The Hartzheim Family

Rockets Run 2012

2012-01-23T10:06:00.000-08:00

Since Ragnar began working for the Rockets we have made it a tradition to participate as a family in the Rockets Run each year. This year Ella and Cavin (and Channing in the stroller) ran with Ragnar in the kids 1K. They had a fun time and got a nice medal which they were excited about. I ran in the 5K race right after and was happy with the way I finished. I was really hoping to get one minute faster, but I got stuck behind a ton of people and couldn't get though for a few minutes. That was frustrating, but I still finished 5th in my age group of almost 300 and 155 overall out of almost 3,000 people, so not bad...but next year I know to get in the front BEFORE the race starts!

Channing can taste the victory!

It was a rainy day...but mostly just the annoying "mist". It was fairly warm though.

Anyone who knows me, knows I had to stop and take a picture of this!

We finished the day going to the Rockets game and watching them beat the Spurs. My brother Chris was supposed to fly in and come with us, but his flight was delayed, so my family didn't come which was a bummer, but the kids had fun and did great. Cavin kept telling me the numbers on the score board and as long as Clutch was FAR away he was happy. The girls were happy and content. Go Rockets!

Weekend Happenings

2012-01-17T08:43:00.001-08:00

This weekend Ella and Ragnar had Monday off, so we were really looking forward to the long weekend. Unfortunately January for Ragnar is super busy at work, so he pretty much was gone every night, but we had fun anyway! It started off all happy and fun with the girls going down for a nap.....

Channing just loves Ella's babydoll.

Then a slight scare occured. It started with Cavin and I playing trains. Channing is getting much faster crawling around and as little siblings do...she was hurrying over to claim part of the track for herself. In an effort to hurry and finish the track and defend it from Channing, Cavin ran over to the track and bent down to hurry and put it together. Problem was, he is our clumsy kid and he bent right into the corner of the entertainment center and split his head open. So I called my pediatrician because I was not sure if it needed stitches or not and he said to come in before he closed (of course it happened at 3:30 on a Friday afternoon) and so since our Dr. is 45 minutes away, I threw the kids in the car and hurried over. We made it and although it was deep, it was not too bad and it was such a straight cut that he was able to use surgical glue and close it together. So he was all glued back together and before or after you would have never known anything happened. At least with all his clumsiness he is super strong and no bump ever seems to bother him :) I am still considering bubble wrap for the cutie though!

On Saturday afternoon my mom stayed home with Channing and we joined my dad for his work party at the zoo! The kids loved the carousel ride and then they got to dress up for a picture!

of course Aunt Natalie is always a great sport to join in the fun!

Next they found the face painter...or in their case hand painter

Cavin chose a turtle with a soccer shell

Ella a butterfly...I think she almost always picks one

We got to eat with grandpa and Aunt Natalie and we had a nice time at the zoo.

Thanks mom for taking Channing and thanks dad for taking our crew with you to the party and for humoring my children and talking like Donald duck most of the ride home :)

First Words!

2012-01-12T18:03:00.001-08:00

Our sweet little Channing said her first word today...mama....BUT she didn't stop there, right after she said mama, she said daddy (she has said what sounds like daddy before and also Ella but today was the first time it was super clear)! I guess she didn't want us to worry about who she loved more ;) Those first words spoken melt a moms heart. I can't believe how big she is getting. She is almost 9 months old and getting around everywhere. She is just such a happy, active baby, and I sure do love this little girl and look forward to watching her grow!

Holiday Vacation!

2012-01-03T07:27:00.000-08:00

Christmas and New Years have come and gone and we had a great vacation together! It was fun having Ella home from school and Ragnar having some time off. Even more exciting was having Daphne, Ragnar's sister come to visit us for the holidays! We also learned that my brother Chris and his wife are having a girl and that Marisa and Ethan are expecting their second child in August. So fun!
Christmas morning we had a nice time relaxing and opening presents.

Ella was excited because she got a camera and pet shops.

Cavin also got a camera and legos and many other things

Check out everyones morning hair!

Channing just being her happy self.

Daphne got here the night before and we had a nice Christmas eve and we were glad to have her with us as we woke up Christmas morning.

Christmas Day was a little strange this year as it was on a Sunday and we had to stop and get ready for church, but we went to my parents and celebrated there and enjoyed puzzling and dinner and watching the kids open more presents!

With Daphne here we went to Chuck E Cheese which my kids love and they had these sketches done:)

Daphne went with us to the park....

and was great at teaching Ella "Just Dance" on the wii. They are definitely the dancers in the family!

Thanks to Ragnar for the tickets and my parents for watching the kids, Daphne and I got to go to the Rockets season opener against the Spurs. It was a nice evening and they won by 20! Yeah! I think the week I got told 3 times that Daphne and I look like the siblings :) Do you see it??

We sure are grateful Daphne spent her precious semester break with us. We had a lot of fun and already miss her!

Next came New Years. Happy 2012!

We spent the Monday after New Years with my parents and sister Natalie. We went bowling and to Chilis, and then we made smores and hot dogs by their new fire pit. It was a nice day!

We are lucky to have such a great family!

It was a wonderful Christmas vacation!

Gingerbread Houses!

2011-12-13T13:41:00.001-08:00

As you can tell I was BEHIND on blogging, so I set aside some time to catch up a little today. This weekend we put together gingerbread houses together. The kids always have fun doing things together and they love being creative. We love the holidays!

Just getting started on the fun!

Ella and Dads piece of work!

Cavin and moms artwork!

Ugly Sweater Party!

2011-12-13T13:19:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we had a lot of fun. We went to Ragnar's work party Friday night and then on Saturday we got to attend the 2nd annual Ugly Sweater Party that our friends the Millers put on at Christmas time. We really have fun at this party and were looking forward to it. There is yummy food, fun friends, and fun games.....my favorite!

Here is Ragnar and I in our ugly...I mean beautiful sweaters!

The lovely ladies

The handsome men!

This was the championship round of the marshmallow game. Ragnar and I totally won!

Each round the marshmallow you had to catch was different. The first round you had to catch 2 white marshmallows and eat them, the second round 2 chocolate (which we NASTY!) and the last round was a campfire marshmallow and as you can see it was HUGE! I was feeling sick by the end! But we won! We had fun. Thanks to the Millers for hosting!

The Nutcracker Ballet

2011-12-13T13:06:00.000-08:00

Every year we have been trying to make a tradition of having the girls all go to see the Nutcracker ballet. Ella can recognize the music anywhere and loves to dance to it. This year my mom took Ella, me, and my sister Natalie to see it at a Cy Fair college. It was different than going downtown, but I actually enjoyed being able to actually see the dancers perform because we were much closer. We had a nice time. Thanks mom for taking us!

Getting ready for our fun girls day out!

Our future dancer getting ready!

All the girls getting ready for fun!

Ella always does really well at paying attention. The dancing seems to really keep her interested in the ballet. She loves to watch dancing!

Thanksgiving Kindergarten Play

2011-12-13T12:27:00.000-08:00

Last month Ella had a Thanksgiving play in her Kindergarten class at school. She was very excited to be a pilgrim girl and if we didn't practice each night she would say..."mom if you are going to be good at anything you have to practice!" There is my little 15 year old in a 5 year old body! Anyway, she did great and our family came and Aunt Natalie and Grandma came to watch as well. We also stayed and had her Thanksgiving feast for lunch with her.....it made me remember why I brought my lunch to school everyday :) Nice work Ella!

Here she is in all her glory!

Mrs. Adams class

Ella's crush is on the front row with his hand up...Grant. She came home a few weeks ago and said "mom..I have something to tell you. I love Grant and he loves me!??!!" wow

Her brother wants to be part of the fun!

Channing had to try on the bonnet as well :)

Thanksgiving Thankfulness!

2011-12-01T14:42:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving we spent a few days and my parents house. They are only about 40 minutes away, but since we were the only ones coming this year and Ragnar was off of work, we decided to make a real mini vacation out of it. Thanksgiving day was yummy as always and we had really nice weather. My mom and I did a little black Friday shopping and we enjoyed hanging out with my parents and sister. The kids love spending time there. On Friday, we spent the morning taking a couple family pictures. My mom took some for us and I saved the best ones for the Christmas card....but here are a few I thought were cute.

I feel like these were engagement pictures! Haha...I think I like them better than our engagement pictures!

Our little sweetie!

Like Father...like son!

Ok are they spitting images of each other or what?!?!

This is just a silly candid one but I thought it was kinda cute

My little buddy

Ella sure loves her dad...and she is always striking a pose

I took this one of my dad and I love it :) He looks handsome!

And here was our three Thanksgiving buddies. We sure are lucky to live close to them and are indeed VERY thankful for them and for all they do for us!

And to top off the Thanksgiving weekend, we got WONDERFUL news.......THE NBA LOCKOUT IS OVER!!! Ragnar woke me up in the middle of the night when he found out with a huge fist pump in the air! He was so excited to have something to keep him busy at work again and to be able to do what he loves. He was like a little boy waking up on Christmas morning when he got ready for work on Monday! It was a huge blessing for us that work will continue and he will have something to sell! We continue to have lots to be Thankful for!

Naomi's Wedding!

2011-11-09T14:33:00.001-08:00

While we were enjoying a visit from Chira and the boys, Ragnar was in Germany enjoying his older sister Naomi's wedding! We are so excited for Naomi and Sharlon. I was sad I wasn't able to go with the kids, but so grateful that Ragnar could be there. All of his siblings were there, even Daphne who just visited Germany...came back and surprised Naomi by being there at the wedding. Ragnar said it was a great trip and he was so glad that he was there for her and so grateful that she met Sharlon and is happy. Since I was not there, I wanted to at least post pictures for our "journal/blog" sake. Ragnar tried to take a bunch for me...so here are some :)

In Europe you have to get married "civilly" first because they don't recognize the church, so here is the civil ceremony in Holland where Sharlon lives.

Lunch after the wedding. The happily married Naomi and Sharlon

Cute Mia. Ragnar said she was adorable!

Belana, his other neice...she is growing up so fast :(

And the nephews..3 of them are his sister Pamelas boys (Fabian, Aaron, and Jared) and one is Sandras (Jonas the third one).

The next day they were sealed together in the Frankfurt, Germany temple (this is not actually the Frankfurt temple, it is just a temple they drove past). Rags says it was a little cold, but a nice day!

Naomi and her parents and Sharlon and his parents.

Naomi and Sharlon and all of Ragnars siblings. Daphne, Sandra, Naomi, Sharlon, Pamela, and him

Here we go again......:) She said YES...silly!

Naomi and Hellmut and Ursula

Ragnar with Naomi....she looks beautiful!

The next day they had a reception in their hometown Duesseldorf, Germany.

I thought the m&m's of them were cute. Congrats Naomi and Sharlon! I can't wait to come visit and finally meet Sharlon!

Halloween Visit

2011-11-09T13:42:00.000-08:00

In October my sister in law Chira and her two boys Caden and Coleton came to visit us and my parents in Houston. Ella and Cavin were so excited to play with their cousins. They love having cousins and are so sad that now all of them on both sides of the family are far away. We enjoyed the upcoming holiday and dressedup in grandmas costume box, decorated pumpkins, made sugar cookies, had a sleep over, went to visit Ragnar at work and played in Clutchs corner, and had a fun time together.

Here is Indiana Jones, Clown Caden, and a firefighter

Cavin always stayed in the same costume...he sticks with what works :) Ella is now a princess and Caden is the firefighter

Ella was always changing...now a ladybug :)

Channing got into the fun to:)

Time for pumpkin decorating!! I am not too adventurous and haven't started the carving stage yet!

Here are our pumpkins! Cadens proud decoration!

Cavins pumkin

Ellas.....

and....we had to include cute little Coleton cheesing for the camera!

Onto cookies....there was a lot of dough ;)

And the sleepover.....not really much of one.....Ella left around 10:30 because Caden and Cavin were still talking and she was tired from school...so she slept with me, then Cavin woke up Caden so he went to his moms room and then eventually Cavin came too....so all kids slept with their moms.....not really a sleepover success! I think they are a little too young still! We had fun catching up though and are so glad they came to visit! (I wish I had pictures of Ragnar work and church, but I didn't have my camera :(

Halloween 2011

2011-11-03T18:48:00.000-07:00

Halloween this year has come and gone. The kids enjoyed the celebrations. We had a church trunk or treat and they got a lot of candy and enjoyed playing the carnival games. Ella was Jesse for the church party, but wanted to be "Aurora" for Halloween day. I wish I had a picture of Cavin and Ella as Jesse and Woody, but Ragnar had the camera in Germany!

Here is our princess Aurora!

Woody sporting "Bullseye" thanks to his older cousin John who we miss :(

Channing is our sweet little thumb sucking ballerina

Here are the cuties

Here was a little Jesse walking around who wanted to take a picture with Woody and Bullseye. Cute! We only trick or treated for an hour because the kids were pooped and INCREDIBLY slow walking around, but we had a nice Halloween!

Channings Entry to Food!

2011-11-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

So if you know anything about our family, you know we love food! We are excited to report that Channing is a true Hartzheim. Her love of food has much room to grow, but she started off great! This Halloween she ate rice cereal for the first time. I know many people say, she is 6.5 months, and she is just now starting food??? Yet for me if they are content on breast milk, then why bother with the mess! She had her 6 month appointment and was 18.2 lbs and so she is coming back down the charts. and now she is old enough now and was showing a lot of interest in food, so we upgraded our little baby to something more solid....and she loves it. I am afraid when she starts getting the real tasty food, we will be eaten out of house and home! She is a cutie and such a happy little lady!

Testing out the spoon before we begin!

Here we go......

YUM!!!

The only issue we had was her addiction to her thumb! After every bite she would stick her thumb in her mouth...so the solution for now is holding her hand while she eats :)

The Original Mud Run

2011-10-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Ragnar and I participated in the Houston Mud Run! The Mud run is a 10 K race full of 30 obstacles. Some fairly easy, some very difficult. I was so proud of Ragnar for finishing. He did all but a couple obstacles and on one there was a 20 foot cargo net you had to climb up that was very hard and then you have to come down the other side...he made it up and halfway down he lost his grip and fell flat on his back onto a mat....scary! (thankfully I didn't see as we weren't running together) He was fine, it just knocked the wind out of him and he kept going! He did great and it was his very first race....of I hope many! :)
Ragnar had some of his Rockets buddies running with him and I ran with a group of my friends. There were 7 of us girls and we called ourselves the C.T.R. girls...the chicks that run. It was fun....I wanted to run with Ragnar but the competitiveness in me didn't allow for that. Hopefully next year when he is in great shape!

Before the race with Kenna and Cris Garthe

Here is his Rockets group (and me in my other shirt :)

Here we go!! Natalie, Kim, Mitzi, and Stephanie were the other girls who ran with us! It was so fun to do it as a group!

So gross!

This obstacle they called the "Leap of Faith" you had to climb up and then jump in 8 feet of muddy water....as you can tell I really did not want to jump in! (Somewhere inside of that pit is my bandana!)

I could do the running part....but I need to do some more major weight lifting for next time!

Here is everyone when they are done....I finished in just under an hour so I was already cleaned up.

Here are the two girls I ran with Emily and Brittany! We did great...we were one of the first girls to finish and were in the top 10!

Wahoo...you did it!

Time for the hose down....it felt nice to get the mud out of your ears and your shoes! We had a great time. Thanks mom and dad for watching the kiddos while we got dirty!

Our Bundle Of Joy!

2011-09-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

Channing is now 5 months old and she has been such a fun addition to our family! She has slept through the night since she was 6 weeks old and is such a peaceful, good natured baby! I have been so lucky to get three wonderful kids!
Channing has recently been showing us more and more of her personality. She is always trying to roll and move and loves to jump in the jumperoo. She has a cute little giggle now and is always smiling or blowing bubbles. She has a big mouth and is always trying to eat whoever is holding her's nose or when the kids talk to her for some reason she always opens her mouth as big as she can in response. She has found her voice and man some days, although happy, she is loud! She also is obsessed with sucking her thumb....we will be starting a braces fund soon :) She is our red haired, green eyed charmer...never thought I would get the "strawberry blonde" child, but we sure wouldn't trade her!

Just chillin in my high chair!

Sweet Smiles!

Oh how I love my thumb!

Check out this mouth mom...getting ready for my braces :)

Bubble Blowin Time!

We sure do love you baby girl!

Round 2!

2011-09-19T06:43:00.000-07:00

As you know, Ella started kindergarten this year and has absolutely loved it! However, due to the large amount of enrollment in Eagle Springs Elementary this year, they had to create a new 6th kindergarten class. They selected 3 to 4 kids from each class to create a new one. Ella was one of the "chosen" ones and started with a new teacher today....Mrs. Adams. We really liked her last teacher Mrs. Harper that she had for about a month, but Ella is a good sport and didn't care at all that she had to move classes, make new friends, and start with a new teacher. She has a boy she likes in her old class named Levi and I explained that he will now be in her old class...she just said mom it's o.k. I can still chase him at recess!! Oh my...I am not ready for my girl to grow up!

A Visit from the Grandparents!

2011-09-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

This past week we were privileged to get a visit from Ragnar's parents. They came and spent 6 days with us, and we had a nice visit. The kids were excited to see them as they don't get to come often. It was sad to have Ella at school for most of the day, but we found things to do when she came home. One day we went over to "Imaginations" and painted. The kids love to paint.

Here is Cavin concentrating on Lightening McQueen!

Here is our cute little thumb sucker. Who just enjoys being along for the ride!

Ella worked on Minnie with Oma

On Monday Ragnar, Hellmut, and Cavin went to Galveston to visit "The Galveston Railroad Museum" Hellmut loves trains, and that love has now passed through two more generations.

When he got home he kept telling me about the blue train

"All ABOARD!"

These two pictures make me laugh..I just love Cavins faces!

Here are the three generations before the big "boys day out!"

Opa meeting Channing

Oma playing with Ella, books and games!

Our little princess

Don't they look lovely :)

One of our other adventures.....Chucky Cheese!!! I think the men liked it as much as the kids!

We pretty much had the place to ourselves :) nice!

And lastly....one of the reasons they came....to meet our little 4 month old cutie!

She is such a happy baby!

Thanks so much for coming Hellmut and Ursula! We miss you already!

For the Love of Running...

2011-08-27T11:33:00.001-07:00

You all know how much I love running, and this weekend 5 girls and I ran in a Lake Houston 5 K together. It is the hottest day on record at 107 degrees, but we had fun regardless. My friend Emily and I ran the whole way together and finished 4th and 5th with a time of 22:56, so that was fun. We had a good race, and it makes me want to really get in better shape!

Natalie, America, Me, Kelci, and Emily

After race sweating!

First Day of Kindergarten

2011-08-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

The dreaded day for me has finally arrived. Ella started her first day of Kindergarten today. She woke up so excited to go, and so for her I am happy. She is so ready. As for me, I am trying to decide why I have been dreading this day so much. After some thought, I think there are a few reasons. One, I worry if I taught her enough...if she can stand up for herself or remember to wash her hands, say please and thank you or put the straw in her juice-box....just silly things. Two, a phase that I have come to really love of my life is ending. I now will have to be somewhere and have a schedule, and not be able to go where and when I want to. Third, I feel like her sweet pure spirit will be exposed to so much filth. There are so many things you try so hard to protect your children from, and now I won't be with her constantly supervising what she says, does, sees, or hears. Finally, that sweet little girl of mine will be spending more time with someone else and I will miss her AND SHE IS GROWING UP :( so sad. I am glad she is independent though and wants to be on her own and try new things. I am so excited to see what kind of wonderful girl she will become.

In Germany on the first day of school you get to make your child a "schultuete" to bring. It is filled with candy and such. I wanted to be true to Ella's half German side and make one for her :)

Starting the day out with playdo...not bad :)

This is Ella's teacher, Mrs. Harper. She seems great. I hope she learns a lot from her.

I'm counting down the last hour until I can go pick her up. I can't wait to hear about her day. Although I was super sad today, I did not cry (I think with my lack of emotion...it's kinda hard to) Cavin only asked when she was coming home once and he has been paying a lot of attention to Channing. Maybe they will become as good of friends as he and Ella are.

Marisa and Liam Fun!!!

2011-08-20T16:19:00.000-07:00

This summer my sister Marisa and her son Liam spent 7 weeks in Texas with my parents. Having the luxury of only living 35 minutes away we got to see her a few times a week. The kids loved playing with her son Liam. The cute little guy turned one while he was here and learned how to walk...it was fun to watch, he is the happiest, smile-st kid. We are sure going to miss our cousin and now that John and Madison have moved and Liam is gone, the kids aren't sure what to do! I also had the pleasure of hanging out with my sister Marisa. I love how we can just look at something and be thinking the same thing. Now don't get me wrong, we are very different, but I sure do love having her here and SO hope that Ethan can hurry and finish school and they can move back to Texas! Thanks for playing with us Marisa and Liam!

All my kids and Liam :)

Girls Day Out!

2011-08-15T13:15:00.001-07:00

A couple weekends ago my sisters, Natalie, Marisa, my mom and I went for a girlsday out. Ragnar and Ethan were kind enough to watch the kids while we went out for a minute together. We all went to get a pedicure and then out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. It was yummy. Afterward we just shopped in the Woodlands and just enjoyed each others company. It is so weird to me how old we are getting, but it is so nice to be able to still talk and occasionally be able to all get together.

After that, this weekend while Marisa, Ethan, my mom and dad were on a cruise, Natalie and Ella and I went out for her girls day out before school starts. She wanted to get her haircut, her nails painted, and get ice cream. She got blue cotten candy with m&ms....yuck! She had fun and is so excited to go to kindergarten to "make new friends, and have recess :)" I'm sure going to miss her!

Here is her hair cut before and after. She wanted to cut 5 inches because she is 5! :)

Growing up so fast!

and I just couldn't leave out our last little girl...she enjoyed her girls day out in dream land :)

Seven Year Anniversary!

2011-08-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's already been seven years since Ragnar and I were married. So much has happened it 7 years! We have had five moves, three children, four jobs.....and the list goes on. We have had so many wonderful experiences and a few challenging ones. We have grown so much, and I am truly grateful that I didn't allow him to utilize his one way ticket back to Germany and our status as best friends moved on to husband and wife. I have felt very lucky to have someone challenge me and help me reach my potential. He is such a fun guy to share my journey in this life with, and I am grateful for his love and continual kindness. Happy Seventh Anniversary to us!

My how we keep changing :)

Houston Dynamo Soccer

2011-08-01T12:02:00.001-07:00

Saturday evening we went over to The University of Houston's "Robertson's" Stadium to watch some (MLS) soccer. Cavin and Ella have been observing Ragnar watch soccer on Saturdays their whole lives and with the women's world cup we were keeping up with, they really wanted to see a "real" game as they call it. So since Ragnar always has connections at work, that was not a problem. We took the kids to the game, had pretty good seats, and they enjoyed the first half. The Dynamo scored twice so confetti flew down right above our heads and they were in heaven trying to catch it! However, the second half they got bored and the sun went down so it was dark and Cavin was so concerned that he needed to be in bed because it was dark! We have ruined him! ... He wanted to go home, so we left a little early. On the way out Ella said "Don't worry guys, we can watch the rest on sports center in the morning."....I sure am glad I love sports a lot, because Ragnar has definitely warped our kids into knowing....morning is sports center time!

We were pretty close :) Just hope the ball didn't come too close!

The confetti falling down!!! Yay!!!

It was nice and hot!!!

The "Greatest Show On Earth"

2011-07-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

This past weekend our family went to "Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Baileys circus". It is supposedly the greatest show on earth....and...although that statement is debatable, we had a good time. The circus was a little over my kids heads as they don't appreciate the strength or difficulty of the acts, nonetheless they had a fun time being together as a family! Ella said her favorite part was the acrobats on the rings, and Cavin like the motorcycles and tigers! For me, the motorcyclists were giving me a heart attack with seven motorcycles in one little metal ball, I thought for sure if one goes down, they were all going to crash! We had a fun day and we are glad we got to spend another day together!

The kids loved that there was white tigers too!

We can't leave out Channing, she slept in her car seat pretty much the whole time...as usual :)

Afterward we went to eat and watched a movie...I had to add these last two!

I just love her smile!

We feel super lucky to call these three healthy kids ours!

The Boy With Many Faces

2011-07-29T11:30:00.000-07:00

I seriously could watch Cavin all day long! He has the funniest facial expressions! I just love them! Here are some that just make me laugh. This was all in a matter of a couple minutes of trying to get him to make a "real" smile face. He is has such a fun personality.

Saying "cheese!"

I think we finally got a somewhat "real" smile...silly kid is going to be a jokester!

Weekend Creativity

2011-07-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

This weekend we got to have some fun family time. Friday Ragnar had off of work, so we took the kids to a place called Imaginations and had them pick out something to paint. Cavin picked a mickey mouse and Ella a rainbow. They love to do art. At home they color for hours! We had a fun time. Later we spent the afternoon with grandma and grandpa, and my sisters and then Ragnar had a sleepover with Cavin and Ella. Channing and I happily slept upstairs in our own beds! We all watched "Tangled" and had popcorn before they slept on the air mattress downstairs. Saturday I took Ella shopping to try and find her some school clothes and shoes, but we had little success, so we will go again. Sunday was my dad and brothers birthday and we went over Monday to join in the celebration at Red Robin! We were sad Corey is now moved so he couldn't be with us. I hope they both had a great birthday.... We sure do love having Ragnar home for long weekends! We have to cherish them before the season starts (or at least we hope the season starts!)

Let the painting begin!

I helped, but only a little :)

Ragnar and Cavin working on his masterpiece!

Movie and a sleepover!

I love watching their faces during movies!

Here is little Miss Channing who is a happy little lady!

She is starting to smile and we love it!

Summer Simplicity

2011-07-07T13:30:00.001-07:00

This summer has been pretty slow. We are not going anywhere on vacation, we are just enjoying the last summer before Ella starts school. We placed a bid on a home in Eagle Springs, but it was a silent auction and we found out we were out bid. We will keep on looking, but hopefully it won't take two more years for me to find one I like! The kids have been great. They have such good imaginations, that it isn't too unbearable to play indoors because unless you are at the pool, it is way too hot! We try and go to the pool a few times a week, but it is super hot for everyone, especially Channing. We have enjoyed my sister who has been here for a majority of the summer, and of course we love going to grandmas house!

Here are my "super spies" as they call themselves

Don't you just love their attire and their marker sword :)

Ella and Cavin really do just love to play together and they love the ipad! I'm glad they have each other for a little longer before Ella is gone all day!

And this is how our sweet little channing spends her life. Sleeping! Of course, her brother and sister always give her a toy in hopes that she will be playing with them soon! She is smiling and cooing now so that is fun. I love our little family, and we have enjoyed Ragnars summer rotation of getting every other Friday off.

Movin On...

2011-06-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

Today my brother Corey and his family left on their way to Michigan. They are moving there to finish his Radiation Oncology residency and are excited about the great opportunities that it will provide. I am so sad to see their family go as they have been in Houston for the past 8 years and we have always been able to have them around. We are excited about their new adventure and wish them the very best. Here is one of the kids last outings with them. We went over to our pool and splashed around. They sure are going to miss their cousins John and Madison.

Here they are, Cavin, Madison, Ella, John ...and then Ragnar

Riding the alligator

The grandkids in Houston...with grandma and Channing

This is how Channing enjoyed the pool....in the heat under the shade.

Ella sure loves playing with Madison

Hello guys!

John loved the diving board and went down several times.

Here is our sweet John....who is always kind enough to play with Cavin. We are sure grateful that they loved playing with our kids and that even though they were older they still entertained our children. We are grateful for the memories we have with them and so look forward to meeting their new cousins due to arrive in October. Thanks for everything!

A "Blessed" Day!

2011-06-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

Today we had the opportunity to bless our sweet daughter Channing Ava. Ragnar did a wonderful job and the day was a special one. We are so grateful that our Heavenly Father trusted us with this precious little girl and that we get to spend forever with her. She was a champ all day and didn't even make a peep. She is such a good girl...somebody knock on wood....I hope she stays this way!

These are our three little kiddos. Ella, Cavin, and Channing

Her brother and sister adore her and were so excited for Channing's special day. As soon as Channing woke up, Ella screamed "Surprise" it's your special day!

I just couldn't leave out this picture of Cavin. He is getting so much better at smiling when we say to say cheese, and this one is definitely a good cheeser!

This is how Channing spent most of the day! Sleeping beauty

Here with Grandma and Grandpa Speers

Our two handsome boys!

Here is my side of the family...My family, my parents, sister Natalie, and brother Corey and his family.

Ragnar's side of the family...his cousin Laurie and her husband Cade and their 3 boys.

One of our first family photos :)
We are so grateful that our little family gets the blessing of being together forever. We sure wish Ragnar's parents were here with us, but we are so grateful for their service as missionaries in the temple and look forward to seeing them soon. We also missed our siblings who weren't here, but know they would have been here if they could have. We have such a wonderful family support system and it is days like this when I remember that FAMILY is really what this life is really all about!

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

2011-06-01T07:01:00.001-07:00

This weekend we spent some time with my family. On Saturday my brother Corey ran in the Houston mud run and did great, he was way ahead of the crowd. It was so fun to watch. The kids came home and created their own obstacle courses. I totally am going to do the next one.

Here he is in one of the first obstacles.

Way to get over the wall!

We hung out with my parents at their home afterward and enjoyed each others company. On Monday we spent Memorial Day with my family as well. First we went to a duck pond and fed the ducks and then had a picnic at the park. Man it was hot! Afterward we had water fun and we barbequed! It is nice to have some family close to spend the holidays with and we sure enjoy hanging out at grandmas house!

We found a turtle crossing the street at the park!

Cavin and daddy feeding the ducks...they both were a little scared because Cavin got snapped at last time.

Here is Ella watching and deciding what to do.

This is how Channing spends most of her time.

Our balancing ballerina girl!

Channing was such a good girl and just enjoyed relaxing!

Here is fun in the water!

We sure love our cousins and are so sad they are moving away!

One Month Old!

2011-05-23T11:19:00.001-07:00

I can't believe a whole month has gone by since Channing was born. She has been an angel baby, and I am so grateful. I have healed so fast with her regarding delivery and such, but I got bronchitis right after I had her and it is still lingering on, so that is frustrating. She is a sweet little girl though and she pretty much just sleeps. She only wakes up once a night and I am so thankful for that. Her brother and sister absolutely love her, and she really makes me grateful that we get to have 3 beautiful kids in our family.

She has a perma- grump as we call it. Her eyebrows always make her look like she is making a grumpy face :)

She seriously is a mini Ragnar. I think if Ragnar were a girl this would be his baby picture! So crazy how that happens!

Her loving brother and sister....who fight over holding her...ALL THE TIME.

Oh man they are silly!

I had to put in a picture of Ella.

I hope that Channing is as good of friends with Ella and Cavin as they are with each other. They love to play together. This picture of them sharing a seat totally describes their relationship. I hope they always enjoy each other!

Growing up so fast!

2011-05-17T07:42:00.001-07:00

Well it's official....Ella has turned the dreaded age of 5!!! I was so not looking forward to her turning five. I am so sad that she is now old enough to go to Kindergarten and will be starting me on a forever schedule starting in August. Ella however is so excited for school and about being old enough to use all the fingers on one hand when you tell people your age. She wanted to do a bunny party this year. I was all about that idea as I knew Easter would be just a couple weeks before her birthday and there would be plenty of bunny supplies to help us celebrate. So, Grandma, Natalie, Uncle Corey, Aunt Stephani, John, and Madi came to our house to celebrate. We had chick-fil-a and cake and ice-cream and presents. It's great that at this age, it still doesn't take much to excite them.

Here is my big girl!

My attempted bunny cake!

Dinner fun!

Cake time!

She did pretty good blowing out the candles!

We are so glad we have been able to spend 5 wonderful years with our little girl and look forward to many more birthdays.

The week after her birthday, she had her preschool graduation. She has spent the last year in a Joy School program called "Little Lady Bugs" She has 3 other girls in her class. The four of us mothers would just swap houses and teaching each Tuesday/Thursday and do their preschool. Ella loved every minute of it. As for me...although they were a great group of girls, I am glad it's over. Teaching for some reason would stress me out! I am glad she had a good experience and she is so ready for kindergarten!

Here are the girls Larkin (who wasn't too keen on being photographed that day), Ella, Emily, and Seneca

Her "diploma"

Congrats little girls! We are so glad we got to spend the year teaching you!

Introducing......

2011-05-03T08:25:00.001-07:00

CHANNING AVA HARTZHEIM:
Born, April 23, 2011 @ 12:40 p.m.
8 lbs 6 ozs., 19.5 inches long

We are so glad our little girl is here. I wanted to share about our experience of when her birthday began and how she arrived, mostly for my own records, but for those of you who are interested as well.....
On Friday, April 22, 2011 my water broke around 9:30 p.m. As with Ella my water only ever just trickles out, so I called my mom and figured I had plenty of time until she got here to go into the hospital. So as we waited we called over a friend Ryan Cotten to help Ragnar assist in giving me a blessing to make sure things would go smoothly during my delivery. The kids were obviously asleep and when my mom arrived, we left and got to the hospital around 11:30 p.m. I did the paperwork and they sent me to a waiting room area to make sure I was truly in labor since my contractions had not begun. I told her my water broke, she checked me and I was dialted to a 3 and she said that she still felt the sack and wasn't sure that my water had indeed broken. I explained how I knew for sure it had broken because it happened the same way it did with Ella and my body doesn't break the water completely. Anyway, needless to say in the middle of the night she wouldn't call the doctor, she just made me wait for a couple hours to see if anymore amnionic fluid would come out so she could "proove" that my water had indeed broken. Anyway, so she was about to send me home when I insisted saying, my water did indeed break, Ragnar and I both had seen it happen and I was not comfortable going home. So...she called the dr. and I had to walk around the hospital to see if they could collect a "sample" to test to make sure my water had broken. At this point I was so frustrated because she totally was looking at me like I was crazy. On my third kid I think I know how my body works, but I did as I was told and walked around for about 30 minutes when I sat down with Ragnar and we decided whether I should just give in and go home and come back in the morning. We then sat here:

This is the area we decided to pray to see what we should do. Thankfully there was no one around in the middle of the night. Anyway, we said a prayer that somehow the rest of the water would break, that they would admit me and we could get going on getting Channing here. Anyway, Ragnar said a short prayer and literally we got up feeling defeated and like 30 seconds later more of my water broke...enough that they had a sample and I was admitted at 2:30 a.m. I was so grateful for the quick answer to such a simple prayer. Unfortunately I had the same nurse until 7:00 a.m. shift change and she swore she no longer felt the sack and so I said then why am I still having water trickle out? Anyway, big mess, but no contractions because indeed when the next nurse came in, my sack was not completely broken, so she broke it, put me on pitocin and then the contractions began. I got the epidural and waited. After all three children you would think I would get my own doctor to deliver one of my kids, but of course it was the weekend and so I had the on call Dr. Boyd who I like as well. Anyway, I was stuck at an 8 for a while and they were not very busy at the hospital but they were not coming in very regularly to check me. They just kept asking if I had felt pressure....I was like lady....I can't feel anything! Anyway I had been nauseous during labor and the nurse said she would come back and check me in just a minute. So...I had to vomit again and as I was leaning over to throw up and I accidentally just pushed Channing out myself. I was throwing up so I couldn't say much, but I had her head in my hand and I was freaking out thinking I killed her. Thankfully the nurse really did come back in...saw that I was panicked. Opened my blanket and there on the bed was my baby. The doctor ran in and without gloves had me push the last part of her body out. She came right out on the bed and it was the weirdest feeling. I kept saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" because I hadn't meant to push her out when no one was ready and I wasn't sure what was going on. Thankfully she was fine, I was enough over on the bed that she hadn't fallen on the floor and she cried right away and she was perfect. The nurse just said...it looks like a red head! Ahhh! I wasn't ready for that news. She is mostly blond but it has a strawberry tone to it. She weighed 8 lbs 6 ozs and was 9 days early. I am glad she didn't make it any longer or she would have been huge! Anyway...that is the VERY long version of what went on, but there you get an idea of how labor went. As with all of my kids it only really takes one push and they are here, so I am so grateful! I wonder if I could contest whether or not I should have to pay the Dr. for delivering me since I delivered my own baby! We will see :)

Here she is!

Our first family photo!

Daddy and his look a like daughter!

Cavin absolutely loves her

Silly hats :)

After not sleeping all night, I was so glad she FINALLY was here!

First picture with Grandpa Speers

First picture with Grandma Speers

YAY! We got to go home. Since it was Easter weekend I had to use the on call pediatrician too and she wouldn't release Channing until 48 hours, so I was SOOOO ready on Monday morning to leave!

Channing's proud sister, Ella

Here she is now...one week old! She is a great baby! Only wakes up once a night and is always happy. I hope she isn't teasing us and that she will stay an angel baby! As for me, I feel pretty good. Like I always say...I much prefer my children on the outside, not the inside and am so grateful not to be pregnant anymore!

Cavin is Three!

2011-04-13T19:11:00.001-07:00

So apparently Ragnar has already mentioned that Cavin is three and that he is wonderful, but I wanted to add a few pictures, even though my mom took most of them with her camera and none of ours worked well.

Here he is birthday morning....ready to start his special day.

Our birthday tradition of donuts for breakfast! Yum!

We had a relaxing day. Ella went to preschool and so Cavin and I came home and he wanted to make blue cupcakes and paint, so we did and then we went to McDonalds for our lunch date. He had fun playing in the play place. Then that night we had my mom, dad, sister Natalie, and my brother Corey's family over for pizza and cake.

Here are the cousins, but like I said the pictures are not great. He was excited to play games with his cousins, and we are so glad to have some family close. Thanks for all the birthday wishes for our sweet boy! I can't believe he is three! He is growing so fast :(

Happy Birthday Cavin!!!

2011-04-12T13:09:00.001-07:00

Today marks 3 years that our little Cavin has joined us. It has been incredibly fun to watch him grow, learn and be with him over this time. He has such a fun personality that makes it impossible not to smile when he is around. His smile and actions just show what a nice child he is. He inherited his mother's concern for others and is always looking out for the well-being of those around him. He is quick to forgive and quick to hug if he knows he hurt someone's feeling. His ability to share shows his love towards his sister and the others around him. He always stands patiently at my side of the bed until I wake up and even if he has to wait, he smiles and just lets us know that he's awake and then he wants to just cuddle in bed and rub mommy's tummy.
Life without Cavin would be life without oxygen. We love you Cavin and hope that your 4th year is just as exciting and fun as your 3rd.
P.S. Lisa has all the pictures at home and I am sure we will post something after we celebrate with the extended family tonight!

Easter Egg-Stravaganza

2011-04-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

Each year our community does a Spring Festival and they have an Easter Egg hunt. I was excited that we were here this year and the kids could attend. They loved it. They had a petting zoo, games, crafts, and of course and Easter Egg Hunt. It may sound silly, but I really enjoy going with them.

They said their favorite part was the petting zoo. They loved the bunnies and there was even a kangaroo.

They weren't too smelly :)

There were a lot of people there, and they separated the hunts into age groups. Each was over in like 1 minute.

Here are my two little bunnies! We look forward to Easter, and if we are lucky we will have 3 little bunnies by then :)

Getting Big!

2011-03-30T18:27:00.000-07:00

My kids are getting so big, and for their Oma and Opas sake since they are far away, I wanted to post a couple pictures of how big they are getting and how big Cavin looks in his little man suit! So cute!

The many faces of Cavin

Ella in all her glory! Always dancing in a picture!

We sure do love these two!

Chuck E Cheese

2011-03-28T13:25:00.001-07:00

This weekend is one of the first weekends since October that Ragnar has been home all weekend since the Rockets season started. We wanted to do something with the kids instead of just relax at home since our weekends before the little one comes are getting fewer and fewer. So....at the request of our children we went to good ole Chuck E Cheese!! They have been there once for a party and have been asking to go back ever since. So...we did...and they screamed with excitement the whole way there and were SO excited while we were there.

Cara-sol Fun!

Chucky the Mouse in all his glory!

I think Ragnar had as much or more fun than kids! Wow a kid at heart!

Where Ella will be next year...boo hoo!!!!

We really do love to spend time with our kids, they are at such a fun age, so we had a nice weekend playing!

My Silly Kiddos!

2011-03-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

As my last month of pregnancy has approached, I have contemplated a lot about our new addition. I again find myself wondering if I could possibly love this little girl as much as I do my other two children, and if there is enough of me to go around to give the love and support that they need. I remember thinking that before I had Cavin as well, and so I am consoled in the fact that I love Cavin just as much as Ella and that it didn't take long for me before I couldn't imagine my life without him. I am so grateful to have another child coming, and I assume similar fears will also dissolve once she is here.
I love these two kiddos and man they make me smile!

This is just my typical Cavin ;)

I love to make them laugh.

I can't believe we will have 3 little ones so soon! We are truly blessed!

Birthday Time!

2011-03-18T19:06:00.001-07:00

It is birthday time again, and I can't believe I am now 28! I feel so old! 30 is going to be a killer! I couldn't find the camera when Ragnar was home in the morning, so you get a picture of the lovely edible arrangement he sent me while he was at work. I am not a real flowers kind of girl, so I always said it would be fun to get one of these and here it is. Ragnar had to work my birthday day and evening, so he took the morning off and we went to IHOP which was interesting. It is Spring Break so it was totally packed and the tables were like 2 feet from each other and lucky for us we got seated next to a like 40 year old creepy single guy and his mom who proceeded to talk to us the entire meal. It was lovely~ or something! Oh well, it was nice to get out and it is a funny memory now. That evening my brother Corey was kind enough to come take me to dinner and I was so grateful for that, I will be sad when he and his family move.....

My birthday is now gone and so is half of March..time is moving quickly now and I haven't blogged in a few weeks, because not much has been going on, Ragnar has been working constantly and I am hanging with the kids, anticipating another child entering our family. I am getting excited and am super nervous all at the same time. Her room is ready and her clothes are washed, and although I am not quite ready for her, I sure do wish I had just a minute to take a deep breath or lay on my stomach or not constantly feel my back hurting. Overall though, I am super lucky that I get to have the chance to carry another child and although uncomfortable, I am healthy and for that I am so grateful. Hopefully I will have more exciting pictures to blog next time :)

Austin Fun!

2011-02-25T19:03:00.000-08:00

This week the kids and I spent a few days in Austin, Texas to go and celebrate my best friend Stacey's birthday. With kids ages 4,3,2, & 1 and both of us being pregnant, we just hung out and enjoyed each others company. My kids really enjoy being at their house and playing with their friends and I enjoy having Stacey to talk to.

Here they are Cavin (2), Madilynn (1), Gabriella (3), and Ella (4)

Here was Stacey on her birthday with her lovely cake we made her. Don't you love the Ariel candle addition!

I wish Ben could have been around to celebrate too. Our darn husbands work too much-I guess we shouldn't complain, just be grateful!

The girls coloring and playing together.

Ella and Cavin were so excited to just have a big backyard to play in. We really need to find a house!

Here is Madi chillin

And Cavin..... it's tough to be the only boy!

Tea party anyone?
We had a good time and were grateful Stacey put up with us for a few days. We are so glad that we have great friends to share our lives with. I hope you had a great birthday Stacey! Thanks for sharing it with us!

Simple Pleasures...

2011-02-09T08:50:00.001-08:00

Things have been pretty slow around the house the past couple weeks. I was sick for a week or so with a bad cold and it was unusually cold for Texas, so the kids were great about finding their own entertainment for a while. It's amazing the imaginations that children have. I love to watch them create and imagine.

This was their space ship

Can you see Ella peeking through the hole???
I have been so grateful for my kids. They really are pretty good kids and I am lucky to have them. They really are at such a fun age, they listen, they are potty trained, they still take long naps, and I have so much to be grateful for. Their simplicity has made me more and more anxious to add a little gal to the crew. I know we will love her just as much, and I pray she is just as good of a kid as her brother and sister have been. I can't believe I am in the last trimester now. I am glad I have made it this far, and am so grateful that I have the chance to be home each day and watch my babies (or not so much babies anymore) grow. On a last little note, I am absolutely devastated to send Ella to kindergarten next year. I just want her home with me!!! I guess I still have 7 months to digest the thought! :(

Rockets Run 2011

2011-01-22T18:22:00.001-08:00

Rockets Run 2011....hip hip hooray! Today our family all joined in the annual Rockets run. Typically it is on a Sunday so we do not participate, but we were excited to learn that it was on a Saturday this year. Even better, it is nice that the employees and their families get to run for free. Ragnar took the kids in the 1K kids race and I ran the 5K race. About 4,500 people participated. We all enjoyed ourselves, even if it was particularly cold for a Houston morning!

Ragnar and the kids with their numbers all ready!

Ella all bundled in the stroller before the race....she wasn't sure she wanted to get out because she was all cozy. Then the race began and she and Cavin took off. I wasn't sure that Cavin would want to run, but Ragnar said that he got out and ran the whole way! Go Cavin! As for Ella, well she is my daughter, what can I say....she is born to be a natural :) She took off and Ragnar, much to my later horror, just let her go and she finished strong in front of them. She loved it.

They were so excited about their medals afterward! They wore them practically all day today!

Now they had to wait for my race to begin and end....

At nearly 7 months pregnant, I am not near as fast as I could be, but I reached my goal time and felt good about still going strong (I'm the one in the black and red). Only tonight am I feeling it pretty good. Everything is much more sore than it should be....I guess that is what happens when you run with a growing baby inside of you!

The best part for the kids...a picture with the mascot Clutch. Great job family, and thanks Ragnar for inviting us to run with you. I hope we can make it a tradition!

Rockets Fun

2011-01-20T13:30:00.000-08:00

On Martin Luther King day our family celebrated at the Toyota center. Ragnar loves to bring the kids to the game, but usually they are so late that I don't share that love unless it's an earlier game. So, every year he has worked for the Rockets we have gone to the Martin Luther King game because it's at 2:00 p.m. This year my mom joined us and we had a nice time.

Here is grandma and Ella.

A nice attempt :)

Cavin was mesmerized....I would love to say because of the game...but he has a staring problem like his mama!

Treats!!!

On the way home we decided to go visit our my brother's kids, John and Madi who live downtown. We all went and got a burger together.

Madi and Ella playing in the backseat. Silly girls have fun together. We were grateful for a nice day together and we are so grateful we have a fun family to share it with.

Christmas Time and Family Fun!

2011-01-08T14:48:00.001-08:00

Christmas has come and gone again. I am always amazed at how much we look forward to the season, and then how fast it is gone. We had a wonderful holiday season and feel very blessed to be healthy, happy, and safe. I don't have great pictures, because we were in between cameras (we bought one and then Ragnar ended up winning one from work, so we took ours back), anyway, I am grateful for the ones Chira took for us.
We started our holidays with having my sister Marisa fly in with her husband Ethan and their son Liam. I was excited to see them and their sweet little boy. On Christmas eve my brother Chris flew in with his wife Chira and their sons, Caden and Coleton. So, with them and my other sister Natalie who lives here, my other brother Corey and his family, and my parents, everyone on my side of the family was all together in Texas for Christmas! It was great. Christmas eve we met together and had soup and caught up and read the Christmas story from the bible and then everyone went home to prepare for Santa! Christmas morning, just like last Christmas, it happened to be one of the few mornings the kids slept in, so we started to go in and check them often to see if they were awake! We were excited! This is what we found....

Ella got a box full of dress up clothes and she was ready to try them on!

Cavin loves trains, so he got a new train set.

Ragnar's co-worker bought them Lincoln logs which they love!

They were excited, but children always fascinate me. Out of everything they opened, they were most excited about coloring, their silly yo-yo's and slinky's! Next year maybe I will just spend the 50 cents and call it good!

We enjoyed Christmas at my parents house. They bought Ella a new dollhouse and Cavin more Thomas the trains. They generously bought Ragnar and I an ipad which has been a really fun gadget. We are very grateful for their generosity. On Sunday night we had a nice dinner together again and the kids loved playing. Cavin and Ella were SO excited to have Caden in town. Poor Caden had to endure Cavin endlessly following him and saying over and over.."hi Caden, hi Caden"!!!

Games...and fun

Hiding under their pretend tent!

On December 27th I went with my brother Chris and Chira, and my sister Marisa and Ethan and of course Ragnar to the Rockets game. It was Marisa and Ethans second anniversary, so we went to dinner and enjoyed the night!

A couple days later we took family pictures and went with the cousins to The Children's museum. My kids loved being with their cousins. I am not sure they really understood a lot of the museum because most of it is for a little older kids, but they loved being with the cousins.

Caden in a car pretending to drive

All the cousins...minus the two babies :)

Ella was being the cashier and Cavin and Caden were bringing their goods to buy.

All in all we had a wonderful time with our cousins and spending time with our parents and my siblings. We are so glad Caden, Coleton, and Liam got to come into town and that John and Madi already live close :) We have a great family. The only thing that would have been better is being able to spend the holidays with Ragnar's family too! We also appreciate their support and kindness. We are glad that they had a nice time in all the snow in Germany, and hope to join them again soon!

First Run

2010-12-23T13:12:00.001-08:00

Ella is always asking me if she can go running with me. I love it, because of course I would love a daughter who would love to run with me when she is older. She is going to participate in the Rockets run on January 22nd, so I thought since I am a little "slower" due to being 5 months pregnant it would be a good time to go ahead and take her out and see how she does. She will be running a 1K, and I think she will love it. She did really good. She ran a whole lap on the track and then she took breaks here and there and would cheer herself on. She would say....mom....I can make it to the stop sign, then she would stop when she got there and say...I just knew I could do it...and the process would repeat. We had a fun time and I look forward to a running partner in the future :)

Christmas Sugar Cookies

2010-12-21T07:39:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas time again and with it comes all your favorite fun traditions. For us, that means we love to break out the sugar cookies and enjoy the mess and fun. The kids had done Halloween ones this year, so they still wanted to have some bats and cats mixed in with our trees and ornaments and such. We had a fun F.H.E. and are so looking forward to having Ragnar home for 6 days. I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas.

This was one of the first times I actually saw Cavin enjoy getting messy in the flour...usually he wants to be cleaned right off.

It's a.......

2010-12-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

GIRL!!!!!

We are excited to announce that our third baby will be another GIRL! We are excited to report that she is healthy and seems to have everything she is supposed to. I'm a little nervous about having two girls, because I do not do emotions, but the thought of another cute little Ella makes me excited.

Flash!

2010-12-06T11:35:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago our friend Jared Peterson kindly agreed to take some pictures of our family as he is practicing his portfolio. It was very nice of him, and here are some of my favorites!

Ella dragging her brother along....typical!

I love her dimple!

Our little dancing girl practicing her twirl!

He thinks he is such a big kid now...it's so sad.

Ella's signature pose...her leg is always lifted up :)

Enjoying a HUMID day together

This is Cavin's typical face :)

Cavin pondering about something

Ella is such a pretty girl.

Giving her brother a "squeeze" as usual!

I'll be as strong as daddy someday!

My little girl

Our Family Together

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-29T14:32:00.001-08:00

Wow, I am at post number 200! I really need to get my blog turned into a book....or a few! Anyway, we don't have a lot going on, but I wanted to update our Thanksgiving festivities. We spent Wednesday and Thursday night over at my parents house. My brother Corey and his family were there, and of course my sister Natalie joined us. We had a nice dinner and it was nice to be there together. Stephani made some great pies and my mom always does great on dinner! As for me...I helped out where I could. I really wish my other brother and sister could have joined us, but we look forward to that at Christmas time. Corey and Steph wanted to go to Harry Potter number 450 so we gladly took a break and went with them. It was entertaining.
Friday I shopped a little with my mom, but I am not a big shopper so I didn't see much and we didn't go early enough to fight the real deals, we had a good time looking though. Saturday our family put up our Christmas decorations. It didn't take long because we don't have many, but the kids love to decorate the tree. We then each took a child on a date. I went with Ella this time and took her to the Disney movie Tangled. We both loved it. Ella is so emotional though, on the sad parts she would bury her face in my arm and cry and the happy parts she would smile and hold my hand and say...oh that is so sweet! Um...is that normal for a 4 year old! I hope I don't have a lot of girls, because I think we will have enough emotion in her little body. We went to lunch and had a good time. Cavin and Ragnar went to lunch and did "boy" things Cavin said. We had a relaxing weekend and were so grateful Ragnar had 4 days to enjoy with us.

The tree picture before our "date"

This is how the boys spent some time together this weekend!

New York !!!!

2010-11-16T08:20:00.000-08:00

New York, New York! Ragnar had a contest at work recently where he won a trip to New York and he got to take a guest! So...thankfully he picked me!! Last weekend my mom and dad took our kids and we flew to New York with a couple of his coworkers who were on his team that won. Everything seemed to go wonderfully. The flight went great, the taxi to the airport was easy, the subway we figured out, and we just had a really nice time. Thank you to the Rockets for the trip, and to my parents and sister for watching my kids. Here is a little summary of our trip! There are a lot of pictures, but I had to cut down from 150, so I thought I did pretty good.

Here we are at the Ritz Carlton where we stayed. About to head out for our first night.

Our first Subway ride :)

I had to take a picture at Houston Street stop.

Right off the subway....our first view of Times Square....crazy amount of lights and people!

We went to see Wicked at the Gerswin theater and it was AMAZING.....it totally made the trip!

Emerald City at the theater, the characters were hilarious!

You know me, I had to take a picture of McDonalds in Times Square!

We went to Madison Square Garden with Ragnar's co-workers to see the Knicks vs. Rockets game.....of course on a trip with the Rockets employees they would get you tickets to a suite at the game.

The Rockets totally won! Hip Hip Ho-ray!

These are Ragnar's co-workers...Jesse, Cody, Eddie, and Ragnar

Here are their wives and one sister. Hailey, Me, Maggie, and Esmerelda

The Empire State building. Super Tall, and it turns blue at night.

It was such a beautiful time of year to go. This is in Central Park. The trees and weather was beautiful!

Chillin in the park!

Here is the famous Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center. It has just gone up but is not lit yet!

We took the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty.

If you look close the Statue of Liberty is in the background.

Here it is!

Just a view in New York.

Ragnar wanted to see Trinity Church since it is in one of his favorite movies..National Treasure.

Here is another view. It was pretty. We saw a couple different scenes from movies, and one night they were filming a movie so we had to take a back street home.

Here was ground zero where the World Trade Center was. So sad, but they are building away!!

New York Stock Exchange....we walked down Wall Street.

Anyway, that is just an idea of the fun. We had a great time and were so glad we got a short weekend away with a little idea of what New York is all about. Fun trip, but I could NEVER live there!

Hockey Time!

2010-11-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

Friday night Ragnar and I were trying to decide something fun to do to get us out of the house. Ragnar was still at work, and said how about a hockey game, I can get us tickets.....So....we thought why not. So Friday night we went to see the Houston Aeros play at the Toyota Center. The kids were really excited to go to their first hockey game.

Dad and Ella!

We sat on the third row, so it was really fun. We were right next to the Aeros bench so we got to watch them come and in out of the box.

Seriously we felt like we were on the ice! The kids loved watching the zamboni (sp?) guy clean the ice.

The equipment manager next to us even slide an official "puck" through the poles to us. Cavin was so excited to have a puck, he wanted to sleep with it. Um....dirty, so it slept on the floor by him. They had a fun time.

Halloween 2010!!!

2010-11-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

This year Halloween obviously fell on a Sunday, so we kept it pretty low key. On Saturday night we went over to my parents house and joined them for a trunk or treat at the church. They had a chili cook off and then the kids trick or treated around the parking lot. I love it for my kids because at their age they get tired walking too far, so they get plenty of candy in just about a half hour and really enjoy it. We were grateful grandma and grandpa and Aunt Natalie invited us in on the festivities as Ragnar worked the Rockets game.

Cinderella and the "ghost" pirate (as Cavin called himself)

Pretty pretty princess!

Arrrgggggg!!!

Posing with Grandpa Speers

And as always Aunt Natalie too (or should I say Snow White!).

We had a nice evening. The kids loved sitting on lawn chairs at the back of the truck and playing with grandma and grandpas flashlights! I hope everyone had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Pre-School Party!

2010-10-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

Ella is part of a "joy school" preschool program and each 5 weeks we trade who is teaching and whose house it is at. This week the Halloween party fell on the date I was teaching. Ella and I were excited for the party!

Here is Cavin the pirate and Ella the "Cinderella" princess (they still have some work to do on their costumes before Halloween!)

Here are the girls in her class, Ella, Ashlyn, Emily, Larkin, and Seneca! Aren't they cute!

Cookie decorating time!!

We had a fun time and Ella is really enjoying being a part of preschool. As for me, it's hard work, and I think I sometimes enjoy the 5 weeks in-between :), but we have cute girls and I enjoy watching them learn!

Pumpkin Painting!

2010-10-23T20:03:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we went to our neighborhoods "Fall Festival", they advertised free pumpkins for each child with a coupon, so we walked on over to get our pumpkin and take a look at the fun. Sadly, the pumpkins were gone already (within the first hour), and Ella was devastated. She REALLY wanted to decorate a pumpkin. So, after a couple days of her sad story about how all the pumpkins were gone, Cavin and I went to get her a pumpkin while she was at preschool. She was very excited to see her surprise. So, since carving at our childrens age, is far too much work, we decided to paint them. Ella being the "girly girl" that she is, had to have hers pink, and Cavin just mixed the colors and had fun. I love how exciting life is when you are young.

A work in progress...

Pick a color, any color!

Cavins finished pumpkin.

Ella's pink beauty! Now for Halloween......

Round Three!

2010-10-13T07:14:00.001-07:00

These two crazy kids are so cute, we just had to add another to the crew :) So....we are expecting our third child sometime this spring. Official due date May 2, 2011. We are super excited and I personally am also super nervous! Our kids are estatic though and cute little El asks me everyday if I am feeling o.k. and if the baby is making me tired! She will be a great helper, and cute little Cavins response...."mom has a baby in her tummy, and I have a daddy baby in my tummy". Don't think he quite gets it! :)

Carrie Underwood Fun!

2010-10-07T09:16:00.001-07:00

Monday night Ragnar called me and said that he would be "hosting" the suite for the Rockets during the Carrie Underwood concert and asked if I wanted to join him. Well, of course, I love Carrie Underwood and said yes! So, thankfully my sister in law Stephani was so willing to take the kids for part of the night with such short notice. The concert was Wednesday night and it was really fun. She had Sons of Slyvia and Billy Currington open for her. I definitely could have lived without the Elvis impersonator, Sons of Slyvia, but I enjoyed the rest of the concert. Carrie even got in a blue truck and rode through the air during one song. She is fun to watch, mostly because she just has an amazing voice!

We ended up getting two extra tickets, so Brad and Emily were able to join us!

They even were able to come down in the suite, so it was fun.

We had a good night out, and were so grateful for Steph for taking the kids.

A Farewell!

2010-10-07T08:59:00.001-07:00

On September 21, 2010, Ragnar's sweet Oma Beck passed away. She lived 97 good long years. She was a very strong woman, with a lot of courage. She survived two world wars in Germany and so many hardships, but remained strong through it all. We are grateful for her example and that she is now in a peaceful place. Ragnar and I were grateful to be able to be there for the funeral on October 1, 2010. It was in Salt Lake City, where she resided the later years of her life. We got to see family and friends. All the cousins except one were able to be there and it was fun to catch up and celebrate Oma's life.

Here she was holding Cavin 2 years ago.

While I don't have any pictures as our camera was acting funny, there are many that were taken of the funeral and all the cousins.

I did get to take a minute to visit my sister Marisa and her husband Ethan and I got to meet my new nephew Liam. It was nice to say hello to her and a couple family and friends and to be there for a few days. I am so grateful that my parents were able to take the kids for the weekend. Thanks again, and until we see you again Oma, thanks for the life you graciously lived.

A visit from the grandparents!

2010-09-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

We have had such a busy past couple weeks, which is not something I am used to saying! Ragnar's Oma passed away at 97 years of age. We are all sad, but I think she is probably pretty grateful to finally be on the other side. Ragnar and I will be flying out to the funeral for a couple days to remember her. On to happier things.... One of the things I wanted to document was our visit with Ragnars parents Hellmut and Ursula. They came here last week for a visit and the kids were so excited. Cavin would wait on the stairs in the middle of the night saying he needed to see Oma and Opa. I think next time we won't tell him so early that they are coming! A couple months is an eternity to a child! We were able to have a nice time, and here are some of the things we got to do.

Friday we met with Ragnars Aunt Brigette and her husband Kent and their daughter Laurie and her family, Cade, Benson, and Connor along with Ragnar's parents and our family. We went to the Rainforest Cafe downtown and had a nice dinner. Cavin was a little nervous about all animal noises, but he warmed up after a few minutes! It was fun to visit and catch up with everyone. We were celebrating 4 birthdays within a couple weeks!

Speaking of birthdays...... Saturday was Ragnar's 33rd birthday! He is getting so old! This is a game called Tip Kick that he used to play when he was a kid that his mom got him. He LOVES it!

The kids are decorating a poster for dads birthday.

Opening presents after donuts for breakfast!

We went to the pool and had fun splashing!

Oma enjoying the sun.

Cavin and Ella

We also went to the zoo on Monday. The weather was REALLY nice which isn't a normal occasion in Houston. The kids were even chilly when we got there (hence the blanket)!

Watching the sea lion show in which Ella was so disappointed that they didn't do tricks on their nose with the balls like in the picture!

Waiting for the show.

Ella was calling to the monkeys to look at her!

Here is our family at the zoo.

After we went to Chili's for lunch!

Back to Sunday.....Ella participated in her very first primary program and she was so excited to sit on the stand!

She said two words "Be honest", but she said them very clearly and loud, so we were proud of her.

Both her sets of grandparents and Aunt Natalie were able to be there to support her and she was excited.

And as always, Cavin was there to support.

We had a great time with them, even if some were tired and not feeling well, and some were a little crazy :) We are so grateful that Hellmut and Uschi took the time to visit. Thanks for coming! We look forward to seeing you again!

The Small Things

2010-09-22T11:16:00.001-07:00

It's the small things in life that make you happy. For me, a carb-aholic, that is fresh warm bread that you finally got right just from scratch. Even happier for my mom, I used the wheat grinder in the process! Now, I hope it tastes delicious for my in-laws tomorrow!

Labor Day Weekend!

2010-09-07T18:52:00.000-07:00

Labor Day weekend came and went. It was a relaxing one, but not too eventful because it rained pretty good the whole weekend. Saturday we went and hung out with my parents because my kids had been asking to play over there for a couple weeks, so we relaxed, watched football, and played. Sunday was Sunday...church as usual, then meetings. Monday we were supposed to go to Galveston to hang out at the beach, but there was a flash flood watch, and the weather was thunderstorms everywhere, so we went out to eat with my parents, sister Natalie, and my brother Corey's family. We had a nice time. We ate, and then we went bowling which the kids were very excited about. I am grateful I live close to some of my family. I only wish we lived close to all of them.... on both sides!

Here are the kids "pretending" to play with the buttons.

Aunt Natalie and Ella

Cavins turn to roll the ball!

After a good round, John is going to get his high fives! We enjoy our family, and had a nice weekend. I was just so glad that Ragnar didn't have to work. Yay!

Pre-School

2010-08-31T11:13:00.000-07:00

Her brother is missing her already!

Ella started "pre-school" today and was SO excited! We are doing a little "joy school" this year with 4 other little girls and she is very excited about it. Each week a mom takes a turn teaching the lessons and that way since there are 5 girls you only have to teach every 5 weeks. I was a little nervous about it, because I really don't want her to grow up and I like having my two little munchkins home, but she really wanted to do it. She said she had a great first day and she loved making new friends. When I asked her about it when she came home, she said, mom it was really fun, we did TWO crafts! She loves them! When I asked her what she learned she said " Mom I didn't learn anything! (with a REALLY big smile on her face!) I am sure she learned something but was having too much fun to notice! As for Cavin and me. Well, we undertook potty training a week ago, and this kid is doing awesome! He really wanted to and has done great. He goes when he says he needs to and understands really well. Now, we ALL know potty training is a process, not a task you can just check off, so he still has a long way to go before I am not hyperventilating at the store, but so far, I can't complain! (we still have to figure out the #2 thing, right now he just decides not to go for a few days!) Anyway, it was weird having him all to myself, but he is my buddy and we had fun! I can't believe my kids are getting so BIG!

It's FOOTBALL Time!!!

2010-08-30T07:18:00.001-07:00

Saturday night Ragnar and I were given some tickets to the Texans vs. Cowboys game! That is one of the perks of working in the sports industry, you can trade tickets or have easier access to getting tickets and these were free so all the better! We ended up getting four tickets so we invited my brother Corey and his son John to come with us. Ragnar and John had never been to an NFL game so we had a fun time just being there. The game wasn't so great. The Cowboys, who Ragnar LOVES, played horribly so he wasn't too happy about that, but Corey and John were excited about how well the Texans were doing. As for me, I tried to stay mutual on this one and just cheer when a good play was made!

Here we are!

Reliant Stadium is nice, and it was especially fun having a "Morgan Freeman" (as Corey called him) look-a-like in front of us who kept us entertained!

Here are the boys! It's a good thing I love football too!

Thanks for a night out Rags, and thanks for coming Corey and John, and a special thanks to mom and dad and Natalie for watching the kids (especially since Cavin is potty training :).

Saying Goodbye!

2010-08-25T13:37:00.001-07:00

It's always sad to say goodbye to a phase of your life. Whether it is good or bad, it defines who you are. On Monday we officially signed all the papers and handed over the keys (or our neighbor did). We were so grateful that after 2 years and 5 weeks that we were able to finally sell our home, but it is bittersweet. We loved having a townhouse as our first home. We loved these pictures as we watched it being built. We loved the people we lived around, the memories of children that were born and brought home there, the very beginning of our life together. We have been very blessed and feel EXTREMELY blessed to have been able to live there, and been able to afford to pay for both homes during this difficult time of trying to sell. We are so grateful for our neighbors, the MacNairs who so willingly took care of things after three realtors couldn't do their part. We will never forget this first home, but look forward to the many memories we will make in our next. Goodbye Smithfield, Utah, Goodbye CastleView Manor.

Austin Fun!

2010-08-20T11:15:00.001-07:00

This week I got to go up to Austin with the kids to see my two great friends. I spent the nights with Stacey, Ben and their two girls Gabriella and Madilynn. We had a great time playing and visiting, but I also got to see my great college friend Kristen who was in Austin for a wedding. It was so nice to catch up. The kids and I had a great time!

Here is Kristen. I so miss hanging out together in college!

The rest of the trip was just Cavin and the girls :)

We went to a play place at a mall because it is TOO HOT to go to the park!

Here are their silly faces :)

Then Cavin and Ella went on their first carousel ride. Ella loved it, Cavin not so sure (as with anything :)

Riding the giraffe

Madi, Gabi, and Stacey

We went to a little pool to play!

Check out these amazing goggles! WOW...Babe magnet!

Madi chillin (had to have a picture of the sweet little girl)

And.....the princesses. Ella and Gabriella love to dress up and they sure look cute!

"Friends"

We really enjoyed getting away for a minute. Of course it would have been fun to have Ragnar along too, but we had a great get away. Thanks so much for hosting Stace and all the amazing dinners. Kristen thanks for taking time away from the family fun! I have great friends!

Weekend Fun

2010-08-14T19:02:00.001-07:00

Cavin, Sunny, Ella, and Macey

Book time before bed!

Gearing up for the big adventure!

So this weekend we got to spend some of the time with our friends the Millers and their kids. They went out on a date to the temple and we had them for part of the night. My kids love playing with them and I think Cavin has a little crush on Sunny. He follows her EVERYWHERE! :) The next day we went with them and another family on the Port of Houston Tour Boat. They wouldn't let you take your camera on board, SO I had to get some pictures before. The kids loved being on a boat. It was about an hour and a half long which was about a half hour too long, but they still had fun. It was a fun free event for the day to do together. It is nice when your kids are at an age where it doesn't take much to entertain them or make their weekend!

Only Ragnar

2010-08-11T06:27:00.000-07:00

Only Ragnar would think to leave something like this before heading to work this morning :) It really is the little things in life that make the difference!

Six Years!

2010-08-10T12:52:00.001-07:00

It was SO bright, we could NOT get a decent picture!

This past weekend Ragnar and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. Six years have flown by! It seems like every other year we try and do something more extravagant, but every year the one thing we do love to do is go to the temple to do sealings. We love to be able to go and be in the very place where we were married. This year was especially cool, because we were back in Texas at the temple where we were married and we were sealed for someone else at about the exact same time and place that we were sealed 6 years ago. It was fun. We went to dinner with my dad and sister and the kids afterwards and we had a nice relaxing 3 day weekend together. This past year has been a difficult one for us, and we are so grateful that through it all, we have each other and we feel like we both have grown so much these past few years. I love you Rags and look forward to many more years of celebrating.

Smile

2010-07-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

These kids just make me smile! Summer has been fun, but since my kids don't go to school yet, not a lot changes around our house....we get to play all day, everyday anyway :) We have been going to the pool, gymnastics, movies, play dates, and whatever else to keep us having fun together. It has been a fun summer together! We also love summer, because that means daddy is home a lot more too :) I hope you are enjoying summer too!

Two Years in the Making.....

2010-07-20T18:39:00.001-07:00

Two years ago (exactly this July) Ragnar and I decided to take a leap of faith and move to Houston, Texas. Ragnars previous job provided no future and we felt that the time to move and find new employment was before our children were older and they became more difficult to provide for. So, we put our house up for sale and waited until November. We still had no potential buyers and so we went ahead and moved down to Houston in December to live with my parents for 9 months. We kept waiting for our house to sell and we got renters for a year, and then continued to try and sell our home. We then moved to Humble, TX and rented a town home here. Having had to maintain two homes has been a huge burden on our family, but we have always felt grateful to be able to afford to pay for them both. We now can officially say....our home has finally sold, and part of that burden has been lifted. It is so bittersweet. My heart has been stuck in Smithfield where we met so many wonderful people. Since we still had a home there, it made it easy to stay so attached. It was our first home, our first major purchase, and the place where we brought our two children home from the hospital. It was a place where we have had some very fond memories. I always dreamt it would be sold to a wonderful family who would love it as much as we did. Sometimes you have to give up your dream to let something go. We had an investor contact us who owns some of the other town homes and he is finishing the process of buying ours. Although I am SUPER grateful to have the financial burden lifted, my heart is sadden to have our home that we tried to take such good care of turn into a rental unit. I guess sometimes you just have to try and keep the memories of good things with you as opposed to holding on to the actual possession. So now, once again I say.....our home has finally sold and we are indeed grateful to be able to move forward with our life here in Houston!

Rainy Days!

2010-07-08T19:49:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when it rains for what seems like a week straight......

Movies under the umbrella....

Running through the house...

The Invention of our Super Cavin!

Here he comes to save the day...... (maybe he can make the rain go away!)

Even with all the rain and being stuck inside, they still manage to smile! I love these guys!

World Cup

2010-07-03T16:10:00.001-07:00

Every four years Ragnar is able to enjoy is his passion to the fullest (well he would enjoy it more if he were actually playing!). We have been enjoying the world cup the last few weeks, and we are loving it!

GO GERMANY!!!

We need to get Ella a jersey too....even I have one!
Hopefully they will make it one more game to the final!!! Hip hip hooray!

Goodbye Baby.....Hello Big Boy!

2010-06-26T17:44:00.000-07:00

So a little over four years ago my mom bought us this crib. I have loved it, but when we got it we thought a plus was being able to turn it in to a toddler bed. After Ella and then Cavin I never really thought it would make it into the toddler bed that it is capable of, but here it is! Cavin is now far too old for my own good and wants to be big like his sister. Given the fact that we are renting and don't have room to store the crib, we decided to go ahead and put the crib to its full use. So here it is before....

And After with the kids loving jumping in!

Then.... Cavin escaping as I am sure will be the rest of my life...

I will let you know how he does....now that he is FREE!!!!!

Our Little Ballerina!

2010-06-22T09:45:00.000-07:00

Posing in her new ballet outfit from Oma Uschi!

Her new dance studio

Her teacher Mrs. Cheryl

They even got to be princess ballerinas with tutus and crowns!

She has to have a picture with her biggest fan..her brother Cavin!

Today Ella started her first day of ballet. She was SO excited. She talked about it all before bed and when she woke up. We just decided to put her in a 5 week program to see how much she really liked it. She dances around the house ALL day long, but going to class is a little different. So we tried it today and she ran out of the class and said "Mom that was SO much fun!" I'm so excited, and I hope she continues to do well and love it. We love our little ballerina!

Aloha!

2010-06-07T10:17:00.001-07:00

I don't even know where to begin. There are a million pictures and so I just wanted to add a few of the hundreds to get a glimpse of the fun we had on our vacation to Hawaii. My parents took Ragnar and I and my older sister Natalie on a vacation to Hawaii this past week. We had a great time and were so glad we were able to go. We did some fun things and we enjoyed the time for ourselves. We missed our kids a lot, but they were with my brother Corey and his family and had so much fun on "their vacation" that they didn't seem to miss us so much!

The beaches were so pretty and the sand was so soft, running on the beach was much more difficult than I thought it would be!

We stopped at the L.D.S. temple, although it is being renovated, we wanted to see how beautiful it was.

I wish we could have climbed the stairs.

All the trees there were so cool.

There was always a nice breeze, it was so pretty.

We first started at a condo at the North Shore in Oahu and we snorkeled and swam and relaxed. We even played games....my favorite.

This was at Waimea bay. We got to body board here and the waves were so strong here that Ragnar and I washed up the shore many times :)

Then we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was probably one of my favorite things. It was so neat to watch them dance and show us all about their culture.

Yummy smoothies.

My parents enjoying their meal!

Hey Mr. Tiki man!

Next we went to Honolulu and we went on the Atlantis submarine ride. It was neat. We really only saw turtles and fish, but it was still cool. We even got below 100 feet.

I love riding on boats.

Pretty waterfalls.

Natalie enjoying the vacation.

Then we hiked Diamond head where you can see most of Honolulu. It was beautiful.

That night we went on a Star dinner cruise which was interesting.

I think a cruise would be fun someday.

The next day we were at Pearl Harbor and saw The battleship Missouri and the Arizona then went to the aviation museum.

I'm going to drive the boat!

We had a great time shopping, getting a tan and sight seeing. Vacationing must have stressed Ragnar out because we even found his first grey hair!! Haha! I am so grateful to my parents for letting us have this wonderful memory. I am also grateful for my brother and his wife for taking care of the kids. They had a great time, and hopefully they will want to still see them in the near future. Thanks again to everyone we had a wonderful time!

The craziest week EVER!

2010-05-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

So this week has come and gone by so quickly. It may not be a super busy week for some people, but for me, who lives a rather simple life.....this week was crazy. My brother Chris flew in for my other brother Coreys graduation and here he is doing a sandwhich of John and Ella.

We were glad to have him around, he is always so fun. Then it was a big dinner at Texas Land and Cattle for Corey's graduation on Monday night. My grandma Walls birthday was on Tuesday so we had a lunchin for her that morning.

Here she is 85 years young! We loved that she was able to come celebrate with us!

After celebrating her birthday and Coreys graduation, we actually went to graduation. My brother Corey graduated from Baylor medical school with an m.d./p.h.d and will do one year of residency here at the Methodist hospital in Houston and then the next four years in Michigan. He is excited, and we are super proud of the many years he has worked to accomplish that schooling.

Here is his cute family!

All of us together again.

This is how Ella spent graduation :)

My brothers and sisters had a great time getting together.

The next night Ragnar took me to the Taylor Swift concert. He bought me tickets in December and it was a great show. They were filming a music video so everything was extra cool :)

Thanks hun for the night!

Then Thursday night was Marisa's baby shower. She is due on July 1st and so I decided to throw her a shower while she was in town. It was fun and I think she got some nice things to get started.

It was a fun week and so much more happened, but those are most of the notable things, I don't have time to post much more, but there is an idea of what's happening here. Now it is off to pack and we leave for Hawaii in the morning.......YAY!!!!!

A Lifetime of SPORTS!

2010-05-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

Life as we know it is sports! It seems that we live and breathe them. While, I do absolutely LOVE them, I think we may need to subject our children to the arts or something educational (not saying you can't learn things from sporting events :). Despite that thought process, since Ragnar works for the Houston Rockets, we are able to enjoy other perks of that association. We were given free tickets to the Houston Astros game and were able to take the kids to enjoy some baseball. Now, since our paycheck comes from a different sports team, and we had on a different logo, we got a few looks and comments of people wondering if we indeed knew we were at a baseball game not a basketball game! It is already super hot here, but we tried to enjoy it until the sun went down. Let's be honest though, the Astros aren't really making the season worth our time.

Here we are.....sweat and all!

Cavin, much like his Opa Hellmut is obsessed with finding trains and therefore loved this train at Minute Maid park.

He loves his shades and hat and the huge baseball behind him!

Yes this is an Astros game! whoops!

We had a nice night out. You will have to forgive me if the space of time that lapses until the next post is longer than usual. My brother, sister, and grandma come in town for my other brother Corey's graduation from his m.d./p.h.d, then we celebrate my grandmas birthday, then the next day is the Taylor Swift concert, my sister Marisa's baby shower, then we leave the same day they do to Hawaii for a week. I know, I know, I am not complaining, they are all fun things, but it will be busy busy busy, and I'm not really used to that. I will keep you posted........until then..........

Ella is FOUR!!!

2010-05-08T13:29:00.000-07:00

My little girl turned four and I can't believe it. Time has flown by. I felt like her first year of life lasted longer than the last three! She is such a fun girl. I am so lucky that she still takes a long nap everyday, and loves to play by herself. She is a pretty obedient girl and is pretty logical. She loves to dance, and pretend. Her best friend is Laya, of course no one else can see her :) She makes me smile and she is a great big sister.
For her birthday we had the traditional birthday donuts, then we had a teaparty, went on a picnic, took a nap, watched a movie, and then had her family Cinderella birthday party. She got so many fun things. She is spoiled!

A teaparty with Cavin, who probably needs a brother!

This is her castle cake....she loves to wear her silly sunglasses.

Then on Saturday she had her friends come over for her friends party. She was very excited. Paige, Jaemi, Tayla came and then Summer and Kylee were there (only for a short time so no pictures of the twins). They had a good time being cute princesses at her Cinderella party!

We played games and danced and decorated. She is pretty competitive so she has a grumpy face because she lost the game. Still working on that one :)

We sure love her and are glad we have gotten to spend four wonderful years with her!

SeaWorld 2010

2010-05-03T12:06:00.001-07:00

This past weekend Ragnar and I were able to leave the kids with my parents and take a couple days to ourselves. Basketball season doesn't allow a lot of time together, so for my birthday Ragnar said when the off season began we could have a weekend away. It was great. We drove down to San Antonio, TX and spent the night there. We went to the Riverwalk and shopped, and then on Saturday morning we went to Seaworld. It was nice weather and we enjoyed the shows and the rides. Although, I couldn't get Ragnar to join me on the Great White Shark ride, maybe next time!

This was a new show called Azul with acrobats and such, it was neat!

Of course, good ole Shamu!

Keep dreamin babe!

My love of pigs still stands :) Thanks Rags for the nice weekend and thank you mom and dad for watching the kids. We are so glad we live close to family!

Aunt Naomi

2010-04-26T11:32:00.001-07:00

We have had a lot of company this last month, and this last week we had the pleasure of having Ragnar's sister Naomi come to stay with us. Due to the volcanic ash instead of only being here a couple days, she was here almost a week. It was nice to see her and the kids were sad to see her go. She had just run the S.L.C. marathon, but still obliged me and we went running a few times. We shopped, watched a movie, played games, play do, went to dinner, and my favorite was miniature golf. Although I don't have any pictures, we had fun under a black light golf course. At first Cavin was terrified, then the softy got comfortable and loved it. Naomi is a fun Aunt for the kids, and they loved being silly with her.

Airplane!!

Play do jewelry

and more....

Check out these amazing glasses Naomi has :)

Thanks so much for coming and visiting. We look forward to next time.

We Love Aunt Natalie

2010-04-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

This weekend my sweet sister Natalie came to hang out with us while Ragnar was in Utah. My kids love their aunt Natalie! We had a picnic with Grandma and their cousins John, Madi, and Aunt Steph, and then Natalie hung out with us. She went and got the kids a new toy and sunglasses and then took us to dinner. What a great Aunt! Then we had a dance party, played games, and when the kids went to bed, we watched a movie. We love that she lives so close and we love having her around!

Ella's "wacky to wacky" tower as she calls it

Blocks, we sure love Cavins birthday present!

Pretty pretty princess game, they love to play!

Our dance party!

And finally...the cute glasses the kids got. They are silly and they love Aunt Natalie. Thanks for hanging out with us sis!

I can't BELIEVE my boy is TWO!!

2010-04-13T19:05:00.001-07:00

I can't believe my sweet boy is two years old! Crazy! I feel like I just had him. He had a fun birthday yesterday, but some of the fun things we had planned he decided to sleep through! Your birthday isn't that fun when you take a 5 hour nap! We had his 2 year appointment today and he is 33 1/2 pounds and 35 1/2 inches. He has always been one solid kid, and we love him. He has always been the peacemaker in our family and is so loving. He always says thank you mama or thank you dada after everything. He is super ticklish, loves cars, balls, and balloons. He gets scared pretty easily, but loves to run back and forth in our house and says "on your mark, get set, go!" all the time. He makes the funniest facial expressions and we sure have loved all two years of him. Here is a little recap of his special day....

Breakfast donuts are a tradition in our home!

He helped me make the cake...or ate the leftovers :)

His cute cousin John had to help him get the candle out.

He loves Cars everything!

An interesting attempt at a tire cake?!?!?

Grandpas airplane fun.

Fun blocks from his cousins John and Madi.

He loves his new basketball hoop from Oma and Opa (we got one he could grow into)

Here is our little "chill pill" on his bean bag from grandma and grandpa. We sure do love you Cavin!

A Visit From A Friend

2010-04-10T11:58:00.001-07:00

This past week my good friend Ashley and her son Ian came to spend their spring break with us. We were so glad they came, and we had so much fun having company.

We got really ambitious one night and went to see "The Last Song" at 10:00 p.m.. I felt like we were teenagers again with a teen flick and being out so late. Partway through the movie we heard what sounded like a muffled gun shot and we got pretty nervous. There was only 20 minutes left of the movie though, so after the 6 ladies in the theatre got up to talk to see what they thought it was, we all sunk pretty low in our seats and finished the movie. Surely if it was something they would have warned us and told us to leave the theatre right!? After that I leaned over to Ashley and said...welcome to the ghetto....I mean Houston :)

Ian and Cavin had a fun time together. They are only about 6 weeks apart in age and although they have completely different personalities, they had fun. It just took a little warming up from Cavin. Cavin is a little too sensitive for his own good, and Ian has lots of energy and likes to have fun!

Sweet kid!

The kids loved to hang out and watch movies and talk!

We went to the Houston Zoo and the kids did great. They all stayed in their strollers and looked at the animals. Ella kept saying she loved the sea lions and Cavin would say he loves the Lions and then proceed to "ROOOOAAARRR"

They were excited about the giraffes because when we went to the DC zoo there weren't any!

This is Ian who loves to play. Here he is tackling Ella. She loved it for the most part. Cavin not so much. If Ian even looked at him funny, he would cry. Poor kid is such a calm kid he can't even have fun!

A quiet activity that they both enjoy!

Playing with trains.

These three really did have fun playing together and I loved having Ashley to come spend her precious time with us. Thanks so much for coming guys, we sure wish we were still neighbors!

A Trip to D.C.

2010-03-30T17:35:00.000-07:00

This past week we got to take a trip to Washington D.C. and visit my brother Chris' family. They had a baby boy named Coleton that they were blessing, so we were able to go and be there for his special day. Ella, Caden, and Cavin had a great time running through the house and playing, and as we left Ella said, I really don't want to leave my best friend. Aren't cousins great?!

We got to go to the zoo....

and see lions, and tigers, and bears...

we got to see the L.D.S temple there....

we got to play with Coleton, who is literally an amazingly good baby.....

and go downtown to the cherry blossom festival (which was really cold, but there were still a few cherry blossoms that had bloomed)...

we went to Washington Monument, the National Art Museum, and the Lincoln Memorial...

we got to dye easter eggs for F.H.E.....

and the very best part, we got to see Coleton blessed.

We were so glad we were able to come and visit and we sure will miss Chris, Chira, Caden, and Coleton. Thanks for letting us come!

Birthday and fun with Daphne!

2010-03-22T18:34:00.000-07:00

It all started with my birthday! I turned 27 and am feeling old. My parents, Natalie, and Corey's family met us for dinner at Chilis and then we came back home and ate cake and icecream. Ragnar even made a cake! My mom brought one too, so there was plenty! Then, Thursday was Coreys match day at Baylor College of Medicine. We all went down to see where he was going to be spending the next 5 years of his life! He was so excited to find out where his residency will be and that he will be working with Methodist hospital the first transitional year in Houston, and then going to Michigan the next 4 years! We are super excited for him, and I am so glad I have one more year to wean my children from their cousins! Then Aunt Daphne came to visit from Germany! We loved seeing her!

We had a tea party...

Played Games.....

Went to a Rockets game...

played with bubbles...

and playdo...

(don't you love Ragnars creation!)

we went to dinner...

visited Ragnars cousins, Laurie and Cade...

and their two cute kids Benson and Connor...

Chatted with the girls....

were silly.....

and had so much fun!!

Aunt Daphne we are so glad you came....we already miss you!

Our Famous Ragnar!

2010-03-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

Here is the article on the front page of the church news!
http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/59053/Basketball-fans-hear-from-Elder-L-Tom-Perry.html

A Unique Experience

2010-03-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

It's not everyday that you get to drive an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints around. That was the experience Ragnar and I were able to have yesterday evening.

Here are the L.D.S employees at the Rockets organization.

This is how the story began and what brought the encounter into our reality. Ragnar works for the Houston Rockets and some of the games that they have are themed to generate a certain population and get more people to the game. There are actually about 5 people in the organization that work for the Rockets who are L.D.S. With that, they decided to do an L.D.S. night at the Rockets and see if they could get people to come. This is where Ragnar's magic came into play. Ragnars family knows the Uchtdorfs, so when Ragnar found out L. Tom Perry would be in town for stake conferences for our church, then he contacted President Uchtdorf to see if Elder Perry would want to come out to a game and talk to the members of the church. Any of you who know Elder Perry know that he is a big basketball fan, so his secretary contacted Ragnar and they were able to arrange Elder Perry and Elder Snow to come out to the game last night. Ragnar then was in charge of his transportation, so he invited my brother Corey to go and pick him up, and entertain him at the game. It was a neat experience, my mom, dad, Natalie, Corey, Steph, John,Madison, and I were able to sit right in front of him the whole game. They handed him a ball at center court during half time and then after the game he spoke for a few minutes to the members and then shook a few hands (I think that some people wished he could have stayed longer, but let's be honest, he is 87 years old, it was 10:30 and we lost an hour of sleep due to day light savings!) Then Ragnar and I had the opportunity to take him back to the hotel and talk for a few minutes. It was a nice experience and one that I am grateful that we got to have. Both he and Elder Snow have such delightful and peaceful demeanors. They are so calming that neither of us were nervous, just grateful to be in the presence of two men who we believed in and who we felt were on the Lord's errand.

P.S. And the Rockets gave them a win!

You Always Want What You Don't Have

2010-03-03T11:52:00.000-08:00

Last night I went with an old high school friend to see a movie. As we were walking to our car we saw some kids being stupid in the parking lot and hurried to our car. As I was thinking about those kids we saw, I thought of my own kids. For so long I have wished they would hurry up and grow so we could communicate better or do fun things, or this, or that, but in that very moment.....I stopped. I don't want them to grow up! They get to make their own decisions and experience pain and heart ache and a simple kiss won't just make it all better. I can't choose their happiness, they have to choose it and find it, and it scares me. I don't love the beginning months or years of life because it is so hard for me to not know what they need or be able to communicate with them, but in that moment, for the first time, I wanted time to stop. I wanted them to stop growing so I could hold them and have them and keep them safe. These pictures are from about 6 months ago and they already look and are so different. I think I need to do better at remembering to cherish each day and not wish for the next. The saying is so true, you always want what you don't have....