Christmas Craziness

 
Kaicyn's First Christmas.... Lots of Family fun... Enough Said!  Love you all!

Mexican Riviera Cruise

 

This year as a reward for my Summer Sales Program going...well, my company decided to allow me to accompany them on a 7 day Mexican Riviera Cruise!  They allowed me to bring one companion, and Kaicyn.  Mike used up all of his vacation time when Kaicyn was born (and who can blame him?)  So I decided to bring my Mom.  I thought this might help her relax, but I totally forgot that she had all the sewing to do for the wedding... WHOOPS, needless to say she is playing catch up now!

We flew out to Long Beach, CA on Sunday December 7th.  From there we took a Shuttle bus to the Cruise Harbor where our boat was docked... Talk about hectic!  We had to check in at the Queen Mary.  This was really cool to see.  This boat was built around the same era as the Titanic.  It was HUGE!  They always have it docked there in the harbor, and actually use it as a hotel now!  Once we checked in, Mom and I set out in our search for the coveted Dr. Pepper (Our cruise ship didn't have this 'nector of the gods' on it, so we had to stock up!)  We ended up boarding the ship with 3-20 oz bottles and 2-12 oz cans... for 2 people for 1 week... EEK!  We had to wait a while to board the ship, so Kaicyn was getting hungry.  I made him a bottle and about the time I start feeding him, we start moving.  So I am pushing him in his stroller, bent over feeding him... NICE!  Once we finally got on the ship, there was food a plenty!  Literally 24/7 there is food!

We spent 2 whole days out to sea.  To kill time, we walked around the boat, ate, shopped, and even took Kaicyn swimming.  The pool was really cold, so we only did that once.

Puerto Vallarta: We got into Puerto Vallarta early Wednesday morning.  To me, it was the typical stereotype of Mexico.  It was hot, muggy, and dirty.  We walked around the shops close to the pier, held the parrots that were close, and shared a taxi down town to downtown to hit the 'recommended stores'.  Word of advice, DON'T TAKE A TAXI IN MEXICO!!  That was the adventure of the cruise!

Mazatlan: We got into Mazatlan on Thursday morning.  Mazatlan was definitely an upgrade to Puerto Vallarta!  We took a van ride around the city and got to see a lot more than we did on the previous port.  We shared the van with a really nice couple that bought 'The Little Guy' a cute souvenir shirt.  

Cabo San Lucas: I LOVED CABO!  There was a huge boardwalk, lined with shop after shop!  The people were really friendly, and Cabo was very clean!  Even the water was crystal!  You could look into the water and see all these tropical fish just swimming around!  We found a beach and let Kaicyn put his feet in the water... Let's just say it wasn't his favorite thing he has done in his little life. It has been over 15 years since I was on a true beach! Wow!  The water was so warm!  I would love to go back to Cabo!

Thanks to my Mom for all of her help with Kaicyn, I could not have done it without her!  I am so glad that she got to come!  We got to know our waiter really well while we were on the ship!  It is amazing to speak to someone from a different country, and a not so wealthy one at that!  He was from Indonesia, and had a wife and 2 kids.  He works on the ship for 7 months straight, and gets 2 months off!  Can you imagine being away from you family for that amount of time?!?!  What was amazing about this is that he was extremely grateful for the opportunity.  He said that working that job has made a world of difference for his family...  Just makes you think.  I have decided that we are going to put $100 in an Indonesian bank... (in Indonesia, $100 USD is equal to over $1,000,000 there!) That way we can say we are MILLIONAIRES!

Thanksgiving 2008

The Baron Family always goes up to our cabin in Island Park, Idaho every year the week before Thanksgiving. This is really nice for us married kids as it gives us the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with our in laws! This year was so fun!

My Mom got us tickets to go see The Forgotten Carols while we were up there. We saw them in Idaho Falls, in a theater that is attached to my Mom's high school! Kristy and I had fun teasing her that she was back in high school, thank goodness the paint changed- although the chairs were still orange- he he he! The play was everything that I remembered from when I was a child, and so much more. This was Mike's first time seeing it! I love it so much! I read the book and have played the music for him, we have even watched the DVD together, but seeing it with him was so much better! Thank you MOM!~ While we were watching the play, Kaicyn got to spend some quality time with his Grandparents (Montague) and His "GREAT" aunt Valerie! He seemed to just have a blast! He played so hard that when we came to pick him up, he was crashed-and I mean CRASHED- out on Great Grandma's Lap! SO CUTE!!

We went tree hunting with the Baron's and of course Mom got a tree that was a good 30' tall! What are we going to do with her?!?! We had our Thanksgiving and visited with the family! It was so great.

I got to stay up there for an extra week, and Mike and I held a Thanksgiving dinner for his side of the family. His brother Chuck and Mom came up. (No one else could make it, but it was fun none-the-less) Thanksgiving morning we went to get a tree for Vickie to put up in her home! We took the dogs, and ATV's with us! Her tree is absolutely gorgeous! N'kaio, Bessy, and George had a blast running around the mountains being wilderness dogs! (okay so Bessy and George already were, but N'kaio is just a city slicker!!)

Kaicyn got all dressed up for his ride on the 4 wheelers! He thought they were so fun! He kept trying to lean forward enough to get the handlebars and drive... he just kept face planting into the bike, but he kept on trying.

Once we got back to the cabin, I cooked (yes I know, don't die of shock, I, Emily, COOKED) a Thanksgiving dinner! The most amazing part of this is that I made rolls and they didn't even taste like Hockey Pucks! YAY me! I am actually getting pretty good at cooking the Thanksgiving basics. This is my 3rd year doing it now!

On our way home on Friday we stopped by Mike's dad's home and had a Thanksgiving dinner with Him and Myong! Her cooking is amazing! There is always such good food whenever we come to eat! Thank you so much for you hospitality!

Thank you to everyone who made it up to spend time with us! We love being able to spend time with each and every one of you! We are so thankful to have everyone in our lives and be able to share each other's triumphs, joys, and exciting moments.

We love you!

Kaicyn VS Bessy~ MMM Candy Apples!!

My Grandfather Montague made this amazing rocking 'horse' (it is actually a Donkey~ but horse flows better!).  We have affectionately named him Bessy.  This morning while we were waiting for Karalee to get ready for work, Kaicyn decided to roll his way over to him.  He couldn't quite reach him, so Grandma helped him.  He thought that he was big stuff!  This Donkey was the coolest thing in the world to this little guy!

He thought it was great that he could pull someone's hair without them squawking.  It was really cool to watch him figure out that he could p

ull his body away from Bessy and, if he started to fall, pull himself back in using Bessy's hair.  Well he got a l rambunctious with it, and ended up hitting his little mouth on his seat.  He wasn't very h

appy, and went from Me, to Grandma, to Aunt Karalee for each person to try and make it better!

Aunt Karalee did!  She had an apple!  Now, if you have been around Kaicyn, you know that food is not his favorite thing!  He likes his Moo Juice, and everything else just tastes funny.  However, he just latched onto the apple.  Poor Karalee lost her Breakfast!

Oh so Dapper!

We had 2 baby blessing to attend on Sunday!  Luckily they were at the same place and time!  Congrats to Brodin Wheadon (Janelle and Keith's little Miracle) and Allyvia Hill (Sarah and Eric's cute little girl!)  It is so fun to get together and see family!  Kaicyn was all dressed up, complete with a tie and all!  He did really good during church, but come the get together, BOY did he have something to say about that!  He was just a little chatterbox!  Great-Grandma Montague thought he was pretty funny!

Happy Halloween 2008!

Kaicyn's first Halloween!  Those of you who know me, know that I am a sucker for 'firsts'.  I put an unimaginable amount of sentiment to these events, so you can imagine how I was with Halloween this year.

Kaicyn was a Marine! (Hoo-Rah!)  You would not imagine how HARD it is to find a Marine outfit.  I started out with the delusion that I could find some Dress Blues for him, but shortly gave up that quest.  (Keep in mind that I have been planning this since he was born in March-maybe even before!)  So then I just went for a regular Marine Fatigue outfit- That was not any easier!  They all had a Bull Dog head, or a shirt that looked like the kid was on steroids- so not what I wanted!  So I ended up ordering an Army outfit and (take a deep breath my Army Brother-In-Laws) unpicked the patches, and had my Mom sew on some Marine Corp ones!  

My brother, Robb, and his family invited us to their neighborhood's Trunk or Treat!  Kaicyn was a hit!  Everyone loved his costume!  The poor guy had people he didn't even know taking pictures of him!  It was really incredible to see the gratitude that a lot of people have for our troops right now!  We had lots of people tell me to tell his Daddy:  "Thank you for serving!"  WOW!  That is the attitude that we need.  Even if you don't support the war itself, support our troops for their efforts!  

Kaicyn really didn't know what was going on, so I wasn't going to take him around, but his Aunt Cindy convinced me that I would want the candy he would collect!  Luckily, Kaicyn did Trick-Or-Treat, because by the time we got back to Mike, who was passing out the candy, he was completely OUT!  So, Kaicyn's 'loot' went to all the other little Transformers, Power Rangers, Kitty Cats, Skunks, and other great costumes running around!  

After we collected our 'loot', we took Kaicyn over to his Grandparents (Baron) to hang out there!  Karalee and Seth were carving their pumpkins.  Seth was so proud of his pumpkin!  Karalee's was great too!  I think she was just having a blast giggling at Seth!

The line of the night goes to Mike.  I had mentioned that Kaicyn had yet to go through Basic yet, otherwise all that baby fat would be history.  Mike decided to take it a step further and say: "If those cheeks get any bigger we are going to have to take off the Marine Corp patches and sew on Navy ones!"  I told him that his Dad would be hearing about that one for sure!

Hope everyone had a great and safe Halloween!

Baby Boy

So I am finally getting to a point in my career to where I can actively update information about myself and my family online, and should be able to update a blog.  The summer is over, and my busy time is a few months away, so I am going to do my best to keep this up to date.  I do however want to kinda go back and post some of the things that have happened the last little while!

March 31, 2008!  YAY!  He is FINALLY here!  After a miserable pregnancy and many complications, our little miracle, Kaicyn Michael Winmill!  He weighed 6 lbs 4 oz, and was inches long.  He was born at 6:27 pm after an emergency cesarean section!  Here are some pictures of his first few days: