40th B'day Girls Trip to Vail

For our 40th birthdays, my friends decided to plan a girls trip to Vail, Colorado in January.  It was cool to meet up with everyone since we were all flying in from different states.  The five of us had an amazing trip and Vail was just as perfect and beautiful as it looks in pictures.  Since it was right after the holiday season, they left the holiday lights up which just added to whole experience.   The girl time, laughs and memories made are priceless and I can't wait until our next big trip together.

Bennet's 9th Birthday and Cat Adoption Day

Bennet had a very special and exciting 9th birthday this year.  One of the boys' Christmas presents was to adopt two cats.  We had started our search early on and wanted to make sure we found the perfect cats that were mild, sweet and snuggly.  After a lot of searching in the entire triangle area, we found our sweet Henry (the dark tabby) at our local Pet Smart in Cary.  Since we were in Florida for Christmas, we waited to pick them up and decided that Bennet's birthday would be perfect.  So, we adopted our two brothers on January 11th (Miles is the bonus kitty).  It was so fun to bring them home and the two of them adjusted well and fit right in.  Although his birthday was great and he got spoiled again by family with lots of Legos, getting the cats was Bennet's favorite part.

Our 2019 Family Christmas Picture

Just one family picture this year on our Christmas card.  Hard to believe another year has flown by and the boys are ending their 10th and 8th year!

Christmas 2019

For Christmas, we headed down to Orlando with the Friess family for fun in the sun.  A good friend of my parents works at Universal Studios and gave us free tickets to both parks for the day.  So Jamie, Bennet and I went and had a great time.  Hayden's not a huge fan of big rides, so decided to stay home with Nana and Papa and get ready for Christmas.  The three of us had a great time and enjoyed all of the Harry Potter attractions and holiday decorations.  Christmas day was great and the boy really enjoyed their new skateboard and hover boards.  After Christmas day, Bryan and family flew down from Minnesota to be with us.  It was wonderful to see them and catch up.  The girls have all grown so much.  It was a super fun holiday and nothing beats Christmas in Florida.

Thanksgiving 2019

We took a little road trip to good ole' Illinois to see the Ronin side of the family for Thanksgiving 2019.  Jamie and I also got to see some old friends as well which was great.  It was good to be back and catch up with everyone and watch the all the Ronin cousins play.

15 Year Anniversary in Charleston

Jamie and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary in August, but because we wanted to plan a trip to Charleston at the hottest time of the year, we waited until the boys were tracked out at the beginning of November.  My parents were awesome enough to travel up here and watch them for the weekend while we drove down there.  The weather was sunny and pleasant while we walked and ate all over town.  The two of us love history and exploring, so just walking around and grabbing food/coffee was heaven.  We stayed in North Charleston and enjoyed going to Shem Creek and Mount Pleasant to eat and go to the beach.  It was a wonderful weekend and awesome to celebrate 15 years as husband and wife.

Fall 2019

The boys started 3rd and 5th grade this year (totally forgot to take a 1st day photo:(. Bennet got a brand new teacher, Ms. Wright and Hayden got Mrs. Stafford who was retiring after 30 years.  So, after the 4th of July the boys tracked back in. This would be Hayden's last year in elementary school and essentially, his last year of public school until possibly high school. But the boys were kept busy and happy again with school and a new soccer/baseball season.  This year for a special treat, we were supposed to go to Disney's Very Halloween Party.  Unfortunately, Hurricane Dorian came instead and our trip was pushed back until later in October.  When we finally got to go, the 6 of us put on our dorkiest Halloween shirts and enjoyed all the fall/Halloween festivities at Magic Kingdom!  Halloween this year was also extra special because Gigi and Popi came down from Libertyville for a fun visit.  We had a great time except Bennet was sick with the flu and only went around to a couple of houses.  Luckily, Hayden went trick or treating with his neighborhood buddies so we got to stay home with him and hand out candy.