Snow day

 Took a day trip to the snow with Steven and family. It was cold! We had a good time once we finally got there, got the right clothes on and someone gave us a couple of inner-tubes to use because they were done and didn't need them. Nice!

 Abbey and Shay along for the ride.

 Jeff and Abbey

 Jeff gave me a little extra help......

 Tanner got some good speed on this one. Ashley I couldn't keep up with she came and went before I could ever take a picture of her.

Risenmay Family Stats - 2009

Weighing in at 25 lbs and 31 inches tall, Abbey is growing every day - 18 months (NURSERY!!!)

*Likes: eating everything....I mean EVERYTHING; most recently trout food at the Bass Pro shop
*Favorite resting spot: on top of the keyboard while it's on, playing as she wiggles to get comfortable and reading the hymn book.
*New skill: can feed herself and now can put most of it in her mouth; says daddy, cool, mommmmmyyyyyy!!!, Yea (Lea), Yukie (Lukie), toot tack (fruit snack), bomp-pa (grandma and grandpa) and much, much more
*Dislikes: getting in trouble and being left without mommy - brings instant tears.

At 35 lbs, 36 inches, Lucas is our red-headed Superhero and constantly on the go- age 3
*Likes: all things round, cars, his blanket, shoes and new coat, and being a Superhero in his spare time
*My favorite spot for him: on the couch watching a "show"  (Phineas and Ferb) at 6:00 am until I finally wake up....
*New skill: Water-skied - all by himself!!!
*Dislikes: cleaning up by himself - brings instant tears

46 lbs and 47 inches - Lea is our resident smarty, Kindergarten grad and currently in 1st grade - age 6

*Likes: reading, writing, coloring, bike riding and eating healthy food, playing with friends and all things Hannah Montana and the Hoedown Throwdown
*Favorite spot: anywhere but asleep - always wants to be where the grown-ups are
*New skill: reading chapter books
*Dislikes: chores, occasionally going to school and going to bed

At 140 lbs (yes that's my actual weight) and 65 inches tall (5'5" if you don't want to think about math) - I am currently 29 and will remain 29 for the rest of my life......if you want to know my real age, do the math - born in 1979.
*Likes: sleep, sleep and more sleep.
Favorite spot: at my home with my kids and my husband; or with any other family we can find who will come visit us
*New skill: killing plants, poking holes in drip lines trying to save said dead plants, and still coupons, coupons, coupons.... love it!
*Dislikes: being woken up. Did I mention I like my sleep?

And finally weighing in at 216 and 67 inches tall (I'll save you the trouble of re-reading above to figure out he's 5'7"), Jeff is our resident work-aholic, but still young at heart. He did take a 7 week break when he was layed off from Deloitte in April. To which we lived like paupers and traveled like King and Queen with our posse to Idaho, Utah, Vegas, Utah and I think one more trip to Idaho. 
*Likes: video games, Beatles, harassing anyone around and job-hopping; currently works for Republic Services and is still Stake Clerk for church
*Favorite spot: anywhere there is a football game - mainly BYU
*New skill: replacing dead plants, fixing broken drip lines and buying new TV's
*Dislikes: household chores and yardwork

And a little entertainment - I spy in the family collage: Family reunions; snowball fights; 1 wedding - 3 bored brothers; Sent my mom & dad to the MTC - currently in Norway on a mission; Guitar Hero parties; pulling teeth; Did I mention Hannah Montana!?!; trips to the water park; PARTIES: cutest bunch of pirates, rock stars, abbey turned 1 and more ; Twin Lakes - water-skiing; Oregon Coast; visiting Great Grandparents; camping and dutch oven testing; volleyball; 4th of July parade in Idaho; swim lessons; Halloween; soccer; cousins, cousins and more cousins; LEA LOVES A DOG!!!; road trip to BYU - go cougs!; Abbey and Lucas both getting ready to fly; a DodgerTown West game - Uncle Arlo; breaking bread for stuffing; matching jammies; dad in the dunk tank - mom throwing; and well enjoy the photos.

We had a great year and hope you did too. Here's to next year - hoping for a few less lbs and more great times with family and friends! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Christmas - part 2 - the tree

Sad story really. Jeff and I are both allergic to everything nature. To say we're just allergic is an understatement - it really is amazing that either of us can function as well as we do without living in a bubble free of outdoors. Anyway, last year, Jeff was sick for about 3 weeks at Christmas time. I thought it was because he was on "vacation" from work and that's just what happens. We go on vacation, Jeff would get sick - happens every time! I use the word "vacation" because he was still working for Deloitte and well really, there's no such thing as "vacation" from work. It just meant, we'll call you at home, email and text you no matter the time or day - you're just lucky enough to be at home and not at the clients or the office.....I digress. Back to the tree: so Jeff was sick, Christmas came, the tree started to die, Jeff takes it outside. Comes back in "My arms are itchy and red". "I bet you're allergic to the tree......" wheels start turning, can you smell the smoke burning!!!. The next day, he's totally fine. IT WAS THE TREE. So out goes the idea of having a real tree every year for Christmas, now we get to buy a fake tree.....I just couldn't do it and I didn't want to. I love the smell of real trees, but the cleanup and fire hazard are a mess.

So this year, we weren't getting a real tree, and we were going to wait until after Christmas to buy a fake tree. It just didn't feel like Christmas, we hadn't put our lights up outside - I finally did that on Dec 19th. Jeff came home from somewhere - re-hung the lights, then went out in search for more icicle lights - we needed one more strand - no more in all the stores around!!! Up he went again to rehang the last strand to stretch the front of the house - looked very nice....still no tree at this point and it's the Saturday before Christmas. Monday Jeff was home and we went shopping for more Christmas stuff......looking only for a small tree to get by this year. Pictures tell a great story.

Tree #1

 

Trees #1 and 2 - Abbey wouldn't touch them and we tried to convince the kids they had to stay there to hold the trees.....no such luck and they were outside trees to stake in the ground.....bummer. Put them outside, Jeff returned to Target to purchase our 7.5 ft tree - already on clearance for 50% off! We'll take it!

So much better and nicely decorated - love the pre-lit trees. We'll see what happens if they ever fail....

Lucas' turn to put the star on the tree. Lea decided since she put the star up last year, that this year was Lucas' turn, next year - Abbey. awwww..... :)

Terrified! Jeff trying to calm Lucas' down

Not so bad now

Lea and daddy

Everybody wants a turn

Christmas -part 1

Christmas preparations: I love Christmas - it's my favorite time of year and I love it even more that we don't have endless amounts of snow (don't ask Jeff though - he's still bitter there was no White Christmas). We can even have our ward Christmas party - outside! Last hurrah as the Gila River Ward - our ward is split and we are now in the Trailside ward - later on that.

Some of my activity day girls - I will miss them! Morghan Farris, Alexis Winn, Sarah and Rachael Palmer. Rachael is Lea's friend and we will miss seeing the Palmers at church - our ward has since split and their dad is now the Bishop of the Gila River Ward.

A fabulous picture with Santa! I thought Abbey was going to freak out, but they did great - everyone looking the same place, great backdrop - perfect!

What's a little Christmas without Music - Beatles Rockband with our friends the Sorensens (no relation - at least we don't go to the same Sorensen Family Reunions)

Brynn and Lucas - happy to see them finally getting along. :)

Pete, Angie, Jeff and the youngest, cutest drummer - Abbey

Lea finishing her big drum solo! :)

I don't know.
New: I asked Lucas who that was: it's me, I'm grumpy. I'm grumpy Wucas Wizenmay. (Lucas Risenmay)

Missionary moments

My mom and dad are serving an 18 month mission in Norway. My dad served there when he was 19 and had never been back until about 5 years ago, when he, my mom, my dad's brothers/sisters and spouses and even my sister and her husband went - we helped watch their 5 kids while they were gone....We only had Lea at the time...... :) They've been there now since Aug 2009 - we love getting emails, seeing pictures and chatting with them on skype. They travel ALOT and some members travel great distances to get to church and go as often as they can. Some traveling up to 5 hours one way just to attend church. So my parents travel to see the members (less active, active and investigators) wherever they live. Their recent trip was to Mo I Rana this past weekend, about a 7 hour train ride from Trondheim where they are living. My mom does not speak much Norwegian but is learning and my dad translates for her. She always says her Norwegian comes out with a Spanish accent. :)

1st day there - notice the nice weather, no jackets, my mom in short sleeves.......

Beautiful colors and my beautiful mom

My mom/dad's apartment - celebrating Christmas with the Sisters and Elders

I think this is my dad's first self portrait - not sure I've ever seem him do that before. He loves to take pictures and said their drives go much quicker when it's dark because he can't stop to take pictures of the beautiful scenery.

4:30 pm in Mo I Rana - some places never get daylight and during the summer it's the land of the midnight sun as the sun never goes down. Not the same nice weather when they got there in August, but they love it nonetheless and are enjoying the people and taking care of the sisters/elders and anyone else in need. My parents are great that way - always helping and serving and both very talented in all aspects of life.

One other quick story - this little bunny is at a members house. My parents went there one day to visit with the family and my mom got too close to the cage. Pretty soon the bunny was nibbling on the bottom of her skirt. She had to go home and mend her skirt. Lucas thought this was so funny that a bunny would eat Grandma's skirt - he laughed and asked me to tell the story again. :) The next time my parents went to visit this family, my dad took this picture - there is more distance between my mom and the cage now. Apparently, the bunny has nibbled on the owner's pants when she was standing too close. Bad little bunny!

Soccer season - Fall 2009

This never made it from October or November, but we made it through another soccer season with Lea. If you have been a reader since the beginning of last year, you know soccer was not Lea's favorite sport or favorite anything. Several meltdowns about clothes, playing and just being there in general. Sad for me because I love soccer and would have played, but I was a little over the age limit for her age group. :)

This time around, she was excited and played with several of her friends from last year. The Thundercats had a winless season and would even tell you the score at the end of each game. If you asked any of the parents....we seriously didn't keep track. Honest. It was a little disheartening for them to lose so much and only score, I think, 5 goals in 6 games. Most coming in 2 games, so there were some games they didn't score at all. But they improved and became more aggressive as the weeks went by. A few highlights of the year:

Go, go, go!!!

Taking a break - it was surprisingly hot at some of these games (reminder it was the end of October and beginning of November) - our umbrella came in handy.

Listening to Coach Kartchner

Playing goalie - she's a natural!

Battling for the ball against her friend Alyssa (from school)

Abbey chillin' on the sidelines

Side game with Miss Erin

Hanging out in the shade - you'd be surprised how fast these 2 sunburn!

Another great season - Lea and Ethan. Next season starts in January - love Arizona!!