A New Years Wedding...

We started off 2009 with a New Years day wedding of Paul's nephew Brian and Vanessa.

The night before the wedding (New Years Eve), we stayed overnight at the hotel where the wedding was. Paul managed to get Diane a teeny-bit-tipsy on Yukon Jack (a family tradition of sorts).

We are very happy to welcome Vanessa into the family. She is a very nice young lady and she certainly makes Brian happy.

Here are some of the photos we took at the wedding...

Grant helps Brian get ready...

Vanessa and Ashlynn sharing a moment together before the wedding...

Diane, Grant, and the Minneapolis skyline...

Paul's nephew Chris and Molly...

Sammy bits a big bagel...

Brian and Vanessa during the ceremony...

Mr. and Mrs. Brian S...

New Years with Sammy!

Sammy was excited to bring in 2008! His Aunt Annie came down from the Twin Cities to help celebrate. Of course, we were all in bed by 10:30pm, but so it goes.

About the only excitement we had was when Paul couldn't sleep because of the popping noise the siding on the house was making from the extreme cold. When he looked outside to see what it was he noticed Anne's car's dome light was on. So Paul went into the guest room to wake up Anne to get her keys. Anne who had ear plugs on, woke up screaming. The next thing you know it was a Marx brothers movie.

Aunt Annie in her New Years outfit...

Sammy almost doesn't recognize his Aunt...

Aunt Annie puts New Years garb on Sammy...

Sammy with an ice-cream face and Aunt Annie...

Sammy drank one too many milks...

Sammy and Michele...

The morning after...Sammy looks no worse for the wear...

Veto recovering from...well we're not sure...
...in some ways he is like Snoopy from Peanuts...

Sledding Sammy...

Today we took Sammy outside to Soldier's Field Park for some sledding. As one would expect, we did the pulling and Sammy did the riding.

Sammy smiles when he hears we are going sledding...

"Faster Daddy! Faster!"

At home in the frigid tundra, Sammy laughs at the dropping temperatures...

Michele gets ready to put Sammy back in the car...
...it got too cold for us...not for Sammy