Christmas 2009

This may be our last Christmas with the whole family for a while. Actually, we weren't supposed to have Christmas with the Norris family, and we didn't. But, they did surprise us and join us for New Year's. I count anytime during the holidays as Christmas time. So, we were spoiled. Thanks Tiffany and Andrew for joining us before Kyle left us for two years.

Christmas PJs

Kyle got a Tail-suit for Ballroom

Devin got a camera

Larz got a new suit...sharp dressed man!

Larry & Cathy got a few gifts too...
But our favorite gift is...
just having the family all together.



Merry Christmas!

Catch Up: Isn't this a common post for everyone?

Well, I've been thinking about it for months. And now a year has almost gone by. I have to say, I had a good excuse for getting behind. More on that later. But, if I let more than a year pass by, I may never try to catch up. So here we go....

Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving this year. Our house was full of family! It was great.

Tiffany and Taylor came a little early and we had them for a whole week. Andrew joined us closer to Thanksgiving.

It was a "Macfarlane year" for the dinner, but we were lucky to have time with both sides of the family. Jeff and Donna and Mom and Dad came over the weekend before Thanksgiving. We spent the first half of the week with the Mercers and the second half with Macfarlanes. John and Naomi made it up from Las Vegas; the whole family was there! We also had some bonus family members: Uncle Romney and Aunt Kathleen.

These five ran the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.
It was freezing! I think the runners were much
better off than the watchers.

Then we had family pictures!
Yes, it was a busy day.

Then, I was busy cooking, preparing, etc. So, no pics of our dinner. Sorry.

Tiffany and Andrew and Taylor were going to Alabama for Christmas;
here's a little early Christmas celebration.
Taylor loved it!

A thank you hug!
What a joy!

Yes, we still all love to watch Taylor.

A favorite family pass-time.

It's always so wonderful to have family around. It is the best blessing of Thanksgiving.

Devin Turns 16

Okay. It's time do some catching up.

In October, our youngest turned 16. He's very excited...dating, driving, a little more independence. He had a great party with friends. It's fun to watch these important stages in our son's life.

We actually celebrated twice.
Dinner with family at the Spaghetti Factory on the actual birthday.

Heavy, heavy hangover...

And another party on the weekend with friends.
Pizza anyone?

Devin's choice of "birthday cake."

Had to share this too.
The next day was Halloween.

Devin as Neo from the Matrix.

Major week of spoiling. :-)

Another One Leaves the Nest

Kyle has gone off to college! He headed off to the BYU campus this fall and he was pretty excited. He's living in the dorms, Helaman Halls. His roommate is from Arizona. They seem to be getting along well.
He may be close to home, but we rarely see him. I think he's liking this taste of independence; he hasn't shown much sign of homesickness. So, while Mom is a little sad about this, mostly we're glad he's enjoying his college experience. We hope he makes wonderful memories this year. The remaining three at home are rattling around and trying to find each other.

Grand Lake...Here We Come Again

In August, we finally had one week where the boys were all available to take a vacation. Summers shouldn't be so busy! This was very important to Larry and I because next summer, Kyle will be taking off on his mission. We might be able to squeeze something in before he goes, but we can't count on it.

So this may be the last vacation the whole family will enjoy together for a while. With this in mind, we definitely wanted to include Andrew, Tiff, and Taylor too. That meant going close to them; Andrew's days off are limited.

After mulling over some new places...we kept going back to the idea of Grand Lake. We had such fun and enjoyed Grand Lake so much last year, we figured a repeat was a great idea. And AT & T were able to join us for the weekend!

We hiked to Adam's Falls again. Always fun.

We also invited T Taylor to join us. He fits in well with our boys.

Andrew and Taylor heading out for a bike ride.

Roasting s'mores.


We spent lots of time playing games. Settlers, Bananagrams, Hearts....
They are playing together...competing against each other.

Waiting to go to church.

Everyone went on a hike,


while Grandma stayed back to play with Taylor. :-)

Water, rocks, sticks...life can't get better than this.

Taylor loves to throw the rocks and sticks, but he HAS to taste them first.

I love this pic...he's wet and so into the water and rocks.

This was so much fun!
We've got a special place in our hearts now for Grand Lake.
I'm sure we'll be going there again.

Summer of "Run"

We had some fun "run" experiences this summer. I don't know where they got their love of running (definitely NOT from me!) Must be that Macfarlane blood. Well, wherever it came from, some of our kids decided it was time to push their bodies and run.

Kyle ran a marathon for the first time! He trained for only 2 months and off he went. He did great! He says it was to check it off his "Bucket List," and has no plans to do it again. But, I wouldn't be surprised to see him try to improve his time. He learned alot.

Tiffany and Andrew gave in to the urge to run, bike, and swim. They both entered a triathalon with Donna Mercer. All three did great. Tiffany is ready to go again and trying to get Kyle to try a triathalon now. I'm so proud of my family. And I'll keep cheering from the sidelines.

Andrew, Tiffany, Donna, and Donna's friend