Merry Christmas to all - and to all a Good Night!!

Another Christmas Eve almost over - sniff, sniff! The kids are very excited about Christmas morning! I'm tired!! We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Day - and we can't wait to see our family and friends in Utah - and wish we could see ALL of our family and friends all over the country!

It's beginning to feel alot like Christmas...

4 days left - I'm so excited!!

Aha - that's how you do that!

I just figured out how to add blogs that I want to follow! Yea! Well, 6 days until Christmas Day! I hope you all have a fun and happy Christmas season and the best New Year ever! The kids just had their last day of school today, except for Megan who is already finished with her first semester at UNM - good girl!! At the moment, Taylor is obsessed with making the playroom into a giant tunnel maze - pretty cute! Josh is managing okay with his broken shoulder, except for the small problem of not being able to work - not good! If anyone has any suggestions for jobs that can be done one-handed, let us know! Tahra's birthday is today (XOXOXO), but I won't tell you how old she is, because then you might figure out how old I am!! I talked to Greg earlier today and he was trying to get home from work - took over an hour to go 2.5 miles - lots of snow in Utah, surprise, surprise! My sister, Kristin, and her family just got to our parents house in Florida (at least I think they arrived by now!) and I'm very jealous!! Can't wait to go to Utah and see my family!! 

This is a video of Jaime's solo for the Rio Grande Youth Chorale Winter Concert. It is called "Iraqi Peace Song" It's actually a lullaby. She did a great job, as you can hear, and she got many compliments, which made her feel better since she said she messed up, although we couldn't tell! She's really enjoying being in the choir and we enjoy going to the performances to listen.

Megan is looking at different apartments close to UNM to move into in January. Jaime and Emma are looking forward to that, since they will each have their own room after Megan moves out! I'll miss her though!! Josh is busy giving me more gray hairs - he got thrown off his motorcycle and broke his shoulder in 2 places and got some pretty bad road rash on his side. He's recovering, but still pretty uncomfortable. I'm just very grateful it wasn't worse. (Greg, be careful too!!) Greg & Leanna are busy working and going to school and trying to keep their heads above water financially - typical married student situation! Tahra & Jonathan are doing well at their jobs - both got a raise - yea!! Have I mentioned how blessed we are to have such wonderful a wonderful son-in-law and daughter-in-law?? We just love them so much and are so happy they're part of our family! Taylor is doing great in 2nd grade and is preparing to be baptized in February! He's waiting for basketball practices to start - hopefully soon!! We're all looking forward to spending a week in Utah after Christmas to see all our family there! Never enough time to visit everyone I want to for as long as I want to though!
Well, hope you're all doing well and listening to some great Christmas music!!

Our loving Grampa Jay...

In loving memory of our Grampa Jay:

The first time I met Grampa Jay was while Ian and I were engaged. Jay & Lee invited us (and the 4 kids) to their cottage on Cape Cod. It was a wonderful visit and we fell in love with Jay & Lee immediately! He talked about family and how proud he is of all his children and grandchildren. That has never changed! That was also the first time I got to sample his amazing cooking!! Homemade blueberry muffins - just the beginning! He & Lee made my 4 kids feel just like they were his own from the beginning and for that I will always be so grateful. Another thing that I love about Grampa Jay is how he has all of us hold hands around the table as we bless the food - you can feel his tremendous love for his family and his Heavenly Father, and his gratitude for his many blessings. He will be missed greatly. Our hearts and love go out to Lee and his children, grandchildren & great-grandchildren.  We love you, Grampa Jay.

More Blessings!!!

 Whew!!! Another wedding down!! 5 to go (no rush!). Greg & LeAnna were married in the Boston Temple on June 7th, 2008 - and it was wonderful! There is nothing like it in the world, to be there in the temple and see your son (or daughter!) be married to their sweetheart!! Pure joy! I'm so happy for them! It was great to meet LeAnna's family too and spend some time with them! Everything went well and, aside from the humidity, it was a perfect trip!! We stayed for a couple weeks and got to see lots of our family and friends that we hadn't seen in a while! We were able to visit with Grampa Jay, Grammy & Pepere, Hank & Susan and their kids, and Leanne - 3 years is too long in between visits! Ian's parents played host to lots of family, coming & going, and we sure appreciated that!

Hopefully they're enjoying a little peace & quiet now! Virginia Gillis (another friend of ours from Hull) also opened up her home to us and ours on several occcasions - thank you, thank you!!! I did leave her a little gift when we left - my driver's license!! Thought I wouldn't be able to get on the plane without it - but, surprise, surprise, it was no problem!! Just a little frisking and a purse search and I was on my way - interesting, huh? Thought security was supposed to be tighter! Kristin & her family came out and her husband, Michael, took the pics for the wedding/reception (thanks!!!). Her kids and mine picked right up where they left off and had a great time! The kids also visited with some friends from Hingham Ward and Hull - they've missed them so much! I thought 2 weeks would be long enough to see everyone I wanted to see, but I was wrong - not nearly enough time! We did get in some beach time, both in Hull and Rhode Island - ahhhhh!!! Definitely not enough though! I put in some pics of our trip to the Green Animals in Rhode Island - bushes shaped into lots of different animals, etc. - very cool! I'm sure I'm forgetting lots - but that's nothing unusual for me! 

 









 

We finally got a dog - after 3 years of begging from the kids (and, yes, me too!) His name is Cory. He seems to be a sheperd/blue heeler mix, just over a year old. We got him from a local shelter (happy Jared & Stef??!!) and he's such a sweetheart! Great with all of us and even lets the kids walk him and he stays right with them. The kids are already head over heels! 

So, school is out, obviously, and June is almost over - yikes! The kids are dragging me to a new indoor pool that opened in June as often as possible! Emma will start up with gymnastics again in July. I've decided to start home schooling the kids - gulp! I'll start with Jaime this year (7th grade) then, if all goes well and I haven't gone crazy, add in Emma & Taylor next fall. Should be an adventure for us, but I'm really excited about it and so are the kids. It will be a challenge, but I'm sure it will be well worth it. Of course, I may get a month into it and decide I'm not cut out for it, but I don't think that will be the case! 

Take care and please continue to keep in touch - I love hearing from you!!

Another graduation!!

Megan will graduate from high school May 19th!! She actually just finished her thesis, well, her first draft, and is very happy to have that part finished! She's done very well with her grades and we're very proud of her! Her plans are to start UNM this fall in the Nursing program. She'll work all summer and get a car - yea!

Greg & Leanna are preparing for

their wedding June 7th in the Boston Temple! We just love Leanna and are so happy that she'll be part of our family! I'm really looking forward to being back East again and seeing our friends, family and the ocean!!

Joshua has started working at Eclipse (they build jets) and I'm sure he'll love that job! He's already gone through their classes for instruction and is happy to get started!

I've put in a few pictures of the things that have happened in the past few months:

Taylor turned 7 on Feb. 3 (yikes!); Emma turned 10 (double yikes!!) on April 4th; we went to Utah during spring break (jaime, emma, taylor & I) and got to spend some time with Eric & Laura, Tahra & Jonathan, Greg & Leanna, Bethany & Ryan, my buddy Michelle, Matt & Angie and their kids, including their new baby, Tyler! He's absolutely beautiful and I had a hard time sharing him! Emma & Jaime spent as much time holding him as they could!

Last Monday (no school) I took the kids to the zoo, museum of natural history, aquarium & botanical gardens - beautiful weather and lots of fun! The aquarium here is much smaller than the Boston Aquarium so it doesn't take long to go through! Although we do have polar bears here, and they are definitely my favorite aquarium attraction!

I've included 3 videos in this blog: One of Taylor with a couple shirts he got for his b-day; Taylor's first soccer game; Jaime at a choir competition doing a duet with her friend Adrianna:

finally some paint!!

Well, I almost hate to put up a new post because I love seeing Tahra & Jonathan's picture up first when I go to our blog!! But, I've finally started painting our house, after more than 2 years here, and I'm so excited about it that I wanted to show you guys too!! We started in the entry way and dining room. I wanted a red accent wall in our dining room, although Ian wasn't thrilled with the idea, but I think it came out great! Of course, the pink primer that went up first was interesting, although Jaime and Emma loved it and wanted me to keep it that color! Two rooms down, don't even want to think about how many more to go!!!

Also, Jaime started basketball, with Ian coaching, so here's their team picture:

counting my blessings!!

On January 4, 2008 at exactly 12:25 p.m. Tahra Kohl and Jonathan Godfrey were pronounced husband and wife in the Bountiful, Utah temple and became a new family - Jonathan and Tahra Godfrey! We could not be happier!! It has been a wonderful time that will be cherished forever in our hearts! We love Jonathan and are certain that they will have a very happy life together! We feel absolutely blessed to be a part of the Godfrey family. His parents, grandparents, etc., are all wonderful and loving, and I'm so grateful that they will be so close to my girl!! I am truly looking forward to being a part of this new family!

I don't want to take up a lot of time with words, since there are many pictures to share! However, I do want to thank everyone who helped with Tahra & Jonathan's wedding and all the hospitality in housing all of our family - here, there and everywhere!!

Just to make sure I don't have too much time to relax after this wedding, on Jan. 1, 2008 our son, Greg, proposed to his girlfriend, Leanna Civatarese, and she accepted!! Soooo, the tentative date for their wedding is in June 2008!! Wish us luck!! Leanna is a great girl and very good with Greg (he listens to her!!!) and we're very excited to get to know her better and meet her family also!! We'll keep you updated!!











Here are SOME of the many pictures: