Please wish some snow for us!!

Despite my best efforts of making the blog look very wintry, it has not snowed at our house! In fact, it's been in the 60s and 70s here. GEEZ!!!

Tyler was able to enjoy some snow - he went to visit Brandee and Scott on Christmas day (he will be returning on the 1st). The 3 of them went to Scott's brother Josh's place in Colorado where they went snowshoeing. (I think that's how you spell it - we don't get much snow here, so I rarely spell anything with snow in it!)

Thanks so much to Josh who willingly shared these pictures of the snow fun!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

From our family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and many blessings in the New Year!

What a week (or 2)!

I was hoping that once soccer was over for the fall, we could calm down a bit around here! Apparently NOT.
For the past 2 Sundays, Keenan has marched in the local Christmas parades. Last week, I had Enrichment meeting on Tuesday, taught the Faith in God for Girls class on Wednesday, and we went to the Ward Christmas party on Friday night. On Monday, Tim and Kyle went to the livestock auction and bought a new "Elvis" for our farm. He's a 'bigun' and seems to be taking it in stride that of course he was purchased and brought to a farm with a harem of females who really want to meet him.
Last night we went to Ethan and Dallin's middle school band concert - which went way too long, was too full of people and was too hot. The program went like this:
1 - 6th grade chorus; 2 - 6th grade band; 3 - 7th grade chorus; 4 - 7th grade band; 5 - 8th grade chorus; 6 - 8th grade band. I don't think they took it into account that most of these kids would not only have parents attend, but also grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, friends, etc..... It was very warm with all of those people in one room and one of the 8th grade chorus girls ended up passing out. Maybe next year will be better:) Ethan and Dallin both did awesome - Ethan plays the French horn and Dallin is in the percussion section. Ethan recently made all-county honors band!
Tonight, we have the youth meeting at church and tomorrow night is Keenan's Christmas concert at the high school along with their chorus. In the middle of all of this, Dallin has a Harry Potter Scrapbook book report due on Friday and our internet keeps going up and down with the very wet weather we've been having. I also have to grocery shop for the all of the cookie ingredients which I have to bake starting on Friday. Saturday we have scrimmages for Kyle, Keenan and Tyler's soccer teams and then Sunday I teach the Relief Society lesson at church - which I haven't even looked at yet.

What a view!

The hotel we stayed in for the Disney soccer tournament had quite the view from our floor. I'm not really fond of heights, and as Piglet says to Pooh "do you have to go so very up?". I bet we could've had a room on a floor that didn't make my legs go weak and my stomach hurt.....If you look really close, you can see Ethan and Dallin.

2 posts in one day

Yes, I know I already posted for today, but this is too funny!!

Hayleigh came home from church today and told me about her new classroom. She said she thinks it was used for time-out but she wasn't sure. The sign on the door said "Violent Boys and Girls". I said "what???". She repeated "Violent Boys and Girls". Then I remembered how old she is now and that her new class at church is "Valiant".

Also - last night on the way home, we stopped at a Taco Bell (I know - health food!) and got some stuff in the drive through. The meals the boys ordered had really big drinks with them. When I handed Dallin his cup he said, "Are you planning to stop alot? I don't do well with drinking and driving." The Taco Bell people got a laugh out of that.

Whew!

Well, it's official! Fall soccer season is over! Ethan, Dallin and I arrived home from the Disney soccer tournament at 4 AM this morning. Dallin's team had a great result - 2-1 loss, 4-0 win and 3-0 win. The team they lost to had 3 wins, so they went to the semi-final this morning. Dallin had 2 fantastic goals in the 4-0 win and the 3-0 win was against the Alabama state champions!

Ethan, Dallin and I went to Pirate's Cove mini golfing. We had such a fun time! The weather was so much better than it is here!

So, now that there's no practices (I shouldn't really say that though - I bet one of the coaches will say "let's practice this week"), it's time to get ready for Christmas. I'm mailing some things to Brandee - this is the first time that she won't be here for Christmas, but she and Scott will be having their own first Christmas together. Guess what they'll be doing on Christmas Day???? Picking Tyler up at the Salt Lake Airport!!! Both Tyler and Brandee are excited!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm sitting here at the hotel in Orlando, FL with Ethan and Dallin and eating McDonald's. It's actually okay though - we had a big Thanksgiving dinner last night and ate WAY too much! Tyler was very thankful for having dinner last night - no matter how we arrange prayer days - youngest to oldest or oldest to youngest - Tyler always gets Thursdays. He has said Thanksgiving prayer for the past several years. It seemed strange not having Brandee at the table for dinner - but she and Scott had their own Thanksgiving today (I haven't heard anything, so I'm guessing that things were good!). This will be the 'last' Thanksgiving dinner that we'll have all of the boys home for several years - Kyle will hopefully leave on his mission next year, and then Keenan the next and Tyler the year after that.

I wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

It's a day late....

But, the kids are back in school today and I have a quiet minute to post this. I couldn't let the 'forgotten' holiday of Veteran's Day go by without recognizing the selfless acts of our veterans. I am so proud to be an American! I am so grateful that my ancestors decided to 'make a go of it' in America. My grandparents on one side came from Holland and my great grandparents on the other side had the courage to leave a very bad situation. Even though I am a fairly new American compared to some - I count being American as one of my greatest blessings!

I just wanted to post this about veterans:

It is the VETERAN, not the preacher,
who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN, not the courts
who has given us the right to keep and bear arms

It is the VETERAN, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN, not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN, not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the VETERAN, who salutes the Flag,
and serves under the flag.

It is the VETERAN,not the protester,
who has the right to burn the flag.

Photos

It's been so long since I posted any photos!

Kirsten was a very cute witch for Halloween



Every year I have a Halloween dinner - we're not too big on Trick-or-Treating, so I try to do something special since I love Halloween (even if Tim doesn't!)



I've been working on Christmas cards already. I've made some from kits, but this one I did myself:



Not much is going on right now - just the same old soccer/band/school/seminary routine. We're almost done with the fall season of soccer. The older boys will have a couple of practices to get ready for the CASL tournament and then they'll be done til January. Ethan's team doesn't have any more games and Dallin's team is still practicing for the Disney tournament over Thanksgiving. Thank goodness he practices the same the nights as the older boys!
Tim, Kirsten and I did some Christmas shopping today - which was really hard for me to do since it was 80 degrees out! It just doesn't feel Christmasy to me. Kirsten is such a good shopper! She loves to find things that we 'need'. We made the mistake of going down a toy aisle and she said "I want this and this and this and this" - and then she gave up naming each individual thing and said "I want it all".

In the Past

Well, it's in the past. My county voted for McCain.
I voted. I did my duty and exercised my right. 2 years from now, I'll get to do it again and swing it back the right way.
For those of you who didn't catch McCain's speech acknowledging his defeat last
night, let me just say - WOW! I am so proud of my candidate!

In a way, I'm anxious to see what this "change" is supposed to be since it hasn't been defined yet. Maybe I can even become "middle class" - wouldn't it be nice to make $250,000 a year??
Thomas Jefferson said "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have." Let's just hope that is not in the redistribution plans!


No more political stuff for awhile.

On to Thanksgiving and Christmas.....

This is good too......(from an email)

Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election: Number of States won by: Democrats: 19 Republicans: 29 Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000 Republicans: 2,427,000 Population of counties won by: Democrats: 127 million Republicans: 143 million Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13.2 Republicans: 2.1 Professor Olson adds: 'In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great country. Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare...' Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the 'complacency and apathy' phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the 'governmental dependency' phase. If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal's and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years If you are in favor of this, then by all means, delete this message. If you are not, then pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.

This is too funny!

What the Heck???!!

This is a headline from Fox News website:

Obama Lays Plans to Kill Expectations After Election Victory

This is kind of like - 'you know all those promises I've been making about changing everything? Well, I don't think I can change much, so don't expect much from me. Please vote for me anyway.'

GEEZ!!

Happy Birthday to me....

Since I made my own dinner and baked my own cake, I guess I can wish myself a happy birthday too.

What a lousy day.

Big Mistake

I will warn you now. If you are easily offended, please don't read this post.

A couple of weeks ago, I made a comment that will haunt me the rest of my life - possibly beyond my mortal life!

I decided it was a beautiful day outside, I didn't have any soccer games - so I was going to wash all the boys' sheets. This was a good idea - little did I know it could turn out so badly! I mentioned to the boys that new sheets for Christmas would be good to put on their lists. I had noticed that their fitted sheets were becoming very 'pilly'. Thinking that they wouldn't know what 'pilly' meant, I said, "I don't know how you can sleep on all those little balls every night."

With 5 boys - I bet you know where this went. They laughed hysterically at me, and now bring it up at all times.

Fall

I am really enjoying this time of year! I can finally watch the kids' soccer games without melting from the heat. I can quit watering the flowers (til next spring!). I can decorate with leaves and pumpkins and cinnamon scented candles. I also love Halloween - the jack-o-lanterns, the hay rides, the dances in our barn, the costumes, the witches and ghosts...... Kirsten changes her mind every day about what she wants to be for Halloween. I think she's decided on being a pirate/princess/flower/witch! I'll have to be creative with that costume.

I decided to use my clay pots for something Halloweenie - I'll post pictures soon.

20 Clay Pots

I have been very preoccupied for a couple of days. Tim and the boys have been working on 'things' and 'stuff' up in the tractor barn (which doesn't have any tractors in it right now because of the 'things' and 'stuff'). One of the boys brought a box down to me that had 3 full bags from AC Moore in it. Thinking I hit the crafting mother lode, I happily opened the bags. Guess what? Inside the box, in the bags, carefully wrapped up are 20 clay pots complete with 20 clay bases. What the heck was I going to make with 20 clay pots and bases? 20 Angels? 20 candles? 20 potted herbs in painted pots to give to friends? 20 bird houses?

Honestly, I have I no idea - I don't even remember buying the pots. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

(and stay tuned - you just might be surprised with a clay pot gift!)

Some NC reception pics

The Bride's entrance

Here's the proof - the Bride arrived on a Harley!

Oops.....and I have a favor to ask

I need to apologize profusely to Tyler - his birthday was on Thursday - and I totally forgot to mention it!!! Happy 16th Birthday Tyler! (and yes, for those of you still counting, Tyler was born a year after Keenan)

I have a favor to ask - if anyone took pictures at the reception here in NC, could you email them to me? I was so busy with so many other things, I forgot to take pictures!

Wedding Week

Wow! What a wonderful week we had!
Just to recap (and this will be a shortened version, since I know everyone has been anxious to see the pictures!) -- On Monday (8/18), we flew out to Salt Lake City. On Tuesday (8/19), Brandee went through the Salt Lake Temple and received her endowments. On Wednesday (8/20), we had a fantastic wedding breakfast in Gardner's Village (what a great place to visit!) and then Brandee and Scott were sealed for time and all eternity in a beautiful ceremony. On Thursday (8/21), we (meaning just Tim and I as Brandee Merkley was with Scott) traveled to Tridell, for the Utah reception. It was great to meet so many of Scott's family and friends! On Friday (8/22 - Happy Birthday Brandee!!!), we flew back to North Carolina - and as an added surprise for Scott and Brandee, Scott's parents came too! On Saturday (8/23), we had the North Carolina reception (after spending all day either shopping, decorating or preparing food!). It was a great event - with a surprise for Scott - Brandee arrived at the reception on Tim's Harley!!!

Happy Birthday Keenan!

Keenan is 17 today!

If anyone is doing the math - yes, Keenan and Kyle are 366 days apart.

Happy Birthday Kyle!

Kyle is 18 today!! WOW!!

BLUE EYES!!

We've been enjoying some awesome weather lately! It's been really comfortable for August - 80s during the day and 50-60s at night. Keenan has had band camp this week and Brandee and Kyle are playing the 'it's so not fair' game that Keenan isn't sweltering like they always did. Band camp is from 8 AM to 8 PM, so I am very grateful that the weather has been good (so is Keenan!).

The little girls were blowing bubbles outside the other night and I took a picture of each of them - WOW - what blue eyes they have!! That would be the Dutch ancestry showing through.

We are working like crazy to get things ready for our trip out to Utah and for the reception here. Brandee, Ethan and I went to some stores in Charlotte today and found some big bowls and floating candles to use as table decorations. I also found a black bench for our entry way downstairs and some new throw rugs for in front of the new bathtub and the sink in the kitchen. I also bought.... (guess I better stop now before I give myself a panic attack).

20 years??!!

From this: (August 1988)


Sweet little baby without a care in the world (other than wondering if her very young and inexperienced parents should be trusted with her life!)





To this: (July 2008)



The invitations are done and mailed. The list of food, music and decorations are being written. Now we get to shop!! Brandee is counting down the days.............

Sometimes you have to treat yourself

I went to the Farmer's Market in town the other day. The peaches this year are AWESOME!!! I got some zuchinni to make my relish and a big bag of peaches. On the way to the car to go home, I saw a guy putting flower bouquets together and I just had to get some. Flowers can make even the messiest kitchen look nice!

Brandee is home now for a couple of weeks and we are busy planning her reception and getting the invitations out. (all 300 of them!!)

Farm Life

With Tim and the boys away at Scout Camp this week, the little girls and I have had to take care of the animals. It's been okay - but there have been some funny moments. Like when I thought that the calf we've been worried about needed another bottle. I made a bottle and braved the electric fence to take it to him. He didn't move a muscle as I approached him and I thought "poor little thing. He's too weak to even stand up." HAHAHAHAHA!! Never assume anything with an animal. Especially one who's momma is watching you and has finally taught her calf to nurse. I never saw the momma til I felt the ground thunder and the calf took off into the woods. Momma gave me a nasty snort and followed him with that "Ain't nobody touching my baby" attitude. GEEZ.

Tonight, however, would've been called a comedy of errors. I learned some valuable things.

1 - NEVER take the trash to the dumpster BEFORE you close the chicken house door. Chickens apparently are very curious and they all left their cozy house to follow us to the dumpster. It was funny to start with, but then Kirsten decided to walk to the barn with the blue chicken feed bucket that we had accidentally brought down to the house the night before. I guess that chickens aren't one of nature's colorblind animals. They knew what that bucket was right away and took off after her. Chickens can run very fast. Kirsten didn't know that the chickens were behind her until she got into the barn. Barns can magnify screams like you wouldn't believe! Anyway, Hayleigh and I caught up, calmed Kirsten down, got the dog his dinner and then scooped out the scratch and feed for the chickens.

2 - Do NOT let your 8 year old throw the scratch on the ground until you get the chickens into their house with the door closed. After unsuccessfully trying to get the chickens away from the scratch and into their house, I decided to fill up the waterer.

3 - Let's point out right here that no matter what I do, I can't get the lid to unscrew from the waterer. Tim said to take it off the base, hold it between my knees and unscrew it. Um, ewwww! No way. I'd rather sit there for 1/2 hour and try to fill it using the little tiny outlet hole. Which is what I did. Do NOT let your 3 year old around running water. She kept putting her finger in it which made it splash all over me - and I can tell you the smell from a chicken waterer (even a clean one) is nasty!! I just didn't want the water splashing on me. Okay - I never would've been a good pioneer. I get it.

4 - After filling the waterer and standing up to get the kinks out of my back, we went back to the chicken house. On the way there I bumped the stupid waterer against my pants. It didn't spill - but EWWW! Left a black mark on my pants. Can you say E-coli?? Yuck.

5 - A great exercise program would be to chase a rooster in different directions around his house. Oh my gosh! When a rooster decides he doesn't want to be in his house, it's really not that easy to convince him he does.

To add insult to injury - when I left to "quickly" take care of the animals, the MLS game was only in the 4th minute and it was 0-0. When we got back, it was 2-1. Since I already knew the score, backing it up was pointless. DVR is a wonderful thing when it's used properly!

Thank goodness they'll be home tomorrow night (although probably not in time to take care of the animals).

Life is Good!

Happy Anniversary to us!!

Today is our 20th anniversary....... 20 years sounds so long, but it really has gone by like a flash.

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. ~Mignon McLaughlin

Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end. ~Author Unknown

Graduation and other stuff

I wanted to post a picture from Kyle's graduation. 2 down....6 to go! It was a great night and we are very proud of him!

other stuff: Tim and all 5 boys are away at Scout Camp this week. It's time for some chick flicks! I will also be working on cleaning up and throwing out to get ready for Brandee's reception. I figure with the boys gone, they can't say "don't get rid of that" or "I need that" even though it's ripped, dirty, broken or unidentifiable. The trash truck comes tomorrow to empty out the dumpster and then I can refill it!

I've been canning - peaches and zucchini relish. I love to see the finished jars all lined up on the counter! We're all looking forward to 'fresh' peaches this winter.

It's Official!!

YIPPEEE!!! Brandee and Scott are officially engaged! An August Salt Lake City Temple sealing is being planned. There will be a North Carolina ring ceremony and reception - stayed tuned for more details.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DALLIN!!

Dallin is 12 years old today! He will be joining the other 4 boys at Scout Camp next month. He will be playing 'full-field' soccer. He will be able to play soccer for the middle school next spring. He is no longer a little guy!

Congratulations Kyle!

It's official! Kyle has graduated! It was a great night. The weather has been absolutely suffocating here in the South, but for tonight - it was bearable.

As soon as I get the pictures from the camera, I will post them.

Thanks to those who have sent cards and congrats to Kyle!

JUNK!!

How does one family acquire so much JUNK???!! And why do we keep it?? The kids moved in to their new rooms in the addition (yay!!) and we're working on cleaning out the old rooms. Where on earth did we pick up so much stuff?? I've been trying to figure out what to do with all of it, but then I get overwhelmed and go read a book :) I've really got to get a grip and get a move on it and CLEAR OUT the crap.... Any suggestions?

Thought I'd post a 'happy' picture - the Carolina Jasmine had another beautiful year. I don't know that any other flower smells so good!

We've got a couple of busy weeks coming up - Kyle graduates this Tuesday (way to go!!) and then Keenan and Tyler are going on a trek with the youth at church. It's supposed to be kind of like the pioneer journey west.

We made it through soccer tryouts - all 5 boys are back to playing at Charlotte Soccer Club. This will be Kyle's last year :( Keenan and Tyler are playing on the same team and Dallin is double-rostered with Ethan's team.

ETHAN IS 13!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHAN!!!!


I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while! I have a couple of seconds to post some pictures. It's been so busy around here..... Brandee and Scott came to visit for Hayleigh's baptism and spent the week. We went to Biltmore House on the Friday they were here and it happened to be the Festival of Flowers. It's even prettier than it was at Christmas time! Tim has been been working on the addition - we will be able to move in next week!!! Ben, Michelle and Baby Deegan came for a visit. It was so much fun to have an infant in the house again! We have 2 boys still playing in the State Cup - Ethan and Kyle. Both of their teams made Final 4!! Ethan plays at 8 AM and Kyle plays at 5 PM tomorrow in Greensboro. It would be nice if the games were the other way around though, since Kyle's prom is tomorrow night. Tryouts are next week and then we'll be done with soccer for the summer. (except for high school open fields - so we're not really done) I finally mailed Kyle's graduation announcements - we had the most awesome senior pictures taken of him! He is usually a very unwilling photo subject, so it was nice to see him cooperate and get some nice pictures. I will post more later and I will try not to let so much time go by between posts.

"Preg" Checks!

This is going to sound kind of strange - but it was so much fun to 'preg' check the cattle this morning. We were treated to the wonderful stories of our local 'senior' veterinarian and it was awesome to watch his satisfaction of the work that he does. It is a beautiful day - about 70 degrees and sunny (I ended up with a little bit of sunburn on my cheeks!). We found out that most of our cows are expecting - one in about 2 months - and 4 in about 4 months. That sneaky bull (who died last week) decided to be 'busy' when we had to stick him the other pasture with the girls during the annual Halloween barn dance. (We do hayrides and he was in the pasture that we ride through) The rest of the cows will calve in the late summer/early fall. Kirsten was such a good girl while we were working on getting the cows down the chute to the head gate! She sat on one of the tractors and said, "Yay!" everytime we got another locked up. The pictures I posted are not from today, but it will give you an idea of a cow in the head gate and also how much of a little farm girl Kirsten is.

Stereotyping

Sometimes we are guilty of stereotyping or 'pigeonholing' our kids. Sometimes it's not done on purpose, it's just one of those "if you had one word to describe this child, what would it be?" things. In our house, we could have the 8 dwarfs (and this is not in age order - I'm leaving it up to you to guess who is who!) - brainy, friendly, sporty, funny, moody, chatty, silly, and goofy.

I'm thrilled to announce that sometimes the child you have pigeonholed as NOT academic was inducted into The National Junior Beta Club yesterday because he maintained a high average the first semester of middle school!

WAY TO GO DALLIN!!!!!

We're proud of you!

Congratulations Ben and Michelle!

They are the proud parents of a baby boy! It's always so exciting when a new life is welcomed to the world! We can't wait to see him.....

5th try worked!

Keenan passed the learner's permit test on the 5th try! The officer was so happy, she gave him a hug! I don't know if he's actually driven yet, but he has shown alot of people the permit.

We've got a busy weekend ahead of us. Ethan is playing in an honor's band concert today and tomorrow - the other boys will be playing soccer tomorrow - Kyle in Fayetteville and Keenan, Tyler and Dallin in Charlotte. Then all 5 boys will be playing soccer on Sunday - Kyle back in Fayetteville and the others in Charlotte. It's raining really hard here today, so I know that tomorrow will be muddy. I'm sure I'll be washing soccer uniforms tomorrow night.

I finally put the Christmas pictures on the computer. Or I should say, Tim YET AGAIN showed me how to download them. Anyway, Kirsten had a unique way of looking at the tree. She would lay on the floor and scoot under the tree and look up at the lights. I remember doing that when I was little too.

Our new bathroom is pretty much done. We need a door and a shower curtain and some curtains for the window (and some little things - like a toilet paper holder and THE DOOR!), but it looks great! Tim has worked so hard on the addition these past years!

We have been a little sad this week. The President of our church, Gordon B. Hinckley passed away last Sunday night. He was the President for 13 years, guiding our church out of obscurity with the many media interviews he participated in. He ordered the construction of Temples around the world like no other President before him had. He lived an exemplary life for 97 years and endured to the end despite the death of his wife almost four years ago and recent cancer treatments. He introduced our family to the six "Bs:" Be Grateful, Be Smart, Be Clean, Be True, Be Humble, Be Prayerful. He will be thought of often in our family - mostly for his energy and optimism. He spoke many times of how grateful we should be that those who lived before us toiled so hard to give us the life that we enjoy now and that we should never take for granted all of our blessings. He always looked forward to what was coming next (whatever it might be).

Back to Soccer

Soccer practice starts tomorrow. Back to the rushed afternoons and the getting home late. Back to the fun time we have in the van on the way to practice - listening to music or books on CD or asking each other questions about homework. Back to being on a schedule and playing games on the weekends. Back to being physically active.

Brandee is enjoying college - even though it's been cold. If anyone would like her address, please email me or leave me a message here and I'll get it to you.

Kirsten is pretty much potty-trained. I don't really know which is worse - changing a diaper or RUNNING to bathroom every couple of minutes because as Kirsten says, "This is serious!!" (from Wonder Pets - her favorite show)

Kyle has had 2 days of work and would probably like it better if he wasn't sick right now.

Keenan is working on getting his permit. We went today and sat in line for 2 hours and he failed by a couple of questions. (not too many really!) We'll go back again tomorrow.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The casts are off! Thank goodness!!

Tim pulled the doctor aside at the appointment and asked him to play a joke on Keenan and tell Keenan that he would need the casts for 2-4 more weeks. I wish I could've gotten a picture of Keenan's face! He was SO not happy!

Brandee leaves for Idaho this coming Friday morning. She is going to be so cold!! - it's been 'cold' here (like 50s) but I hear that it's a lot colder in Idaho.

We had a great Christmas - it even rained! I will post some pictures of Christmas soon, but in the meantime, here's a picture of Hayleigh and Kirsten.