Merry Christmas 2006

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We had a very nice day. Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.


Leah concentrating hard as she decorates her cookies


Rudolf the red butt reindeer Christmas PJs


Christmas money from Grandmere & Papa Charlie


Leah and Krista are making dessert!


Ryan opening his pillowcases as Dakota looks on

Jesus is the Reason for the Season

Gene and I teach the preschool class at our church. This past Sunday we had only four kids in the class, but they really got into the lesson. We designed and built some props of a stable and a manger and the kids loved it. The little boy couldn't take his eyes off of Baby Jesus. We had a great time teaching the real meaning of Christmas. Here are a few photos.


Naomi gets ready to play Mary


Grace and Logan as Mary and Joseph


Everyone Looking at Baby Jesus


We made sheep puppets and pretended to be shepherds in the field. Our sheep are grazing here.


The shepherds went to find Baby Jesus and worship Him.

Happy Thanksgiving 2006!

We had a very small Thanksgiving celebration this year with just our small family. We missed Ashley and her family, but Ryan came over and spent the day with us. We had a nice "feast" and then we went to see "Deck the Halls." The movie was better than we expected. The girls loved it. We are so thankful for our family and friends, and wish you all a very happy Christmas season!

Happy Birthday to Me

We had a Bunko party on Saturday night, which happened to be my birthday. We had a great time with friends and family (Ryan, Stacey, and Kelby came!). It was a wonderful birthday party(even if I did have to plan it myself).



Garyn, Stacey, Ryan, and Nick hard at play


Jeanne-Marie cannot believe her bad luck


Miguel cannot believe his good luck!


Lauren, Garyn, and Stacey


Garyn & Amy had the most wins
(They each won a movie ticket)


Nick had the most Bunkos
(he won a sushi serving set)

Happy Halloween!

We don't really get into Halloween much. It's never been one of my favorite holidays. But, of course, the kids love it, so we try to do a little something for them. They love to dress up. This year we went to Skyline Church for their Halloween Alternative event, which was called, "Circus of the Sky." Here are a few pictures.

Krista as Dorothy (Before the Tornado)






Leah as a Cowgirl


Krista and Bristow


Leah and Dakota


Krista on Stage with the Magician

My Own Flowers

I've never had my own flowers. Although we don't have tons, there are a few flowering plants in our yard that are so beautiful this morning. I picked a rose for my dining room table. It smells so good! And I just LOVE the blue flowers (I don't even know what they're called)! It's a beautiful, sunny day today and I couldn't resist taking these photos.

Parrots Everywhere!

Each morning, a flock of wild parrots flies through our neighborhood. They are very noisy, but beautiful. This morning I decided to try to get some pictures of them because they stopped right in our trees. Several of them were in the palm tree in our back yard. There were about 30-40 altogether.The dogs went crazy! I wish I had a better digital camera so I could get in closer.

Leah's First Track Meet

Leah had her first track meet last week. She competed against about 50 other 6th grade girls from several different schools in the area. She came in 24th (3rd in her school). We were so proud. Here are a couple of photos of her during the race.



The Push to the Finish Line

Our New House!

We finally took a few photos of our house. We need to borrow Ryan's camera because he has a wide angle lens. We couldn't really show much in the inside shots.


View From Top of Driveway


View From the Street


View From Our Front Porch Looking Out


Our Backyard (see the patch of grass?)


Living Room


Family Room Downstairs

A Rainy Day

This is my first blog posting! Who knows how well I'll keep up with this, but I'm going to give it a try. When I get a job, I may not keep up very well.

We are really enjoying our first house. There is so much to do, but we are slowly getting things taken care of. This morning, our Jack Russell Terrier, Bristow (see photo below), fell in the pool! I was in the back yard checking on the progress of our newly-planted grass. I heard a splash, turned around, and saw her struggling to get out of the pool. I ran over to her and bent down to get her out just as she went under. It was scary, but kinda funny. You know that scared the doo doo out of her. She's never done that before. It's scary to think what would have happened if I hadn't been right there. She knows how to swim, but she doesn't know how to get to the steps of the pool to get out. We tried to teach her just in case something like that did happen when we weren't home, but today made me realize that she didn't learn the lesson.


Dakota and Bristow

Today is a cloudy, drizzly day in Lakeside. Gene is sleeping (he works nights) and the girls are at school. I finished cleaning the kitchen and did a little straightening up in the house. Now I'm going to eat some soup, curl up with a warm blanket by the fire and watch "Gone With the Wind."