Winter 2010

This last winter we really enjoyed playing with our new swing that Grandpa gave Grayson at Christmas. Grayson was all smiles for weeks!

In January we had our first snow of the season. It is no where close to what Ryan and I are used to, since living in the northeast, but it is just perfect for Grayson. We got all bundled up and spent more time crawling than walking in our new snow shoes... they were a little big.

Ryan, Ben and Tim all had the same Spring Break this last March, so my parents took us all (the whole family) to Steamboat Springs for a ski trip. We had a wonderful time! We got to see my Uncle Jerry and Aunt Janet while we were there too. Grayson did not ski this year, but he is ready to go again soon.

As spring weather set in, we enjoyed using our deck and eating yummy local ice cream, from a local creamery, Maple View in Hillsborough, NC.

Christmas 09

Last year we went home during the Thanksgiving holiday, so at Christmas time we stayed local. We ate Christmas day lunch with some good friends of ours, the Flemmons, and enjoyed relaxing around the house. Grayson helped me cook breakfast Christmas morning and put together a yummy dessert to take to the Flemmons for lunch. Although the "Crockenbouche" did not look as lovely as some of the pictures on google, it tasted great! Grayson really liked the cream filling...

A few days after Christmas, my family came to visit. We had a wonderful New Year's holiday.

Grayson loves getting to see his grandparents and uncles... he also LOVES his swing!

Fall 09

Last fall was pretty busy for us. Maybe it is the season or just the beautiful weather, but we took advantage of every weekend. These are just a few of the pictures that we took over the fall...

Grayson loves sour cream and vegetables...much to the dismay of his father.
Our first day at the park as a family... at least we know that sand won't kill him.

Grayson loves helping Mom cook! We were making apple pies for our church small group with some of our produce from the crop share...

I spoke at an ASID conference at the beginning of October in Wrightsville Beach. We spent the whole weekend at the beach and loved playing in the sand and on the beach...

Ryan and I love going to college football games, so we jumped at the chance to go to USC (University of South Carolina) in Columbia, SC. It was a little warm that day, but completely worth the trip. Grayson loved watching the football players and people in the stands.

We took our first set of family pictures at the end of October. There were so many great pictures we ultimately purchased the rights to the pictures. If you live in the Raleigh area, you should definitely check out Jen Arthur photography! She is amazing.

Just some more pictures from the session...

Grayson was a monkey for Halloween last year. His costume was a little big, but he did not care. We had a wonderful time Trick-or-Treating with our church small group, even if we did not understand how to get candy...

In November my dear cousin, Mandi, got married. I could not have been happier for her!

We spent Thanksgiving in Oklahoma this last year... these are a few pictures from Thanksgiving at the Schwenk's.

Thanksgiving at the Friske's...

Go Pokes! We watched the Bedlam game at my parents house with our extended family.

Summer 09...

Last summer Ryan spent the summer in Boston working for Biogen Idec. It was not easy to be apart from each other, but we made it through. We did get to take a trip over the 4th of July holiday and see him. My parents came up to Boston and joined us for the trip. It was great to see Ryan, Grandma and Grandpa. I loved the city. It was so beautiful and inviting.

A little taste of Harvard... what a beautiful campus!

Seeing the city with Grandma and Grandpa...
We spent a day in a local garden with Grandma...enjoying the weather.


Even though it rained most of the trip, we enjoyed great food and getting to see the city.


We spent a day at the Boston Children's Museum...Grayson could not have had more fun!

Mom's little construction worker...

Cars, cars and more cars...

On July 3rd we ventured out and took a walking tour around Boston. It was amazing to see all of the history one city has to offer...

GO RED SOX...this was Grayson's first major league baseball game...

Last summer I had two cousins get married...one in June and another in August. We took our second trip home in August for the wedding and enjoyed playing in the pool at Grandma and Grandpa's house...

Ryan was done working for the summer, so it was nice to spend time together as a family again.

Grayson loved helping Grandma water her flowers and play with the water hose.

More time in the pool...

The long awaited update...

Well... I am not a gifted at writing as my husband, but I am going to give this a stab. It is amazing to me how time flies. We have been playing "catch-up" for over a year and we are finally going to do it. No more false promises. We hope you enjoy the posts. They will be brief, as I am the one doing the writing... I also apologize in advance for any future grammatical errors, misspelled words or the like. My better half is not here to proof read anything that is going up, so without further a due... We hope you enjoy our adventures from the last year...

Still here, but just not here

Okay, so we didn't hit our goal, but Andra did get some more pictures ready to post from last summer. It's just that I wasn't around for some of them, so she wants to help write the text for some of the posts.

Big interview for me tomorrow - hope it goes well, but if it doesn't work out, I know there's a reason why. You know, without faith, this whole life thing is really scary. There will be some more posts/pics coming soon!

Batter Up!

Got this great idea from our friend Diane. This is Grayson at one week and one year, one week. It will be fun to see how he changes, especially when he's big enough to hold the bat.