Happy New Year

Emma and her mommy and daddy want to wish you all a wonderful 2010!

Post Christmas Thoughts

Hi everyone,

Wanted to write a quick note to let you all know our Christmas may not have been exactly as we planned it, but we were so glad to have some of you able to come. We sure enjoyed having you. Of course it was a real treat to see baby Emma again. She is getting so big and smiley. Alex spent a lot of time putting a blanket over her, cause obviously babies are supposed to be covered! Won't be so long and she will be chasing around like the twins. So, thanks David and Jill for being courageous enough to brave a S. D blizzard to fly in; and thanks to Jeannie and Jason who picked them up, gave them a place to sleep, and drove in Saturday's not so nice weather to our place. Good thing Dave and Melissa and crew don't have too far to come to these things. Of course, I am sure Zach would have brought everyone from anywhere on his snowmobile. Hope you are all rested up and recovered from the celebrating! None of us will forget this Christmas!

We missed your families, Terry and Bobbie. Hopefully, we'll see each other before too much more time passes. (Weather permitting). The white elephant went quite well this year. No sign of the owl, though. Guess we have his home narrowed down a little bit, huh?

Anyway, Merry Christmas to you all, we are blessed to have such responsible, caring kids.
Who would have known 20 years ago when you were pounding each other to a pulp, that you would have grown up so well! Love, Mom

Merry Christmas - we miss everyone!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

I hope this finds you all having a wonderful Merry Christmas. It is still snowing pretty good here, as I suppose it is up there also. We took a drive around noon today to see if we could get to the city's snow hill. We got out of our neighborhood, but couldn't find anywhere by the snow hill to park and also realized once we got out of our sheltered area that it is still really blowing too. So, we came back home. We had a hard time getting on the side streets, so I think we are staying put for a while.

I really miss seeing everyone, but I do hope you are having a great holiday at your homes.

Here's a little message from our home to yours!!

Christmas Contingency Plans

Well, I don't know what they are predicting up north, but if what they are saying holds true about down here, we may not be able to travel safely until possibly Sunday. I am hoping it goes south, or isn't as bad so we can at least come on Saturday morning and make the party.

Just wondering what everybody's schedules are for the end of the weekend and into early next week? Just curious in case we have to wait to come up later.

I'm still crossing my fingers that they are way wrong. Kevin thinks I'm delusional, though! :-)

This isn't the way I had the White Christmas thing planned out. We were all supposed to get there easily, have the party Saturday, get a light snow that night, sled on Sunday, all travel home safely and easily Monday. I don't ask for too much, do I??

Jaelyn Marie Nawrocki Has Arrived

December 17, 2009

Our first grand-daughter :)

Thought we would share!

See everyone next week!!

White Stuff Status Report

Blizzard warning starts at 9 p.m. tonight, through Wednesday noon. We'll see if this video loads correctly.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like.........

Christmas!!! Is it snowing anywhere else? We've got a few inches!

In Search of the Right (White) Elephant

Man, there's A LOT of great stuff in my basement, just dying for a new home. Gee, wonder what to wrap up this year?!?

Who, who might have the Owl? Perhaps that's why Jill and David decided to make it to the Christmas party.....not to introduce new baby Emma......but they just wanted to return the nocturnal bird to the Midwest. :-) Hmmmm, I don't recall seeing it hanging up at Dave and Melissa's or Mom and Dad's when I was there last month. Of course, it could be at Tammy and Terry's house.

Sure could use a photo upload to the blog to make sure the old "hoot" is still alive.

A Jello Mold to Behold (And Other Important Holiday News)

Hello all! Just a quick note to wish everyone an official Happy Thanksgiving! And a special note to say thanks to all those that came to our early Thanksgiving in Lincoln. Hope you had fun - we sure did!

We really missed those of you who couldn't make it! Here are a few pictures to share. I wish I had more, but I wasn't exactly smooth in getting all the food set out, so the pictures went by the wayside as we all worked together to get the table set. Yes, I have a ways to go in my hostessing abilities. We only had one near-miss with the turkey.....it was, shall I say, a tad bit pink when Dave first tried to carve it for the meal. But, an additional hour of cooking, and no one went home with food poisoning! Speaking of pink, as you can see from the picture, I am no longer jello-challenged. I don't want to brag, but after 20-some years as the butt of your jello jokes, I feel justified in showing this picture of my jello dessert. Zach even told me it tasted good (and I didn't have to pay him for that).

In other holiday news, Mom got her work weekends switched, so we are now officially good for the Christmas party the weekend following Christmas Day, so Dec. 26-27! Yea! I can't wait. We went ahead and drew kids' names. Per Rachael and Taylor's request, they are moving up to the White Elephant Family Gift Exchange. So, that moves the twins into the children's drawing. Here's how it worked out: Dave's family has Kade; our family has Adelyn; Terry's family has Bella; Jill's family has Alex; and Jeannie's family has Jacob. As the newest member of the family, Emma gets gifts from everyone! Hope everyone is cool with this plan, but if anyone has questions or concerns, let me know.

In closing, at our early Thanksgiving last weekend, I think we were all so hungry after having to wait that extra hour for the turkey, that we forgot the most important thing....to officially give Thanks! So, I just wanted to let you know that I am very thankful for each and every one of you! Have a great holiday, and if you are traveling, travel safe.

COOK ANOTHER TURKEY

We are loading up and heading out. Looks like we will try to leave fairly early on Saturday and stay the night come back on Sunday some time. It will be short but we are all excited. The kids or some of the kids my come early with g and g depending on when they leave. Melissa was wondering about a food item? We have one air bed we will bring and the rest will find a spot somewhere if that works for you. Also, we were wondering when you are planning the feast? We are looking forward to seeing everybody.

Dave

Here are some pictures from the REAL hunters at the annual pumpkin carving/hunting weekend. The pheasant hunters didn't have much fun hunting over the weekend (pheasants were hard to find), but Jacob and Kade had no problem hitting their targets.

HalloweenThanksgivingChristmas

Hello everyone! As you may guess from the title, this blog post covers ALOT of important territory. First, thank you to Dave, Melissa and family, and Mom and Dad, for hosting us for hunting and Halloween. As always, it was a GREAT time. Please note the grand prize champs in the photo. Yes, Mom and Dad were victorious again! There was some brief discussion about the voting being rigged. I can't say whether or not I support that theory, but it should be noted that Vince was in charge of that category! And, a brief shout out to my carving partner, Zach....we make a mean and scary pumpkin. (ps ...couldn't get photo to load)

Now, about Thanksgiving. The Wickhams will be hosting an early Thanksgiving for whoever chooses to make the long drive down here (or fly, Jill and David!). It will be on Saturday, Nov. 21. Now, my Thanksgiving menu may look more like Charlie Brown's than Mom's, but I'll try to do my best. I'm not sure when we'll eat that day.....depends on how many people come, and when they might arrive. Let us know. We'll make room for everyone, but you may want to BYOAM (bring your own air mattress)! (we have one double air mattress and one single one).

Now, about Christmas.....my favorite! It sounds like the concensus is that the party will be Saturday, Dec. 26. Mom is currently scheduled to work that day, so we are waiting to see if she can trade with someone for Friday, Christmas Day (which she is NOT scheduled to work at this time). She thought she'd be able to make the trade. So, that would mean we could travel there on Christmas Day, or that Saturday morning, and stay the weekend. Please take a look at your schedules and double check that Saturday, Dec. 26 will work. We will plan on it, unless someone throws a huge red flag up (and, of course, only if mom can get her work days switched around).

That's all I've got time for right now. I'll post another note soon with more Christmas details as we must get the drawing organized! Ho, ho, ho........

Have a great rest of the week, everyone!

Happy Birthday Jason! Hope those girls of yours treat you special!

First Sleepover

I am kind of sad and excited all at once.

Here is the excited part. Isabella is at her first sleepover tonight. She got to go to the Washington Pavilion, and she is currently eating popcorn and watching a movie at her little friend Allie's house. She was so excited she could hardly get through the day today.

Here is the sad part. Bella barely gave me a hug goodbye, and when I texted Allie's mom to see how things were going. I told her to tell Bella that I love her. Bella's response, "oh".

Heartbreaking.

Gma and Gpa Meet Emma

Grandpa and grandma left the snow behind in SD to come and meet the newest member. Emma and her parents had a great time visiting with grandma and grandpa. Hopefully they weren't too bored here in Sin City. We didn't do much besides sitting at home keeping Emma content, or at least trying to! Emma did well on her first dining out experience to PF Changs, she slept the whole time! She missed seeing grandpa trying a shot of saki (sp?) it was a sour face he made! Mommy didn't get the camera out in time to capture the moment so use your imagination! Grandma made kolaches and made some other great meals for us. They also spoiled the dogs, especially Ace! He actually joined in the picture of gma and Emma! We took them to see where Daddy works and they got to take a tour of the property. There's not much for farmers to do here so hopefully they got plenty of rest while taking of and spoiling Emma.

Thanks mom and dad for making the trip! We loved every minute of it! We hope harvest is going well and getting back to work wasn't too difficult. We miss you already and can't wait to see you again! We're still thinking about Christmas.

Lots of love to everyone,

Jill, David and Emma

OK Kriz Fam....

What's going on out there Kriz Family? Jilly Bean and VD - we could sure use more pics of baby Emma. Same goes with Kade school updates...Zach, Rachael and Jacob updates, Alex, Addy, Bella and Jeannie (I hear she has some great news - non pregnant news that is) updates, Farm updates!! Ter is still keeping an eye out on the Vegas/Allegiant flight tickets. And I hear mom and dad are out for a visit. We so can't wait to meet lil Emma!

I was going to post our first snow fall pics on Saturday - YIKES - too early - no fall colors for us this year, my favorite time of year too. What a bummer! More snow last night and this week, but it has been melting during the day. Dogs love it, my grandson's were up this past weekend and they loved it too. It's so fun to see their eyes when they see that first snow fall. We also had Rudolph and a couple of his reindeer pay us a visit in the backyard - so they thought that was pretty cool!!

Taylor is busy with volleyball - her favorite sport I think. She is such a great kid; Ter and Christine have done such a good job raising her. She is so kind, soft hearted and so good with kids - adults too. The tough years are ahead, but I think she will keep the good head on her shoulders that she does have, just like the rest of the Kriz kids!!

Just wanted to say hi, and that we miss you all tons. I do have pics on the camera, we will try to get them off and post a few on the blog!!

Kevin - thanks for the background change - always nice to see that.

Love to you all!

Tammy

Looking Good Mom!

Congrats Mom!

Our mom is awesome. She ran in a 5K with me on Saturday and finished not too shortly behind me. Not only did she finish successfully, she was the fastest in her age group. Way to go mom!


I had lots of fun, let's do it again.

Jeannie

Mommy loves to snuggle!

Emma is home!

We have made it home with our little darling! She is doing so well. We love her so much and can't wait for all of the big and little surprises she has in store for us! She is a typical newborn - eat, sleep, eat, sleep. So far she has been rather calm and not too fussy. We both are waiting for that to change! We had our first pediatrician check up today and she is down almost a pound, but doc isn't worried because the milk truck came this morning and will hopefully help her gain weight. David and I are doing well. I am not a fan of c-section recovery. It is really hard to be helpless and sit back and watch David do all of the work. He has been an amazing daddy and husband! We are both sad that he has to go back to work on Monday. Most of his time off was spent at the hospital. We had Emma on Monday at 5:36. She was 7lbs. 13oz. and 20 inches long. We finally came home Wed. night at 7:00. We are enjoying every minute even though fatigue takes over quite often, we know that time will fly by. We love her and can't wait for all of you to meet her!

Love and miss you,

Jill, David and Emma

When is that Baby Coming??????

Just a fyi

Am going to post a short note to let you know that Steve Stluka has been ill. He and Tab were visiting a college friend of Steve's near Aberdeen when he suddenly became faint, dizzy, weak, and his arms/hands were numb. He said he really thought he was having a heart attack or a stroke. Guess they hurried him to Aberdeen to the hospital-- couldn't find much wrong except for a high BP. So they let him go home.

On the way home he had another spell, and ended up in Parkston in the hospital. He said they did an EKG, had him wear a heart monitor, and did lots of checking. The concensus was that it was an unusual reaction to his blood pressure medication, he had had no heart damage, ( the doctor told him he was lucky he was 34 years old and not 64). So he is back home waiting for the medication to wear off and then will probably get another kind of BP med. He says he's thinking no meds would be better!!

You don't often see Steve look worried, but he obviously still isn't feeling the best. Keep your fingers crossed for him!!

Other wise not much else new. The guys are just about done with sileage cutting here, then will cut for Sonny and Steve, I expect. Hope all is well with you all. Jill, Steve was wondering how you were doing and when that baby is coming. Love, Mom

Happy Anniversary Dad and Mom Kriz!

Feels like fall!

Hi everyone! Just thought I'd post a note to say "hi" as it seems like a long time since I've seen all of you. Hope everyone is doing well.

We aren't doing too much out of the ordinary down here. Kevin's playing guitar and watching Notre Dame football, I had a race on Saturday, and Kade is enjoying school and had his second flag football game tonight. I froze while watching; it definitely had the feeling of fall weather.

Well, that's it for now. Take care!

Happy Grandparents Day

Happy Grandparents day mom and dad!

picking plums and such

Was a rainy, drizzly morning today so it seemed like a good time to 4 wheeler out to the plum bushes on Thompson's. Noticed yesterday when I was riding, that the plums were nice and ripe, and some had already fallen off the tree. Decided that by the time we get back from next week they would probably be gone.

I had forgotten how quiet and peaceful it can be, just oneself and a bucket and endless free fruit for jelly. Picked a whole bucket in no time and now they have become 5 nice pints of jelly for the winter. My favorite kind of day!!

Have been spending the day chasing chickens out of the yard as they have found the grapes and after they get done eating at the top of the grape vine, they fly in the yard to scratch in the flowers. I'm starting to think about chicken soup. Won't turn them out so early tomorrow.

Dad had the sheep escape last night from Vince's and had to trail them home from somewhere toward Lake Andes. Must have been an uncooperative animal day today.

Nothing overly earth shattering here-- Just wish you all a few peaceful moments like mine in the plum thickets-- Love, Mom

Got My Braces!!!!!

Hey everybody haven't posted anything in awhile! I just got my braces today and I thought I would but a pic. on the blog! If anybody wants a volleyball schedule I can post one or send one to you.

Vegas!

I was just downloading my pictures from Vegas, and I couldn't resist showing such an awesome snap shot of my two sisters. It was either this or a picture of Hooters. :)

Thanks for the hospitality Jill and David. Good luck on becoming parents. The final days are near!

Kindergarten starts

So Kade is officially in Kindergarten. Armed with his SpongeBob Squarepants backpack, he took his first day in stride -- no tears (at least from him). Mom, however, shed a few while dad remained callous as ever ;).

I'd post a pic, but it's late and I'm feeling lazy. Just figured I share the Kindergarten news. It's only a matter of time before he requests a cell phone. And dad replies with a big, fat NO.

A handyman I am not

Hey there gang, haven't posted in awhile. Bobbie is in Las Vegas for David and Jilly Bean's shower, so Kade and I are bactchin' it for a few days. He does real good when Mom leaves and of course, I spoil him pretty good too.

The joys of homeownership continue... over the weekend I went to replace a light bulb in our bathroom and pulled the bulb out without the threaded part (ugh!). So what turned out to be a simple 30 second chore now looks like a project for some handyman to redo our shower and part of the ceiling/ligh fixture. As I wrestled with the fixture to get the rest of the light bulb out of the socket, a portion of the ceiling drywall crumbled so now the fixture can't be secured to the ceiling. *heavy sigh*

While the repairman is fixing that, we figured we may as well have him replace our shower that has had crack in the fiberglass bottom for awhile. There's never an end is there.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Just a quiet weekend

Hi all. Not much new to report. We didn't do a whole lot this weekend, which was nice for a change. I heard a few of you got to enjoy Fur Traders weekend. How did the softball tournament go? Bet it was a hot one.

Have a good week, everyone!

just to let you know

Just a quick note to let you all know that Patty Stluka passed away yesterday afternoon. I think everyone was ready to let her go as they had been called back to Sioux Falls at least 4x's and she was pretty much nonresponsive. I think the funeral will be Sat.

Doesn't seem so long ago we were all taking in Czech days together and Patty was drinking the extra drinks I got when I couldn't keep up with those buying rounds. ( that has to be what a true friend does right??) Love, Mom

Jacob showed his sheep (this one is Licorice) for 4-H on Tuesday. He also showed a sheep named Blackie, he actually did well for not working very much with the sheep. He received a purple for both sheep and for showmanship. He was excited and said he would be back to do it again next year.

This is a picture of the second place Ag Olympics team. They did a variety of "games", including carrying a water in a bucket to a water tank (the bucket was full of holes), carrying an egg on a spoon, searching for a black ball in a bucket of styrofoam peanuts and water and then they had to roll a tire through an obstacle course. But the final game was finding a gummy worm in a plate of chocolate pudding - without using your hands!! Most of the team had pudding up their nose. Zach said it was fun, though.

Notice there are no pictures of Rachael, she banned the camera from the hospital room - but she is feeling much better.

Happy Anniversary Jilly and David!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

I hope you have a wonderful day. It was great seeing you this weekend. Thanks for all the help! I hope you and dad enjoyed your ride yesterday with Norma and Samantha.

Talk to you soon! Jeannie

Taylor Here This Week

Well hello everyone. It has been a while since I have last posted. Thought I would share what has been going on here. Taylor is here all week this week. We have had a pretty jam packed week so far. Taylor had a volleyball camp here this week at the High School. She brought a friend with her from Lester Prairie. They both had a blast. VB in the mornings and pool in the afternoon. It does not get much better then that for them. This is my working week with Taylor so it was good for her to have someone here for the first three days. Madi went home today and I think Taylor was pretty sad. Anyways we got a couple of games of bowling in and some playtime at the park and a bike ride. I am kind of pooped. I am actually taking tomorrow off and I think Taylor and I are planning on golfing tomorrow.

Taylor played in a softball tournament last weekend. They won both of their games on Saturday (of course I was not there) and lost both of her games on Sunday(Tammy and I went to these two). They played pretty well, but could not pull it off. I think she is now done with softball for the year.

Dan, Jayme, Ty and Cole are coming down on Friday so we should have a full weekend of chasing Ty and Cole around. It will be good to see them as we have not seen them for a while.

Hope everyone is doing well and we will see you all soon.

Terry

Just catching up

Hi guys,

It's finally a quiet Saturday, so will add a few lines to this blog before it is chore time. It's actually a hot day today, like summer is supposed to be, so have pretty much been setting in front of the sewing machine with a good recorded book going enjoying the air conditioning!!
Racheal was here most of the day and we finished a couple of 4-H sewing projects she wanted help with. She does pretty well, and is getting better all the time using the machine. If she can keep scheduling a little sewing work now and then she might be able to tackle things on her own after a while. Am not sure the projects we finished will score high in judging as there are a few errors, on the other hand, she is only a junior in 4-H and did most of the work on these herself. She does now know how to wind a bobbin and thread the machine on her own, and that's something to start!!

We had a nice weekend last week at Lake Benton in Minnisota riding and camping with Jeff and Cheryl Plucker, and Lynette and Randy Dump. ( no, I did not make those names up). The trails were pretty steep, and also wet as they had 5 inches of rain the week before so it was a little interesting. Dad had an episode of gout plagueing him that weekend but rode anyway even though his hand was major swollen and sore. (It's better- he got a shot and medication when we got home). Ter, Tammy, Taylor and Jeannie and Isabella visited Sat afternoon at the campsite. Ter and Taylor rode one of the longer rides and Isabella got her horse fix by riding Sis by herself (with Grandma leading) around the camp road. Everyone picknicked Sat night together. We really enjoyed the weekend.

Wheat harvest is about 2/3's done. I think they are on Burseks today with that being the last field. They are a little disappointed with 50 bu/acre yields as they thought it looked better than that. Never the less, that's still pretty good. Also weaned the calves off the old broken mouth cows they bought last fall and sold the cows. Did really well, almost made back what they bought the cows for (with 7 limpers left in the feedlot to be sold this next week in Yankton) plus have the calves to feed and sell later. Am sure that is a project they will do again next year.

Yard and garden look pretty good, except for the wounded tomatoes. There are a few tomatoes on though, so at least should have some to eat. Picking potatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, swiss chard, peas, cabbage and broccoli. Need more eaters around here!!

Baby had her annual haircut and looks like a greyhound. She is thoroughy enjoying being cool and is ready again to play ball or go for horse rides with me. She wasn't as embarrassed about the change as last year this time.

Don't know much else. How's everyone else doing? Love, Mom

Where is everyone??

Bella's birthday was July 8th. Our family really hasn't done anything fun since?? I doubt it.

We are headed to the ZOO this morning. Should be interesting. Just a trip with mom. Wish me luck!

Birthday Fun!

SUPER STAR BIRTHDAY GIRL!




The Foam Pit. (Tried not to think about how many kids have gone potty in here.)




The Castle Cake. It didn't do well on the car ride, should have taken a picture before we left.


Bella had her third 4th birthday party this last Saturday. She was pretty excited to have all of her friends at the gymnastics place. I think the parents had more fun jumping on the tramps than the kids.




Thought I would share some pictures. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Jeannie

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes

It is a sight to behold......Kevin, while blaring 38 Special on the turntable, is using the Bowflex, AND, in between reps is using our new Dyson DC 25 vacuum to pick up the dog hair.

Just another exciting night here at the Kriz-Wickham household!

Have a great weekend everyone. :-)

Happy Birthday Bella!

The pic turned out good! As you can see, we left a spot for Vegas Dave and Tammy. Thanks for putting up with all of us. Was great to see everyone. Kade says "you have a good week."

Dave: Thanks for boating everybody around -- that's always the cherry on top, especially for Kade.

Happy 4th of July Kriz Family! Missin you all!

Is Jason Iowa's Strongest Man...

Pretty close, he got 4th in his weight class. It was pretty exciting to watch my stud of a husband do something he loves. I have a feeling this is just the beginning of many contests. The venue was interesting as it was located in some guys garage, but I think that is what made it so neat. There wasn't a lot of spectators, just some guys and their wives/girlfriends. You were pretty up close and personal.

I would like to give a big THANK YOU out to Bobbie and Kevin for taking on our three kids while we went to this event. Also, thanks for hosting us all weekend it was a blast. Our girls loved doing something out of the ordinary. Only bad thing is Isabella now asks us for dog almost every hour.

One more thing before I let you get on with your lives. We would like to have a little family birthday party for Bella this weekend. Nothing special, we just coordinated with mom to have a birthday cake and stuff. I hope everyone is okay with that. Can't wait to see you all!

Later-

Jeannie

Just For Fun

Happy Birthday Tammy!!! :)

Happy Birthday Tammy hope you had a great day!!!!

Race follow-up

I suppose I should follow up on the duathlon race results Bobbie and I were in a couple weeks ago. Bobbie pretty much dusted me in the running portion. She took off at the start and her pace was much quicker than mine. I had held out slim hope that I might be able to stay with her enough to be able to sprint at the finish, but I couldn't keep her pace. There was one long hill that was a killer -- it was hard work climbing that thing twice. Bobbie's teammate was a cyclist who races, so they had a very strong team -- they finished 7th overall, so that's pretty good.

We had a lot of fun as there were several friends of ours that were on teams as well. It was a good time had by all.

Her team name was "Bonfire in the Pants" (you'll have to ask her about the name.) My team name was "Extra Gravy Please" -- Click here to see the race results.

Happy Birthday Jeannie!

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to all you dads or soon to be dads out there. Hope you all are having a good day.

No Pics - Words Will Do

I'm so glad to see new posts on the blog. I've been trying to get on to update everyone on the progress of our pregnancy, but the computer is no competition with the bed when I settle down at night! School ended officially for me today, but tomorrow is the first day of summer school. I keep reminding myself that 3 weeks is not THAT long, but it has been a rough year. What was I thinking? Oh, that's right, we're trying to get a couple $$ set aside so I can take time off when the baby arrives. I found out that I can only use 30 of my 118 sick days for maternity leave so we will be stretching every last penny. I plan on taking off time from birth to January. I'm crossing my fingers that it will go somewhat as I'd like it to!

For those of you who don't know or remember: We're expecting a baby girl on Sept. 27. We have chosen the name Emma Marie Hurley - that was the easiest part! My girlfriends have started planning a shower here on Aug. 15. For those of you with lots of time off and money to spend on airline tickets, we would love to have you here! I have booked a trip home for July 1-10 and hope to see some if not all of you. I have my next check up this week, but I don't think anything has changed so the trip is still on. David has no time off this summer, no one does in his company, so he will be staying home with the boys (Oscar and Ace) and hopefully working on Emma's room. We have a crib and changing table from Babies R Us that needs to be put together so that should keep him busy. We have chosen a ladybug theme from Babies R Us, and we will be registering there soon. We haven't decided if we will register at Target or not. Knowing me, we will! What else is there to tell? At our first appointment with the specialist (As some of you pointed out earlier this year, Kevin, I'm not getting any younger, so we need to see a specialist because my 35th is also my due date!) our little girl was very active bouncing around so much that it was difficult for the nurse to take her measurements. We wondered if she was really ours, she doesn't get her metabolism from us! She is also stubborn, hands always covering her head when the nurse tries to see her face, brain, etc. When we went last month she was bouncing all over and once again covering up and hiding parts that the nurse was trying to get a look at! We know she is for sure ours though, because she was over a pound already! The nurse was very kind and told us she's not too heavy, she has long legs! At least she didn't say she's big-boned! I have been gaining weight too, which is easy to do, but not easy to accept. Jeannie requested pictures of me, but I don't think I've taken any and hopefully will keep to that policy. I believe I have gained the most weight in my butt, so I joke that I have a butt pregnancy rather than in my belly! I came down with a terrible nasty cold Memorial Day weekend and still am trying to get over it. I have not been that sick in a long time. I have not been able to exercise much since then so I am done with kickboxing for now. We went for a walk with the boys the other day and that winded me. I will get back to a regular walking routine now that I have more time. (Summer school is only 7-12.) David and I have been enjoying the movement and small kicks that we can feel. I wish he could feel more like I can, but he is thrilled with the slightest movement. I tell him sometimes that it might be gas, but we both choose to believe it's Emma!
Anyhoo...I hope all is well for everyone! I can't wait to see you all very soon! Thanks for blogging!
Love and miss you all,
Jill

In response to empty blogger box

Alright, you people-- I was really feeling pretty guilty for only checking the blog, and not adding to the blog. You know some days it just doesn't feel like there is much interesting going on in our lives. Kind of more of the same old!!

It actually decided to rain today, so I can't stuff any more unsuspecting plants in the ground for a few days. Guess it was only about 3/4 an inch, but it washed everything off and sure smells good. Was getting so dry--
On the other hand it is sweatshirt cold again-- what a strange spring!

The men have been making fence again, this time between the sheep pens and the little pasture. They must have pulled up at least three different fences that had grown up beside one another instead of starting all over like it should have. It really looks nice now, thanks to the combined efforts of Grampa, Zach, and Dave-- oh, and of course Jacob!! Think alfalfa cutting is next on the list.

We had a nice weekend at Yankton, although it was a pretty muddy, slippery ride on those river bluffs. Although it is a beautiful trail, I spent most of it with my heart in my throat as we skidded down the steep places. Shimmer needs a little work on her hill and mud handling. Was a lot nicer weekend before when we were at Peace creek. (Half of that fun was watching Jacob manhandle Sis around on that trail. He was getting pretty brave by the end of the weekend).
--
The trailer works well though-- sleeps good and cooks good. Nice not to have to spend an hour setting up. Oh, by the way we did sell the old trailer. Got our $5,000 for it, but Gail and Bob Weirsma are buying it at a $100 a week payment plan. Probably won't see the full price for a few years yet--

Isabella is coming tomorrow to stay a few days, so I knew I had better write tonite. Might not have much energy left for the next couple of days!

Good luck on the competitions, Wickhams. Will be waiting to hear how it comes out. Kade, keep up the baseball wins- sounds like you are doing great! Jill, the month is flying past, so we'll see you soon. Tammy- I'm sorry to say I have not sewn a stitch for a month. Had to dust the material off the other day. (The yard looks nice, though).

Talk to you later-- Love Mom

Something New on the Blog!

Hi all! I keep waiting to see a new post from someone. Heeelllooooo....anyone out there? What is going on with everybody?

I can't believe it's already June. Where has half a year gone?

Things are fine in Lincoln. Kade started T-ball last weekend. The way he tells it, our team won 19-18. It WAS definitely high-scoring, but I'm really not sure who won. I guess as long as he's happy, we'll just let him have the victory. He made a couple of outs from his position as shortstop, so he's thinking he's pretty cool.

Kevin and I are both in "training" for the upcoming duathlon. We competed together last year as the "Wonder Pets," (he biked, while I did the running for the team) but after some fun discussion and a few beverages at a party the other night, we ended up disbanding and picking up other partners. Kevin is actually doing the running for his team, and I am running for our girl team. The segments are two miles, and Kevin has been posting some decent training times. This has surprised me, and while I won't admit to being worried, I will say that it'd be a terrible blow to my ego if I lost to him. Stay tuned! The duathlon is next weekend. :0)

We are planning, at least at present, to next be home over the Fourth of July weekend. I understand that Jill (and David?) will be home over that weekend. Hopefully we'll get to see some or all of the rest of you, too.

Hope that everyone is doing well! Sure do miss you all. Now get on here and post some messages or I'll have to call and harass each of you until you do. :-)

She's off to Moab

Bobbie left early this morning for her camping/running trip in Moab, Utah. I bet she has a great time. She returns next Wednesday night. Kade and Abby and myself will be fending for ourselves at home. I'm tryin to keep us busy over the weekend so Kade doesn't miss mom too much. We'll be going to the Saltdogs baseball game Saturday night and pitching a tent and "camping" in the backyard Sunday night. We may do a little fishing on Monday.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Happy Birthday Melissa!!

From the SW MN Kriz Family!

Cute Pic of Taylor and Abby!

Congratulations Grandpa

Way to go on winning at horse penning. We want to know what you won, as the newspaper said you won a buckle and a saddle. Did you win both? That's great.

kade, abbey, bobbie, kevin

Attention Kriz Fam Zoo!

I know this might not seem as important as baseball to you men....

but I want to wish all you fabulous Kriz, Thurston, Wickham Mom's and

very soon to be Momma Hurley a

Early Happy Mother's Day!

I hope that the men and children in your life treat you like queens for the Day!

Love,

Tammy

Calling Vegas Dave...

A quick look at my local sports section had a couple of interesting headlines... 1) Royals Stay Hot, Still in First Place
2) Dodgers' Manny Ramirez Suspended for Being a Druggie!

Interesting news...
:)

Hey everybody

Just ready to head to bed and thought I'd drop a line about our weekend. Since she's too modest to saying anything -- I will report that Bobbie did very well in her marathon by setting a personal best time of 3 hours, 37 minutes. She finished 5th out of 59 women in her age group. Her time qualifies her for the Boston Marathon next spring -- needless to say she did great.

Kade and I rode the bike around town and cheered her on in three different places. Of course, while she was sweating it out on miles 15 through 23, we were sitting in a downtown donut shop feeding our faces. But, we did catch her on the home stretch and biked along the sidewalk to cheer her in (while almost taking out a few spectators).

Kade (and his coach) won his first soccer game. I think the coach is more tired after the games than any of the kids. Kade's first T-ball practice is Monday night -- he's extremely excited about it -- a lot more than soccer, which makes his dad happy.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Pink or Blue???

Well, tomorrow (Wed.) is the day we go to have another ultrasound. We didn't know until last week at our regular check-up that we can find out the sex at this appt. David has his heart set on knowing along with many of our friends and co-workers, but I have been going back and forth on it. However, we will find out the sex, if the little one is cooperative. I've been feeling much better and sadly am back to my normal eating habits, no will power! I'm gaining weight and not enjoying outgrowing my pants. It's not easy to find pants to fit this lower half, especially knowing that it's going to keep growing. Except for the weight gain, absentmindedness, and feeling tired all the time, I don't really feel pregnant. It was nice to listen to the heartbeat last week.
Well, we missed the really short time frame when Allegiant had $29 flights! I'm still looking at coming home Memorial Day weekend, Thursday-Sunday. I will decide by this weekend, and let you all know. Anything going on that weekend or is there a chance that I might see some of you if I do make it?
Also...David's mom, Rose, is anxious to start planning a baby shower. We understand the travel costs and time off, but if any of you are thinking about it when would work for you? You know how indecisive I am, and I don't really know what time to pick. I think it's sort of narrowed down to mid-Julyish or early to mid-Augustish. Maybe Labor Day weekend??? I really don't know! We will take visitors whenver! You are always welcome here! Let me know if you're thinking about it and what would work for you.
So, pink Dodgers outfit or blue Dodgers outfit? What's it going to be?
Hugs and Kisses to you all! Miss you lots!
Love,
Jill

New Addition at Kriz Fam Zoo?!

Can't wait to see the new addition at the farm. Dad Kriz told Ter Bear they added on a shower and bedroom! How sweet is that?!

I have a feeling I might now how that happened in such a short time frame.

Miss you all and can't wait to see everyone this weekend.

Love,

Tammy

Surprise!

Happy Easter!

Yes it is I, Vegasdave! Back with another rare but well worth the wait post, that will almost certainly leave you all wanting more. LOL

Anyway, I have been reading all of your posts with Jill, and everytime I do, I get a feeling that is very much like home sickness. Even though I am not from SD, I miss being there with everyone. I am sure we will be making another trip soon. At least I hope.
So, the months are going by so quickly and the baby will be here before we know it. I am growing more and more nervous and I find myself watching everything Jill does. Like she can't take care of herself right? I feel like I need to make sure she is ok all of the time. I must be annoying the hell out of her. LOL. I keep wondering if this is normal. Any of you Kriz family dads ever experience this? It's not just that either. I also find myself worrying about the most ridiculous things. Like, how old will I be when our child is this age or that age? Will I still be able to do certain things, or will I be hindered by some new age induced limitation? I know....ridiculous right? Also, In the beginning I was totally for having a boy. Now, I don't really care what sex the baby is, as long as he or she is a Dodger, Laker, and 49er fan. (no comment from the sports knowledge challenged. you know who you are...Kevin, Jason) I seriously am concerned with the sports thing. I will have to give our child the boot at an early age if the sports rules are not followed to the tee in our house. Anyone who harbors them will be considered a traitor and dealt with accordingly........I seriously don't know where that came from.
So, we were able to take the baby to his or her first ballpark last week. We went to San Diego to see the Dodgers play the Padres at Petco Park! Wow! What a place! Even though the Dodgers lost, it was an experience to remember. Even Jill really enjoyed herself. My luck is the baby will become a Padre fan now. Oh well, I didn't really mean what I said before...or did I? So am I alone in this concern as I await our childs birth? I tend to think there has to be some dads out there that know what I mean. If not, oh well...I guess I am a pioneer! Thats a positive spin on it at least right?
Well, thats all for now. Stay tuned for more tales of wonderment, curiosity and frustration. Afterall, only 5 months to go!

Easter Fun!

Hi Everyone!

I hope everyone had a great day. I think the best part of my day was asking Isabella what she learned in church today on the drive home. She said, "God is alive today! He got dead. His arms were spread like this, and the people didn't like him. Then he was alive." It made me a pretty proud momma.

Anyway, it was also very fun watching the girls find their Easter baskets, and all of the contents inside. Adelyn cried, Isabella was bursting with excitement and Alexandra just wanted the candy. She even started to eat a chocolate egg with the foil and everything.

Anyway, even though I didn't get to spend the day with all of you. It was all in all a great day. Miss everyone a ton!

Love, Jeannie

PS. I think the Easter bunny making a late appearance at the farm is a grand idea. Isabella wanted to hunt eggs outside in a bad way today, but it was a little chilly out.

FYI: I couldn't get many pics of them all together. This is the best there is.

Happy Easter

Hello everyone. Just a quick note to wish you a Happy Easter from all of us. Hope the Bunny visits all your homes!

Miss you all very much!

Are you happy?

Just thought I should share this article......in case anyone living in any of the states near the bottom of the list are looking for a happier location. :-) Smile!

The Happiest States – http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=7264863&page=1

Book "The Shack"

Mom Kriz...I finished the book, boy do I look at life differently. After you were here and talked about this book, a friend of mine and I purchased it to read. I can't say enough about it, except that everyone should take the time to read this book. It would have been fun to experience a book club to discuss it further and obtain others views on it as you did. It's funny how narrow minded we have become and it really explores so many questions that I have had. My friend Linda, said it was meant for her to read after I told her of the discussion you and I had, she said I was like the 5th person who had told her about it. God works in mysterious ways. Thanks for sharing. I am going to read it again.

Love,

Tammy

Check it out Kriz Family...it's worth the read!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!!!!

Well - We got a couple of inches of snow last night. It is now white again around here. Wondering how the rest of the family came out of the Blizzard. Seems to be a reoccurring theme the last several weekends. Hope everyone is doing good.

Terry

THANK YOU!

Thank you Rachael, Grandma and Grandpa for using the most beautiful day of the week last week to come and watch the girls. Jason and I really enjoyed a 2 1/2 hour drive without having screaming children to deal with.

We had fun hanging out with you on Sunday as well. The twins have taken a liking to Bella's horse, and we all slept like rocks last night. (Except Buddy!)

Thanks again! We appreciate all you do to help us out!

Jeannie and Jason

Spring Has Sprung?

Well, spring has officially arrived. Rachael had her birthday, and I ran in shorts this morning! Yea to both events!

We also spent all day Saturday outside, enjoying the beautiful weather. Hopefully everyone else got the same weather, at least before the blizzard you all are supposed to be getting today! Hopefully it isn't too bad. We are predicted to have storms here, with hail and high winds. Actually, we are in a tornado watch until 7 p.m.

Even though it is potentially snowing up north, I am still having my usual springtime homesickness. I am thinking we will venture to the farm the last weekend in April, provided that still works for Mom and Dad. I have that Friday off, so we'll either come on Thursday night or Friday morning. We need to leave early on Sunday to get back in time for soccer!

So, please shake off all the snow before then. Would love to see anyone who might be around that weekend.

Hope everyone is doing well. :)

No one else volunteered...

We signed Kade up for another season of soccer, which starts in a couple weeks. And since no other parents on his team had volunteered to coach, guess who stuck his neck out on the line? and guess who he pegged as his assistant coach?

I am now officially the head coach of the Mighty Giants. I plan on turning this rag-tag bunch of seven boys into a lean, mean soccer machine. I've assigned my assistant coach Bobbie to all the behind-the-scenes critical details that come with any successful sports program, like making all the phone calls to parents, checking on rain out dates, dealing with any whiny kids, parents, etc. I'll be too busy working on offensive and defensive strategies to worry about that stuff.

Season opener is March 28 -- we'll keep ya posted!

Free at last... Free at last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

70 degrees outside -- I'll be riding my bike home with a huge grin today.

Spring is here!

Wanna Know The #1 Song On The Day You Were Born?

http://www.joshhosler.biz/

Busy Waxing My Eyebrows and Upper Lip! Stop on Over!

Snowmobile Trip (Terry's Version)

Okay - I figured I would set my family as ease to show some of the pictures that I had on my trip to the Big Horn Mountains. Although Tammy's interpretation is not to far off, I don't think I have enough life insurance to pull off that move or guts. Although I have seen something close.

So and update on my sled. I was able to ride it out there. It ran fairly well until about 3 hours in when I got to the top of a hill to help one of our pack dig his sled out of the snow and I shut it off. Needless to say it would not start back up. So we ended up pulling it back to the lodge and then taking down the mountain the next day with two other sleds to get it fixed. Seems to be the Stator(sp) which is used to charge the battery was only partially working (apparently not enough to run my gas pump). We charged the battery and I was back up and running that afternoon. I have this part from my old engine so I will be going to the mechanic again to replace that part. Anyways I rented the last day as I did not have a charger on the mountain and wanted to ride without problems. It was a lot of fun. I have included some hills and other pictures of where we were. There are not many pictures of me as I was running the camera, but I have a few friends that have some and I will share when I get them. Anyways enjoy.

Picture of a avalanche area. You can see the side we went up and someone jumped off of the top. (This was not me however)

This is a picture of a pretty trail we were on.

This is a good view from atop a hill. Straight down on the other side as you can see from the picture.

We rode to the top of this hill as well. See the snowmobile behind the small tree on the trail. We came up the hill from the front of the picture.

Terry

Ter's Snowmobile Trip...

Ok Kriz Family, has anyone gotten an update on how Ter's trip went?? Put some pressure on that boy!

Look at this?? Now maybe you understand why I don't tag along :)