Christmas photo 2009

Kylie, Kristy, Brad, Abby and Macy

Just for fun...Merry Christmas!

What shall we give this Christmas?

So much to be Thankful for....November Blessings 2009

Even though it was November, we got up to the lake three different times in November. This is a photo of Brad wake surfing and having a blast it appears. You will notice that he is in a full wet suit...it was only days before Thanksgiving.

Macy looks ready for a surfing competition...you go girl!

Macy's friend Brad Stears came to visit for a few days before Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, Macy took all of the photos of Brad (as not to get confused with our Brad) on his camera, so I don't have a photo of his amazing wakeboarding or surfing...believe me, he is good at both.


Can you tell it was cold...we are all in sweats!


We took a day trip while Brad was here to Carmel and Monterey on the coast. It was a lovely day!

The girls wanted to stop by the Lewis beach house, as Nanny and Pop were staying there with Marjorie and Richard Lewis. We have so many memories of this beach...this is one of my favorite pictures of the day.

Macy and Brad

Carmel Highlands

Sisters (we missed you Kylie)

Sisters at Sunset

I think Jared has his eye on Abby....she is a cutie!

We love the tradition of Thanksgiving at Nanny and Pop's house. Kylie's friend Emron joined us again this year and we had a wonderful weekend. Brad and Emron enjoyed plenty of football, including an awesome win by BYU and the girls dragged Emron to New Moon (what a trooper you are Emron!)

At Nanny and Pops

Last trip of the year on the boat...sad face...even though it was cold and very windy, we found a secluded cove where it was protected from the wind and had a great picnic and even did some dancing. As you will see in the next three photos, Wags came along for the ride. He loved it! He did wear a coat though....brrrr in the wind, but great in the cove...We missed you Macy!

Blessings...our family has many and we are so grateful for cherished family and friends at this wonderful time of year. We were so happy to have the girls home for Thanksgiving and they each had friends here. We enjoyed having you Brad and Emron!

This is a silly video of us having fun speed walking in Carmel Highlands. What a sport you are Brad!

November brings thoughts of my dad

It was two years ago on November 2, 2007 that my dad passed away. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about him and about my mom, but this month of November is especially tender when I think about my dad. He was such a charismatic and genuinely friendly man...everybody loved him. He was such a wonderful father and I miss him so much. I was with him when he passed away and he died just six days shy of his 90th birthday.
This is a photo that my cousin emailed me recently. In this photo my dad is holding Garry Rick, my cousin. It was taken in Lyle, Minnesota where my dad grew up. My dad was 100% Norwegian and we often heard him say, "ufdah," a Norwegian word that means pretty much whatever the speaker wants it to mean. I have always thought that my dad was a pretty handsome guy...notice that he has a full head of hair in this photo. He was a fighter pilot in WWII and flew in North Africa during the war. I learned that he had to bail out of his P38 plane three different times...once in Egypt in the dessert, once over the Mediterranean Sea and once over Three Sisters in Oregon. I guess we were lucky to have him around as long as we did, for he certainly had several close calls during the war. We didn't find out about his war experiences until a year before he died. I guess it wasn't something he had ever wanted to talk about before that time. I was grateful that he finally told us or we would never have known.

My parent's gravestone in Portland, Oregon. My mom passed away on January 10, 2005 and I was there to witness her passing as well. She will have been gone for five years this January. My mom and my dad were special parents and grandparents and we all miss them. My comfort is in knowing that they have gone on to a better place and that we can be together as an Eternal family after this life. I am grateful for this blessing from our Heavenly Father.

Halloween 2009

Jessica (Elphaba from "Wicked") and Abby (ballet dancer)
Jocelyn was a ladybug...three adorable girls!

Camille "jelly bellies"

Spook Alley Buddies (4 times through)

Jared was my buddy...he was a dragon! It warms my heart every time I see him and he holds his hands out for me to hold him...he makes my day every time. John and Jacob were hunting and so we took Jill and the kids with us to the Bjarnason's Trunk or Treat, Spook Alley and Chili Cook-Off.

BYU Homecoming 2009

We took a quick weekend trip to Utah for BYU Homecoming. We had so much fun watching Kylie dance in the Homecoming Parade
Kylie and her partner Doug

Kylie's Ballroom Team girls

Kylie and Doug

They danced the Lindy Hop for the whole parade route...

they were so exhausted by the end of the parade.

Saturday evening we attended the BYU Homecoming game against TCU (Texas Christian University)...we got creamed...we still had fun though. Macy came down from BYU Idaho for the game.

The Hyers invited us for Sunday dinner and Lesa got out some of her mom's old hats for us to try on...Abby and Kylie

The Hyer and Falke girls...we missed you LynsieAbby and Randie in some of Leah's old wigs

Brad and Abby flew home on Sunday and I drove to Idaho with Macy to spend a few days with her. We had a great time.

I love you and miss you my college girls!

Abby's Turlock High School Golf, Junior Year 2009

Stephanie and Abby played in the #1 and #2 spots this year.
Conference Champions

Abby's Turlock High School varsity golf team were Central California Conference Champions for the sixth year in a row. Abby placed 2nd in the Conference Championship; she was 1st Team All Conference and she was a member of the Central California Conference All Academic Team. Needless to say, we are very proud of our Abby girl! Go Bulldogs!

England and France...September 11-24, 2009

Brad and I went to England and France in September. We first went to England on our own and then spent a week in France with our dear friends Roger and Liliane Gondelmann. It was a wonderful trip full of new sights, tastes and experiences. This first photo is a Beefeater at The Tower of London. They are the official guards of the Tower.
This is the London Eye. It was right next to the Marriott Hotel where we stayed in London. The River Themes runs right through London.

The Marriott where we stayed. While in England we visited Trafalgar Square, Stratford upon Avon (the birthplace of William Shakespeare), the Cotswold's, Christ's Church College in Oxford, Windsor Castle, Eton College, Buckingham Palace, The Churchill War Cabinet Underground Rooms and Museum, The Tower of London (Brad had an interesting conversation with a Raven here), Westminster Abbey and we took a Thames river cruise.

Roger and Liliane's home in Valencienne, France. We had a lovely dinner prepared by Liliane. Their sweet friend Annie came for dinner. She and Brad enjoyed talking golf!

Roger and Liliane Gondelmann

They took us to a favorite crepe restaurant in Valencienne where Brad had his favorite dessert ever...Le pain perdu (french toast with caramel sauce and ice cream)

Roger and Liliane's daughter Delphine, her husband Yver and their adorable children

Elsa and Johan.

While we stayed with Roger and Liliane in Valencienne, we visited the Roman ruins in Bavay and saw the walled city of Le Quesnay (Look-n-nuwa)

First Day in Paris...standing in front of the Avenue des Champs-Elysees

Arch de Triumph
We also visited the Lafayette-Galleria

Eiffel Tower

We found some LDS missionaries on the street who helped us find the church building where Kylie attended classes and church during her study abroad in Paris. We were very grateful to find them, as we couldn't seem to locate the building.

The church entrance...notice there are no marking to indicate that you are at the church facility. The missionaries said that the sign had been taken down for some reason. Let's just say that we felt very grateful to find the elders when we did.

Kylie wanted to make sure that we tasted her favorite Paris treat...Amorino gelato!

Yumm-O!

Overlooking the River Seine

While in Paris we also visited Montmartre, Sacre-Coeur, the Louvre, St. Louis Island or Ill de St. Louis (we loved it there), the Latin District on City Island, Notre Dame Cathedral, and last but not least, we got the hang of the Metro.

Normandy-Omaha Beach

We went to the D-Day Museum in Caen. It was a very touching experience.

Roger and Liliane enjoying their seafood platter

Brad playing with his food...he ordered prawns and

they came out like this....eyes, claws and all

Mont-St-Michel by night

It was absolutely beautiful to behold

Mont-St-Michel by day

Deauville, France

This was a beautiful coastal city where they have an American Film Festival every year.

Honfleur

In Honfleur Brad took this photo of me petting a puppy

because he said it was such a common occurrence on our trip.

This video of Brad was taken at the Satie Museum in Honfleur