A Very SPECIAL Guy!

Nicole worked really hard on a special surprise she had for her Aunt Kelli. For those of you who don't know, a very short version of the story is this. Kelli & Terry were our kids godparents. Terry died very unexpectedly about 3 1/2 years ago at a very young age of 36. He had a blood clot in his leg break loose and go to his brain. Anyways, he is truly missed by all. But as you can see, the four of them had a very special bond.
Kelli-

Something happened back a few years,
Something that brought us all to tears.
That someone was special to you and to me.
That someone will be remembered throughout eternity.
Everyone loved him…I can’t see why not.
He was a loveable guy and you thought he was hot!
Everyone that knew him would probably agree.
Who is this you ask? His name was Terry.
You probably didn’t have to ask ‘cause you knew him oh so well.
But boy do we miss him and his WONDERFUL smell!
He’s with us every single day, no matter what we do.
He’s here, he’s there, he’s everywhere, but he’s especially with you!
He’s in our hearts, our thoughts and minds.
He’s with us when we laugh or cry.
He took us to Chuck E. Cheese’s,
And endured the Annie songs that weren’t always on key.
When we got together it was so much fun,
Like dancing around in the blazing hot sun.
But now he is gone, and he left us all here,
And we can’t wait till we see him in Heaven up there.

Love, Nicole 12/06

This is a drawing of Terry that Nicole had drawn and put with the above poem she wrote.

There wasn't a dry eye in the place!

Christmas with Grandma & Grandpa Lind

Amanda was thrilled to receive the dance mania! It hooks to your TV and you watch the TV screen and follow the directions on where to step on the step pad. It is quite a work out!
Amanda got a Pink I-pod mini!
Nicole is sooooo excited...she got the green I-Pod mini. She wasn't sure if she should touch it! She was in love with the gift...she has been wanting an I-Pod for over 2 years! She says grandma and grandpa have to start thinking now about how they can top this, because she didn't think it was possible to top last year. She got a digital camera last year, and didn't think anything would come as close to being as great as she thought the camera was. But, now that she too, has "slept" with the I-Pod every night, just like the digital camera last year, she is convinced there is no way it can get any better than this!
Rob got a circular saw with a laser eye! He was ecstatic! He also got a solder gun.

Christmas with Family

Pamela with her new horse & carriage! (She also got a new tu tu!)
Alan & Rob trying to get the horse and carriage out of the box. Barbie does a great job at permanently installing the things to the cardboard!
Laura poses as Aunt Kelli opens her gifts from the girls! Barry Manalow CD and chocolate orange sticks...her favorites.
There were 14 of us for our family dinner. Yummy ham and all the trimmings! We had a great time celebrating Christ's birth!

Christmas Breakfast with the Hardings

Aunt Kate & the girls with the little elephant earrings they bought Kate.
Uncle John & Aunt Pat sent autograph books, Target gift cars and snowman ornaments with their names on them. Thanks Uncle John & Aunt Pat!
Great Grandma Baker came all the way from Sacramento to spend the holidays with her family. The girls have out grown little grandma!
Grandma Bonnie made blankets for the girls. Monkeys for Nicole & giraffes for Amanda.
Nicole did some art work for Grandma Bonnie for Christmas.


Rob cooked a delicous breakfast...similar to his years at McDonalds as a manager. It was delicous! We had sausage & bacon, biscuits, "folded eggs" and cheese.

An Awesome Christmas with Mick & Rhonda

Saturday, we celebrated Christmas with our nephew Mick, and his mom Rhonda. Here we are posing with a personalized ornament Debbie received from Mick & Rhonda.
Mick is known as "the KING" when he comes to visit! He is loved a lot!
Mick and Rhonda...mom and son! Mick is wearing his new shirt we got him..."Where's my peeps at?" Of course the shirt came with a couple boxes of peeps, Mick's favorite!
Gramps, Mick and Grandma! He is proud of the fact that he is the tallest!
Gramps and Grandma and their three grandchildren! They are so proud!


Thanks Mick and Rhonda for spending the day with us! Thanks too, Mick for spending the night. Aunt Debbie can't wait to bowl again next year and win again!

BROWN VS CHRISTMAS

The Harding family loves Christmas...but Rob, and all of us, have to try hard to remember to love Brown (aka UPS) at Christmas. This was Rob's truck today at 1pm after 80 deliveries, and 120 more to go. He has already worked 30 hours this week by the time this picture was taken. Thus the reason Rob is glad there is only 3 more working days till Christmas!

IMing!

We talked with Marina today thru instant messaging! She was at a friends house and we were able to see her on a web cam! We loved it! What a hoot! She is sooo funny. We met her friend from school Alejandra.

Dinner with Friends!

We had the Bohrer family over for an early Christmas celebration tonight, and I forgot to take photos! (Of course, I am sure that Peter (middle in back) was thrilled! Little does he know that I had this photo from a BBQ earlier this summer!) We had a great time together, and as usual the time passed quickly and before we knew it was midnight! The kids had a great time talking and playing games, while us adults had no problem "gabbing" the night away! Although, they probably weren't thrilled to go home, as they have had no power for more than 24 hours. Hope you guys are in the light and heat soon! Thanks for coming.

Let It Snow Winter Ball

Nicole & her best friend, Nancy, attended their first Reynolds Formal! They went to the dance together, and met up with a group of girl friends there. They had a great time and really enjoyed seeing their friends all dressed up!

Isn't she beautiful!

Amanda Plays the Bells!

Amanda plays the bells...and Mom gets to watch!
She did a beautiful job on her bell solo and playing the cymbols! Way to go Amanda!

Amanda & Elizabeth...best of buddies.

The Christmas Tree

Since I was still recovering, Nicole & Rob had ear infections, and it was soooo cold outside, we decided to get our tree from the boy scouts at the 7-11 parking lot! Saturday and Sunday were dedicated to decorating the tree. Rob is in charge of lights and the star on top!

Amanda and her friend, Elizabeth, helped hang the decorations, while Christmas music played in the background.
Tarzan, Nicole's cat, helped her hang up her ornaments! The girls love to go thru their boxes of ornaments and remember who they received them from. We have kept a running list since their first Christmas.
More decorating!
Nicole and Amanda did a nice cheesy pose for their mom!

Nicole's Horrible No Good Very Bad Day!

No pictures today...what the rest of us thought was going to be a great day (because Debbie can now drive!), was Nicole's worst day of High School so far! She got challenged for her 3rd chair position and her solo piece. By the way, both had to be played by memory! The challenge was suppose to happen on Tuesday, and for various reasons didn't occur until today. Well, she chocked...got really nervous because the other girl did so good, and LOST! And if that wasn't bad enough (welcome to the real world) the band director had to announce to the entire band class that the other girl now has third chair and will also play the solo in the band concert. Needless to say, we are a little hurt and upset around here! Rob and Nicole are out on a date tonight watching the jazz band concert. And, hopefully trying to remember why we wanted to play the flute in the first place! Ouch!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Hoover's, Aunt Kelli, Dad & Mom. Mom cooked an absolutely delicious dinner for all of us. Of course, Aunt Kelli brought enough mashed potatoes to feed an Army!
We had a delicious Ja'Civa chocolate cake for dessert...
and a scrumptious pumpkin pie! The cooks were very busy preparing the meal.
Aunt Kelli has become a "Martha Stewart"! We were all shocked at the beauty of her cut out sugar cookies. As always they were delicious...but almost too beautiful to eat!

We are thankful for all of you...our family and friends.

A Great Day!!!

Sorry for the blur...I could only get photos thru the windows!



The sun is shinning....
Debbie got to come home...
and yard work got done!
How exciting!

Marina Called!!!

Marina, our Basque student from San Sebastian, Spain, called Debbie today. Really, she is our 3rd Daughter! It was 11:30pm on Friday evening there, and 2:30pm in the afternoon today here. We are hoping that she will come back to Oregon this summer with the "Summer in America" program our church helps host. Marina spent a little over a month with us (July 06) and we can't wait to see her again. We love her to death! She calls us her "American family"! All of us got to talk to her, even her "American Grandparents", Gordy & Judee.

Vetran's Day

Happy Vetran's Day!
Here are a couple of cartoons to help us remember how others have served our country! Thanks goes out to my dad, Gordy for serving so many years, and anyone else who has served!

6th day out of surgery!

Mom and her sleeping pal! They make a great couple because they sleep most of the day away! But mom is getting better! It has almost been a week! She does some pretty crazy stuff ,though! She has every meal in the kitchen with us! Good job mom!

Mom doesn't usually like cats except for Olly apparently! (Grandma's kitty!) Maybe it's because he keeps her company! He is constantly meowing! Mom knows all about his life!















Dad was watching movies and surfing the web. He was supposed to be keeping mom company but that wasn't going well!!!

Mom doesn't like to be alone so here is Grandpa ironing in mom's room!