A Nice Time with Nancy and others (it's nice to be nice to the nice...)

My sweet sister Nancy let Danny and the kids stay at her condo while I was at the NGR. Then she and I joined the rest of the Carrells and frolicked in Provo and Orem.

We had a lovely time walking around the Provo Temple. (Danny told the kids to see if they could find any couples ready to get engaged. It was hilarious to hear about the kids' and Danny's views on those we passed...)

Sadly, all of our traveling finally caught up with Mr. Carrell. He spend too much quality time in the restroom during the night time hours and the next day wasn't much better. So- the kids and I had fun with Nancy without him!

We even got to rendezvous with one of our favorite babysitters. Andrea Campbell is a wonderful girl who used to take care of our kids when we (and she) lived in N.Y. Now she is a student at BYU. So, we took her to lunch and had a great time. It's always fun to hear Andrea laugh.

After we left Utah Valley, we headed to Kaysville to see the McMurrays. (Danny was feeling better too- hurray.) We had a great time with Liesl and her cute kids. Brynn and Kailey continue to be wonderful friends! Thanks to all of you nicies for being so good to us... and thanks for the memories! (Isn't that what Bob Hope used to say? I vaguely remember watching Bob Hope specials with my mom and dad. Now I feel really old!)

Long live the NGR!

Every couple of years- some of the coolest women in the world come together for a weekend of fun and excitement. We call it the Nef Girls Retreat or NGR for short. We had a great time.

Mud masks really are so soothing!

Trisha, Albany, Karen and Madison, Nancy, Mom, Diane, Carly, Susan and Hillary- the Nef girls on Sunday.

Nancy, Karen, Mom, Susan and Diane. Lets do it again soon!

The Rest of the West

We spent a few lovely days in Elko, Nevada with the Pattons. They took us for a great hike up to Island Lake in the Ruby Mountains. It was lovely.

John even caught a fish. You can see that it was a whopper!

Why do the Pattons always look better in their pictures than we do in ours? It was Albany's 18th birthday- we so enjoyed spending it with her...

Then we went to Bountiful to see the Schmutzes and had so much fun with them. The kids did pudding finger painting with Aunt Susan.

And the girls LOVED slip and sliding in the backyard.
Thanks so much for the fun memories!

Idaho 2009

We spent the 4th of July weekend with Grandpa and Grandma Nef at the farm. We had a great time! We saw the Rupert Parade and Danny provided wonderful fireworks that evening. Danny and I also went to my class reunion for a few hours in between. (He didn't even complain very much.)

We spent time with lots of family and had a great picnic. Shelby, Claire and Em all had matching shoes, too.

All of the kids got rides on one of Grandpa's horses, but only Jake got to ride around the correl all alone on a horse.

Madison was able to become friends with some very important people- especially Grandpa Nef.

We were able to remember again how important family is. How blessed we are to have a great one!

Palmyra with the Pattons

After our trip into the city- we had one last place to visit- Palmyra, New York! Palmyra is located in the finger lakes region of upper New York State. It is important to us because there are some amazing things that happened in this area in the history of our church. This picture is in the restored family home of Joseph Smith.

Emery LOVED playing with Albany's hair. Albany was so sweet to all of her little cousins.

Kailey was able to spend some really fun time with her cousins!

We were able to walk through the most beautiful grove of trees in New York. It is such a peaceful place- even with our family in it! (Don't let Jake fool you- he had a great time, too.) Thanks for coming Pattons! We loved spending time with all of you.

New York, New York

We are enjoying the visit of the Pattons from Spring Creek, Nevada. Karen (my sister) and John have three amazing kids- Albany (recently graduated from H.S.), Colby (a very handsome 14 year old) and Logan (a super athletic 11 year old).

We have had a great time at West Point (USMA). I always feel patriotic here!

We had loads of fun in Hyde Park seeing the FDR Presidential Library and
playing kickball at the Vanderbilt Mansion.

Eating dinner at the Culinary Institute of America is always a treat.

Today we came to the big city. We took the train in and saw the Statue of Liberty (from afar) and then headed over to China Town.

We also spent some time in the subway.

After purchasing some lovely handbags- Karen, Albany and I saw "WICKED." It was fabulous! Meanwhile, John and Danny watched the other 8 children and spent time at FAO Schwarz and Central Park. We met up at the New York LDS Temple. What a wonderful place.

Then- Danny, John, Albany, Colby, Kailey, Logan and Jake went to the Mets/Phillies baseball game while Karen, Shelby, Claire, Emery, Madison and I got back on the train and came back home. (We missed one train by seconds so we had to wait for the next one...) It is so great to be able to visit NYC and it is equally wonderful to come home.

Mother's Day Pictures

Since Grandma Carrell was visiting for Mother's Day, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to get a nice picture of the kids. Were we able to accomplish our goal? Take a look...




Oh well, we will try again another day.

The Weekend in Amsterdam

Danny's mom and sisters came to visit- so we had them take a weekend adventure. They went to Amsterdam and had a wonderful time.

Jill, Danny and Dawn

You can't go to Holland without seeing windmills.

They took a bike tour.

Saw where clogs are made.

Enjoyed the tulips-

And had a wonderful weekend together.

The ROCK... of Gibraltar

Our last day trip on our Spanish vacation was to Gibraltar. Gibraltar has been a British Territory since 1713 (although now it is self governing). It is a peninsula (on the iberian peninsula) but is sometimes called an island. The strait of Gibraltar separates Europe from Africa and links the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.

We're driving to Gibraltar- the van in front of us is the Halls van. We followed the Halls to Gibraltar and then walked around and toured with the.

An actual tourguide found us and was willing to take all of us with him. (6 adults and 11 children all in one van.)

Gibraltar has a lot of history that involves war. Here the kids are on an old cannon. (L - R: Claire, Kailey, Axelle, Emery, Jake, Abby, Hannah and Shelby)

St. Michaels cave was amazing. The stalactites and stalagmites and so incredible to look at. Part of this cave is huge. They still give concerts here. Claire, Jake, Shelby, Abby, and Hannah- with Sarah in back- doing their silly faces.

It is said that if the apes ever leave Gibralar, so will the British. The apes are really not afraid of anything. Jake looks very natual with the monkey on his head.

Emmm, Kailey, you have a monkey on your shoulder!

Shelby with an ape.

Madison thought her dad looked cute with a monkey on his shoulder.

Here are all of the Carrells and Halls. I love this picture- too bad some of us were cut off! (This is what happens when you hand someone your camera and ask them to take your picture.)

The Carrells- solid as the rock of Gibraltar!