Christmas with the cousins

Keegan had so much fun playing with his cousins this Christmas. They all played so well together that we were all wondering when there was going to be a blowout - and it never happened! They played pretty much all day everyday and were exhausted every night. Keegan was really sad to see it come to an end. He's already looking forward to Mexico this summer when everyone gets together again!

Thad's Wedding

The week leading up to my trip to Florida was seriously one of the most hectic of my life! I had all my school finals, was deathly ill (I may be exaggerating a bit, but it really did feel that way!) and I had to get Christmas ready before I left on the 16th. Somehow everything got done and I was headed to Orlando for my big brother Thad's wedding. The first night there, I stayed up talking all night with my sister Kendall and that pretty much set a precedent for the rest of my time in Orlando. My older sister, Shannon, came down from New Hampshire and my little bro, Ethan made the trip from D.C. All eight Dickmans were there except for my older brother, Frederick, whom we all missed terribly!! My grandparents and Aunt Joanne and Uncle Frederick came, too. It was so much fun being together again. I also had a chance to visit with some high school friends that I hadn't seen since graduation. By the time I left, I was still sick and totally exhausted but completely happy! Congrats to Thad and Bonnie - you're perfect for each other :)

*I know it's crazy that I don't have any pics of the happy couple, but as soon as I get some, I'll post them.

Mom with Kendall's little girl, Harper

Dad, Mema & Wiley

All the girls

Kendall & me

Our last night

Handsome buggers Kip, Ethan & Jeremiah

Volleyball

Go VS!!!!!

My friend Kellye and I decided to put together a volleyball team to play at UNM this semester and we ended up having enough girls for two teams! It was so much fun playing together every Saturday and getting in some good girl time. We even won quite a bit, which makes it even more fun :) Thanks to everyone who played - I can't wait for next season (although I'm sure my ankles are happy for the break)!!

Happy birthdays!

Andrea, Jamie, me and Marybeth

Two of my good friends have birthdays just one day apart, so we celebrated them together with a delish lunch at PeiWei and a session at the temple a couple of days later. Happy birthday girls!

Halloween

Our little race car driver!

Good one, Doug :)

I've been terrible about keeping up with the blog, so I'm going to have to backtrack a bit. I have to put up pics of Keegan at Halloween because he looked so stinkin' cute in his racecar outfit. He wanted to be Batman (the gray body with the yellow belt), but we went to 4 stores and his size was completely sold out. At the last store, I was about to just buy the dang thing in a size too big when Keegan saw the racecar suit. As soon as he laid eyes on it, Batman was completely forgotten!

My New Favorite TV Show!

This is totally the best new show on television right now. If you're not watching, you're missing out! Doug and I sit glued to our TV when it's on - and it's presented with limited commercial interruptions, which is sooo nice for those of us who still don't have Tivo :)

DETOX!!!!

Due to a complete lack of self-control over the past few weeks, (yes, I did eat the entire box of Nutty Bars in just 2 days), I feel like a total cow. I'm bloated and sluggish, not a great combination. So, I'm starting a 3 day detox today - yeah! Doug says he's doing it with me, but we'll see. . . the last time he said he would do a diet with me it didn't work out too well. Anyway - fruit fast here I come!! I'll keep you posted on the results.

Pumpkin Patch

playing in the corn

the three amigos

everyone with their pumpkins

Keegan and Oliver with their favorite girl :)

Keegan had the last part of the week off from school, so we went with a bunch of friends to the pumpkin patch. We drove with Keegan's little friend, Kara, who was the most popular kid at the patch! A couple of fights almost broke out about who got to sit next to her on the hay ride, but they all worked it out without too many tears! Poor Kara was trying to please everyone and eventually Keegan and Oliver got to hang out with her, which made them very happy :)

Colorado

Keegan & Emma with their new best friend, Mike

"Best Friends Cabin!"

The sun hangin on while the storm's a brewing

I hate this pic of me, but it's the only one of the girls :)

At the lake

The boys

Paddle boat

We just got home from SPAR, CO and are pretty tired from our long weekend with friends. We had so much FUN! The weather was PERFECT and everything was beautiful. We didn't have running water while we were up there, so no SHOWERS for 4 days!!!! Thank goodness for BABY POWDER - just sprinkle a little in your hair and you're as good as new :)

Keegan had a great time with his friends and made a new one, too. The next door neighbor is an older man named MIKE. He was working on his cabin and Keegan just waltzed right over and struck up a conversation with him. When it was time for us to go, Doug went over to get Keegan and Keegan said, "Goodbye Mike, I love you!" It was pretty funny - I guess Keegan found a KINDRED spirit.

Right before our friends left for home, I took a picture of the kids in front of the cabin. Oliver said "BEST FRIENDS CABIN!" and all the kids yelled it out as I took the picture. I hope they stay great friends forever. We loved it up there and look forward to many more great memories in SPAR, FAR AWAY!

Carpenter Mieke!

I made this shelf from scratch - can you believe it? I'm so HANDY!!! :) Most of you know that that last statement is totally untrue. But believe it or not, I really did make this shelf. Of course, I couldn't have done it without my friend, carpenter extrodinaire, Suni Pehrson. Sure, we got some curious glances in the Lowe's parking lot as we shoved the lumber for the shelf into Suni's minivan and bungeed it in tight, but the end result was worth all the strange looks. Thanks Suni :)

Keegan's Birthday Party

the monster cake that just fed the 17 kids + adults

Keegan with 2 of his favorite girls, Kara and Riley

Having a great time!

With Josh

Can you find me, Mom?

Diet Coke is the Devil!!

I've been off and on Diet Coke now for the past couple of years. I know it's bad for me, blah, blah, blah and so I've determined to quit it several times. I usually am fine - I mean other than the withdrawal headaches and stuff :), until I go to a restaurant or have to run to the 7-eleven for something. Then my resolve weakens and I just have to have one! Seriously, what else am I supposed to drink when I get that huge hot dog at Costco? Obviously, I don't want to drink my calories - I enjoy eating them way too much! And nothing can compare to that fizziness at the back of your throat when you're drinking one - ahhhh, I can almost taste it now!

I'm a terrible blogger!!

Okay, seriously, I'm a terrible blogger! My new goal is to blog at least twice a month - hopefully I'll be able to do that. Anyway, our lives have been a little crazier than usual in the last month. Keegan started school and is loving it! I started school, too, and it's great (other than the fact that I feel like a grandma). We're starting to settle into our new schedule and it feels like things are slowing down a bit - yeah! Of course, this week is going to be crazy because we're finally having Keegan's birthday party on Wednesday (I know, I know - his birthdays was in July!!) and I'm hosting Bunco Thursday night. Luckily, I don't have to do organ duty at church anymore, so that stress is gone. The volleyball teams that I co-captain have started strong and we're looking forward to the rest of the season. I'll try to keep you updated!

Keegan's First Day of School!

So thrilled to be at school!

Well, today was Keegan's first day of Kindergarten. I've only had a couple of weeks to mentally prepare myself and every time I even thought about it, the tears would start. So I was expecting nothing less than a complete ball session after I dropped him off today. But surprisingly, it didn't happen. Keegan was so excited to start school and already loved his teacher. I dropped him off, watched him march into school like such a big boy, and took off without even shedding a tear. That's it!!! I can't believe it myself. Doug was even surprised by how well I kept it together. I guess I'm going to be okay after all :)

I love the Olympics!!!!

Doug and I have been completely attached to our television since the Olympics began. We were amazed by the opening ceremony and have continued to be in awe of all the thrilling performances by our Olympians. Our favorite moment so far has to be when the US men beat the trash talkin' French in the 4x100 free relay. It was late at night and Keegan was sound asleep, but we couldn't help screaming at the top of our lungs, cheering on Lezak, not wanting to hope, but then, hold on, hold on, I think he's going to do it!!! He did it - I can't believe he did it!! Take that you French !$#@#$@#!!!! And then hoping that Keegan was still asleep and amazed that he could actually sleep through so much noise.

We've loved the swimming, gymnastics, soccer, basketball and volleyball and are excited for all the track and field events - although it looks like Jamaica is going to give us a run for our money! We'll definitely be tuning in - go team USA!!!!!!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 9th wedding anniversary - I can't believe it's already been 9 years!! They've flown by so quickly. I decided to post some pics from our big day, since hardly anyone has actually seen any of them :) I really was so lucky to find such a great guy to marry. He's better than I could have hoped for and is a totally amazing dad, too! Thanks for making the last nine years the best of my life Doug. I love you babe!!

Carlsbad Caverns

the mouth of the whale

My Dad came to visit us for a week at the end of July - yeah!! We love when Papa comes to see us. During his visit, we took a little trip to Carlsbad Caverns, about a five hour drive from here. It was totally amazing being inside those gigantic caves. Everything was really beautiful and it was so huge that it took us 3 hours to get all the way through. The only thing that was a bit unpleasant was entering through the bat caves where the smell of guano is almost too much to take. It was really hard not to throw up from the smell and I'm usually not that sensitive to stinky stuff! But that part didn't last long, just until we were really into the caves and from then on we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Spar Far Away

On the hike

Keegan with his spider, Jack

What a view!

Buddies

Striking a pose at the lake

Fishin with the girls - we all caught one!

Our friends invited us to this totally cool log cabin up in Spar, Colorado for an extended weekend. It was built in the 1880's and was really rustic and charming. It was so beautiful and peaceful there - it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere! The kids had lots of fun exploring the little stream in front of the cabin, hiking, fishing and playing. The adults played cards and Scrabble to pass the time at night and did some fishing, too. We were sad when we had to return home. Thanks for the invite Andrea :)

Campin Out

Nice head lamp, Doug!

Keegan and Doug were planning on attending a father/son campout a couple of months ago, but Doug had to work at the last minute and they didn't end up going. Ever since then, Keegan has been begging to sleep in the tent in the back yard. They finally did last night, and Keegan really had a lot of fun! It was nice of Doug to sleep out in the back yard with Keegan, and I thoroughly enjoyed having the whole bed to myself :) !