Tanner's Baptism Pictures

Tanner was baptised on Saturday, December 6. We had a wonderful day! Many thanks to everyone who came to enjoy this event with us.

Kevin and Ann's Anniversary Vacation

I realize this post is a little after the fact but I figure better late than never. At the end of August this year Mom and Dad were able to do something that they have wanted to do for a long time, take an Alaskan cruise. They decided it is how they wanted to celebrate their 25th Anniversary. Following are a few pictures that they wanted to share with everyone so I can't take credit for any of them.

This is at the Misty Fjords near Ketchikan. The following two photos are also on their excursion boat to the Misty Fjords.

When I gave Mom a hard time about wearing two jackets her only response was that it was cold.

And Dad is sporting his wind-swept look.

One of the perks to this trip was that one of the ports of call was Juneau which where some of Mom's family lives. Mom has not seen this family at least as long as I have been alive. This is at the Mendenhall Glacier with (from left to right) Mom's cousin Steve, Aunt Jean, and cousin Linda. Mom's cousin Linda met them at the ship and her cousin Steve is her age and retired from the State of Alaska.

This is Mom and Dad on a mountain overlooking Juneau.

This is Mom's Uncle LeRoy and Aunt Jean.

This was taken north of Anchorage and west of Wasilla.

Okay, so I will once again reiterate that I can not take credit for these pictures. Apparently Dad though you would all enjoy this one. I guess the nicest way to explain this one is that it was left by a moose on a yard in Anchorage. A coworker of Mom and Dad's recently relocated with her family to Anchorage and they were able to visit them for a few days at the conclusion of their cruise.

Happy Birthday Tanner

Dear Tanner,

Happy Birthday from your Iowa cousins. We hope you have a wonderful day. It's great to be EIGHT! We love you.

Josh, Emmie, Olivia and Jack

October Fun

Hey Family,

Here are some pics of our October fun. We would love to see some things posted to this blog (or sent to me to post for you) of your families. We love to stay in touch.

We love you.

Tiffany

Hiltbrand Halloween Costumes

Grandma Hiltbrand is amazing! She makes the greatest costumes, year after year.

Tanner is Prince Caspian. Brenna is a 50's girl. Camille is a cute little elephant.

Happy trick or treating, everyone!

HIltbrand School Photos

Camille has decided to sleep in this morning, so I have a few spare moments to put up some back to school photos from our family.

Tanner and Brenna have both settled well into school this year. Tanner is loving second grade, although he is learning that each school year gets just a little harder and there is less time in the afternoons to play computer games. Brenna is thriving in kindergarten. She comes home daily with lots of stories about their fun activities. I am entertained daily when these two speak to one another in Spanish. Their vocabularies are quickly outgrowing my own Spanish knowledge. (Not a hard thing to do!) Camille had a rough adjustment to both siblings being gone, but after I set up several play dates each week, she's doing much better!

Troy is also adjusting to his new position at Boart Longyear. He's been so busy, that he doesn't talk about it much, but I think he enjoys it. We've also become huge fans of the new Legacy Parkway that has finally opened after many, many years of construction as it has cut major time off his commute! Its feeling manageable again!

Melissa keeps herself busy with the house, kids' homework, helping Brenna practice the piano, and logging in several volunteer hours at the school. All the fun, traditional mom stuff. It seems scary to think that its already time to begin planning YW Camp for 2009, but the truth is, our first planning meeting will occur tomorrow night!

We always have other fun updates on our family blog, so if you don't have access and would like it, just let me know and I'll send you an invite.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Hiltbrand

We got such a kick out of this car Jack was driving. The battery went dead, so the boy working it pushed him around the circle for his ride. He was moving at "break-neck" speed.

As most of you know, we celebrated Dad's 60th birthday in Denver this summer. Here is just a little clip of our fun at Boondocks. We also enjoyed time at the Butterfly museum, where we held a taratula, touched sea creatures and followed the butterflies around a hot and humid room--Grandma's favorite climate. We also went to the US Mint. But we didn't include any photos here because it was top secret and if we showed you the pictures, we would have to kill you. ;)