Halle's Happy Home: December 2007

On Tuesday morning, our friend, Angela, came to do family pictures for us. She is a brave soul to tackle a group like ours! Thankfully, the weather was great, so we headed down to Patriot Park in Pigeon Forge. It was a lot of fun, and I'm sure a lot of work for Angela! These are just some shots that I took (or Esther took) with my camera while Angela was working.

I think I was getting ready to say something here....kind of a funny face!

A "candid shot" of Lish's family trying to get ready for their family portrait.

Nathan with his kids...Camden, Savannah, and Mariah

Camden & Nate

My mom and dad

Mom & Dad with Cierra, Asher, & John

All the Neal children - we were laughing about something!

Jimmy talking to his kids...I thought this was so sweet.

Jimmy being the "sun screen" for Nevin's family

Halle & Mommy

Esther with Dawson & Macey

Aunt Niki & Macey

Savannah & Macey

Colton giving Macey a kiss

Aunt Jennibeth with Halle

Uncle Nevin with Halle

Grandma AllaDean with great-granddaughter, Halle

Asher with Halle

Grandpa Charles feeding Halle

Aunt Alicia with Halle

Briley holding Halle

Grandma Lela & Halle

Uncle Nathan & Halle

Grandpa Bob with Halle....

....& me

These next few pictures are great! My dad took the kids to Patriot Park on Tuesday night to see the Christmas lights. As they were driving back through Pigeon Forge, he saw the the Krispy Kreme "Hot Donuts" light was on. My dad just can't pass that up. Back they went to Krispy Kreme, where everyone got hats and they brought back two big boxes of hot donuts.....yummmmm! I had stayed at the cabin with Halle and Audrey (she was sick). They brought me back a hat and a donut, though. What a memory!

Halle took her first sink bath in Pigeon Forge. She loves taking a bath, just looks a little cold here!

This is all the kids camped out watching The Polar Express on the big screen tv. Fun!

Well, that's most of my pictures from the cabin! We had such a wonderful time.

This is Halle in her car seat after we left the cabin. She was smiling in her sleep.

I was having fun taking pictures of her in the car while we were waiting for something. Isn't she adorable?

Stretch!

Wednesday night we went to Swan Pond Baptist Church with my parents. Nevin preached. It was so good just to be together. This is me, my mom, and my sister singing. It was so much fun!

That night, my aunt and uncle, and several of my cousins drove over and went to church with us. We had a mini "family reunion" at church. This is my Aunt Kristi holding Halle.

This is my cousin, MaryBeth with Halle.

This is Charity, my cousin Logan's wife. Thanks to all of you for coming. It was great to see everyone.

My next "installment" of pictures will be our time with Tim & Kelsey, and our trip to Georgia (we did all of this in one week!). Check back soon!!!

As some of you may know, my family celebrated Christmas early this year. My brother, Nevin, and his family were coming in from Idaho, so we rented a cabin in the Smokies for a few days and had Christmas there. What a wonderful time! I was so excited, not only to see my family, but because this was the first time any of them were able to see Halle in person, and hold her. You will see that just about everyone took turns getting their hands on Halle. I got pictures of all but one or two. This is Halle's first "trip", and we were a little concerned about how she would do in the car, but praise the Lord, she did great! I have loads of pictures. I've tried to pick only my favorites, but I'm still going to post a lot. This is going to be part one, with more to follow. Hope you enjoy them!!!

This is our cabin...."Family Gathering"...how appropriate! We had 31 people there!!!

Nevin & Grandpa Charles enjoying the game room.

This picture is of the grandkids lined up to get their presents from Grandpa Bob. Briley is definitely her mother's child!

Grandpa Bob with the great-grandkids. (Mariah is holding Halle).

The great-grandkids with Grandpa Charles (Asher was also in the picture, but kind of "lost his head"...sorry, Asher!).

Mariah opening her present from me. I did each of the older girls a "tea party in a bag", complete with teacup and saucer, tea bags, a special spoon, and a cookie cutter. We had two tea parties while we were there!