Our New Home!

Ryan and I closed on our house today! We move to Woodbury this weekend. As most of you know, we have done a lot of moving the past two and a half years. While we aren't looking forward to the moving part, we are looking forward to being a little bit more settled in something that is our own. We hope this will be our last move for a while! We're excited!

Christmas Recap

We had a wonderful Christmas! It is so much fun when the whole family gets together, and above is a picture of the whole gang on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve was also the fourth night of Chanukkah, so we bought the menorah over to my family's house to light. Unfortunately, we forgot the candles! I ran to Walgreens in search of menorah candles, but I had to settle on taper candles instead. Brandon, our wonderful brother-in-law, cut the candles down and carved them to fit the menorah. Thanks, Brandon!

After that, we said the prayers and lit the candles. Joseph helped Ryan light them.

Then it was time to open presents. It was a little chaotic!


Here are a few more Christmas pictures.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and Chanukkah!

Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukkah!

We've been busy doing all sorts of things to get ready for the holidays, and we'll be sure to post pictures soon. We hope all of our family and friends have a peaceful and blessed holiday! Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukkah!

~Elizabeth and Ryan

Macy's Christmas Display

This week my mom and I took Michael, Joe, and Maria to the Macy's Christmas display downtown. The year's display was "A Day in the Life of an Elf." It was great! I remember enjoying the displays when I was a little girl, and this one was just as good. The kids really loved it!

Fundraiser Photos

The JDRF Fundraiser was a huge success! Jenny and Eric did such a great job, and everyone had a wonderful time! Here are some photos from the event.

Emily did face painting for the kids.

Ryan and Maria

Phil helped Jenny draw tickets for the raffle.

Could Zo get any cuter?!?!

Mom and Grandma Ruth

JDRF Fundraiser

Some of you may remember that our nephew, Philip, has type 1 diabetes. This Sunday, my sister and her husband are having a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. There will be games, activities for kids, food, and a silent auction. Here are all the details:

What: JDRF Fundraiser
Where: The Embassy Suites Hotel, 7901 34th Ave. S., Bloomington, MN 55425
When: Sunday, December 7th from 1-4pm

There is a suggested donation of $10 per person or $30 per family. All proceeds will go to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and will be used to help fund research projects in hopes of finding a cure for juvenile diabetes. Contact Jenny (763-245-0347) or Eric (651-208-6777) if you have any questions.

We hope to see you there!

Halloween

We had a great time seeing the kids for Halloween. Don't they look cute?

Maria was an adorable snow princess.

Chipotle offers free burritos on Halloween. All you have to do is wear some tin foil, so Ryan, Ann, Lorenzo, and I dressed up and went there for dinner. How cute is Zo?!? :)

It was a really fun night!

Wild Game

Ryan and I went to the Wild game Monday night. They played the Chicago Blackhawks and won 3-2. We had awesome seats (5th row--they're my supervisor's season tickets). Hockey is probably my favorite sport to watch live, so it was great to be able to go to the game. We had a wonderful time!

Phil's Birthday

We've been way behind on updating the blog! We have some long overdue posts coming. We'll start with Phil's second birthday from August. (See, I told you we were way behind!)

Jenny and Phil.














Some of the party guests.














Gianna, Eric, Jenny, and Phil. Ann made the awesome cake.


















How cute is Phil?!? :)














We hope you had a happy birthday, Phil!

A Trip to the Children's Theater

Recently, Ryan and I took Maria and Christine to see Madeline and the Gypsies at the Minneapolis Children's Theater. We had a wonderful time! The play was great. It was very entertaining for both children and adults!

Our German Cousins

In August some of our German relatives, Stefan, Angela, and Anette, came to visit. My Grandma Ruth is still in contact the them. She last saw them while visiting Germany in the 1980s. It was so interesting to talk with them. They were incredibly nice, and it was great to be able to learn more about my great-grandma's family in Germany. I hope that someday we can make a visit to Germany to see them there!

Irish Fair with Emily

This past weekend we went to the Irish Fair in St. Paul with my sister Emily. I love going to the Irish Fair and try to go every year. Emily went with us because she really wanted to see Flogging Molly play and so did we. We had a great time. Thanks for going with us, Em!

Mom's Birthday

Here are a few photos from my mom's recent birthday celebration.

Mom opening up her presents:














Annie and Peter:














How cute is Lorenzo?!?

Grandpa Jim (my dad's dad) was visiting from South Carolina,
and it was great to see him!
















Happy Birthday, Mom!

W.A. Frost

To celebrate our second wedding anniversary, Ryan and I went out to dinner at W. A. Frost and Company in St. Paul. We had never been there before, and we had a fabulous time. The food was wonderful, and the restaurant is beautiful. We opted to eat inside, but they have a really nice patio outside that we're excited to try out. It was a great way to celebrate our anniversary!

Two Years!

We have so many updates to write about, but I had to do a post about our anniversary. It's been two wonderful, adventurous years since we've been married. Last night Ryan and I looked through our wedding photographs and reminisced about the day. We look back on our wedding (and the past two years) with such fond memories, but we look forward to our future years together even more.

I love you, Ryan! Happy anniversary!