Reflections: Year 2007 AND 2006...please don't get mad at me!

I am so guilty for not doing this since last year. So, this is two years in a row...2007 and 2006. You will, of course, be able to tell which one is which, because of the '06 shirts we wear, and becuase I wanted to see how much different we looked. I want to keep adding and adding to this every year so we can look back someday and see the sweet, calssic faces of these kids. I am so excited to get started. "Where is that smile when we need it?"...2007

"Like Father, Like Son"......2006

"Face of the Year"......2006

"Best of Cousins"......2006

Here goes the "family" updates for '07. Gotta love it!

Let's start with this little girl here. Emma is such a trooper - she loves smiling, taking pictures, doing ballet, eating, and everything you could imagine. She has been obsessed with being a "princess/ballerina/mommy" when she grows up (as if...) and really enjoys the so-called "company" of her lip gloss (clear coat) and mommy's mascara. Being beautiful is everything to her. Mind the pink cowgirl boots she cannot live without! She admires the fact that "Dora Lives" and is completely in love with it all the way. She knows more Spanish than I do, and I take Spanish in school! Everything she does is hysterical (unless, of course, she is writing "pretty picture" on the walls or "pretty face"-ing herself in the mirror with Addie's (my) makeup). Otherwise, she is the best little girl anywhere that "hides" (covers her face) when she is in trouble or says "I didn't do it!" and smiled really big, trying to look cute, even when she is guilty. Funny thing is, if you try to get her in trouble, she'll ecape! And if she runs up and hugs you all happily for no apperant reason, something is very very wrong. But she is so much fun to be around and we cannot wait for her next birthday coming soon. (Well, at least she's already potty-trained!)
Ethan is the Man of the Year. He has been able to strike out big eighth-graders in baseball in our front yard, is the right kid to be around, and doesn't care if he is shorter than anyone else in his grade, becuase he gets the kisses from all the nieghborhood girls every year, and is almost beating Tal's time (by about three seconds, which is good becuase that is rare for boys his age, height, and underwieght). This Yankee-addicted madman can beat a kid in a race any day! His big heart, cute hair, adorable little cheeks and flattering smile make all the girls come back for more. (I know my parents don't want me to share this but we were at a resturant and a little girl came up and kissed him on the cheek and ran away. It was just a two-year-old girl! It was a while back, though...so funny.) He is so athletic and very popular, because everyone at his school - not just in his grade - know him really well. Ethan is also pretty good at hitting, even if he is using Tal's big-barrel bat and is starting a leauge this season for the first time in coach pitch. He is a great runner, fielder, and a little Dennis Lamb for sure! He is just a wonderful kid with a big heart and a great sense of humor...we love him!
I'm not exactly sure what to say about this baseball-playing, football-addicted, fast-moving, piano-playing kid. Blessed (just like his sister) with the "Gift of Gab", he is such a maniac and is more aggressive than EVER on the field, in the dugout, or on the front yard. Baptized just last year (as in 2006, sorry...) he has been such a dude ever since. Picking up speed, playing in a kid pitch season with some very administered players - Let's put this seriously! - he is one heck of a player. I cannot believe how fast this little Rob Lamb ever picked up. Smarter than ever with great averages, perfect scores in every subject, this is what we call "TD Tal" (Touchdown Tal)...he personality manages to beat wildly and all the girls seem crazy for it (it must be genetics- I wonder where he got the good looks???) he seems to be very competitive, which is not something we entirely recommend, but it is an extreme family trait! Anyway, we are the kids who know their stuff, but Talmage is the rulemaker of all games played by our family.
Gymnast, soccer player, cheerleader, tumbler, basketball player, team leader, volleyball player, runner...I guess academics is nothing to me (JUST KIDDING!!! :) Although I am moving a little too fast on my sporting events, I don't care and just take life by the horns (is that already a slogan???). Fast-paced, upbeat and crazy are three words to descride me. FAST-PACED: I cannot stay still for one second, and must be passing in gym at all times. That is my subject, of course, because I never stop working for the top/gold. 18 goals this year in one season of soccer, passed up on floor, bars, beam and vault on fall term for gymnastics, am taking a one-on-one semi-coaching ritual for tumbling, play Beehive Basketball (it's in the Young Womans "education"), I am team leader for soccer, tumbling and gymnastics, I do/did a volleyball summer season on a sort of junior, junior Varsity team (like........JJV?????), I am the fastest runner that is fifteen and younger in my neighorhood, and i am the fastest female runer in my school (coming in fourth-place all around, being the first girl past the finish line...). UPBEAT: I am always one step ahead of everyone, no matter what. CRAZY: I do too many sports, I guess.

We Love You All!!!!!!
~Happy New Year~

Utah!

Okay, lately I have been noticing that people are just writing down their everyday lives on their blogs. Here is ours. For most of you who do not know this, our family has been in Utah, taking a well-deserved vacation to surprise our grandparents (Marilyn and Jerry McGhie) in their little Alpine home before they leave on their mission to Nauvoo. We arrived on December 18, the same day school was released, and we are actually leaving tomorrow (Monday, January 7th) at FOUR IN THE MORNING to get on our seven o' clock morning flight. But we had the opportunities to see snow, family members, friends, and just people we clearly don't know. Here is our entire vacation head to toe:

1st - Surprise trip to Grandma's on December 18th.

2nd - Grandma's ever-so-wonderful cookie decorating party on 19th (one of best memories ever!) and went sledding with Suzanne and family on 22nd. Family Nativity Scene and party at hospitable Aunt Kristen's house.

3rd - Christmas Eve - went to Grandma's Ward Nativity party (the main reason some of us go is to get the bags they pass out with mini-chocolates, peanuts, and taffy.)

4th - Christmas Day - (pictures coming soon) with our family possession, the Wii. Dinner with the McGhie family which served sandwiches, chips, and sides. Perfectly sunny day, but not hot enough to melt out the snow!

5th - Sledding with Aunt Corie's family and the Roses at Soldier Hollow

6th - New Years Eve Parent Party - Mitch, Nicole, Scott, Suzanne, Lisa and Rob went out to dinner New Year's Eve. I baby-sat for Arden, Rachel, Cami, Emma, Ethan, Sam, Ethan, and Max while Tal was home sick for the holidays :(. But never fear! I had them all under control - they were very good! Afterwards, we went to Kristen and Robert's to celebrate the New Years (10:00 for kids, 12:00 for adults - I was considered an adult just like every year!) Funny thing was that we turned on the television just a little too late, right after the ball had dropped and they were interviewing Miley Cyrus. Confused, and angry, some of us were about to phone New York and make them re-drop the ball. Luckily, we caught up when they dropped the ball once more at Western time - which was midnight. I'm pretty sure I was the only not kissing anybody, but like I care! The funniest thing was the Wii Carnival Games - it was a family favorite, and we had to shake-shake-shake until the power reaches the top. Most everyone gave up - even the really talented, strong ones that know their stuff; especially the weaker ones. But we got everyone on film, and EVERYONE had a look of anger, frustration, determination and partial DEATH on their faces. Too funny!

7th - Snow, snow, snow! We had a great time in the snow - but my favorite part was today. A stray retriever from somewhere nearby came up to our house...BEST DOG EVER. We think it was the dog we met over the summer and officially named "Lucky" (in my point of view, that's not even a name!) and later discovered her real name was actually "Miley" (uh....) but she was a great puppy - perfect white coat, wonderful no-bark sense and very playful. It was pretty calm and didn't jump, bark, and led its own life. Anyway - backing into reality - we were trying o figure out what to use as a sled. We rummaged around the garage until we found the perfect big cardboard box - as big as a sled and as perfect as one can get! It was great...for a while. Soon after, my dad finished shoveling the driveway when we came back out, he presented us with the coolest kneeboard. AKA, SledWinner101. Talmage wasn't as cool with the sled as I was, and was too busy making his Civil War wannabe fort, while Ethan had run inside since the big "puppy" came out to play, and I was alone with the dog playing with the kneeboard/sled and in the snow. It eventually blizzared like CRAZY, but you will only see Georgia kids trying to sled in a blizzard. While we were out yelling and playing, all of the neighbors were staring out their windows thinking, "They must have problems!" But this'll be the only time you see us kids in the snow, so be ready!

Since we leave tomorrow, we will hopefully be back in the summer, and if not, we'll move this year for sure.

Love,

Me