Summer pictures

Chloe and Britty

Sabrina

Lindsay wakeboarding!

Uncle Paul surfing

Hayden flipping over his dad!

Haydo

Subby and Grandpa

Hayden is a stud!

Chloe wakeboarding

Bella surfing!

June 2010

Rain, rain, rain! That is all we have had in Portland. Thank goodness June is almost over and there are good things to report!

Olivia is home! We had a little dessert party last night for both girls. These are their YW leaders!

Brittan graduated from 8th grade!

Hayden completed his Eagle project! He held a 5K race as a fundraiser then installed organizational shelving at the Beaverton Clothes closet. (A non profit that helps lower income people get clothing for their family in the Beaverton school district).

B's 14th birthday party!

B's 14!

Breakfast in bed!

These girls took first place in the M&M game!

Shopping with friends.

Opening gifts...

I'm 14!

Spring Break 2010

We spent Spring Break with Olivia, the Muro's and the Cors family in Acapulco.

Olivia with her Mexican parents.

Lovin' every minute with my girl!

Olivia and Ximena all decked out for a night with the adults!

March catch up!

Ximena and Isabelle catching up on a little reading.

Isabelle watching her Science Fair experiment unfold!

Hayden receiving his HS letter!

Olivia eating something disgusting...I can't remember what though!

Britt and I in a corny skit that we did for Young Womens.

Time for some catching up!

Quick updates:

Hayden just lettered in Wrestling. Very exciting! Since the day that he finished wrestling he has put on 12 pounds. Wrestling is a crazy sport in my opinion!

Brittan received a "clean bill of health" this week. Her appointment was on March 8th which marked the 7th anniversary of her Atv accident. Go Brittan! She is one tough girl!

Olivia is doing amazingly well. She announced on a skype call this week that she was "so proud of myself...I had a huge fight with my friends and the whole thing was in Spanish!" We are soooooo proud of Olivia. She has been in Mexico for 7 months now! We will see her over Spring Break in Acapulco! Can't wait Liv! Her Mexican family created a blog. If you want to see pictures of her check it out. Make sure to comment so she knows you are thinking about her! (Murocors.blogspot.com)

Isabelle is bounding with energy and spunk. She is a ton of fun and keeps us all on our toes. She is doing gymnastics, piano and keeping up with her 3rd grade homework. She scored 30/30 on this weeks spelling test (who has 30 words anyway?).

Ximena continues to be the easiest kid in our family. She is very helpful, loves to cook, very responsible, and is soooo good with Isabelle. She will be here a solid year when it is time for her to go. I'm not sure what we will do without her!

Michael and I continue to toil away. He is burning the candle at both ends in order to justify a week in Mexico. He is doing an amazing job at juggling everything. I am playing as much tennis as possible and very much enjoying my social life (aka my job..). I love my work and all of the friends that I have collected over the last 22 years (can you believe how old i am?) making them pretty:)

Nashville

Hanging out at a Honky Tonk bar- eating some good Southern food. Notice the band in the background. Music is everywhere!

Nashville Temple

Our new crush....Chuck Wickes!

Chuck Wickes again.....

Rachelle and I flew to Nashville to visit our baby sister Jaclyn (hardly a baby...just a babe!). We have had such a great time. Jac and her roommate Lori have shown us what Southern Hospitality is all about! We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame, The Grand Ole Opry, to a Karaoke bar (JJ was braver than Shell and I) and an afternoon of sight seeing and star hunting. Shelly and I are exhausted! Our highlight was running into Chuck Wickes (had no clue who he was until now) and all the time spent together!

Christmas 09

Fatima, Isabelle and Olivia headed UP!

Fatima trying to warm up with some hot cocoa!

Hanging out with the Morgan's at Hoo-do!

Cousin Brooks was Fatima's ski instructor! Way to go Brooks!

Isabelle, Olivia, Fatima and Brittan in their new PJ's that the elves dropped off!

Christmas at the cabin is always magical. The elves always seem to find their way here to deliver jammies on Christmas Eve and Santa seems to never get lost. We even woke up to snow on Christmas day! I am sitting in the pitch dark right now with various candles burning around the cabin. Michael took the kids snowmobiling today so that I could get our Christmas mess cleaned up. The kids have all been playing in the snow, skiing, sledding and letting Lacie (our Siberian Husky) pull them around. I love Christmas time!!!

Christmas at the cabin!

This picture is at the airport when we picked the girls up! Hooray! Momma is happy again!

Ximena and Isabelle. Xime went home for Christmas and we miss her!!!

We stopped at Ski bowl for some fun in the snow on our way to Central Oregon.

Fatima had never seen snow before! It was so fun to hear her squeal with delight!

Olivia returned home from Mexico last week and we are sooooo glad to have her home! She brought her little Mexican sister Fatima with her so that she could get a taste of life with the Neals. We are hoping that she will come live with us (just like Ximena) in a couple of years! We are enjoying Christmas time at the cabin. It is beautiful here with blue skies and crisp air. We are hoping to go skiing a few times this holiday break- maybe even some snowmobiling! Happy Holidays everyone!

Getting caught up!

Brittan participated in Young Women in Excellence and told of her pancake breakfast project.

Hayden is wrestling again this year.

Brittan performed "Feliz Navidad" at her voice recital this year.

Britt and Karlie have taken lessons together for two years now.

Michael about croaked when Brittan came walking out in these shoes. I say if she can walk in them then more power to her!

It has been awhile since my last post so I decided to try and get caught up. The last 6 weeks have been somewhat eventful with kids sports, recitals, work and Michael's busy school schedule. I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season!