Christmas Eve 2007

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Christmas Eve is not complete without a reinactment of the Nativity. It is always special when we have a new baby as a stand-in for baby Jesus. At dad's request, each family had to contribute a presentation. The Runyan's shared music with Kendall at the piano and Sam on cello. The Tripps shared a reinactment of Samuel the Lamanite foretelling the birth of our Savior. The Runyan's second floor made a nice setting for Samuel on the wall. Grandpa had a secret weapon and surprised Zeph with Nerf arrows. The Lyons shared a song, but had a hard time getting all their boys to cooperate at one time. I shared a reading of Micah's famous "T'was the night before Christmas Ball" poem and we won't mention what Grandpa shared. Every year brings something new and special. Our Christmas Eves are cherished moments.

Gingerbread Men Christmas Eve 2007

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Thanks to Kendall, the grandkids had a wonderful time creating their own Gingerbread Men. Zeph is not pictured, as he was competing with Grandpa on the Wii. What wonderful grandkids we have. We sure missed those who could not be with us.

We spent a couple hours this afternoon navigating our way through Picasa and we are still trying to figure things out. I thought we would be able to click on each photo in the collage, but it doesn't seem to work that way. Next we are going to try to figure out how to do a slide show. I know we are dorks about this - but not as bad as we could be. We took Grandma and Grandpa out to lunch today and talked about our blog, but first we had to explain what a blog was. I asked Grandpa what he thought a firewall was, and he said it was a structural thing. All this computer stuff is mind boggling for them. Grandpa was quite disturbed afterward. He said he felt stupid. We reassured him he wasn't, but just on the wrong end of the computer age. It makes me wonder what will be cutting edge when we are their age - if we make it that far.

Pineapple Express

We got hit by a major storm system with high winds and lots of rain. It was kind of frightening for a short time, but all is good now. There was a ton of power outtages in the north state. We are finally back on, after being without power for about 18 hours. Comcast service has been out since mid-morning Fri. I actually like not hearing the phone ring, and knew if it was my cell ringing, it was people I actually wanted to talk to.
Here are some photos of the damage in our neighborhood. The city came out quickly to cut up and chip the tree laying across the road. The photo of our driveway shows the pile of debris I cleared from our walkways. There are still lots of branches on our roof we need get off.

Dorky Dacia

Thought you all might like to see a short clip of the dorky dog living with us.
Courtney was kind enough to send Dacia a new bed today. I put it outside on the patio for her, and she immediately decided it was a new toy to chew. She has eaten every other bed she's had, so I supposed she figured we gave her new chewing fodder.
Enjoy!!

Thankful Month

We have a lot to be thankful for, since our last post. First, Mom got to witness the birth of Amanda Jean Runyan. She is a beautiful little girl, and we are happy to welcome grandbaby #20 to the family. Her older brother and sisters got to watch the birth, as well. It was fun to see their reactions. Kendall was still in school, so she had to come up later. Gabby just wanted to know "when is mom going to put her pants back on."





Then we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Runyans, Lyons, Aaron's Parents, and Grandma and Grandpa Hawley.




At the end of the month, we got together with the Lyons, Runyans and Stubblefields to celebrate Emily's birthday and have a fun night of Bunco. The cousins had a great time playing together.





We look forward to the Tripps visit at Christmas and hope to have more family photos to post.

Waterhole

I took these cool pics when we went to Six Flags, and I wanted you all to see. I just never thought of the hole in water when a large object falls in.

Bedazzled

Dad and I don't often take pics of one another. I guess you will have to settle for pics of whoever happens to be visiting us or pics of the dogs. Weezer had to stay home from the ward Trunk or Treat, but Dacia got to go. Weezer gets Dacia too worked up, so we decided to let Dacia go out alone. All the kids enjoyed petting her. She was a good doggy for the event.
I am in charge of costumes for our ward Roadshow. I am going to see if I can "bedazzle" some T-shirts for one of the scenes. If it works out, we can do something during our Fam Reunion with the Bedazzler.
Tomorrow is the Sikh parade. I wanted to go to the open house today for free food, but dad wouldn't do it. Chicken!! Emily went and she brought me a Samosa. The town is awash with turbans this weekend. Bill and Hillary were scheduled to come, but were told not to, so they wouldn't be a distraction from the real purpose of the event. I will take a picture tomorrow, so you can all feel badly you are missing this special hometown event. It is WAY bigger than when you were all kids.