Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas Eve Fun!

What fun it's been to be all together again! We don't know if next year will bring us the same, so we are happy for the time we have.

Here is our latest Christmas card photo...

We thought we'd add a little White Christmas charm to the Jammie photos this year!

...and of course we need to include Dad...who is a bit Horizontal this year. He had his right total knee replacement last week and is doing well. He just hangs around enjoying this time of rest and recuperation. So far so good!














Then, of course there are those great "Sister Moments". These two girls have a bond never to be broken. Lainey loves it when Annie is around.




And the brotherly love is shown in total antics during the night...this time in the form of marshmallow throwing-and catching-in Drew's mouth, of course!







...almost










....nearly!!!


















...............GOT IT!!!!!!



What form!


And then, the whole discussion, in detail, about how to organize for this year's jammie photos...


Here's what we came up with:




Okay, the girls have got the right idea, but the boys?????






Let's try something else!












Posing with Dad's walker???



Maybe not!




NEXT!!











Now that Jay is part of the family, we can make a full pyramid!








Welcome to the chaos, Jay!

Are you sure you know what you're getting into?


















Tallest to shortest is always a hit!

















Closer-Up























Now THIS is what it's all about...

Family. Unity. Love. Togetherness.

Happiness. Warmth.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Happy Anniversary!


























24 years ago today, I was the most nervous person on the face of the earth! Keith and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple. After dating for 3 years, Keith left for the military. We hadn't seen each other for 6 months and we met at the Salt Lake Airport two days before our wedding! We celebrated by going to get our marriage license together. It felt so strange to see him after so long, but it also felt like I finally had my best friend back again! It can't possibly be so long ago. Happy Anniversary, Honey!! I hope you are feeling better very soon and maybe we can go out for dinner sometime to celebrate!









Saturday, December 20, 2008

Update of the Week


Keith is home! Surgery is done and now we have the arduous task of healing and rehabilitating. He did really well! He passed all the "tests" they gave him and he surprised even the physical therapist (they are all used to working with "old people" when it comes to joint replacements-Keith is a total spring chicken!). He is now occupying his time going back and forth between the bed, couch, bathroom and pill bottles.

Update on the car...apparently there is frame damage on the car, which coupled with the expense of replacing body parts, has made the repair expensive enough that the insurance company has deemed it "a total loss". We are looking at our options. The upshot is that it's going to be that much longer before we have a car we can rely on again. Thank yous to the Stott family for letting us borrow Brittany's car while she is gone to Guatamala. I'm pretty darn sad. I really liked my Aztek! I don't know why we get emotionally wrapped up in our material things, but I think in the case of a car, it's because we become so dependent on them being reliable to get us where we need to go.

We finally decorated our Christmas tree tonight. I was beginning to wonder if decorating would become a new part of the Christmas morning ritual! It sat in our front yard for a few days, then in our living room for a few days, almost unnoticed. Well, Keith called 10 minutes of "everybody drop everything and decorate the tree"! Now it's done! Boy, are things different today than they were 10 years ago!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Snow Days




Well, I need to put my two cents in for the snow day! It means a lot of extra mess, cold open doors and then hours of time all alone because my kids are too old to stay home and play! They have been out most of the day playing at the park, eating cookies at the Fields house (thanks Fields!) and riding (illegally I'm sure) four wheelers! Oh, and being mad at me for not letting them drive the car. What do we have a license for anyhow if it's not to drive in the snow? That, according to certain 18 year olds! I'm pretty used to being the bad guy now...it doesn't hurt my feelings quite as much any more.


One fun thing about snow is the dogs love it too! Wockie forgot about her arthritis for a bit and went on a romp. Freckle has been under the weather too, but turns on the steam when offered snow frolicking!


Stay Warm!


Friday, December 5, 2008

Headed home!

Well, we've got Brad, we're in Atlanta for the night and we're heading to the airport in the morning. As it worked out, we are all on separate flights home, but we all land within 5 minutes of each other in Portland tomorrow night.
We've had such a great time hugging Brad and seeing where he's been hiding all these weeks, hugging and going to eat, hugging and shopping, and, oh, there are the hugs!
Tonight we went to my old neighborhood to see where I lived when I was little and where I started school. Everything looks so different. I guess it should since I haven't been there for 34 years! Then we went to Underground Atlanta. It's pretty much just an underground trendy shopping mall these days so we didn't stay long. Keith was here earlier this year, so he knew where to take us to see the Olympic plaza downtown. They have it all decorated for Christmas now and there is an outdoor ice skating rink.
When we get back home, I'll post some photos from the graduation and our trip home.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

This was a bad day!





Well, ever have one of those times in your life when everything seems to be out of control. Responsibilities, appointments, family, church, work-it all seems to run faster that we can keep up. So many things spiraling out of control. Then something happens to put it all into perspective. Something worse can always happen.
Keith had a not good bad rotten day today. He met up with a deer on Burside Rd. heading home this evening. We believe the deer didn't survive this one, but he didn't stay around to let us find out. Now this would be bad enough, except that on the job, he punctured a finger so badly that it wouldn't stop bleeding. It still hasn't. Then he had to go back to his day job and try to finish some things off so we can leave (at 4:00am) in the morning to go to our son Brad's Basic Training Graduation. That didn't go well either and he's leaving knowing there's unfinished business at work.
Well, noone was seriously injured and we still get to go tomorrow, even though we'll have a mess to return to. No sense crying yet!
We'll see you all next week with photos of Brad!