Bengals Play-off Game

Dan & Cindy Steeley, Donna & Phil Parker, Zack Steeley

Grandpa Steeley

Donny flew to Ohio to see his beloved Cincinnati Bengals play in a play-off game on January 9th. Although the Bengals lost to the New York Jets 14-24, Donny still said it was an absolute blast. It was a trip filled with lots of family time...not only did he enjoy the game with his Uncle Dan (thank you for the game ticket Dan!) and his cousin Zach, he also spent a lot of time with all of his extended family in Dayton, OH. Patrick and I were really glad he got to go watch this game in person, but we sure were excited when he came home....we missed him!! Sorry the format of this post got out of order - I tried to fix it, but I decided for the safety of my laptop I should just leave it alone. One of these days the threat to throw the laptop out the window is not going to just be a threat! ;-)
Chad "Ochocinco" coming out onto the field.

The view from their seats.

Christmas 2009

We had a busy but great Christmas this year. We got up and opened presents from us and Santa (ok, so Donny & I actually opened presents Christmas Eve night - we're like little kids...we just can't wait!). Patrick was pretty excited about his new tool bench he got from Santa and the Mickey Mouse Choo Choo ("Mickey" is his current obsession) he got from us.

The Holiday Express "Choo Choo" that was supposed to go around our Christmas tree (we couldn't do that because Patrick liked to sit in the middle of it) was still his favorite thing. It was a sad day for him (can't say we were too sad) when it was put away for the season.
Then, Dad, Shelly, Uncle Tyler and Tyler's friend Neesha (sp?) came over that morning. We had a great time with them playing Wii (nothing like a good 2 on 2 tennis tournament to get the day going), laughing a lot and opening presents. Grandma & Grandpa Patterson gave Patrick a John Deere tractor, a tiny recliner for their house, and a John Deere tractor book.

Grandpa Patterson & Patrick have a stolen moment together. I wonder what they were talking about.

To end the day just right, Grandma J pulled into town at about 5:00. We were all so exhausted we decided to hold off on opening presents with her until the next morning. For some reason I forgot to take pictures that morning. Grandma J got us sleds, Mickey Mouse books, a Thomas the Train, and more Mickey Mouse books!!

I think it is obvious that Patrick (well, all of us for that matter) was spoiled this Christmas. We feel very blessed that were able to spend the holidays with all of our parents and that they are all such great grandparents.

Happy New Year!!

Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve at my dad & Shelly's house with our traditional Mexican dinner and songs around the bonfire. It was a lot of fun! We opened presents with Donny's parents that night because they were headed to Elko the next morning. They got Patrick a fun little laptop (so he can stop banging on mine!), some gigantic Legos (no choking hazards there), and a "Fridge DJ" - which is a fancy name for a radio that is magnetic. He loves them all of course!

It's hard to see in this picture, but Grandma and Grandpa Patterson got Patrick this adorable little recliner (we're sitting in it) so he can sit with Grandpa and watch "Mickey" (Patrick's current obsession) at their house.

Happy Birthday Dad!

This post is a little late. My dad's birthday is on December 20th, but I still wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday and thank him for being such a great dad and grandpa!! We love you Dad!

Go Bengals!

The Bengals are on their way to the play-offs, so luckily Uncle Dan & Aunt Cindy sent Patrick a new Bengals shirt to wear every Sunday. We're going to try to go to a play-off game in Cincinnati - stay tuned for more on that.

Aspiring Photographer

Patrick loves to play with anything electronic. I have multiple phone numbers he has "programmed" into my cell phone, he knows the remote control practically better than we do, and he LOVES to play with the camera. So, here are some pics he has taken of himself.

Ok, so I don't think he actually took this one of himself and Daisy (in the background), but the picture cracks me up because I've seen Donny give this exact look a few times! I really didn't contribute much to this kid - he's all Daddy!

Pioneer Christmas Party

We took most of these pictures for Jeff & Asha, but I thought I'd post them anyway. I think Patrick has licked the camera a few too many times, because there seems to be a haze on these pictures! We'll try to get that fixed before the next batch.