The Nichols Family

EARLY ARRIVAL!!!

2011-12-02T21:17:00.000-08:00

Harper Louise Nichols

December 1, 2011

7 lbs. 20 Inches

THE TREE IS TRIMMED!!

2011-12-02T21:09:00.000-08:00

The day after Thanksgiving we put up and trimmed the tree. Okay, so Bob put up the fake tree, the neighbor girls, Wil and Rane put on the ornaments. Next, I rearranged the ornaments (way hard) and put the bows on. It was an all day experience. I'm thinking that it is time I do something different next year as this is the 5th year in a row that I've used the same bows. I'm cheap. Love having the tree up!!!

HALLOWEEN 2011!!!

2011-11-11T14:53:00.000-08:00

So Much Fun in Texas!!

2011-10-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

Well I selected 11 photos for my collage but "collage maker" needed 12 photos. That is the reason my collage begins and ends with "The Statue". Top Row L. to R. This statue was at Little Italy's in San Antonio. Because I was surrounded by immature people (certainly not me) this statue became a conversation piece. We found this lost lady in the elevator and felt sorry for her, so we had to take her to our room with us. We stayed at the historical Menger Hotel in San Antonio. Allison and Aunt Linda at the Riverwalk. Middle Row L. to R. Katherine and Matt exiting the Temple. Back in Austin for the reception. Kat and Matt dancing. Harm and Bregje got stuck taking us to the airport! They were so helpful to Janice! Bottom Row L. to R. The oldest dance hall in Texas. Janice handing out pedicures the night before the wedding. The bride before leaving for the Temple. Needless to say we had a wonderful time with family and friends. I am so thankful that Allison and I were able to share in this great weekend with the Gee family!!!!

KATHERINE'S SHOWER!

2011-08-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

Fun in Austin, Texas! Attending Katherine's bridal shower was awesome! Around 50 guests attended, put on by my sister's friend. The food was great and it was just so much fun watching Katherine enjoy every minute of her special day! I'm so lucky that I fly for free!

KIRI & KALVIN'S WEDDING!

2011-08-29T15:42:00.000-07:00

Lucky me! I got to spend 4 days with my nieces family in Idaho! What a fun time it was excluding the fact that I didn't sleep much. Loved spending time with Jolee's boys and Teenas family.

LOOK WHO TURNED 6!!!!

2011-08-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that on August 5th Wil turned 6 years old. His dad took him to the Great Wolf Lodge for his special day. We celebrated at home with a family dinner which he chose hot dogs and corn on the cob to eat. We made Italian sodas which were very yummy! It was great to celebrate with cousins, the neighbor girls and Wil was happy that Grandma Nichols was well enough to come.

JULY 4th!!

2011-07-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

We had the 4th up at Eric and Linda's. Part of our family could not make it. We had a great time and what a miracle that the weather was nice!

GRANDMA CAMP!

2011-07-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

Allison and I had a great week with the grand kids at Ft. Stevens State Park. The kids each earned their "Junior Ranger Badges". The weather was great! The high light of our trip was that finally all three of them were off the training wheels, so that made our bike rides much more enjoyable!

JUNE HAPPENINGS!!

2011-07-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

Marlee turned 2 on June 29th!

The Fisher Family at Ryan's graduation.

Marlee, Ryan and Ashley

A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF SPRING!

2011-06-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

Taylor just celebrated her 7th birthday and of course Grandma forgot her camera, so this picture is from my phone and not the best.

Bob and I go fishing every May up the gorge with family. I was impressed with my catch, but I showed this picture to my students and the kids were more concerned with what happened to my hair!

What a pretty day! Aunt Diana's trailer on the left, Grandma's motor home in the middle and our humble abode on the right. We had a wonderful time.

Our youngest grand daughter, Marlee decorating her eggs. She would dip them in the dye and then lick it off. She is a comedian!

Taylor has her Daddy's artistic abilities and takes time with her eggs.

Rane and Gabe!

Wil!

Spring break at the zoo!

My glass table bit Marlee in the ear and she had to have 3 stitches. It was so sad holding her down. Really sad for Bob as she looked up at him and said, "Papa help me."

Solill got a hair cut! So cute!!!

WELCOME SUMMER!!

2011-06-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

Hooray! Today was the last day of school for me. As you can see I need to update my blog. I will be working on that next week. Looking forward to camping, sleeping in, playing outside and enjoying all the warm weather we will have (hopefully). Happy summer everyone!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

2010-12-31T20:31:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2010-12-31T20:19:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas!

We had a full house on Christmas Eve!!

Santa came to our house on Christmas Eve. Here is Wil with Santa!

The scary thing about having Santa over on Christmas Eve is that all the kids were asking for things that we knew they were not going to get. Risky! This is Solill.

One last package under the tree. What could it be? (Uncle Aaron got really bored)

Aaron called Layna up to open one more present. Solill thought it was soooo funny to be wrapped up!

Our son Aaron did a great job on the lights this year! He bought all new ones and put them up on Thanksgiving weekend when he was home.

THANKSGIVING

2010-12-31T20:14:00.000-08:00

We had two Thanksgivings! We had the first one early on so that Grandma Nichols and Uncle Wayne could head to Arizona. We had all of Bob's family over. The real Thanksgiving was a quiet one for us. We had all of our kids here, no extras, which is unusual for us. Keli, Andy, Taylor, Ryan and Ashley had to eat and run. It was really relaxing for us all.

I Got All Shook Up!

2010-12-31T19:56:00.000-08:00

Yes folks I got all shook up in October when I got laid off from my job. So what does one do when they don't have a job? Head to Austin, Texas to see my nephew's baby blessed and to see my niece star in the Texas State musical "All Shook Up". My sister, Linda and her son Brian came also. (They didn't know that I was coming so what a surprise when Janice and I picked them up at the San Antonio airport.) We had the best time visiting Janice's family, the Alamo, the River walk and eating our way from San Antonio to Austin. Emily did a fabulous job and I was very lucky to get to see the play twice! Fun times!

Emily and Brian after the performance.

My sisters, Linda, Janice and my nephew, Brian.

My sis, Janice, her husband, Preston, my nephew Ryan holding his son, Elliot. Ryan's wife Havilah and my niece, Katherine.

Happy Fall Everyone!!!

2010-11-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

Once again I have waited too long to update my blog. The following pictures are from summer and this fall. We had a wonderful summer and an interesting fall. I am looking forward to the holidays and getting done with winter!

I had to put Marlee to work sweeping the floor after Halloween dinner!

Allison, Rane, Wil and Dad!

Layna, Solill, Adam and Gabe.

Ashley, Marlee and Ryan.

The wicked witch tempting the Princess with the poison apple!

Andrew and Keli, AKA bacon and eggs.

Wil and Rane.

Rane has spent the last few months losing teeth!

We camped next the neatest dog this summer!

Bob taking it easy at the kite festival in Longbeach.

Guess who turned 5 this past summer!

This is Potholes State Park, our favorite place to fish and camp.

Bob and our nephew, Matthew in the boat at Potholes.

What did we do for Uncle Aaron's 38th birthday? We went to the Enchanted Forest of course.

Grandma and grandkids at target practice.

Enchanted Forest

We All Had Fun At the Lady Bug Picnic!!

2010-06-27T21:27:00.001-07:00

Family and friends joined together on Saturday to wish Marlee a happy 1st birthday!Birthday Girl!!

Pinata time!

Cupcakes!

Marlee attacked her cupcake as she never gets sweets and she devoured it in record time! It was so funny.

If you look at her left eye you can see it filled with cupcake.

Yea for presents!

This was the most original gift. Our grandson Wil spent the morning washing his favorite rocks to give to his cousin. He washed and dried ten rocks and carefully placed them in the bag. It was also the heaviest present. Ashley is going to invite Wil over to paint the rocks and they will be placed in Ashley's little flower garden.

Schools Out!!

2010-06-27T21:09:00.000-07:00

It didn't take long for me to hit the road after my last day of work. My sister Janice and I took off to visit our niece Brittny, her husband Aaron and their two darling children. Did I take pictures of them? Crazy me. We had a great visit with them. Aaron is a dentist there and Britt is a wonderful mom. Their little daughter is named after our mother, June. The next day Janice and I went exploring Prosser and Grandview as our mother grew up in this area. We had a super time and need to go back as we did not have enough time to explore.We visited my mother's cousin Bill Flory and his wife. He gave us so much information about our mother.

This is the farm house that our mother grew up in. Bill Flory, her cousin, grew up in the farm across the road.

Big Wil's Graduation

2010-06-07T21:14:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Wil graduated from Bright Futures Pre-School. On to Dorothy Fox in the fall with his sister!!!

Memorial Day Weekend 2010

2010-06-07T21:10:00.000-07:00

I made the slide show with our pictures, but I can't seem to make them bigger and in the right place this time. Maybe someday. We had a wonderful weekend together in spite of the weather. The only thing missing was a few of our family members. Keli, Ashley, Ryan, Marlee and Aaron could not make it. The surrounding were so green and beautiful. Love camping with my family!!

SPRING!!!!!

2010-05-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

This is the lake that we fished on. Only one fish for me this year:(

Weekend of May 15th we camped at Horse thief. The motor home is Grandma Nichols, on the left is Aunt Diana's trailer and our humble abode is on the right. It was a beautiful weekend.

Look who's walking!!

First egg dying for Miss Marlee!

It didn't take long for her to figure out that eating the egg is much more rewarding!

Taylor decorating her egg!

Gabriel taking a break for soccer to decorate eggs.

Solill way too serious!

Ashley, Marlee and Rane on Easter Sunday.

Marlee had her own egg hunt on Sunday because she fell asleep on Saturday when we had our family egg hunt!

It didn't take Wil long to shed his Easter clothes after church. Here he is in his usual attire with his cousin Taylor.

Spring break we went to Ft. Stevens. Do you remember how bad the weather was? We did many in the trailer activities.

Aunt Keli bought Rane and Taylor cool braids for their hair!

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun!!!

2010-02-27T09:44:00.000-08:00

A break in the storm! Bob and I went to Beverly Beach over Presidents weekend and enjoyed the storm.

Our Skippy is sooooooo spoiled.

His real name is Skippy Evan Rockstar, but he now has a nickname, Skipidee doo da. (Not sure of the spelling).

He's one of the kids!

Ashley, Marlee and Wil at Rane's game.

Rane is shooting the ball, love to watch that hair bounce around!

Hoola Hoops for her birthday.

Marlee not only crawls, but tries to stand up in the middle of the room. She will be walking early. She also has 8 teeth!

She looks like her Daddy in this picture!

Merry Christmas and Here's Skippy!!

2010-01-01T21:17:00.001-08:00

Rane and Skippy!

Marlee and her Christmas Jammies!

Little did Taylor know that when she was opening gifts at our house and loving Skippy that there was a puppy waiting for her at her other Grandma's house. She has a new puppy named Panda!

Marlee is opening her new jammies Christmas eve, one of our family traditions. She also got a new pillow and book from Grandma.

This is what our house looked like on Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas (finally). We had an excellent Christmas. Christmas Eve we had the whole family over and had a great time. Papa finally gave in so there was a new puppy under the tree for Wil and Rane. They were in shock and it took them a while to realize that it was a real dog. He is a purebred Jack Russell terrier and has been named Skippy Evan Rockstar. So far he is really a good dog and very smart. He hates the cold weather so he stands on his front legs only when he goes out. He has even tried to stand on one leg. It is so funny. We had a brunch on Christmas morning and then dinner. We just chilled and had a great day.

Disneyland!!

2010-01-01T20:58:00.000-08:00

Yea for Cinderella's castle!

Taylor, Rane and Wil with Mulan!

Back row, Aaron, Wil, Grandma, Keli and Rane.
Love Tower of Terror

The real reason Aaron wanted to go was to get Rane on California Screamin'.
The Dr. Scholls inserts really helped.

Taylor, Wil and Rane in front of the huge Christmas tree!

Uncle Aaron wanted the grandkids to experience Disneyland with the Christmas decorations. December 9th Aaron, Allison, Rane, Wil, Keli, Taylor and I flew to Cal and had a great time with our 5 day passes. Papa opted out (he's quite a scrooge) but we had a fun time without him. Rane and Wil started out sick, then Taylor wasn't feeling good and by the time we left Keli had a strep infection. The Nichols' don't let a little sickness get us down we went on everything multiple times. We were just sad that Gabe and Solill were not with us because Solill had surgery scheduled that week. We also can't wait for Marlee to be old enough to hang with us!

Halloween

2009-11-01T19:46:00.000-08:00

You know Halloween is not my favorite holiday, but I did a good job of faking it this year. My house was so decorated (thanks to Aaron). The kids had a great time and it was very fun having Halloween on a weekend. We had a small gathering and all my sisters and my brother came over . All decorations are now put away for another year!!Aaron is my seasonal decorator, he made all the bats!

Papa and the kids did good work!

Ryan, Ashley and Marlee!

Some of the big kids dressed up! (Keli and Andy)

Taylor was Little Bo Peep!

This little Dinosaur (Solill) was tired by the time she got to Grandmas!

Gabe scared all the little kids!

Rane was a beautiful witch and the Ninja is Wil!

IT'S ALL OVER!! Summer that is.

2009-09-02T20:21:00.000-07:00

Today it was official that summer is over. How sad. A milestone for the family as Rane and Taylor both began kindergarten. Rane is at Dorothy Fox and Taylor is at Hellen Baller. Gabe is in the third grade at Crestline in Vancouver. It was a perfect day, except for the pallet of 40 pound boxes that I had to lift at work.
I hope that I can walk tomorrow.

More Summer Tales!

2009-08-21T21:20:00.000-07:00

Which one is Marlee?

Best part of camping.

We were camped next to this cool tree!!

Every morning it was pile on Grandma!

Poor Wil my clippers always seem to draw blood.

Look what Wil got for his 4th!!

Wil had a choice to go to the movies for his birthday or climb Beacon Rock, unfortunately for his mom he chose climbing the rock. He ran to the top.

Rane had her recital in June.

The summer started out great with Taylor's 5th birthday!

OUR GETAWAY ALONE (HA-HA)

2009-08-04T09:35:00.000-07:00

The morning after Marlee pulled an all nighter.
Marlee passed out on Papa.
Marlee exhausted after playing in the sand.
Marlee and Mom.
Marlee's first campfire!
Well Bob and I ran away alone, but after a few days our location was discovered. Ashley and Marlee showed up on our 3rd day. It was great to be at the coast during the hottest part of our heat wave. We had some really good bike rides. We did not want to come home this time.

ROAD TRIP

2009-07-23T10:18:00.001-07:00

I really was there. I have a picture of myself, but will not post because of obvious reasons.

I was worried about this little guy as he hung out on the edge of the cliff, overlooking the Grand Canyon.
Here is Aunt Janice, Malia and Karen Lewis as we had dinner at the Trading Post in Cameron, AZ.
We stayed at the Gee college house in Provo. Here is Katherine in her kitchen with her apron that she made.

Family Reunion Report Card

2009-07-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

LOCATION=A+
Uncle Eric and Aunt Linda's was a perfect location. The Ewok village has not lost it's golden touch as it kept the kids busy. What's a few bee stings, they didn't seem to mind. The rope swing was awesome. I loved the Gee tent camp on the terrace above the waterfall. I was a little worried we were too close to Matt and Lisa's tent, but all was well.
WEATHER=B-
I can't take the heat. It was lovely not to have the rain, but the heat index went too high to make an A grade. Thanks to the slip and slide we were able to survive.
FOOD=B-
Okay, it just wasn't original enough. We did good on quantity but I was disappointed in my choices. A big thank you to all who helped.
ATTENDANCE=A-
Thanks to the Stevens we were unable to receive an A+ for attendance. They broke all the rules by having Logan during the festivities. I will never let them forget it. We are happy though that he arrived safely and is adorable.
ENTERTAINMENT=A+
Michael Jackson, Beyonce and Stevie Wonder have nothing on us. Our family came through with the most amazing talents. Who knew that juggling and the pogo stick would take top bill.
Thanks to Matt and Lisa for singing the song they wrote for Ryan and Havilah's wedding, for Ryan playing Grandma and Grandpa's favorite, for Alex playing and singing, for Katherine singing the song that she wrote and the whole Gee fam. Also thanks to Jessica for putting together the thriller dance with her little cousies, for little Eric singing (he has a really good voice), for Kennedy's lovely ballet number, for the Kanekoa girls performing, for Keller scaring us with his awesome flips off the stage, for Taylor's debut on the piano and for Solill (AKA Beyonce) getting her moves on. Thanks to Gabrielle for being the MC. Please forgive me if I have forgotten anyone, my age is showing.
THE DANCE=A+
Any dance that brings Aunt Shirley from the terrace, down into the tennis court with her blanket in tow, deserves an A+ grade. This was an amazingly fun dance. My favorite of course was the chicken dance followed by the ever popular YMCA. We also love to watch Aunt Bev and Uncle Tony dance so well.
SPIRIT=A+
When you get so many people together that happen to be related it is awesome that you can do so without any drama. Everyone worked together with a spirit of love and kindness, without any cross words, our parents would be so proud. Thanks to Teena and Jolee for doing the t-shirt painting with the kids, Lynda and Tony for helping the kids build their marshmallow shooters, Matt Gee for the music and sound system, Aunt Janice for organizing the talent show, Karen Lewis for tables and decorations, the Kanekoas for the fireworks, and a special thanks to Linda and Eric for hosting the reunion.
Our hearts were brought closer together as we played and prayed together these two days. We were so sorry that Linda, Eric and Angie were not able to be present and continue to pray for Angie's recovery and look forward to everyone being at our next reunion.

Marlee Ann Fisher

2009-07-22T16:08:00.001-07:00

What a lame Grandma I am. It has taken me so long to post a picture of Marlee. Here she is, and to make me even lamer, I have hardly taken any pictures of her because my brain is totally messed up this summer. I do know this, she is beautiful and loved by all.

School's Out For the Summer!!

2009-06-21T20:23:00.001-07:00

This will be my last week of work for the summer! My sister, Janice will be arriving this weekend from Texas and we begin preparing for our family reunion which will be on July 3rd and 4th. We will be having our reunion at the Balholms and it will be fun! We are still waiting for the new grand-daughter to be born, which should be any day now. We will leave for Nahelam Bay as soon as the reunion is over (just for 5 days). We have a few more camping trips planned and surgery for my mother-in-law, so, summer will be over before you know it!

The New Nichols Park

2009-04-24T22:16:00.000-07:00

After many hours of hard labor (I'm so tired) we have a fun backyard now. Thanks to Papa and Uncle Wayne we are looking forward to many hours being spent in the yard this summer!!

Easter

2009-04-24T21:53:00.001-07:00

We had a really fun Easter. On Saturday we colored 9 dozen eggs and everyone took is seriously. We didn't move from the table for over an hour. Afterwards the Easter bunny left eggs for us to find in the back yard. We had a lovely Easter feast on Sunday after church at our house.

2009-03-19T19:51:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to Wicked. As you can see we had Rane and Taylor with us. They loved it! Uncle Aaron bought the tickets and Aunt Ali bought pink T-shirts for the girls that had the title of their favorite song on it, POPULAR!

2009-03-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago Bob and I flew to Arizona to visit grandma and uncle Wayne. This is what Grandma's house looks like there. We had a great visit and it felt good to be warm.

2009-03-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

Yea! Pretty flower on cactus. Notice the blue sky, awesome!

2009-03-19T19:39:00.000-07:00

This is our good friend Jonathan Yeager. Andy went to school with him in PA. He also is an artist and we had the opportunity to attend his art show a few weekends ago in Portland. He moved to Portland a few years ago.

2009-02-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

The highlight of January for me was my trip to Texas with Aunt Linda. We went to see Emily as Maria in the Sound of Music and she was fabulous! We had a great time.

This is what Aunt Janice looks like now!

Happy Birthday to Rane!

Solill turned 3!

Gabe had a Birthday!

Christmas 2008 Continued

2008-12-27T16:20:00.001-08:00

Christmas 2008

2008-12-27T16:14:00.000-08:00

We have had the most magical Christmas thanks to the weather. It has been so much fun watching the Grandchildren play in their first really big snowfall. I had a difficult time narrowing my picture selection. I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoy our pictures!

What's Up With Us?

2008-12-02T20:31:00.000-08:00

Not much. We had a great Thanksgiving feast at our house. Everyone was here minus Ashley and Ryan who went to Gig Harbor to be with Ryan's family. The halls are decked, the tree is trimmed and no, the shopping is not done. Thanks to Aaron we have a fair amount of lights this year. FYI for those who don't know, the 2 new children added to our list of grandchildren belong to Adam's girl friend, Layna. They are Solill and Gabriel. We wish all of you a very peaceful holiday season. I'm wishing for the same!

Meet "the other pets"

2008-11-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

Ever since I posted the picture of Fraiser Pete I've heard nothing but complaints because the "real pets" have not been blogged yet. So I present to you "the real pets" of the Nichols home. This is queen Lucille.

This is Fricka, (daughter of Queen Lucille).

These are our pets in the back yard.

Halloween

2008-11-01T17:41:00.000-07:00

This is Superman "Wil"

"Cat girl" Rane

Solil and Gabe (I forgot the names of their characters)

Taylor the "Witch"

We had a great Halloween. The weather was so mild and the rain held off for us. The kids all went Trick or Treating then we met at Great Grandma's for Cider and Sweets.

Quirks?

2008-10-02T19:54:00.000-07:00

Oh no, I'm so nervous. Britt tagged me for quirks, but I'm not sure what they are (even though I just read hers). Oh no, Bob said I don't have any. But let me try.
1. I have to put my hair in curlers before I straighten it.

2. I can't make 2 of the same colored food items for dinner. (Everything has to be a different color.

3. I will not go out of the house without earrings on.

4. I have to vacuum the house clockwise.

5. I can't put my lipstick on while the car is running, I always wait until Bob turns it off and is ready to get out and is standing with the door open. (he hates that one)

6. I have to wash the dishes before I put them in the dishwasher.

There you go.

Meet "Frasier Pete"

2008-09-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

The newest member of our family is Frasier Pete. He replaced Stuart who passed away last spring. Stuarts passing was sudden and untimely. He was very friendly and we miss him still. So now we have Frasier Pete who's furry appearance makes him look as though he is wearing a skirt. He is addicted to his wheel, grouchy and bites. We miss Stuart.

Can you believe it!

2008-09-26T19:45:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to create a blog for months now and didn't quite know how to begin. So now you all get to be annoyed by my brag book. I can't believe that we are heading into October. We have been busy cleaning and playing catch up around here. (Bob and I played all summer, so we are behind in our chores). My goal is to share what's up with us and for me to test my creative side. Thanks to Brittny, Lynda and Hannah for inspiring me.