Springtime fun

It was a wonderful, and very emotional, spring in Arizona.  As it turned out to be our very last...

~Ryan was busy one Sunday afternoon, so the kids and I snuck away to the rodeo at West World. 

~Lily's first field trip to the Desert Botanicals gardens.  Loved joining her and her class as a parent sponsor!

~St Patrick's Day with a special treat from Grandma O

~First Confession.  Lily wrote a long list of her "sins" to confess, and Father Eric asked if she could maybe just read one or two and save the rest for another time!  :)  Love that girl so much!

~William was swimming in Scottsdale at the exact same time as Lily was skiing in Flagstaff.  Ryan treated Lily to a father/daughter ski day - I'm not sure which one had more fun, but the stories of Lily rocking moguls while Ryan tried to film it (and then crashing himself!) are pretty entertaining.

~An amazing hike up Camelback.  The best company, the best views, the perfect spring weather.  

~And this girl.  Aly and I spent countless hours on our beloved McDowell trails, and it was a gorgeous spring trail season.  Missing her (and our talks!) so much!

Royals!

Spring training and seeing our Royals in Arizona might be our very favorite activity!  It was a beautiful day in Surprise, and the Royals came away with the WIN!

PHX Marathon

My girlfriend Mel-B raced in October, qualified for Boston and challenged me to do the same.  As one who has a hard time saying no to a challenge, I decided on PF Chang's in January, only to push it too hard and aggravate an old injury.  It was meant to be though, as the PHX marathon was a perfect race day for me.  40 degrees outside, and a downhill start (which required me to actually pay attention to pace - way too fast starts all around and a mantra of "run your own race, stop trying to race everyone else"), followed by a pancake flat second half.  It was a near perfect race which ended with a Boston qualify, a personal best time, and an overall enjoyable run!  

I wish I had a pic of the sweetest cheering section as I crossed the finish line but these will have to do. I was so excited to see my crazies, I may or may not have cried. Thankful especially for the guy behind the camera and all his patience through this (long!) training cycle.  

Flagstaff

Year two with kiddos on skis.  Once again, Lily was amazing.  And once again, William was not!  I took the year off due to a big race the following weekend (and the fact that I'm really not that much help anyway).  After a morning of lessons with our great friends the Dupey's, Lily was ready to take on the mountain, easily rode the blues and even took on a few easy blacks.  That girl continues to amaze us on the slopes!  

Merry Merry, Part 2

Before leaving for Kansas, we had a family gift exchange at home.  ~lots (and lots) of homemade gifts for Ryan and I ~ a big boy bike for William who has been training-wheel-free for a few months   ~ and a craft "file cabinet" for Lily, filled with new papers/pens/pencils/scissors/hole punch/electric pencil sharpener/etc.  Both were thrilled with their gifts!

Then we were off to Kansas for the holiday weekend.  

First, the most wonderful night spent in Kansas City.  Uncle John met us at the airport with Luke and Reece, packed up our suitcases plus Lily and William, and were off to Nanny's house.  Ryan and I took an uber to Auntie and Uncle Casey's house (who were in TX visiting his family) and spent an afternoon exploring our old neighborhood in Prairie Village.  To have one entire afternoon/overnight to ourselves was priceless and we are so thankful to family who offered (and without us even asking!!) to give us a night off.  It was truly the best gift!

But the best part of our overnight stay...finally meeting Wyatt Michael.  This boy has a special place in our hearts.  His mama, Kelly, is one of my dearest college friends.  We bonded at the beginning of our junior year over broken hearts.  We remained friends post college due to our strong, assertive personalities, our love for books, wine, 'real' talks, travel, and true friendship, with all it's ups and downs.  She is better with words and would write something more eloquent, but let's just say, we are the best of friends.  And the fact that Ryan and Adam seem to have a fun bromance going on makes life ever better for us!  Wyatt Michael - we are thrilled to meet you and are looking forward to years of spoiling you rotten.

Grandma and Grandpa O took the kiddos over to Aunt Mary's for a family breakfast and lots of playtime with Seattle cousins Elise and Gabriel, and Kansas City cousin Barrett.  Lily and William had a blast and wish these kiddos would make another trek to AZ for a visit.  

Saylor Christmas Eve/Christmas morning. After not bringing my camera home last year, I promised myself I would do a better job photographing the family, especially with Mema who is 89 years young!  Nanny hosted a delicious meal which was enjoyed at leisure around the dining room table.  My favorite night of the year - telling family stories, catching up with cousins we don't see often enough, just enjoying each other's company while eating delicious food and drinking amazing wine!

grand and great grand children (minus Matt's family!)

Osterhaus Christmas entailed another amazing meal - thankful that Grandma made a traditional holiday meal with ham, green bean casserole, potatoes, etc.  We spent an afternoon enjoying the cousins and catching up.  

The Osterhaus grandchildren - Liam (7), Elijah (4), Aynslee (11), Lily (7), William (4)

(Unpictured was the FUN visit from my oldest friend Bryn and her family.  We loved meeting Jovie, chatting about Star Wars with Abram, and just catching up with Bryn and Tony.  How generous that they gave up an afternoon just to see us!  It was such a treat to spend time with this incredible family. We love you guys!)

As always, it's a fast and furious weekend, and we wish we could spend more time with those we love.  But beyond thankful that we are able to make the trip each year and keep up with our family traditions.  
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Merry Merry, part 1

Happy Holidays!  The craziest time of year, but packed full of fun!

[Thanksgiving 2016}

Lily participated in a dance/cheerleading class after school once a week.  It was her idea, and we signed her up after lots of begging.  She looked forward to each Wednesday and had a blast in her performance.  

 William in his second appearance in his preschool Christmas program.  Cutest little shepherd!!  He did great...he sang along and did all the actions!

A quick visit to Santa - however, William said "Mom, that wasn't the real Santa!  No way!"  So we had a good conversation about how Santa sometimes needs to ask a cousin to help out during busy season.  

Our favorite tradition!  Opening one Christmas book each night in our new Christmas PJ's.