Ulrich Updates!!!

Wow - it has been a long time - I apologize! We don't have internet anymore, so my posts are probably going to be few and far between. But here is an update for now . . .

Scott's uncle has been in town for the past couple of weeks and so it has got him back into hunting and fishing even though it is freezing outside. (But I guess that's when you go pheasant hunting huh?) He shot this beautiful pheasant for the first time in years. He was so excited and so were the boys. He caught two this hunting season.
His dad and him also went fishing and Scott was really disappointed that his dad caught a bigger fish than him, but hey - you can't always be the best :)

After Scott graduated from PA school, we moved in with my parents when we sold our house and stayed there for about 2 months until we found a place of our own. We finally found one and moved in the 2nd weekend of November and are loving it. I don't have any pictures of it yet, but here is Koen in his new room snoozin' with his legs crossed. It's so fun to have so much space and have lots of room for the boys to run and be their wild selves. There is plenty of room for visitors so come on over.

We spent Thanksgiving Day with the Ulrichs and had a great day. It all started off with a fantastic meal of course!

The kids love getting together and playing!

We thought we would let all the kids watch a movie and a little while into it - this is what I found. Austin kept saying, "Shhhhh - he's asleep". I thought it was so sweet he would be so concerned for his brother. It's times like this that are so rewarding to be a parent.

That evening we got a little "crazy" and did some "shot contests" with pop of course. We had contests who could drink the 6 little cups the fastest. I got wasted!

These 3 guys were all pretty fast - they all finished at about the same time. It's amazing what entertains us huh? We had a great holiday and it made it even better that we were able to be with our family. It's such a blessing that we get to live so close! Thanks for a great holiday - Ulrichs!

We also celebrated Koen's 2nd birthday. We had a great day with lots of family and loads of treats. Koen was in heaven. It was fun to be able to have so many people in our new place and not feel totally crammed.

Koen is obsessed with any kind of car and you would think that we had enough cars, but in our house - you can never have too many cars. He was so excited for every single little car.

Our boys love these tangle toys whenever we go to the doctor's office, the bank, etc. Koen was saying "WHOW" in the picture. He was so excited. Whenever we would tell him "Happy Birthday" - he would say, "Hap Biday Daddy" or whoever's name said it to him. It was hilarious. He had a great couple of days celebrating it. We want to thank all those that celebrated with us and your generousity and kindness. He loves everything!

It has been a crazy and fun-filled month and we are looking forward to another fun-filled and crazy month of December. Hopefully I can post again before Christmas - we shall see!

Halloween!!!

Well Halloween was fun-filled and very exciting for the boys! We kicked off the weekend by finally carving our pumpkins! The boys loved it! In fact, Koen even tried eating the gooey stuff out of the pumpkin - that was a little gross, but they loved being able to pull it all out and get a little messy.

Koen helped Scott with the big one and Austin helped Katie with the little one! Obviously Scott and Koen's took much more time!

They were trying to copy the faces on the pumpkins - just a little off!

Austin's pumpkin with his pumpkin hat that he made at preschool!

The night of - right before the trick-or-treating begins with the Tanner family (cousins)!

Austin the ninja turtle and Koen the fireman! They loved Halloween and I think have already forgotten about all the candy they got! Hallelujah!

Oh - and by the way - WE ARE HAVING A BOY! :)

Baby Ulrich!!!

Blue or pink?

Koen's Anger Management

This is Koen's way of getting out his frustrations. He sees his reflection in the stove and has to take all his anger out on it. He does it pretty regularly. There would be times I would hear him screaming and look over and no one is even remotely close to him and then I realize he is yelling at his reflection. Pretty funny! Wouldn't it be nice if we could all get away with that.

Preschool Time!!!

Well it is officially that time of year when the kids go to school and things start back up again. Austin has started his first year of school (preschool that is). He is loving it - he has only been 2 days, but is loving every second of it. The night before his first day of school, we told him he had preschool the next morning and that is what made him go to bed so good that night. Who knew?

This is him on the first day!

Whenever a camera is pulled out - Koen has to be in on the action! I wanted to get a picture of the two of them anyways - so it worked out great! These two are growing too fast. It is crazy!

Graduation Day!!!

Well, I am way behind on my posts. A lot has happened since the 4th of July, but I will catch up soon. I just wanted to make sure I posted this today because today was a huge day for our family! Yes, Scott graduated!!! It was a day full of mixed emotions - excited and so happy to be done with school, but at the same time sad because we probably won't see many of the PA students for a while. We have made some amazing friends and they will be our friends for life - but we are all going different ways for jobs, so it will make it a little more difficult to get together. All in all - it ended up being a really nice day and a huge relief. There were only 48 graduates so it made for a fairly short program (which was nice considering my kids were so not into it.) Luckily we had both sets of parents there to help entertain the kids. Thanks to both of you for coming. That really meant a lot to Scott and I.

This is when Scott got hooded. And when he received his diploma.

The PA graduating class of 2009.

These are some of Scott's PA buddies. They were a very tight knit class. It was fun for us wives too.

Our little family afterwards!!! Austin was so pumped to hold the "big folder".

Ryan, Heather, & Hattie Williams and us!

Scott and Jon Pittard - Jon & Scott had some of the undergrad classes together and become pretty good friends and then Jon moved to Boise and they both went into the PA program. In Boise they have an extension from ISU and so they were classmates again via satellite.

PA school was an awesome experience for our entire family. It was hard at times, but it's exciting to see that it is all paying off. It's exciting to have the school part of our lives done, but at the same time it's crazy to think of how life will be without school. Hopefully much better. We just want to thank everyone for all of their love and support as we went through this program and want to wish all of our fellow PAs good luck and lets make sure we all keep in touch!

4th of July!!!

We had a great 4th of July. We didn't know what we were going to do until the day of. We went out to the Ulrichs and had a yummy barbeque. Always a good time. We were trying to kill time until it got dark, but it was really hard to wait THAT long. We let the kids start off with the regular snaps. They love them.

Koen wasn't sure at first, but after a little bit he would walk around and pick them up and make sure they had been snapped.

It was so hot! The kids were dying. (I don't know why Austin is in pants. Whoops!!!)

It was starting to get a little darker, so then we could bring out the sparklers.

Koen made me really nervous with the sparkler. He almost started my hair and his on fire a number of times.

When we finally started the real fireworks, Koen just wanted to sit on Aunt Leisja's lap. It was really cute.

The kids did really good just sitting and watching. No incidents fortunately!

Our little family after a long HOT day of fun and fireworks.

Austin's Soccer

Austin has been playing AYSO soccer for about 4 weeks now and is loving it. He loves to say that he is playing like his dad. Scott and Austin's games are on the same night at the exact same time which is a bummer, but it is fun for them to get ready for their games at the same time. Austin does pretty good at his games though - he does tend to get a little side tracted, but what 3-4 year old wouldn't right? It's so funny when you start to cheer for him - he looks at you and starts running as fast as he can either looking at the person that cheered or looking at the ground. It then results in running into another player or running past the ball. It's hilarious though. He does a great job! He still has 4 more weeks to go and he is looking forward to every game. When you tell him his game is that night - he asks every hour or more when he can start getting ready. Does he love to wear the gear more than play the game? I wonder . . .

Right before his first game!

Like father - Like son! They love it!

Koen wanted in on the action!

Warming up before the game!

What a stud - he wasn't really understanding the pose I was trying to put him in.

The "Lions" - (that is the team name the boys came up with!) What??? Who is the coach - YIKES! Yeah - it's true - I got roped into coaching - I don't know jack diddly about soccer, but these are 4 year olds - I just have to teach them to kick the ball into the right goal - Right? It's been fun though and a good experience for me. Luckily Scott is constantly giving me pointers. What a fun experience huh? GO LIONS!!!

Happy Father's Day! & Congratulations!!!

I was supposed to post this yesterday, but I am a day late - sorry! I just wanted to wish my hubby a Happy Father's Day. He is such a great dad. With all the things he has to do with school, church, studying, etc. etc. he still makes time to be a dad for the boys. I love how they play together and the boys are always asking (well Austin) when Daddy will be home. There are more times than not that Austin will run into my room when he wakes up in the morning and say, "Mom, where's Daddy?" and of course I will tell him that he left already for work. He then will say, "When is he going to be home?" The boys love their dad and he is the best daddy ever.

These are a few of Austin's favorite things about Scott:

• he will take me camping


• going fishing


• haircuts ( I don't know why that - because he cries every time, but ok)


• when he comes home I love to give him a big hug


• I love to get on his lap


• when he takes me 4 riding (on the 4 wheelers)


• when he plays with me, but I beat him all day


• when I go golfing with him


• when he dumps toys on my head


• pillow fights


• and that's all
  

This morning I told Austin that it was Father's Day and he looked at me all serious and said, "Mom, when is it going to be Brother's Day?" I think we'll have to designate a day for brother's day. Maybe next Sunday!

Austin and Scott have a great time together. Koen loves to get in the mix every now and again. Sometimes it gets a little too rough for him. Scott is a great dad. He is so understanding and patient with the boys. He has every quality a kid could ask for in a dad. You are the best daddy ever!!! Happy Father's Day Scott! We love you!

I would also like to congratulate Scott on successfully passing the PACRAT with flying colors. He took the test on Friday and was so stressed out about it. It is so comforting for him to know that he can officially graduate and now all that is left is the boards in August. We are so excited to be one step closer to being done. CONGRATS Scott - we knew you could do it! I love you!!!

My New FAVORITE!!!

I saw this video on one of my friend's blog and I absolutely love it! I can't wait for the MP3 to come out. Jon Schmidt is so amazing - I wish I could play the piano like him.

Spring Break!!!

Finally it was spring break time. The PA students were given 3 weeks for their break. Hallelujah! Unfortunately the PA students had a practice boards test they had to study for and take during their break which took the first 2 weeks. Luckily our friend Brandon told us about a trip that we could take that was reasonably priced - so we took it. We headed to Las Vegas for their final week of spring break. We were able to go with Brandon and Emily and also Ryan and Heather (both guys from the PA program). It was so much fun! We had a hard time coming home. It was so nice to be away from everything and just hang out and play. We even lucked out and were allowed to go kid free. Thanks so much to Annie, Erin, and Scott's mom for helping us out there. It made it very relaxing!

We were able to stay at the MGM Grand. We did a lot of different things while we were there. We watched quite a few of the Bellagio water shows, the Mirage volcano show, ate lots of good food, went to the show Mystere at Treasure Island (that was cool), went to the pool a lot, went to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay, rode the rollercoaster at New York New York (super fun), and just hang out and spend some time together!!! It was so much fun! In fact, we might just have to make it a tradition!

Katie and Scott getting ready for take off!!!

Hattie (Ryan and Heather's little girl). She was such a trooper! We did a lot of playing and she wasn't able to have her regular naps all the time and she did awesome. She is so stinkin' cute too!

Emily, Katie, and Heather at the Vegas Airport

Katie and Scott at the pools. We went to the pool every day. It was so fun to wake up and go straight to the pool. It's amazing how hot it was at 10 AM.

Scott and Katie with the blue M&M.

Scott, Brandon, and Ryan sporting some sweet sunglasses.

All of us at Planet Hollywood for dinner.

Waiting for the Mirage volcano show.

The volcano show at the Mirage

One of the many water shows at the Bellagio.

The fellaws posing in the falls.

Scott and Katie enjoying the pool.

Us at the Shark Reef

The girls in front of the New York New York roller coaster. It was so much fun to ride. I would do it over and over.

Dinner at Rainforest Cafe

The boys trying different tricks in the pool. Hilarious!!!

Don't even ask :)

Waiting for our shuttle back to the airport! That was a sad day! Thanks so much Williams and Hansons. We had so much fun!