Christmas

Wow- This is WAY overdue! We had an eventful Christmas! We tried to fly into MN the day the metro dome collapsed and ended up stuck in SLC for 2 days. Thank goodness my uncle put up with us for those days and we finally made it to MN. Grayson had a weird vacation time, so we were actually there the 2 weeks before Christmas. We spend a lot of time shoveling snow- it was crazy! But we went to the M of A, Adalei jumped and played in the snow as much as possible, met up with some friends, saw family and got to just spend some time together. It was nice to just hang out and relax as much as possible. Unfortunately Trevor got held up in D.C and just made it in the morning we left, so we hung out at 4am for a while and said goodbye and left for the airport 2 hours later. We were so sad because he brought his new puppy and Adalei LOVES pets. We barely made it home with 2 more delays and plane de-icing, and then they lost our car seat. Argh!!!!! When we got home the Schenk family was waiting for us at our house, so we ended up spending the next week with them in Reno. Grayson's two brothers went snowboarding and we just played and had fun. Adalei of course loved all her gifts, and Ellie loved the wrapping paper and bows. Thanks to everyone for making it such a great Christmas!! (The pics went on backwards, and I am too lazy to fix them...)
Uncle Ty bouncing Ellie on the air mattress
Our drooler...
Adalei trying to get through the tunnel...over Ellie...and it ending in tears....
Adalei feeding EllieGrooming Ellie...

Ellie hanging with Grandpa Schenk
Naptime with Zane
Playing with Play-doh
Sampling the new toys....

Santa came!!
6am photo shoot....don't look too close...
Trevor's puppy Meka
Snow play
Sink bath
Como Zoo!

Auntie Jenae playtime

Underwater World at M of A

Adalei actually being a daredevil!!
Snow Fort
Great Grandparents!
Weinzirl family visit
Both girls loved Uncle Randy
But Ellie was not loving Aunt Lynette, which is hilarious cause she is the sweetest lady ever! Major stranger anxiety!
The "before" pic...
Justyna took Adie to Wise Swim school with Jenae


That snow is even deeper than it looks!
Grandpa O'Neill playing

Shoveling the driveway

Adie "helping" us get ready to leave for MN trip!

Justyna's Visit

I forget how many pictures one can take in a few days....and then my sister comes....:)
Painting the nails blue
We attempted to take the kids to go cut down out Christmas tree, but instead Grayson and his friend Adam had to wade through waist-deep snow to retrieve them while we amused the kids in the snow...
decorating the tree!
Being Silly


We tried to wax Justyna's legs....some friendly advice...PAY THE MONEY and do it at a salon!
Sleeping beauty

Watching the Detroit Lions game...Grayson is still crying that they lost it...

Celebrating Justyna's Birthday- She had her Golden 20th!

The Girls

Passed out...

Playing with Sophie, Mitzi's dog
Messing around
gnawing on her jumper
the cheesiest smiles keep popping up when I try to take pics
gnawing on more stuff
pretty baby

trying to gnaw on the camera
she loves her tongue right now, and looks like she is tasting the air like a dog

bath time!

Halloween

We had fun this Halloween going to our ward party, where Adalei won one of the "best dressed" prizes! She looked so cute in her little witch costume, and Elia was adorable in her cat costume. Adie wasn't so sure about the massive cat in the neighbors yard...

Wanting to gnaw on the pumpkin...
Ellie fell asleep in Grayson's arms as we walked around one of our ward members neighborhood.

Adalei petting her black cat (my Dad said, "Every witch needs her familiar!")

Not the best pic, but Ellie cheeks looked way cute...

Decision

We finally decided to take the job with CVS here in Reno, NV! Grayson and I had been praying about it for a while and decided it was the best decision for us. He is contracted for 1 year, so we are here for at least that long. If Gray likes it, then we are going to look to buy a home this next summer and stay for a while. We really do love Reno, and there is so much to do! It is a desert, so not a lot of bugs (yeah!), our ward is great, the home market is really good right now and the casinos bring in lots to do without being in your face like Las Vegas. I am so excited!!! Yeah!!! A REAL job!!!!

Grandpa John O'Neill

I just found out that my Grandpa O'Neill has passed away. Even though we all knew it was coming it was still sad to hear that it had finally happened. I have great respect and gratitude for him since he, along with my grandma, were the first in the our family to join the church. If it wasn't for him I would not be LDS today and have the life perspective and testimony that guarantees me that I can be together again with my family.
At Jenae's baptism...
Our Christmas visit '08, Grandpa playing with Adalei (even though she was screaming...)



No one in our family could ever deny that Grandpa was Mr. Personality. He had the ability to talk to everyone and anyone! A salesman through and through. He never backed down from a good argument. Grandpa was like a scientist with his drinks. He mixed all sorts of different colas together and then, when my mom wasn't looking, would give us a sip. He also carried loads of Vellaments when I was growing up. That square mint? What ever happened to those? When he met Grayson, he gave him a lecture on the "proper" way to say goodbye. You shake their hand (or give them a hug), say "see you later" and get the crap out of there! This was especially funny to me since Grayson's family takes 3 hours to say goodbye. He was so proud of his Irish heritage and was often found singing some jig. And I think every cousin I know knows the "Arizona" state song because of him. Quite often when I was little he made Colleen and I duet "I am a Child of God" for him. He also loved his neck rubs. I don't think I ever escaped giving a rub down when I went to visit. I still love the story of Aunt Meg offering to scale his nose down with a laser and he said, "no way, it gives me character!" One of the last things he said to Gray and I is to never stop communicating with each other (and isn't that what all the psychology books say?) and to learn from our children. We love you and will miss you! And as Grandpa would say, "see you later!..."