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:

Is it really November already???

Emma (Cinderella), Jaime (a mummy), and Taylor (we're not sure what he was!!) had fun dressing up and going to Trunk-or-Treat and then trick-or-treating around our neighborhood for Halloween! We did learn that you have to use actual cloth strips (or old sheets!) and not toilet paper for a mummy costume!! I think Megan was a mummy a few years ago, but we must have forgotten that little detail! We headed home after their candy bags were too heavy for them to carry! Of course, we're helping lighten that load every chance we get!

We now have less than 8 weeks to Tahra and Jonathan's wedding and things are getting checked off the to-do list. The most frustrating job so far has been to find the bridesmaid dresses and flower girl dresses, but those are finally crossed off!! Of course, Tahra & Jonathan have the most to do and we hope they survive the process!!

We'll be in Utah for Thanksgiving weekend, along with my parents (yea!!), so we'll get to meet Jonathan's family finally! Ian was able to get a couple tickets to the BYU vs. Utah game, so he's very excited about that!! Hope they win!

Josh and Greg now both have motorcycles, so keep them in your prayers!! I'm sure they're just trying to gray my hair even faster (thank goodness for Clairol!). They're both still working and going to school, so quite busy. Megan is surviving her senior year and still babysitting just about all weekend, every weekend - and still trying to learn the fine art of saving more than spending (she'll have to get tips from Ian on that!).

I've included video clips of Jaime, Emma and Taylor's piano recital this last Saturday, so enjoy!

Have a great week!!

Love

Susan

What a Wonderful Weekend!!

We have just had so many wonderful things happen over the last several days and we wanted to share them with you! Thursday night (very late!) Tahra and Jonathan arrived from Utah for a visit with Tahra proudly showing her newly acquired engagement ring! Jonathan proposed Wednesday and, of course, she accepted! They spent the weekend with us and we got to know and love Jonathan in a short period of time! He fits right in with our family (whew!) and wasn't scared off (double-whew!). I can't wait until January 4th!!

Then, Friday morning a miracle happened - we finally sold our house in Hull, MA!!!! This time it's final, no last-minute backouts and we could not be happier! I think I actually saw Ian floating around! It'll be nice to be down to owning one house!

Friday night we celebrated at home with chicken enchiladas dinner and shrimp (a favorite with most of the kids!).

Saturday we were planning on going up to Sandia Crest before the BYU game, but when the clouds and rain rolled in we decided to go to Old Town in Albuquerque instead. After that we went to a tailgate party for BYU fans and then off to the game.

Well, it would have been too much to ask for BYU to win after all the other fantastic things happening - but win they did!!

Sunday (today) we had all the kids together at church, where Megan also gave a talk in Sacrament meeting and did a great job (thanks Jonathan for helping her write it!), and then we took some pictures before Tahra & Jonathan left for Utah.


So, a weekend to remember and a lot to look forward to!

We love and miss you all and hope to hear about all your adventures too!!

Josh's B-day Surprise and more!

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend! Josh's 21st birthday was Sat. so we had his b-day celebration yesterday (Sunday) and Greg surprised him with a new kitten! Here are the pics and video:





Also, Megan played in her high school's Powder Puff football game Tuesday evening and here are her pics and vids:





Also on Friday afternoon, Jaime's band from Middle School walked and played in the Homecoming parade, so here are her pics:

Ian and I took Jaime, Emma, and Taylor to the State Fair Wed. after school and had a pretty good time. We did stay too long though! We made the mistake of riding the rides last and by that time (8 pm) the lines were sooooo long! Next year, we'll do the rides first then see all the other events, etc. Jaime got to see lots of horses, and we even saw a show with Grizzly bears - very fun! Of course we went on Dollar Day so parking, entrance, all the rides and some food were just $1 each, so that made it even more fun (right Ian?!). Here's a picture of Taylor on a tractor and another pic of Taylor & Emma on a ride:


















The next exciting event in our week is coming up this Thursday evening when Tahra and her unofficial fiance, Jonathan, will arrive here to visit for the weekend! We're very excited to meet him and give him the third-degree!! By the way, they met through work; he went to BYU-Provo for 2 years so far; served a mission (for the church) for 2 years in Geneva, Switz. (same mission that Ian served in!); and is now working full-time - and Tahra adores him!! I'm planning on taking some family pics while they're out here so I'll post those next week!
Have a great week!!

love ya

susan et al

Oh, almost forgot - I came across a video of Taylor at his Kindergarten graduation last year when he had a little speaking part, in case you're interested!

Awww, aren't they a cute couple??!! Ain't love grand!! This is Tahra's boyfriend, just celebrated their one-month anniversary and very happy together! We'll be meeting him the last weekend of Sept. and look forward to it. We have all the important questions ready for him! Just kidding Tahra (not really!).

Easy Riders

Check out Greg's new bike - and Megan and I braving a ride with him!
Okay - Megan has already ridden with him a few times, so she was fine with it. I, on the other hand, was a boa constrictor! He went just 20 mph but it felt much faster!! I know, I've already told him a thousand times to "BE SAFE!!!" But, go ahead and remind him too - for me!

Oh, some interesting happenings this week. Bomb threat at Meg's high school, so they had to be evacuated to the stadium for several hours. Of course it was a prank (probably some kid that didn't want to go to school, or wanted to feel important), but still scary - especially for the parents.

Emma just got accepted into a Girl Scout troop, with a bunch of her friends, so she's very excited. I volunteered to be a third leader since they now have 13 girls. They meet every other Friday at the school, right after school, so it couldn't be easier! The funny part is that the leader wasn't going to let her in because they already had 12 girls, but when she found out that Emma was Greg Kohl's little sister, she said she just couldn't turn down Greg's little sister. Yes, the leader's older daughter was one of Greg's girlfriends in high school - and they're still friends. Funny, huh? So I told Emma she owes Greg a thank you!

Jaime will be going with the choir to Hummingbird Friday and Sat. - like a choir camp. One of my friends from church is going with her daughter and she said Jaime could stay with them, since I wouldn't let Jaime go on her own. I'm hoping to go for Saturday and come home with them Sat. night.

Well, I'm sure I've lost most of you by now - so I'll stop here!!

love & miss you guys!!

susan