What will 2008 bring?

I'm excited for 2008! 2007 actually brought some blessings - Shannon beating cancer, Kasen making it here healthy & perfect, Grandma (Audell) celebrating her 80th birthday (my first grandparent to make it there!), meeting lots of awesome new friends... Well, I could go on & on 'cause there really are a lot of blessings this year brought, but to sum it up - is was a great year. I'm hoping 2008 is even better! What to look forward to?:
Courtney & Stuart's little girl, Ashley (who will be here any day!!)
Ken & Alena's little girl, Alivia (who will be here in Jan)
Charlene & Kerry's little girl, Cheyenne (who will be here Jan/Feb)
Sherry & Jeff's baby (I'm thinking it's the year of girls...) (who will be here in August)
Anyone else? Did I miss any babies? I'm so excited about all this baby business!
Jack & Kim are getting married in June! Which also = Kasen's 1st roadtrip. A two-for! Yay!
Peder, Tara G., Luke, Katy, Sherry, & Todd will all be 30 this year. (You guys are old, haha!)
Mom & dad will be 60! (Sorry for sharing that mom, but I think it's an accomplishment!)
Kasen will have a rocking 1st bday that I can't wait for!!!
Angel will be 10. Yikes - where did those years go?
Who knows what other exciting things are in store for us, but it already sounds like it's gonna be a great year! My favorite part? Starting the 3rd I'll be working half days on Tues & Thurs. Yay! I get to play mommy a few more hours every week! Yippee!!!!!!

Resolutions? Anyone actually keep those things? We'll here's what we're putting down for 2008 - you guys help us stick to 'em, okay?
1) Pay off some debt! My car will be paid off by the summer hopefully, then we'll move on from there.
2) Stick to the budget we've written up. It's gonna be hard, and I apologize in advance for anyone who feels slighted on their bday, anniversary, Christmas, or anything else, but we really want to obtain our goal one day - for me to stay home. ((fingers crossed!))
3) Get in shape. Luke & I both. We need it. Badly.
4) Eat less crap. Yes, we do eat healthy compared to lots of people, but we've got plenty of room for improvement.

5) Quit stressing. That's gonna be the hardest one to keep, but my bp needs the help. ;)

We wish everyone blessings in 2008. If you can't say goodbye to 2007 fast enough, I hope 2008 makes up for it. If you are sad to see 2007 go, I hope 2008 can compete.
And, because I can't post without a pic or 2... Here's Kasen...

Here he is playing in the box ('cause it's better than the toy of course), wearing his Christmas Baby Legs that Aunt Shannon made him.

And, being silly, as always, eating a Mum Mum...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Kasen's First Christmas!

What a weekend! You know the kind - where you look forward to work 'cause you get to "rest". ;) It was wonderful though! What a great first Christmas for Kasen! First of all, THANK YOU EVERYONE for the wonderful gifts & for sharing such a special day with us! Now, the part you came here for - the pictures... Of course there were a million, so I'm only adding some of the best ones. If anyone wants to see others, just let me know what you wanna see & I'll share.
Christmas Eve at the Bonlie's. This year we did lunch, and Rita over-did for sure! The food was all great & the company was wonderful too.

Kasen met the new (nameless) kitten. He's really more of a dog lover, but the kitten was so sweet, he didn't even care when Kasen grabbed his hair.


Then we tried to get a pic of Kirsten (in her super, super cute outfit) & Kasen, but he wanted to eat her shoes...


Finally they both cooperated & we got this great picture. Aren't they the cutest? :)


Great Uncle David was nice enough to hold Kasen while mommy & daddy ate. Luke let Kasen try some lefse. Not real sure he liked it, but I know he'll change his mind soon enough!


Lots of stuff happened during the night, but let's fast forward to home. Here's a pic of Kasen with all of his Christmas Eve goodies. (Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!)


We were all worn out, so Kasen got a bath & went to bed.


Then it was the big day - CHRISTMAS was finally here! Breakfast was at home, with the Martinsons. It was yummy & we all had fun! Kasen & Haley took a ride in Kasen's new Radio Flyer (thank you Aunt Shannon!) while Santa got ready...


Santa came to see Kasen! Yay! (Is anyone surprised though? He was such a good boy this year!)


We took a family pic with Santa:


Another family pic... Santa's gone & grandpa's here!


Kasen liked his walk & ride a lot!


But the Elmo gym was even better!


We headed over to the William's Christmas lunch. Patti did a great job, as always! It was fun to see everyone & eat entirely too much food.
Kasen got a book that we all had to read, Kaleb & Kasen both liked it a lot!


Here's all of Kasen's Christmas Day goodies. Thank you everyone for all the great things & for sharing Christmas Day with us!


Christmas 2007 was better than we ever could've imagined. Thank you everyone for all the great Christmas cards, the gifts, the great company, yummy food, and everything you shared with us this year. I hope everyone has a great New Year's celebration & that 2008 brings great blessings to us all!

Almost on the move!

It's coming soon, so very, very soon! Kasen is *almost* crawling! What a big boy!




This week mommy feed Kasen peas:

Than daddy feed him carrots:

He seemed to like the peas better, but not by much.

Santa Day

Today was Santa Day! The day started well, with Kasen sleeping almost 12 hours straight Saturday night! I was worried, and went to check on him when I woke up. Here is what I found:

A few hours later I heard some baby talking coming from his room, and I found this:

We took off that dirty diaper...

And put on a clean outfit for the big day.

Then it was time for a breathing treatment.

And then a little playing. (Kasen's current favorite game is to roll himself up in a blanket & make his way over to the Christmas tree to try to pull ornaments.)

Then Kasen had a bottle & jumped on the couch.

Next, we went to church... Where Kasen did NOT want to cooperate. Mom spent the first half of the service entertaining Kasen in the hall & dad took over for the second half. Kasen even took a nap for daddy.
After church, we headed to the mall! We had to wait for Trey's mommy & daddy to get him there....

Trey finally made it, but Santa was taking a long break. Since we had a few hours to kill, we headed over for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. While we waited for a table, Kasen gave Trey his Christmas present.

At the table, daddy taught Kasen how to drink from a cup. A new obsession has now been formed...

We all headed over to the looooooooooong line for Santa, where Trey & Kasen played.

Finally - time to meet the big man himself!
Trey went first...

Then they had to share his lap...

Finally, Kasen's big moment arrived - he had Santa all to himself! And just look at how happy he was!




He couldn't leave without showing him how to suck his thumb though...





The day ended with another nap on the way home, a final bottle, a bath, a breathing treatment, and then an exhausted, fussy Kasen drifted off to sleep in his bed. It was a great day! Thanks for sharing it with us.