2008: Year in Pictures

January

February

March

April

May

June

July




August





September

October

November

December

Happy New Year's Eve!

We Made it Home!

I never thought I would utter these words, but thank God for vans! We may need a trailer next year.

Kidding.

Maybe.

I am still busy sorting through all of the pictures from our week in MN. For now, here is a sampling of our week.....

Travel.

Presents.

Snow.

Dress-up.

More presents.

Decorating.

Playing.

From Our Home to Yours....

Merry Christmas to you! We have been exceptionally blessed in 2008 -- we pray the same for you and your families in the coming year.

Love,

Chris & Carrie

Ellie, Alex, and Maguire

My Favorite Christmas Gift: A New Job!

So remember a few days ago when I said I didn't have a job and my wife really wanted me to start getting a paycheck? Well, I've once again listened to my wife (Because I always do), and got a new job! It's really an answer to prayer (and thanks to all who said one for us too by the way), because it's worked out really well.

I applied for a job about two weeks before I was laid off from KSFY to be the Legislative Director at the South Dakota Farmers Union. It's a non-profit group that represents farmers and ranchers in the state. I interviewed for the job last week, and they called me back the next day. But they said they wanted me to be their Communications & Marketing Director instead. So today (Monday) I called and accepted the offer!

But there's one little catch to the whole thing; I'll have to move the family to Huron, South Dakota, at some point. It's about an hour and a half from Sioux Falls, and it's a lot smaller town. About 12,000 people live there (The Sioux Falls area is about 150,000), so it's not tiny by any means. But we'll be leaving a lot of great friends behind, so the feelings are somewhat mixed. We're very excited to start fresh in a new town though, and to make some new friends. So in the end it's a wonderful thing. I was only out of work for a total of 21 days, and it's been a really nice paid vacation!!

Thanks again to all of you who lifted us up during this time, your prayers definitely worked!!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas....

We finally got our tree up last weekend! Some of you may remember from this post last year, Chris hates with the fire of a thousand suns loves assembling our Christmas tree. But he took one for the team and powered through.

Daddy and Ellie playing with the Nativity scene. This year, Dora's spot at Jesus's birth was filled by two My Little Ponies, Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, Snow White, and Prince Philip from Sleeping Beauty.



We have been taking advantage of Chris being home during the day to get outside and play. Although we now have at least 6 inches of snow on the ground and temperatures are hovering at a balmy 4 degrees as we speak, last week was not too bad.




"You want me to do what? Shovel the driveway?"



Finally, Ellie had her Christmas program last weekend at church. We apologize for the poor lighting and camera work, but here is a little sample of her mad singing and choreography skills.





Also, the babies got passed to some friends during the program, so I was able to shoot a little video of Maguire grooving to the music. Whenever there is music playing, the kid flaps his arms like a tiny chicken and screeches. Funny stuff, but probably not so amusing to the audience members in front of him.

'Tis the Season for Red, Green...and Pink Slips?

Alright, it's not really pink, but this piece of paper might as well have been. If you look close it says, "Employee Termination Report." It should've said, "Merry Christmas, Chris! Love, KSFY." But they'd probably leave out the "love" part, I suppose.

That was the fun surprise I got after work on Monday morning. I say 'after work' because I came in and worked 11:30pm to 7:30am and then they informed me that I was being laid off immediately. It would've been nice if I hadn't had to work all night before it happened. But my response was, "So I don't have to come to work tomorrow? And you're going to pay me for awhile? I'm cool with that."

So my career as a TV star (a term used very loosely) is over, and I couldn't feel better about it. I had a job interview the very next day that was very therapeutic. She asked me questions like, "What do you want to do Chris?" and "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" They're questions that I don't think about too often. I don't know the answers to those questions just yet either, so that'll take some thought. But at least I'm trying to answer them.

And really, I can do anything I want now. There's no binding contract holding me back. I've started to grow a goatee if you look at the picture close. I haven't been able to have one of those since college because I was on TV. So I can truly do anything, even grow facial hair. But when I say that, Carrie cringes a bit (the 'do anything' part, and the facial hair, too). I usually hear, "You can do what you want, but you do need to get a paycheck for it." She's not that harsh of course, but you get the picture.


I guess the moral of this story is be thankful for what you have, because it could be gone tomorrow. But the other moral is that everything happens for a reason, and it'll all work out in the end. God's always provided for our family, and we know he will provide again and again. So we're not worrying about the future and trusting that a bigger and better job is out there just waiting for me. And if you know of that bigger and better job don't hesitate to let me know...because my wife says I have to get a paycheck!

Thanksgiving 2008

We kicked off our holiday week with a weekend visit from Grandpa and Grandma Studer. As usual, we snapped the majority of the pictures with Grandma's new camera, so our camera ended up with only three shots of their visit. Here are two -- the third was only identifiable as the back of Grandpa's head, so we opted not to post that one. We had lots of fun playing with kids, walking to Lewis (how could we not?), and eating good food.

My cousin Sarah drove from LaCrescent, MN to spend the holiday weekend with us, and we were so glad she came! She has spent the last two years teaching in Japan, so this was her first extended visit with the babies since they arrived.

No visit would be complete without the requisite minimum of 10 hours of playing Barbies, princesses, or even better -- princess Barbies! But thank goodness Papa is a good sport, and he gladly shouldered this duty while we prepped for the big meal.




The boys watched in amazement from behind their makeshift prison/baby gate as our kitchen saw more activity in one day than it has in the entire 10 months they've been alive!

Ellie and I broke out our inner domestic goddesses and created turkey placecards for everyone on Wednesday, and Grammie brought along the supplies for the little Oreo turkeys. Let me tell you, it was one festive table. Martha Stewart, eat your heart out!

Here we are, just before eating. We were lucky enough to time it out so the boys were sleeping during the start of the meal. Hurray for eating food at the correct temperature!

Alex and Maguire joined the festivities midway through the meal, and LOVED the mashed potatoes, turkey, and even a little stuffing.

Ellie and Papa, taking their snooze before we even ate!

I think Maguire accurately portrays the feelings we had toward shopping on Black Friday. We did (of course) venture out to Lewis to see if they had any good deals. Sadly, we were disappointed...but certainly not disappointed enough to go anywhere else.

It was off to the Parade of Lights on Friday night. Sarah, Ellie, and I hit the town for our yearly tradition. There were plenty of lights, carolers, and even a float featuring the baby Jesus and two motorcycles! Because nothing says the coming of the Christ child like a Harley Davidson, right? Sadly, I did not capture a picture of that float.

Grammie and Papa volunteered to stay at home with the boys, where things like this......

and this.......

...were going on. Don't worry, Alex actually got quite a kick out of dangling over the edge of the couch. Giggles and everything -- and if you've met Alex, you know it's hard to squeeze a laugh out of that kid!

We also squeezed in some Christmas baking on Friday, too!

All kidding aside, we are so thankful for our family and friends this year. You have all been an amazing support to us -- we love you!

****Side Note**** For those of you who may have noticed Chris's absence from most of the pictures, he was gone from Friday to Sunday night, doing some freelance shooting for a snowcross tournament up in Duluth, MN. So I was especially thankful for all the extra helping hands that visited us for Thanksgiving!

We Are Thankful For.....

More Thanksgiving weekend coming soon!