'07 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Welcome to the newest form of Christmas letters…electronic; this way we have a better chance at getting our letter out on time. But that didn’t really happen though, did it? Maybe someday in the future we can get ourselves put together.
This is a wonderful time of year and we pray that this finds you well and enjoying the holiday season. This past year has flown by so fast and reflecting back we smile and laugh at the adventures we have had. We can truly see God’s blessing in everything. He has continued to guide and protect us in our journeys and for that we are thankful.This year was the beginning of uncharted territory for the Podborny family. A majority of our time was focused on being a family of three and all of the adjustments that come with raising our fabulous son. Alex is very much a little boy and is growing up way too fast. He has been walking since August (9 months old) which has opened up a whole new world of exploration. He has almost past the stage of “Everything in the Mouth”, so we have allowed him to roam around with a little more freedom. He loves running around outside, climbing onto the porch, and watching all the planes and helicopters fly overhead. Currently Alex’s vocabulary contains Mama, Dada, and Boom; but the wheels are turning so we anticipate that growing rapidly. Alex is a joyful child full of love, energy, and smiles. So what could be missing?
We found out we are expecting a new addition, set to arrive July 4th! We are excited beyond words and cannot wait to have another little one to keep us busy; more importantly keep Alex busy. In February we will find out if Alex will have a little brother or a little sister. Alex has not expressed a desire for one or the other but he will make a great big brother. Emily is having a bit more difficulty with this pregnancy, so it’s either a girl or she just has more things to contend with this time. She is still enjoying being pregnant though.
Emily continues her career in massage therapy. She still works for a chiropractor in Scottsdale, but prefers to visit her personal clients in their homes.
Jeremy has had a little bit more of a rollercoaster of events in the career field. In May Jeremy’s employer (Thomson NETg) was purchased by a competitor and Jeremy was given a transitional offer set to expire in 90 days. Through prayer and God’s guidance Jeremy was able to find an equivalent job with no downtime. The transition could not have been smoother. Jeremy started working at Lin and Associates Inc., which is a control process consultant group that works with all the major oil refiners in the western United States. Jeremy is their primary creative graphic designer which will allow him to get more experience in marketing and web development.
Traveling this past year has risen dramatically from previous years, which is usually the opposite for first time parents. We enjoyed all the experiences and created wonderful memories. Our first trip was to San Francisco and Napa Valley where we toured Alcatraz, Golden Gate Park, Pier 39, and of course, tasted an assortment of wines. Then we took Alex on his first camping trip to Willow Springs campground with our church. Our travels continued as we headed up to Portland in June to visit Emily’s brother. Another first for Alex…travel by plane, which he handled quite well. Jeremy and Emily on the other hand had a harder time adjusting to the number of items needed to travel on a plane with a little one. In September, Emily and Alex spend four days in Boise with Jeremy’s sister and brother-in-law while Jeremy was on his archery elk hunt. A trip up to Ely to visit Grandma and Grandpa Podborny and the rest of the family for Thanksgiving wrapped up our year of travel.
Now we cannot complete a Podborny family update without a few references to Jeremy’s hunting expeditions. This was Jeremy’s second year archery hunting, in which he experienced great success. The first part of the year he brought home a javelina. This past September Jeremy drew a premium archery elk tag in Northern Arizona. After 10 days of hard hunting with his Dad, Jeremy was able to successfully harvest a beautiful 6x6 bull elk. It was a hunt of a lifetime.This past year God has blessed us abundantly. This upcoming February we will be celebrating our 4th anniversary. It is amazing that four years have gone by already; and a full year as parents. We look forward to growing closer to God, closer to each other, and watching our family grow.
This Christmas we will be staying in Phoenix with Emily’s family. Although Alex is still a little young to understand the full meaning of Christmas, we look forward to carrying on traditions and creating lifelong memories of the Christmas season in the Podborny house. We hope that your holidays are spent with loved ones and that the New Year brings prosperity and joy! May God bless you and your families!

California Adventure

We are a little behind in out updates, but we thought that we would at least share our experience on our first vacation with Alex. As many of you might know, it takes a lot of work to get ready for a vacation when you have to bring an extra person, who actually needs more things then you do. Believe us when we tell you the car was rather stuffed full.
This vacation was a wonderful experience. The long drive to California (12.5 hours) was rough, but we all managed very well. Our first stop was San Francisco where we stayed for one night. We did the normal tourist spots, we walked around Golden Gate Park for a few hours, we went to Pier 39 for dinner, took and Alcatraz tour, ate sourdough, and way over paid for parking. A big bonus was the chance to catch up with one of Emily's cousins. We ate at one of her favorite spots (Betelnut) and visited for hours. Great food and great company.
After only a short time in San Francisco, we were ready to leave. We are not big fans of the town, not really our style. It was to crowded, to busy, and to expensive...but we did have a good time. But now we comes the really exciting part of our vacation! Napa Valley! Wine and more wine, topped off with a little wine :) What a beautiful place. You can really tell that things slow down when you are in wine country. We arrived in the late afternoon on Sunday, so that night we just checked into our room and tried to get Alex caught up on sleep. We have been screwing up his schedule all weekend and it wasn't going to change anytime soon. That is what vacation is all about. The next morning we set out early with a full day plan of attack; we would start in Sonoma Valley at the far north winery and work our way back. For those planning a trip to wine country, note that all the wineries have their tasting rooms open from only 10-5. Our first stop was BlackStone. Since this is the first time we have every done this it was nice to sit and visit with our server and better understand the techniques and etiquette of wine tasting (It isn't as tough or snooty as it sounds). Each winery had it's own special wine tasting list, signature wines, and discounts. The whole valley was covered with rows and rows of grape vines, large colorful roses, fragrant flower gardens and large beautiful building each with it's own personality. With each stop we learned a little more about wine and the different tastes and flavors that can be found in them. But most importantly what types of wines we each enjoy. But the day wasn't only filled with wine tasting. We got to walk around the vineyards, we eat at a great Himalayan restaurant, and we got to enjoy staying in a brand new resort. We usually stay at cheaper hotels :) The second day was spent in Napa Valley. This time we were able to take a tour of a winery. We got to see the caves were the barrels of wine are stored, we saw the fermintation tanks, and got to learn quite a bit about the whole wine making process. Since this was our second day, we were a little bit better organized and we were able to maximize out wine tasting...we made it to 6 tastings in one day. That day we enjoyed a wonderful trunk lunch in the Robert Mondovi parking lot while Alex caught a few zzzz's in the car. We covered a lot of ground on our two days in wine country, but there are so many places that we were unable to visit. I guess we will have to plan a return visit soon. Enjoy the pictures of our vacation and if you are planning a trip and would like some advice please let us know.

You can see the rest of the photos from our trip by clicking here.

New (Old) Photos

We have been so distracted lately and busy with so many things that I have not had the time to post anything new laterly. Even those these pictures were taken in February I figured everyone would want to see them anyway.

So here they are.

Alex really enjoys standing up, he cannot do it on his own yet but it will happen soon enough. I think he would prefer to just skip the crawling stage. :)

Life's Unpredictability

Routine? What routine? Planning ahead? Forget it. The last few weeks have been anything but routine and planning for the next day is nearly impossible. Welcome to parenthood as people say.
Routines are made to be broken, or is that rules? After I thought that early parenthood wasn't that tough, Alex caught his first cold. You first think "I can just give him some medicine and magically he will be all better". HA! Come to find out babies don't get medicine; they have to suffer through it without any of those wonderful decongestants or sleep aids. That would make anyone unhappy and Alex was definitely that. Now our routine gets flipped upside down and kicked out the front door. Months of hard work lost.
Being good parents, Emily and I wanted to comfort Alex as best we can so he can get over his "common" cold, and in doing so the routine was lost. Alex fed twice as many times, but half as much each time. His morning and afternoon naps turned into 30 minute cat naps every other hour, and the sleep/eat/wake turned into eat/sleep/eat/wake/sleep...and on. So the routine is a little off, you have to roll with the punches, right; that is what parenthood is all about.
As you can see I am a big supporter of routines and planning things in advance. Here is my big idea..."You are not in control and all the planning in the world can not protect you from life's unpredictability." What do I do?
First we need to get through this "common" cold that Alex has, which has now turned into a small weeze that we have to do breathing treatments for every 4 hours. That was not in the schedule! Breath in...breath out...breath in...actually I need to do that. Boy, does this stuff wear you out. Alex will get better soon, I know, but for the time being I just need to let life flow as it may. There is plenty of time to get things calmed back down and running at a normal pace. Plus, I know what a good routine looks like and it is always easier to go somewhere you have already been. But I can't do this alone. Emily is a wonderful Mom and I can't tell her enough how much I appreciate her and everything she does. So together we will get things back on track and one day when Alex is a teenager and he complains about the household structure, we will sit him down and explain to him that in the past when there was no structure all he did was cry.
Routine? I don't need no stink'in routine...right now!

Christmas Un-Wrap

Another Christmas season has ended and a New Year is upon us. Two thousand seven has started like most years; taking down the Christmas Lights, sharing holiday stories with co-workers, and trying to figure out some what of a routine, which seems to be a little tougher to do with a 11 week old baby boy. :)
We had a wonderful time with all the family this holiday season. Emily, Alex and I were able to spend a full week in Ely, Nevada with my parents, now called Grandma and Grandpa, along with Auntie Michelle, Uncle Jed, and Auntie Cass. A big family affair with a new smiling addition,lots of good food, loud competitive games, colorful puzzles, ice cold fishing, pure white snowball fights, and laughs and memories to last a lifetime. It is amazing how much you can pack into a week when you don't have to go to work. Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed every minute with their new grandson, Alex; and I think he did as well. There was quite a lot of the baby talk echoing throughout the house and only half of that was from Alex. New experiences everyday for Alex and with some fresh new snow after Christmas, Alex experienced how terrifyingly cold snow is and everyone's hands after being outside.
Time with family didn't end there, when we returned to Phoenix Emily's brother Lloyd was in town. We had a nice outdoor BBQ with family and friends on New Years Day. Can you believe it...outdoors on January 1st? It was a light jacket evening :) The week continued with a big family dinner and Christmas celebration. Emily's nieces (Maggie, Eva, & Lucy) are all very active and full of energy, I don't know how Megan and Walter keep up with them all. Of course, Eva is infatuated with Alexander Paul, as she calls him. The visit with Lloyd went rather fast, but in the short time I think he finally figured out the best way to hold Alex. Support his head! Watch his head! He can't hold his head up! Be careful! Aaaahhhh.. I remember hearing those. Emily's parents (Nana & Papa) are enjoying their first grandson, quite a change since they already having three granddaughters and another one scheduled to arrive April'ish.
I hope your holiday season was filled with love and I pray that throughout this year we continue to remember the blessings that God has given us. The biggest blessing of all, his son, Jesus Christ.

'06 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
We pray that this finds you well and enjoying this glorious time of year. Our intention was to get our letter out before Christmas, but we just couldn’t get it together. Oops! This past year God has continued to watch over us and bless us in more ways then we can count. We have so much to be thankful for.
The start of the year was met with the anticipated plus sign. Eight months and eleven days after that sign, God blessed us with a healthy, happy baby boy. Alexander Paul was born on October 24th – a most glorious day! He weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 21inches long. Our lives will never be the same and we are thrilled! Emily has been sleep deprived ever since, but nothing compares to finally becoming a mother. She is adjusting well and enjoying every precious moment with Alex. Jeremy loves being a dad and is very good at it. He changes diapers and plays with Alex all the time. Alex is the first grandchild on Jeremy’s side and the first grandson on Emily’s side, so ALL of the family is having a fabulous time. Jeremy’s parents were able to come and visit us for a week. Ok, let’s be serious, they just came to see Alex. We are getting used to being less interesting now that we have a babyJ.
The 2006 year started off with what is probably going to be an annual event, archery javelina hunting. It was Jeremy’s first archery hunt. Although it was unsuccessful, he had a wonderful time and got lots of practice. This upcoming year brings another chance for success. On this hunt he will be joined by his dad and long time hunting partner, Jeff. For some odd reason Emily is actually hoping Jeremy brings home one of those ugly pigs. Jeremy is excited to go on a spring turkey hunt in May. When he is not having fun trekking around God’s creation, Jeremy still goes to work at Thomson NETg. In June, he accepted a new position as a Resource Supervisor. He doesn’t get to create graphics as much as he used to, which is a big adjustment, but he is enjoying the new challenges and this is a great learning experience.
Emily continues her career in massage therapy. She took some time off around Alex’s birth, but has recently started working again a few days a week. She still works for a chiropractor in Scottsdale, but prefers to visit her personal clients in their homes. But now she finally gets to do what she has always dreamed of – being a mother!
God’s guidance is evident all around. He has placed us in a wonderful church where we feel a perfect fit. For over a year now we have been attending Moon Valley Bible church. We host a weekly home fellowship group and have been involved in the men’s and women’s ministries.
This upcoming February, we will be celebrating our 3rd anniversary. Its amazing that three years have gone by already; we are truly blessed. This upcoming year we look forward to growing closer together and learning all the ins and outs of our new life long jobs as parents.
This Christmas was spent in Ely, Nevada with Jeremy’s family. We had the best time and Alex was spoiled by all the attention from his aunts and grandparents! Christmas will get more exciting each year now that we have Alex.
We hope that your holidays were spent with loved ones and that the New Year brings prosperity and joy! May God bless you and your families!