We Finally Cruised!!

We had so much fun. The first day in the Bahamas it rained. The last 2 days were great. Drew and I like to just hang out on the beach and read and that is exactly what we did. We volunteered to get bumped on our way home so we even came home with 2 round trip tickets to somewhere. Drew liked it so much, he wants to go on another cruise. Our kids will probably not want it to be in the near future. As soon as we got home, we left again. Drew's nephew, Jared, passed away right before we left and we went to Canada for his funeral. It was nice to see all of Drew's family. They hadn't all been together since 2000. Anyway, our kids were home alone for about 9 days. We got stranded in Chicago on the way home and had to stay an extra night, but we finally made it home. The last 2 weeks have been an adventure. We went from 80 degrees in Nassau to 30 degrees BELOW in Canada. It feels great to be HOME!!!

Our house "dressed" for Christmas

This is our little farm house all dressed up for Christmas. I love everything about this time of year. It does make me miss being able to share it with all of our family. I remember how far away we are from everyone. At least we still have Drew's brothers family only 8 hours away. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Buena Vista Christmas Parade

Lauren and her friend, Jessi, were Santa's helpers in the parade and walked behind the shepards and passed out candy. Isn't that what a parade is all about? Getting as much candy as possible. It was a fun night for the kids.
Nate was a shepard in the parade. He got to walk behind the float. It was raining this year, but not too cold. The kids stayed nice and dry under their bathrobes.
The 2 Buena Vista Wards put a float together for the annual Christmas parade in Buena Vista. Maddie got to sit on the float and be an angel and sing carols. She was in heaven. She loves to perform.

Nate's 11th Birthday

Nate and Drew-they are buddies!



Nathan celebrated his 11th birthday yesterday. I was thinking that 2009 is going to be a big year for our kids. Andrew will graduate from High School and start college. Lauren will start her final year of High School. Nate will turn 12 and recieve the Priesthood. Maddie will turn 8 and be baptized. Anyway, Nate had a good day. How many kids get to be in a Christmas parade on their birthday?

Gettysburg and Antietam

We took Lauren, Nate and Maddie to Antietam and Gettysburg a few weeks ago. They are really neat places to visit. Lauren is taking American History right now and will be learning about the Civil War soon. It is neat to be at places that you are learning about. This is the Burnside Bridge at Antietam. We went to Antietam first and took a bunch of pictures and then the battery to the camera died so we didn't get any photos of Gettysburg. They have a brand new visitors center there that is awesome, for lack of a better word. Gettysburg is a must see.

This is the Dunker Church at Antietam. There are some famous Civil War photos with this little building in the background.
This is a monument at Antietam. The single bloodiest day of the Civil War took place here.

Fall is fun!

Nate and Maddie had fun playing in the leaves we raked on our back patio.