Craziness!

Ethan and Marisa...congrats!

Rags and I

Isn't Cavin handsome!

Ella and her cousin Madi...she would NOT hold still

My brother Corey's adorable family!

So all the fun of the week has finally calmed down and we are another Christmas down and another sister has bitten the dust....ok just gotten married :) Christmas was great and we were very blessed as usual. I was very excited that my parents got Ragnar a gps system so he can find his way around Houston and get a job! We had a fun day and I have loved having all my siblings around to play with. Ella is loving my brothers' kids and she is in Heaven at Grandmas!
On another note, Marisa got married and she looked beautiful and the day went lovely! Cavin also got his first tooth on her wedding day and is now scooting around!Congrats Marisa....we already miss you! (the pics aren't great but you get the idea!)

Holiday Fun!

It's the holiday season and I love all that comes with it....family, fun, friends, food..! It's been so fun to be here with all my family. Don't get me wrong, it's been crazy preparing for Marisa's wedding and Christmas, but we are still surviving! (and...if Ella EVER decides to get married in December, I'll tell her she's on her own!) First we got to enjoy in Marisa going through the temple. It was a wonderful day and she did a great job. She is so excited to get married!


This is who was able to be there, Our family is
on the left and his is on the right.

Here are Ethan and Marisa

After the temple, Caden and Chira came! They are my brother Chris' family from Washington D.C and Ella loves to play with her almost 2 year old cousin!


My other brother has his two kids John and Madi here as well and when they all get together it's so fun to watch! Ella loves to try and be a big girl like Madison! Here are all of them playing!



And, FINALLY we all got to go as sisters to take the bride to be, Marisa, out to lunch to have a girls day out and give her some tips on the whole marriage thing...like make sure you are ready for what you are getting into...ahhh! Ok it's not that bad, it just takes some getting used to. We had fun though!

Here we all are..
Me, Marisa, Chira, Stephani, and Natalie

Family Pictures!

O.k. so most of these were supposed to be a surprise for our parents, but .....we accidentally sent them to them with our Christmas card. So... I wanted to share our family pictures with you all as well! These were taken by my cousins wife Tiffani and she was great with the kids, even though Ella kept pretending she was shy! Thanks Tiff! I hope that you have a very Merry Christmas!

Just My Luck!!

My parents house in the "snow" (i know not really
snow, it doesn't stick!)


Ella and Grandma!

Ok so it hasn't snowed in Spring,Texas since Ragnar and I came home for Christmas 4 years ago! They always said we brought it with us! Well, guess what....it snowed again yesterday! I couldn't believe it, I have horrible luck and the cold follows me..even though I moved to the warmth!

Oh well...I guess it is a cold front and will be 70's again next week....Welcome to Texas!

An Empty House

Camille and Ashley... my lifelines!

Wendy, Me, Camille, and Amy are great friends

Tanner and Ella will really miss each other

All the kids, Ella, Anthony, Kaylie, Reilly, Tanner,
Cavin, and Lily (who wasn't in the pic)

I wanted to document, mostly for myself our packing process and the move. We had a lot of help from the MacNairs, Ferrins, and Stones and we couldn't have done it without them. They are three wonderful families whom we REALLY miss! Here are some pictures before we left with our neighbors the Jeppesens as well. We miss you guys! AND as for Tim.....we will forever be indebted to you and your back ache for helping us... and Ashley and Camille...thank you so much for occupying my children!

Don't Mess With Texas!

We have finally arrived in the wonderful state of Texas! I didn't think it was going to be possible, but we survived and are still in one piece! I am having very mixed feelings having been here a few days. Part of me loves being so close to my family, and the other part of me wants to just go home and go back to things that are safe and normal. This is going to be hard, but I hope when we look back it will have been the right decision. We packed all up on Tuesday and Wednesday and then left Thursday morning for Salt Lake city! We had a nice and relaxing Thanksgiving at Ragnar's Omas house. Oma Beck, Uncle Werner, Sandra, Michael, and Jonas McMullin, and Hellmut and Ursula joined us and we had a nice day. We spent the night in a hotel and then at 5:30 a.m. we headed out the next morning. All was going well, we were making great time when the dvd player wouldn't turn on, and then the trailer tire broke in Moab...only 4.5 hours into our destination! So we waited an hour and a half and then Ragnar had to wait with his dad 5 hours for them to come get it traded out! Poor guys! We got to the hotel in Santa Rosa, New Mexico at 8:00 p.m. and the boys didn't join us until 1:15 a.m! Needlesstosay we didn't make it to the original destination of Amarillo, TX. The next day we headed out a little later and had another long day to Houston. We FINALLY arrived at 11:00 p.m. after many songs, treats, and praying. Ursula SAVED my life in the car and the kids did surprisingly well. I couldn't have done it without her and really enjoyed our conversations and getting to know her better. I was SO grateful that Ragnar has such supportive parents who came all the way from Germany to go on a 28 hour car ride....YUCK! Thank you Hellmut and Ursula and we hope the next time we see you we will be staying in one place! AND thank you also mom and dad for letting us crash your place for a little while.....we really have the two BEST parents!

Unforgetable Times in Logan, Utah!

Tonight Ragnar and I took the kids to a few places in Logan that have meant a lot to us. We wanted to get a few pictures of those places because you never know when you are going to get back to them, and when you do if they will be the same as you remembered them!

First we went to First Dam. This is the place where Ragnar and I spent many Sunday nights and a lot of time with our friends in our single days. Most of our fun memories are from this park!

Next we went to a place near the temple. There is a bench right outside the temple as you walk away and are looking down the mountain that Ragnar and I walked to every Sunday night after we started dating. It was the bench that we spent many nights talking about life and what our hopes and dreams were. This is a bench that overlooks Logan and is beautiful. It is also the bench where Ragnar proposed!

Then of course the Logan temple is special to us as well.

Then we went to Old Farm Apartments. This place pretty much sums up our college life. Ragnar spent all 4 years of his college career in Old Farm and that is why I think he knows the whole valley. I spent two years before we got married there and we loved the friends we had together there.

And last....but never least... Big blue, the Bull outside the Spectrum and by the Stadium! I don't think Ragnar and I missed any sporting event when we were dating and haven't missed many even now. He loves sports, and THANKFULLY for me, I do too, so it is something we can enjoy together. We sure do love our aggies and our aggie town, and will truly miss it!

A Sad "Goodbye"

Ella and Cavin holding hands before the party!

Ella and Tanner holding hands!

She sure loves him!

Jeff, Camille, and Tanner Ferrin

Tim, Ashley, and Ian MacNair (imported

picture..they left before I took one!)

Thom, Emily, Seth, and Grady Toolson

(Stewart, Sarah, and Lizzy Hill.... not pictured..

Stewart was at an interview and Lizzy was

ready for bed!)

Matt, Amy, Reilly, and Lily Stone

Lily (since you can't see her in the previous

photo)

Tonight our friends threw us a going away party! It was so kind of them to take the time to get together one last time and have one last shebang! We sure will miss the wonderful friends and memories we have made here. As we watched the Harpers go first this summer, I never thought we would be the next ones to go, and man we miss them. Looking back, I think Camille was my first friend here in Smithfield and quickly became my good running friend (until we got pregnant and different times the second time of course)! I think I call her about anything and I love to just check in and see what she and Tanner are doing. She and Jeff have been such a blessing to us. Jeff keeps Ragnar in line as a missionary in the ward and we love his sense of humor. Ella is going to go through with drawls without Tanner to play with and adore.

Tim and Ashley have been the perfect next door neighbors and would do anything for us and we appreciate all the time and money they have put into our family. Ella adores them and they will be neighbors that we cannot replace. I love to come home and be able to call them for no reason at all (they might not love it though!)

Emily and Thom have always been fun to share a bbq with and many laughs. They have the most gorgeous boys! I'm always interested in her advice because Seth is 6 months older than Ella!

Sarah and Stewart have been a fun addition to our parties and it's been fun to get to know them and watch Lizzy grow, I wish we had more time to get to know them better! And last but of course NEVER least...

Amy and Matt have really been fun to share our time with. They have supplied our Aggie ticket addictions, our sports games, and have kept Ragnar talking! Anytime I need Ella to do something a big girl would do, I just say...Reilly does this and then so does she! Lily of course is Cavin's little girlfriend and they share a birthday and had a fun hospital visit together! I think part of the reason we stayed in Smithfield this long was because we didn't want to leave such good friends. Anyway, I could go on and on about the memories we have with all of them, but all in all, we are just grateful for people that we can call such good friends. We will miss you all, but we will not forget you and will ALWAYS keep in touch! Thanks for everything!

WARNING: TEXT AND PICTURE OVERLOAD..... YOU CAN TELL I'M REMINISCING!

Just A Packin!

So there isn't much going on around here at our little place, but I wanted to post to let you know we are still alive! Besides tracking the Longhorns and the Cowboys....we are just packing and getting ready to make our adventure to Texas! Ragnar's parents will be here next week and we are excited to see them. We are going to spend Thanksgiving in SLC at his grandma's and then Friday morning we are off on our 26 hour adventure that I am sure will take at least 3 days! Ahhh! Say a prayer for us!! I am so thankful that Ragnar's parents are coming with us though, that will be very helpful!

As our house is looking more and more bare I am starting to getting a little more sad about leaving this valley. It is time and we are excited about what is ahead but man we will miss our neighbors and friends! I think it will be weird not to have our weekly dinner at the MacNairs! I hate that in life we make good friends and leave them and then make some more and the cycle continues! Anyway, enough rambling, I just wanted to let you know we are alive and kicking here!