Our own little MARY

Lauren was Mary at our ward Christmas Breakfast and her buddy Spencer was Joseph- The seminary students put on our program! Probably the last Ward Christmas Breakfast for Lauren from now on she will be gone - college! Boo Hoo - I hate Senior years!!!! The Primary Children were suppose to sing and Grace was going to have NO part in that - she said she was going to go to the bathroom right before they were going to sing! (another Derek on my hands!)

18 yrs old

I can't believe 18 yrs ago I was blessed with another little girl! I was so excited to have a 2nd daughter - I love my sisters - and I wanted my daughters to have the same thing! I love Lauren - she brings so much life to our family! She loves her family, cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents so much! She is a very thoughtful person! She has been known to write letters to great grandparents, drop off things at school for her siblings and is always thinking of ways to show her love for people! She is always for the underdog! She is not afraid to tell you her opinion! She is one of only a few conservative kids in her highschool and she stands up for what she believes everyday! She is an excellent student! Very gifted in Math - as a Senior in High School she is taking Calculus III at the college level at University of Idaho. She hopes to follow in her dads footsteps and go to Medical school and be a Cardio Thorasic Surgeon - Which I have no doubt she could do! She is an incredible kid and we will really miss her when she goes to college! Happy Birthday Lauren - We love you!!!

We got her 18 presents for her 18th Birthday!

Grace was so excited for her to open her present! (Juicy Sweatsuit!)
I know, Grace gives really nice presents

all the kids right before opening presents! We get up at 6:00 am around here for scriptures & family prayer, before the high school kids go off to early morning seminary! Painful, I know!!!

People make the Difference

I know I ask for lots of help on all my many projects - here is some updates!

The official count for Make a wish & Macys right now is $392,721! Thanks to all those who went to schools and had family and friends write - keep up the good work - the campaign goes until christmas!!!

Also Thanks to all those who donated White Shirts, Ties & socks for the missionaries in Latin America - Derek helped me box them all up and we had 2 FULL boxes of donations!

And Thank you to everyone who helped out with the Quilts for Tucson village - they are all finished and we are sending them to Peru with the December expedition!

It has been so great to see so many people volunteer time and money on all these worth while projects! We feel so blessed to be surrounded by such giving people!!! Because of your service many people will feel loved and cared for!! I am trying to teach my children by all these projects that one person can make a difference! What they have learned is that one person with a lot of friends can make a difference! What a great lesson to learn! Surround yourself with good people who know that "the most important things, are not things" Thank you for your great example of a giving spirit!

Derek with a Stack of White shirts!

Lots and lots and lots of ties!

50 quilts were made and tied since we got home in June! The people in that little village of Tucson(look back at our June posts from Peru) will be so happy to recieve these!

Little Monkey on the Roam - Jenks

This is a friend of ours!! Derek Disney channel should pick him up!!!!! could you get on that! If any of you are interested for Christmas he has the greatest CD - with some of Graces favorite songs on it. Look up www.jenksmusic.com

Christmas 2008

We finally got the decorations out! I tried to prepare the teenagers for days - that I was expecting their participation on the little tree downstairs with the homemade ornaments and special ornaments people have giving them. They were REAL happy! Grace on the other hand LOVED it and helped me to the very end! I love having a 7 year old!
Steve and Grace putting up the outside lights - notice NO SNOW!!! We are very sad! We really want to get skiing!

Savannah has truely crossed over to the dark side - this is her while we were putting the tree together - She use to love it!Finally a little Christmas spirit!

Derek the train master - it goes under the tree!

Steve and I got this tree the first year we were married and it shows! But we can't get rid of it - the kids love it!

This is the nice tree upstairs - with (as Grace calls them) "The Fancy" ornaments - She was the best helper!!!

Horseback riding

I forgot to download the pictures from my other camera and found these! With all the fun we had in Maui, I forgot we were on Oahu first - the U of I football team played Hawaii. Grace and I rode horses on the beach! We missed you Aunt Laurel - It is usually you who does the horse riding! Maybe this summer when we go back!!Savannah full of her self expression!!

Grace riding Mauna

It was so beautiful! I was behind Grace so most pictures are of her back!

The end of the trip! Grace loved it!

Thanksgiving in Hawaii

We had a great time in Hawaii with my Sister Shannon and her family! Her little kids are the cutest! We played and played and played. We got home just in time for Dereks first Basketball game! Which they won he scored 15 points - off to a good start! He of course stayed home for practice. Jackie and Justin stayed with him and ran him to all his practices and fed him. We got to see Jackie and Justin for one day before they had to head back home to rexburg! But they will be back in 2 weeks for the Christmas Vacation!

The making of "THE MERMAID" Thanks to Laurens Creative abilities

The finished Creation! It was so cool!

Savannah, Hayes & Lauren - I love the goggles!

Me and my cute baby sister!

All the kids at the beach! We spent most of the day!

Grace & Olivia with Matching Suits!

Lauren, Boston, Savannah, Me & Steve all Scuba diving - Cory went to he is here somewhere!

Savannah surprised us all and was holding all the sea creatures!

Lauren and the octopus!

Here is the whole Gang on Thanksgiving! It was lovely - no cooking and NO DISHES!!

Lauren and the twins! They loved her! She is such a player!

Me & Grace! Last time she was in Hawaii she was only 3 - She loved it!

Lauren & Grace Boogie Boarding!

Savannah trying to Skim board - Not very easy - none of us could do it! We needed Derek there to redeem our family!

Boston Show us how its done! He was really good!

One of our many Sand Creations!

We even made sand jail for the little kids!

JACK POT!

Don (Steve's brother - who is also an Orthopedic Surgeon) came to do surgery with Steve and he brought our cousin Ryan with him. So Savannah and Grace got to skip school today and play! We went out to lunch at the mall and then went over to the arcade. First they played on the bumper cars and that was fun! Of course I didn't bring my camera! Ryan has a history of being so lucky and it proved to be true! The kids were playing games and hitting all the Jackpots!!!! It was crazy! Ryan ended up playing this one game and the tickets just kept pouring out the machine - the kids thought they should go tell the guy because maybe it was broken! In the end Grace ended up with 420 tickets, Savannah got 525 and Ryan had the most with 720! Crazy! We are never that lucky! We will always go with Ryan!

Savannah with all her loot! (amazing you can have that many tickets and
end up getting about $1 worth of junk)

Savannah, Grace & Ryan with all the prizes! Grace got 20 little alligator guys with hers!

Grace has been waiting for this package for 2 weeks - she ordered with her own money some stuff from the american girl store and it finally came today! She was so excited! She has been looking every day for it! One is a letter writing kit! Maybe some of you will be lucky and get a letter on fancy stationary!! hehehehe

HELP!!!!!

AND

As most of you know I am a Wish Granter for Make a Wish and Macy's has launched a big campaign called “BELIEVE” just in time for the holiday season. Macy’s is a great supporter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation and we are so lucky that they have come up with another way to give during these tough economic times.

Make-A-Wish Foundation volunteers are encouraged to have children (and adults too!) write letters to Santa Claus and place them in envelopes that are STAMPED AND ADDRESSED TO SANTA AT THE NORTH POLE.

These letters must be returned to a local Macy’s who will have collection boxes at each of their locations.
(if you don’t have a Macy’s in your area, send them to me & will get them to a Macys)

Macy’s will be donating $1 for each letter that is turned in to their stores, up to a $1 million limit.
Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is for you is to get the word out to everyone you know!!!! Collect as many letters to Santa as you can and turn them into your local Macy’s. Have your family and friends, coworkers and neighbors, maybe even your kids’ school get behind the campaign. It is a great way to teach kids about giving in the Holiday Season.

Please remember each letter must be in a stamped and addressed envelope to count.

Please help to fund wishes for the kids in your local area. All it takes is a letter and a stamp! (Okay, an envelope too!)

If you have any questions, please give me a call or send me an email!
Thanks so much!
Best wishes,
Rachel

Halloween

Celebrating Halloween on a Friday got all the kids involved! Derek dressed up as Ninjas and headed out to a haunted Barn, Lauren dressed up as an elf and went Halloween bowling, the rest of the clan headed out with Steve to Trick or Treat! Grace told me it was her favorite holiday! I bet that changes here in a few weeks as we get ready for Christmas!The Scary Ninjas! Derek is Purple - Aaron is Red

Lauren the elf - Annie the cat

Steve and the Trick or Treating crew