Christmas Day!

Christmas Day was also great! We slept in til about 8:30 got up to see what Santa had brought the kids, had a great breakfast. We all sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and then Kaiden sang it again to a friend of ours who's birthday is the same day! I thought that was very sweet of him to think of that on his own! after that we opened presents and had munchies! We put together the things that needed assembling. Kaiden got a Telescope, Karsyn a Karaoke Machine, so we had singing performances though out the day! Also games of cards and putting together a puzzle were happening though out the day. The kids hit the jack pot this year with a lot of great gifts that the kids where in awe over! We had Christmas dinner watched a movie and then I hit the hay. It was such a relaxing laid back Christmas!

Kaiden & Karsyn Singing a song

Next up... my Dad & Karsyn

Christmas Dinner!

Christmas Eve!

We had a wonderful, laid back Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve we had a leisurely day filled with games, food and family. It was great!

Karsyn looking beautiful in her Christmas dress

Kaiden modeling part of the present that Karsyn got him.

Karsyn with her Great Grandma & Grandpa Nielsen before heading to the Christmas Eve service.

Playing cards!

This is Karsyn's Poker face. She was having a hard time not letting people know if she had a good hand or not. It still makes me laugh thinking about this!

I stole a kiss from Kaiden when he wasn't expecting it! I have to be a little sneaky in order to get my kisses now a days!

The Nutcraker Ballet!

A friend and I took our daughters to the Nutcracker ballet this year. It was so much fun to have a special girls night/Mommy & Daughter night. Karsyn really wanted to be on stage dancing with the dancers. She had seen the movie and looked at the book, so she was explaining to me what was going on which was pretty fun!

Here are some pics of the night!

This is Karsyn & Lilly before we left Madison.

Here is a couple pics from the performance!

By the end of the show Karsyn was out cold and I couldn't get her to wake up for anything.
It was pretty funny!

YEAR IN REVIEW!

Well we have a very busy year and it makes me wonder where the time has gone! I can not believe that we are a week and a half away from Christmas!

Mike and I did more traveling this year then I thought I would do in a lifetime, which was so exciting. It started out the end of February when Mom & Dad, and Mike & I got on a plane and headed to the land down under for my cousin Kelva’s wedding! It was such a beautiful wedding and a great experience. On our way home we stayed a couple days in Tokyo Japan, which was also so wonderful. Then with a lot of hard work Mike qualified for a Mediterranean cruise through work. He was the # 4 agent in the State and in the top 9% of the company nation wide. I was so proud of him! We headed to Barcelona Spain and boarded the Royal Caribbean cruise ship which took us through Italy, France and back to Spain. It was an unbelievable trip with Rome being the highlight!

Kaiden has had a full year as well! He spent his summer in baseball, riding his horse, swimming and helping us out! He is now in 3rd grade and also started his first year of football which he enjoyed very much. He got all A’s with one B on his report card and his teacher was a little concerned that he may be a little bored at school, so we have been trying keep him progressing at home as well. He is now reading full novels and has a hard time putting them down! He never ceases to amaze me. Wrestling will begin in January and he is looking forward to that as well as learning to snowboard in Montana with family in a few weeks.

Karsyn has also been a very busy girl. She was in her second year of T ball, and swimming lessons, riding horse and her bike this summer. This is the year she has really come out of her shell and has really progressed a lot in everything that she has participated in. She started Kindergarten this year, which she absolutely loves, and started gymnastics and loves that as well. Karsyn and I went to the Nut-cracker Ballet this year, which was so fun to share that experience with her. Alls she could say was how she wanted to be on stage dancing with them! It was very beautiful.

Mike is continuing to grow his business and still loves every minute of it. He spent his summer fishing in Walleye Tourney’s, spending time with friends at lakes around the area, and hanging out with the kids. Hunting season has also been very busy for us this. It has been a great year, and Mike has really enjoyed reacquainting with hunters that we see every year as well as new faces that he has gotten to get to know!

I have had a great year as well. I enjoyed seeing the sight from around the world, spending time with the kids at the pool and at all of their events. I am finding that my favorite sports are continually changing to what ever season it is and what event the kids are in. I can.t believe how fun it is to watch them out there! I am also still working with Mike at Farm Bureau, helping Mom during hunting season with cooking and cleaning. And most recently I started with AFLAC insurance company. I am excited for the holidays but am anything but prepared, but as usually I am sure that every thing will come together as they usually do!

From our house to yours we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Lots of Love, Michael, Shanley, Kaiden & Karsyn Dorris

Halloween Pics!

Here's the kids on Halloween!
Karsyn was a Monarch Butterfly. It is kinda had to see her wings in this picture.

Kaiden Was an Inmate!

Weekend summary!

Well I know it has been a while since I posted, it has just been so busy! I am in the training process with Aflac right now and leave on the 27th for a week in Fargo for more training. I am very excited to get going with it and see where it takes me!

Anyways, this weekend I got to stay home for the first time in a while. The kids and I went to the movie with some friends, it was fun to hang out and spend some fun time with them. Sat morning I slept in, which was so awesome. I honestly don't remember the last time I got to sleep in. Karsyn went to a friends house to play, and Kaiden and I hung out at home and got ready for both kids to go to their friends birthday parties! I helped out at the birthday party that Karsyn went to and we did hair, nails, made bracelets and watched Barbie: The Twelve Dancing Princesses! It was a wonderful birthday party, but 10 screaming little girls reinforced that fact that I am glad I only have 2 children!!!!! Kaiden left for his party, which was a sleep over and they headed to S Falls for Gigglebees!

After Karsyn's party we headed home and just as I was making supper a friend called me to see if I wanted to head to Chester for a Poker Tourny. She sent her daughter over to baby sit and we headed to Chester. This is the first Tourny I have ever been in, but I thought it sounded kinda fun! We get to our table and started playing, and it ends up being myself and another man at the table, so they move us to another table. At that point there was only 3 tables left! So we keep playing and it is down to the final table. I thought to myself wow... I made it to the final table! So, I tried not to pay too much attention and just focus on the cards so I wouldn't Phyc myself out. Next thing I know it is the final 4, then the final 2. And YES I won the whole Tourny!!!!! There were over 70 people that started out! First prize was a 32 in Flatscreen tv!!!! It was so much fun! So that is the highlight of my weekend!!!

Sunday Karsyn and I made breakfast together, and the rest of the day was pretty lazy, It felt good! We just hung out picked up a little, Kaiden came home from his party, and Karsyn went swimming with some friends/neighbors at the community center. So as you can tell we had a very full but awsome weekend!!!

Pheasant Season is Here!

Well we started off the season with a bang (literally)! We had a great opening weekend. We had some friends/hunters from Arizona and Minnesota! They harvested 72 birds. They limited each day fairly early, which gave the guys plenty of time to hang out and play pool. Between meals and regrouping the girls had some time to relax in the hottub, which was great! Here are some pics of the weekend!

Visiting Grandma O!

Here are a couple of pics from when we went to visit Grandma Great! She is looking so good, and it was so fun to visit with her and my Aunt Carol! I got to go through the scrap book that they put together for her 90th birthday and there were photos of my Grandma & Grandpa that I had never seen before! I defiantly will have to get my hands on them and get some copies made!

The First Snow!

We awoke this morning with a beautiful surprise! The ground was covered in white and every thing looked so beautiful. Mike was on the ball and captured some nice pictures! I love the first snow, it was so peaceful. There was no wind and the big snow flakes fell so softly! Karsyn was so cute, she ran into my bedroom and said "Mommy you have to come see this there is a surprise out side!" Alls I could think about was 5 more minutes of sleep, so she said "I will make you a deal, I will go get dressed and then you can come see!". So she got all ready and came and got me to see the beautiful snow! It was a great way to wake up this morning!

The Toothfairy!

The tooth fairy visited our house night before last due to Karsyn loosing her first tooth. After a week worth of working on it she finally got it out! She even managed to pull it all by her self! She awoke to find $2 under her pillow which she was very excited about, even though the Tooth Fairy didn't comply with her wishes. Karsyn had written a letter that she put with her tooth requesting $11 for the exchange of the tooth. Regaurdless she was tickled pink, and hey it never hurts to try for the bug bucks! The poor tooth fairy may go broke at the Dorris household as Karsyn discovered that her other front tooth is loose last night as well. The theme song for this Christmas may be "Alls I Want for Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth!"

Kaiden's Birthday Party

Kaiden had his 9th birthday party with his friends this weekend. The party turned out great! We went to the Area 81 Crop mazes, the theme was based on Area 51 in Vegas which has to do with UFO's, Crop circles, and Aliens! They had a blast in the mazes and we took the bus with 11 boys all of whuch spent the night! There was 3 mazes with 6 check points in each maze, there was also a secret check point. We split them into 3 groups and sent them out. Mike went with one group, and I ended up going in with another group. They had tried on their own and got a little frustrated so I helped them out! When we got back home we had icecream and presents, then the boys snuggled in for a movie. They watched the movie signs! Which also goes along with the Alien theme!

Happy Birthday to my Sweetie!

We had a great weekend! It was Mike's 28th Birthday on Sunday and we went to my families lake cabin on Roy Lake. It was very windy but it was so nice to just get away and relax! We got there Friday evening and some friends of ours came and spent the weekend with us as well. The guys went out for a while on Sat to try and fish but the wind was so bad it wasn't much fun, My friend Jenny and I stayed in the cabin, had a glass of wine and enjoyed our time together. Sunday they all left for home. We went in to see Gramma Great and we had a wonderful visit with her! We went back to the cabin made some supper and played sequence with the kids. We then watched a movie and went to bed! This morning we slept in a bit, then cleaned the cabin and headed for home!

It was so nice to spend some quality family time together!

Here is some pictures of the Birthday Boy!!!





Hope you had a great birthday and I love you!!

Antelope Hunting

Here are some pictures of Mike and Brian's Antelope hunt! I guess the pics are a little deceiving because from what I understand Brian's is quite a bit bigger then Mike's?????

Going Crazy!!!

Okay, so as you may know we had pictures taken last weekend! We are supposed to have the proofs ready to view any minute now and I just can't wait!!! I have been checking like every 5 minutes for the last 2 days to see if they have been posted. Nothing yet!!!! I guess I better learn patience!!!!

Weekend in review!

We had a nice quiet weekend. Mike left early Friday morning and headed to Faith SD, which is West River to go antelope hunting with his friend Brian. I think they had a great time and both got their antelope. I guess Brian got a very big one. Mike came home Sunday night which it was nice to have him home again!

My Mom & Dad came down Friday evening for the weekend and Kaiden and Karsyn had a sleepover. Kaiden also had his last football game Sat morning so we all went to the game, which they won.

Mom, Karsyn and I went to Sioux falls to the Seratoma Butterfly House. It was very neat to see! It is a big emporium where they have hundreds of species of butterflies flying around, you can walk around and look at them and they can land on you. They were beautiful, and Karsyn was so excited as she just loves butterflies. She is planning on being a Monarch butterfly for Halloween, so when she saw them there so said "Mom, that's what I am going to look like!!!" After that we did a little shopping went for a Sonic Limeade. Did a little more shopping, got Karsyn a new winter coat and snow pants, the went for supper at a Mongolian Grill and headed for home.

Kaiden Spent the night at a friends house Sat night and came home Sunday evening. It sounds like he had a great time. It was out in the country so they got to play on go-carts and they played baseball! Sunday I did a little cleaning and relaxed with my parents it was nice having nothing going on!

What a Crazy Weekend!

We had such a busy weekend, Sat morning Mike & Kaiden left for Kaiden's football game in Brookings and Karsyn rode down with Mike's mom Lori. It was awfully cold and a little rainy and Karsyn and Gramma decided that shopping would be a little more fun then sitting in the cold wet SD weather! I stayed home to cook and clean my house before the birthday party started at 2.

We had people start coming around 1 and had quite the houseful for Kaiden and Karsyn's party. It was so nice to see some of my good friends from high school and college along with their kids. I had 9 people that stayed with us Sat night so they could be here for the portrait party on Sunday.

The portrait party was awesome, yet crazy! We had 13 different portrait settings, plus she did a lot of extra photos here and there! We worked that photographers tail off and she did such a great job! I can't wait to see all the pics! She had so many different new ideas for each session it was a lot of fun to see! I would highly recommend her, and her website is www.thruhimphoto.com, She arrived at noon and left around 8pm, I'm sure it was a long day for her, but she seemed to really enjoy it! After she left I hung out with a good friend of mine from Watertown for a while, then cleaned the kitchen and crashed out. I was exhausted. This morning came tooo fast and I did not want to get out of bed.

It's a Slumber/Pajama Party!

Well Karsyn had her birthday party on Sat. The plan was for it to be a pajama party and we were going to take the bus to the movie theater and then back home for cake and a sleep over for those who wanted to stay! We got all of the kids loaded in the bus and started out the drive way to find that tornados were being spotted in towns all around us... So we headed to the movie store instead. It worked out wonderfully and the girls were all awesome! There wasn't one fight the whole night! They watched movies, played dressup, barbies, babies, and in the garage with bikes, scooters and our puppy Jake. Then we had cake and presents and it was time for the girls to settle down and we put another movie on. The girls that weren't spending the night got picked up and the rest crashed out in their sleeping bags! The next morning the girls got up and played quietly downstairs until all of them were up and then had breakfast and waited til they got picked up! I think the girls had an awesome time!

I will post some more pics later, it is being kind of stubborn right now!

Here are the girls on the bus after going to the movie store!

It's present time!

Some of the girls hanging out playing!

Movie time

More Birthday Girl Pics!

Here are a couple more pics of Karsyn on her birthday, she got a flower crown at daycare, and was so excited to wear it after gymnastics to Football practice!

My Little Birthday Girl!

Well Karsyn is 6 today! She is growing up so fast I can't hardly believe it! It seems like just yesterday she was a tiny little bundle all wrapped up in my arms, and although I still enjoy snuggeling up on the couch with her, she has sure grown up! She is having her friend birthday party on Sat. which will be a Pajama party/slumber party and we will be either going to a movie or possible bowling??? Depending on what movies are playing.

Here are some pics of the birthday girl this morning before school. For some reason my camera was a little grainy, but they are still cute!

Extreme Makeover Update!

Well we made it down to the building site Sat night. It was very cool to see the behind the scenes of how they do it! The had everything so well organized and it kind of reminds me of an ant colony on how so many people all work so well together on one project!

The VIP area was under tent with some seating and great food, where we could watch the progress! They Completely framed and enclosed the house and roof on Sat and was working on shingles and plumbing and electrical while we were there!



The only members of the cast was Michael and Eduardo, There was one other cast member on the roof filming but we couldn't see who it was! He is above in the 2nd pic eith a black shirt on.


This is as close to Ty that I could find!!! Pretty close hu!

I think we will head back there on Wed to see the reveal, when they bring the family back! I would like to see the finished project.