New Years Eve

 balloon drop

 Having a fun evening with the Paulson family

our photo booth pics

Doug and I used to go out and have no problem staying up until the wee hours of the night......but over the last few years, we have both become very fond of our sleep (-;   We decided to spend the evening with friends eating pizza and then ringing in the New Year with all of the kids at our church party with inflatables, scavenger hunts, raffle drawings, cake/pop walks, crafts, and then a balloon drop & New Year count down with New York City (Eastern time zone) 11:00pm...perfect for us "old people" early bed timers!  We had a great time with wonderful friends, plenty of laughs and many well wishes for an amazing 2014 -- can't wait to see what God has in store for the Cairney's!!! 

Gramma's clocks

 

 Jensen boy clocks - Drew, Joe & Jack

 Cairney West -- Nick &  Zach

Pella Cairney's -- Grant, Elly, and Cassie

Each year Gramma Cairney blesses all of her grandchildren with an amazing gift that she has created. This year it was all hand crafted clocks and they are gorgeous!  I just loved looking at all of the details that make them all unique and perfect for each one of them-- well done Celie, these are amazing and a gift that they will cherish always!

Family photos

 Cairney West -- Zach, Brian, Suzy and Nick

Jensen's - Jeff, Jack, Drew, Joey and Lynne

 Pella Cairney's - Grant, Cassie, Dawn, Elly and Greg

 Uncle Jim

Papa and Gramma and all the kiddo's

Cairney Family Christmas

 Lynne, Celie, and Suz -- making a toast of holiday cheer (or maybe a toast of good health for me (-; )

 Zach and Nick -- brotherly challenging game of chess

 Ben and his clock (personally made by Gramma Cairney) -- amazing!

 excited about his new basketball jersey

 Kate's amazing new clock and very cool new sweatshirt!

 One of my favorite weekends of the year was greeted with illness from my point this year.  I was sick for our Cairney Christmas celebration and it was a total BUMMER!!  I felt horrible, so I chose to stay at home, but everyone had such a great time. Delicious food/drink,  fun board games, card games and of course the official kid pyramid was complete one again this year!  Thanks to you all for blessing us with gifts this year and more importantly, for being such an AMAZING family!  I love you all.....

Christmas Eve

 Ben....all ready for Silent Night after hearing an amazing message about "Coming Home" for Christmas Eve church...seeing all of these candles and singing tears me up each and every year.  I guess I am just overjoyed with the happiness of celebrating Christ's birth and the amazing gift that it is for me and all who believe!

 all dressed up for church....Happy Birthday Jesus!

 Ben was so excited about this new jersey.  He even did a happy dance all around the house....while yelling YEAH! (-;

 Kate was equally excited about her new sweat pants

Doug got some very cool new shirts and I LOVE my new Santa apron!  It was put to use right away on Christmas Eve while preparing the peanut butter cakes for our candle light dinner.

We were very blessed this Christmas season.  I loved spending the day together, attending Christmas Eve church services, greeting people at church attending other services (I loved doing this with the kids...they were so cute "Hi, Merry Christmas....welcome to HOPE!" )...priceless.....and then of course, our evening capped off with pancakes at Perkins, driving around looking at Christmas lights and delivering a few of our cookie trays.  Merry Christmas to you all!!!

traditions continue

We started this tradition of going to Perkins after Christmas Eve church when Kate was a baby....and it still continues.  Uncle Jim has been able to join us a few years and we love to have him with us!!!   The love of pancakes lives on (atleast for everyone else that is (-; )

Sister's & families

 My sister Nicki and her family

My sister Wendi and her husband Jon

playing games

 Jonny and Ben

 Me trying to guess what Kate and Wil were acting out

 Nicki and the boys acting out "hose"

We had such a blast all weekend back in Pender....memories filled with celebrating the birth of Christ, plenty of laughter, love, delicious food, and of course game playing. We had a great time with headbands act out...what a riot!!!  Who would have guessed it was so hard to act out a carrot or a hose??  Thank-you to Mom and Dad for hosting us all weekend!! Love you both -- XOXOXOXO

Papa and Nanny's gift

 

What do you get two of the most generous people??  Of course gift cards, homemade presents, etc., all come to mind and have also been given....BUT this year we went with a caricature of the grand kids and they LOVED it!!! While we were out at Nicki's during the state fair we had this done and the kids did great.  What fun it was anticipating the finished project.  It is one of those pictures that our first immediate reaction was "Oh no....this does not look like them at all!"  Then as the minutes went by, the picture really came to life with all of their unique features. For example: Wil and Ben's hair (prior to Ben's hair cut) Kate's glasses and blue headband, and Jonny's adorable grin.  Mom and Dad loved it and were very surprised.  Now only 365 more days of trying to come up with the next "great idea!!!"  Better get started Aunt Nicki  (-;

Pender (Suhr) Christmas 2013

 

 Wil with his favorite socks and he also loved his trick packaging (-;

 Kate loves her new sweatshirt

 Ben getting started on his new lego set

 

 My Mom loved her first official jersey -- she did so awesome this year!

 Ben -- all decked out in his cyclone gear

new sweatshirts from T & Doug

Papa's girl -- and her snowman ornament

Every year I wonder...."will this be the year that they don't count down the seconds until PRESENTS"???  After I ponder that thought for a bit, I fondly remember feeling that same way at my grandparents, who also shared the gift of generosity and love for all of us.  Kate, Ben, Wil and Jon love to section them all out and then escort us to our designated spots for the opening.  The kids (and adults  (-;  ) had a great time and are very thankful for the gifts and love that they all contained!

****sorry Jonny boy, I missed getting a photo of you!!  ***

Brooks and Scarlett, waiting for their presents



A cozy Saturday morning

 Doug...cutting the strips

 Stephanie and I

 Kate working on her knots

 Scott, Danny & Ben

 Danny ~ loving his powdered donut (-;

 Lindsey, Hilary and Kate and their beautiful blankets

Our finished projects

We knew that we wanted to spend some time with our friends, and two busy schedules were running into many conflicts....so, thanks to the Paulson family, we were able to spend a fun morning together and accomplish so much more!  We helped the blanket brigade at church make fleece blankets for a few hours on Saturday morning and had a blast!  This mission is so amazing and blesses many lives thru the hospital's emergency department and pediatric patients.  They are given a blanket with a message and prayer that healing may be upon them and that this blanket bless them with comfort during their difficult time.  The blankets turned out so cute and we had a great morning with our friends!  I left feeling blessed with the amazing gift of friendships and that our children our healthy & happy  (-; -- on most days....Praise God for this!