A White Christmas in Oregon

Christmas this year was spent in Vale, Oregon, where I was raised and where Nana, Papa and pretty much ALL of my family lives. It was such a treat this year to be able to stay for an entire month! Chris was able to stay for 2 weeks and my Dad flew back to TN with us, thank goodness! I could never have flown by myself.....literally we could not even sit in the same row together because there are not enough drop down air bags. :)

The girls really enjoyed the snow, especially Katie! She had been wishing for "snowy days" long before we got there.

Chris, Lauren, Brooklyn and Katie

Brooklyn, a little bit cold and not wanting to wear her hat, but not wanting to go in either. :)

Kara came home from Buena Vista, Virginia, where she is a Senior in college. She also brought her boyfriend Pres! We have been able to see him several times since they are just an 8 hour drive from us and as usual the girls were bossing him around within minutes. Pres and Chris helped the girls build their first snowman and then Papa hopped in to claim the glory and be in the picture. :)

Katie in true Christmas spirit

Lauren sitting so nice and still (long enough for this picture) at the airport.

Brooklyn in all her cuteness!

We did a little indoor snowboarding.

Lauren and her "eye protection" from the indoor weather.

We had a family cookie party filled with lots of Christmas sweets and treats and fun!

Grandpa had us try his games we used to play when I was growing up. Chris is 3 of his feet length back from the wall and then bent at a 90 degree angle. The object is to lift the chair completely up and then stand up straight. Most women can do it easily and most men can't. I went first....total cinch. Chris went next and totally proved Grandpa wrong. :) Chris could do it no problem. However, most the other guys could not. I guess all his iron man training really paid off!

This is THE BEST picture!

All the newbies to the family get to play the "gorilla" game. If you would like details I can get you the rules, but basically in this picture we are all pretending to be the most ferocious gorilla. The only one who is actually yelling and sounding like the most ferocious gorilla .... is Pres!!!

Nana couldn't even bare to watch it.....but she is still laughing! :)

Brookie sneaking one more cookie!

3 of my wonderful Aunts! Janeille, Kristen & Julie

Katie learned to be a great truck driver and help Papa feed the cows.

Pres, Kara, Nana, Jeremy, Papa, Katie, Lauren, Chris, Brooklyn & Chantelle.

No we did not have another baby. :) Even though baby JJ looks like he could fit right in! He is one of my 2 adorable nephews.

Katie turns 4!

What...4? I know, I can't believe it either! Katie turned 4 on November 22nd. She is the sweetest little 4 year old I know. She has changed a lot this past year and really matured. She LOVES to do any art project, drink chocolate milk, be a Mommy to her babies and would have play dates with her friend every day if I would let her. She is a great big sister to Lauren and Brooklyn and loves preschool and learning.

We started off her birthday with a party for her preschool class. She helped me make pink cupcakes with sprinkles!

(Also, if you have your speakers on you can her the song "Fireflies" which is her favorite song and she requests it every time we get in the car.)

That weekend Katie had her party at My Gym. She had asked for weeks to have her party at My Gym like her best buddy Ben. Who can say no to this face?

My Gym is heaven to children with all the fun activities and fun they do there. Birthday parties are no exception. Katie was happily the center of attention. (Does she get that from her Dad?)

Here comes Princess Katie!

This is the part she has been talking about for weeks, when she gets to ride the bike! The birthday girl has a crown, feathers and glasses while riding a toy Harley with a few "southern bell" add-on's!

What's a party without bubbles?


Then it was home to open presents! Her friends Adyson and Savannah came to help her!

Katie was VERY pleased with all of her gifts and has done a very good job so far sharing with her little sisters who want to get into all of her stuff. :O


Sunday the 22nd was her actually birthday and it happens to be Matt Hissongs as well! He is knowm as "Map" around our house. When we first moved to Brentwood Katie was newly into Dora the Explorer (who has a Map to help her find her way) and she has always called him that.



Is it a Drum set like Aunt Stacey said it was? hmmmmm



Dora skates!

Katie is now skating around the house. Lauren and Brooklyn attempt it too!

What a GREAT birthday! We are so happy to have Katie in our family! She has always been easy-going and extremely social. She did tell me on the way to school last week that on her next birthday she was going to drive. I sure hope she doesn't grow up that fast!


And just when she thought "her" day was over, Bishop Watson comes in to save the day! Katie LOVES him and was so happy he came just for her!

Happily Ever After

Myriam and Gary did it! They got married!
At the beginning of this year we had some friends that we set up on a dinner date here at our house. Who knew it would be love at first sight? :) Now they are married and livin it up in the "Big Apple!" We have enjoyed many fun times with Myriam and Gary.

Memphis, Florida, and lots of Tennessee dance parties with these guys. Myriam stayed the last 2 months with us while Gary started his job in New York and the girls really miss her! (Of course they would miss anyone who bought them presents and let them play freely with their iPhone!)

Katie, Myriam, Lauren and Brooklyn....cheeeeese!

One of the many great engagement pictures.

They were married in the Orlando LDS temple and then had a ring ceremony and reception near Jacksonville, FL where Myriam is from. It was a beautiful night for an outdoor reception and the couple looked gorgeous!

And so did the flower girls!

Lauren and Brooklyn tested the cake quite a few times. It was OK. :)

Gary and Myriam.....we wish you guys the best and hope to visit NY soon!

Ironman - Round 2!

WE DID IT! The girls and I survived another year of Chris training and training and training some more to compete in the Ironman. Oh, and he did pretty good too! :)

Here is what the starting line looked like (from our balcony)20 minutes prior to the race starting. The racers start up in the boxy looking part and swim 2.4 miles in the ocean. Last year Chris did 1 hour 12 minutes and this year was 1 hour 6 minutes! The pro's come out in the 50's so to be 10 or less minutes behind them is amazing!

Chris thinks that was the "easy" part. What?

Next they transition to the bike where they ride 112 miles! Chris ROCKED it and did 40 minutes better on the bike than last year at 5 hours 22 minutes. He is the 4th guy pictured here. (This whole process, as a spectator, is a guessing game so I just took it the second I saw him round the corner)

The race is finished with a marathon, 26.2 mile run.


Amazing right? I call it "crazy in the head" but truthfully, one has to be so mentally tough to ever accomplish something like this, let a lone push your body to get a time of 10:42:44. This is an entire HOUR better than last year! The event itself is so inspiring and energizing. I am so proud of Chris and his capabilities, grateful it is over, and happy that he is happy and home.

Halloween FUN and festivities

Halloween was so much fun this year! Last year we were at Ironman Florida and it was the day before the race....so count Daddy out for trick-or-treating. The babies were also 9 months old so they were fast asleep by the time we got around to it.

This year we were all ready for CANDY! We started off this Halloween season with a Fall Fest at the BUMC which my friend Holly is so gracious to invite us to every year. We have no pictures of the girls on the ponies....because they WOULD NOT even consider sitting on one! This farm girl has raised girls that are scared to death of animals. :)

Katie chose to be a butterfly fairy.

Brooklyn was a bumble bee,

and Lauren was a lady bug. All these pictures were taken while waiting 45 minutes in the "balloon line!" We may not ride ponies for 30 seconds but we have stamina because they were not going to let us pass the balloon-tying-man and we seriously did wait 45 minutes. Lauren and Brooklyn just kept going back to the cake walk and stealing cookies out of the bowl. You can get away with so much when you are little and cute!

The following weekend we went to the Ghouls at Grassmere, which is a fun event where the Nashville zoo gets transformed for halloween.

Here is our group on the haunted hayride! We go with our friends, the Simpsons, each year and look forward to it.

Who is this you ask? hee hee Yes, it is Kassidy and Derek. :)

This was our only means of containing Lauren and Brooklyn! Buckles and suckers. It was so much nicer when they rode in the wagon.

And here are Katie's good friends, Little Red Riding Hood and Little Bo Peep! (Adyson and Savannah Simpson)

Savannah was sooo cute on the hayride. Apparently she had seen a few things prior to this night that she thought were scary, and she wasn't going to chance seeing anything like that again!

Lauren and Brooklyn have switched personalities again and now Lauren is our socialite. She happily sat on Kassidy's lap during the ride and cuddled.

I might get in trouble for posting this picture but I think it is WONDERFUL of Steve and Kelsi!...and Little Bo Peeps cane!

On Halloween night we went to a ward Fall Festival and then to the Hissongs neighborhood to hit the streets.....in a golf cart. Mike took the picture for us, but where is Stacey?


The girls were all so excited once they saw candy coming their way. At every house we had to convince Lauren to ONLY take one. She would just stand there and keep dipping her hand back in. Brooklyn would only take one but then she would drop her bucket and want to eat that one RIGHT THEN!

Our wonderful chauffeurs, Matt and Tyler!