December 2011

Christmas was a little different this year, as it was only the three pack at home Christmas morning.  Ok, it was just plan weird, but we muddled through and tried to find the positives.  We woke up to a quiet house, heated up the traditional cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate, roused Riley from bed and went off to church.  Kelli, Jake, Allison and Riley arrived and we all waited together for the BIG phone call from our missionary Katelyn.  We gathered around the laptop and visited with Katelyn while the rest of the family not at home were hooked up by various methods so they could join the conversation.  Thank goodness for technology that brought our entire family together, if only for a few minutes. Matthew, Stacy and Graham were able to visit later in the week after they spent Christmas in Idaho.  Here are a few of the highlights from 
Christmas.

We just love this little guy, always a smile on his face and always so happy.  Thank goodness we get to seem him every so often!

Kansas November 2011

I took a nine month hiatus from the blog, but lucky for all you followers, I am going to update this site today. OK, maybe you're not that lucky.  So first, we will hearken back to last November, or was it October that we visited Bradley, Mandy and the girls?  Most importantly, newly born baby Claire.  We loved holding this sweet, soft, beautiful little baby.  We had lovely fall weather and great fun. Here are a few of the highlights. 

In case you are wondering why we stuck the white SUV in here, well, as far as I can remember, we were all quite enthralled with the length of this man's cigar and when we pulled beside him, Dad shot this wonderful picture. We just love our Kansas trips. They are all so good to us when we visit.  We just love being grandparents to these adorable little girls.

Halloween 2011 Monster's Ball

Another Serafine Halloween party is in the books.
And I must say, because of the fun guests, it was
another winner. We had no nudity (like last year),
but did have ghostly costumes, monstrous dancing,
and some especially silly sayings.


One of our activities was to break up into groups
and prepare a dance to the Halloween favorite, Monster Mash.
We were not disappointed. Each group was creative
and daring. Sharlan, Paul, Riley W, And Grandma Bradshaw
doing their rendition of the Monster Mash.


Nikki, Jim, Mary and Jamie

Glenn, Becca, Judy, Steve and Garrett

The Brims, Frank and his wife Mortia

Jim and Kerry

Nicole and Garrett

Grandpa and Grandma-AKA The Black Widow
in mourning because she is married to a monster.

Mike and Sharlan- Shakesperians dressed for the Ball

Everyone kept commenting on how cute the
pictures looked hanging all crooked, if only all
the decorations were that easy.

Serving table-We served spaghetti and meatballs,
salad and bread sticks shaped like broomsticks.


Allison and Riley W. We needed the Ghostbusters
at the party because we had plenty of ghosts!
Adorable as always! Thanks to Allison, we had
yummy white chocolate covered oreo cookie balls
on top of pumpkin cake.

Grandpa, Kerry, Greg, and Tim

The appetizer table. Grandma's candelabra
was the perfect touch!

This award-winning Monster Mash dance was
performed by Paula, Allison, Michael, Karalyn
and Nicole. Paula choreographed a hilarious
story staring Michael and the four jealous girls!

ll
We look awful, don't we? Maybe
because of the make-up and hair.
Or could it be that we are just
plain exhausted! Anyway, we are
glad everyone came and had a
good time. I don't know what is
wrong with me, but during
church today, I leaned over to dad
and started suggesting themes for
next year's party. Oh no...

Pictures of the house (I promise I'll start my own blog soon!)

So here are some pictures of our house. I don't know how to type little captions under them and there are probably duplicates, so you'll just have to figure out what each picture is and where it fits in to the layout of our house. And, can I just say how happy I am that the house is almost done!! We have lots of little things to finish up, but we're happy for the progress we've made. And a huge thanks to our friends and family for all your help!

Ok...So It Wasn't Really Over!!

We have wanted to Kayak down the Provo River all summer. Since we formed the "canoe club", sadly, we have actually only canoed once. I think I like kayaking better anyway, I might have to rename the club. But I can do that because I am the founding member and I have authority to change my club's name. Here are some pictures of yesterday's adventures. Riley and Allison did too much laughing at the other people in their group who couldn't seem to steer their kayak some of the time. They did not divulge (until later) that they had had kayaking instruction on their previous kayaking trip. Some of us went onto the river uninstructed and it is hard to stop or get off to the side to get out. I believe they had an unfair advantage and should not laugh at novices!! Anyway, the scenery was awesome, and water was cold, my fellow kayaker companion was diligent at calling right, then left...no left, then right and it was overall a very adventurous afternoon.