Craziness!

Ethan and Marisa...congrats!

Rags and I

Isn't Cavin handsome!

Ella and her cousin Madi...she would NOT hold still

My brother Corey's adorable family!

So all the fun of the week has finally calmed down and we are another Christmas down and another sister has bitten the dust....ok just gotten married :) Christmas was great and we were very blessed as usual. I was very excited that my parents got Ragnar a gps system so he can find his way around Houston and get a job! We had a fun day and I have loved having all my siblings around to play with. Ella is loving my brothers' kids and she is in Heaven at Grandmas!
On another note, Marisa got married and she looked beautiful and the day went lovely! Cavin also got his first tooth on her wedding day and is now scooting around!Congrats Marisa....we already miss you! (the pics aren't great but you get the idea!)

Holiday Fun!

It's the holiday season and I love all that comes with it....family, fun, friends, food..! It's been so fun to be here with all my family. Don't get me wrong, it's been crazy preparing for Marisa's wedding and Christmas, but we are still surviving! (and...if Ella EVER decides to get married in December, I'll tell her she's on her own!) First we got to enjoy in Marisa going through the temple. It was a wonderful day and she did a great job. She is so excited to get married!


This is who was able to be there, Our family is
on the left and his is on the right.

Here are Ethan and Marisa

After the temple, Caden and Chira came! They are my brother Chris' family from Washington D.C and Ella loves to play with her almost 2 year old cousin!


My other brother has his two kids John and Madi here as well and when they all get together it's so fun to watch! Ella loves to try and be a big girl like Madison! Here are all of them playing!



And, FINALLY we all got to go as sisters to take the bride to be, Marisa, out to lunch to have a girls day out and give her some tips on the whole marriage thing...like make sure you are ready for what you are getting into...ahhh! Ok it's not that bad, it just takes some getting used to. We had fun though!

Here we all are..
Me, Marisa, Chira, Stephani, and Natalie

Family Pictures!

O.k. so most of these were supposed to be a surprise for our parents, but .....we accidentally sent them to them with our Christmas card. So... I wanted to share our family pictures with you all as well! These were taken by my cousins wife Tiffani and she was great with the kids, even though Ella kept pretending she was shy! Thanks Tiff! I hope that you have a very Merry Christmas!

Just My Luck!!

My parents house in the "snow" (i know not really
snow, it doesn't stick!)


Ella and Grandma!

Ok so it hasn't snowed in Spring,Texas since Ragnar and I came home for Christmas 4 years ago! They always said we brought it with us! Well, guess what....it snowed again yesterday! I couldn't believe it, I have horrible luck and the cold follows me..even though I moved to the warmth!

Oh well...I guess it is a cold front and will be 70's again next week....Welcome to Texas!

An Empty House

Camille and Ashley... my lifelines!

Wendy, Me, Camille, and Amy are great friends

Tanner and Ella will really miss each other

All the kids, Ella, Anthony, Kaylie, Reilly, Tanner,
Cavin, and Lily (who wasn't in the pic)

I wanted to document, mostly for myself our packing process and the move. We had a lot of help from the MacNairs, Ferrins, and Stones and we couldn't have done it without them. They are three wonderful families whom we REALLY miss! Here are some pictures before we left with our neighbors the Jeppesens as well. We miss you guys! AND as for Tim.....we will forever be indebted to you and your back ache for helping us... and Ashley and Camille...thank you so much for occupying my children!

Don't Mess With Texas!

We have finally arrived in the wonderful state of Texas! I didn't think it was going to be possible, but we survived and are still in one piece! I am having very mixed feelings having been here a few days. Part of me loves being so close to my family, and the other part of me wants to just go home and go back to things that are safe and normal. This is going to be hard, but I hope when we look back it will have been the right decision. We packed all up on Tuesday and Wednesday and then left Thursday morning for Salt Lake city! We had a nice and relaxing Thanksgiving at Ragnar's Omas house. Oma Beck, Uncle Werner, Sandra, Michael, and Jonas McMullin, and Hellmut and Ursula joined us and we had a nice day. We spent the night in a hotel and then at 5:30 a.m. we headed out the next morning. All was going well, we were making great time when the dvd player wouldn't turn on, and then the trailer tire broke in Moab...only 4.5 hours into our destination! So we waited an hour and a half and then Ragnar had to wait with his dad 5 hours for them to come get it traded out! Poor guys! We got to the hotel in Santa Rosa, New Mexico at 8:00 p.m. and the boys didn't join us until 1:15 a.m! Needlesstosay we didn't make it to the original destination of Amarillo, TX. The next day we headed out a little later and had another long day to Houston. We FINALLY arrived at 11:00 p.m. after many songs, treats, and praying. Ursula SAVED my life in the car and the kids did surprisingly well. I couldn't have done it without her and really enjoyed our conversations and getting to know her better. I was SO grateful that Ragnar has such supportive parents who came all the way from Germany to go on a 28 hour car ride....YUCK! Thank you Hellmut and Ursula and we hope the next time we see you we will be staying in one place! AND thank you also mom and dad for letting us crash your place for a little while.....we really have the two BEST parents!