Vanessa and Basketball

Well Vanessa is on the senior girls basketball team this year at Brocklehurst High School. It makes our lives very busy but it's also kind of fun to go watch their games, too bad they always seem to be right during supper!She went to Merritt this afternoon because they have a game there (its about an hour away) so we'll miss this one. She does have a tournament in town this weekend so I'm sure we'll get lots of watching time in then. This year has been going so much better because she actually gets some playing time, last year was awful and as a parent my heart goes out to all those parents who have to watch their kid sit on the bench game after game. Thank goodness for the coaches out there who play fair and want a well rounded team.She has learned so much from basketball, made friends, learned to work harder and take disappointment. Best of all it keeps her super active and running around all the time! Too bad at my age that just sounds like too much work........

Mitchell's New Year Endeavor

After reading a post (in The Simple Dollar) regarding the importance of learning new things every year, we had a family meeting about it and we all picked one thing we would like to work on this year to learn. Mitchell decided he wanted to learn how to do the Rubik's cube! So he worked on it for a good couple of weeks (he was able to get the top layer done) and then asked me for help...... I used to be able to do it when I was a teenager but that was years ago, so I went to my trusty Internet and downloaded the instructions! Then Mitchell and I read them together, took awhile and it was pretty complicated but right in the middle of a paragraph I noticed that Mitchell had already done the moves! He caught on pretty fast and so little by little we have been figuring it out. By following the instructions we've been able to do it a few times, but it still takes lots of work! Funny though because when he found out one of our missionaries, Elder Nelson could do it, he right away grabbed it and tried to get clues!
So I've pretty impressed at how perservering he's been with it! Mitchell loves math and puzzles so this is right up his alley........had to take a quick picture of it done!! Yeah for Mitchell!

The Christmas tree is waiting.....

Okay couldn't resist posting a picture of our Christmas tree because it is January 10 and it is STILL UP! I hope Danielle realizes this is a testimony of how much I love her! I am a real Scrooge when it comes to decorations and the tree, I want them down the day after Christmas because they are now cluttering up the house. Since Danielle and Tim are coming next week I reluctantly agreed to leave it up..... thank goodness it's our artificial one because it could be much worse, dead pine needles all over the floor! I have found this year so much easier..... I am a big FLYLADY fan and I have learned to put everything into totes and so I put one tote away at a time and it makes it so much easier. So our tree is the only thing left up and standing, it is brightly twinkling waiting for Tim and Danielle because next week it too will be back in its box waiting for next year.

Danielle is now 22!

Wanted to mention that my Danielle turned 22 this week on January 6th. When I was younger time seemed so slow, I used to roll my eyes when "old" people kept talking about how fast time went...... I don't roll my eyes anymore because I'm now one of them.
Danielle was actually not due until the second week of February but she came 5 weeks early. I went into labour 7 weeks early, just before Christmas and it was the scariest thing. I didn't know what was going on and had to be in the hospital where they tried to stop it....... she held off for a couple of weeks but then there was no stopping her and we had a brand new baby on January 6. Unfortunately she had trouble breathing and was only 4lb. 9oz..... so she was in the ICU for 2 weeks. I remember how hard it was when other babies would be wheeled into their mothers and I would have to slip on my hospital housecoat (nightgown turned backwards) and head on down to the ICU. I couldn't even nurse her for the first while because she was full of tubes and in the incubator. Pretty special moment whenever we were allowed to hold her. The nurses were so kind and caring........

Even though I was anxious to bring her home, that first day was so scary....... what did I know about a 5lb baby girl! Thank goodness the lovely nurses gave me their direct line to the ICU, because I called it a few times. She was so tiny and scrawny!! I know, I know but she was......had absolutely no meat on her bones, but oh we were so proud of her!

If Daddy was napping he made sure it was with Danielle, pretty hard to let her out of our sight that first few days. ( On a side note......ugly love seats, but they were free!)

Here we are with Don's family and our new little family! We were visiting with his Mom, Vera, sisters Jeannie and Kathy and nephews, Ryan, Cleve and Harrison. The cute little knitted outfit was from my mom, Reina Granger. Mom made me so many beautiful little outfits for my girls.

So Happy Late Birthday Danielle. We have been thinking of you this week...........

Smith-Mecham Reception

The beautiful bride and groom......Chet and Angela (Smith) Mecham.

Terry and Mary Smith....... realizing this is their fifth child married with one left to go.......... hang in there Mary, just one more reception!!
Melodie surrounded by admirers! We can just hear little Wyatt telling Kevin: "Hey Kevin, I'm DANCING with YOUR girlfriend!" We all had to laugh because apparently he said this to Kevin once when he was sitting next to Melodie..... "Hey, Kevin, I'm sitting next to your girlfriend!"

Melodie even got Mitchell up on the dance floor a few times, we were so impressed.

Isn't this just the cutest little fellow, he is Steven ( Kevin and Angela's brother) and Charisse's littlest!
Me with my sweetie, I took the kids up early to Salmon Arm so we could help if they needed it and Don came up after work. I was so happy to see him and he's wearing his new Christmas shirt!

Had to take a picture of this beautiful cake that their friend Laura made (Miranda Poitrie's mom). It was absolutely stupendous and this is only one layer, there were three altogether (this is a Maranda Schwarz angle!!)

Well Kevin may not have been able to make it since he is serving a mission in Minneapolis, Minnesota but he was certainly here in spirit! This is his brother Steven, reading a letter he wrote to Chet and Angela..... we were all laughing like crazy, it was typical Kevin and we sure missed him!

Believe it or not, MITCHELL took this picture and we loved it! It was our picture of the night, Melodie and Vanessa together again dancing insanely. The only ones missing were Danielle and Tim but luckily we will see them in a couple of weeks when they come to visit!

Vanessa with her friend Andrew Cooper. Vanessa seems to be surrounded by boys these days, we have a hard time keeping track of them all! With Rebecca coming up I don't think this will end anytime soon!

Jumping back into January!

January and I'm finally back on! Putting some pictures on that I snapped over Christmas holidays! It was so good to have the time off, to relax, rest and just have fun together as a family. I totally hibernated and tried not to go anywhere unless I absolutely had to! Having a ton of snow outside helped or it was a good excuse.

It's back to craziness with school, lessons and basketball but just having the break helped!

My Melodie home for Christmas, we missed Danielle and Tim! Most days we are down to 3, Vanessa, Rebecca and Mitchell.
Rebecca is getting so tall and grown up, everyone mistakes her for Vanessa because they are starting to look so alike!

Two best friends together again!!