Girls Weekend in Windsor

So two reasons for a fun trip to Windsor Canada: to play...and hopefully get a visitors visa for my friend Cat on the way back into the US! But we were unsuccessful and she had to head back to Holland this week from Chicago for six weeks. We had a great time there but miss her so much!

The workers in the immigration office were scary. Even I was nervous! And Windsor is not the most beautiful place we've been but we had a great time going to the spa, out to eat, and relaxing in our hotel.

We did get a chance to get together for dinner on her birthday before she left.

Happy Birthday Cat!

And some more recent fun photos:

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had such a great birthday last Saturday. So far...getting older is not too bad! Drew watched Kaden and did some major cleaning while I went out with my friend Cat and he made my favorite cake (yes girls...I pretty much ate the top off the entire thing). Then we went out for dinner and Spamelot that night.

Christmas 2008 Part II

We had a really fun Christmas party with the Yergensen fam and Drew got a calculator (with a nice shirt) as a joke - SNL skit for those who watch - from his sister Tineka.

Tineka & Tim introduced us to some fun (and painful) games! We had to pick up a box with our mouths that kept getting shorter & shorter.

We decided to celebrate Sinterklaas and wrote poems with our gifts. The Yergensen family is quite talented and the poems were so funny! It was such a fun night!

It was so awesome to be able to seal Kaden to us while we were there. He clapped at the end of the ceremony! Here are a few fun pictures from the luncheon after (hosted by aunt Julz!):

I then got to take a trip up to Logan to visit family, go to lunch with girlfriends, and visit the Tanner clan!

Another awesome thing we got to do was bless Kaden. He looked awesome in his white 3 piece suit and kept trying to grab the microphone!

And it was so fun to see our old neighbors, the Campbells! Their little guy is the same age as Kaden and we miss them so much!

Overall, it was such a great trip and so fun to stay with Drew's parents! Thanks to them for hanging out with Kaden while we played, making us great meals and letting us stay for 3 weeks!

Christmas 2008 Part I

We had so much fun for Kaden's first Christmas and already miss our friends and family so much! It was great to spend time with everyone and we are so blessed to have such great people in our lives. I didn't take as many pictures as I normally do but there is still plenty to blog!

The downside to this trip was the travel! Over 3 hours on one train, 7 blocks to switch to another train for 45 minutes, and then the 3 and 1/2 flight. It actually wasn't too bad and Kaden seems to love all the people and likes to ride the train. It was the hardest for Drew cuz he had to carry Kade with a backpack on his back and two suitcases!

It was great spending time with the ladies!! I'm so lucky to have such great friends!

It was so fun to be with family over Christmas. Here's Kade playing the piano with his cousin Tia and aunt Shauna on Christmas Eve...

...while the boys played video games. It's kind of fuzzy cuz smoked up the house trying to make some goodies!

Kade started to look like he wasn't feeling so hot...

...and then he puked right before we took our "first Christmas Eve" photo.

Luckily we snapped this one before it happened.

He still had a good time opening presents with dad on Christmas morning...

...but was much more interested in eating the wrapping paper than playing with his toys.

And I love my sisters! The day after Christmas, a few of us hit up the Hungry Bear for our favorite sugar cookies!

Kaden started walking on this trip! Here he is getting some practice with his pregnant aunt Suz.

First Meeting With Santa

So Kade had his first meeting with Santa here at our community center!

He was a bit skeptical at first...

but warmed up to him pretty quick!

And a few fun pictures of Kade and dad on the walk back home...

...this one is my favorite!

We went on a trip to Cincinnati over the weekend to visit Proctor & Gamble (Drew received an offer from them). I really want to talk to whoever designs hotel rooms. There really should be a few that have some kind of a small area for kids to sleep. Of course he was not going to sleep when he could see us hanging out without him! Let's just say we didn't sleep much.

Despite the lack of sleep, we had a great time! Kade loves all the friends he makes traveling and spending quality time with dad!

And Happy Sinterklaas!

So we got to celebrate Sinterklaas with a great group of friends and our awesome buddies from Holland! Sinterklaas is kind of like Santa but from Spain, a lot skinnier, and a total poet! He brought us all gifts with cute poems about us attached. We absolutely loved it and hope he comes every year!

We started the night with a little Rock Band.

Here's a few Zwarte Piets. They are Sinter's little helpers and these are the hats they wear.

Kaden rocked out to the music with Augusta.

Then after a fabulous dinner (of some traditional favorites and few great dishes made by our friends from Panama) Sinterklaas came and dropped off a big bag of gifts on the front doorstep.

We had a great time watching everyone open their presents and read their sweet poems from Sinterklaas. We actually got to secretly write them to each other making it much more personal and fun!

Even Kade got a sweet poem and a fun toy which he attacked immediately.

And Drew's came with illustrations! Jon helped Sinterklaas with this one. It says:

There once was a man from Utah - He always kicks me in the butah! - But he's fun and he plays - we talk and laugh all days - and he shoots me all day.

And Cat's mom sent us a bunch of Sinterklaas treats and cute finger puppets (or chewing toys).

After I got Kade to sleep, we hung out...

and played a little Tennis on the Wii. No...I'm not doing the funky chicken despite how stupid I look.

We had such a fabulous time and thanks to Lisa for always being such a great hostess...

and a big thanks to Cat for putting it all together and to her cute mom who sent us treats, gifts, and wrote a lot of the cute poems!