Time to catch up...

So apparently I'm not so good at keeping up on multiple websites...as I got more into Facebook this fall, the less time I spent on the blog---sorry Mom! So here I am to play catch up, working my way backward from New year to mid fall. Enjoy :)

Here we are celebrating the new year at the van Anrooys... thanks Keith for really enhancing this photo!

And thanks Jon for always making picture taking so enjoyable for Ingrid!





Now we are back at Christmas.

We spent Christmas Eve and Day at Bernies house. The kids were pure entertainment! One minute Quincy is pretending to be a doll in the doll bed...

The next moment she is shooting with a toy gun!
The next she is a dancing princess!

(Steph this is the tutu you made for Quincy...I think she likes it, how about you?)



Rece was the king of dress up, as always, he probably changed 10 times during the course of opening gifts. Here he is pretending to sleep with Uncle Keith.

We also spent some time with the Williams after Christmas, but I don't have any pictures from that week.

But I do have this picture from Thanksgiving with the Williams. We spent the day at my Aunt and Uncles house in Seattle with my Grandpa Dave and cousin Karrin and her family.

This winter Marissa GRADUATED from nursing school!!! I had the pleasure of "Pinning" her at the ceremony. My mom has a funny picture from that moment...can you send that to me mom? Congratulations Riss! We are so proud of you and know you will pass your exam with flying colors and land the perfect job! You deserve it after all your hard work. I would let you be my nurse any day :)

Earlier in the fall I enjoyed the annual girls weekend. This year we went back to CDA and it was a blast! Here we were enjoying Taylor dancing to Robert Vaughn :)

And here she is...the dancing queen!!! We love you Tay!

Some cute pregos who rallied for a late night!

All dolled up and ready for some Bonsi Bistro

Some fabulous ladies!

Enjoying the super fancy Shirley Temples

There was one frigid weekend early in the fall, which happened to be the day I watched Marissa complete another half marathon---she is a champ!

Well, there you have it. I'll try to be more on top of things in 2010...perhaps I'll take more pictures, and have other fun and exciting things to share...stay tuned :)

Growing up in Lewiston = a love of rodeos

I always wanted to be a rodeo princess when I grew up (I think teaching is pretty close to that!), so I was thrilled when I got to go with Bernie and the Schuerman crew to the Spokane fair & rodeo last night, and we had a blast! It was the kids' (and Kelli's) first rodeo and I think it was a success. Rece, who IS a cowboy (hence the outfit and recent cowboy birthday party), told me that he "will do what the cowboys do, but with two hands cause he's 4".

The rodeo was a great way to end a fun and full, first week of first grade!

It's over already :(

I really don't know why summer has to end...

but at least we did some fun stuff and took pictures to remember it by when there is ice covering all of Spokane:

Some people played so hard they fell asleep while they were eating lunch! We golfed (yes, WE).

We conquered Silverwood.

We enjoyed Jason & Anna's wedding.

We played Bananagrams.

We spent time in Leavenworth & Chelan with Keith's family, and even got to see The Sound of Music, it was amazing (and cold).

I got a surprise visit from Jenna! And we played.

I saw Kenny Chesney with my friend Ali, "who makes things happen!"

And we went to LA with some of my college roommates and their husbands...

We also finished some yard projects, didn't finish some home projects, and read several books.

It was a good summer.

I already can't wait for next summer!

Oh my!

We had a bazillion viruses and junk on our computer, but we didn't know it! YIKES! Luckily we have a friend who is a GENIUS, and fixed it for us (he easily spent 15+ hours working everything out! THANKS Eric!). After killing all the yuckies he ended up having to reformat our computer and now it works better than it did when we first had it (we just aren't sure of all that we might have lost yet). Therefore we have been computerless for over a week. At first it was nice, you know, we actually had couple time without a screen in front of one of our faces! But then we started having withdrawals---this is definitely an addiction :) Needless to say we are back into our computer routines and securing all our passwords and not downloading anything without triple checking it's validity (and probably calling Eric every other day for a while!). Now we are just hoping all our pictures are safe online, and that our music can be recovered somehow---fingers crossed (anyone know if there is a way to get music from an iPod back on to a computer???). We are on vacation now and will have new pictures to add soon.

Bumpits & Bows

It's no secret that I love infomercials. It doesn't matter what they are selling, I'm totally hooked and, of course, NEED the product. Keith worries leaving me home alone with the TV because he may return to find I'm purchased some amazing juicer, or exercise machine that promises to trim and slim in just minutes a day! Ever since I saw the "Bump-it" I've been dying to have one. I was a skeptic, especially after I saw Jenna Fisher (from the office) on the Ellen show trying it out---it wasn't looking like it really did the job. However, this did not dampen my spirits, and when Marissa and I heard they made it to Walgreens we went on an unsuccessful hunt all over Spokane for the "Bump-it". Fortunately they were in stock over in Longview and Marissa bought us both a set!!! I need some practice still on how to perfect the art of "Bump-it" but Marissa will guide me--her hair is always stylish! In addition to this new hair accessory, my friend Leah made me the cutest stinkin' headbands for my birthday!!! Leah I love them, they fit perfectly and really complete the look. Here Marissa and I are modeling for you.

Newest addition to our life

Our friends, Cary and Adam, have gone and done it again, and made an absolutely adorable baby boy!!!! We are thrilled to welcome Mr. Aiden Gregory Strate---is he not sooooo cute???

Born July 7th, weighing in at a whopping 9lbs 15oz and 21.5 in. long! That's a lot of baby! Cary you are a CHAMP! We love you, and are so happy for your new little guy :)

Summer so far...

My flowers are in full bloom in our back yard right now---I love spending time with them! Our mischievous Aslan was found high above us in search of food (he's not really happy about the diet we put him on!)

Celebrated the Ross family summer birthdays up at Deer lake then went back up a few days later for the 4th of July with the van Anrooy crew. I made "Cake Pops" without the "pop" part for both events and they were a HIT! This is a picture of the patriotic cupcakes I made before they melted in the car :(

And of course we did Hoopfest (we meaning Keith played and I watched)