Our friends from Taylor, David & Kelly Blomgren, are in the process of adopting a baby (or babies!) from South Korea!  Even though we weren't super-close friends in college, it's been fun keeping in touch since graduation.  In addition to having many of the same friends in common, Kelly & I are both Minnesota girls.  I even grew up in the same church as her cousins!  At any rate, it's been a lot of fun keeping in touch with them, and I can't wait to watch their adoption journey unfold.  David & Kelly have an incredible heart for orphans and are anxious to welcome one or more into their family!

Kelly's cousin (the one I grew up in church with!) designed t-shirts to support their adoption.  Whether or not you're able to order one, please check out their blog which chronicles their adoption journey (and also their beautiful daughter Norah).  :)

Fun in the Snow

We were able to make a fun trip to Steamboat to visit Dave's parents a few days after Christmas.  We'd taken Isaac to Estes Park last May, but this was his first trip to Steamboat.  He had so much fun exploring his Grandma & Papa's house for the first time.  And, we had so much fun playing with him in the snow!  We got a little infant sled (complete with safety strap!) for him to ride in...he was so bulky in his snowsuit that he couldn't move once we secured the strap!

at the top of the "sled run"

here he comes!

And, whenever we stopped the sled long enough, Isaac would grab a handful of snow to eat! 

Isaac couldn't get enough of Kelly....she's so old and gentle that she didn't mind that Isaac was always growling at her!

All the pictures in this post are from a morning of playing oustide in the snow...even though there aren't any pictures of Tim & Susie (Papa and Grandma), we did have a great time with them.  We love visiting their beautiful home in Steamboat, especially in the beautiful winter weather (just as long as we don't have to spend the night in the Tahoe due to a blizzard!).  My mother-in-law is one of the best cooks I know, and we enjoyed every single meal she made for us.  We went to a great Mexican restaurant for New Year's Eve and then went downtown to a fun little gelato shop for dessert.  My favorite part of New Year's Eve, though, was driving through Steamboat and looking at all the beautiful Christmas lights on the houses and at the ski resort.  It couldn't have been prettier!  We were even able to extend our trip by an additional day because of the winter storms in Colorado.  We were supposed to fly home on New Year's Eve, but American Airlines switched our tickets (for free!) to Saturday evening. 

Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas!  We had such a fun time celebrating Christmas with family.  And, we're excited that tomorrow morning we get to fly to Colorado to spend a few days with Dave's parents in Steamboat. 

My sister, Emily, was here for the whole week before Christmas and stayed at our house.   Isaac loved having his Auntie Em around!  She was a huge help with Isaac especially since he was so sick.  She was up with me several times throughout the night when he was running a high fever. 

After church on Christmas Eve, we went to my parent's for dinner.  My mom made Swedish meatballs (our favorite!), and I attempted my mother-in-law Susie's Seven Layer Jello.  Isaac was very intrigued by the fire!

Even though Isaac had been pretty sick all week with strep, he still had fun opening presents.  It took him quite awhile to tear off wrapping paper strip by strip (methodical like his dad)...and sometimes he'd even bring the strips of paper to different people throughout the room, which made the entire process even longer.  :)    

The aftermath of Christmas Eve!

We had planned ahead of time to all spend the night at my parent's house on Christmas Eve.  But, Isaac must have been feeling so miserable that he didn't fall asleep on Christmas Eve until 2 in the morning...maybe he was waiting for Santa?  Dave & I were trying everything we could to get him to sleep, so a little after midnight we loaded him up in the Tahoe and went for a drive to see if that would help.  (It didn't...but we did see a lot of beautiful Christmas lights in Trophy Club!)  After a short night, we all woke up on Christmas morning to my mom's cinnamon rolls & Christmas stockings!  Isaac also opened his big present from my parents...a kitchen!  (My mom assured us that she bought the most masculine-colored kitchen she could find.)  Don't mind Isaac's outift...he had just opened new socks from his Christmas stocking and wanted to wear them along with his church shoes. 

We spent the rest of Christmas Day at my Uncle Kym & Aunt Bernie's house.  Their daughter, Amanda, is 4 months old now...aren't she & Isaac so cute in their little Christmas shirts?  Right after this picture was taken, Isaac tried stealing her Santa cap off her head. 

Yesterday morning, we took Isaac back to the doctor, where he finally got a clean bill of health.  After nearly a week of being sick, he's finally getting back to his normal self!  (Definitely a wonderful Christmas present for all of us!)  The three of us spent the rest of the day having our own little Christmas at our house.  Dave built a fire, and we had such a fun day together.  Isaac loved playing with all his new presents! 



Opening stockings!



Helping Mama open her new "toy"  :)

 



A new piano  :)
We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, too!



Visit to Santa 2010

Our visit to see Santa last year was much calmer than this year!  Isaac wasn't too thrilled about sitting in a stranger's lap!  He started crying the instant I set him in Santa's lap...almost as if he knew that's what toddlers are supposed to do (at least some of them!).

We went to Breakfast with Santa with our friends the Pattersons.  Their twins, Thomas & Smith, and Isaac share the same birthday, just one year apart.  We thought their matching pj's were adorable!

Simply Scarlet Snowflake Christmas

Personalized Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Missing my Grandpa Ken...today would have been his 86th birthday.  Even so, I'm thankful that I have a multitude of memories to remind me of how much my grandpa loved his family. 

Thanksgiving in Iowa

This Thanksgiving, we traveled to visit Dave's grandparents in New London, Iowa.  We drove (okay, I only drove 3 hours, so really I should say Dave drove) through the night on Wednesday and arrived early Thanksgiving morning.  Dave's parents, Tim & Susie, came from Colorado, along with Dave's brother, Michael; and Jon, Kristy, & Griffin came from Chicago.  All of the Rinns hadn't been together since Jon & Kristy's wedding in March of 2008! 

Grandpa Bailey had met Isaac last month in Lubbock at the World War II Glider Pilot reunion, but Grandma Shirley still hadn't met him.  We're so glad she was able to!  Now, Isaac has met all of his great-grandparents! 



There were 35 people at Grandpa & Grandma Bailey's for Thanksgiving dinner!  It was definitely one of the biggest Thanksgiving we've ever been a part of!  There was people and food everywhere, but it was so special to have so many family members together!

Rinn Family ~ November 25, 2010





We discovered Isaac loves pumpkin pie!

 

The most adorable part of the trip was seeing Isaac play with his cousin Griffin! The boys are 3 months apart, and Isaac thought Griffin was hilarious!  Ever since we've been home, Isaac has said "uh-oh" at least 5 times an hour, just like Griffin.  :)  Tim & Susie bought these tiger costumes for the boys for Halloween, and they couldn't have been any cuter in them!

Even though it took a lot of driving to get to Iowa, we're so glad we were able to go and spend time with family!  On the way home, we spent the night in Kansas City with Dave's Uncle Randy.  (We weren't about to drive through the night again!)  He treated us like royalty!  And, he directed us to a Caribou Coffee on our way out of town!  (Do you know how happy this made me?)  There's a pound of Caribou's Reindeer blend in my cupboard that I'm rationing so that it will last through Christmas!