Wednesday, December 22, 2010

2010 Christmas Letter


Hello Friends and Family,

We hope this letter finds you healthy and happy. We have enjoyed an especially busy year. Besides all the normal happenings of a family of 5 we also had our share of unexpected events, including: a wind storm that toppled our tree onto our garage (we built a new one!), a hail storm that pockmarked our van, a drunk driver that hit the van while it was parked in front of our house, a second wind storm that knocked a large limb onto the back window of our car (we replaced that too), and a deer that decided to run into the side of our car while we were driving 55 mph down the highway. After all of this, we're looking forward to an uneventful 2011!

As a family we enjoyed a 10 day vacation in Utah visiting family and a camping trip along the Mississippi River. Here are some individual highlights:

Liam-turned 1 in October, learned to walk, and is cutting teeth. He is a happy kid who is quick to smile and loves to make others laugh, but he also has a devious side. He knows what "no" means but often decides not to listen. He's such a cutie, but we still can't decide who he looks like.

Paige-Oooohhhh our little Paige! She keeps us hopping every minute and has enough energy for two kids her age. Paige will be four in January, is in pre-school and gymnastics and attends speech and occupational therapy once a week. She loves dogs and babies and will be friends with anyone.

Dylan-turned 7 in September and is in the 2nd grade. He is our braniac who frequently gets extra assignments at school to help keep him interested and motivated. He loves dinosaurs, reading, video games, and baseball. He is growing up too quickly and already resists having to spend Saturdays (his "only day off!") helping around the house instead of playing all day.

Jen-is busy being the full-time mom and part-time music teacher. Besides running the kids to their various activities she has 18+ piano students and is serving in the Young Womens presidency at church. She has become quite serious about running as of late and puts in multiple miles on the treadmill each week.

Bill-continues to enjoy teaching at Morningside College. He was recently awarded one of three excellence in teaching awards from the college. Travels this year took him to San Diego for the Entomological Society of America Meeting (aka the bug nerd extravaganza!) and to India for two weeks with students. He also rode RAGBRAI (the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) putting in over 500 miles for the week and has plans to do it again next year. He is still serving as 1st counselor in the bishopric.

We hope you each have a blessed and peaceful Christmas season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love, the Heybornes




Sunday, December 12, 2010

Who Stole the Candy from the Christmas Tree?

Notice days 16 through 23 are missing the little gold candies?
Notice the pile of empty gold candy wrappers?

Wonder who could have eaten all those in the 2 minutes it took me to go to the bathroom?




Nativities

A few years ago our church started an annual Nativity Exhibit. Bill and I were in charge of it again this year. This is the 3rd year we've done it, and it was by far the best. We had a total of 99 nativities and a few hundred people that came through to look. We also had quite a few people ask to include their nativities next year- we're already planning a different layout as we are expecting over 100 nativities next year.


Here are a few pictures from this year's event.







It's definitely a lot of work but well worth the effort.



Sunday, November 21, 2010

For the Grandparents

Here are a few short videos of Liam's newest skill.

Liam's 1st Haircut

We finally took Liam to get his first haircut. I didn't get to take a before picture so you'll just have to enjoy the cute after pictures.








He looks like such a little kid now - he's quickly outgrowing the baby stage.


Sunday, October 31, 2010

Deja Vu

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! We've had a whole week of Halloween fun. On Wednesday, the kids all went trick or treating at the college where Bill teaches (all the students decorate their halls and pass out candy). On Thursday Paige had her preschool party, on Friday Dylan had his class party and on Friday evening we went to the church trunk or treat party. Lots of fun and lots of candy.

I asked the kids what they wanted to be for Halloween. Dylan wanted to wear his transformer costume from last year and it still fit so that was easy. Then Paige saw her tiger costume from last year and she said she wanted to be a tiger. Luckily the 2T-3T tiger costume still fits so that was easy too. Then I dug out the frog costume that each of the kids have worn when they were younger and it was the perfect size for Liam. Presto - 3 costumes without spending a dime!

Once again we tried taking pictures of the kids. Some turned out, some didn't. You get what you get, I guess.



















Monday, October 25, 2010

Pumpkins

Tonight for our family home evening activity we decorated our pumpkins. I found this great sticker kit so the kids were able to each design their own pumpkin face. It was quick, clean and fun and I think they turned out really cute!







We tried to get a picture with all 3 kids and their pumpkins. Out of 20+ pictures, this was the best one. At least we tried.