Tahoe, February 13-20, 2010

Kylie flew in from Utah for a few days with us in Tahoe...yeah...it was so great having you there with us Kylie!
My little buddy Jared...is he cute or what!

Brad, Jared and John hanging out at the ice skating rink


My girls (minus Macy...we missed you Macy...she is in London)


Jessica and Abby...sweet friends

I couldn't resist...Jocelyn feel asleep waiting for her mom to valet the skis

Ski bunnies plus one adorable boarder...Taylor Ann and Logan came over for the day to ski/board and when we took them back to their cabin, we had a great evening with the Tilbys and the Jones'...dinner was awesome you guys!

An awesome shot of Brad taken by Jill

Taylor Ann, Jessica and Abby

Lake Tahoe taken by Jill...Beautiful

Kylie's friend Emron came up for a day

I love this shot...Brad and his girls (miss you Moo)

Could you ask for a more beautiful place to ski?

The Iceskaters! The Falke and Gauthier girls...ColdStone anyone?

More iceskating

Jessica, Jocelyn and Abby

Three friends

Kylie and Emron riding up the Gondola

Abby's Winter Formal, 2010

Abby took Davis Woods to Turlock High School's Winter Formal

They are best friends

A little clowning around prior to dinner at our house

The boys...Michael, Davis, Marco, Eric and James

The moms made dinner...chicken, potatoes, salad, vegetable, bread, sparkling cider

and ice cream cake for dessert

Camille and Abby...besties

The whole gang...Michael and Brianna, Marco and Rachel, Davis and Abby

Eric and Allyn, James and Camille...

Davis and Abby

Adorable

Do you think Abby can pick him up?

Maybe not!

I think they make a pretty cute couple

Slipping Through My Fingers...X3

Something new we did this year was spend New Year's Eve and New Year's Day together in Carmel

We stayed at the Coachmann's Inn and welcomed in the New Year on the beach

At the stroke of midnight we toasted with sparkling cider on the 10th hole at Pebble Beach
Yes, we climbed up!


Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey with Kylie

With Macy

With Abby

Macy Marie and her purple purse (19 years old)

Kylie Kay (22 years old)

Abby Ann (16 years old)

Our Three Girls

I have been thinking a lot lately about how quickly the years slip by...

I love the words from the song by ABBA entitled, "Slipping Through My Fingers"...
If you will read them below or listen to them as they play, you will know exactly

how I feel about my girls...

Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning

Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile

I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness

And I have to sit down for a while

The feeling that I'm losing her forever

And without really entering her world

I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter

That funny little girl

Slipping through my fingers all the time

I try to capture every minute

The feeling in it

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Do I really see what's in her mind

Each time I think I'm close to knowing

She keeps on growing

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table

Barely awake, I let precious time go by

Then when she's gone there's that odd melancholy feeling

And a sense of guilt I can't deny

What happened to the wonderful adventures

The places I had planned for us to go

(Slipping through my fingers all the time)

Well, some of that we did but most we didn't

And why I just don't know

Slipping through my fingers all the time

I try to capture every minute

The feeling in it

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Do I really see what's in her mind

Each time I think I'm close to knowing

She keeps on growing

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture

And save it from the funny tricks of time

Slipping through my fingers

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Schoolbag in hand she leaves home in the early morning

Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile

My Visiting Teacher. Ruthie Davenport

• She makes me smile and laugh

• She takes silly pictures with me...we took a ton to get one decent picture
  
• She calls me when I'm sick
  
• She goes with me to "look-e-loo" at Christmastime

• She is my friend

To Blog or Not to Blog?

I'm sitting here this morning contemplating whether I should keep this blog going. It seems that I do pretty good for awhile and then life happens. When it does, I get so behind that it is hard to get back to it. I don't think that I have anything extraordinary to share or post, but my college girls who live away from home like to check in and see what "Mom" has posted and what the family has been doing while they are away. So, I think I owe it to them to post today. They have been commenting to me that it is about time I put something new on the blog.

It has been great fun to keep up with Macy's happening in London as she is there for BYU Study Abroad right now. I know how much I love reading her posts and seeing her photos of the people she is "loving", places she is seeing, things she is eating, feelings she is having, etc. So, look in on her if you want as her link is to the right on my blog.

Kylie is enjoying teaching elementary ballroom at a school in Orem, Utah. Her kids got a Gold rating at their recent competition and she said there were very few given out that day, as it is the highest award they give. So, it was so fun to see that Anne Marie had included a few photos of attending that competition to see Kylie's kids in her blog (link to the right).

So, I guess all in all, it is pretty fun being a part of the blogging world. Even if I do get behind and mostly just check in with other family and friend's blogs. Bless their hearts for staying current and not being like me....either in a state of blog-a-ria or the opposite (if you know what I mean). Life...funny how that works out!

Kristy

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!