Family Glamis Tradition

Every year over the Thanksgiving and New Years holidays, us Remmerts can be spotted in our travel trailer, on our bikes or quads in the Glamis San Dunes. Right now Tyson is at home packing up the truck and toys, and will be leaving tonight. The New Years trips are always fun, because the weather is cool, but even better is that we get to burn our used Christmas Trees.

This trip is extra special because our Nephew Trevor will be joining us. He has flown all the way out from Colorado, to join us for a family camping trip to Glamis. Trevor has never been there, so this will be his first time, and I have never seen anyone so excited! Woohoo!

Christmas with the Reidelers

So, as you can see from the picture above our family is growing every year. We had a great time on Christmas day celebrating with my side of the family. We spent many hours opening presents and chatting, then had an amazing prime rib dinner. The food was great and the company was even better. It is so rare when we can all get together, so it made for a very nice day! We decided that we went way overboard this year for Christmas, and next year will be much more low key, both with the price of the presents and the amount of people we bought gifts. Maybe next year, we will try to do a secret santa or draw names. However, we say the same thing every year, and nothing seems to change. I guess we like it or we wouldn't keep doing it, right? hehehe

It was a wonderful day! Is it too early to start counting down to next Christmas?

Surprise Visit from Santa

Well another Christmas has come and gone, and I like many others I am sad to see it go. Christmas always comes and goes so fast.

We had a great time this year, celebrating Christmas Eve with Tyson's Mom's side of the family. Every year there are more and more people which makes it for a fun day, lots of food, too many cookies, and more presents than we know what to do with. There was also the world famous raffle that everyone looks forward to. Tyson' mom, Uncles, and Grandma always do such a nice job, making it fun for everyone.

The most exciting part, was that we got a surprise appearance from Santa Claus himself! We couldn't believe he had time to make a quick stop by to give the kiddies some gifts and say hello. That was such a nice surprise! Thanks for the visit Santa! We hope we are lucky enough to get to see you again next year.

Ryder Amazes Me!

I love this picture of him...he is definitely up to something here.

As we approach this Christmas I am thinking back to last Christmas, when Ryder was only 2 months old. He has changed and grown so much over this past year, that I am in awe everyday with his actions, and firsts that we get to experience. This Christmas Ryder is a very active 14 month old, and is into everything including but not limited to: doing stuff by himself, toilets (fun), toys in toilets (even more fun), climbing stairs, his farm toys and moving trucks, things that go, cars, Christmas ornaments, Micky Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins and the really fun Tupperware cupboard. One of the cutest things is watching him do the pat, pat, pat, pat, blastoff part from the Little Einsteins Disney show.

This week his vocabulary has reached a few more words. He now can say, dada, dad, grandpa, mama (but this is very rare), dog, truck, and Jake (his uncle, and also our neighbors dog). He loves shaking his head no, but just learned yes, which doesn't just include a head nod, but a full body squat at the knees as he bows his little yes.

He loves holding things in his hands, and in fact prefers not to have his hands empty...ever. He tries to do everything with his hands full. He also loves going to bed with a plug (Remmert term for pacifier) in his mouth and one in each hand. He really loves playing with hair.

He is so amazing to us, and we are so blessed to have him in our life. I love watching him grow, and I am really enjoying every stage with him!

First School Dance

Wyatt is in 7th grade, which is his first year of Junior High School. He informed us last week that he had his first school dance...the Winter Dance on Wednesday. I asked him if he wanted to go, and he said, "sure...I'm not sick this time, so why not". So he continued to inform me that most of his friends probably wont go since they would prefer to sit at home and play video games. I asked if there were any girls he knew that would be going, and he answered with an abrupt...NO! It was a NO as in, there may be girls that I know going, but move on Summer, next subject, I really don't want to talk about this. :)

He came back from the dance, and said he had a great time because he drank tons of punch and started and participated in a very large game of Tag. I am proud of him for going to his first dance and venturing out of his comfort zone. Well done Wyatt...now you can look forward to the many more dances that Junior High, and High School bring.

Congratulations Chelsea and Daniel!

On Friday my sister Chelsea and her boyfriend Daniel, went to New York for a fun snowy, Christmas trip. We got a call from Chelsea last night letting us know that she is ENGAGED!!! Daniel proposed in Central Park, by a lake while it was snowing. She said it was so romantic and perfect! We are so happy for them,and excited about all the fun times ahead for them and the whole family.

The Kings Chair

We just bought Ryder a chair of his very own for Christmas. Since he already has many presents under the tree, and is still not very interested in opening presents...we decided to give it to him early. So we did, and it is the perfect size for him, and he loves being able to come and go to his very own chair, as he pleases. In these PJ'S he definitely looks like a King in his chair.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We all know that Christmas is almost here when the parking lots are much more crowded than usual, flight passengers are at their max, the weather gets cooler and toys are everywhere including the many ads found in the newspaper and mail.

In my family you know that Christmas is almost here by the fun Christmas music that we play starting the day after Thanksgiving, the smiles and excitement of looking for that perfect gift to give, the putting up of the Christmas lights, the Christmas tree decorating that we do the weekend of Thanksgiving, family baking, the making of our home-made Christmas Toffee, baking home-made cinnamon rolls and bread, and the many, many days and nights of shopping, wrapping, and togetherness.

Many people describe this time of year as stressful and cant wait until its over. In my family it is quite the opposite. We thrive in this fun, family filled time of year, and love every minute of it. We look forward to the cooking, baking, shopping, wrapping, and I think its mostly because we are together when we do these activities.

Every year we celebrate Christmas more than once because our family is so large, and each and every get together is diffrent and awesome in its own way. When we have attended that last Christmas gathering of the year, we usually feel a bit sad and wish that it wasnt over just yet! We hate taking down the lovely Christmas Tree, and putting away all the gifts and decorations. If you see one of us during this brief time of grief (in those first couple weeks of January), you can be sure of two things...one, we are so sad to say good bye to the wonderful Holiday Season, and two, we are already looking forward to next Christmas!

May you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Yes this Picture is from 2008!

I think its time to take another family picture! A new photo will be posted as soon as we take one. NOTE TO SELF - Take a family picture ASAP!

Christmas in Denver

Tyson's parents and brothers family live in Denver, and we were very lucky to get to visit them this year. It seems like it is our new family tradition to visit in Denver twice a year for Christmas and the 4th of July. My boys ventured on the trip alone, and left Denver 6 days before me as I was stuck working. Needless to say Tyson was a bit nervous to fly alone with Ryder for the first time. Not only did he have to trek through the airports with all the additional baggage that comes along with a baby, IE: crib, stroller, diaper bag, milk bottles, extra suitcase, etc, but he also had to brave through security alone, with many holiday and business travelers lining up behind him. The highlight of their father son travel day, was that the Frontier flight was completely open, which meant that they had a whole row to themselves! Thank Goodness!Tyson was very grateful for this! Ryder fell asleep as soon as they were airborne, (Tyson got to lay him down in the seats next to him) and he slept until they landed in Denver. Ryder is quite the traveler at 14 months as he has done that trip 3 times already. He is a wonderful travel companion! They had lots of fun being there together but all of us were looking forward to reuniting.

I was finally able to meet up with them Thursday Dec 10. It was so good to finally see my boys and be together after a week apart! The trip to Denver was great, we got to spend time in the snow, and being cuddled up together in a nice warm house. It may not seem like much to most people, but that is big for us Californians. We spent time with family, playing lots of games, cooking, eating, and telling stories, plus we got to celebrate Christmas early!

Ryder is 14 months old, and is still not interested in opening presents. He likes presents for the simple pleasures of touching the paper, banging toys on them, throwing them around, and biting and teething on the packages. However, with the help of daddy, grandma, and cousins, we were able to open his gifts for him. We all got some lovely items this year, but most importantly we had a very nice trip, just spending time with family. Thanks Susan & Kurt for being wonderful hosts! Cant wait to see you again soon!

Summer's First Time

Today is my first blog ever...I usually am the the last to catch up with the times, so I figured I better start now before blogs were really a thing of the past. I already am pretty late to start. I never had a Myspace account, and didn't really want a Facebook account either. Even though it was cool to have both or either one, I just thought it would be a hassle and take time, which I don't have much of. If it were not for Megan Kirby, I would not have one at all. She signed me up and I have not looked back since. I am definitely a Facebook-aholic.

So, anyway back to topic. This blog is not about Facebook, or technology, but rather about my Family, which right now includes my husband Tyson, step-son Wyatt (12), and son Ryder (14 months). Tyson and I were married in November of 2006, thus my Life as a Remmert began.

For those of you who are reading our blog I hope you enjoy!

Cheers,
Summer