First Day of School!

I love the fall for so many reasons.... I love seeing the kids in their new haircuts and crisp clothes...all ready to start school. The kids all had a great first day.

I love Joanna's blue, blue eyes in this shot!

Nathan is such a cute little ham. He hams it up for all the pictures...I have to snap a million in hopes of getting a couple of usable ones! :)

Rebekah looks so pretty here. Her hair is getting so long, and she is becoming such a beautiful young woman.

Miriam is growing up so fast!! She is such a huge help and a fun companion these days!

I just really loved this shot of Joanna and Miriam. Both looking so pretty this morning!

Abney Reunion 2009

We had a great time at the Abney reunion this year. It was at a wonderful camp in Show Low. Unfortunately, we weren't able to attend the entire event, but we loved the time that we were able to spend with the family!

The pictures aren't complete...we didn't capture all of the family members in attendance, but we did get some cute shots of lots of them.

When we arrived at the camp, there were tons of horses just walking around the camp. They were noisy, and spooked easily, but not too bad if we just moved slowly and quietly. The kids had a great time petting the friendly ones.

I love this silly shot....Miriam has got some great guns!

The look on Taylor's face cracks me up every time. If looks could kill....!

The canoe-ing was fun....definitely harder against the wind! But the kids managed the boats well, especially Miriam...she was a natural!

Rebekah was so sweet with the little girls. I think she looks so pretty with the wind in her hair in this shot.

The kids had so much fun on the swings. I love this one of Nathan and Joanna sharing a seat.

Don't they look beautiful!?!

Lots of the kids decided to swim, and Nathan had a really good time rockin' this island.... a little too good, maybe. It actually came un-anchored, and the kids swam over to help get it back into position and stabilized.

"Say cheese, Payton!" (and the eyes close...)

We had a great time with the cousins. So great, that most of our kids got pretty sunburned. The weather was just so pleasant that it didn't even dawn on us to put sunscreen on. They paid for that little mistake for a few days afterward. (Poor Joanna was even sunburned on her hands and wrists and knuckles!)

Exciting times!

Miriam finally got her permit!! We are all so excited, and have mostly been keeping it to parking lots and the neighborhood so far. We'll graduate to bigger streets soon. She's doing great!!

Heaven on Earth...

This year the DW Runyans ventured to Lake Powell for a family reunion. It has always been a favorite place for our family to hang out, and I was super excited to share it with Archie and the girls. Everyone had a great time. We loved spending time with family, especially in such an amazing setting.



We LOVE this place!!

Miriam, Nathan, Rebekah and Joanna at Rainbow Bridge.

Rebekah and my sister, Jen, lounging on top of the houseboat.

Archie and Joanna...day one....they were still getting a feel for the place.


Nathan, Becky, Rebekah and Jen.


Grandma, Joanna and Hannah. We had so much trouble taking this picture! I think we seriously had to try 4 or 5 times....someone was always blinking! That's why we LOVE digital photography! Turned out super cute, though.


The grandkids on top of the houseboat...most of Todd's kids weren't there yet. :(


Nathan, Becky, Joanna and Rebekah.


Archie and Miriam


Becky and Nathan...is he sleeping or faking? I still don't know for sure.


Becky and Archie at Rainbow Bridge. It was so nice that the water was high...made the hike bearable.


Some of our very generous family members arranged for us to use this houseboat every year. It is a great boat, with lots of room and some really cool features. It's amazing how many people we had on that boat and all the cool stuff that it can do!!

We started at Antelope Point, and headed up the lake for a while...almost to the San Juan. Our campsite for the first few days of the trip is pictured above. It was a great site...lots of afternoon shade, very protected from the wind, great campfire spot on the shore.


And we had our own little private bay which was the perfect size for skiing, tubing, jet skiing, wakeboarding, etc. If this pic extended just a little bit more to the right, you'd see the houseboat as pictured above. If I were technologically savvy, I might be able to merge the pics into a cool pano shot. But I'm not...so you'll just have to imagine it.


One of the great things about our campsite was the shore. There was a nice big area for people to hike and explore, still while in-view of the houseboat. The above pic is Rebekah, Tiff and Nathan..but the pic doesn't do it justice. They were WWWAAAAYYYY high on the rocks. One of the uncles was so nice to set up some geo-cashing courses for us...we had fun using the GPS and checking out the scenery.



Hanging out near the Minor's Ladder. The kids were having a great time playing in the water at this rock beach.

I'm aware that this post has a very obvious lack of tube/wakeboard/kneeboard/etc. pictures. Don't worry, we played hard on all of those toys, sustaining many a bruise to prove it. :) You can visit either of my sisters' blogs to see more cool pics, including some hilarious action sequence pictures (all photos taken by the beautiful and talented Jen).

Living with JMT and GDog has some great action shots and another great description of the trip.

JustRandi is always funny.... check out this post for a BEAUTIFUL pic of the lake and/or this one for some funny tube pics.


All in all, it was an amazing trip! We are so thankful for the generosity of our family, and that we are able to return each year. We already have a count-down going on the bulletin board in the kitchen..... can't wait until next year!!

It was a beautiful day!

What a wonderful experience for all of us!! Many family members were able to make the trip, and it was so great to have so many people there. My sister in St George was so sweet to be our photographer!! Here are a few of the pics that she took:

The weather could not have been more perfect, and I thought the pictures came out really well. Thanks Jen!

St George, Here We Come!

Archie and I are so happy to announce that we are going to be sealed for time and all eternity in the St. George temple on March 21, 2009. We'd LOVE to have any friends and family attend that are able to come. Just let me know if you can come so that I can give you all the details!!

Stressed Spelled Backwards

Okay, so my adorable, beautiful, talented and sweet cousin (who also happens to be an amazing cook) has been kind enough to let us in on some dessert secrets. Check out her blog for great recipes!!

http://stressedspelledbackward.blogspot.com/

From fancy-shmancy stuff, to easy cookies, she's got quite the variety. Now I'm gettin' all hungry just thinking about it!!

Sorry, I'm not talented enough to grab a picture off of her blog..... you'll just have to take a leap of faith.... and click on the link.

Tidbits

Okay, so Nathan has been saving up for a long time, and he was finally able to purchase a new bike. More specifically, "a mountain bike, with gears." Did I mention that he's been dying for this bike for a really long time? It was getting dark, so the first picture isn't focused well. Here he is, going for the first ride....





Also, by popular demand, here's a picture of the cross-stitch that I've been working on. Let me just say that this picture doesn't do it justice. The resolution just isn't right. I'm also including a picture of the bag because it shows what the cross-stitch is supposed to look like when it's done. If you can't see it well enough you can go here to see it. Hey!! I just hyperlinked for the first time!!! :) And I didn't even have to ask Archie to show me how to do it!