Amazing Grace!

She is here. Introducing Grace McKenzie Lins, weighing in at 6 lb 9 oz and measuring 19 1/2 inches long. She was born at 3:49 AM on December 17. Kate and Grace are recovering and doing very well. They both did great! Below pics are of Kate and I right after Grace was delivered, Nana with Grace, Grace on the scale, Kate about 4 hours before she went into labor, and lastly, not to be forgotten, Josiah in our double coveralls.

I am STILL pregnant!

Happy December Friends and Family!

We hope you all are doing well this Christmas Season. Hard to believe this but I have a little time to sit down and post and update since I AM STILL PREGNANT! Yep, the girl just isn't quite ready to come out yet even though I was due on Wednesday. It's funny how well I have adjusted to becoming pregnant up until the day after my due date. We count our blessings though, the pregnancy has gone very well, we have had a chance to get moved into our new home and actually unpack!

I couldn't help but post the "cooked" Thanksgiving turkey that my dear uncle Lewain so lovingly charred for us. He swore it was a little on the lean side to begin with and it tasted a bit like jerky...a new twist to a holiday staple.

We were able to move in right after closing on the 1st of the month. In fact, the moving van was waiting for us at our new place as we signed the paperwork....good thing everything went allright. Highlight for the kids was the packing paper. Who needs expensive toys!

In true Minnesota form, we bundled up to go see the Canada Pacific Holiday Train in 10 degree weather in Rochester. Josiah has been majorly into trains lately so this was a huge hit, it could've been 10 degrees colder and still been out there for hours!

We got about 4-5 dozen batches of Christmas cookies made with the help of my mom, Sara and our friend Deb.

Ryan got his work utility tractor in last week. Again, a very cold night, but even after 20 minutes of riding around with Ryan, Josiah cried for another 20 because I made him come in. What is with boys and big equipment?????!
My mom and I took Josiah to the Old Fashioned Christmas in downtown Kasson this past weekend. I learned Josiah would rather admire the reindeer than spend a few minutes with the jolly St Nick. My mom had to hold him down to take a picture with him!The house is pretty much unpacked and ready for family member number 4 (or 7 counting the four legged animals). Ryan and his dad were able to get some fence up the day of closing before the ground froze for the horses. They are here and getting settled in. Thank the good Lord for tank heaters!

There's our update and we'll get some pictures posted as soon as our girl decides to "Grace" us with her presence! May you remember the most precious gift we all have received from our Lord and Savior this Christmas and share it with our children!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Big News first...We found a house in Minnesota and we're closing December 1st! It's located between Kasson and Rochester and Ryan will most likely be able to lease the land behind the house to do his research. The acreage already has a barn for the horses (whew!) but we need to get some fence up as soon as we get there. We're looking forward to getting settled in and hopefully the baby can wait to make her appearance for at least a couple more weeks.

Katie's sister, Sara, and her daughter, Ava, came down to Ames to help out with Josiah while we got a lot of things in order.

Josiah and Ava have equally high energy levels, it was nice to have them wear each other out!
Josiah was a monkey for Halloween. He especially liked his tail and making monkey noises. I took him downtown with our Mothers Of Preschoolers group to trick or treat. He figured out the drill pretty quick and in no time was pushing himself to the front of the line at each shop. He learned how to stand "patiently" in line that day!

I've been working with our yearling gelding, Mac, all summer to get him ready to ride next year. He's been fun to work with and he'll make a great riding horse. Poor Molly,our mare, will have to step out of retirement for Ryan and I to get a few rides in this coming summer!

Josiah has taken a liking to cowboy boots...no coaching from his mother, seriously. I think it's just in his blood! We have to laugh at him when he puts them on, his walk is a cross between a husky boy waddle and a bossy girl strut.
Josiah got his 18 month pictures done this past month. It was a challenge to get him to stand still for even a moment to shoot a picture. I've included some of them below. Once we put his dad's shoes on his feet, he was hamming it up, we couldn't get him away from the camera. Cheeeese!

That's all the news for now. I am anticipating it may be awhile before I can post somthing again because of the move and the baby due December 10th. For those who blog or email updates, we love to read them so keep them coming! In the meantime, have a great Thanksgiving!

October News

Fall is finally here! It's been over 6 years since Ryan and I have lived in the midwest and experienced a "real" fall season. I didn't realize how much I missed the refreshing crispness in the air accompanied by the beautiful fall colors.
The end of August, we had our dear friends, the Affeldts, visit from Madras, Oregon. I think Ryan has thoughts of leaving it all behind and moving back over that way everytime he talks to someone from Oregon! The family of five made it to the midwest via roadtrip and camped along the way... you guys are so adventurous! We used to watch their two oldest while we still lived in Oregon, it made us realize how quickly kids grow up. I was happy to feed the horse sickness to Abigail by giving them a ride around the pasture on Molly...the girl ate it up!




Ryan and I celebrated FIVE YEARS of marital bliss (wink, wink) August 30th. Bonnie, Ryan's mom, came all the way to watch the rock eater -aka Josiah-so that we could enjoy an evening together...alone...without any crying, dirty diapers, interrupted eating. Ahhhh, we almost forgot what that's like. We finally got the barn done beginning of September. The horses were very grateful!In September, the Pierstorf family from Wisconsin came and stayed with us for a few days. They have a son 20 days younger than Josiah so it was fun to have a little guy the same age around. We payed a visit to a local orchard where they had all sorts of fun stuff for the kids, young and old, to do. Josiah's personal favorite was the corn pool. It was this huge enclosure full of corn three feet deep. I was vacumming corn up off the carpet for a week after that! We also, of course, ate at Hickory Park, a safe place to bring loud children. The kids enjoyed thier Scooper Hero ice cream in unison.

The end of September Josiah and I made a trip to San Antonio to visit the Tucker family (Katie's sister and her family) for a week. I can always depend on Mandi to show us a great time while we were there. We went to Sea World, the San Antonio Zoo, the dead zoo (Pro Bass Shop), a beloved train ride, lots of park visits, swimming, pumpkin painting and good food. Ryan, Mandi's husband, was so gracious as to take on both kids one night for us girls to get away...He was the one to suggest the idea. Ryan, you are the MAN! I couldn't help but to include the picture of Josiah and Faith watching the Wizard of Oz together. Notice the pink shoes, for some reason, the kid just loved wearing them. Maybe it was peer pressure.

Ryan and I were able to make it to the River Falls Homecoming Football game. Ryan played football there in college so this team is near and dear to his heart. We were able to visit with a few of the coaches and fortunately, they won the game against Stevens Point! We were also able to visit my two friends while up there, Pam and Britt. It was so fun to be back!

Lastly, our big news if you haven't heard already. As God will have it, he doesn't want us to get too comfortable in our new location. We will be moving to Minnesota in the next few months! Ryan has been pursued and offered a Research and Developement Scientist position with Syngenta's Crop division and he has taken it. Ryan held this position when we were in Delaware and loved it. We now have the blessing of being close to family and Ryan enjoying his job. He will work from home so we'll get to see a lot more of him. Who knows where Baby Lins #2 will be born!
We're enjoying all the new blog updates our friends are sending our way. Keep them coming!

Summer Quarter Update, part 3

Last part of our summer quarter update...

I think I totally missed half of August. It seems like it was gone in two weeks. I guess that's what happens when you have good weather! More help from family on the barn..is it done yet already?! Sorry, but the answer to that is nope.

We made it to the Iowa State Fair mid August and ate lots of greasy foods which I've been mysteriously craving. They had a fantastic learning center where you could watch different farm animals give birth. Being the Animal Science major, I at least saw the beauty in it! They also had a Hands on Farm for the kiddos where you rode tractors, collected eggs from the chicken coop, milked a cow, planted a garden and a bunch of other stuff related to farm work. A bit skewed from reality on the farm but close enough for the kids to get it!

We did our extended Lins family vacation this month in Door County, Wisconsin. I recommend this area to anyone looking for a relaxing vacation. Tracy, Ryan's sister, found a great house on the bay of Lake Michigan for us to stay. I think Ryan's siblings all got a taste of what it's like having an "active" toddler around. Josiah loved the water, especially riding on the raft with Opa and Oma. Katie got attacked by a crawfish attempting to catch it to show Josiah. We also checked out a winery up there (can you believe we had the guts to bring a toddler with?) and listened to a band. Josiah thoroughly enjoyed dancing to the music.

Stay tuned, we'll have a September update (perhaps completed in December) but there will be some more news for you all!

Summer Quarter Update, part 2

Then July came along....
I can pretty much say almost all our weekends were consumed by building the horse barn! But we had some great help from family. Thank God for family! Katie's parents, her sister and her family, Katie's Aunt Paulette and Uncle Lewain and cousin Shanon and her girls all came down for a long weekend over the fourth of July. Amidst all the hard work, we managed to have fun too. Okay, so mostly the girls had some fun but we're so grateful for all the time and effort they so generously gave. Shanon even taught Josiah how to eat ice cream from a cone (I know, hard to believe I hadn't yet served him up ice cream that way). Paulette and Lewain have made it down with my parents to help out several times since then. We are so thankful for all your help you guys!

Ryan's parents made it out to help many times as well. As much as Duane has said he's no carpenter, he really was an asset!

The whole extended family McKenzie clan had a vacation together in Wisconsin Dells also in July. We stayed at Chula Vista Resort in a 3 bedroom condo. It worked out wonderfully as it had it's very own indoor outdoor waterpark with lots to do for kids of all ages. We celebrated the parent's 35th Anniversary Carribean style at Marleys while we were there. We got some tickets to the Tommy Bartlett Water, Air and Stage show - minus the water since Lake Delton is gone. Josiah discovered snow cones there, another messy fun time. Speaking of new discoveries for Josiah, one of his noteworthy accomplishments is peeing off a balcony 6 stories up. Ryan couldn't have been any more proud.