Auntie Shauna

We were so lucky to have time with Shauna on our holiday! She loves her nieces and nephew!

Speaking of Snow...

I just had to post these fun pictures of the snow we had...and of course Rhys, all rugged up!

Sledding Video

Loads of fun...enough said!

Mom's Birthday

Happy Birthday Mom! Well...a couple months ago! ;) Mom's birthday was Dec. 8th and she was 49!!! This year is the big one...watch out!

Thanksgiving in Applegate

It was so fun to have a traditional family Thanksgiving! We all piled in the cars on Wednesday afternoon and drove down to Grants Pass where my Ramey grandparents live. The workers in that area had asked if Shauna would speak in their meeting that night. We left with plenty of time, but a wreck on the freeway slowed us up and luckily the first carload with Shauna got there just before the start of meeting. The second carload wasn't so lucky; we missed the first speaker. After the meeting we converged on Grandpa and Grandma's house where we had cake to celebrate Elena's 7th birthday. The next day was a normal Thanksgiving Day with several cooks slaving away in the kitchen for many hours! We had quite a table full....Grandpa and Grandma, Dad and Mom, Arlen and Jessi and their 3 girls, Shauna, Rhys and I, Jeanie Wright and her Mom, Marilyn Denio and her sister and family, and Aunt Penny. I didn't get any pictures of the actually table, but you can imagine the food piled on it! After dinner we played games and also had music from Arlen and Shauna on the guitars. The wild raccoons which have been visiting Grandpa and Grandma's house came calling that night so we put out some cat food for them.

The next day Dad, Arlen, Jessi and Paige left for home and the rest of us stayed on until Saturday. Grandpa and Grandma live in a beautiful part of Oregon and even though the air was cold, the sky was clear mostly and it was perfect weather for being outdoors.

Meeting cousin Paige!

Paige and her mommy

Paige and her daddy

Bath time...can you tell which is which??

Big smiles for daddy!

My favorite picture of Paige...can you see the puppy next to her?

Paige and Rhys sharing the floor mat

Nothing better than two smiling bubs!

Me and my cousin

It was really neat to finally meet Paige Jordyn who is just 4 days younger than Rhys. They were a bit young to actually play together, but we got some great photo opportunities! Can't wait until the next time we see her...they will be toddlers then and hopefully great mates!

Arrival and Race Day

Here are some pictures of Rhys in the Sydney airport and airplane and also when we arrived in Portland.
The first weekend I was with Mom and Dad we went down to Eugene to watch Shauna and Dad compete in a race. Dad ran the 10k and Shauna ran the half-marathon! (I think she realizes now why atheletes have to sit in a big tub of ice when they are done competing.) :) It was also Shauna's first time to meet Rhys and I think she was pretty excited!

Mom and Dad

Linda Griffith, Shauna's companion, and Rhys

Rhys and I cuddled up in our wrap

Dad and Shauna... the aftermath!

Shauna getting cuddles from Rhys

Catching up: Trip Home to the States

Mom with Rhys and Paige
Dad with Rhys and Paige

Arlen with Rhys

Me with Paige

Shauna and I with Rhys in his wrap

Hope you don't mind me playing a bit of catch up here. As I said in the last post, I am going to have to just brush over everything and for anyone who wants to see all our pictures, they are on our Picasso site.

Rhys and I left for the US of A on Nov. 17th and arrived on the 18th. Mom was there to collect me and we had dinner with my brother and his wife and their daughter Paige. It was good to see Paige as she is 4 days younger than Rhys. We had a really nice time at home and were lucky to see a lot of Arlen and Jessi and their family as they were living with Mom and Dad while waiting for his new job to start. Shauna's field wasn't far away either, so we saw quite a bit of her too. We had 5 weeks in total there with Eldon joining us 10 days before we left.

When we arrived, Rhys was just on 4 months and when we left for NZ, he was 5 1/2...it is still amazing how quickly they grow and change and learn new things. We started Rhys on cereal while we were home which in itself was an adventure.

One of the neat things that happened when we were in the USA was it snowed! Eldon and I have been so lucky...the last two years we have been home in the winter and it has snowed and stuck. We love having a break from the heat and it's even more fun to enjoy a white christmas. This time we actually went sledding...I'll post pictures of that later I think so that this post doesn't get too long.