My favorite things about the beach....

#1 Being at the beach... I LOVE to be at the ocean and hear the roar of the waves and feel the wind on my face... you can scream and no one can hear you and yet it is the most PEACEFUL place for me (aside from the temple)



#2 Watching my husband with his children. Wrestling, teaching them to ride their bikes, running in the waves (pic below of Lance and Tank running waves... ), teaching them how to set up camp, reading them books, having the kiddos all want to pile on his lap...

#3 Lance wants to take me to Hawaii... someday. He lived there in his youth and then went to BYU-Hawaii before his mission. He has been with family since and he LOVES it. Why is this one of my favorite, since I am afraid to fly over the ocean and we could NEVER afford this any 'decade' soon? Because he loves it and wants to share it with his best friend, me. I know he loves me and Hawaii has happy memories for him that he wants to share with his love...



#4 I can walk on the beach for hours... put me on a track or walking down the block and ugh, I'm done really quick. But, put me on the beach and let me stroll... I love it.

All this talk of the beach makes me want to head over to the coast... maybe we will.

Milestone for our niece...

My niece Camryn just got baptized at the beginning of this year.

Eight years has flown by so fast and she has grown up to become a beautiful young lady. I remember the day she was born and now she is the oldest of four children...

Congratulations Cammy~~~~~

Here is her gorgeous white dress...

I wanna Rock!!!!

The Tank wants to be a rockstar!

New Year's Eve was spent at Shawn and Stephanie's house and they pulled out RockBand. We don't have any video games or Wii's or band equipment games, so my kids were very intrigued. The Tank just walked over and grabbed the guitar first and then took his turn with the sticks. He was really excited.
Stephanie (his Auntie) is standing so close so that she can do the bass drum pedal on the floor. The Tank is too short to man the drums and the pedal at the same time.

Rock on Tank man... Rock on!

Now, he wants that for Christmas... oh sheesh... the new lists have begun.

"I wanna be a dentist~~~~" sang in my best 'Little Shop of Horrors' voice...

Fan-C lost her first tooth.

Yep, she is six and finally has crossed

over to the Tooth-Fairy cycle.

Here is the problem. About six weeks ago she started complaining that her mouth hurt. I looked and didn't see anything and then like two days later a tooth was coming in... BEHIND all her other teeth. I freaked and went to get her to the dentist and the big snow of 2008 hit. Snow, ice and all the kids in tow.... not going to the dentist. Then my sister-in-law (dental hygienist) said that the dentist would just tell her to get the baby tooth out... soon. I told Fan-C to push on it with her tongue. She wouldn't. So, tonight I told Fan-C that I wanted to look in her mouth. I got my finger nail in between her teeth and just flicked it with my thumb nail and bam... it fell forward. I just grabbed it and out it came. She is flipping out and screaming because she can taste her own blood. I show her the tooth and she says, "The tooth fairy better leave me like $800 dollars. Cuz that hurt!" I told her the Tooth Fairy is dealing with a slumping economy and not to get her hopes up quite that high.

Here is the pic of the tooth that has grown in behind the hole that it should have been growing into... *sigh* I so wanted to avoid the orthodontist with my kiddos...

(fleck of color on the back teeth is from her vitamin)

The tiny tooth... I really can't wait to do that again. (hence the title of this post) I told Lance after I pulled it that I got such a rush, I should have been a dentist or maxillofacial dentist/ surgeon ...

Happy New Year...

Lance and Abran

We had a great New Year's gathering at Shawn and Stephanie's home.

Our youngest watched movies the whole night.

We got to visit with family before they returned to Texas and to ring in the New Year's together.

We send out our New Year's wish for you all....

May this be your best year yet!

To prosperity, posterity & love...

Stanley Christmas

Stanley Family Christmas 2008

This was the year to have everyone here in Oregon for Christmas. Even Santa makes a special appearance to see all the grand kids and to hear the final requests. He came to town to see the Stanley kids on December 23rd. We all go to Grandpa and Grandma's house and have pizza and then the big guy arrives...

Here are the Stanley MEN...

The Stanley WOMEN (along with one that we HOPE will join our ranks)

Santa's arrival... we all were singing, 'Santa Clause is Coming to Town'

Tiny-T was screaming when she was called up, but she calmed down and did put in her requests for 'brace-a-lets'... Santa is touching her, she's a wee bit stiff but calm. ;o)

The Tank was so amped to have the big guy here and he wanted his Barn...

Fan-C is our love bug. She asked for 'Cupcake Maker' and wanted to remind Santa that he needed to give the reindeer all the carrots this year. Last year he only took a couple, she leaves out NINE , one for each reindeer. He promised he would take them all and he did.

This is our oldest, Abran. Yep, even he got to sit on Santa's lap. It was great to see him for Christmas... he lives/works in Texas.

ALL the Stanley grand babies... Santa is buried under little ones in the middle.

Here is Grandpa and Grandma Stanley... the leader of all these wonderful people.

It was a Merry Christmas...