Last Saturday we had an extended family Christmas Party. Because of the amount of people, we held it at the activity center next to our home. It was really fun. We missed a lot of people because of illness and travel, but, for those that came, it was a good time. Here are a few pics

Family Christmas Party

We had a talent show from the kids, it was really cute. Jason and Jens kids played the piano, told of their talent for taking care of lizards and, well, just enjoyed jabbering into the microphone. Such talented kids. Derek and Cindys boys sang while Olivia played for them on the piano. Dan and Alyssas kids were cute. Delanie played the piano AND sang! Her brother sang "Santa Claus is coming to town." Very cute Greg and Sarahs oldest son recited a poem he learned in preschool, about a peppermint stick and Dallin said some words that he is getting very good at. Thanks to all who came....see you next year!! Ho-Ho-Ho

Snow...Snow...Snow

We have the BEST snow ever! 11-12" and it is light and fluffy! So fun, I love it. The house across the street has done some Christmas fun with his flagpole. I just HAD to post these for the benefit of Shannon. She HATES the snow.

Thanksgiving

Cody making progress on the stairs. By the time he had gotten to the top he was asking himself why he had ever started this endeavor!


This is what it looked like AFTER our Thanksgiving Feast!


We had a very nice Thanksgiving. Even though it was our "off" year, we still were not left alone on this family day. Derek and Cindy and kids came. Cindy's Parents are here,Joe and Imelda, staying with Cindy and so they were able to come down with them. Todd was here. Kyle and Tif and Cody came and then left for another Thanksgiving dinner with her family. My mom was at my sisters house this year, we missed Grandma Allen being here. They all came down on Wed. night and we played a card game until midnight. I actually stayed awake...just barely. At 9:00 a.m. Thurs. there was a "Turkey Bowl" with my ward that all the guys participated in. All the younger guys that is. Neal was putting up Christmas lights (Yeah for Neal) and Joe watched some of the Turkey bowl. All in all, it was a wonderful day. Thanks to everyone for bringing such wonderful food and to Olivia for making the cute napkin rings. We have MUCH to be thankful for and hopefully we express it regularly. We missed having the rest of our family with us, but will enjoy them at Christmas and next Thanksgiving we will have the WHOLE crew. (Hopefully that includes Shannon and her family. Let's get them closer!!!)
Happy Holidays! (I can officially listen to Christmas music now AND turn on the lights! SOOO Exciting!)

Little Blue Eyes....so sweet!

Shaylie didn't use to like grandpa. Obviously, she has decided he's o.k. She even passes right by me to go to grandpa!



Weird huh? A zebra (actually there are two) down here in our neck of the woods. Too funny.

UPDATE!!!

The above pics are the boys having a little "outing." The girls stayed at the house and had a little craft moment! It was fun, we should have taken some pics of that, oh well, next time.

Olivia's recital

We were going to have to miss Olivia's recital because of....go figure....softball! So Derek and Cindy brought the recital to us. It was very nice. Olivia did a great job, she has just started playing and is doing very well.


Here are a few other pics of the evening. I especially like the one with Jake deciding for some reason that he should not use his fork while eating his potatoes. Too funny!

St. George

Right after Alabama we went to St. George for a softball tournament that the girls I coach at North Sanpete High were in. Jen, Shaylie and Todd went down with us. It was fun. The softball girls LOVED Shaylie, it was so cute. Kyle, Tif and Cody also went because Kyle has been coaching softball at Timpanogos. All in the family, for sure! The sun was incredible and we had a very nice time. Fun to see friends from Timpanogos also. I hate to see those girls graduate, Alison, Natalie and Jessica. Such fun to be able to spend time with them during the softball season.

Alabama

Let me catch you up on my life. In March Neal and I went to Alabama to see Shannon and her family. It was GREAT fun! I have posted some random pics. We really didn't do anything fancy, just hung out with each other and enjoyed the time. The kids were on Spring Break and so we were able to spend a lot of time with them. We spent a lot of time playing a dice game and eating James good cooking. It doesn't get better than that. The kids are growing up and I really don't like that, but, what do you do! Damon was sooo excited for his "best friend, grandpa" to come. We really did have a great time and we look forward to them coming here the end of June thru July.

I just took these pics off Kyles blog. They are so cute I couldn't resist. Tif painted that nursery! Yes, she free-handed it. Those animals are incredible, such talent! (See the post before this one for details on little Cody!)

IT'S A BOY!

Cody Dan Bilbao was born on Feb. 16, 2009. He was 6 lbs. 14 oz. 20" long. What a cutie. Kyle and Tiffany are very proud of their bouncing baby boy. Grandma and Grandpa are pretty proud too! That makes grandchild # 11 for us. Eight boys and three girls. Brian and Mallory will be having #12 for us, in July. Yup, it's a boy also. The bilbao's do boys that is for sure! The name shall live on!

Brian and Mallory came down over the weekend. They were hoping that Kyle and Tif would have their baby while they were here and they did! Here are a few pics, Brody taking a bubble bath at grandmas and grandpas. Then there is Shaylie having her bath as well. Hey, they are pretty clean kids! We also have a little friendly competition going on with "wii fit" and Brian and Curtis were pretty happy when they both beat a Bischoff high score, so we took pics of their joy and happiness!!!! It was a fun time.