Happy Birthday to RIANN!!!!

Wow I can't believe it's actually been a whole year. Its taken me a bit to find time to get these up but I'm glad I can finally sit down and do it. My little baby is growing up into a girl!!! It's amazing how fast time has gone by. It's been so much fun!!! Last night Paul and I sat back and looked at pictures of her the first week and it's amazing that she has grown so much. She changes each and every day and is so much more amazing as time goes by!!! I'm so excited to see what comes. I can only imagine what she'll be like when she's 16 and again when she's 25, 30. She'll grow up to be someone very special and I can't wait to watch it all unfold before my eyes!!!

We love you baby girl!!!! So much!!! Happy Birthday!!!!

My Angel!!!

I don't think they were talking about the candy when they called it
"Fun Dip".

These are her new angry eyebrows... any time we say "Don't give me 'tude!!" This is what we get.

Riding around with Papa!!! She's getting REALLY good at hanging on for piggyback rides. The other day I was working out and she wanted to be held so I threw her on my back and started doing squats!!!

Definitely breaking the rules... There are VERY few places she can't climb on her own these days.

Just hanging out!!!

She's already trying to sneak out of the house.....

LOVES talking on the phone!!!

Can't get enough of the good stuff!!!

Hates just having to sit around....

She's wonderful!!!!

Sorry to keep you waiting... The photo has been submitted!!!!

We got the photo in Thursday afternoon and we chose photo #7. I cropped it a little tighter because she was mid diaper change and I didn't want someone to notice that. You can still kind of tell her shirts pulled up but I think it's okay. Here's how we submitted it.



I really liked it but didn't know if others would too. I'm really glad you all helped us pick!!! You're all AMAZING!!!!

Here's what we're waiting for. This is from the website... "The ten (10) semi-finalists pictures will appear on LIVE and on LIVE’s website on or about the week of March 9, 2009. Viewers will have the chance to vote on-line for five (5) of the ten (10) semi-finalists. Only one (1) entry will be accepted per registered e-mail address. The Viewers will be told on air when the on-line voting will begin and end. The five (5) finalists receiving the most individual votes will be invited to appear on the program."

I still think it's a long shot that we'll hear back but I'll keep you all posted either on Facebook, by email, or on this thing. I think they said that they'll start notifying the contestants by about March 2. We'll see what happens. If we do get lucky and are picked I'll need ALL of your help again spreading the word about voting. We'll see how it goes... I think it would be a blast!!!

Thanks again for all of your help!!! Keep you fingers crossed!!!!

- Cheris

I need your help!!!!

So I'm going to be putting Riann in the "Regis and Kelly Live" cutest baby contest. I've been waiting to do this for about a year now. She was too young to enter last year. We have to put in her entry my 5 pm Friday and I need help. I've think it would be really cool to do because well.... like most mothers I think I have the most BEAUTIFUL baby in the world AND the grand prize is the chance to appear on the cover of Parenting Early Years & win $125,000 towards a college scholarship. The runner up prizes are an additional $100,000 will be divided amongst the 4 runners-up, to be used toward a college education, And, all 10 of the semi-finalists will be awarded a year's supply of Gerber products. Can't say and of that wouldn't help. I know it's a long shot because there are going to be SOOOO many babies but I want to give it a try. It never hurts to put in the effort right?!

So here's the delema... I don't know what photo to submit. The rules are that the photo has to be taken with in the last month and must not be from a professional. That kind of limits us to photos because we haven't taken many since we've been home from our trip to WA for Christmas. We REALLY want to showcase Riann's eyes but once again that limits the pictures we can use. I was hoping if I put a few that we are thinking about on here you guys can tell us which you like best... so here it goes.

Let me know!!!

Picture #1:

Picture #2:

Picture #3:

Picture #4:

Picture #6:

Picture #7:

Picture #8:

Picture #9:

Changing my thoughts...

So a lot has been going on with life recently and I think I need to do a mental overhaul. There are many things I need to go over right now but I'm going to direct this post in one place. Recently life has been a little stressful and I've been caught up in that for quite a while. More recently a lot of talk has been going on about families I know and the troubles they are going through and it's really been effecting a lot of my thoughts and in reaction has been driving my mood towards myself and my own family. I want to take a minute and remind myself of the things I'm grateful for. I love my family so much and each moment I get to spend with them is priceless. I was reminded of that this Christmas when I got 2 wonderful weeks without work to worry about and it really changed my perspective on things. However, when I got back to work it seemed like that new perspective was attacked harder than ever before and I just need to take a minute to reflect on what is truly important in my life.

As you all know I love my daughter. She is in just about ever post I write and so I'm going to just simply say I'm soooo VERY grateful she's here with us and has taught us that there's so much more to life than I could ever have imagined. She's beautiful inside and out, even on her worst days. I've learned so much from her already and I'm prepared to be amazed as the years a head quickly make their way towards us. She is already growing up too fast and it kills and excited me each and every day. 

The main focus of this post now is going to be my husband. I've been struggling lately as I've listened to some of the women I work with talk about their husbands. It's been over a LARGE amount of  time so no, most of this isn't just coming up in the last couple of weeks. It's really been over the 2 years that I've been with this company and have really started developing relationships with other people who are in similar places in life. There is a wide spectrum of women where I work and I can say that we are all good friends. Most are married although some are not either because they haven't found the right one or the one they found didn't 

"stick" for many various reasons. I'm slowing learning many lessons from each of these women every single day. 

Some of the lessons I've learned include things that we have all been told. Things that we've been taught from the very beginning about the relationship between husband and wife and I'm constantly realizing how hard Satan is working to destroy that. Even in the most perfect marriage you will never be immune to the things people say around you. 

The biggest thing that is effecting me right now is the lesson about complaining about your spouse. Unfortunately (wink, wink) Paul gives me less to complain about than I'm sure I give him so I don't feel like I participate in many of the discussions I've heard because I often don't have a reason to, but I am understanding a little more every day that there is so much more to always speaking highly of your spouse in public. I often listen to some of these wives who don't share the same values and beliefs as me and I hear their perspective on marriage and it sticks with me. Not that anyone ever shares more than is appropriate in a work setting but when I hear things that aren't always positive, regardless of wither or not it's about a person or a situation, its hard to forget what's been said and often I find myself evaluating situations, relationships, and decisions in my life that are important against these negative attitudes and it really been changes my perception of truth. I think that's where Satan has his deepest grasp on the citizen's of this world and why it's so easy for so many people to worked up over things that should be relatively easy and peaceful. 

I feel that I need to openly thank my husband for the support he is to me and how much he's done to direct my life in ways that are good and honest. Paul is one of the hardest working individuals I know. I often feel bad because I feel like I keep him back from accomplishing some of the things he really wants to get done because I want to do nothing else but spend time with him. I know when he really got the time to work on our new business and started working out of the house I hindered a lot of what he would have been able to do with it because I was so excited to have him home from work and there to talk to and I didn't want him to sit in the office working on things that weren't with me. 

Paul inspires me. He's driven. He's strong. He's smart. He's patient. I'll be the first to admit it but I have a HUGE fear of commitment. I feel this is part of the reason these conversations effect me so much. I fear long term situations and I often get ancy when I think of having to plan something for the future that is solid. If I can't see a variable for change I will make one or not participate. When it comes to Paul a lot, if not all, of that goes away. I do not fear forever or eternity and often find peace in the prospect that it doesn't matter if I did. I know we all have to find our occasional reminders on love or reassurance, it comes with the world we live in. Lately I think I've asked Paul to give me a little more than normal and he does. We are still working hard on finding our best communication but we're working. We're enjoying time together and we're finding out more about ourselves and each other on the way. I believe life is a constant struggle to improve. Often the direction is a little hard to find but if you rely on the ones you love and ask for the Lords guidance you'll never have to worry taking the wrong path. 

Communication is at the key of every relationship. Wither it's just a casual discussion among coworker or a serious heartfelt conversation between family members or friends it is important that it stay as positive as possible. You never know what those around you might be going through and how they might be reflecting on your words when they compare your incite to their own situation. I know that Bambi's "golden rule" is often hard to follow but if we all work a little harder each day, maybe we can change the mood of our life and the lives around us.   

I dearly love my husband and the blessing that it has been to have him in my life. I am strengthened by his ability to accomplish each and every single day. I often feel as though I am lacking but I know I can improve and that I have LOTS of time to do it. I pray that I can heed my own advice and work harder to keep a positive out look more often in life. One day these many of these lessons I'm learning will stick. I have a hard head to get through sometimes so I have a feeling the Lord will be working on me for a while.... I guess eternity is the perfect amount of time for then isn't it?! I guess I'll have to commit to working on it sooner or later... Maybe now is a good time.

Our "Happy Holidays" Letter....

So this year.... like most.... we were a little late on getting our Christmas letter (and ALL of our other important announcements) out and we were also on a VERY tight budget so we didn't get to send out as many as in years past but I'm grateful for the magic of the internet and the ability to share our blessing this past year here on this site. 

Here is what we sent out!!!

Our family Christmas card

Riann's birth announcement

My graduation announcements

~::~

And our letter itself...

Well first off we want to say Happy Holidays!!! We hope you all had a great time this season and were blessed the whole year with good memories. Second we wanted to apologize for the lateness of this letter but, as you can see, we are a little late announcing a few other things here and we couldn’t off set the mood of the whole letter by sending this out on time!!!

Here are a few of our highlights for 2008:

Cheris graduated from BYU-Idaho! It really all happened in December of 2007 but she didn’t walk until April of this year so we kind of count that as 2008. She graduated with her BS in Communication with an emphasis in Organizational Communication and a minor in Human Resource Management and Recreational Leadership. It’s really not as complicated as it sounds but Cheris just likes that it’s so long. It kind of reminds her of how long it took her to get it.

We had a baby!! Riann Amie Vreeken. She was born on March 10. She is amazing and blesses our lives each and every day. We don’t know what we’ll do with ourselves on our next one is it isn’t as easy going as her. She’s got amazing blue eyes and makes you smile every time you look at her no matter how mad you are. She’s a beautiful baby and right now, from the standard comments, looks nothing like Cheris but is a mini female version of Paul. Cheris hopes that will change someday and can’t wait until people start to say the opposite.

We started a business!!! We are now fully operational. Paul was blessed to have the opportunity to come and work from home shortly after Riann was born. He’s been working hard on getting everything off the ground. Our name is My Eternal Media. We specialize in photo restoration and image editing. However most of our work so far has been in transferring home videos to DVD. So far most of our work has been for family and friends so it’s been fun to watch home videos of those we love grow up over the years. Paul had also done some large jobs making posters for the company his father and brother work for. If you need any work done or want to know more about what we do please visit our website at www.myeternalmedia.com or you can email us with questions at myeternalmedia@gmail.com. We have plenty of samples of past jobs and hope to work with you soon on your family history, photos and movies.

We bought ANOTHER car!!!! Luckily we decided to sell two so that helped out a little bit with space. We finally hit our highest count for owned automobiles at one time topping out at 4. We would have been at 5 but the new owners picked up one of the cars before we bought the 5th one. We are being true Idaho hillbillies aren’t we?! Our newest addition is a ’81 Volkswagen Rabbit. We were gifted a ’79 rabbit about a year ago and Paul feel in love. Mind you the gifted Rabbit doesn’t drive and hasn’t gone anywhere in quite a few years expect from our neighbors drive way to our garage. As soon as it was ours Paul’s curiosity was peaked and after doing plenty of research he found that, done right, we could be getting near 50 miles to the gallon. He’s been working hard getting it up to par and so far as we can tell we are near 40 MPG, it’s a little hard to tell because we have to warm it up for about 10 minutes each morning in our current weather.

Other than that we are avid bloggers and try to update our family blog at least once a week, although that’s been a little hard the last few months with our actively growing little one and the holiday season in full swing. Hopefully we’ll get better at updating more soon. If you would like to follow our adventures in 2009 please check it out!!! Our link is www.paulandcherisvreeken.blogspot.com. We’d love to have you stop by and check it out!!!

Thank you so much for your love and support this last year. We are so blessed to count all of your among our friends and hope that you find many reasons this next year to thank the Lord for all you’ve been given. We have certainly been blessed and can’t wait to see what more is in store!!!

Love you all and hope you had a great holiday season!!!

Always,

Paul, Cheris, and Riann Vreeken

If you didn't get one PLEASE don't feel bad. We were only able to send them out to family to keep the costs down. We wanted to make sure everyone knew what was going on with us and if you haven't been keeping up with the blog... here's a quick overview. 

Enjoy!!!!

Ready.... get set... WALK!!!!

and part two