We Need a Little Christmas Right this very Minute!!

 
This year I decided to do something different w/ the Christmas tree. I found a bunch of 4 x 5 pictures of Jesus that I tied w/ ribbon all over it. Then I just put silver balls and lots of snowflakes stars and tin tinsel all over. We think it turned out beautiful and left no one wondering WHO we believe in!
 
This is our main Christmas present, the kitchen floor ~ oak. We absolutely love it!

Arlin also built me these picture rails

And 2 of these beautiful end tables!! Arn't I the luckiest girl ever?


 
 

The sisters and Neil & Maddy came over for breakfast, we had waffles w/ strawberries & whip crm, bacon, hot cinnamon milk, hot cocoa & orange juice. I think that should be traditional ~ it was sooo delicious!

Christmas Eve 2010

My favorite thing to do for Christmas is get new jammies for everyone! I love finding them (sometimes able to coordinate them all) and then we open them on Christmas eve. We've been doing that ever since our kids were born and still do it, even for grandkids and kids in law.
 
 
 

This year was a little too rough for us cause we didn't have even one child home for Christmas ~friends of ours took pity on us and invited us for Christmas Eve~ that was tons of fun cause they had a little talent show and invited us to participate. (as long as we didn't upstage any of the performers) so, we didn't.......

Lookey who Moved Into OuR FamilY!!

And now we have 8
 
 
 
 

Zippedy-eh & Hiddey Ho!!

We'll sing a song that we all know, Happy Birthday to YOU!!!!
 

You're still our baby girl!
She burst into our lives and made it a happier place to be
I still can't believe how fortunate we are to have such a wonderful daughter in our life! Nicole has always been my little princess and daddy's little birdie! She lights up the room with her smile. She is loving, sweet and so forgiving. She has had a strong belief in God her whole life and has always wanted to do good. We enjoy watching her accomplish hard things, like 1/2 marathons and ragnar, raising kids, moving to unknown places and taking challenging assignments in church. She knows the value of work and she loves & respects her parents. What more could we want? We're so grateful you are in our family. We love you tons!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LYNSIE KAY!!

 

25 years ago this sweet girl came into our lives. She joined her big bro Tony & sis Nicole and was a great addition to our happy family of 5! She was a little earlier than expected (2 weeks) and when she decided to get here ~ she did ~ quick!
When she was about 4 or 5 months old she started sucking her thumb and it was so cute cause she had a blanket (gramma dahlberg made) she called her pwetty (pretty). Which she had to have all the time. She's been an outdoor girl her whole growin up life and many times you could find her w/ sis or bro Jess out climbing trees, playing house, building forts, or swimmin in the creek (no matter the time of year). From the time she was just little she liked to draw and she would always have paper and pencil in hand drawing something. Even during school she would draw all around the sides of her school work... We are so grateful you are in our life Nin. We love you so very much!!!

Sunday, October 17th 2010

Well, we can now announce that Arlin will be released as Stake President. He has served for 9 years, but it doesn't seem that long. We both feel so blessed to have had this opportunity. We have been blessed far more than we deserve and we have worked along side so many faithful, caring, and hard working people. We'll never forget the many prayers and love offered on our behalf.
Thank you Elma Stake for the support you've given to us!

I drove to Oklahoma!!!!

Well, I didn't ever drive. I got to sit in the passenger seat while Nicole drove. I had the more important job of tending to the kids every needs!!!! What fun we had.

I flew into the SLC airport Sat. afternoon where Anthon & Jennie picked me up, whisked me out to lunch and then on to Baylee's last soccer game.


Then they drove me out to Roosevelt on Sunday the 10th. Kind Anthon brought a washer and dryer out to Sis that she had bought in Layton. Monday Brydon got the U-Haul and then people from their ward helped them fill it up. It was an amazing thing to see. Lots of very helpful people who love and care about Sis and her family, wanting to help any way they can. I loved seeing that!!

We left Roosevelt on Tues @ about 11 a.m. and started driving. We got to see parts of America I'd never seen before. I've never been to Colorado. At one point, as we were driving through that state, we were 11,000 feet in the sky!! So beautiful there. We also drove through Kansas. There's even a Wizard of Oz museum there but too far out of our way to go see. Not sure what to say about Oklahoma, ummm no mountains (or hills for that matter.......lots of farm land...not many trees. TONS of museums!!

And now our kids are there. Can't wait to go back w/ my Arlo in tow so we can check out the place.....and of course see more of the kids.

Some Pictures from Jess!! Hooray!!!

Finally!!! Just when I almost thought I forgot what he looked like, we got some pictures in the mail from Jess. (Actually, he sent his sim card so I could download all his pictures)

PLEASE VOTE FOR ALLI!!

My niece wants you to vote for her.
Go to her blog and follow her instructions!!

A Day w/ my Friend, Mary

 
 
 

We planned to spend the day discovering Olympia and found this little shop.
Mary did something creative, I made polka dots!!
We had lunch at the always fabulous Wagner's bakery.
We get to meet again this Wednesday to pick up our stuff.

My 52nd Birthday

I don't care how old I get, I will always look forward to my birthday! I'm just like a kid when it comes around, eager to see who thought of me and what my present is!!!
 

Arlo really outdid himself this time and made me a cool cupboard to sit under the T.V. I love it!!! Also, we spent the day together driving around to some of his bldngs. Throwing in a little fun stuff too. Like riding a funky ferry across the Columbia River. Eating in a cool little Cafe in Rainier, Ore. Seeing lots of beautiful scenery I've never seen before. We even stopped in to an Amish furniture store!
 

Later we had dinner w/ our empty nester friends and instead of cake I got this wonderfully delicious almond apple cheesecake! Yummmmm
I had a beautiful day ~ the best part of course was hearing from my kids and grandkids!

Lookey who's turning 3 TODAY!

 
If you guessed Boston you are RIGHT!!
 

He loves life outside and wants to be out as often as he can!! He loves things that go and he's pretty much Evil Knievel reincarnate!!! We caught him doing belly flops into the hot tub. He is so sweet and especially loves his Grampa Arlo. He has such a charming smile. We Love you Boss and are very glad you're in our family!!!

LOOK WHO turns 3 today!!

It's Lukey boy! And boy oh boy is he!! He loves life and lives it. He can figure anything out and loves things that GO! He can be reverant and sweet, but loves being outside and active!! He calls us He-Pa and Mimi and he has the boomingest voice EVER! (I think he'll be a very successful opera singer)
We Love you Luke and are very glad you are in our family!!!
 

Well, Here Goes

I'm going to attempt to put this hike into words.
Mt. St. Helens. Remember 30 years ago about 1800 ft of this mountain blew off and spread itself all over the place.

Yeah well, at the invitation of some friends we decided to hike this very mountain!! We had to sign up in February because they only allow 100 people a day to climb. We were determined to get ourselves in shape (for what exactly we weren't sure, nobody could have prepared us for this) Well, time passed a little too quickly and the shape we were in when we headed out on the trail probably wasn't the shape we should have been in!!! Really, from start to finish it's a 10 mile hike...........Pretty easy eh?

The first 2 miles you follow a happy little mountain trail.

The next abt 2 you climb piles of boulders

and when you get to the top of the pile........ there's another pile

and another pile to great you :)

Cindy, Arlin, Russ

The view behind us as we climb the boulders

Then you trudge through a mixture of sand, schale and ash ..... step forward slide back for the rest of the hike.

When we got to the top I was completely exhausted!!

I'm sure it had to do with a mixture of the altitude, the climbing over boulders and the overwhelming-ness of the last part of the climb!!!
Once we got up there and started looking around I just couldn't believe what I had done. The veiw was spectacular, Exhilerating, Breathtaking!

The best part about it though is "the spouse"......... Nearing the end I kept saying "just leave me, plz just leave me, you go up there, I'll watch, I can see the top from here!!!"

But Arlo WOULD NOT. He just stayed behing me and quietly encouraged me to keep going, I could do it, I would be sad if I didn't......... That's how he always is for me, at my hardest times he encourages, I'm so very thankful!

When we got in the car to go home I said "I will NEVER do that again" today is Tuesday, 4 days after the hike and I'm thinking 'when Jesse gets home I may do it again' Funny how time skews your memory......
Thanks for inviting us dear friends, it was a great day!