Birthday Wishes

On his 6 month birthday Vanny wanted to tell the world that he's happy to be eating solid things with his very large teeth, that he's happy to be scheming behind his very large smile and that he's happy to be thinking with his very large head (off the charts, just for the record)-- but the world was busy watching the inauguration of our new leader. He was alright with that.

On my 30th birthday I just wanted to tell the world that I'm happy to be in it. This last decade was a full one... College: check. Mission: check. Grad School: check. Marriage: check. Baby:check. Move to New York: check. And yet, the next one I think will be even fuller. I'm so happy to have all of you in my life and hope you will stay there for the decades to come.

Between early morning presents and late night cake, GK made my birthday as special as Van's

So in case the world is less distracted today than on Van's birthday, here are our birthday wishes. We wish the world as much happiness as we have found so far in our lives and even more money.

Behind the Times: Part II

If it weren't for GK taking the files to school to his speedy computer, you may never have seen these photos. As I always say... Better late than so early you get bored. Me and GK skiing. I went with him twice and in between he went once with my brother Paul and by our second time together, he was a pro.

Van's first time sledding. We took two pictures. One of us moving down the hill and one of us still and we couldn't tell the difference. I guess you could say we weren't moving very fast.

But it was a pretty big hill and he seemed nervous about it. So I trekked up by myself to show him it wasn't as scary as it looked.

He looked at it and

Thought about it and

Thought some more

It wasn't until later that we realized maybe we just went on too tame a part of the hill. He was mesmerized by this video of extreme skiing. You should see him in his doorway bouncer. He's definitely an extreme jumper.

Maybe someday he'll grow up to be like his cousin Matix who couldn't get enough of the sledding when we went on Christmas day (provided that Eddie would pull him back up the hill). Van slept through that outing.

Pops (GK's dad) was a little reluctant to go with the rest of us sledding (Bubba, Adam, Me, Cherrie, Matix, Pops... and GK taking the picture... not sure where Eddie is in this one).

But he was the first one on and the last one on the hill. He was an animal!

Behind the times: Part I

Since it has taken a week (no exaggeration) of trying to get these pictures loaded I thought I'd release them for public consumption even though there are several more to come.

Hey. It worked for JK Rowling. They just kept on coming back.

So here's a little taste of our Christmas past.We stayed for the first week at the house I grew up in with my parents. The day before we got there, my dad had his entire knee replaced.So Reggie did his best to make him feel better. I think it worked. Once the snow on the canyon roads was cleared a little,


We headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon to the Mountain House to get things ready for the Christmas Eve celebration and enjoy a little mountain air and firelight.

My dad recovered more quickly than I assured him was wise. But what do I know. Christmas is a time of miracles after all. Van discovered the blissful independence of a walker. Even though his legs were still a little too short for actual escape, he loved sitting and playing on his own. With an occasional cousin coming over to chew on his toys from the other side.With Christmas Eve came the reenactment. From left to right we have Isaac- shepherd, Henry- grumpy shepherd(the picture didn't capture the sweet little scowl), Abby-Mary, Paul- cowboy wiseman, Peter-Joseph, and Maren-costume designer and set dresser. And of course Van- baby Jesus in his candycane striped swaddling clothes.
Joseph wasn't quite ready to give up his manger to the new guy, or maybe he was just putting baby Jesus to sleep by lying down by him.
But he really wasn't thrilled when the grumpy shepherd and the cowboy wiseman decided to try it out.

After Christmas, things were back to normal for most of us. Except on top of all Van's fancy pants presents, he also got two teeth almost simultaneously and pretty much demanded to be fed grown up food. You know, your favorite, rice cereal. He has since become enchanted with bananas, and apples (pictures to come).
Through it all, Reggie remained in his royal spot in the house. Right in front of the fireplace - or space heater depending on which one was hotter at the moment.
Van bonded with his Uncle Alex and talked about how easy it is to be green.
GK went snowboarding with the Florence brothers (and later skiing for the first time with moi). We're only missing Paul in this picture and of course my dad who in spite of his rapid recovery is not yet skiing on his new knee.

More pictures to come I promise.

Stay tuned for:

-Risser family Christmas sledding and revalry

-Suzi and GK ski

-Van watches extreme sports

-Elko? Yes, Elko

-And more!

Post Christmas Blues

Van has them. He's sullen, sniffly and wants to nap all the time. I let him because I don't know how to reason with a six month old. So just for my own benefit I was going to do a picture saturated, over-narrated review of our extended vacation.

Instead...

GK and I were cast in a short independent film shooting tomorrow so we gotsta memorize.

The pictures will come.

As usual, they're worth the wait.

Christmas Monkey

When a long time and a lot of events pass between posts, I find myself not knowing where or how to pick it back up. So while I figure that out, here are a couple of pictures of our little monkey. Christmas seemed to make him grow up a little.And I'm not sure how I feel about that.

The Littlest Angels

At this time of year especially, I suffer more acutely from my usual predicament. Too many pictures and too little time. But today, since you can't take pictures in the chapel, you'll have to use your imagination for the most part.

Our December has been busy, busy, busy. GK's been finishing up finals and working hard being the dad around here. I've been hanging out with Van, watching him develop into a curious, beautiful, boy. He stops people on the street and on the subway with his stares. He loves watching people and engaging with anyone who's willing.

Once he's in bed, I've been pretty productive this season too. While putting together a million yummy plates of our traditional puffs, and sugar cookies, and brownies (a last minute substitute for a miserably failed batch of fudge),

I had a vision open in my mind. I thought about what wonderful little singers my primary kids are. Suddenly I thought, "Wouldn't they look sweet if they could dress in costumes while they sang? Hmmm."

And so it began. Out of simple pieces of fabric (curtains and scraps, plus a little tinsel), I made a Mary, a Joseph, 13 jr. shepherds(all sunbeams!), 5 lead shepherds,6 wisemen,

and 6 angels costumes.

This is Evelyn. She was supposed to be a jr. shepherd, but she wanted to be Glinda the good witch. She decided an angel was close enough. Good thing I had extra tinsel!

Imagine all of these little people crammed up on the stand singing with all their hearts "Away in a Manger" and "Still, Still, Still", feeling incredibly important. And they were. They gave me goose bumps. It was really beautiful.

This is the type of project that could go terribly wrong or perfectly right. Thank goodness for Christmas miracles.

A Good Husband

When he signs up to bring soup to the Christmas Lunch at church, he makes it himself.