Gramma Jannie

I'd like to introduce you to the best Grandma in the whole world...

Grandma Jannie!

A new adventure

We are excited for Cory's new adventure, but we will miss him while he is in Washington.

Benson keeps saying that he is going "far away with Cory

Javier's

We had so much fun last night at dinner and I wanted to post our picture from Javier's. We got as many as our siblings together last night as we could for dinner and we went to Javier's. The food was super yummy and the company was even better.

Movie Night!

So, Emily and Shawnee went to "Time out for Women" on Friday night so we decided to have a "Movie Night" at Mom and Dad's house. Casey borrowed a projector and we projected some movies on the wall in the big room. Zack and Lila were thrilled with watching TMNT because Zack is totally into "'inja Turtles." Nat made popcorn and Mom made carmel popcorn and we had such a fun night hanging out together. After the kids went to bed, the adults watched "Eagle Eye" and after that Danny, Wayne, and Nick watched "Transformers 2" until 3 am. It was such a fun night and was so fun to just hang out with family. We missed our family members who weren't there.

Here are the popcorn makers.

We spread out blankets and rearranged the couches.

Brady hadn't sat down by the time I started taking pictures but I wanted to document that he was there.

Dan and Shan hanging out (This is their last night of not being engaged.)

Here's the group. Notice that Zack and Lila are completely sucked into the show but Abby's bouncing and running around everywhere...that's how it was the whole night.

I noticed that even though I tried hard to get everyone in the picture who was there, I failed to get a picture of me (Tami) in any pictures, but I was really there!!! I didn't get any of Andy either. I'm not sure what he was doing...probably playing with his new 4-wheeler.

Like Father Like Son

I think the pictures say it all.

Ribbet

Well yesterday we had a fun time just hanging out at Mom and Dad's house. Here are some of the fun things we did...

Ronola gave Mom this stroller and Benson has been infatuated with it ever since. Whenever he sees it he says "stoller" and runs and climbs into it. Funny boy. We had it outside and he decided he needed to sit in it I guess.
We had ice cream. Casey and Nat are enjoying theirs. Casey and Benson both had playdough flavored and Nat had Brownies on the Moon.

Here is Nick and I with our yummy yummy Brownies on the Moon ice cream. (Oh, I could go for some of that right about now...)

Benson loved his tiny ice cream cone. It got everywhere but he enjoyed it.

This picture was actually from Saturday night. I went to the West Haven Days Fireworks with Nat, Casey, and Benson. Benson was so funny with the fireworks. He wasn't sure about them at first and then he started whining and crying and kept wanting to get passed around to everyone.

And of course at West Haven Days he had to get a flag. (Check out the sweet shades.)

And last night was so funny. I actually tried uploading a video but I literally tried for 4 hours and it wouldn't upload so I gave up. You just get pictures.

Nick found a toad by Mom and Dad's hot tub so he decided he needed to show Benson. Bens was so funny. He was screaming and laughing and almost crying all at once. I'm sure he didn't know how to respond. He touched it and then he was done with it.

When we asked Benson what it was he said "fog" and we asked him what it says and he said "wibbet wibbet." I hope I can get the video to load eventually but if not, oh well.

Benson meets Danny.... again

Dad got a new plotter (really big printer) at work, so he has been bringing home random HUGE pictures. Some pircures he's brought home have included: a hawk, Benson, landscape, and a couple of HUGE Dannys.

When we went over to Mom and Dad's, we showed Benson pictures of Danny and he gave him hugs...

And "high 5"

Whenever we ask Benson where Danny is, he always says "buh-bye". Even now, as I'm posting, he is saying it over and over again.

Christmas Pictures (in no particular order)

So I have tons of pictures from this past week with Christmas and all and I thought I would just share them with you all. The first couple are from today but the rest are pretty much from Christmas Day. Enjoy!Benson drumming away. I took this one for Danny (aka Elder Haws).

This is Nick today. Brady gave Nick this suit and I thought it looked fancy on him. He was shoveling the driveway when we got home. Thanks for the suit Brade!

Our "official" 2008 Christmas photo.

Mom's gifts to open Christmas morning. She also got a dishwasher a couple days prior to Christmas. (Santa is very self-less.)

Andy and Cory's piles.

Dad's chair surrounded in gifts.

Nick and Tami's piles. Nick really spoiled me this year, like always.

This is what it looked like after Santa left. Looks nice and clean!

So those of you who live in the area know that we got tons of snow on Christmas night. It was so bad that McKenzie's parents told her not to even try to drive home, and Nat and Casey didn't want to deal with driving in the snow and stuff, so we all had a "sleepover" at Mom and Dad's. Nick and I drove down the street and got our air mattress and then we pulled out some mattresses for Nat & Casey and also for McKenzie. Andy just slept on the couch. It was actually really fun. We watched "Head Over Heels" and then fell asleep!

What would the sleepover be without balloon animals made by Casey? Nick is sporting his super cool crown or hat that Casey made him.

Shanna was talking to Danny. (She doesn't look happy does she?)

Dad sporting his new basketball shoes that Nat & I (and our spouses) got for him.

Shawnee & Brady

Ronola

Shanna and Cory

Nick and Tami

Casey, Nat, & Cory

McKenzie and Andy

Mom went crazy with making quilts for everyone. These are the ones she made for Andy & Cory. Nick says this was a "Quilted Christmas."

Dad with his hot air balloon quilt that Mom made him. (I used this one at our sleepover and it was FABULOUS!!!)

Emily, Nat, and I secretly surprised Mom with making a quilt with some fabric that she used to sew things when we were little. I'm pretty sure she liked it. She started crying when we asked her what the fabric was from. Big hit I think.

Okay this is my favorite picture and this is why I saved it for last. I am posting this mostly for Danny but I thought I would let you all see how much weight Dad has lost. He fits into Danny's leather jacket that Danny wore right before he went on his mission. Dad, that's amazing. We're all proud of you for losing that much weight!

Anyway, we really had a fun Christmas and it was fun to be able to talk to each of you (my family members) on Christmas. I am really grateful for each of you and for all that you've done for Nick and I. We love you all so much!

Pickin' up Sticks

So I guess we made it sound like we cut the WHOLE tree down but we didn't. We only cut the west 1/2 of the tree down because it was dead. Mom is hopeful that the tree will grow back at least a little, but I'm pretty sure that it won't. Anyway, we finished up the whole clean up process on Monday night for family night. Here's who was there: Wayne, Jan, Cory, Becca, Tami, Natalie, Casey, Benson, and Andy. (Ronola and McKenzie came later and ate dinner with us all.)

Benson and Grandpa Otis
Loadin' up the trailer to haul it in the field to dump it.
Big Boy Benson standing up. He's been walking around like crazy!
This is the finished product. (Johnny this is for you.) Don't be disappointed that there wasn't much more destruction to the tree... sorry I explained it wrong.
The girls raking. Tami, Becca, Natalie, Mom

Dad put a fanny pack at the top of one of the trees. He says there's a reward for whoever gets it.
This was a hard picture to get. I had to walk over in front of the King's house to get the house and the tree in one picture.
When Dad was cutting down some of the big branches, one of them hit the slide and dented it. He fixed it though.
Nat, Becca, Tami
Dad and Benson again.
This is the only picture I have of the slide after Dad and Cory and fixed it. They did something else to it after this picture.
Pickin' up sticks again.
Cory made this little cat house for Becca's cat Panda. I thought it was so cute so I thought I'd let you all see it.
Benson and Grandma Jannie