happy independence day america

Although we are not really celebrating until tomorrow, we had all kinds of fun tonight. We had a big family dinner with fireworks and lots of fun! Loud fun! 

It was fun visiting and letting Gage meet everyone again.

We joked about "Gage's Entourage" because everywhere he went, he had plenty of followers. When grandpa said it was time for fireworks and wondered where everyone was... Gage's entourage was in the house, of course.

Gage slept through all the loud fireworks. Not even one tiny move.

We'll see what happens tomorrow when it's time for the city fireworks.

I absolutely love the 4th and I love spending time with family. 

Even Grandma Myrna came down to visit with us. (Dustyn's mom) We are happy to have her here! R-field is *the* place to be on the 4th of July.

cinco de mayo

do you do anything fun on Cinco de Mayo?

I want to come up with some fun family traditions that will help teach Gage about his heritage. I want him to be proud of his heritage and where he came from.

I have a lot to learn, but I am excited to learn.

Of course this year he will probably celebrate with 4oz of tasty Similac and maybe watch Handy Manny. (just because it's his favorite thing to watch while mom gets a shower)

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

New Years Traditions

Gingerbread House, anyone?

This was our attempt at a good 'ole fashion homemade gingerbread house. Sadly I can't show you the wicked awesome windows on the sides or even the back because sadly, this is our only lasting photo. Shortly after this photo was taken, Dustyn was holding it over the sink to sprinkle crushed candy canes on top (i may or may not have had a cow when he started sprinkling them all over the table. (i.e. FLOOR). As he was sprinkling, it crashed and fell in a bowl of water. Suddenly it became a soggy gingerbread house. Really though, it was pretty sweet. We may try to attempt one next week, we'll see.

Traditions?

What are your St. Patrick's Day traditions?

Christmas Ornaments

Every year we have the tradition of getting a new Christmas Tree Ornament for our tree that represents our year. We found quite a few that we really liked and wanted to get, but they were always out of stock.
Here is what we finally decided on. I LOVE them. They aren't your traditional "yearly" ornaments. There no year on it or a specific event that it represents, but I think it pretty much covers our year.




There has been a lot of wishing and praying for a baby to come into our home. A baby to share our love and happiness with. There has been a lot of hoping as we hope for the chance to become parents with each opportunity and contact that we receive. And we have experienced a lot of Joy this year as we spend time together. Our lives are full of joy and happiness even in the small little family that we have. We are so thankful for this year and all that we have accomplished and experienced. We wouldn't change anything about it! It was a wonderful year!

Dustyn's Family Christmas Party

On Sunday evening, the Dsutyn's family had their family Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun!

Dustyn's mom made little poodle skirts for the girls! They were so cute. We were able to get a few unorganized picture, but I thought that we would share anyways!

Oops! CAUGHT!

Nathan's Graham Hot Dog Stand!

We made another gingerbread (graham cracker - I am being lazy this year) house. But we decided not to go with the traditional house and decided to make a hot dog stand! So here it is... our night of sugar!

Here Dustyn is... starting on the sugar already!!

Oh no! Too much sugar!

Here he is concentrating on the Hot Dog Stand!

The finished product!

The leaning picnic table and truck on it's way for a delicious Nathan's Hot Dog!

Another picture checking out the landscaping of the Hot Dog Shack!

Gingerbread Houses

Dustyn's sister Alyshia had everyone over to make Gingerbread houses. It was loads of fun and LOTS of sugar! It was fun to see everyone.

Christmas Party 2007

Here is a little video of our family singing Christmas songs. Russ did a great job and it was a lot of fun! Of course Lannie was a good sport too! It was pretty funny!

Thanks everyone for a great party! Thanks Matt and Amy for organizing it! You guys put in a lot of hard work and it was greatly appreciated! Love ya!

Highlights from our Family Christmas Party!

Obviously I have some red eye issues that I haven't gotten around to fixing yet. I just wanted to post some pictures. I will spend some time in Photoshop one of these days.




I know there are a lot of photos, but I hope that you enjoyed some of them!