Saturday, January 1, 2011

Viva a Miami

This past week we headed to Miami, Florida with Trever's company. Family Heritage has two national meetings per year that agents can earn for themself and their spouse. It was a good experience for us and our first vacation since our honeymoon.

The first night we arrived in time to clean up and head to the awards banquet. They recognized many of the high rollers in the company and we got to meet lots of new people.

On Tuesday, Trever was in meetings until 5 p.m. I went for a walk around our hotel and then headed to the spa. I got a massage and a facial and then headed back to the room for a nap and to get ready for our dinner cruise.

The group we were with had two cruise ships for the evening. We got all dressed up and had a great dinner and did a little dancing. It was a little chilly to be out on the deck, but we still enjoyed the view.



On Wednesday we headed to Cardon Park Beach. We had the entire day to just relax on the beach. They grilled out and had all the beer and pop you could drink. There were a few games of volleyball but for the most part we just relaxed. The temperature was in the 60s but to me that was perfect. I don't mind wearing a sweatshirt to the beach!


After our day at the beach was the part of the trip I was dreading the most...the Pirates of Caribbean costume party. Some people went all out and others not so much. We had gone to Good Will to come up with our costumes, but lots of people had professional costumes. Here we are with Nikki, Trever's friend from Sales School, Howard who is the head honcho of Family Heritage, and Kris, Nikki's husband.
This is Trever's crew. It's only a portion of them, but all that were in attendance. Michelle, Kevin, me, Michael, Trever & Roen.

On Thursday we walked to Subway for Breakfast and then headed to the Everglades for an airboat tour.

At the park where we got our tour there were over 200 "pet" alligators. I'm not convinced this one was alive.

After the Everglades we did a little shopping at an outdoor mall area near our hotel. For dinner there was a Tapas party. We had some pretty good food. There was gazpacho (sp?) or cold soup in a shot glass, shrimp, potato salad, roasted vegetables, greek chicken, and some rice and seafood concotion.
After dinner we took a bus to South Beach. It was an experience that we had never had before, but it was enjoyable. We walked past tons of restaurants, all of them begging you to come in. We went to three bars. Fat Tuesdays was pretty low key and was playing some pretty good music. Then we went to Mango's where they had girls and guys dancing on the bar and a much bigger crowd. We also stopped at the Clevelander but didn't stay long. We got on the midnight bus back to the hotel so we could head to the airport early Friday morning.
We had a good time but we were both ready to be home. I have already put a trip to Memphis in July and San Antonio in December on my calendar!













Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas 2010

We all came away from Christmas extremely spoiled! We started with a three day work week, which is always nice, and Trever had a great week of sales to boot! That will help pay all of those hefty Christmas credit card bills!

We started our gift giving on the 23rd, celebrating with the Kuipers portion of the family. Claire looked awfully cute and we posed a few pictures in front of one of Gammy's many Christmas trees.
Claire got tons of toys, but she still goes back to her books. She got a couple of coloring books which were a big hit!

Ron and Caisey tend to just sit back and take it all in.
The little girls got new slippers for Christmas. Claire has been wearing hers most of the day today. They are pretty darn cute.
Not very often is there a picture with me in it. Besides having a bad hair day, it actually looks like Claire likes me in this picture!
I also have a hard time getting a picture of Maddison when she is smiling. This is kind of crooked, goofy little smile, but it is a smile!
Caisey got new undies for Christmas. Uncle Trever thought it would be funny to take a picture and send it to Caisey's boyfriend. She was pretty embarassed!
But I think she was even more embarassed by the pajama pants I made her. I made the three girls matching pj pants. The two little girl's pants turned out ok, but Caisey's were a little on the big side. From what I hear, Kyla has been wearing them and she is having a baby sometime in the next month!

The only picture I have of all three girls. Modeling their pants!
The little girls got wagons for Christmas from Gammy & Papa. They were a big hit!
They preferred to share a wagon! Their is plenty of room for both of them, and their drinks, inside.
On Christmas Eve we headed to LeRoy for the Builta Christmas festivities. Claire wore her Santa dress and looked SOOOO pretty.
She got lots of goodies and loved on one of the many babies she got as gifts.
After fighting a nap, and waking up on the wrong side of the bed, we headed to Great Grandma Builta's house. Claire helped Great Grandma unwrap her presents.
And she helped Kara unwrap her present...
and gave baby Jesus kisses.

We took the annual family pictures. Aunt Carol was home from Florida for a few days. Here she is with a portion of her nieces and nephews.
Two good pictures of Claire and me in two days. It's hard to believe! Even if Kirk did crop Trever out when he was taking the picture!
Another great picture of Claire Bear!
Our immediate family...
Kirk was apparently trying to be "artistic" when he took this one of Kenneth, Kathi & Kara. I just like the goofy look on Kathi's face!
And a picture of Grandma Builta with 3 of her 5 grandkids and Claire!
Four generations of Builtas.
Christmas morning we slept in a little bit and then opened presents at home. Claire got her very own kitchen. She has been cooking for us all day today!
This was her 3rd stocking and she finally figured out what to do with it!
Santa brought her a rocking horse. She wasn't too thrilled about it Christmas morning. She would make it neigh and gallop, but she did not want any part of riding it.
A cheesy Christmas morning picture with daddy.
After we unwrapped the presents at home, we headed to Grandma Ficklin's house.
We attempted a family picture, but you can tell how well that worked out!
We did get a good picture of Will, Kelly, Janet & Russ.
Claire also enjoyed her new sunglasses from Uncle Russ & Aunt Janet. She's been wearing them off and on today too!
Cousin Kelly looked pretty cute too!
Christmas afternoon we headed back to Gammy & Papa's for naps before dinner. About dinner time, Great Papa Kuipers, Dee & Marshall came to play. Great Papa got a new snow shovel for Christmas. The girls thought it was a toy and pulled each other on it.
Great Papa also got a balance bracelet. He had read about these bracelets in one of his magazines, and at 90 years old, he sometimes gets a little unsteady. So, we got him a balance bracelet, which seems to be all the rage with people who have never had balance issues! Trever took the test to see if the bracelet worked.
Great Papa also gives some of the best gifts. He got this pretty purple kitty for Claire for Christmas. I have to say, it is the one gift that she has played with over and over again!
After dinner we played some heated hands of Euchre. Claire hopped up to play like she knew what she was doing.
We really did have a great week of Christmas celebrations. It did feel a little rushed this year since Trever and I left for Miami the day after Christmas, but we were glad we got to spend time with our entire family!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Christmas Cookies

Claire, Caisey, Trever and I baked and decorated too many cookies tonight. Now, 9:41, she is still going strong!

Here are a few pictures from the evening. I particularly like the one where she is sneaking frosting off an already frosted cookie!


















Half Birthday

Today is Claire's half birthday! She's 18 months old and halfway to another birthday party! We've had a wonderful day! It all started yesterday with a BIG day of Christmas shopping and picking up a very special visitor for the weekend.

Yesterday we left home about 8 a.m. and got home about 10:15 p.m! Claire was such a good shopper! We shopped with Gammy, Grandma, Daddy, Aunt Ria and Caisey! We got lots of shopping done, met Santa Clause and picked Caisey up to spend the whole weekend with us!

This morning we slept in. We got to play for a while before Trever headed to Rantoul to work for a while. Then it was times for a girls day. We cleaned, wrapped presents, and started making Christmas cookies.

Trever brought Papa Johns home for dinner and is out doing chores. Claire is currently hiding in the corner with my cell phone and Caisey and I are watching Next Great Baker. When Trever gets in from chores it will be time to bake our cookies!

And yes, we are still in our pajamas at 5:43 p.m.

Now, about Claire at 18 months...

  • she has started stealing Trevers change and likes to put it in her piggy bank.
  • pulls the chair up to the kitchen counter to help
  • says she wants santa to bring her "nemenems" (M&Ms)
  • wraps up her baby in dish towels (apparently Papa Wayne taught her that)
  • says "smime" (excuse me) and covers her mouth when she burps
  • has started saying Mommmeeeeeeee instead of mama.
  • fist bumps everybody, including complete strangers and the cat