Merry Christmas

Here is our Christmas picture this year, taken by Dora Gollaher. We hope you had a Merry Christmas and that 2008 brings you blessings and peace!

Puppies for Christmas

My mom confessed that she was hoping she would get Sherman for Christmas, but no such luck. They got some pretty sweet new toys and treats from Santa, though.

Little girl tuckered out with her #1 fan.

The hat

Derek sent us some great presents from Baltimore, where he is serving his mission. Among them was this hat for my dad. It was too big for EVERYONE (well, not too big for my dad with it on sideways), and words fail me on describing the front.

This is the best picture from Christmas, hands-down.

A picture that's actually *decent* of me. That's a miracle. :)

My wonderful family

Here are some snapshots of my wonderful family from Christmas. Above is my beautiful mom, who hates getting her picture taken because she has no idea how photogenic she is!

And my sweet grandma, in town for two weeks at Thanksgiving and two weeks at Christmas. We took them to the airport to go back home to Phoenix today, but they'll be back at the end of March!

I wish I could have been quicker with the camera trigger, because my grandpa made the funniest face ever at me when I tried to take his picture. Oh well...I'll get it one day!

My dad chose to hold a frying pan up over his face when I took an earlier picture, so he gets the candid Christmas shot, this time as he is opening our gift to him, a book on quotations from Nobel Laureates.

I have been so blessed to live by my family since I came home from BYU almost five years ago. I am going to miss them so much when we leave for Leander soon!

Graduation

I accidentally posted the pictures below before I could write about them. They are from Doug's graduation ceremony on 12/15/07 at Irving Bible Church. Mama D was in town for the weekend, and we had a lot of fun with her. So below is Doug, Doug and his mom, and then the back of his gown after it was "unfurled." It was a fun ceremony, full of good moments and a hilarious commencement speaker, and a great time for Doug to celebrate his accomplishment with the friends he's been through so much with. If I can get the thing to work I'll post the video of Doug going across the stage.

Thanksgiving

Doug's cooking adventures led him to make chipotle sweet potatoes, and a sweet potatoe pie. Nanny Falke is standing behind him holding up the Indians, which were beautiful. Cute!

Wendy and Annie, who is actually a month younger than Sherman. She is a fun puppy, and we hope that she is getting better from the worms that made her sick before the trip.

"The girls" - Wendy, Becca, Kylie, Molly, Hannah, Me (cute picture, huh? bleck.) and then in front we have Abby, Jennie, Macy, and Amy. We all watched "Bride and Prejudice" together during the trip, and it was a blast. The Falke women are truly amazing.

Prettiness at La Grange

This is a beautiful place. I hope I get to go next year!

The oft-spoken of dam, which was a very funny joke in the family.

La Grange

I missed out on the trip to La Grange because I was too sick to venture out that day. But Doug (and Sherman) had fun hiking around!

The intrepid climber, Sherman.

Cute Jennie! We drove up to the top of the Sierra Nevada mountains to take some pictures, have a fire and cook some yummy hot dogs and popcorn (and eat Dad's wonderful CHILI), and Jennie was always at the edge of the cliff! I was scared she would fall off. She's a brave girl (and a good basketball player, too :)).

Beautiful sight

Doug took this somewhere (I was too sick to go out that day, so I don't know where this is), and I think this is one of the prettiest pictures I have ever seen.

Eagle Scout

Neil held his Eagle Scout Court of Honor while we were all in town for Thankgiving. It was a really special night to celebrate his accomplishments. What a good kid! I'm very proud of him.

(In back) Doug, Becca, Hannah (In front) Amy, Jennie, Neil

Becca and Molly smiling big!

The people who really made it all happen! :)

Family!

Becca, Me, Amy, Wendy and Annie!

That's my guy!

Doug's parents having fun together! They are great people to be around, and I sure do love them!

Gross, Dad.

Here is the big, nasty tarantula that Doug's dad found at the lake.

Prettiness at Lake McSwain

The lake while rowing.

The hillside where we stopped to eat and play.

And me being obsessed with little details.

Are we getting anywhere?

Us canoeing on Lake McSwain over Thanksgiving. I was too scared to actually turn around in the canoe, so this is what I got from holding the camera over my head to get a picture of Doug rowing.