2008- A Recap

2008 has been a wonderful year for the Blue family. We have laughed and cried, worked and played. We have enjoyed a wonderful year together.

January

Mallory was baptized. How can I have a child this old? How can that be a year ago?

Miss Amelia

FebuaryCourtney turned 6

Lily did a fair amount of this... especially while I was gone to work.

MarchI love my goofy kids!

April

May

In like a lion out like a lamb... isn't that supposed to be March?

June

Great Grandma Thomas came for a visit.

We also had a surprise visitor

July
Fun Fun Fun and more fun. Kevin's family traveled to see us and took the kids to McCall for a week. When they got back the kids spent some time in Nevada with my parents, while my brother and his wife hung out with us waiting for their baby to arrive.

Cousins '08 Edition

We spent A LOT of the summer just like this. Having a picnic under a shady tree at the park. I am really going to miss this

August

George turned 4. I'll spare everyone the potty training stories. Let's just say YEA!! it is over!


I made jam, the girls headed of to school
At the end of the month I submitted my 2 weeks notice and finished up just before Labor Day. Kevin I think jumped for joy when I said I was actually going to do it. Proactiv was good to me, but I was ready to be done.

September
Kevin went on his first hunting trip.



October
October was a huge month for us. Kevin accepted a new job, we finished up house projects, packed, packed some more, then borrowed another trailer. In 4 years we have gone from 1 16'x8' trailer to multiple trucks and trailers. Yikes!
We did squeeze in a lot of fun too. The girls had a going away sleepover with friends, then of course the Nevada Day parade and Halloween.


November
We had a wonderful thanksgiving with wonderful friends and then trekked to the mountains for a Christmas tree.

December
I love this picture. Kevin just watching the kids play.

2009 here we come!!

Christmas Sunday

The Sunday before Christmas the kids all got new clothes for Church. Sunday was also special because it was my niece Bri's blessing. It was very special to have everyone together for her special day. Could I use the word special anymore? Whatever, it was special, and I'm tired.

Finding a dress that is fancy, but not "pretty" can be a challenge for Mallory. I knew this was the one when I found it.

What you can't see in this shot are her sparkly silver tights.

I'm not exactly sure what George had gotten into right after church... but he had found something to eat. :) I LOVE his Mr. Rogers sweater.

Lily missed out on the first photo shoot. She crashed on the way home from church and there was no way i was waking her up. She slept for a couple hours coat on and all. Her hair was way crazy when she woke up. I love the look Bri is giving her here, "Seriously?"

Christmas in the Nighttime Sky

The first week in December our town has a fantastic festival called Christmas in the Nighttime Sky. It has been going on for 20 years. Nevada may not allow you to have personal fireworks, but this town takes its fireworks seriously, so they not only have a great show in July but in December also. In addition to the fireworks they have chili and hot chocolate, a number of musical groups from the area sing. Bonfires are lit to keep people warm. It was cold this year, but not near the coldest on record -20 or some crazy number. The cost of admission is 1 unwrapped toy, which are then given to a number of local charities.

the line before the fireworks was crazy long, but afterward it was quite short so we let the kids take a chance to sit on santa's lap. Lily was facinated with his beard. She was very calm (not so much in 3 more weeks... those pictures are coming.)

Tree Cutting

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed out to a friend's ranch to cut a few trees. We loaded up in 2 vehicles and drove the suburban as far as we could. Then we piled into the truck to drive further back towards the mountain to find some trees.

The weather could not have been more perfect. Sunny, no snow on the ground. Cool enough to wear hats and gloves, but not miserable.

Yes, my kids are in the back of the truck. We were crawling along at less than 5 mph and there isn't even a driveway around for 10 miles. Plus 4 adults with them to make them behave.

Lily, Bri and Grandma hung out at the truck

An 8' Pinion Pine is what were were looking for, plus a few smaller ones. It took us a 1/2 or so hiking around to find this beauty. Pinions have a tendency to be misshaped on one side, but this one was gorgeous. Oh it smelled soooo ggod!

Cousins x3

The '08 bunch

Sledding

We have been sledding several times over the holiday, including Christmas Eve. Have to take advantage of all the snow we have had!


Mallory

We made it all the way to the road

Izzy and Courtney

Lily had a blast in her little sled. Each of the kids took a turn pulling her around.

I'm back

Holy Cow! It has been almost 6 weeks since I blogged. It is not that I haven't wanted to, or even if I'm honest haven't had time. I did get behind for good reasons, it is just that once I was, I have a really hard time not feeling overwhelmed. Ok, so... I'm going to start catching up. No guarantees that the posts will be in the order they actually occurred. I have no idea how long it will take me. expect to see lots of random posts over the next few days. If you don't... flog me! I hate it, but sometimes I need to be prodded into getting things done.

Unintended Haircut

George found a pair of scisors this afternoon. Mother of the year that I am I didn't even realize he had them until he came running into the living room with the broom saying "Ill Do it, I'll do it, I'll clean it up. it is my mess." Then I realized that it was hair. :(

Poor kid does NOT like to have his hair cut. He did a good job though of sitting relativly still, still enough for a buzz cut at least. :)

It is a little shorter than I would have liked, but even this short doesn't quite hide all of his new divot.