Merry Christmas and Here's Skippy!!

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!!

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

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.

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!

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)

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

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.