Either I’m getting desensitized to life in the sticks, or nothing  “what-in-the-hecky” has happened here lately.  I’d like to think it’s the latter.

So, instead I borrowed an idea from Christie.  I spent most of the morning digging through boxes of exceptionally disorganized scrapbook paraphernalia looking for Christmas cards of the past.  When I resurfaced I had in hand 9 of the 13 years we’ve been married.  Pretty good considering how disorganized I am.  So, here’s a quick Christmas stroll through memory lane.

I know we started sending pictures after kids but I can’t seem to find any cards from 1995 through 1998. So we’re starting in 1999 when we lived in Danville, California.  We had 2 kids and were living in our third house by that time.  Ralf had jumped ship at Enron in time to join Siebel in it’s heyday.  Does he look tired and stressed?  Well, he was.  This was also between Jack’s second and third heart surgeries.  His lips were still blue and would remain that way for another year.

This next one is 2001, 9 months after we had Erik.  Some people think since it takes 9 months to put the weight on, it should take 9 months to take it off.  Well, they’re.so.wrong.  At least for me.  It took me at least 2 years before I felt normal again.  Maybe that’s why all the kids are three years apart.  Anyway, I’m not a big fan of sending fat pictures of myself so that’s why there are no parents in this picture.

Moving on to 2002.  We still lived in California but thought a snow picture would be Christmasy so this was taken in Little Cottonwood Canyon while visiting my sister in Utah.  It’s a few months after Jack’s final surgery.  See how pink he looks now?  And so happy. We had much to be thankful for that year.

2003 has me perplexed.  I found 2 pictures and I could have sworn we sent them both out as Christmas pictures, but I’m sure NOT at the same time. So I’ll include them both.

The first was taken on one of our trips to Disneyland.  Boy do we miss being a half day’s drive away!

This second picture must have been taken right after our first digital camera.  Check out all the “magic” I created with my fancy editing options!  Notice the festive ornaments hanging in mid-air.  And I must have been pregnant since we are, again, missing in this picture.

2004 found us still in Danville but in our 4th house.  Will was born 10 weeks early.  He looks tiny here but he was actually 4 months old by then.

2005 brought lots of changes.  My dad passed away that year and we started thinking about slowing life down a notch or two.  Ralf was tired of his hour+ commute and we felt we needed a change.

Our change came when we decided to leave our life in California and give Utah a try.  And try we did…  for a couple of years anyway.

I could not find a good picture of all of us together in 2007 so I opted for an artsy picture I took of the kids at a beach in Newport News, Virginia on our Williamsburg trip.  It was on my blog for the longest time.  If you didn’t get to see it, you’re out of luck.  With the whole “cleaning out the computer memory” thing, it exists no longer.

Which brings us to 2008.  We were in need of a new family portrait this year and since we are now in Idaho, what better backdrop than a barn?  The photographer was great.  She spent lots of time with us.  In fact, two Saturdays were spent trying to get a good group shot.  But, like the saying goes, “if Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy”.  “If Momma looks fat, Momma ain’t sending out a family picture.”  The kids all looked great and they all made the cut.  And my very photogenic husband even looked great.  So, I compromised and included a tiny picture of us all looking completely enraptured at Ralf summarizing  Star Wars:Return of the Jedi.  That’s the one at the top of my blog.

Maybe next year will see us all on the family Christmas card again.  We’ll see.

And maybe next week I’ll be back with a dang swell “What-in-the-heck” moment to share.

Happy Wednesday!