Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe that it's already 2008, and my 2007 Holiday newsletter is officially a New Year's letter. Where did the time go?

We had our usual friends and family events to get us through the winter, especially since Ethan wasn't a big fan of the snow. (Wow how much things change in a year!) Then we took a trip to Arkansas to meet our new friend Mason and the rest of the Eklunds. It was so nice to see flowers and grass and sun even before Easter. It was well over 90 degrees the last couple days of our trip and it was about 9 degrees with 90 mph wind gusts when we got up to Iowa. Harsh!

We took a trip West in May to visit the Uptons in Portland and the Haberles near Seattle. Ethan had a great time visiting his friend and his cousins. Of course, we all got sick at the end, which made for an interesting and memorable trip, but getting to see so many people who are so important to us made it well worth it.

In July we had a short trip to Denver with Tad's company and planned things out so we could squeeze in a little sight-seeing. We spent one day in Colorado Springs and saw Pikes Peak (nice snow storm), the Garden of the Gods (twice), and had dinner inside an old airplane! It was just one day, we did enough for a whole vacation. Ethan and Mommy had some time to go to the Children's Museum and the Denver Zoo while Daddy was at work, so at least some of us got a real vacation.

The short Minnesota summer of 2007 was nearly entirely consumed by the garage construction and the front yard projects. We spent a lot of weekends at home with Eric and Sarah helping us with the work and the Ethan-entertaining. Shannon's dad helped with roofing and siding, too. It was a group effort for sure, and by the end of October, the project had passed the City of Coon Rapids' standards (which is no small feat) and was completely painted! There's still plenty to be done including electrical, finishing the doorway between old and new, door-opener installation and some serious cleaning and re-organization. The best part of it all is that the Mustang has a proper home, and we have a place for all our stuff. For now, anyway!

We did manage to squeeze in some summer fun here and there, though too: In June and July we made it to the Wigdahl cabin a few times and the Eklunds came up from Arkansas. Shannon's sister and her kids were here for a week in August, and of course Ethan turned 2! Shannon and her mom took Ethan to Indiana for a long weekend to visit family and we went to the state fair-twice! In September, we went to Aamodt's orchard for the annual Jordan-Hadtrath apple picking event and attended a family reunion for Tad's family at Como Park, which Shannon helped organize.

And THEN we went to visit Shannon's sister and her family at their new home in El Dorado, CA at the end of September. After a few days there, the whole gang drove like crazy down to LA for a few days at Disneyland and a bit more driving for one day at the San Diego Zoo. It was one heck of a trip, but it was so much fun! Ethan still talks about the Buzz Lightyear ride and the Peter Pan ride and Tad still talks about Space Mountain. Shannon's favorite was probably Nemo. Or Peter Pan. Or Space Mountain. How can you pick a favorite from the Happiest Place on Earth?!

As exciting as all that is, at the beginning of November, we found out that Ethan will be a big brother this summer. The official date is July 3, but we all know how well babies count. We'll keep the web site updated as we learn things and have news to share, so check back to see what's happening. We're hoping to find out if Ethan's getting a brother or sister sometime around Tad's birthday, so we should have that news up sometime before March, we hope!

We had a fun, busy, family-and-friend-filled Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and that the new year has been good to you so far.

Love,
Tad, Shannon, Ethan, and baby