The water looks fabulous, doesn’t it? With temps well below zero here, even the “coldest Orange Bowl on record” was still much, much nicer!

Grandpa and Grandma Montag (standing by the Orange Bowl trophy) rv’d down with a contigent from West Bend.

The Orange Bowl is in the background – they really got see an awesome game, something Payton will remember for the rest of his life! He said that it will pale in comparison when the Hawks go to the National Championship game next year!! I guess we better start saving…

Christmas Round 2 in Algona, hosted by Mitch and Kate. Mom made a great brisket and crab legs – delish!!

Santa somehow knew we were in Algona and left a whole bunch of gifts..he must have come down the chimney! Ryan is wearing p.j.’s he received from his Great Grandma Darle. They were a hit, as he had to wear them three nights in a row!

The Hawkeye “Grandma” pants were also a hit, which I was relieved because the little kiosk I bought them at the mall from did not allow returns. Again, these things could have stood up on their own after being worn over most of the holiday!

Our good looking crew

Because we were trying to travel around the massive blizzard that hit the Midwest, we ended up doing our Christmas at home on the 23rd. We headed for Iowa on the 24th, instead of traveling on Christmas Day, as we had originally planned.

Nate was happy with his Lebron jersey and Payton was with his Kobe.

We spent the 26th and 27th in West Bend for Christmas Round 3. We managed to get around fine even with the crazy weather. It was a fun holiday~!

Happy New Year to all of our wonderful friends and family!

Ryan rockin’ his new Favre jersey on his 5th birthday. Go Vikings!

The pictures from the party are a bit chaotic, kind of like the party itself! I would have liked to get a photo with all the kids wearing their costumes but that would have been a bit like herding cats! Ryan didn’t have his costume on long anyway, he gets so hot – he sweats more than an adult, I swear, he had to take it off before long.

The marshmallow toss was a hit, anytime you can chuck something into a bucket and maybe eat a couple while you are waiting in line…well that’s pretty cool.

Happy Birthday on Tuesday my sweet little baby

Ryan’s Pre-K class went to Cal’s Market in Savage yesterday. I had something come up at work so Brad ended up taking him. It looks like a neat little place, they had a petting zoo, a maze made out of hay bales and everyone got to take home a pumpkin. The photo above is when they sat on the bleachers and the guide told them all kinds of different facts about pumpkins, Brad said he was very into answering all the questions!

He is having a birthday/Halloween party tomorrow so he is really looking forward to that…I think we have about 10 little boys (and 1 little girl!) coming over, should be fun!

11 Years Ago

10 Years Ago

Today!

We love you, son!

Because Kel and her family are about to move a long, long, long, long ways away here very soon – we had an early birthday celebration this weekend, in conjunction with Elias’ dedication.  Payton will be 11 on September 26th and Eli will be 1 on October 8th. Elias managed to get his hand in the cake right off the bat but he wasn’t real sure what to do with it after that…I’m not sure he liked the frosting (it was pretty sugary!) and Payton had a handful of blue frosting smeared on his neck before too long. It seems like yesterday when Payton was the same size as Elias and he was the only show in town! Now he has several cousins to share the spotlight with

It was a fun weekend, lots of family and of course lots of food!

Evidently Nate and Ryan were blinded by the sun because in every photo I snapped, they are both cock eyed and squinty – still cute though! We now have a 5th grader, 2nd grader and a Pre-K kid!