Christmas and New Year's

Sadie in her Christmas dress. Thanks again Mom!

Ryan had a merciful 3 1/2 weeks off from school for Christmas this year, so we really took advantage of our time together. We spent Christmas in Arizona (still getting used to 75 F on Christmas day!) with all the Sandstrom family there. Christmas eve with Ryan's family means the big dinner, a small talent show (Ryan and I played a duet), and a recreation of the nativity.

All worked up for Santa!

Christmas day. She cottoned on to the present thing pretty quick.

Sadie with Grandma Walker on Christmas day. The expression is the best.

Because we had so much time off from school, and because Mom, Dad, and Rachel were so close to us in Utah, we went up to see them for a few days (along with Laura and Ben), and got to stay at the Checketts' cabin out by Park City. It was amazing to be out there in such a quiet wilderness; it really was so beautiful. I secretly hoped we would get snowed in. It was a really nice, short, trip. We also got a chance to see Bri and Jess for a few hours, our friends in PG who just had a baby, as well as stop to see Grandpa Sandstrom and Lynn. Thanks again Mom and Dad! I'll leave it up to those responsible (Rachel) to post our pictures from there.

Sadie and Great-Grandpa Sandstrom

Sadie and Lynn

New Year's Eve at the Checketts' cabin. I'm ashamed this is the only picture we have inside the cabin.

After we got back from Utah, we still had a 10 days to relax. Ryan and I had a checklist of things to do, and I think we hit all of them, except go see Avatar and play some tennis. Ryan got in his round of golf, I got in my returns and shopping.

This was taken in Arizona. I came in to get Sadie from her nap, and I found her giggling madly, lying on her side like this. She thought it was "haha" funny, I thought it was worth a picture.

I'm going to throw on this last picture because I think the crooked smile in it is hilarious! Enjoy the video below.

I try to reserve the overwhelmingly eye-rolling posts to this blog, so I don't bog down the family blog. You're here by choice, I figure, so let me indulge. I've got a lot of videos to post (why do I always leave it to one post?), mostly Sadie's new tricks and stuff. It's fun that she's now starting to communicate.
Ryan is finally done with his first semester at Creighton, and it's incredible to have him around! We leave for Arizona tomorrow for Christmas, and it's starting to feel like the holidays suddenly. Huge congrats to Laura and Ben, who got engaged just the other day--pictures are on the family blog. Merry Christmas everyone!

Cute huge flower! One that I made with Erica when we had a bow night during Thanksgiving. Sadie has so many of these over-exposed pictures, because she's always trying to get the camera.

Sadie's been on a tough schedule lately, and bedtime has been a bit of a battle. The other night I let her cry it out, and she did. When I poked my head into her room to see how she was doing, I found her asleep sitting up in her crib. Pff, and I thought those bumpers were too big!

Huge snow storm the other week in Omaha. Ryan buried the shovel in the snow to give people a sense of how much we got. It was hard to gauge exactly how much it was, because as soon as it would hit the ground, the wind would scuttle it everywhere! The snow looked really cool, like undisturbed sand underwater in the ocean. You know how it gets those neat little ripples?

Cheesy smile

Snuggles with Dad during finals week. See, he was here.

More fun with Dad. Thanks mom for the great jammies!

Sorry, maybe one too many playtime shots?

It's been a while, and I have no excuse

Sorry, I know it's been a while. No wait, I do have an excuse. Ryan's computer has all the pictures on it (I don't trust my '05 Dell. It was out of date before I bought it!). So here are some of those pictures. I'll post some videos when I get them uploaded.

Justice Antonin Scalia came to Creighton to give a few lectures. Ryan didn't want to pass up the chance to go to a dinner with him, so we went. He gave a really good speech, and he's a pretty funny guy too. It was interesting to start and end dinner with prayers from professional pastors. It was a really fun, grown-up dinner with cocktails at the beginning and stuff. The whole time there, I just kept thinking, "this is what Mom and Dad usually do!" It was the first time we've left Sadie with non-family babysitters, and they said she was amazing and went to bed right after we left her. It's good to know we are so essential to her!

We had a quiet halloween. We weren't going to make a big deal out of it, but thinking back maybe we should have. Here's Ryan with Sadie, both in their last minute costumes.

Here we are in Arizona for Thanksgiving. It was so nice to be in warm weather, and so nice to see Ryan for such large chunks of time! I wish now that we had a few more pictures to show, but we really just relaxed the whole time. He's going headlong into finals tomorrow, so good luck to him!

I did a mini photo shoot with Sadie in her cute hat and sweater from mom. I couldn't resist... and I've got to fill my time with something. I always get compliments on these clothes; thanks again mom!

Happy girl!

Sad girl! Sadie was playing with the baby tylenol, and no responsible parent is going to trust that baby seal. She seemed to be enjoying herself until I came along. She was about this mad for 2 minutes.

Sadie is still getting used to all the restrictive winter clothes.

All bundled up. The cold here is unlike anything I've ever felt before. It's just so chilling, you really have to make sure that nothing is exposed. It makes me appreciate the pioneers a little more.

Sadie is becoming quite the little climber. For a while she didn't know the stairs existed. Oh, those good old days where she would just sit there.

Peekaboo?

Here's a video we just took yesterday. I'm not sure if Sadie appreciates the part that's supposed to be fun about peekaboo, but she's enjoying herself all the same!

Happy Halloween!

Videos

We've been taking a lot of videos and pictures that I need to post, so here they are. Children are naturally suspicious of the camera, so if it seems like most of the videos are taken from weird angles, that's why.

Sadie in her cute little tennis dress from Aunt Carolyn

Just having a grown-up conversation with Dad.

6 months offically!

Play time! This is usually right as Ryan gets home from school.

This is a look that Sadie reserves just for Ry. It's when they "sing" together. Sadie just coos along.

Videos. By no means feel obligated to watch all of them. They're mostly for grandparents anyways.

I'm sorry, what's going on here?

I've been shopping for a baby crib (finally) for Sadie. We figured that we were going move twice in the first 4 months of her life, and there wasn't much point in getting a ton of furniture. Well, she's been happy in her pack 'n play, but we think it is time to get something a little more substantial. While perusing on-line sites to get a general feel of what our options are, I stumbled upon this gem of a picture. At first glance, I thought, "Hm, nice looking crib." [Looking a little closer.] "Why is the baby coming out of the crib like that? Is the parent in the crib holding the child up?"

Imaginary board room decision:

Photographer: Here is, I think, an excellent way to show off this fine crib. The baby is happy, the colors are rich, lighting, simply perfect.

Executive: I agree with you completely. In no way does this picture look odd. In fact, lets post it on our home page, to show people the quality and craftsmanship people can expect from us. We have a keen eye and sharp attention to detail.

I think the rest speaks for itself. Also, if anyone has been particularly happy with their crib, please share details.