Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

okay, this is my second attempt to get our Family photo for our Christmas card. As most of you moms know it is no small task to get everyone coordinated, happy and hair done!! Well I managed to get the kids alright but by the time Steven was back the sun had gone down just enough that the lighting was not good, even with the flash. I was so disappointed! All that work twice and nothing! I really wanted to capture all of our snow... you can see it behind Cole... that is really how deep it is! It is just below Presley's shoulder. It is so awesome! Well it looks like we will have to try again for a family picture at Disneyland. Cole and Steven had shoveled a path way to get to the vehicles, this is a good picture of just how much snow we have!

The girls sledding down the front yard into the street!

Here we are out at Gresham station, we dropped off our neighbors down by the public transit so they could get to the airport. An hour later they called us back and said the buses were canceled now too and so we went back and picked them up.

A plow had gone through and this is the pile it left behind! pretty amazing huh!
This was on Sunday and since then we have accumulated several more inches of snow.We got a few more again today and are expecting up to 8" more tomorrow.

The City of Gresham has declared a state of emergency, so the national guard has come in and the fire, emergency and police are getting around in chained up hummers. This afternoon several teens were climbing on top of the tall snow drifts and then right on to the roof of the elementary school by our house. So I called the non-emergency line and they came out in a hummer. It was so cool to see it cruise around in the snow all around the school!

Blizzard Before Christmas!

We had several inches of snow on Friday... so another day of no school... then we woke up Saturday to even more snow and strong east winds... it is 15*F with a windchill of 0*F! We braved the conditions and drove to Washington to pick up Cole from his cousins. We saw many people spun out on the freeways, very icy. By afternoon it had really piled up. We have about 10 inches at our house and that is even with the heavy winds blowing it around. The snow drifts are a few feet high.. driving around town it was so cool to watch the drifts shifting on the roadways. It is similar to the sand dunes when the wind blows. It also looks a bit like dry ice. They have already canceled church meetings for tomorrow. We did drive over to our building and get a picture. I will have to post it. It is pretty cool. It definately feels like Christmas at our house.

Here's a picture of Maddy hangin' her head out of the excursion for a brief moment to catch a snow flake in her mouth.. she got a face full!

3 1/2 Snow Days!

This week school has been canceled three days in a row.. they went this morning and the weather turned again so they all got out early. Only 1 more day left before winter break... the way the weather looks.. they may just have it off too!( My kids are hoping) Check out our awesome snowman... it was fun putting him together, or shall I say her?

( Cole added some features) This is the girls friend Lexa in the blue, Syd, Maddy, Cole, his buddy Randy, and Presley
okay I am a dork.. I forgot to rotate the picture before I posted it.. this is another large snowball that Maddy is standing on. They later made a ramp out of it and were sledding off of it.

Cole and Randy bringing in the first layer of the snow lady

Sydnee getting ready to throw her snowball! The snow was perfect for making snowballs... they all got blasted, and one too many times.. especially the girls.. Cole brought them to tears with his close range power. That's what brothers are for right?

Madelynn.. the smile before the cry! My kids all played out in the snow for hours until it was too dark to see, even then I had to make them come in!.. (except Sierra)and Sierra managed to avoid the camera too!

Okay this one you have to click on to enlarge... the first snow flakes that came down were tiny perfect shaped snow flakes! I loved them.. I wish I could preserve one forever.. I know I'm weird.. but really look and see for yourself!
I love the snow... I don't particulary like to be cold but for some odd reason the snows seems warmer than when it is raining and 40 degrees outside! Again.. weird!

The Wishful Weekend in Arizona!

This is Aunt Rachelle's imitation of Presley not getting her way! I do see the resemblence!
Angelene my sister is very pregnant as you can see... I hopped on the next flight to AZ in hopes to get to be there when she had her baby.. Kashlynn decided to wait 2 days after I left!
I tried!

My sister Rachelle was so thrilled to see me... she was at a loss for words!

This is my Mom holding Krew...
I at least got to see all of my brothers (except Glenn who is on a mission)and my sisters and their families.. even most of my extended family on The Lawlor side. Coincidence that it was the annual Christmas Party that weekend. I would guess there were over 150 of us there? Maybe more?

My Daddy, Krew and Me... it was great to spend some time with all of my family.

Thank you to all who took the time to visit with me. I really enjoy seeing all of you... I just wish my husband and children could have been apart of it too.

These are my cousin's on my Mom's side of the Family... Bethaney(holding her baby) Julie and myself... We grew up doing alot of things together. It was great to see them!
My sister-in-law Kim (Dayson's wife) and her 3 girls, Harly, Daycee, MacKenzie, her youngest Adam on her lap and Halee(Amaron's oldest)

My Grandma and Grandpa Lawlor!

I Love You!

My brother Amaron, his wife Satya, my nieces: Halee,Sage, & Capri(Brodee was off running around)
The Lawlor Family Christmas Party... All of the little ones performing the Nativity

This is my nephew Dusty (Sean's youngest)

This is my niece Caroline (Loren's youngest)

This is my nephew Krew (Angelene's)

The Toothfairy Again!

Okay, Presley lost her second tooth last night, so I grabbed my camera and took a picture of her. Then I go to look at it and this is the picture taken just before. Apparently she already knows how to take pictures of her self! So here is a before.... and an after!!!!
She actually went to bed early and fell asleep early.... collecting $$$ from the tooth fairy is serious business!

A Day of Thanks and Giving!

Thanksgiving at our house was small but wonderful. It was just us and Steven's sister Julie and her Family, husband Mike & kids: Deagan and Kira. The food was delicious and of course in plenty! After we ate everyone rested for a bit then we went to the Theaters and watched Madagascar II
which is good.. I recommmend it, it is better than the first!

Thanks to all of our family and friends for giving us so much to be thankful for! We hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well.

BOWLING!!!

No school means "fun day" so bowling it was! Presley, Cole, Brody,Randy,Savanah,Maddy,Sierra & Sydnee all hit the alleys and had some fun! I enjoyed watching them... and of course being their ride!