Sam and Mary's Wedding!

On September 5th, our daughter Mary and Samuel Sullivan were married in the Spokane temple.  It was a beautiful day all around. The weather was perfect, warm but not too hot and everything went well.   We had lots of family come  and thanks to all of them for making the trip. Sam's family came from east Texas and we sure enjoyed being with them.   Thanks to all who helped and supported us.  We love you all!

Sam and Mary in front of the temple

here is the family crowd at the temple!              

Our family, Luke, Ladd, Katie, Sam, Mary, Deanne, Patrick, Marsha and David

The four Graesser Kids!

Sam has 2 new grandma's now!  Grandma Mellor and Grandma Graesser

The boys with the bride!

Beautiful girls

Sam's family!

A wonderful time for our family!

Everyone came home for our family reunion,  we started with a BBQ in the back yard and invited some extended family to join us. We also had a birthday cake for Deanne and the girls got in on the blowing out of the candles!

one, two, three, blowwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Deer Lake is about 40 minutes north of Spokane, and the lake was warm, the weather decent and the fishing was pretty good.  Dave caught some good fish, and Maggie even caught one!

We spent a lot of time in the water, skiing and boarding. The boys went until they were exhausted.

The girls catching some sunshine!

Ladd in full Kayak gear to test his skills in the water.   He was pretty good!

The sunsets were so beautiful  and so was the time enjoyed at the Lake.  What fun to have your family with you and be able to look at God's beautiful creations.

7 months in a photo nutshell!

Here it is 7 months later and am finally updating our blog. I won't give any excuses, except life flies and I wasn't able to catch it for the blog! Anyway we've had a good year and hope to continue it that way. Here we are visiting Camano Island and the area to visit family and join up at a nephew's wedding. It was fun to see so much of the family there!Here are Katie and Marsha clowning around at a yard sale on Camano Island!

Papa and Maggie taking a kayak trip in front of the house at Camano.

Papa and the girls before the wedding.

Megan, Deanne and Katie




the four of us at the wedding reception. Allison, Marsha, Megan and Mary Lou

Tired of Winter so we went south!

We got a little tired of winter and decided South would be a good place to go for the weekend. So we visited with Patrick, Deanne and the girls in Richland. We sure enjoyed visiting with them and so grateful that there was NO SNOW! You see here that I'm almost desperate for something green so I brought the tulips that we're forcing to bloom out to take a picture of the snow still in our front yard. We may see the grass by April, if we're lucky! Thanks for the visit in Richland. To all of you Happy Valentine's day, and may you have a day filled with love!







Granda hugging her girls.

Papa and Chloe taking a little rest, and papa and his girls who just gave him a big kiss!

Chloe tries out a new way to ride a trike!

Maggie Hiding under the table

A wonderful Christmas here in Spokane!

We had all the family home for Christmas for the first time since 2005! We had such a good time, even though we spent at least half our time shoveling snow. We played together, some skied, pretended for a day it was summer at the indoor water par, ate lots of yummy food, and laughed and laughed. A truly wonderful time to be together and to count our blessings. We hope it was wonderful for all of you too!

Chloe's excitement

Uncle Luke had put a train around the Christmas tree, and Chloe's reaction was priceless. Oh to be so excited!

Christmas Eve and Morning 2008

Maggie enjoying Christmas Dinner, Megan and Mary smile for the camera!

Maggie checking out her stocking to see what else Santa brought! Ladd and Katie smiling for the camera, and unwrapping the unique gift from Luke (tied up with rope)

Miles and Maggie listening to a story

Marsha, Katie and Deanne on Christmas Eve.

Granma Mellor and Jennilyn!

More snow on top of more snow!

Maggie found her spot and Papa and Grandma make a Chloe sandwich!

Amid the constant snowstorms which dumped 60 inches of snow in two weeks, we found time to play at the gym(mostly to get out of the snow) and had a fun time!

Ladd and Chloe

here are a few pictures of Deanne, Katie and Luke shoveling (or playing) on the roof.

The Birthay Boy and bash at the indoor water park!

On Luke's birthday, we spent the day at the indoor water park in Hayden, enjoying the warmth while a blizzard raged outside. Then we had a party that evening for the birthday boy and his Mom!

Pictures in Pine River Park!

After a crazy morning, we all made it to the park, and voila, the pictures turned out well, and it wasn't even painful. We're sure grateful for our beautiful family! Ever seen such good looking children?


A rare straight on look at the camera from Maggie!


Mary



Careful, that log could be slippery!


Deanne and Patrick Ladd and Katie








Finding their place in the river!


Tree hopping!









A good family picture, but that water was really cold!





Patrick, Deanne, Maggie and Chloe