December 11, 2011

 Marice, me and Beckie Rhodes' baby, Ashlyn, at the Ward Christmas breakfast.  Sweet baby! Lots of talent and Santa too.

All the shopping is done.  Most of the gifts are wrapped.  We still have 2 packages to ship after we make the cookies to go into them.  Helped Marice record the book for the little boys in California so it can be shipped also.  Wish it felt more like Christmas.  I don't love this time of year.  I hope this changes and I get the spirit soon.

Beautiful things are happening everyday!

No way I can keep up with all that is happening in our lives these days.  I just don't have time to go back to work at the hospital so in my spare time I am building my own business with Arbonne.  Every product I try, I love!  I have my own virtual mall.  Sure beats Nursing!!  (and the pay isn't bad either)

We took Marice and the girls to visit Indian Caves State Park near Nebraska City where we enjoyed a picnic with our friends Steve, Kathy and Anna.  The cave wasn't really a cave (more like a big rock) but it was still very interesting.  The Missouri River flood had really made a mess of the place. We stayed the night at the Lied Convention Center near Morton J Sterling's Arbor Day tree farm and visited a  replica of the Mayhew cabin and John Brown's secret tunnel a.k.a. cave.  We still have a lot of places to visit on our Nebraska passport.  Check those two off.   We will be back again to do some hiking in the spring.

I wanted to do a post about halloween but I haven't been able to locate the pictures of the girls in their costumes.  Here is Andrew and Cameo. I like to say they are dressed as Sokka and U-ay from the cartoon "The Last Airbender" but Andrew says he is just a soldier.

Tim's essay about Gina assigned by her 7th grade teachers.

 Oh the assignments that are sent home for parents to finish.  This one happened to be a 1000 word introduction.  Tim is a very good writer!  

Gina Marice Wilcox

We were thrilled and excited when Gina joined our family on October 7^th 1998.  Emily, and Andrew, her older siblings were 17 and 11 respectively and Grandma Marice, Gina’s namesake who had joined our family just a year prior, was a healthy 87.  Our demographics covered the entire spectrum but our quilt was not yet finished as Gina’s sisters Kaley – 11 and Shannon – 8 would be joining our stage.

I guess you could say that Gina is a middle child although Kaley certainly enjoys that distinction as well.  I’m not sure what that means but Gina is sandwiched neatly between the bread which Emily and Shannon comprise.  However, Gina most resembles her brother Andrew and when comparing photos of the two at similar age they could have been twins.  It’s not only his physical features that she inherited, the brown beautifully shaped eyes, similar nose, and shiny dark hair but also the ability to transfer the beauty from their minds eye into artistic medium.  She also shares Andrew’s and Grandma’s musical ability as well.  Gina has performed for several years with Swing Kids, a singing group, and has excelled in her piano studies of the last 6 years with her teachers Debbie Rhoades and Doris Kirke.  Currently she has taken up the flute and would like to begin guitar lessons as soon as she can.

Gina loves to express herself through dance and has studied modern lyrical, ballet, jazz and hip-hop at Fluidity dance studio with Jennifer Parker.  Most recently, this summer Gina sang danced and acted on stage in an adaptation of Fame and would love to do more of the same. 

Gina is a friend to all and enjoys a wide social circle, at school, within her large extended family of cousins, and at her Church of Latter-day Saints where she serves as secretary in the Beehive class of our Church’s young women’s organization.  She enjoys learning German, social studies and language arts and would like to improve her math skills.

It has truly been a joy to be part of Gina’s life and we expect great things from her in the years to come. 

summer fun over too soon

 Emily, This picture made me smile.  It made me think about presenting...not pointing.  I really loved skyping with you and Colin.  This is taken in Albuquerque at the petroglyphs.     Bought a neat book about petroglyphs and poetry.  My favorite at the moment:  THE TURTLE

One foot,

 two foot.

  Three foot.

 Four...

 That's my speed. 

 that's it. no more.

This is at the bridge near the trail head for the 3 three sisters in Big Cottonwood Canyon.  We hiked to Lake Blanche.  Took us all day, 2 large camel backs, 6 bottles of water, a bag of sunflower seeds and PB&J's.

 The secret to climbing Utah mountains is to take your time.

ONE EXTREMELY COLD LAKE!

 We hiked Hunter's Canyon in Moab, until we ran out of water.  Good thing we turned back when we did because of a big thunderstorm.  I wonder if we would have been able to cross the creek if we were in the canyon after the storm.  Moab isn't as dry as I wanted to remember it to be.

 Oops.  This is an arch south of Moab that we had to hike up to and get down from before the storm rolled in.  Huge downpour.

 This is at the Aztec ruins.  Where did they all go?

 This wall was so tall and you could see changes made in the wall by different inhabitants.  The pattern changes.  Fascinating.

 Albuquerque Zoo: Wildlife,

 Elephants, (I love elephants)

 Bears,

 Monkeys...no Gina.

 Camp fire make believe.  Jeneal's deck fire was worth repeating even in make believe.

 Flying at the park behind Aunt Jeneal's house.

 Partying. Happy 13th Birthday Shyana! It was fun making your cake!

 Visiting loved ones

and old timers at the Kearney Bridge, NE.
This summer trip was over too soon.  One day in each place.  I could have spent a week in each.

Scandinavian Days 2011

My Dizzy children and my upside-down nephew

would have spent the entire weekend on this contraption but for the fact that their allowance ran out.  

They had such a wonderful time!!  Too sad that it is over for another year.  

I have lots of posts that for some reason are not posting to my blog.

This is just to try again and see if it will actually start working again.  I wish I knew what was wrong.

The girls move into the big room

Started with the patching and hanging of paintable wallpaper that looks like beadboard. It is so gorgeous! Gotta take pictures of the finished work. Minus the curtains since they aren't done yet. The fabric is still being hard to get. The only sample is at NFM and I'm not paying 99.00 per yard for it. So I'm looking for some elsewhere. We added extra shelves for the animals they have collected only to realize we may never have enough room for them all.

Winter staycation

Family vacation in Omaha and surrounding areas....

The girls found rather tame animals at Henry Doorly Zoo and brought them home to add to our own family zoo.

It was a totally perfect winter day. Walked about as far as Grandma Marice could go.

Took the girls to Mt Cresent Iowa to Ski. Gina tore up the mountain. Most of the time going too fast. Kaley practicing skills Gina could care less about mastering. Shannon killing her dad's legs by making him ski with her inbetween his skis.

Me just laughing and totally enjoying the whole experience. Wish we had given this ski resort another chance long ago. Andrew came here in 6th grade but made fun of it so we just stayed away. He was comparing it to a mountain ski resort where he learned to ski. It really is a fun place to go and only 1/2 hour from home. YAAY!! We'll be back.

After skiing all day we went to eat at The Pink Poodle. Nothing better than a hot bowl of beef stew after a long day on the slopes! Oh, Uncle Jess would love the entry to the restaurant, full of ducks.

No we did not eat the duck. We had roast beef.

Wilcox Family Reunion 2011

Over Spring break we visited with the Wilcox boys. Starting with a fantastic hike in Placerita Canyon which included a closse encounter with a rattle snake, a picnic and a hike to the waterfall.

We finally made it to Legoland in Carlsbad after being encouraged by Uncle Wil that we would find it to be a lot of fun. Well Uncle Wil, as always, you didn't let us down and it was one of the grand highlights of a trip that included a lot of really great activities including Knottsberry Farm. Gina, finally found that she enjoys rides that go upside down and found a more than willing participant in 18 mos. younger than her Kaley. At bottom the kids are posing with figures and a car made entirely out of legos.

This ride is so dangerous! You have to take out all your piercings to ride it. No wonder the ride lines were so short. Shannon and I wanted to keep our earrings in so we were safe from having to ride it. (She had already ridden it twice before they decided to inforce this rule.)

This is at the Aquarium of the Pacific. What a gorgeous day to be outside and eat ice cream bars and play tag with the boyz.

From one mouse to another!

Shannon has been working hard to be responsible. She kept her room clean, bed made, laundry picked up, piano lesson practiced, helping with dishes, setting the table, sweeping the floor, vacuuming, and anything else she was asked to do. So Duke came to live with us, January 2nd. He is already very attached to her. He will sit quietly on her hands and forearms. He is super fast and super small and did I mention super cute!

Good-bye 2010...Hello 2011

Happy New Year!

Okay this is what happens when I add another picture. This is the mouse that I spent most of New Year’s Eve learning how to make. Now to teach the girls how to make them since it came from a kit given to them by their friend, Emma. The little pink mouse is my first attempt at remembering how to cast on and increase.

I was trying out a new way of posting to the Blog…using Microsoft Word. It was supposed to add the pictures with wrap around text and make this a fun place to make notes about this crazy family and busy life. Here is my favorite Christmas picture. The dog and cat are looking at the camera. Is that normal?

This is what happens??? Can you tell how frustrating this is???

I am disturbed with the problem that I'm having with Microsoft word's blog program. Seems they don't communicate well with others and there is no help so...therefore, no hope. Back to Blogging the old fashioned way. No, I take that back, I haven't really blogged enough to call it the old fashioned way. I'll just remember to blog more than I facebook or maybe divide my time more equally between them. I would miss my friends and family too much to quit FB. You guys mean the world to me even if you don't really explain your little quirky entries. They leave me wondering and thinking about you even more than I normally do.

I'll put on my favorite Christmas pic of 2010 and see where the Blogger wants to place it. Wish me luck...

Okay it wants them at the top. Hmmm, maybe I can drag them around. Nope. I need an expert.

New rules for posting pics.

Rule #1:

Remember the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

This is my first very Chopped up post of the new year! Hurray! Done. Now for some FB.