The kids and I have been back in SD/Iowa for three weeks now and we will be heading back to Denver on Friday. I have spent many days searching for a home and nothing yet, but I will keep looking. I have looked at well over 40 homes and I am just beside myself! Every home has had at least one big issue whether it was the roof, foundation, water problems, mold, or just way too much work for us. I can live with cosmetic issues but when we get into bigger problems I just don't want to have to deal with that.
Anyway, I just wanted to update you all on the house-hunting progress and I will let you know more when we get to that point. I am eager to get home and not have to worry about this for a while but we will try again in April or May.
We hope everyone is staying healthy and pray that this winter weather will soon be gone!

Kari

Eventually I will figure out how to do this whole BLOG thing! There are very large spaces in between the pictures so I apologize.

Regan had her last day of preschool yesterday since we will be gone for a while and who knows what will happen in the next few months. She attended a "Rodeo" at school last Friday and was suppose to dress like a cowgirl. She picked out her own clothes as you can see but she looked cute and had a great time. They made horses to ride, ate hotdogs and learned a new dance! Sorry I forgot to rotate the picture, I am so bad at remembering to do that.





















Kael's new 'favorite thing' is playing in the dryer. Everytime I do laundry he is pulling the clothes out(faster than I can get them) so that he can jump in! He thinks he is so funny.





















I cought Kael red-handed! He was playing Doctor and must have gotten hungry because he pulled the bread off the counter and was sitting on the floor eating it!






















Regan decided she would bring the firetruck in from the garage, so Kael was having a great time playing fireman. He figured out how to honk the horn and would giggle everytime it made a noise.




















This was Regan's last day of preschool wearing her Mt. Olive T-shirt. As you can see they love the firetruck but it is a little tight in there with two!

Not much new here, we are looking forward to watching the Super Bowl this weekend but I'm not really sure who I want to win. I really wanted the Packers to play but no such luck, Favre will have to put in another year. I thought a Super Bowl win would be a great career ending for him but oh well!

The kids and I are going to be traveling back on the 13th and will meet my dad in Omaha. He is going to take the kids to Paullina so I can go to Des Moines and look at houses. Hopefully within a week I can find something! We plan on visiting everyone for a while as we have nothing to get back for, besides Ryan but he is pretty busy! We will let everyone know where we are and when we will be around.

Ryan has been very busy on this rotation and we don't get to see him much. He has done so many interesting cases and is very glad he is at a hospital that has hands-on learning. It really is amazing the things he gets to do! I won't go into detail but he loves surgery! Iowa Methodist Medical Center is very similar to St. Joe's so he will get a lot of experience there also, which he is really excited about. It is hard for me to imagine him doing all of that (surgeries) but I guess that's what Surgical Residents do.

We hope everyone is surviving the crazy weather we have been hearing about. We don't seem to get much here and if we do it melts within a couple of days. Next year will be hard getting back into the swing of using a snowblower!

We love and miss you all!

Kael showing off all 6 of his teeth! Regan playing her guitar! Snuggling with Daddy! Kael blocking the football game from Daddy and Regan being her usual self!

UPDATE!

We just wanted to let everyone know that we're moving to IOWA!!! Ryan got the call today and accepted the position. This is a 2nd year spot in General Surgery at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines. He will start in June when he finishes his contract here in Denver. We are both very excited for this amazing opportunity and we are especially grateful that we will be closer to our families.

Home at last

We spent New Year's Eve in Sioux Falls at the Ramkota. There were over 40 people in our group and it was so much fun. We got to see the so many friends we hadn't seen since we moved (and 3 new babies we hadn't met yet). We were missing little Alec this year as he passed away in November just one day before his baby sister arrived. Alec would have turned 4 this month and is just a little older than Regan. We were not able to make it back for the funeral so it was nice to talk with Brad and Stephanie and see Aaron and baby Emily.

We rented a banquet room so we could set up all the food. This was a great idea as the room was later used to play some cards. Our friends Scott and Lori from Madison, MN even came down to celebrate with us. Everyone swam, ate and overall had a great time. The balloons you see over the pool were let down at midnight and then the night was over, for the kids anyway! Cards continued until I don't know when!

New Year's day we traveled north to Grandpa and Grandma Garrys to spend the day with everyone. It was a very relaxing day, I think everyone was exhausted. The highlight of G & G's now is their new Wii! It's pretty funny to watch and now I picture Stan and Mary playing it and just laugh, sorry.

We headed for Des Moines for the big interview and stayed with my high school friend Sara and her husband Travis. They had a black lab named Tess and the kids just loved her! Thanks for having us and we hope we will soon be living there.

Ryan's interview went well and we are very optimistic. We should know by the end of the month if he got the job or not. We will keep you all posted.

After being gone 7 days, putting 2000 miles on the Tahoe and sleeping in 6 different beds we finally returned home. It was so nice to see everyone but it is always nice to be home. The kids traveled great and it couldn't have been a better trip. I did numerous loads of laundry and the house was in shambles. Last night I stayed up until 3 am and finally got the Christmas decorations down and the house clean. I never thought I would see the floor!

Regan goes to the asthma/allergy specialist this afternoon so I will let you know what we hear.

We hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday and look forward to hearing from everyone soon.

Love, The Garrys

Plans changed and we are in Paullina!

A couple weeks before Christmas we found out we would be able to get back for the week of New Year's. We headed to Paullina on Saturday and surprised everyone(my mom and dad knew we were coming). I think everyone was pretty shocked and we were so glad to see everyone. My aunt and uncle from Minneapolis, my cousins and my Grandpa were also there so it was extra special! We celebrated Christmas with gifts, food and some hold em'.

Christmas

Some more pictures from Christmas. Regan and Kael checking out Kael's new airplane. Regan helping Grandpa open his gifts. All ready for bed. Regan on Christmas morning with a book that I don't think she really liked! You can see her new bike in the background that Santa brought her. Grandpa and Grandma before they flew back home. We had a wonderful time and were thankful that they could come and spend Christmas with us.

What is that big present?

Regan and Kael woke up Christmas Eve morning to find this huge present by the tree. Grandpa and Grandma decided they should open and it and boy it sure was a hit! I only wish we would have had that much fun putting it together! Mom, Dad and I put it together after the kids went to bed and it was very interesting! It took three of us but we did it correctly, I think. This has a kitchen on one side and a grill and outdoor area on the other. Why didn't they think of things like this when I was a kid.

Christmas Eve

Regan and Kael opening gifts on Christmas Eve. Regan got a sleeping baby doll from Grandpa and Grandma that she named baby Jon. She has now named it baby Kael. What will she think of next? She also decided she wanted to wear her pink dress instead of her pretty Christmas dress. Kael worked hard at his gifts but in the end I think Regan opened them all! He wanted her doll and she wanted his cars, hmm!

Grandpa helping Regan put the angel that Grandma made on the Christmas tree. Kael is making sure they do it right! He is so hard to get a picture of.

Being really good so Santa will come!

Sorry I forgot to rotate the pictures!

We have received so many wonderful Christmas cards already and it is so nice to hear from everyone! We just got ours out today and what a task it was to get a good picture. I will post some pictures of the kids the day we were taking them. They really were pretty good and we did get ONE good one so that is all that counts.

In the last couple of weeks we have taken both Regan and Kael to the doctor. Kael's one year well-baby (a little late) and Regan for her cough. They both got shots that day, Kael 6 and Regan 2. Both were screaming so I am glad that Ryan was able to go with me. As for Kael, he is in the 85th percentile for both height and weight and most people refer to him as an OX but Ryan refers to him as his future lineman. When he was born he had a PFO (patent foramen ovale, or a hole in his heart). We were suppose to do a repeat echo at 12 months but his new pediatrician decided that she did not want to put him through that so we will do one at a later date. He is being referred to an opthalmologist due to his eyes. He has always had somewhat lazy eyes and they turn in a bit. This was due to prematurity they say and they just want to check and make sure he doesn't need anything done.


As for Regan we are still struggling with the chronic cough. She was on Singulair for a long time back in SD and she seemed to do well. When we moved here we put off her Dr. appt and finally her cough has gotten so bad that we needed to get her checked out. Her new pediatrician said she is not able to write a script for Singulair (some Colorado law) so we are being referrred to an asthma/allergy specialist whom we aren't able to see until Jan. 9. We returned two days later because she was coughing so much she was gagging and threw up once. They did a chest X-ray that looked fine(which we suspected). She was put on albuterol which is an inhaler(she tolerates this very well) but it doesn't seem to do much for her. The Dr. said she would get her a steroid if this didn't work so that may be our next step otherwise we will wait until Jan.


Tomorrow both Regan and I go to the dentist. This will be Regan's first time and she is very excited. I hope she is just as excited about the dentist next time she goes! She is going to a children's clinic so it should be fine and they are obviously used to working with kids.


Thursday Regan has her Christmas program for school and Ryan will even get to attend! This will be the first event he has been able to go to so she is so happy that he will be there. They are having a party afterward for the kids and their families so we are looking forward to this. She will have the next two weeks off so it may get interesting around here.


My mom and dad will be here on the 22nd and we are very excited to have them come spend Christmas with us. Ryan has Christmas day off so we will be able to celebrate together. They are leaving on the 26th and then we are actually going to Des Moines, Iowa on Jan. 2-3. Ryan got an interview for a second year position at Iowa Methodist Medical Center. We are both very excited for this and hopefully it will all work out. He also has an interview here but it would be for a first year position which would be fine also. Haven't heard from any other ones yet!


Not much else going on except that we finally have some snow. We only have a few inches and it melted a lot today but we should have another dusting by Christmas. All of you skiiers will be happy to know that the slopes are up and running with the several feet of snow they have recieved in the last couple of weeks. Many were worried about the skiing this year but they have been dumped on pretty good!


I will try to update more pictures from Regan's program and Christmas in the next week. We wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and we will be thinking of each and every one of you!





Love, The Garrys

Happy 29th Birthday Ryan!

Our Family at The Red Rocks

Everyone hanging out at our house. There were 17 people here so it was nice and cozy! Kael and Dawson enjoying some time away from the madness.

AT THE RED ROCKS

From top to bottom: Grandpa and Grandma Garry and Regan and Kael. Stan and Mary and all their grandkids. The Nelson family: Brad, Kristin, Kali and Shaw. The Darrin Garry family: Darrin, Holly, Grayson, Carson and Dawson. Ann Garry and Caileb.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. All of the Garrys were able to come and celebrate with us. We went to Ryan's cousins house for Thanksgiving Day. I think there were over 35 people there (17 were from the Garry side). We played cards, watched football and the kids played out in the snow.

On Friday the girls went shopping and we got some great deals! After shopping we took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese and then went downtown Denver. The Holiday lights were turned on so we walked the 16th Street Mall and sang with the Carolers. It was very cold but we had a lot of fun.

On Saturday everyone went to the movies and then we took a trip to the Red Rocks. We really wanted to go tubing or sledding but there wasn't enough snow so they were not open. Maybe everyone will come back after Christmas for that?!?! We also wanted to go see the Zoo lights but they aren't opening until next weekend. Again, maybe after Christmas!

Everyone left early on Sunday morning and our house was very quiet. Regan really misses everyone and had a tough day, bored I am sure.

Christmas will be here before we know it. My parents are flying out on te 22nd to spend Christmas with us. We thought we would be alone for Christmas so were very happy to hear they are coming. Ryan has Christmas Day off, but will be working double time the other days.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Love, Ryan, Kari, Regan and Kael