...and he's off!

My younger brother Ryan joined the Army recently. He shipped off to Basic Training(better know as boot camp) last week. It is around a 10 week course, then graduation, and he is planning on a few more weeks of more specific training after that. It is hard to see him go, but we are proud of him for standing up for what he believes in...his country. May God Bless you and watch over you, Ryan.

Cousin Time!

Bradyn and Hunter were so excited to get to see some of their cousins. We had cousins from 4 states gathered at Gma n Gpa L's house for a few days. The kids had a blast, as it isn't often that they are all in one place.

The rowdy bunch holding still for a minute...minus baby Kasen who was napping. Notice the extreme girl:boy ratio!

Catchin' up on the last few weeks!

Over the holidays we were able to spend time with most of our families. First we opened our gifts at home, then went to my parent's for a family Christmas. These pics are just a few random ones. Hunty says "CANDY CANES!!" and proceeds to eat one before breakfast on Christmas morning.Bradyn is trying sooo hard to wait patiently for it to be time to open presents!

At home, wearing the ski goggles that were in his stocking.
This year the boys favorite toys and books seem to be anything "Thomas the Train".

Christmas Photos...

I snapped some photos of the boys to send out on our Christmas cards. It was already past naptime, and they weren't able to sit still for long. Here are the few that we came up with, you will have to excuse some of the lighting/shadows.

Snowmen...the kind that doesn't melt!

Both kids really enjoy crafty type activities, so we decided to use up some leftover materials from a preschool activity. Little artists hard at work, and then the final product. They were very proud of themselves. We also went to Grandma and Grandpa Lehman's and went snowmobiling, and made some real snowmen. Too bad Mom (me!!) forgot to snap some pics of that!

Mom, it's SNOWING!!!

As soon as Bradyn wakes up he bumps sleepily down the stairs on his bottom. One day last week, as he reached the bottom he looked out the front door and saw that the ground was covered in white stuff. "MOM IT SNOWED!" He immediately ran to get his snow pants and new boots, but we did manage to convince him to wait until we got a few things accomplished first. He went outside and played, but Hunter was tired and wasn't interested in that white cold stuff anyways! Here's my buddy enjoying the fluff.

Progress Update on the house...

We have a roof, a front door, windows, and walls! Next comes siding, plumbing, heating....then the finishing with drywall, paint and trim, and the kitchen...still alot to do, but lots of progress too! The man who will dig the well is to come tomorrow, and they went to choose brick this morning. I think they are going with cream colored siding and a brick called St. Thomas. Here are some pics for those of you who aren't close enough to see it in person.

Update: Ok the pics are here! Sorry it took me so long. Life is busy around here.