Happy Birthday Jeff!!!

It's Jeff's birthday today!!! Wow! Julie is married to an old man now...in his 30's! We hope you have a great day! It's hard to believe that you've been a part of our family for six years! Thanks for being a wonderful husband and for taking care of Julie, and more importantly, making her happy! Also, thanks for giving us two of the cutest grandchildren ever!!!! We are so proud of you and the great job you are doing in Pharmacy School! It's nice to have such a smart son-in-law! Keep working hard and it will pay off!!! We love you and hope you have a wonderful day!

Merry Christmas, 2008

This year we have the cutest Christmas card we've ever had! Anne Taylor designed it for us and I think it turned out darling! The picture was taken on the Polar Express and we had to get Sam in there somehow! It has been a wonderful year for our family and we have felt the blessings of the Lord poured out upon our us! We hope that the peace and love of our Savior, Jesus Christ, will lift us, fill our hearts and carry us through each day as we strive to become more like Him! Happy Holidays!

Ninth Grade against the Faculty!

Today the ninth grade team at Eastmont played against the teachers. Dan plays on the ninth grade team this year and they were able to beat the teachers! Good job boys! Last year Sam coached the boys, but this year they had to take the victory without Sam! Way to go Dan! I think you spent as much time on the floor as you did on your feet! Glad you had fun!! You played a great game! Just a side note: On the way to the game it started snowing! Really snowing! When we came outside after the game there was about 18 inches of snow dumped everywhere!!! Merry Christmas!

Charlie, The Party Animal!

Last night Charlie had his company Christmas party over at Hidden Valley. It was great! He was his usual creative self and we had a lot of fun! We ate a nice buffet dinner and then played tons of his "made up" games and had a blast! The winners of the games received cash as the prizes. Everyone loved it! Games like rolling a huge foam dice and adding the husband's roll to the wife's roll and that's how much money you get! Or, odds and evens. Or, BBB (bright builders basketball) with a basket and little hacky sack baseballs! (Wain won that one!) I was the "money giver outer" and, of course, we all had to wear Santa hats while we played games, and everyone got a Christmas stocking to keep their cash in! We just had a good time! Way to go Char!!! You're cute!

Mark got to wear be Rudolph because he was the last one to arrive!

Mark and Sandy

Hadlip and Cindy

WFF...Jay and Katrina

Gilbert and Stacy

Wain and Patty

Debbie and Rick

Nettiebboski

The Boss!

FHE

Tonight was interesting! The kids wanted to make a gingerbread house, so I went and bought a kit. Too bad it wasn't a very good kit, but we made the best of it! I think it turned out pretty good, although I can't tell if Dan, Tom and Tiff had a good time or not!! Did you guys???? Is there a reason why we didn't take a picture of the finished product???

It's just not Christmas without Jon Schmidt!

Last night was the Jon Schmidt Christmas concert! It was such a fun night! We took Jim Nowa along this year because Tom didn't want to come. (We missed you Tom!) We started the night with some food at Red Robin! That was good! I had a BLTA (A stands for avacado) which was sooooo good! And all the fries you can eat! Can't beat that! Then we went up to the show. It was one of the best shows I think he has done in a long time! Two years ago the show was pretty boring and we weren't sure we wanted to go last year, but then it was pretty good! This year was even better! I felt like he got back to some of the basics that he had tried to out-do other years.

He always plays upside down!

You can't forget about his invisible ball trick!

Neal Middleton was there to sing "I do," which makes it a success! We were on the front row, so we could literally see his nose hairs!! It was kinda gross, but Charlie loved it!!! Of course Steve Nelson was there playing his cello and that's always great! It was just a great night and we had a lot of fun being together! Jeff wasn't able to come because Cameron was sick...we missed you Jeff; the Red Robin raspberry lemonade missed you! And, of course we missed Sam! Now Christmas can come! It just doesn't see like Christmas until we've seen Jon Schmidt!

Leave it to Dan!

This is Dan's room that he's decorated for Christmas! He really went all out this year! Has a timer on the lights and everything!

And Kosy 106.5 is always playing to add to the festive feel! Nice job Dan! I like it! Thanks for adding to the Christmas spirit in our home!!!

Another busy weekend!

We had a busy weekend! Saturday started with the ward Christmas party/breakfast and it was really nice. Then we were off to the Festival of Trees! Dan played the piano, which he has done for the last few years. It's a lot of fun because it's so layed back; not much pressure; and it's always fun to play Christmas music! He needed a partner to play Jingle Bells with so Debbie was nice enough to volunteer! What a good sister! Then we left that and Charlie and I went to Barb's house for the annual "adult" Christmas lunch with the Rudds! Barb is great! She started doing this little lunch when Grandma Rudd stopped having Christmas night at her house. So Barb picked up this tradition so we would at least see each other during the holidays. The kids get ticked off though because they are never invited! Oh Well! That's what happens when you have over 100 people in the family! After the party Dan, Charlie and I, and Debbie and Rick met Rick's parents at Applebees for dinner. We had never met them before and they had come up to do some shopping. We had a great time with them! I loved his mom! She was so fun! And it was fun to see mannerisms in both of them that Rick has! They are great people and it was fun to meet them!

After dinner we went back to the Festival of Trees and walked through it. We saw the coolest tree...it was a ball maze and it was awesome! Wish we could have bought that one!! We had a very busy, but wonderful day!

We've lost a true "Ute"

Isn't this the greatest picture!!! I think it's so cute! They are on their way to the Fiesta Bowl in 2004! Elder Wirthlin passed away this week and the funeral was yesterday. This is just a part of an article that was in the paper this morning. "Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin was eulogized Friday as a humble servant of God who never sought acclaim or position but only to serve and love his fellow men. At age 91, he had been the oldest living apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when he died unexpectedly late Monday. Church President Thomas S. Monson conducted the midday funeral service in the Tabernacle on Temple Square, lauding not only Elder Wirthlin's service, humility and dedication to God, but the football legacy he created at the University of Utah. He recalled Elder Wirthlin's days as a running back. "When he played, he was known as "Speedy Wirthlin. 'I like that.' Upon his graduation from the U, Elder Wirthlin's jersey No. 4 was retired. It was later framed and, for a time, hung in his office at the Church Administration Building. In recent years, he was something of a self-appointed chaplain to the U. team and traveled with them to many games. He was respected by coaches, players and fans alike." President Monson was emotional when recalling a conversation earlier this week with U. football coach Kyle Whittingham, who told him that "out of love and respect, his initials - JBW - are now printed on the back of each teammate's helmet." I thought that was cool!

(These are pretty cute pictures as well!) I think the talk he just gave at general conference this past October was one of my favorites. I loved his story about his daughter thinking she was going out with the guy her sister was actually babysitting for! It was fun to see his sense of humor and what a cute dad he must have been! It's always kind of sad when one of the apostles dies, but it is amazing how church government carries on without skipping a beat! It always makes me a little teary to see the vacant chair.

The church is true!! Isn't it great!

Thanksgiving this year was a blur! It was smashed in between the excitement of Debbie's engagement and the Polar Express! This year was strange due to the fact that we didn't get to see Grandma and Grandpa Lancaster. They spent the day with the Boyers and we went to the Hulets for dinner. There was just Charlie and I, Tom, Dan and Tiff and Cade. We didn't see Julie and her family and we didn't see Debbie. They were with their in-laws. I guess you can call the Hansens Debbie's in-laws already! It was fun to spend the day with Marilyn and her family! We visited Grandma and Grandpa Rudd in the evening, and even at their house, we were the only ones! It was a good day, but just really quiet and full of things we had never experienced on a Thanksgiving before! We have much to be grateful for...Each other, our great kids and grandchildren, our families and most importantly, the gospel! What a blessing it is in our lives. We are so thankful that Sam is serving in England, sharing it with those people who are searching for it! I never imagined what a blessing a missionary would be, but he his and our entire family is blessed for his service!

The Bell Still Rings!!

The Polar Express!

Last night we took a ride on the Polar Express! What a great time we had! (we missed Sam though!) Cameron and Katie had a lot more fun than they appear to be having in this photo, but when you ask a stranger to take a picture for you you just have to take what you get!! It was fun to see Santa and Mrs. Clause, the elves, sing songs, read the "Polar Express" book and drink 'hot cocoa as thick and rich as melted chocolate bars.' (It was nasty though!) Cameron gave a letter to Santa Clause that he had written all by himself...

and Katie didn't even want to look at him...she wanted the bell though!

They asked if anyone had a birthday in October, November or December! Dan took Katie up and said she turned two on October 19th. Then he said "I'll be 16 on November 5th, which means that I just turned 15! What a nut...only to be topped by his sister "Victoria" who's birthday was on November 31st! And she's 24! You guessed it! It was Tiff! We had a lot of fun being together!

Grandma and Grandpa had a great time!!!

Katie's my girl!!!!

Julie, Jeff, Cameron and Katie!

Debbie and Rick!

Cade and Tiff, I mean Victoria!

Tom, Dan and Cameron!

Tom and Cameron looking at the book as the guy read it to us!
Cameron loved the story!

Oh, Dan's such a cute boy!!!!

Debbie has a Ring!!!!

Today is the day after Thanksgiving and Debbie and Rick just came home from Fillmore and she has a ring on her finger!!!! (It's really not red! I'm not sure why it looks that way! It's white gold and it's beautiful!)

He proposed at the Manti Temple on their way down to Fillmore to spend Thanksgiving with Rick's family. She called to tell me she had a ring and I had to wait 48 hours before I could see it!
They met about a year ago in the University 44th Ward and quickly became good friends! Needless to say, things have progressed far beyond a good friendship and we are so excited to have Rick join our family! (I'm glad Charlie didn't scare him away during their little lunch date!) He is a great guy who has brought a lot of happiness into Debbie's life!! We are so grateful for him and his love for Debbie! They are such a cute couple who laugh a lot!!! It's fun to watch them! We hope Debbie makes him as happy as he makes her!!! We love you both!!!

It's a great year to be a Ute!!!

What a great ending to a fabulous season of Utah Football!!!!!! The bowl game is still to come, however Utah just beat, BYU!!!! 48 - 24!!! How sweet it is!!! Austin Collie had a great run the first drive of the game, but after that he got quite a few first downs, but never got big runs. The defense did a great job on him!!!! Max Hall had 6 turnovers; 5 interceptions and 1 fumble! Our defense was amazing, as usual, and our offense played the best game of the season!!! Brian Johnson was near perfect and we were pumped!!!! Louie Sakoda is always awesome! It was such a fun game! We are now 12 and 0...without Urban Meyer, which makes it even sweeter! I am so happy for Kyle, Brian Johnson (#3), Louie Sakoda, Brent Casteel and all the other seniors! Paul Krueger (#11) also had a great game as always!!! It has been so fun to watch these guys play this year! They have had a few come from behind wins and they have won games where they have had tons and tons of penalties and turnovers. It's been amazing to watch them find a way to hang on and win those tough games! Sam said that he knew he would miss a great season, and he did! But not to worry, we'll have more great seasons!!!The next day Dave sent Charlie this email which was entitled "New Treat!" So funny! Then Steve Woodhead sent it! Charlie emailed Steve back and said that he had seen it the day before and thought Steve would like it but wanted to be nice! This is the note that Steve sent back:
"That's nice of you, but don't worry, I have been bombarded. Apparently Max Hall attempted to pass the sacrament on Sunday but was intercepted!" That's funny!