Our Own Kind of "Class"

Jake, Claire, Madison, Kailey, Emery and Shelby

Summer is officially over. The kids started back to school yesterday. They looked great in their Sutton Park uniforms and enjoyed a good first day back. It was only a half day- so they are easing into the routine. We are thankful that our children are going to a great school. Sutton Park School is a private school that is accredited in Europe as well as the Northeastern U.S. We are thankful also to live in a great neighborhood.

We live in a subdivision called Drumnigh Wood. The homes are lovely, the people are great and there are loads of friends for the kids to play with. Most of the cars that our neighbors drive are very nice and expensive. Our neighbors on one side have a Mercedes and a Volvo. Our neighbors on the other side have a Porsche. This is typical. We are NOT. Danny drives a 2000 Renault, Laguna. It's a small, gas efficient car and the price was right. My car is a 1997 Nissan Homy Elgrand. You may not recognize the name- no one else here does either.

This is what our Homy looks like (it just isn't as sparkling clean)...

We got the Homy at "Jap Imports" (political correctness isn't such a big thing in Ireland). The Homy was one of the few 8 seaters that we could find- and again- the price was right. Well, our children have been driven around in the Homy for almost 2 years and they don't cringe or try to hide nearly as much as they used to. They do enjoy some of the Homy's perks- how many people do you know who let their children get in and out of the car via the boot (trunk)? Jake, Shelby and Claire love it.

However, we had this quality vehicle in the garage last week and they haven't been able to get parts for it quite yet. Thankfully, it will start (this is an improvement- the kids and I had to get a taxi to go to church- hence a trip to the garage) but it needs a lot of encouragement. Picture if you will, this lovely area we live in and then try to see what we add to the neighborhood. I hop in the car and start pumping the pedal, then turn on the ignition. After a few seconds- it roars to life along with a huge cloud of smelly black smoke. Classy...

Now add to this, a bit more personality. I watched my sweet husband pull out of our driveway with most of our kids and a couple of their friends as they went to see a movie last weekend. I enjoyed hearing the car start and saw the smoke. Then I noticed that the passenger sliding door was still open. After he turned into the street, he hit the brakes suddenly- and the door magically closed! (The kids thought it was great.) I just had to shake my head. To quote Danny's Aunt Lisa, "Who says we ain't got no class?"

Cute Jill

Danny's younger sister, Jill has transformed herself. Less than two years ago, she decided that she wanted to become healthy. She spent a few weeks at Hilton Head Health in South Carolina. Then she started to change her life.

This is Jill (and her husband Ben) two years ago at Four Corners (UT, AZ, CO, NM). She went from being someone who enjoyed a very stationary lifestyle to an exercise machine! She eats right, too. Jill is amazing and in a year and a half she has lost 70 pounds!

This is Jill in Hawaii 2009. Doesn't she look great?! She is our own weight loss inspiration! We think you are amazing Jill!

Ode to Mimi

Our sweet little dog, Mimi had an unfortunate accident with a taxi this week. Sadly, Mimi passed away. Mimi really was the best dog in the world. So, we will share some of our favorite Mimi pictures and memories with you.

Shelby, 4 1/2 years old (doing BIG eyes) with Mimi the puppy.
Mimi was born in New York on January 6, 2005- on Claire's 2nd birthday. We picked Mimi out of lots of different puppies at the Shady Pines Kennel in Brewster, New York.

Mimi LOVED to have her tummy rubbed. For some reason, Mimi's puppy hair was all different colors but as she grew up (and was groomed) her hair turned almost completely white.

Claire (2 years old) and Mimi
Claire and Mimi have always had a funny relationship. Because Claire was so little when Mimi was a puppy- Mimi felt that Claire was her equal in every way. Claire loved to try and walk Mimi when she was a puppy. However, Mimi would bite on her own leash and try to "walk" Claire. It would turn into a tug of war with Claire and Mimi- it was a toss up who would win. Claire is also one of the few people who would let Mimi kiss her on the mouth. (Ooh! Yuck.)

Mimi in her hula dress.
Mimi wouldn't get to go with us on our trips. So, Mimi got to stay with lots of different families who also loved Mimi a LOT! The Bucko, Flory, Mongelli, Buckner, Parkins, Murray, Economos, Guild, and Silva families all took excellent care of Mimi. Grandma Carrell bought this little hawaiian dress for Mimi before one of our trips. She thought a new dress might make Mimi feel better. It worked. Mimi loved to dress up. (She was a very girly dog.)

Emery and Mimi- both Snow White for Halloween.
As I mentioned- Mimi loved to dress up. If you put a sweater or a little dress on Mimi and told her how pretty she was, she would stand up a little taller and walk proud. Then she would go to each member of the family until everyone complimented her on her appearance. (I think that Grandma Carrell bought Mimi this costume as well.)

Mimi and Jake.
This is one of my all time favorite pictures. Mimi loved it when Jake would play with her. On the day that we brought Mimi home, Jake and Mimi fell asleep together on this huge pillow we had. Mimi loved all of the kids and tolerated them really well. Her favorite games were sardines (the reverse of hide and seek), tag (she enjoyed being "it") and throw the sock/toy.

Our family Christmas picture 2006.
Mimi was a big part of our family. She thought that she was just one of the kids. Every day when Danny got home from work- the kids would usually run to him and yell, "Dad's home!" Mimi would be in the throng. She would try to get to Dad's legs first and would scratch his legs, trying to get some love. If any of the other kids would get in her way, she would growl at them and nip at them- as if saying, "Hey, this is my dad and it's MY TURN!"

Shelby, Jake, Claire, Kailey and Mimi right after Mimi got a haircut.
Mimi thought that she was a big dog. One day we took Mimi with us to the beach. She saw a huge dog and chased after it. The big dog was scared of Mimi and ran away. Mimi came running back looking like she was the queen of the castle. It was a proud moment for her. Danny would always tell her how brave she was and she believed him.

Mimi and Claire looking out the window.
Shelby had just left for kindergarten and Mimi was sad, watching her leave. Claire knelt down and put her little arm around Mimi. Then she said, "It's okay Mimi, I'm here!" Then she kissed Mimi on her little head. It was so sweet. We miss our Mimi. BUT- we are sure that she is chasing around big dogs in heaven and having a wonderful time. Maybe she's even wearing a fun little dress! We hope that if she ever looks down at us, that she isn't sad. No dog will ever replace her place in our hearts, but she had a great life and was loved by all who knew her. Thanks for all the fun memories Mimi!

Shelby's Big Birthday Bash!

Shelby had an amazing 9th birthday! The day started at G&G Carrells in Prescott. (How can any day started with pancakes and bacon be bad?)

Later in the day- Dawn threw an INCREDIBLE party for the birthday girl. Dawn and David's new house in Paradise Valley is gorgeous and Dawn is a great party planner. (I mean look at the decorations and the flower and butterfly cookies! The cupcakes were so good too!)

As far as our family goes- a party isn't a party without a pinata and this pinata was fabuloso!

Add on lots of family, a great pool and a really fun relay race and you have the perfect party!

After the other guests left, the kids went on the ultimate pirate treasure hunt. They couldn't have had any more fun! (Plus they looked so cute as pirates and Dawn's homemade treasure chest was amazing!) Thanks for making Shelby's birthday unforgettable Dawn!

Parties aside, I am so thankful for my Shelby. I will never forget the day she was born. Nor will I forget sending her to the nursery that evening so I could sleep. She came back 15 minutes later- screaming her little head off. (This same scenario happened twice!) The wonderful thing was that I only had to hold her and talk to her for a few seconds and the crying stopped. She knew me and knew that I loved her. I knew that Heavenly Father had sent a precious little person into my life. Shelby continues to be precious to our family, she fills our days with lots of laughter, noise and enthusiasm. We love you Shelby Lee!

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.