A White Christmas in Colorado

(It's snow!!)

After our way-to-brief trip to Illinois, the 3 of us hopped on a plane for Denver to visit Mike's family for about 8 days. There was lots to do and celebrate! Cavin was off to meet, for the first time, his cousin Hunter. There was a lot of excitement surrounding Hunter and Cavin's first meeting since the boys are so close in age. For months leading up to the moment, there was a lot of talk about who's kid was going to beat up, sit on, or stomp on the other one...you know, typical bro-on-bro competition. However, other than an initial push by Hunter on Cavin's back (caught on video) and a follow-up punch by Cavin (caught here):

The two became best buds and learned to actually enjoy each other's company quite a bit.


Cavin also finally got to meet his grandma Melinda!

The first night we left the boys with Grandma Judy and Grandpa Leland so that we could head to the Avalanche game with Mike's dad and step-mom. It was a lot of fun! Kate and I impressed everyone with our knowledge of the game and the Avalanche players.




And look! Cavin has another boy cousin on the way!!

Christmas was fun for the boys! They were bombarded with gifts but ended up really enjoying the wrapping paper, boxes, and bows the most...


If Hilton and Chevron go down, we are debating putting these boys in the circus:

Although Cavin doesn't seem to excited about that idea (notice how all four Spruiell boys have the same "Spruiell nose"...just sayin'):

Amy's boyfriend surprised us on Christmas eve by driving 3 hours to Colorado just to spend some time with his honey. What a sweetie!!! We were all VERY excited that Bryan could make it...especially after we thought the snow and ice had cancelled his plans.

Christmas morning as we all began unwrapping our stockings...all of the Christmas excitement, coupled with some MASSIVE two front teeth that broke through the gums, was too much for Cavin as he fell asleep mid-stocking.

The day after Christmas we threw Jonna and Tod a winter-themed baby shower, complete with a selection of 3 different chilis!

And, finally, on the last day we were there we celebrated Hunter's 1st birthday!

Since it was Bronco Sunday, Cavin decided to be festive...

Again, the boys got a bit rowdy as Cavin pushed Hunter in his new toy and Hunter got scared...

Here's a good picture of Mike, his siblings, their kids, and his mom and step-dad. There was another good one taken of all of us with his dad and step-mom and all of the kids on that side; however, that wasn't taken on my camera. :(

From left to right is:
Hunter - Cavin's cousin and Erik and Kate's son
Erik - Mike's brother
Kate - Erik's fiance and our future sister-in-law
James - Kate's son
Amy - Mike's younger sister
Leland - Mike's step-dad
Judy - Mike's mom
Jonna and Baby J - Mike's older sister and cousin-to-be
Tod - Jonna's husband and our brother-in-law
Me
Mike
Cavin

At some point during the birthday party I happened to check up on Cavin and caught Grandma Judy and Grandpa Leland red-handed!

Judy - (wide eyed because I caught her) "Uhm...It looks like Cavin likes beer."
Jamie - "Well, that's because its Shiner...and Texas is in his blood."

All in all, we had a really great time in Colorado. I am truly blessed to have wonderful in-laws and a loving family to visit. Although things are always a bit hectic, we had such a fun time and I feel truly blessed to have the Spruiells, Fyes, and Janets in my life.

Happy Holidays Everyone! Love, Cavin

9 months in...9 months out

Today marks little C's 9 month birthday. This birthday brings out my sentimental side because now my little guy has spent as much time in the outside world as he did when he was in utero. Over the last 9 months, I've had to learn to start 'letting go' and watch my little guy become more and more independent. From crawling to standing to cruising....to bumps on the head because he insists on standing with no help...to holding his own bottle...in the blink of an eye he will be jumping in his car and driving off to college.

Cavin - even when you are in your 20s, 6 feet tall, and have a deep voice, you will forever be my little bean.

Love always,

Mommy

Christmas in Illinois

We were lucky enough to celebrate Christmas 3 times this year: once in Illinois to visit my mom's family, once in Colorado to visit Mike's family, and one of our very own in the bay area.

So with our long vacation ahead of us we packed the bags, woke up at 3am, took a deep breath, and headed out the door to catch a 6am flight out of SFO to head to Illinois. Once we arrived in St. Louis we had a 3 hour drive to Eldorado, IL (just a blip on the map but not in my heart) for our annual family gathering. Considering the circumstances, Cavin did really well on the trip. We had one lay over, two flights, plus the long drive and he arrived full of energy!

There was a lot of anticipation regarding Cavin's reaction to meeting Uncle Bill. You see, Uncle Bill is probably the nicest man I know. He LOVES kids and kids LOVE him. However, babies...not so much. He has a zero for 2 track record for the babies in our family. Both of Cavin's cousins (Faith and Jaxson) were terrified of Uncle Bill as babies...of course they have grown to love him now. No one understands what it is but I was determined that Cavin would warm up to Uncle Bill immediately.

We actually stayed at Uncle Bill and Aunt Teresa's house and due to schedules, Cavin didn't get to meet them the night we got in. This is probably better since he is in his best mood in the morning. So once I heard them up in the kitchen, I let Cavin loose to crawl in there. Low and behold he crawled right up to Uncle Bill, grabbed onto his legs, pulled himself up to a stand, Uncle Bill swooped him up in his arms and they've been best buds ever since!

Afterwards he met Aunt Teresa...but no one is scared of her so it wasn't too shocking that Cavin loved her as well...

And one of the 3 of them...

After that we got ready for the family gathering! Cavin got to meet his cousin Faith:

And his cousin Jaxson who is only 6 months older than him (and clearly not afraid of Uncle Bill anymore):

He met mom's other brother Uncle Donnie and challenged him to an arm wrestling contest.

And he met his great grandmother Miss Opal! 4 generations...

And then he hung out with Uncle Bill some more...

Cavin got all bundled up to help us fly the UFO. As you'll see in last year's post we get pretty into this thing! Due to strong winds it proved to be one of those unsuccessful years. HOWEVER, we are holding out hope for next year!

Although the trip was way too quick - only one full day there - we had a blast, ate tons of food, and remembered how great it feels to be around family.

Let's Back Up - Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we made a trip to Houston a week before Thanksgiving to celebrate my best friend Meredith's wedding!

Introducing the Rices!

Here's the one non-blurry image I have from their ceremony. Aren't I doing an excellent job holding the ring? :)

Jim got a little crazy with the sparklers at the end of the night.

It was a beautiful wedding and we were so excited to see Meredith and Mike so incredibly happy. Congrats to the Rices!

Since we were in Houston, Cavin was able to spend some quality time with grandpa in line to get his H1N1 vaccine...yippee!

When we got back to the bay area, Lesley's family was kind enough to 'adopt' us for Thanksgiving. We headed over to her parents house for yummy meal and so that Cavin could spend some quality time with his new BFF, Lucas (who was a bit camera shy that day).

Thank you to the Schoolers and Burkes for a wonderful Thanksgiving meal filled with good friends and family!

At least someone is getting the job done!

Someone seems a little overly enthusiastic to conquer the challenges of global marketing for one of the largest energy companies in the world. Stay on your toes Mike, before you know it someone younger may be taking over your job!

Consider this fair warning.

Enough said.