Camping

This was serious camping - we spent lots of time outdoors and had a great time with our family. Here are the pics:

 These were some kind of crane Kenan said has a six foot wingspan - they were very loud

 Ah yes, I'm such a good influence

 We were looking at the deer that ran by

 Inside a deer blind, waiting for the sun to go down

 These are serious hunters

 Kinley was the fish-catching champion - she must have caught half a dozen and none of the rest of us did :)

I fished for about five or ten minutes and then went back to my book - I prefer "catching" to "fishing"

A New Addition

On Wednesday, January 19th, our best friends in the world were blessed with the addition of their first child, Chase Bradley. We felt honored to be able to visit on the day he was born - check it out:

 Brad jumping right in

 I was aware there were other people in the room but I was too interested in little Chase :)

Look how well he is holding Chase's little head - good practice!

We love you, Machicek family!!

Merry Christmas

We were fortunate enough to spend Christmas with both of our families this year and had a wonderful time. Here are some pictures from both Bubela and Kramer Christmases:

 A large part of Christmas should be relaxing, and Madison's got that part down pat - she's a good influence

 That's called lots of Christmas Eve energy

 My family knows me well indeed - shoes and White House Black Market :)

Aaron is good at posing for pictures

Ahhh, chaos

The boys having a jam session right before midnight Mass

 On Christmas Day we went to my big sister's house, where she fed us lots of great food and we all exchanged presents. Every year my Mom gets us the BEST socks. I am currently wearing the pair in my left hand in in this picture :)

 Kenan got lots of good stuff for this year's garden

 Kenan picked the paper - not a coincidence

Merry Christmas everyone!

Holiday Party

Every year our employer goes all out to show us their appreciation for our hard work and this year we attended and had an amazing time with our friends and family. The theme this year was "Holiday in Hollywood" - here are some pictures:

Of course, my favorites are sometimes the "outtakes":

 This our life, uncut

 That's how you can tell Kenan is getting a little cranky about pictures

That's how you can tell I'm annoyed by the face in the previous picture :)

Erin and I are posing for the paparazzi; they follow us everywhere!

 Striking a pose - look at that gorgeous baby bump!

 Darius Rucker - they really went all out this year

 Marissa and me :)

 The end of the night

Fountain in front of the Alamodome - at this point it was hovering around 32 degrees and I was REALLY glad I had bought that coat! What a great night we had - great food, great entertainment, great company to enjoy it with.

Erin's Baby Shower

I can't believe it's already almost time for Baby Machicek to arrive. Rebecca and Chrissie and I threw a baby shower here at the Bubela house yesterday and we had lots of fun socializing, eating and watching Erin open all of her goodies. Best of all, everyone brought their babies so anybody who wanted practice got it :) Here are some pictures:

Marbled cheesecake from Bumdoodler's - believe it or not, those flowers are made out of sugar

Eating and socializing - notice Erin in the back with baby Ryan. She's such a natural!

Measure the belly! Brandi won with the closest guess

Yay for presents!

The whole gang

Right before we cut into the cake...isn't she gorgeous? (Erin, not the cake)

Me, Rebecca, Erin and Chrissie

YouTube at its Finest

This is so awesome I had to share...think Riverdance but for lazy people with a much better sense of humor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4_5k8kWMe8

Zoo Fun

I know it's weird, but we've lived in San Antonio for a really long time and never been to the zoo. We decided to go over our anniversary weekend and had a great time!

 Me and the python - their reptile house had a very wide variety; I was impressed

The okapi, Kenan's favorite animal - part horse, part zebra, and part giraffe

Us with the okapi

 Don't tell me you've never had a day like that before - we've all been there

 Behold, life as the world's fastest creature (not much to worry about)

 Us in the treehouse lookout above the Africa exhibit

 Now, this part was very fun - the aviary. You can feed the birds nectar, and mine were clever enough to open the container on their own and start going nuts. The one on my shoulder never even tried to eat it though. He was too busy eating either my hair or my shirt. Good times.

But Kenan wins the prize: a bird found him that liked him so much it wouldn't stop licking him (and I caught it on camera - insert evil laugh here)