Holidays 2011

Just a quick re-cap of our lives from Halloween-Christmas.

Here are Alyssa, Danny and Jake out trick-or-treating. Danny's a ninja (complete with plastic machete - big mistake on our part), Alyssa is a bumblebee and Jacob is an elephant.


In November, Brad took the girls to a BYU football game, a fun tradition he started many years ago. In addition to the "Utah Cousins" (Todd, Janice and family), this year they also got to see our good friends, the Gregsons. Lots of fun!



We went to Cannon Beach with the Williams side of the family for Thanksgiving this year and I guess I was having too much fun to stop and capture the moment very often. Here are a couple pictures of the kids playing on the beach (not sure what Danny's shower cap is about):



They spent hours in the hotel pool...


Christmas was very nice and full of the fun traditions we look forward to every year. Here are the kids (and friends) with their masterpieces after the ginger bread house making class:


And a couple from Christmas Eve:

Catching Up!

Life has been busy and the family blog has suffered for it! Let's see if I can squeeze almost 8 months of our lives into one quick blog post.

*JACOB*
Favorite 2011 Summer Event:
G&G Nielson's 50th anniversary celebration with all his cousins.

Most Exciting:
Lost two teeth and started 1st grade.

Extracurricular Activities:
Played baseball last Spring and soccer this Fall.


*DANNY*
Favorite 2011 Summer Event:
Going to Canada for the 1st of July with Brad and Jacob.

Most Exciting:
Broke his finger, earned his Wolf badge in Scouting.

Extracurricular Activities:
Played baseball last Spring and football this Fall.


*ALYSSA*
Favorite 2011 Summer Event:
Williams family camping trip.

Most Exciting:
Got her own, redecorated and freshly painted bedroom.

Extracurricular Activities:
Played softball last Spring and soccer this Fall.


*HALEY*
Favorite 2011 Summer Event:
Attending EFY (Especially For Youth) at BYU.

Most Exciting:
Started high school, got her braces off.

Extracurricular Activities:
Ran track last Spring and made the high school's freshman volleyball team this Fall.


*AMBER*
Favorite 2011 Summer Event:
Trek with the youth of our Stake.

Most Exciting:
Got her driver's license, went to Homecoming (first date).

Extracurricular Activities:
Was in the high school's production of Fiddler On The Roof last Spring and is 1st Chair Clarinet in the band this year.


*BRAD*
Favorite 2011 Summer Event:
G&G Nielson's 50th in Cle Elum, WA.

Most Exciting:
G&G Nielson's 50th in Cle Elum, WA.

Extracurricular Activities:
Started playing city league Hockey.


*AMY*
Favorite 2011 Summer Event:
Taking the kids to Utah.

Most Exciting:
Hiked the Y for the first time ever.

Extracurricular Activities:
Spinning Class and reading, reading, reading.

Quality Family Time

Here's a picture that my sister just sent me from Christmas Day. Just so you can fully appreciate it, I'll set the scene:

Entire Williams family at my parents' house in Portland, many of us having travelled hours to get there...first time all of us have been together since the addition of baby Gus and baby Olive...only 24 hours to spend together...



Wait for it...








Keep in mind that they had just gotten the above electronics (cell phones for Amber and Haley and a DSi for Alyssa) that morning for Christmas, but still...pretty bad! We have since instituted strict rules which prohibit such behavior :)

Pinewood Derby

Danny and Brad participated in their first Pinewood Derby in Scouts last weekend. They spent many hours working on their car together...


They wanted a distinctive car, something that would set them apart from the others...
If you guessed "Hot Dog Car with Storm Trooper Driver", you are correct!

It might not have been the fastest car on the track, but it did win the certificate for "Tastiest-Looking Car".

Lyssie Turns 10

Alyssa hit double digits on her birthday (on January 5th)!

Since she loves all things cupcake she took chocolate cupcakes to school to share with her class and then requested, in lieu of cake, red velvet cupcakes for her family birthday party.


This was not her year for a birthday party with friends, but we always let the kids have a friend over to spend the night on their non-party years. Alyssa has two BFFs and couldn't choose between them, so they both spent the night. Notice that I have not, at any point, referred to this event as a "sleep-over" - no sleep occurred.

Christmas 2010

Twas The Night Before Christmas...

Our traditional Christmas Eve stocking picture. We always tell the kids to line up tallest to shortest for this one, but were quickly corrected this year by Amber, whom Haley recently passed up in height. "You mean 'Oldest to Youngest', right?!"

We make the kids wait until 7AM to get up Christmas morning. This year we woke to Lyssie yelling up through the vent in her bedroom (directly under ours) "It's 7:05!!" We opened up presents, had a delicious brunch of traditional currant biscuits and ham at the Humphreys' and then drove over to Portland to see the Williams side of the family, who were all together at Nana Jo and Papa Jim's house.

Christmas's biggest surprise this year was probably for Amber and Haley, who finally got cell phones...and have been on them since!

Gingerbread Houses

Every Christmas the kids participate in a 'graham cracker gingerbread house' class at the YWCA. Lots of fun!

Jacob - focused on house design.


Alyssa - frosting away.


Amber and Kyli - trying to look cool despite being 10 years older than the other participants.


Finished products!

(No Haley and Danny this year - they were home sick)

Snow Day

The kids' first day off of school for Winter Break was snowy, so they spent the morning outside taking advantage of it!


Don't be fooled by those innocent looking faces, they invented a snow game played with garden shovels called, "Find The Frozen Dog Poo".

HAPPY 40TH, BRADLEY KYLE!

Brad's 40th birthday was on the 17th so the kids and I put something special together for him.

Christmas Programs 2010

I think Brad and I set a personal record for 'Number Of School Christmas Programs Attended' this year. Amber and Haley each participated in their schools' Christmas band concerts (both fantastic, by the way) and this year the elementary school decided to divide their Christmas programs: one for kindergarten & 1st grade, one for 2nd & 3rd and one for 4th & 5th. Of course, the Nielsons have kids in each category, so we got to spend a day and a half at the elementary school watching Christmas programs!












Each of the 3 youngest kids had a special role in their program. Jacob got to be a jingle-bell-jingler during the Kindergarten's rendition of Jingle Bells and Danny got to play the drums with the 2nd grade. Alyssa was Mrs. Claus in her program and was also excited that she got the solo part she auditioned for in her school holiday choir. Here she is, in full Mrs. Claus costume, singing her solo.

Shining Star

Jacob got the Shining Star Award for Kindergarten in November! Brad and I got to attend a special assembly where the Shining Star recipients were honored. He was pretty pleased with himself...and we were very proud of him also!

Here he is about to receive his award from his teacher and the school principal.
And here he is proudly displaying his certificate and his Shining Star necklace (he'd want me to point out that it's a very masculine necklace).

GOOD JOB, JAKEY!

Thanksgiving 2010

This was our year to spend Thanksgiving in Canada, eating turkey with Nana Barb and Papa Brent, playing with cousins and watching Brad play in his highschool alumni basketball tournament.

We came upon quite the snow-blowing windstorm on our drive up and ended up having to stay the night in a hotel in Pincher Creek, Alberta (probably the hotel in Pincher Creek, Alberta!) Thankfully, the hotel was equipped with a waterslide, so the kids were all happy about our little detour.

Here's a little taste of the visibility (or lack thereof) we were dealing with.

Here are the kids checking out the pool! Notice the white-out in the window behind them.

And this would be the waterslide that made it all worth while.

There was plenty of cousin time, which is always a highlight of any trip! Here they all are watching Brad play ball...

And after sledding...

And watching a movie in G&G's basement...

And just generally up to no good!

We had a great trip and have much to be Thankful for this (and every) Thanksgiving!

Tooth Fairy

Gotta post this note Danny left under his pillow a while back for the tooth fairy. It's old, but I scanned and saved it.


"Tooth Fairy - I lost my tooth, can I still have a dollar? I've had such a bad day."

2010 School Pictures

Mrs. Claus

The cast list for our elementary school's Christmas program came out last week and guess who got the starring role of Mrs. Claus?

Halloween 2010

Dorothy, Anakin Skywalker and Spock (and Mabel). I noticed that Spock is pinching his own shoulder/neck in every picture I have ("spocking" himself).

The middle school kids were supposed to go to school dressed as superheroes for Halloween. Haley and her friend decided to invent their own - "The Duck Duo".

And the high school Drama Club put on a trunk-or-treat/haunted house. Amber and her cousin, Kyli, dressed as characters from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Busy Fall

We've had an extra busy Fall this year and, unfortunately, I didn't get enough of it captured on film. Here's what I do have...

AMBER GETS HER DRIVING PERMIT!

Frightening, but true! She also completed a 6-week driver's training course that was a way bigger time commitment than any of us realized it would be. In the future, we'll have our kids take driver's training in the summer so it doesn't compete with homework. Now that she's successfully passed her class, she just needs to get a certain number of driving hours under her belt, turn 16 (March) and take the test!

ALYSSA, DANNY AND JACOB PLAY SOCCER!

It was Alyssa's 5th year, Danny's 3rd and Jacob's 1st. They all loved it, of course. Lots of fun and great exercise. Here are some pictures of the kids at their last games of the season (Lyssie's to come later...my camera was out of batteries so I had another parent take her pics for me)

Danny plays with gusto and always give 100%.

Jacob started out shaky (shaky = ran off the field crying about 10 seconds after his first game started because the whole thing was too much for him!) but ended up deciding that he LOVES soccer and can't wait a whole year to play again.

Here's Jacob in action at his last game. I'm pretty sure right after I snapped this photo, he stole the ball and scored a goal. Yeah, that's the ticket.

HALEY PLAYS VOLLEYBALL!

So this one I have no pictures of at all! But I did go to every home game and I was the washer of the uniform and the packer of the water bottle, so maybe that makes up for forgetting my camera every time she played. She had a great season and did really well. She has decided that volleyball and basketball are her favorite sports - the fact that she's 13, 5'9 and still growing won't hurt!