Tikka Latok Block

We have a new baby! Tikka was born on 9/26/07, just south of Leadville, CO in Twin Lakes. She is a healthy 11.5 weeks and just about 30 lbs. She has a very sweet temperment and a lovely personality. We are very lucky to have her. We also feel like she has had an excellent upbringing and her breeders were top notch. We are very excited to add her to our family.
We did have a bit of a scare today, though, as our girl was very sick...she is recovering though, and we hope all is well. Please give a quick prayer or good thought that she will be alright...we love her already! Thanks

Thanksgiving in Houston!

Brian and i headed south to Houston for Thanksgiving to see my brother and his family. We finally made it to Houston at around noon on Thankgiving day after delayed flights and a night in Memphis...in a haunted crazy hotel! And, we didn't even get dinner! Oh well...it was worth it!
Karina made such an amazing dinner, there was little talking and a lot of eating!
After dinner, we watched football for a bit and then took a walk around the block to get a bit of exercise after such a carb overload!
This little cutie all snuggled in her sling...so cute!

Hike in the Woods

The morning after Thanksgiving, we figured we needed to walk off a bit of turkey, so we headed out to the woods for a hike and saw alligators...weird when you are wearing a down jacket!
one bundled baby? Check.
The Hohn family...in their woodsy glory
me and B, sporting our matching jackets!

Christmas Tree hunting!

After our hike, we decided to find "The Hohn Family Christmas Tree". My brother, as a side note for those who do not know him, LOVES National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and makes it a tradition each year to watch that on Thanksgiving day. So, after that inspiration, we went out to find our own!
Jeremiah, hiding in the trees
Finally we picked one and Brian and Jeremy got it ready for coming in...
After a little coaxing, well, a lot of coaxing and a bit of swearing, the tree was in and ready. Welcome, Christmas!

Houston Aeros Hockey!!!

To end our busy day on Friday, we all went to the hockey game. It was super fun, mostly because of the cow bell!!
Of course, half of the fun is the fighting!!
Titi and daddy, kickin' it!

Saturday Morning decorating!!

After getting the tree on Friday, we ran out of time to decorate because of the hockey game...so we waited until Saturday morning.
Titi's little area of the tree was VERY populated with christmas balls, all hanging off of each other and about 2.5 feet off of the ground! Karina and i did a little rearranging!
Lili's sweet hair after a night of piggies! Nice!
Me and Titi, getting to it...so fun. I love Christmas!

Christmas card pictures!

After church on Sunday, we decided to take some Christmas card pictures...which always means a few hours of fussing to make the best picture possible. Which Jeremy loves, of course. Here are a few good ones,though.
The happy little family!
Brian and i even took one!
i just thought this pictures was priceless...

Ice Skating!!

We decided to go ice skating on Sunday afternoon. The Woodlands, which Karina calls "the bubble", is a very suburban planned community in Texas and definitely has the cute, tented winter wonderland to match it! Mind you, i am not much of a skater, so it was an interesting experience for me! But Brian and Jeremy are both very accomplised skaters, so when one of them wasn't hanging on to Titi, they were hanging on to me!
Jeremy and Titi hanging out, rinkside on the "boards"...i learned new lingo! Notice the Marmot vest?
Karina and the pretty princess sat out for part of the time, but i got a bit larger skates, so i sent her in after i embarressed everyone with my amazing skills!
Karina and Jeremy skating hand and hand...mostly because Karina remembered being better than she was...

the fall...at the rink...in the bubble

Titi and Tia enjoying a little snuggle moment as Daddy and Brian skated around the rink. The skills on both the boys was very impressive, but not nearly as great as mine or karina's skill...i mean, who is suprised?
This image is great because Jeremy is a great skater and he was going backwards to try and teach Titi how to push foward...this image taken moments before they both fell. Karina and i were scared because Jeremy did not get up for a minute. We soon found out this was because he was laughing so incredibly hard he could not move!
Brian was there to pick up one of the fallen soldiers...Titi thought it was hilarious!
Karina loves to take these brother/sister shots, so here it is!

Rounding out the trip with a Patriots win!!

On our last night in Houston, we had the pleasure of watching a Patriots game with Jeremy...always a pleasure! Luckily enough, the Pats won, but it was very tense there for a moment. Of course, part of watching the game is wearing the gear...so all of us had to wear jerseys!
Jeremy and Karina, a loving moment during a tense game!
Vanessa was having a few "maybe they won't win" beers, followed by a few "THEY WON" beers...all of which added up to a few too many beers! Anyway, it was a blast. Thanks guys!

My Engagement Trip to Paris!!

It was a complete suprise, so i didn't want to know where my mystery trip was going until the gate...and i didn't! Brian kept the trip a secret until we were there in Chicago and then the gate lady told us she was checking our bags through to Paris!!!! I was so excited. After a few hours (8!) on the plane, we arrived in Paris early in the morning and hopped the train to our hotel.
Once we changed a few subways, we got off at the stop that our tourist help desk woman told us to...and we spent a few more minutes (30) looking at the map to find where we were going. We went the wrong way and ended up walking about 40 blocks before we actually found out hotel...and me with new shoes! Me and my 4 blisters made it to the Hotel Eiffel Tower about 2 hours after we started our voyage.
This is my face at the end of this adventure!
Our hotel was beautiful, and even though i was exhausted...i was so excited for our adventure!!!