Happy New Year!

The last three weeks have been a whirlwind of holiday activity! After my last post, we have had some activity or committment nearly every day. But it has been a wonderful Christmas season. My brother, Jeff, and his family came for Christmas this year. The kids love playing together, so they played until they dropped! Ryan and Garrett make the perfect pair of crazy, hilarious boys, and Michaela and Paige played all the girl stuff together. At one point they were watching a Barbie movie and they told my Grandpa to leave because it was "just for girls!" How funny that they pair off at such a young age.

On the Sunday before Christmas, we loaded up the entire family and headed out to have pictures taken. We were pretty sure it would be a disaster, what with having 4 children ages 5 and under. But, surprisingly, they all did very well. There were a few poses with someone's finger in their nose (the kids, not the adults!), and some where no one was looking where they were supposed to. But, overall, we were pleased with the results.

Sunday night, Dave took an interesting hospital visit. He has been to the ER three times this year, and always in the middle of the night. So, for variety, we took the dog to the ER instead. We returned from our pictures to find that our sweet dog, Sadie, had eaten a half pound package of chocolate brownie bites out of the trash. We didn't worry at first, because Sadie is famous for eating anything she can get her paws on, including rocks and concrete! But, after a few hours, she was standing in the middle of the kitchen, staring at the wall and whining. So, after a little internet research that scared us to death, Dave took her to the doggie ER until 2:30 a.m. They were able to get induce vomiting and determined that she would be OK. We are so thankful that our sweet little (well, big...) dog is better!
Monday we took the kids up to the mountains to do some sledding. They found a nice little hill and spent an hour or so taking turns whizzing down the slope and bumping over the parking block at the bottom--that was the best part, in their minds! Then Uncle Jeff helped them build a snowman while Dave took Paige for a ride in the sled (she was too afraid to go down the hill).

Christmas morning brought 4 kids trying to take turns opening presents, but having a very hard time waiting! They played all day and collapsed in happy heaps at the end.

Dave and I visited his parents after Christmas and enjoyed seeing that side of the family as well. It snowed there again, only this time I was prepared! We played outside for hours before heading inside to sleep away the excitement of the holiday.
As we prepare to begin a new year, I am amazed as always by the ways God has provided for us this year. He helped us through the scary period in the spring when Dave found his (thankfully benign) tumor in this mouth. He has given us a beautiful family and provides daily for our needs. I know He will do no less in the coming year! We pray that you will also feel His presence and provision! Happy New Year!

Christmas

Of Mud and Christmas Trees

In the spirit of Chevy Chase's "Christmas Vacation", we decided this past weekend to search the mountains for the "Bryson Family Christmas Tree." We piled into Dave's truck and drove up to the Jemez mountains to start our search. The scenery was beautiful...the colors bright and bold. Did I mention the colors were beautiful because it was pouring rain? The weatherman had forecasted snow for the mountains, so we had visions of tramping through the snow, singing Christmas carols, and finding the perfect tree. (Well, to be honest, Dave probably had no visions of Christmas carols, but I did!) Instead there was mud everywhere! But, the children wanted to cut their own tree, and we weren't going to turn around after an hour and a half of hearing "Are we there yet?" So we donned our jackets, hats, and gloves and set out. We quickly realized that the same features that made the area we picked beautiful (namely big rocky canyons) also made it nearly impossible to hike easily. After about twelve steps, our boots were caked with mud and we were slipping all over the rocks.

Eventually, we did find the "perfect" tree (at least as perfect as you can get growing in the mountains!) Dave and Garrett went to work cutting it, and Garrett was beside himself with joy at being able to use the saw all by himself!!! So, our trip was not the picture card experience we wished for, but it was definitely memorable! Instead of Christmas carols, we made funny voices as we bumped over the washboard roads. Here are a few pictures of our tree and a few extras from Garrett's birthday. (P.S. I know that Garrett's icing on his cake was pink and he's a boy. But how else can you get the strawberry flavor he wanted?? We "masculinized" it with Spiderman decorations!)

Christmas Trees

Birthday Fun

Believe it or not, Garrett will be five years old tomorrow! I know it sounds trite, but it really does just seem like yesterday we brought him home from the hospital. And here we are, five years later, the "parenting experts". (It's OK, you can go ahead and laugh...) Like all parents, I'm sure, we've had a wild ride as we've learned on the go. Sometimes we're confident in our parenting abilities, and sometimes we just make it up as we go along. But, both kids are alive, healthy, and relatively well-behaved (depending on what day it is!).

We decided that 5 years was a little bit of a milestone, so we asked Garrett what he wanted to do for his birthday party. I was prepared for Chuck E. Cheese or some similar torturous...oh I mean wonderful... idea. But instead, he says "I want to go bowling." Now, we have never taken him bowling before, nor does anyone we know bowl. So, we're not sure where this idea came from. However, it turned out to be an inspired idea! We met his friends at the alley at 10:00 a.m., and they had the whole place to themselves. The staff (all 2 of them) were at our beck and call. They set up a table for the kids, brought out pitchers of soda, and even gave Garrett a Spiderman bowling pin with his name on it. (For Garrett there can be no higher joy than Spiderman!)

It was great watching eight 4-5 year olds trying to get the ball down the lane. We eventually had the staff bring out this metal ramp that the kids could set the ball on and roll it down the lane. Otherwise, it might have taken us most of the morning just to finish one turn each. It was hilarious watching them heave the ball with all their might, and then watch it roll s-l-o-w-l-y, down the lane and finally barely tip a pin. By the end of the party, they had the hang of it, and Garrett even managed 2 strikes! Does he have polyester and bad shoes in his future? We hope not, but the birthday part was a lot of fun!

Bowling Birthday