Gratitude

Thanks to all our friends and family who have expressed their sincere concerns over the Target lay-offs yesterday. We are extremely grateful that Brent's job was not affected. He did know a few of the people that were laid off, although he had never worked with any of them very closely. We are counting our blessings and are very grateful to work for a wonderful corporation.

Sidney's Day in American Girl Heaven

Sidney was invited to a party at the American Girl Store last Saturday! She loved every minute of it and was ecstatic with the goodie bag she come home with. Thanks to Natalie and Sister Quick for the invitation and amazing party!! To read more about it, visit Stacey's blog.

The TWINSfest at the Metrodome

Riley went to the TWINSfest on Saturday on a school field trip.
He had a great time, scouting out some players,
getting some autographs, purchasing some baseball cards
and hanging out with his friends.

Riley on the JumboTron!

The Crowd

One of our favorite players: Joe Nathan

The Old Field: The Metrodome

The New Field: Target Field

Christmas From Riley's Perspective

When I downloaded the pictures off of Riley's camera...this is what I found!

Riley's perspective of the presents
under the Christmas Tree

Jamie and Sidney with their gifts to each other

2 of Riley's favorite Presents

Christmas Eve at the Macy's Display

Christmas Eve Lunch at Cafe Target

Visitors from Georgia

We were so excited to spend our long weekend with the Denison family. They came up from Georgia to visit (despite our strong warnings about the frigid temperatures). We had a great time going out to eat with them and other friends on Saturday night to celebrate Matt's birthday. Then we shared a great Sunday dinner with them, the missionaries, LeAnne and the Margetts. We really enjoyed this chance to visit, play games and enjoy. Then we had Monday morning to play and made a quick visit to the mall of America with them. We are so glad they got to visit and can't wait for the next time! For some more pictures of our great weekend, check out the Denison's Blog.

Riley's First Basketball Game

Saturday was Riley's first basketball game. This is the first year he has expressed any interest in basketball and it was fun to watch him 'figure it all out' during the game. We look forward to watching him play in many more games!

Put Me in the Zoo

When I volunteered this week,
I was excited to find out I was there on the day that
Sidney got to read to her class.
She read Put Me in the Zoo,
a very funny Dr. Suess like book.
She picked Hendrick to sit by her and
they both laughed at every page before
Sid even had a chance to read it to the class.
Sidney did a wonderful job and
her teacher commented that she looked like
a future teacher in the making!

Skiing at Cascade Mountain

On our way home from Michigan, we stopped in Wisconsin and skied at Cascade Mountain. It was a very fun resort and we enjoyed it very much. The only draw back was the other 7,000 people that joined us on the slopes! Papa Jim and Grandma joined us for the quick trip and we loved having them along for this last little part of our vacation.(If you look closely we are all at the top of this hill,

click on the image to enlarge!)(We are starting to make our way down!)

The kids and Brent were up the high speed quad in no time! Even Sidney quickly 'caught on' once again this year. Jamie was enjoying using poles for the first time and Riley spent part of the day off on his own, while everyone else came in to rest!

Papa and I decided to brave the slopes once again. Papa had not skied for 35 years and I had only skied once in the past 12 years. So, we signed up for a private lesson and managed to make it through the day safely. We were able to make some improvements through out the day and even made it to the top a couple times. I am not sure Papa ever really had control of his speed, he definitely had me scared for his life several times! But, he says he wants to go again :).

New Years Week in Michigan

We had a great time in Michigan over the New Year's Week:

We were fortunate to have all the family at Grandma and Papa Jim's
during the week we visited!

• We spent the first day going to church:

All dressed up and ready to go!

• We spent a lot of time doing this:

Watching movies!
We watched lots of movies in Grandma's living room and
we went to the theater numerous times too and saw:
Bedtime Stories
Marley and Me
Valkyrie
Four Christmases
Seven Pounds
(before Christmas we saw
The Tale of Despereaux)
(Since being home we have seen
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

• We spent even more time doing this:

Playing Games!
Our new favorites and some good oldies are:
Yahtzee Free for All
Pass the Pigs
Luck of the Draw
Ticket to Ride: the Dice Expansion
The Family Fued
Settlers of Catan
Hand - n - Foot
Aggravation

• We (the kids) spent a fair amount of time doing this:

Playing the Wii!

• Sidney and others spent some time doing this:

Playing in Hanah's Room!

• As always, some time was spent doing this:

Going Crazy!

• But, the favorite times are always spent doing this:

Dog piling on top of Papa!

Christmas Morning - Gratitude

We are so grateful for the many family and friends that remembered during this holiday season!
Here are a few pictures to express our thanks! This does not include everyone...just the ones I had the camera close for. We hope all our loved ones know how much we love and appreciate them!

Pass the Pigs game
fromUncle Nate and Aunt Lindsay

Christmas Money and Candy
from Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Wakefield

Sequence: States and Capitals
from the DeLay family

Snowman Building Kit
from the Terry family

Word Wear Bracelet kit
from the Lewis family

Crayola Craft kit
from the Lewis family

Luck of the Draw game
from Aunt Gwenda and Uncle Eric

Color Surge Crayola kit
from the Keckley family