stretch, then is ready to greet us and take in all the attention. Daisy is quite the kitty!