Happy Birthday, Kelly!!

Thank you, Mom, for the initial post, but I thought I would add some more pictures for Kelly on her special day (as well as some little known facts).

Kelly is terrified of heights, which is why you can still see land in the lower left corner of the photo.  Still quite impressive selfie for her to be that far out on the bridge.

We have officially converted the Iowa girl into a Yellowstone National Park LOVER!!  It took a wedding to pull her out of there this last time.

The only movie Kelly will reliably quote from is That Thing You Do.

Teddy was baptized in St. Patricks Church in Sheldon, IA in the same baptismal font where Kelly was baptized.

This is one happy Kelly after a meal at her favorite restaurant - Lucca's.

Kelly gives all of our children pet names like Macky Bodacky, or Bodacker for short or Bo for shorter.

Leo's devilish grin is all Perry.  As much as Kelly might deny it, her mom has confirmed Leo's mischievousness follows closely to his mom's at that age.

While those are all little known facts about Kelly, it is no secret that she is a great Mom and an awesome wife!  We are blessed to call you ours and we hope that your birthday is a special one.  May the next year bring health, happiness and all the love your ginormous heart can handle.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

Love,
Matt, Will, Ben, Leo, Mack and Teddy

Kelly is Having a Birthday!!

Happy birthday to one of the sweetest, most loving, most gentle people we know - Kelly Buyske who is 34 today!!  We love you and we wish you the best birthday!!

Happy Birthday, Mikayla!

Our solstice baby, Mikayla, turns 14 today! Like her mother, she has a birthday very close to Christmas, which makes it a special day. We hope she gets to celebrate it in a special way.

2013 Cousin Christmas Charity Drawing

Hello cousins - please press play and see who we will be donating to this season.  I will post a link to the charity in the comments below so as not to give away the charity when you get to this page.  Please send donations to my address:
    
     Nate Moore
     2621 W Elm
     Lodi, CA 95242

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Hey all,

I got a text from Nate encouraging me to come and vote on a charity - thanks Nate!  So, I thought while I'm here I might as well give ya' all a quick up date on the Bortens.

2013 is likely to fall into history as "the year that shall not be spoken of" for us.  We've dealt with more challenges than I thought possible, and yet...we survived.  From bank corruption to business ordeals to natural disasters to major spa flooding - we're perhaps, officially "well rounded". :)

Looking into the future, we're feeling positive and excited.  Our product line of pain relief products, body care, and medicinals is going to launch (with beauty) in February 2014, we're slated to open another spa in Portland in June, my book should be done (fingers crossed) by March, and we expect no major flooding! 

2014 here we come!!!!

We're so grateful to have been able to get some time with family and friend, and also have the opportunity to relax a bit in Mexico.  It was an amazing trip and we soaked in as much as possible of this beautiful little spot called Akumal.

Here is a picture from our trip:

We're really looking forward to being in Montana for Christmas and seeing a whole lot of you.  We'll be driving out from Boulder and hope to arrive in Great Falls on the 23rd.

I hope that you are all having a wonderful holiday season. 

Love
Briana (Peter and Sabina)

Christmas Charity Voting Post

Ok, here it is. The post to submit the charity of your choice for Christmas this year. It did seem like there were a fair amount of votes cast to have them picked out of a hat with the Charity President of the year dusting off his sombrero and being in charge of the pickin'. Nate, I nominated you and I am sure that all cousins second-ed the motion within their hearts so you are it!! Let's say that all charity submissions, posted via comments below, must be submitted by Tuesday, the 10th to be eligible. Nate, if you would like to video the whole process and post it on the blog, I am sure we would all be delighted. Not that it is required of the Charity President but it would set the bar pretty high for next year's incoming officer. The Charity President is, however, responsible posting the information necessary for us to make our donations - I am assuming that will just be your address but let us know if there is a better way to go about it. Sorry to barge in and start delegating but time is a-tickin' and I am trying to check off down the ol' list. Suggestion: Maybe all the cousins should post an E-Christmas Card on the blog being that we won't have the individual gift giving connection this year. (And just because blog posts are fun with a picture, I am throwing up a shot of our dog, Duke. Perhaps it will inspire someone to throw in an animal charity - we did get this guy from an animal rescue.)