GOODBYE 2009, HELLO 2010

Happy New Year to all.  May you all be blessed with a happy, healthy year to come.  The Strasburg family has had another crazy busy, but wonderful year.  :)

Strasburg Christmas at the farm '09

For the first time since we have been together, Ryan and I were able to spend Christmas with his family.  The snow started Tuesday and never really stopped too much.  Kristy's family and Arin all came through Sioux Falls Tuesday so the kids and I headed with them to beat the storm.  Ryan was stuck home since he had clinical on Wednesday.  He was supposed to work until 7 pm but thankfully was let out around noon to beat the bad weather.  He made it to the farm at about 3:30 and the entire family was home!  I was so glad he made it safely and didn't get snowed in at home in Sioux Falls.

The festivities began with some ice cream....a Strasburg favorite.  There was an abundance of Schwan's vanilla ice cream and Sue's homemade chocolate sauce eaten over the next 5 days.  I would like to admit that I was not included in any of the ice cream eating...I was too busy shoving my face with Holly's yummy Christmas cookies.

Wednesday was pretty warm and the kids were able to play outside quite a bit.  Tyler, Jack, and Jessie loved sledding behind the 4-wheeler.  Our kids liked it too...very slow.  Here's Jack, Landon, and Jessie stopping for a quick picture.

Here is Aunt Kristy driving with some help from Landon.  I like how you can see Jack and Jessie on the sled in the background.

Having a blast!  This brings back memories of my own childhood.  I remember I thought it was so fun to get pulled behind the sled on the 4-wheeler.  I spent many hours riding on a sled with Elizabeth Plante while her big brother Glen and big sister Sarah drover around their yard.  We were such big chickens if they started going too fast or it looked like they were going to take us off some big jumps, we would just jump off!  I rode with Kadence and needless to say there was no jumping off...

Wednesday night we started the 3-day Christmas present extravaganza and the kids opened their gifts from each other.  Kadence got a very cute doll that had a Vikings outfit with a matching one for her, too, along with some pom-poms.  Landon got a couple movies and a special Christmas book.  I am convinced all of the kids enjoyed all their presents!

When Mommy is away...the children will EAT REALLY YUMMY TREATS!  I am not sure where I was when Aunt Kristy caught this act...yum yummy.  I don't know why she would like something like that and where the heck she would get it from!

Our Christmas Eve was spent at the house.  Since it was blizzarding outside we did not feel it would be safe to make the 20 mile trek to town for church.  The kids had a fabulous idea to read The Christmas Baby book that Landon had recieved for Christmas.  Jack and Jessie did such a great job reading-it was like a very short Christmas sermon.  And...I had plenty of red wine in honor of the communion I missed:)

Story time happened to fall at the same time as Kadence's supper time.  She enjoyed the story, just with a very messy face.  The rest of us had wonderful appetizers and sweets after the story.  The kids then opened up all their gifts from Aunty Arin.

Santa had come and it was Christmas morning.  The older kids were up early excited and ready to open up their gifts.  We ended up waking up Landon so that everyone didn't have to wait.  They all were very patient.  I would like to mention that this was an act I paid for a few hours later as I had an extremely irrational child on my hand for about an hour.  I think next year we will let him sleep!

Kadence was most excited about the candy she found in her stocking and pretty uninterested in opening the rest of her gifts.  I think next year we'll start with the gifts and end with the candy :)

Although he had been woken up, Landon was in a great mood (for the gift opening anyway) and had so much fun.  This was the first year he understood and was ecstatic about all his gifts.

Gary and Sue got him a cute little Vikings outfit which of course he didn't want to humor us and try on.  We did get him to try the helmet on though.  Ryan had the same type of outfit when he was little and loved it.  I just hope this won't turn Landon into the type of Vikings fan that Ryan and Gary are...

Silly cousin Tyler!

I think my daughter is making quite the fashion statement here.  Perhaps she gets her style from her Aunty Arin?  Haha...not so much :)

Ahh...this is the life.  I have my new Toy Story shirt on from Grandma Sue and Papa Gary from Disney that I will later refuse to take off when my mother attempts to put my pj's on.  I am all snuggled in the most comfortable chair at Grandmas with my stuffed animals, milk, and "blantey" all in reach.  To top it off, I am sure if I see cousin Jessie walk by I can pretty much get her to do anything I want.  Now if only I could get a hold of another one of those yummy chocolates that my mommy took away from me this morning...

Grandma and Grandpa's house is so tiring!  Especially when I have those big cousins to chase after.  I guess I will just lay on the floor and play with my sweet new tractors for awhile.  I wonder if Grandma has noticed that I am not with her...it has been 5 minutes.  I sure hope if I stay back here behind the couch I can keep these sweet toys away from my sister.  Now the only thing that I would rather be doing right now is actually riding in the tractor with Papa...

Kadence loving Aunty Arin and her new "kitty."

Kadence always does this with Papa Gary...so glad we finally caught it on camera (my new camera!!!!).

Here's Kadence taking a rest with Aunt Kristy.  I guess Ryan was just following Kadence around taking pictures of her :)  We have to get some extra pictures of that deprived 2nd child...right mom?!

For whatever reason, Holly managed to escape the camera.  So here's the one picture I had of her...playing wii.  Don't hate me for it...you look hot in your jammies and you know it!!!  Thankfully you are naturally beautiful:)  We had to have a wii picture anyhow...

This is how we all felt after a fun-filled 5 1/2 day Christmas celebration.  Tuckered out!

When we weren't partaking in Christmas festivities we spent the rest of the time hanging out.  We ate great home cooked food and most importantly (my favorite) lots and lots of cookies.  Holly and I played "nerts" for hours, Arin worked (okay not the entire time), the kids all jumped on the mattress upstairs, Ryan and Tyler wrestled, everyone played A LOT of the wii (especially bowling), ate cookies, played card games, played several family games of "654" dice, saw a couple good movies, laughed a lot, did some chores (okay, I opted out on that one...I just don't love the cold), drank wine, ate cookies, ran on the treadmill, and lastly ate cookies.

We are so blessed to have such wonderful families to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ our Savior with.  Thank you Gary, Sue, Jerry, Kristy, Tyler, Jessie, Holly, Jack, and Arin for a great time!

On a side note, this is what we came home to...

Snow!  I honestly don't think we had this much snow the entire winter season last year.  It is pretty and was mostly cleaned up by the time we got home, but I am not really enjoying the drift that covers half of our front window!  Crazy!

Merry Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!

We are spending a fun-filled blizzard-like Christmas weekend at the farm with the Strasburg's.  We are so fortunate to have such great families in our lives and especially our children's lives.  Much love to all.  Safe Travels.

Happy 29th Birthday to my Hubby!

Happy 29th Birthday Ryan!  Only 1 more year left of your 20's!  That just means when you hit 30 you will be almost done with CRNA school...wohoo!!  Love you!

Christmas in Cloquet '09

The kids and I headed home to Cloquet and had an early Christmas celebration with my parents and my sister and her family.  It was a blast of course and fun for all the kids.  It is nice that the kids are at an age where they really have no idea when the actual day is anyway!

We celebrated up at Jill and Curt's house as she was babysitting that night.  We let the kids all open their presents at the same time...it was a bit chaotic!  I think Landon won the prize for the quickest opening!  Although he was loving his Buzz Lightyear wings the most that night.

 Candy canes were a new hit this Christmas with our kids.  They only had a couple though since they created one big sticky mess!

I love how Landon put the Candy Cane right in front of his eye!  Something about the expression on Landon's face in this picture reminds me of Grandma June!

Presents Presents Presents!  Kadence was spoiled at this Christmas!  She got cute clothes, a shopping cart filled with food, a little people dollhouse (her first dollhouse), an adorable Barbie puppy, and other stuff I am sure I am forgetting!

Landon was also spoiled!  He got a big semi-truck, Buzz Lightyear wings, Legos, some handsome outfits, and other stuff I am sure I am forgetting!

Annabelle with her presents from Aunty and Uncle.  I hope she liked them!

AJ with some of his presents from Aunty and Uncle.  He's holding a bat and ball which I hope he causes much destruction with (payback sucks).

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!!!  Landon most definitely felt like a stud in his Buzz Lightyear wings. Him and his sister have really been in to Toy Story lately, so you can imagine the excitement!

Annabelle's new tutu!  I am sure I was more excited about it than her :)

Even though it wasn't actual Christmas, it was still another fun-filled Christmas with my family.  We were missing Ryan, but other than that it was a good time.

Bentleyville 2009

Bentleyville is a Christmas light festival that used to be in Cloquet but moved to Canal Park in Duluth this year.  It is a really neat display of lights with fires to warm up and roast marshmallows, hot chocolate and cookies, Santa, Mrs. Clause, and their reindeer all present.  It is a free event (donations as able) run by all volunteers.  What a neat idea and celebration for the holiday season.

With all of that said...it was fun, but FREEZING cold.  We ventured out last night about 515.  The thermometer was reading 5 degrees, but the wind picked up and was probably a -20 to -30 degree wind chill.  The kids were bundled up really well and did pretty good, but it was a short trip this year.  

Annabelle all bundled up in the warming house before we ventured out in to the tundra.

My little pink marshmallow bundled and walking the path.

Landon and Grandpa Ken taking it all in.

Jill, mom, dad, and Landon.

This was towards the end...all bundled up.  It was coooooooold.

Little AJ enjoying the festivities.

Kadence was such a trooper.  She loved the life-size reindeer (people in costume) and although she could barely breathe with the gusts of wind blowing in her face, kept asking, "where reindeer go?"  I love this picture that shows her rosy red cheeks and nose.

What a fun tradition, hopefully next year wont be so cold!

Dad took us around to look at Christmas lights around Cloquet afterwards and with Buzz Lightyear in the dvd player and pretty lights to look at, the kids were loving life even though it was long past bedtime.  Landon kept yelling, "grandpa stop!" every time he would see lights.  It was pretty cute.  I know how much my dad enjoys driving around and looking at lights and we certainly enjoyed it just as much!

Let's Go Vikes!

SKOL VIKINGS, LET'S GO!!!

Ryan, Arin, my dad, Gary, Curt and Arin's friend April all went to the Vikings-Bengals game at the dome.  It was my first Vikings game and a very fun one!  They of course won which always makes the trip better.  We stayed at the Hilton downtown Minneapolis on Saturday night and had fun.  The kids had both grandparents around which they always love.  We took them swimming along with Jill, Curt, Annabelle, and AJ.  Ryan, Gary, the kids and I had a great lunch on Saturday at Key's Cafe.  We walked there through the skywalk and were surprised to see Mike (my cousin Amy's fiance) working!  We did not know that it was the restaurant that he worked at!  What a pleasant surprise it was.  Kym, Casey, Chris, Morgan, and Henry also stopped up to the hotel and hung out for awhile.  It was nice to see them since we won't be home for Christmas this year.

The Vikings players all stay at the Hilton (where we stayed) before the games.  There was a massive crowd build up in the lobby for hours on Saturday night as the players were "arriving."  Ryan and the guys stayed there for an hour and a half and didn't see anyone!  They would see the nice fancy cars pull up, then see some shadows and the players went around to a side door!  I just wish they could of humored the lobby full of adoring fans (especially my guys) and walk through there.  Ugh...you'd think people that get paid millions of dollars could take 3 minutes of their time to walk through a lobby full of fans (and many security guards) and show their appreciation...Frustrating.

So...the game was a birthday gift for Ryan from Arin...Thanks Arin, I don't think I can top that one!!!!

It was so fun to see all of the guys enjoying the game.  But...it was the most fun for me to see Ryan.  Although I often make fun of his obsession with football and the Vikings especially, I respect it is a passion and a game that he loves.  He was honestly like a little kid in a candy store-I don't think the big grin left his face for the 3 1/2 hours that we were there.  I enjoyed the game, but enjoyed seeing how happy it made the love of my life even more!

AND...after the game when we were loading up the vehicles to leave, Ryan had the pleasure of being right next to the Vikings player Ray Edwards.  Ryan jokes, "there I was in my sweet minivan, and Ray Edwards pulls up in his sweet Caddy, I felt really cool."  Nonetheless, Ryan did chat with him for a few minutes and got an autograph.  He was so excited...like a kid again, I LOVE IT!