Glimpses of Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas with all of our family at home this year.  We all got to spend time with our new grandbaby which was very fun.  Everyone is getting older and we don't know how many more "family" Christmas's we will get so this year was very special!  We have decided after spending time with Aubrey, that we are going to want lots more grandkids!!!

Hope you all appreciate how hard I've been working!

Well its not everyday I get to an exotic and sunny destination, but today I did. I spent the last day relaxing in St Thomas, U S Virgin Islands. The first picture is out my rooms window and looks out to St Johns. The one below is what our hotels private beach looks like -- very nice, and I went for a nice swim out in the warm waters.



Here are a few other pics of the hotel beach/pool area. It was quite a nice resort, and even had a bridge over the pool (complete with waterfalls) leading out to the beach.



There were also a few "critters" around. Of course a few bugs.........


And a few Iguanas as well -- they were everywhere and not shy either! As you can tell, they would come right up to you.

The Construction Project Continues........

So Drake and I have spent now "hours & hours" on trying to finish up the room over the barn. So far my updates have been sketchy at best (ok, so non-existent is more like it). But here are a few pics of the latest .



We even managed to get Stephanie involved! Actually it wasn't that difficult, she just could stand to see what kind of shoddy drywall work we were doing and assured us she could do better! Thanks to Tom & Huck we had a new assistant!



We really are making progress and just finished up the drywall work and trim. Next is paint, carpet and putting in the fireplace. Hopefully in time for Christmas.

Check out our new baby girl.....

Well, Aubrey Grace is now 6 weeks old and couldn't be cuter. We love her and can't wait to teach her very bad habits when her parents are not looking. I have already taught her to cry at night and to eat all the time. She is very smart and learned it right away. Kirsten taught her how to get angry and throw a fit when you don't get your way. She also learned that very quickly. Her next trick will be to bite. But don't tell her parents.... (the very young)Grandma Loud

Kirsten turns 20?!

Well maybe not quite yet, but soon! We decided to celebrate Kirstens up and coming birthday just a few days early with Des & Justin coming up for dinner. Des volunteered to cook Kirstens requested meal of enchiladas and they were amazing! We celebrated early because this is the week Kirsten goes off to school and wont actually be home for her "real" day. We had a nice evening and gathered everyone around the birthday girl to sing happy birthday to her.She said she even liked the cake, and for anyone who knows Kirsten knows sweets are really not her thing. In fact one birthday she just wanted a "birthday ham" instead of any treats!
It was a nice evening and we wish Kirsten many many more to come!

Washington DC -- All month long!

So this month has been a Washington DC kind of month. Sometimes that just happens. So I decided to try and get to know the city a little bit better. And actually it was kind of nice?! I spent some time at the Smithsonian...........So much to see and so little time...............
From the "Spirit of St Louis", the Bell X1, and spaceship 1 to Lincolns Top Hat, and the original "star spangled banner" flag to ............Judy Garlands "Ruby Red Slippers" from the Wizard of OZ. The Smithsonian is truly a national treasure in and of itself. I also spent a little time over at the national art museum and saw some wonderful art.......
There will be extra credit given for anyone who can correctly identify the paintings!

And of course no visit to our Nations Capitol would be complete without a stop by the White House.

The Construction Project

So Drake has finally convinced his parents to finish the room over the "Barn". He has decided that it would be a great place to hangout and have practices with his band. The truth be told, a little distance from the ever increasing din of youthful musicians is not neccesarily a bad thing. So we thought that learning how to build is probably not a bad thing for him to learn.

So............ We started the planning stage and figured out what we wanted to do and went from there. Drake had a group of his buddies come over and completely clean out the upstairs so we could start fresh. He really got into it -- so much so that he wanted to just throw everything out into the trash. Then we started getting the bids for some of the work (just in case we decided not to do it all ourselves) and collect the materials. We got a nice BIG window (5' x 6'), and did have a friend come and cut a hole in our wall and frame in the window. Then Drake and I did the rest of the framing inside, wired all of the outlets and lights, loaded all of the 12' long sheets of sheetrock in to the upstairs through the new hole in the wall, and started insulating.
He has been working hard at it, but has decided insulating is not quite as much fun as he thought it might be!
We look forward to finishing the job, but most of all I think the process will be just as rewarding! I will try to keep an progress report going as to "our" progress.

A short trip across country

Well the remaining Louds who reside at home went on a short jaunt to Illinois recently to pick up a new vehicle. While we were there we decided to make a short vacation out of it....... so off to St Louis and our old stomping grounds we went.

We ended up going by the old homestead and even seeing Kirstens old school "Wolf Branch" which we still think was a wonderful school by the way.

We went on a short "detour" across South Dakota and had to stop at the world famous "Corn Palace" in Mitchell South Dakota -- and of course had to have the kids mug for a few shots.



And then it was off to Mt Rushmore for the evening. We got there a little later than we had originally planned but had a great time anyhow. It turned out there was a special presentation in the evening and then they light up the mountain. It was really great and we highly reccommend it to anyone who just happens to be "passing by"!



Oh, and should I forget -- the trip was marred by just one (ok two) small details. Drake was sick with what we now believe to be the dreaded swine flu the whole time! And we got a phone call on the road about how our cat "Oz" had been mauled/killed by the neighbors dog. Other than that...."how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?"

New Calling, New Ward

Mike and I are now attending the University Young Adult 13th Ward, University 2nd Stake, Ogden Utah. Mike as a member of the Bishopric and me as a very supportive adviser and ward choir member. Drake has also been asked to attend, but they will make allowances for him if he would still like to participate in his priest quorum. The stake president has said that once the summer activities get underway, Drake will definitely want to attend the singles ward. They do really cool stuff. The biggest part of the calling for our family sounds like attending ward functions. They meet for family night every Monday at seven and then usually Saturday night as well. Our new ward is very diversified. Many are graduated and working in their careers while others are still students. The ward is huge. It runs from Weber state out to the lake, and then from Washington Terrace to 12th st. We are looking forward to this new change as an adventure and we are really excited about the chance to get to know the young adults in the Ogden area.

Make a Smilebox greeting

A grandbaby is coming

Josh and Shelby have just announced that in the early part of September they will be having a baby. Shelby is doing well, but has been morning sick. Josh reportedly has been feeling just fine.

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Scotland '07

So I am just doing some much needed editing to the Family Blog so here are just some of the old pictures I took off plus some new ones.