Byron & Elizabeth Wedding 12-29-06

Now starts the stream of weddings over the next few months. First was Byron and Elizabeth.
Greg and I enjoy a little break from the festivities to try and look cool.
All the younger brothers taking out years of frustrations, oh wait no they just wanted us to do a crazy shot. I guess violence is just the first thing that came to mind.
Can you believe that this portrait is already out of date? Well obviously Shawn and his family are out of the picture, but shortly after this, Greg acquired a permanent arm ornament as well.
Here we are!

Christmas Day 2006

This was our first Christmas that we woke up in our own bed and did our own little Christmas morning. It was nice, relaxing and very simple.
Here is Dave with his loot which included a music stand, Dilbert Calendar and the Mille Bornes game.
Michelle got a new necklace (featured around her neck) and a cute little kitten Simba.
Afterwards we spent time with the Droge's and then finished the day at the Pond's for the traditional afternoon brunch. We always have great food and a bit of a program. This year Ralph shared with us the legend of the wide mouth frog. To be honest, we were worried he just might pass out, but all concluded without any incident!
It was definitely a crowd pleaser, what a memorable show!

Christmas Eve Porkchops 2006

Christmas tradition at the Pond House is to eat porkchops on Christmas day. Usually grandpa and grandma prepare the pork chops, but with the passing of grandpa comes the passing of the porkchop tradition. Here grandma teaches us all how to make her famous porkchops (the night before the big feast -- christmas eve). We all had a turn dipping into crackers then egg then cracker again.

Christmas is here!

I can't believe the Christmas time has come and gone. We had a great time with family and friends. There was the DaBell gingerbread house festivities and ping pong tournament, the Pond luncheon, christmas eve with the Droges and other fun. Most years we have stayed over at Michelle's parents christmas eve, but this year we decided to have our own little Christmas morning. It was very nice. Then we spent the rest of the day with both families and had a great time.

Brand new kitten -- Simba

Well after a couple months in our new house, we decided that a pet was needed. We really wanted a dog, but we don't quite have a yard yet, so we got a cat. Michelle's friend Kristin has some inlaws whose cat had kittens so we decided to get one. The names we talked about were Tiger, because of his stripes, and Cosmo because he's an avid cougar fan. We decided on Simba because he is all poofy. Maybe someday we'll shave him except for his mane... or maybe not.

Anniversary 11-23-06

I can't believe it, but we have been married 4 years. I got Michelle some flowers, which she absolutely loved. I earned 450 brownie points!

Our New Home. October 20th, 2006

Can you believe it? The day is actually here. The house is done. On the 10th we signed the papers and then Wednesday the 11th, we moved in our room that we had at the Pond's. On the 12th we packed all of our storage into the garage. Now we are all moved in. Other than a couple pictures yet to be hung I think our moving process is over. Thank you to all those who helped us move in or have given us congratulations on this fun "little project." We seriously have had so much fun in this building process, we would recommend it to anyone and everyone. In fact if you want to be our neighbors, they are starting phase two of this development right across the street from our little culdesac. It'll actually be sad when we are all settled in because there won't be the great conversation piece about building a home. :-(

Well come on in and have a look at what our house looks like now. If you aren't satisfied with the pictures, feel free to come and visit!! 

You can't really tell from a picture, but the table is actually pretty tall. When I sit all the way back on the chairs I feet actually swing! When I found this out I was giddy. 

You'll never guess what show is on. You say CSI? Okay maybe you would. 

Here is a closer shot of the living room. 

I'm still not sure if those bears really belong on the bed, but what can you do when you aren't the main interior decorator? 

We named our front two bedrooms the library and the office. This is the library with the bookshelves our "china wall" and the piano. We put our old couch along the wall opposite the piano and the table there is the "puzzle table." The office just has a couple tables and things for school and work. 

The side of our house is what you see first as you pull up. It will be nice when this is landscaped because it still doesn't look like anyone lives here yet. We are going to put in the landscaping in the spring, so we'll just have to get used to the dirt for a few months longer I guess. 

This is our back patio. Not much but enough for maybe a barbeque.  

Here is the left side of the garage before we moved in. All the stuff we took from storage initially was put right here and then we cleaned them as we brought it in. Everything from storage had a layer of dust so we didn't want it moved right in. The move was uneventful except for a box of apricot juice that had a couple bottles break and get apricot juice everywhere.  

Here is the other half of the garage. There is a utility sink and an access door. 

Here we go downstairs. The landing down there is carpeted with a single door to the left and a double door to the right. The left side will mostly be storage and the right side is big and open. Anyone want to play hockey? 

Here is one side of the downstairs. The other side is just wide open (see below). This is just hte water heater, furnace, and all that good stuff. 

This is what the downstairs looks like. They wrapped the ceiling but that is about it. This will be for projects way down the road when our family doesn't fit upstairs anymore.  

BYU Football time again! October 6th, 2006

It was time to go to Lavell's place again and watch the BYU football team play San Diego State.