Small Victory

Thank you all for your prayers and support. We had a small victory on Tuesday in court. All that was granted was a short visit on Tuesday. We have to go to court again but do not yet have a court date. The judge seems to understand the situation but we ran out of time and are not yet finished presenting our case and handling things.
Thank you again!
Love you!!!

sorry

Please excuse my poor grammar in the last post. I'm in a hurry!

Prayer Request!!

Hello Family,

It has been a long time since I posted. There has been a lot going on. I am hoping to get pictures posted soon along with an update.

More importantly, I have a court date with Izzy's dad Ryan on Tuesday, November 27th (also my mom's birthday) requesting supervised visits in Idaho. He has done some things that have made it an unsafe situation for Izzy to spend unsupervised time with him and far too unsafe for her to travel to Minnesota to spend time with him. If anyone reads this between now and and Tuesday, please include Izzy in your prayers or if you could place her name in a local temple or prayer circle. Thank you in advance for your help!

Ally

thanksgiving leftovers...

hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving! happy birthday steph! you know what i really miss - the progressive dinner. i am pretty sure i could eat so much more in those days without feeling ridiculously full. and i miss the wontons and cheese puff things from uncle george!

hope you are all doing well - just thought i would mention that since i was thinking of it and i figured steph's birthday was a great excuse! i want to see pictures of budapest kasey! i hope you liked it!

what are everyone's christmas plans?

Sara and Olivia at Halloween

At the ward Halloween party. . . with Chelsea too.

Andrea is having a baby!

After 7 weeks of nausea and other unpleasant side effects, I am 13 weeks pregnant (and still sick!) We are of course thrilled to be having a baby (though the constant nausea sometimes makes me forget that I am happy) and will be welcoming new Baby Reichwald in May. Any ideas for names? We don't know the sex of the baby yet, but what do you guys think of "Hettie" for a girl??

how is it halloween already?

hi everyone! how are you all? i realise i should have written sooner, but there was really nothing to report except my move to boston. yep - cindy we absolutely have to meet up this time! if i lived here again and only saw you in idaho i am pretty sure i will get kicked out of the family! so, i am in boston trying to figure out what i am going to be when i grow up. i will definitely keep you posted if i ever figure it out. for now i am working around cambridge public schools in an effort to support myself! and - that is it for me. who's next?! love you all!

Happy Friday!

Hi Everyone! The blog sure has been quiet this month. What's everyone doing?

I'm in Boston where the weather is finally turning autumnal and the leaves are turning lovely shades of orange and red. Chelsea and Sara are visiting Andrea's family this weekend so Sara can attend the Ward Halloween party with Olivia. Shawn is in his second year of law school at U of I. Allison is now in her second year of teaching in Idaho Falls and has a larger classroom. I'll leave it to my siblings to give more detailed updates.

And what about everyone else? What are you going to be for Halloween??

Love to all,
Cindy

Happy Birthday Amy!

Hi there! I just wanted to wish Amy a happy birthday. I thought I would do it on the blog just in case anyone forgot. :) I hope you had a great day today. Hopefully you did something fun. I am anxious to hear about how life is going for you now that you are in Boston. I hope you are enjoying your time there. Let us know how you are doing! Have a great day!
Love you!

Grandma's Birthday!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to say hello and happy Friday.

Today would be Grandma's 96th birthday, so I'm thinking about her and Grandpa and all of you.

Love,
Cindy

Who does she look more like???

Burke Blog

Hi Everyone!! I hope everyone's Summer has been wonderful. It has been so fun to see a lot of you!! Well after much pressure, Brendan and I started a blog . .so feel free to check out our blog at: http://brendanandnikkiburke.blogspot.com/

I hope everyone is doing great!! Love to all!! ~Nikki.

David and The Bear

So while we were at Stephen's wedding, the famous story of David and The Bear came up again. Interestingly enough, it was first mentioned by David himself - not a word was mentioned by Nikki until David brought it up. As I was remembering the story again later, I thought about the horrible story of a little boy who was recently killed by a bear here in Utah. It was a very rare occurrence, but I figured that David does have an excuse to use when hearing the story told again and again. The only thing he won't be able to live down is the fact that he ran right past Nikki in his attempt to get away as fast as he could from the "bear."

I heard that Stephen and Nicole had quite a time while in Jamaica. I was sorry to hear that it had to be shortened but relieved to know they were able to get out OK. It would be great to hear how things went for them.

Love to you all!
Kasey

Another trip to Haiti

We took another trip to Haiti last week. This time Morgan went with me so he could meet our daughter. He had a wonderful time and he and Layla bonded very quickly. She was calling him Papa a few minutes after they met.
She loved playing with her Papa. He would growl at her and she would come screaming and squealing to me to be safe. It was very fun to watch them interact and know that soon it would be like that forever!
Morgan loved interacting with all of the kids at the orphanage. He became popular fast. As soon as we stepped into the orphanage each morning, the kids were yelling, "Papa Layla, Papa Layla!" (They call us Papa Layla and Mama Layla).
It is very sobering to go to a place like Haiti and realize how many blessings we truely have in America. Morgan got to meet all the people I tried to tell him about and see for himself the good those people are doing. It is an inspiring place with so many inspired people! We resolved to try harder to do as much good as we can with the blessings we have been given -- to seek out opportunities to help others. The Haitians have a saying that help them explain why some have so much and others have very little or none at all. It goes something like, "God gives, but he doesn't share" -- meaning that it is up to us who have to share with those who don't, in other words we are the Lord's hands. It was a wonderful experience. We are probably going to take Liam and Brynlee with us the next time we go (probably in November) so they can see where Layla came from and hopefully have an eye opening experience to what the "real" world is like. Hopefully it will enrich their lives as much as it has ours!
We still don't have a great time-frame, yet, as to when we'll get to take Layla home. Someone guessed February or March, but it is just that, a guess. It is in Haiti's hands now, and God's. We know it will happen when it is supposed to, but we continue to pray for a speedy process!

Back from California

We had a great time in California! It was so much fun seeing family members we hadn't seen in a long time. We were able to spend a little over a week in California, so we visited Sea World, San Diego Zoo, and Disneyland - Anja's favorite place. She loves it there! She was happy to have Evan there with her for one of the days in Disneyland.

Stephen's wedding was wonderful! It was a great day. Anja still talks about how much fun she had with Matthew.

Back from Idaho

Hi everyone,

Sara and I are back in Miami, after a wonderful month in Idaho. We had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the nice weather. It was hot a couple of days, but there is nothing like those cool nights and the low humidity. The entire Wilkerson gang was together (minus Shawn) the last week of July. We are sorry we missed most of you, but did enjoy some time with Uncle Chuck and Aunt Sue.

Here is a picture of Olivia, Sara, and Isabella in Grandma's backyard. It is very difficult to get two 4-year olds and one 10-month old to pose and smile at the same time. This is the best I could get. The girls had a lot of fun playing together and enjoying cousin time.

I hope Stephen's wedding went well and everyone had a nice time. I look forward to seeing an update about here on the blog soon. (Congrats Stephen!!)

Love to all,

Chelsea

New Phone Number

Hi Everyone!

Denver, Anja and I are off to California for Stephen's wedding. We will be spending some time in San Diego as well as Anaheim. We are excited to see some of you soon. I just wanted to let you know that I have a new cell phone number. It is 801-349-8054. We have had Provo phone numbers for a while now and finally decided to switch to SLC numbers.

I have been thinking a lot about Andrea and her family with the collapse of the bridge in Minneapolis. I hope everyone is fine and that all their friends are well.

I am excited to hear how the Wilkerson trip to Idaho was. Hopefully you all had a great time there! Hope to hear from many of you soon.

Kasey

Family Picnic

Hello everyone,
Greetings from beautiful (and dry) Idaho Falls. I think this is the first year that I truly appreciate the glory of Idaho summer. It is fantastic, a little warm some afternoons, but dry and cool in the morning and evening. Lovin it!

Since no one else (Andrea...Cindy...) have taken any action on a family picnic, I will try to put something together. How about Saturday, July 28 in the late afternoon/early evening? Location to be determined, please share any ideas you may have (Heise, Tautphaus Park). I will contact non-blogger relatives (Uncles Bob and Chuck, et al). We can make it a bring your own food, casual picnic.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Major Opposition? Please share.

Aloha in Hawaii

We just returned from a wonderful trip to Maui! Denver, Anja, and I went along with Nikki and my mom and dad. We had a great time. Anja loved playing on the beach. We were able to play on the beach every morning. I am still washing sand out of her swim suits.

Being there brought back memories of when most of our family was there with Grandma. When we went to the 'Iao Valley, I remembered being there with Uncle George and the Wilkerson cousins. I couldn't remember being there, but as soon as we drove up to the parking lot, I immediately remembered Uncle George. Don't ask me why I specifically remember Uncle George, but I do.

Nikki and I also commented on the "falic stone," and how Andrea was the one to point out what that was to all of us. We were commenting on this trip to my mom how for some reason the Wilkersons knew about "certain things" before we did. The funny thing was that my mom had to ask us on this trip just what a falic stone was. We all had a chuckle about that.

We had so much fun. Anja is such a great traveler. She loved every minute we were there. None of us were too excited to leave.

I have also posted a short video of Anja playing in the waves at a beach just outside our condo. I have also put a couple comments on Andrea's posts - about Jackson, etc. I just wanted to make sure she reads them.

Fun On The Beach

I am excited to share with everyone that Steve and I are having another boy! This pregnancy has not been the easiest, so I hope that it is not a sign of what is to come. I had the next worst thing next to child birth---Kidney stones. Now I can sympathize with my dad who has had them more than once, OUCH! I am glad to hear everyone is doing well. I will be in town while the Wilkersons are home, so lets get together! Love to all!
Jess

Happy 4th of July!

Hello everyone,

I hope you all have a great 4th of July celebration. Here's a picture of Sara, instead of dressing in red, white, and blue, she dressed in red, blue, and yellow--Ecuador's colors. You can take Harry out of Ecuador, but you can't take Ecuador out of Harry!! I will be in Idaho from July 11 to August 8. Hopefully some of us can get together soon.

Love to all,

Chelsea

This is so embarrassing

Hi everyone,

I'm writing again because I'm at home now, sitting next to Reed, who is going to give me a remedial lesson in posting photos to this site. I know, I know, 9-year-old children know how to do this and I don't . . . but let's just all remember that Grandma made it through more than 94 years of life without learning how to operate a basic tape recorder!

Just wanted to share a few recent photos of Olivia.

Happy July,

Andrea

Wilkerson cousins will be in Idaho late July

Hello Everyone! The Wilkersons have finally made plans and it looks like we will all (except Shawn, unfortunately) be in Idaho Falls the last week of July and into the first few days of August. Will anyone else be close by? Dare we plan a get-together?

I was thinking about my cousins this morning when I got up early to do my daily "Biggest Loser" workout (I bought the dvd from the TV show - I like it because the people doing the workout aren't professional athletes and whine and complain and moan through the whole thing - just like I do). ANYWAY, this morning I decided I needed some music to work out with and chose the cd we got at Nikki's wedding. I've always liked it but probably never let Nikki know!

So I was just reading the blog and am so impressed that you guys did Jenny Lake! I keep telling Reed that would be a really fun outing but that Izzy and Olivia would be too small for it. How did Evan and Anja handle things? I suppose Little Sara really is too small for it - but maybe we could take turns carrying her. Anyway, let me know how it went. I love that hike and would really like to do it soon if we can!

Getting back to July plans, if anyone will be around let us know and we can plan something.

Happy June - almost July everyone!
Andrea

Jackson, Wyoming

Our family just got back from a really great trip to Jackson. It brought back memories of the family trip we took many years ago with Grandma. We even stayed at the Jackson Lake Lodge. It brought back a funny memory of David running around outside with underwear on his head.

We had a lot of fun. We hiked Jenny Lake and got to see some bears on the trail. Amazing!

Anja decided on this trip that Mommy isn't best. She had so much fun with her Gran and Pops. She wanted to be with them constantly. It was great for her to get a chance to spend some time with them.

Denver will be finished this week with Sharp. He has been gone for almost three straight weeks. It has been hard, but good knowing he will be staying here for the next 6 months or so. He has a local contract and will be able to come home every night. We are all so excited we just can't wait!

I hope everyone is doing well. I hope to hear about more fun adventures from others!

Exciting news to share!

Hello Everyone!
Just thought I would drop a note and share our exciting news!Evan is going to be a big brother! Steve and I are having a baby in November. We are excited, yet nervous. I hope everybody is doing well. Love, Jess

Hello from Massachusetts

Hi everyone. Happy Friday :)

My mom was on the East Coast for two weeks and left yesterday (Thursday). She spent a week with Uncle Dick in DC and saw Ryan and Lauren. All are doing well, though Ryan and Lauren should be even better because I think they finish exams this week!

Enjoy the weekend!
Cindy

Fun With Cousins

Hi Everyone!

I thought I would post a couple pictures of Anja and Evan playing together a couple weekends ago. Jessica came down for some scrapbooking classes (we took a couple together). While she was at her last class, Evan stayed at our house. Anja loves playing with Evan. They had a lot of fun together. It is good that she has good cousins. Hopefully she will be as close to her cousins as we all are!

Viva Las Vegas

Hi Everyone!!

Brendan and I went to Las Vegas for a few days to celebrate our 1 Year Anniversary and also to go to the Wedding of a very close friend of mine. We got tickets to see The Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. It came highly recommended by my parents. It was so good and very entertaining, Vegas always does everything big and bold. I would highly recommend it to anyone that is ever in the Vegas area.

This week in Utah it went from mid-80s on Sunday, Monday, & Tuesday . . .to low 50s today and is suppose to be that way through out the entire weekend. Utah Weather . ..you got to love it!!

I hope this finds everyone happy and heathly!!

I'm Back!!!

Hey everyone. Just wanted to drop a note to tell you how my trip to Haiti was. It was amazing! I enjoyed very much getting to know the group of people I went with. All of us were adopting from the orphanage, so instead of working, we got to just play and bond with our little ones.

I also met some very fascinating people who are doing some incredible things for the people of Haiti. If you want to know more about this, corner me sometime, and I'd love to tell.

Now to our little girl. Her name is now Layla. The first night I met her was magical. She came to me right away and snuggled and loved me. It was an answer to many prayers, I can tell you. She got to stay with me the whole week, and every other minute, I was saying, "that's exactly what Malac does," or "that's exactly how my kids are." I know she was meant to be part of our family. I had many wonderful experiences with her and I miss her deeply.

As far as a timetable is concerned, it now might take longer than we thought because of some new procedures Haiti is doing. These have caused some backlog, but we've heard its getting faster. We are still hoping and praying for a quick process, but I know it will happen when the Lord wants it to. I am very comforted by the fact that she is in a wonderful place with people who love her dearly. It was a magnificent experience that I will not soon forget. If we don't get to pick her up before August, Morgan and I are going to go back to spend another week with her. I can't wait!

(p.s. the picture was taken when I first met her -- please remember I had been traveling for a day and a half, i.e. I look awful!)

From one of the Frozen Chosen!!

Hello to everyone from the Minnesotans! Just yesterday I was telling Reed that Minnesota has been my permanent home longer than Idaho Falls was. Idaho, however, will always feel like HOME to me.
I'm sorry I missed all the exchanges from earlier this month at the one-year anniversary of Grandma's death. (Frankly, I was surprised that no one e-mailed anything. . . then realized that you were all communicating with each other on the cousin blog and I was out of the loop!) Anyway, to commemorate Grandma's passing I went to the temple on April 10 and took names with me that Grandma submitted three years ago. All the women in the session ended up doing names from Hettie A Hunter of Ririe. I thought Grandma would be pleased. . . her legacy is continuing in so many ways!
So what plans do people have for summer travel? It looks like the Wilkersons will all be in Idaho at the end of July/early August. I believe some families have other plans so we may not be able to see many of our cousins this year. Could we start talking about a family get-together next summer? Should we meet up in the Idaho Falls/Ririe area or go somewhere else? What dates do and don't work for people?
I'll stop writing now - but let's do think about a bigger family reunion next year. Please write in with any ideas anyone has!

Love to you all,
Andrea

A Fun Game

Here is a fun game I found. I thought some of you might like to try it. It is a bit addicting, but good to do if you are bored and trying to kill time.

Hope you all are doing well!
Kasey

http://www.k2xl.com/games/boomshine/

Hello!
It is great to hear from so many of you! Last week our family remembered grandma by going to Sizzler. I shared lots of fond memories with Steve and Evan about grandma. I can't believe it has been a year, time flies. Nice weather has finally arrived in Idaho, which means we are getting busier. I hope all is well with everybody! Love you all.
Jess

Hi from San Diego!

Hi Cousins! It's great to hear how wonderful all of you are doing! I am finishing up school and will be graduating in about 3 weeks. Needless to say...I am very excited to be done! However, the immense task of studying for the bar is looming ever closer and will delay my complete celebration until the end of July. Then in August, I'm hoping that I get to see as many of my cousins as possible at my wedding! I haven't seen many of you in a long time and am looking forward to celebrating this special time with all of you!! If you would like to hear about how I met my fiance, feel free to check out our site:

http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/view/co_main.aspx?coupleid=4456088224720664&MsdVisit=1


Love you guys!

Stephen

Training Table Memories

So Denver, Anja and I had lunch at the Training Table restaurant yesterday and it made me think of how much Andrea loves eating there when she gets the chance to come to Utah. I think we need to get on the ball to get Andrea on this blog! Things are going well with us. We are heading to Idaho this weekend for Denver to get a dental check-up. We are in the middle of our basement getting finished, and if things go well, Anja and I will be staying next week with my mom and dad. So if anyone is in the area, it might be fun to have another girls' night out! The last one was a lot of fun. Hope to see some of you soon.
Kasey

Special Time of Year

Hi. Here are a few things I'm doing (or trying to do!) this week: drink a cup of Pero, piece on black licorice, eat gingersnaps, be more generous, enjoy a yellow rose.

Love to all of you,
Cindy

This was our Easter afternoon. It was a great day, but a reflective one. We found out that night that our last Grandma passed away. My Mother-in-law's Mom, Grandma Jackman. Easter is a significant time for our family as we remember three loved ones that have now passed on at this time. It is neat to celebrate the resurrection on such an occasion!

On Sunday, I leave for Haiti. Unfortunately, I don't get to bring our new daughter home with me, but I do get to spend the entire week with her. I am very excited. I will have plenty of pictures to share when I get back. Its just me going this time, Morgan has to work. Please look in on him, Kasey and Nikki, and whoever else will be in the area.

I agree with Nikki, we do have a great family. Morgan has also made the comment about how lucky we are to be so close to cousins. Way to go Grandma and Grandpa! Love you all!

Easter in Idaho

Greetings from Houston Everyone!! I am here for work . .and will be here for the week.
For Easter Weekend Brendan and I went to Idaho. We got to meet little Sara and she is so adorable!! She is such a happy baby! We also got to see Chelsea, Allison and Isabella . . .it was so great to see them. And I have to tell you Isabella is so darling and has a killer personality. We also took an Easter Lily to Grandpa & Grandma's Grave. Today marks 1 year of Grandma being reunited with Grandpa. It was a bitter sweet experience for me at the cemetary. I miss them both dearly and think about them all the time.

Brendan commented a couple of times this weekend on how close our family is and how lucky we are to be so close to our cousins and to know them so well. I feel very blessed to be apart of this family and to have all of you in my life!!

I hope everyone is doing well!! I miss you all!!

Back in Utah

We are back in Utah now. We came back to really beautiful weather and just missed a horrible snow storm back east. We were very grateful. These are a few pictures from some of our weekend excursions. We went to Philadelphia one weekend and then into the city another. Anja was so excited to go to the Disney store. She was a little shy to have her pictures taken with Captain Hook and Peter Pan, but she still talks about how fun it was to have the pictures taken.

Anja is a total girl. The last picture is of her after she put on some lip gloss her Gran gave to her. She spends most of the day in princess dresses (or in her diaper because she is changing dresses). Denver just loves it!

I am glad to see so many posts! It is great to be able to keep in touch with everyone!

Back from vacation

Hello again-

We are back from a week vacation in Grand Cayman. As you can see, Sara spent a lot of time naked on the beach. Life is good!

It is good to see we have some new additions to the blog! The more the merrier. Keep posting stuff, I check this regularly and love it when there are updates. Sara and I will be in Idaho in 2 1/2 weeks (April 7). I can't wait! Hopefully we will get a chance to see some of you there.

Love to all,

Chelsea

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Okay, its a day late, but still . . . a tip o' the green to all of you!

Just a quick hello. Hope everyone is doing well and that the weekend treated you well.

Love,
Cindy

Thanks for the invite Kasey!

I think I am finally up and going. I am not very computer smart when it comes to this. I just got back from the Nascar races in Vegas so I am very behind. I think this is a great idea. Hopefully the rest of my family will join in. John and Jana do not do much with the computer, so they may have trouble. All is well with us. Lyle is home from AZ for the summer and we are starting to golf. Dustin is in school still, bored and starting to do generals. Hope he survives. He is not into studying. He will have to learn fast. I would love to see pictures of all the new babies in the family.
Love to all of you!
Susan

hand washing??

well hello. i don't really have anything exciting going on, but i thought i would share a story from school. i have been subbing all over idaho falls and today i was at skyline high school. i was teaching u.s. government to seniors. okay - let me clarify. i ran technical support for the video the teacher left for the students. very little teaching actually recquired. i was feeling bored so i had the students write a quiz from the video they watched and then give it to another student in the class. it was great. anyway, in one of my classes one of the students told me he wanted to shake my hand. i told him no. he then asked why i wouldn't shake his hand. i used the excuse that he had gone to the restroom at the beginning of class and i couldn't be sure he washed his hands. he feigned offense and then offered me his other hand and told me it would be clean! ahhhhhhhhh - i did not need to know that. i had to walk away because i was laughing. needless to say i still did not shake his hand! i hope you all had wonderful weeks. i will keep random stories coming - the kids are highly entertaining!

p.s. - does anyone know how to multiply fractions using addition? some students had a worksheet monday and i didn't know how to do it so i had to show them the way i learned.
for example: 1 1/2 x 6= 6 + 3 = 9.
i finally figured that one out, but how in the world do you do it if both are fractions?

Travel plans

Hi!

I know this is the "Hunter Cousin" blog, so I hope I don't offend anyone by including a picture of a Hunter Aunt (my mom). The picture is from a stroll we took today (yes, they are wearing short sleeves....gotta love Miami in the winter). Sara is now five months old. Her favorite things are rolling over and hand sucking. Life is good.

Sara and I are going to be in Idaho for a few days in April. We arrive on Easter Eve (April 7) at night and will be there until the following Saturday (April 14). I would love to see anyone who is going to be around during that time.

Stay warm up there!

-Chelsea

Freezing in New Jersey

Hi All!

Just wanted to let you know we had a great time in Philadelphia. It was really nice the first day, but the second day (our zoo day) was not so nice. It started to get really cold. It is even colder today (below zero with the wind chill). I think it is supposed to snow tomorrow. I am sure it isn't nearly as much as Utah has received. We are planning on spending some time in NYC this weekend. Hope you all are doing well!

Kasey

We are keeping busy in good ol' Idaho Falls. I am finishing up my first year of teaching. I love it but am quite exhausted by my many first graders (and some crazy parents). One of my wee ones said to me the other day "You are my favorite teacher in the whole school, which is this much (and spread his arms far apart) and when I like you this much that means 10,029".

Marshall is working away at school full time. He recently changed his mind about going into nursing and at this point is wanting to change his major to criminal justice. He was nervous to make a change in his major but (among other factors) after talking to Reed and discovering that Reed was once planning on going into Drama he decided the criminal justice change would be okay.

Izzy turns four next month (I can hardly believe it). She is anxious for her birthday party. One of her new favorite words is "fancy". She wants to have a "fancy birthday party" and get "fancy presents", dress in "fancy clothes" and eat fancy food. Tonight we visited her Grandaddy (Uncle George to many of you) and decided that she likes to eat his "fancy olives", she decided they are better than regular "black olives" (which was her original request). Perhaps we will have to have fancy olives as part of the fancy birthday party food. : )

Set a date...

Hello everyone. So some thoughts have been tossed around at getting together in the first part of July. I don't know that it will work out for many of us, so Andrea and I wanted to toss out the idea of scheduling some sort of Cousins vacation/reunion. We could go someplace or just stay in Idaho. What do you all think? This is open for all cousins to comment on! If we started planning soon, we could get a time that most or all of us could come.

Andrea hasn't signed on yet, so I am going to take the liberty of posting something on her behalf....

Olivia holding Sara (December)

We made cookies for the Christmas party. Grandma's brown paper bag technique never fails!

This is from an email Andrea sent me earlier today:

Last night at dinner Olivia stopped eating, put her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her hand and asked Reed "So daddy, what do you want to be when you grow up?" (Olivia frequently engages us in 'grown up' discussions and we treat them seriously). Reed responded "That's a very good question. I think I want to be a teacher and I want to be a psychologist so that I can help people." Olivia politely asked a few more questions about how psychologists help people and then Reed started talking about the kinds of occupation plans he had when he was little. He must have talked a little too long because Olivia finally cut him off and asked "Daddy, do you want to be a pirate, or a monster, or a doctor?" Respectfully, Reed paused for a moment and considered his response. He said "Well, I don't think I want to be a pirate and monsters aren't very nice and can be scary so I don't want to be a monster. . . " and before he could finish Olivia jumped in with "But you could be a nice ghost! Then you wouldn't be scary." (Keep in mind that the whole conversation is happening with a very serious tone of voice - this is a conversation about real life plans.) Again a pause while Reed thought about his response (and squinted his eyes while trying to hide some smiles). "Yes, that's a good point. I could be a nice ghost." Then they talked about what Olivia wants to be. . . her first response was that she plans to be a witch, but when we asked her why, she described an environment and experiences that sound more like a queen - so we asked if she wanted to be a witch or a queen - she said she wanted to be a queen or maybe a princess, daddy could be the king, and mommy could be a witch.

so there.

February in Miami

Hi All-

Here is an update from the Wilkerson-Paredes family. Sara continues to be the most fantastic baby on the planet (I'm biased, I know). She is one week short of hitting the 5-month mark. I'm posting a picture from last month. Sara's Nana (my mom, Aunt Lila to some of you) arrived last week. We are all enjoying the wonderful South Florida weather. Right now it is a little overcast, but in the 70s. Divine!

Harry started a new job two weeks ago. His days at Kodak are long gone, he now works in sales for a software company called Group 1, a subsidiary of Pitney Bowes. Change is constant. I am well, busy with work, Sara, and life.

Love to all!
Chelsea

Check out these hotties!!

Hello!

Hello everyone! We have been in New Jersey now for about a week. It has been pretty cold here. Last night we got about 3 inches of snow. I was hoping for much warmer weather, but hopefully it will get that way before too long. This weekend we are heading for Philadelphia. We are going to see some of the historical sites (and the King of Prussia mall - I hear it is huge!). I hope the weather is warm enough to take Anja to the zoo there. It is the oldest zoo in the United States.

I am including some pictures for you all to see. The first one is a picture we had taken with the "real Santa" at Macy's in NYC. That experience was a bit like waiting in line to see Mickey Mouse in Disneyland. Anja loved it though. The second one was taken in January of this year. As you can see there is a lot of snow outside our house. (Not as much snow as last year, though.) It had started to melt, but I am told quite a bit more has fallen since. The last one is a picture of Anja and Evan at my parent's house. Anja and I spent a week at the beginning of this month with my parents. She loved it! She got to play every day with Evan. They had a lot of fun together.

Hope you all are doing well!
Love you all,
Kasey

Recent photos

Hi Howdy Cousins!

I thought I'd post a couple of photos....a couple of the photos were recently taken by Bryon (Tiffani's husband) when he flew to Paris in 2007. The other photos are from Christmas, 2006. Tiffani's youngest son, Jonathan, received a little blue chair and he is rocking his older (and much bigger) brother to sleep. I think they might have tipped over after the photo was taken!

Ciao!

David

Where is Andrea???

Hi Everyone!

I was just wondering if anyone has talked to Andrea in a while. She still hasn't signed up for the blog and I haven't heard anything from her in a while. Did she go to Idaho for Shelley's dad's funeral?

Ashton's Update

Hey everyone. Thought I'd let you know what we are up to. We are in the process of adopting this little girl from Haiti. As you can see, she is adorable. She will turn 2 in June. I am going to Haiti in April to work in the orphanage she lives in for a week. I am very excited. Our paperwork is done on our part, so we are in the waiting process right now, which we are getting very good at (this one should end on a positive note, however). We hope to be able to bring her home in the summer!

Johnson Fam

Hello!
Good idea Kasey, but it sounds like you haven't heard that yet! This will be fun! Idaho is wet and cold. We are taking off on thursday with my mom and dad for Disneyland! Evan turned 2 last week so we decided to take him to see Mickey Mouse! We will enjoy some warm weather for a couple days at least. I hope all is well with everyone. Lots of love, Johnson family

Hi Cousins!

Hi Cousins! Way to go, Kasey, this blog is a great way to keep in touch!


Yes, Stephen is taking the plunge...Here is a photograph of the smoochy smoochy couple! At Christmas time our family got together in Georgia, and Nicole flew out to join us.... She and Stephen are very happy (I know, not a surpise!) I took some photographs of them together, and Tiffani has put the photographs and other objects into some kind of wedding proposal book!

I won't say what the temperature here is......all right, it has a 6 in the front! (On the other hand, there is consant traffic here) We celebrated my dad's birthday yesterday....Some of our parents will be going on a cruise next month...sounds like fun!

David

Rubbing it in....

I just thought I would let you all know (and rub it in a little bit) that it was 59 degrees in Draper, Utah today. It is really nice here (although we still have a ton of snow at our house). Denver says it is pretty cold in New Jersey, so I am hoping it will warm up there soon!

I have sent emails to the California cousins and am waiting for their replies. I don't have any of the Groth's email addresses. If anyone has them, you could send them to me and I would be more than happy to send them an invite as well.

Kasey

Hi Again!

Hi all. Great to see so many people here. I think it would be great if we could get the CA cousins and the Groth cousins on too :)

Not too much new news with me. Holly and I visited Chelsea in Miami a week and a half ago and had a great time. Surprise surprise, I think Sara is pretty great. Chelsea will have to supply the pictures to prove it!

Is it cold where you are? SOOOO cold here, but no snow.

Cindy

CA Hunter News

Hello! What a great idea, Kasey -- thanks! I just got an e-mail from Aunt Bobbi yesterday. She told me that Stephen is going to propose to a girl on Valentine's Day -- Whohoo! Finally a Hunter Boy is taking the plunge. Anyway, she said the girl is really sweet and they are very excited. She said the wedding would probably be on August 12. Just thought I'd pass on the good news! I think we need to get those CA Hunters on this blog, too. Can you do that Kasey? lol, Steph

Thank You Kasey!

Thank you for getting this going so fast! I agree that Grandma would be... well I'm sure IS very happy that we are still a family.
Speaking of family, do you think the David Hunter cousins would be interested in joining in?

Hansen Family Update

I am so excited to see more cousins on our new weblog! We just need to get the other ones on. Anyway, I thought I would start with an update from the Hansen family. Not much is going on. Denver is still working in New Jersey. He should be there until the end of April. Anja and I are going to be flying out there to stay with him on the 17th of this month. We will be there for a month and then come back here. It is really nice to spend "family time" together. Other than that, not much has happened. We have a ton of snow in our back yard and are anxiously waiting for it to melt. Hope to hear updates from others! I would love to see pictures of baby Sara!

idahooooooooooo

well hello! i am finally here. this is great. now i just need fun information to share with people - that is the next thing to work on. i would just like to say that our family rocks! hunters rule!

Very cool

This is a great idea. Now, where is everyone?

Great idea!

What a great idea! Hope to see more cousins here.

Say, what do people think about a Hunter family reunion this summer, maybe around the 4th of July?

Cindy

Awesome idea!! I am all for it!!

Welcome To Our Blog

Hi everyone. When Jessica, Amy, Allison and I got together for dinner last week, we talked about starting up a cousin blog. I thought it might be fun for all of us to make posts on this site. If you are totally against it - not a big deal. I have invited everyone in the Bob and Chuck Hunter family (except Tom - he doesn't have an email address) and everyone in the Wilkerson family (except Shawn - I don't have his email). You should all be getting an email soon inviting you to be a part of this blog. Let me know what you think about this!