2016 Pictures!!

I got so behind on my blogging that I am doing a picture post of 2016 so I can hurry and get up to date with this history of our family.  It's all out of order, but oh well!!

This was a trying year with a lot of blessings.  We had planned to buy a house in Riverton and stay at Grandma Vance's house for a couple of weeks while the house closed.  The house in Riverton ended up having so many problems that we had to walk away from that deal and so we were left with no home.  We decided to put the kids in school and since Richard didn't mind the commute, we started looking in Orem by Grandma Vance's house.  It was really tough because there weren't a lot of homes on the market and when one would come up on the market, it would be snatched up right away or there would be a bidding war, driving the home price up.

Richard kept urging me to stop looking at the larger homes and keep my sights on a more modest home in a lower price range.  I finally agreed and we decided the best floor plan in our price range would be a rambler.  A lot of the homes we were looking at were 30-40 years old and needed a lot of work or updating.  It was a little depressing.

After living in Grandma Vance's neighborhood for a few months I really began to see how great it was, how nice the schools were and what a fantastic location it was.  I started putting the word out to our church friends that we were looking for a home in the area and every day I would drive around hoping to find a new for sale sign.  One day a letter came from a friend in the area.  It had three addresses of people who might be selling their house soon.  I quickly drove to look at the houses and one of them was a rambler and looked like it could be in our price range. 

We contacted the owners of the house and found that they were going to put it on the market soon.  We let them know that we were interested and we ended up buying the house from them before it even got on the market.  This cute house was such a blessing.  It was much newer than the other houses we had looked at but at the same price point.  The owners had just painted the interior and had updated a lot of the hardware and appliances.  We did some remodeling to make it function better for our family and then we were in our new home...FINALLY!!!

Other blessings were the great church congregation that we are in, the kids found wonderful friends, we were able to find good teams for all their sports, and most importantly, everyone was happy.  Here is a summary of 2016 in pictures and captions.

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Katy got to join the Oak Canyon basketball team part way through the season.  She had fun and ended up being one of the best players on their team.

Mom and Rachel, twinners, in Grandma's basement.

Rachel celebrated her 9th birthday.  

We had a ton of fun ice skating with my sibs and the Kofoeds!

Mark took me to lunch.  It was such a fun mother and son bonding time.  

Cousins born a day apart, celebrating their 15th birthdays.

Best buds!  One last picture together before getting braces on!

Katy with her new braces.

Rachel bought these with her birthday money.

Laura before getting her braces on!

Mark before getting his braces on.

The girls and I went to the general session of Women's Conference up in Salt Lake.

Mark had a great year playing on the school's club volleyball team.

Mark is the middle blocker.

Jacob liked to eat dirt and other things.

Cute Brian.

The kids on a fun ride at the Lehi Fun Center (also known as the Lehi Dumb Center.)

Jacob watching the kids play games.

Mark and Brian doing some mini golf.

Our cute house before we moved in.

Russ doing the run portion of the St. George half Ironman race.

Brian hanging out with Dad, waiting to cheer Russ on.

Post race chats.

I took some of the kids to welcome Grandma Baughman and Pa's back into the states after being in Australia and on their mission.

Jake likes to eat dirt!

Jody and me, trying to look gorgeous.

Mark with uncle Reid.

Good times at Seven Peaks!

Brian in Grandma Vance's backyard.

Hanging out with family when Reid and Heather came to visit.

The kids worked hard to help at the Hart family's wedding.

"Best Friend" Lauren Hart and Katy.

All our stuff in crates, being delivered to our home after being in storage for 6 months!

Brian and cousin Emerson.

Heather holding Tommy and Katy holding Jacob.

Home Depot trip!

Dad and Mark pulling up the staples in preparation for the new carpet.  There was a wall where the wood floor ended that we had removed to make our front room more spacious.

Brian and Dad making a sandbox.

Dad with his cousins Brad and Devin McDonald.

Brian and Jacob, playing in their new sandbox.

Floating the river with the Brigantis!

Mom floated in this raft with the younger kids.

Rachel and Brian on a ride with Dad on the "high speed passenger train."

Timpanogos volleyball team!

Katy with Makensey Boyer.

Mom with Jody and Katy.  Apparently stripes are in!

Joe heading to the slopes.

Jacob didn't get to ski, he just hung out with Mom.

Rachel's 9th birthday.  

Fun in the pool at Snowbird.

Celebrating Dad, Katy and Jacob with all the other February birthdays at Snowbird.

Hawaii with my siblings!!

Russ and I would go for ocean swim workouts or run along the beach barefoot almost every day.  It was such a dream come true for me!

Jody with Jakey baby.

Mark and Robbie!

Dancing in the street before the Fourth of July parade in Provo.

Laura and Macie.

Cousins at the parade.

Samuel and Brian.

Josh and Joe playing badminton with Uncle Russ.

Elise, Laura, Katy and Macie.

Rachel, Eva and Sophia.

Night time fireworks at our house with Kofoeds.

Susie, Mom, Sherri and Angela.

Gunnell cousins.

The Davis family at the Provo Rec Center.

Painting time.

Dad reading to Brian.

Temple to Temple Run with our cousins.

Brian at Lake of the Woods.

Rachel paddle boarding at Lake of the Woods.

Uncle Doug with Jacob.

Partying at Lake of the Woods!

Picking blackberries in Oregon after a memorial service for Grandpa Baughman.

Camping at Lake of the Woods.

Hiking Scout Falls with Russ and Doodle.

Camping in the Unitahs by Mirror Lake.  We did wilderness camping.  Using the bathroom in the wild was interesting.

No one caught a fish because all the night crawlers I  bought died in the hot car.

First day of school pictures.

Mom's 41st birthday!

Family bike ride for Mom's birthday.

Bean museum.

Mark's 17th birthday.

Trick or treating at Dad's work in Provo.

Brian's 4th birthday!

Thanksgiving puzzles and feast!

The lights at Temple Square with Russ.

Gingerbread houses at Grandma Vance's.

Watching football with Grandma Gunnell and the Rogers.

Traditional Christmas Eve dinner at Grandma Gunnell's house.

Christmas Eve photo book assembly.

Sledding at Oak Canyon.

Dad coached Joe's football team and Rachel played with her school team.

Hawaii with my sibs!

The Nativity play.

Christmas morning.

Kobe Kennerly came for a visit.