Monday, December 19, 2011

2011 in Retrospect

Happy Holidays!


In lieu of a wordy Christmas post,
here are a few of my favorite photos from 2011.

Natalie loves gymnastics, and has a natural ability.
It is great way to burn off some of her excess energy.

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I love this photo of the Cousins!

Matthew, Carly, Ryan, Austyn,
Amelia, Joshua, Natalie, Evan, and Aubrey



In May I moved into this house with a beautiful yard.
The red bench is one of my yard sale treasures.

Pears from the tree in my backyard.

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Attack of the web worms.
Not an unusual sight in Southern Oregon this summer.
The experts tell us the trees will survive...

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CAMP GRANDMA

Aubrey made her first visit to grandma's house in June.
Here she is exploring the fun activities at the Frog'o Faire.

Natalie at the Rooster Crow in Rogue River.

Natalie leading the miniature horse with my friend, Margo.

Shadow play at the fountain park in Central Point.



Queen Natalie on the rocks in Crescent City.
She cannot resist climbing, jumping, and posing for photographs.

Ryan had the most fun at KidTime, a hands-on kids museum in Medford.

Ryan and Mr. Melon.
We had campfires and smores in the back yard,
and drew chalk mazes in the driveway too.

Carly beach combing for treasures in Newport.
We spent the night in a yurt and visited the Oregon Aquarium.

Carly learning all about horses with Margo.

Carly is a huge Harry Potter fan and has read all of the books.
She wanted to be Hermoine for Halloween, so we made her a cape
and searched the thrift store for the rest of the costume.

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Mom at Mt. Shasta City Park.

Amanda and Ryan

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Whiskeytown Lake in August.

Aubrey the best swimmer of the bunch.

Ryan

Natalie Jane

Carly

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Seattle Waterfront.


Space Needle

In September I attended the annual Postpartum Support International conference in Seattle. The conference was a wonderful opportunity to meet and be inspired by others who are working to help families experiencing postpartum depression. I volunteered last year to become the PSI coordinator for our county. We have organized a weekly support group for families which will start in January and established a local warm line where families can call for emotional support and information about local resources.

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Emily attended a few weddings this year.
Below: Sarah, Crystalle, and Emily... emulating Charlie's Angels?
(I think I have a similar photo of her with her high school friends.)
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Amanda's friend, Laurel took these gorgeous photos
of Natalie and Aubrey.

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Santa Wes. Slimming down after his gastric surgery. Looking good!

Benny... last Christmas.
(he doesn't like to have his picture taken so I have no current ones!)

There you have it.... some of 2011.
I wish you all a joyful holiday season.
Love, Kelly




Starting Over...

I have really enjoyed posting on my blog, but for a variety of reasons I let two years slip away since my last post. What prompted me to return again? I didn't get my Christmas cards out this year!

For many years I wrote an annual Christmas letter. After 20 years I decided to start the blog so I could document the family activities all year long. That worked for a couple of years. Then last year I created a holiday card complete with photos through SendOutCards. It was fun, sort of like scrap booking! Well it is a little too late to do that this year. Which is just as well because I have been wanting to start blogging again. So here I am starting over with a commitment to post at least once a month in 2012. Since it is not quite 2012, I will start with a recap of 2011 in the form of an annual Christmas letter.