Welcome Craig, our newest brother-in-law. As I mentioned earlier, Rebecca's wedding took us to Utah this Christmas. What a trip. It was so much fun to see so many family members and friends. Too many people to see and the week just wasn't long enough. I wish we could have stayed even longer. I guess the 2 days we had to spend driving to and from Vegas made the actual time in Utah only 5 days. But I can't complain. We were going to drive the whole way until Dan, the master of deals, came across some awesome tickets at Allegiant Air for $29.00 one way. You get what you pay for, but it didn't seem to shabby of an airline to me. Guess they are trying to pull people into Vegas for gambling but it is a direct flight out of our little Rochester Airport. So nice that we didn't have to drive all the way up to the cities. All you MN folk ought to try them out if you are headed out West.
The wedding was so beautiful. It was so nice to have the whole family together with all 9 nieces and nephews. I was hoping Mikey would have more time to spend with his cousins but it didn't quite work out like I anticipated. He still had a ton of fun. The first night they
were all together the 4 oldest cousins came in and introduced themselves and then went away to play. We were getting setteled in, changing diapers and stuff and I didn't realize Mikey was still in the room with all the Aunts and Uncles. He's a bit shy and it always takes him a while to warm up to new people. A few minutes later Mikey kept asking me a question. I just couldn't figure out what he was asking for. I thought he was asking for some toy or something. Turns out he was asking me "Where are my cousins?" I realized I've never heard him say "cousins" before. So cute to meet everyone see their unique personalities.
Dan and I took a day to go skiing while we were out there too. So much fun. I am such a whimp these days though. Must be a combination of me getting older, having 2 kids to worry about, and having a baby 4 months ago. I just wasn't as daring as I was 4 years ago when I went with Dan (he took me sking the day he proposed). I felt like such a chicken this time and after going down 2 blue/intermediate runs with Dan I was beat. I was so glad Dan's friend and his wife came along so he could get in some "real" sking. I so ready to get back on the green slopes with my brother, sister and brother-in-law who were all sking for the first time. It ended up being a really fun day. I was so sore the next day though. I must have been gripping the poles all day because my whole body was so sore. Man, my years are catching up to me. Well, here's some proof of our adventures. 
Back from our trip to Utah for my sister's wedding and so much to write about. First off, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! Our Christmas was so eventful and exciting and busy. Here are the boys wishing you a Merry Christmas in their Sunday best.
We did't get a card out this year so these pictures will have to suffice. We took them right before Christmas and I printed them just in time for a surprise gift for Dan. They turned out so serious. Couldn't get a real smile out of either one. Michael was too fascinated with the studio set up, lights and equipment.
We've been home a few days and have just crashed. I think that is a good sign that we thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Utah via Las Vegas. Mikey was down at 6pm tonight and Davey asleep about a half hour later. I thought I'd have a nice quiet Sunday evening, but now (2 hrs later) both are awake again. My plans for a quiet night are shot but maybe I can still get a quick post up.
Christmas was celebrated a few days early before our flight out on Christmas Eve. Among many gifts, Mikey's new ballpit/jumper and train tracks were the main highlights.
So I'm a little late posting this, but how can I leave out Halloween? The weather this year was just perfect and I almost thought Michael's costume would be too hot. I never imagined that would happen. We wore light jackets and it was so nice. Mikey got the hang of trick-or-treating right away. After each door Michael would say, "Another house?" and get so excited he could run to the next one. He had so much fun and wanted to go again the next day. I had to explain to him that it only happens one night a year.
David was so cute dressed up in the little pea in the pod costume. He sat in the stroller the whole time, took a nap and only got a little fussy at the end when he was hungry. Mikey was a rat- Remy from movie Ratatouille if you have seen it. I came across the costume and thought, how can I make a rat cute? Then I remembered Remy, so Mikey was a rat of all things. I found some tall chef's hat at our local restaurant supply store so Dan and I wore those around. I don't think anyone got the connection, but we had fun.
Out trick-or-treating.
David kept pulling off the peas.
What a fun July 4th this year. There are too many photos so I've put together a web album instead of uploading all of them on here (see below). We did some fireworks on the 3rd in our backyard to kick off the celebrations. Michael already knew what the big ones were from the Rochesterfest activity we went to on his birthday but had fun with the sparklers and little snakes. He has asked me several times since the fourth if we could go outside and do fireworks. When I was planting a few plants in the backyard the other day he went over to the side of the street where Dan and I had set them off. I looked up and saw him sitting on the curb by himself. Too cute. Rochester has fireworks over Silver Lake close to downtown. We rode our bikes to beat the traffic (it takes about 5-10 minutes) and were completely surprised at how many people were out. Had no idea so many people lived here in Rochester- we'll we've never seen that many people out since we've been here. It was a little crowed, but we found a nice spot to pull our our blanket, which rode with Michael in his bike tote and enjoy the fireworks. We came home, enjoyed some cake and did some of our own fireworks in the street to the back of our house. Michael kept saying, "more, more, more." He loved it. I think he's now finally forgotten about fireworks- but does mention them we we talk about camping and he thinks of the campfire. Calls the fire, fireworks now.
(Click on the pictures to enlarge)
I saw a recipe for this jello cake in our Rochester local newspaper and decided to make it for the 4th. I thought it seemed pretty festive being red and white and all and Michael loves blueberries so I thought I'd top it with that. Ended up putting on more strawberries than blueberries in the end (because the blueberries were still frozen). You can't see the inside, but it is swirled with jello. :) So in case you want to try it one day, I included the recipe in this post. This is also one cake that I have made that Dan really liked- it is super moist and nice for the hot summer months. I did find that it doesn't keep in the fridge very long so eat it within a day or two. I used raspberry soda instead of strawberry it called for and didn't put all of the topping on because it seemed like it was going to overflow the edges of my pan. Let me know if you ever make it!Strawberry Jello Cake
Ingredients:
*Box of yellow cake mix
*2 (3oz.) boxes of strawberry Jello
*1 can (12oz.) strawberry soda
*1 box (3oz.) instant vanilla pudding mix
*1 1/2 cups milk
*Carton of Cool Whip
Directions:
Cake- Mix up your yellow cake mixture and bake according to the directions on the box in a 9x13 cake pan. Let it cool 20 minutes and then poke holes into it with a knife to allow for all the liquid to work into the cake.
Take 2 small (3oz.) boxes of strawberry jello and mix with 1 1/2 cups of boiling water. Add a can of strawberry soda and pour over the cake.
Cake Topping- In a bowl, combine 1 box of instant vanilla pudding mix and add 1 1/2 cups of milk. Mix until thick. Fold in a medium carton of cool whip into the pudding mix. Spread over the cake and refrigerate at least 8 hours before serving.
(I didn't prepare enough ahead of time and we only refrigerated it for like 4 hrs and it was still great).
Well with Easter this year came a few inches of snow. We had light flurries outside of our window all day long which was actually really pretty, if you weren't considering it was Easter. The snow melted today, however there is a forecast of snow again on Thursday. Such a nice welcome to Minnesota winters, granted Easter did come exceptionally early this year. But because it felt so warm today Mikey and I went out and colored with his sidewalk chalk from the easter bunny... didn't realize it was still 35 degree weather (no wonder it was still pretty chilly out there).
Easter was a lot of fun. I had a little party for my four year old primary class and decided to make some little treats for them (pictured above). They were really excited except for the one girl who pulled all the jelly beans off. When I asked her why she doesn't like jelly beans she shook her head and said, "Eww, because I don't like beans." Hilarious. I colored eggs for Michael on Saturday and then had him decorate them with stamps and stickers. He wanted to drink the colored water after he saw it still sitting on the counter. "Juice, juice" is what I heard over and over. Maybe I should have let him see that I put the eggs into the colored water so he would better understand. Too late now. Here he is decorating away:
Coloring eggs is always a fun tradition, but unless you really like boiled eggs, it's kindof funny what you do with them afterwards. I left my out in the basket last year to enjoy them as decoration and Dan told me they were spoiled so we didn't eat any of them. This year I put them in the fridge (I bought th
is little egg container) and actually have forgotten about them until right now. Think I will have to make some deviled eggs soon. :) Mikey had a blast looking for eggs. I've been hiding empty easter eggs for a few days so he would know what to do Easter morning. Once he got the hang of it he would make me hide eggs over and over again and then go around hiding them himself. We've had hunts in his room, in the basement and living room. When he discovered the candy inside the eggs on on Sunday morning, however, he completely forgot about the hunting part and just wanted to enjoy the chocolates and jelly beans inside. So we had eggs hidden around the living room all day until he decided to hunt for the rest of them. Then he loved pouring the candy out into his basket. He definietly has my sweet tooth.
I saw this cute bunny cake in a cookbook of mine and made my first ever decorative cake. I am now inspired to make something cute for Michael's birthday. I'm not a cake maker and was actually surprised that it wasn't as hard as I was expecting it to be. Here's what it turned out looking like:
Pretty cute, eh? The only problem now is that we aren't big white cake eaters and with so much easter candy around, the cake has just been sitting on the counter, barely eaten. I was thinking we need some family around to come eat it. :) Anyone up for a visit?
Well, I treated myself to an easter lily plant and realized that I didn't anticipate how long it would take for the flowers to bloom. I was disappointed on Saturday when not one had opened and was really hoping that at least one would bloom for Easter. Sunday morning, I was so happy to see one blossom. Another opened today, so now I get to enjoy my flowers for the next little while. So pretty. I can't wait until springtime and my bulbs outside start to bloom.
Because we had so many cute pictures of our easter celebrations, I've included a slide show below as well. Michael is just so much fun now-a-days I love it. He asks to hold my hand at night now while he's lying in his crib, knows when we are getting near our home or near to pick up daddy (when we are in the car), and can finally do all the animal noises. So much fun. Hope you all had an enjoyable Easter too!
Merry Christmas everyone! Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season. We will be relaxing around the house, eating a yummy breakfast, enjoying Michael, eating some more, and possibly catching a movie. It is so much fun spoiling everyone this Christmas. I can catch a small glimpse of what my parents must have felt as all of us little kids were so excited each year for Christmas. We can't wait to see how excited Michael will be when he sees his new toys. I am so grateful for my family at this time of year- my dear husband and little boy, and all my extended family. How blessed I am to be surrounded by such wonderful people and to be friends with all of you. Wishing you a beautiful day filled with happiness, and the love of Christ as we celebrate His humble birth. Merry Christmas from our family to yours.
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Since Michael is so fond of dogs lately, Dan had a great idea to have him dress up as a puppy. My mom brought the cutest little costume up with her when she came to visit and it was perfect (thanks Mom). Mikey loved his tail and would sick out his tongue and pant on command. Friday night before Halloween, the ward trunk-or-treat ended up taking place inside due to poor weather. Michael had no idea what was going on as he walked down a hallway lined full of people in costumes. He just stared as I said trick-or-treat at each person for him. I felt ridiculous. But he had a great ol' time carrying his big bag of candy around to all the festivities in the gym. Dan pulled out a sucker for him and he was in heaven. 
We weren't planning on trick-or-treating around the neighborhood, but after no one showed up at our door, I decided our neighborhood (row of townhouses actually) needed at least one trick-or-treater. So Mikey and I went around and introduced ourselves to the neighbors, and Michael got the hang of reaching in the candy bowls and filling up his bucket with candy. Since he was the only one stopping by, he got a ton of candy. I'm not sure why he looks so upset in the picture with all his candy. He was really super excited about pouring it all out. It is probably because I had to keep sticking his hat back on to make the pictures look "cute" (once again, he is not a fan of hats).
But this is what he looked like going up to each doorway. We took this at our doorway when he was all done and already enjoying some candy. (He's actually got some chocolate in his teeth here to prove it. If you zoom in it's hilarious). 
And this is his cute little tail. Too much fun. Happy Halloween!