Duluth w/ the Gehrk's!

Aaron: what a natural.
Man, we miss these guys!
Tate and his (non-fairy) godmother.

Pretty far north, but a fun city.

Sledding!

What can we say? We felt the need...the need for speed.
The common denominator in every errant sledding run was wearing an orange coat. I'm just saying...
Tate was not a fan, but he took a couple of trips.
Aww, sisters.

We Like Snow!

This kid never gets cold...never wants to go inside. He may have been born in Oklahoma, but he's got MN and SD in his blood.
Throwing snowballs with Auntie Jill.
Grandpa's house had lots of snow.
Good for jumping...
...and throwing.

Gauffin Family Christmas

Tate's Christmas presents from his Auntie Jill
Showing "Sister" her presents from Auntie Jill
Another fun gift from Grandma and Grandpa
He was so excited to open his BIG, BIG present-A Playmobile Noah's Ark
Couldn't wait to get into the presents!

We rarely get to be with family on or around Christmas simply because of the nature of Eric's profession! ;) However, this year we decided to make a very concerted effort to get back to Mora because my sister Jill was going to be home!!! We were able to spend a few days with her before she had to go back to Aberdeen. We love you, Auntie Jill!

Our whirlwind tour of SD, ND and MN

924 12th street-My old college house.....Ah, the memories
Concordia's Bell Tower
Snow and pine trees-doesn't get much better
My alma mater

Christmas Morning! AND Quinn's first Christmas!

He LOVES these pajamas so much that he still wears them.....and he's already growing out of them!
Love this picture!!!!
Yes, I know it looks like she hates it, but I promise that she was just tired!

There aren't many pictures from Christmas this year....simply because it was INSANE! Eric had two services Christmas Eve night. We had Christmas Eve lunch at our "Tulsa Mom's" (Michele) house, went home to change for 7.00 PM Christmas Eve service, went to our friends' house (James and Ann) for a little Christmas Eve party, Eric went back to church for the 11 PM service and I headed home to put the kiddos down for the night and finish wrapping presents. Christmas morning was the first morning in weeks that Tate slept in past 8 AM....which actually made all of us run a little late for Christmas Morning church! Eric got up, took a shower and was out the door within minutes. I scrambled to get the kids to church on time. Afterwards, Michele came to our house for our annual ham Christmas dinner.....with our Christmas Eve tamales added in! :) YUMMY! On Sunday, Eric had two services and Bible class and after late service was over, we headed north to see family and friends for Christmas. Talk about crazy!! It was wonderful though....We are so blessed.

Christmas Cookies

Tate's decorating favorites-SPRINKLES
My cookie
Tate's cookie-frosting and sprinkles galore!
His sweet little hands working hard to decorate
He loves his Christmas cookies!

Quinn's baptism

Kevin and Meghan brought a cake from a bakery called Muddy's, located in Memphis. It was delicious!
The VS family with Quinn's sponsors: Kevin and Meghan Martinson and Brandon, Nikki, Jaxon, Lanie and Walker Witt
Our family
I love this picture-Tate and Quinn both looking at one camera, while Eric and I look at another! :) Figures!

Quinn's baptism was a wonderful and we are so blessed to have such wonderful friends that came to support us! :) Unfortunately, our families were not able to come down (bad weather and school schedules are to blame). However, our families were with us in spirit and in Quinn's baptismal gowns. Yes, I said gowns. My mother sent my baptismal gown and Eric's family has a family gown that is passed around from child to child. She managed to wear both! Don't ask me how, it's a long story ! :)

The Christmas Program

My happy son!
Tate's favorite soldier

The cast and crew!

This was Tate's first time in the Christmas program at church. He practiced his songs all the time! It was interesting to watch, though, as he did great for the first half....the second half was another story. He and some of his friends decided it would be funny to play on the altar banister....Let's just say that it didn't go over so well with his mom...or his dad. Eventually, Eric had to go up and split Tate and his friends. The ECC Christmas program went much better!

Christmas Traditions

Tate and the Conductor
At the Christmas Train
A beautiful Oklahoma view
Tate made friends with a dog at the Christmas Tree Farm
The family at the Christmas tree farm.....A tradition started while we were at the seminary with Aaron and Abby. We find a Christmas tree farm and cut down our own tree. While we do this, we also buy an ornament for each of the family members. However....the first few years, it was at least cold out....this year, it was 65 degrees and sunny!

A sneak peek

Last year, we had Malisa from Morgan Street Studios take Tate's 2 year pictures and some family pictures. We loved her so much, we went back after Quinn was born. She did a great job! I'm SO excited to get the rest of the proofs back....Here's just a sneak peek at some of the pictures.

A couple more cute ones....

Tate loves this frog!
Her little outfit for our family pictures
Tate holding his sister.....be still, my heart....
Her Juicy Couture onesie (I didn't even know that they made those) and one of my favorite bows
Here's another-how cute are her socks?!
I have to model a few of her little outfits and bows.....LOVE having a girl!