January and February

In January we had a visit from Misato (an old friend of Jims)
and her mother. They wanted to do something historic and fun,
so we took them letterboxing in St. Augustine.
We welcomed them to sunny Florida with a drizzly, overcast
tour of an old fort. We had to laugh it was so cold, a frigid 58 degrees!

Nathan thought this knight was the coolest,
a real UCF knight.

FEBRUARY
Aimee grabbed some keys...

...and the two girls and I took a trip to St. Louis, MO.

Heather had a baby.....boy, surprise!

They named him Griffith Jack Brimhall.

He's as tiny and cute as the rest of 'em, I'd have taken him home
with me if they let me. He's adorable!!!

Despite the cold weather....

...we had a ball!

Congrats Heather and Andy on another beautiful Brimhall!
You can check out their blogspot for more Brimhall family pics at
brimhallbunch.blogspot.com !

A groovy kind of New Year

When I'm feeling blue, all I have to do is take a look at you
and then I'm not so blue..... we had a groovy kind of New Years.
Here's some New Year's inspiration. It's taken from a sign hanging in my parents bathroom:

If you can dream it

You can become it.

If you can believe it

You can achieve it.

Happy New Years!

Have a holly, jolly Christmas!

Grammy and Poppy Claus
wanted to bring everyone home (Sacramento, CA)
for Christmas.

All the cousins loved the idea: Haleigh, Lindsey,
Matthew, Elise, Katie, Nathan, Aimee and Baker.

We couldn't miss Poppy's traditional
"Twas the night before Christmas."

Aimee loved all the celebrations, decorations and attention.
She was just full of cheer!

Cheer for Grammy.

and cheer for G.G.

But, it was a surprise visit from Mr. and Mrs. Claus
that filled all the kids eyes with delight and their
minds with hope! Elise: I would like a pony.

Lindsey: I would like a princess.

Nathan: I just love my skateboard!!!!

It was Merry Christmas indeed.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

With every powdered hill I ride

May your days be merry

and bright!

And may all your Christmases

be white!

Elise: "Mom! I've never seen snow falling from the sky!!!"

As if that wasn't cold enough,
we also went ice skating in downtown Sacramento.

Nathan was a natural. He and his cousin Matthew
skated circles around us, or at least each other!

Merry Christmas to all and to all, a good night!

The best part of Christmas is being together!

Lindsey and Aimee were especially close.

Thank you Poppy!

Thank you Grammy!

We love you!!!!

Love, your little angels!

Good night!

Christmas cheer.

Aimee is loving her first Christmas season!
(look closely and you'll see her two teeth)
If I could just get my hands on some eggnog...

Elise is also excited this Christmas.
(look closely and you'll see a missing tooth)

Elise has been waiting for this day since the start of kindergarten! She was more excited about the trail of pixie dust left by the tooth fairy than the coin she left under the pillow! I just smile at how magical her world is. What a wonderful life.

Happy Holidays!

We've really enjoyed the Holidays this year and can't believe how quickly they go by. We decorated the house and put up the tree the day after Thanksgiving. That night we decorated the tree, turned the lights off and the carols up, then drank eggnog in the magical glow of the twinkling lights. It's one of my favorite moments of the holiday. Right next to that inevitable moment of trying to get all the kids to sit nicely in front of the tree, smile and look at us at exactly the same time!

TAKE ONE: this is fun.

TAKE TWO: we lost Lindsey -Lou.

TAKE THREE: Lindsey -hey,look at ME!!

TAKE FOUR: come on, smile for just one more....

TAKE FIVE: OK, we'll take what we can get.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Thanksgiving was nice and quiet this year. With Nathan and Aimee a bit sick, we celebrated with just our little family and really enjoyed the day together. The boys played football in the morning while the girls made the feast and watched the parade. I woke up at 4:30 to pay hommage to mom and feed Aimee and then Jim got up at 5:30 to cook the turkey. He stuffed it with an orange and an onion and baked it upside down. It was delicious and Jim won the honor of cooking it every year. :) We laughed at our first attempt of completing the feast on our own. The gravy was too spicy, the potatoes a bit gluey, the sweet potato casserole was just terrible but our spirits and praise were high. The kids took turns telling us what they were grateful for during the entire meal. Wow, those are some grateful kids. We are all grateful for our friends and family and our good health. Oh, and traditions... you'll see.

TRADITIONS!!!!
I set out the olives and just knew Nathan wouldn't let us down.
High five for Nathan and Heidi and that certain spirit that makes
and keeps these traditions alive. What would life be like without you? :)

Ahhh, sweet Elise -who kept me company all morning and baked us an amazing apple pie! She measured the ingredients and mushed the crust by hand before rolling it out. I sliced and Elise spiced the apples to perfection, piling them high and topping them with what was left of the crust. It was absolutely amazing and the best part of the whole Thanksgiving meal.

TA-DA!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Elise was Tinkerbell and really flew
from house to house to get the candy!

Nathan was a knight in shining armor.
He was so excited because this is his favorite
day of the year when people give you candy
and more candy and more candy and more candy...
and NathanLOVES candy!!!

Lindsey was Sleeping Beauty and was just having fun
dressing up and showing off her costume.

Aimee was the infamous pumpkin. She learned a great
trick -sitting up! What a treat for us.