4th of July BBQ & Fireworks!!

We had a fun 4th of July this year!  We had a BBQ at our house and invited The Jacksons over (Frank’s sister and her family), The Horners (our neighbors), their Grandson Ben,  and the 5 full-time missionaries serving in our ward.

After we ate we also had a fun game of baseball and later we did fireworks up in the cul-de-sac.  It was a great day.

Picking Teams: "Ooh, ooh...Pick me!!" Picking Teams

Frank pitching

Liz up to bat

Sandi up to bat

PJ pitching

Elder Campbell "posing" - 1

Elder Campbell "posing" - 2

Megan and Liz

Time for Fireworks!!

The Fireworks Crew: Bobbie, Yvette & Savannah (neighbors) joined us for the fireworks.

 

 

 

Larry, Sandi, Mikayla (back), Liz & Megan

Bobbie, Frank and Glenn

Megan

Lighting sparklers?

Clean-up time...

Easter 2010

We had a BEAUTIFUL Easter morning this year in Georgia.  It was General Conference weekend and we didn’t need to be to the church until noon…so we got to sleep in and enjoy.  We usually watch Conference on the Internet, but this year we decided to try it at the church…it was a good experience and you get so much more out of it when there are no distractions.  I’m not sure all of the kids agreed…but I think we will be doing it again.

But we are excited for next Conference because we just switched from Comcast to AT&T Uverse just so we can get the BYU Channel!  I can’t tell you how excited Frank is.  He is a HUGE fan and now we can watch Conference on TV…AND DVR it.  We always had Internet problems during Conference…it would go in and out.

Easter Morning at the Noldens.

...looking for Easter Eggs...

 

...looking for eggs hidden outside. It was such a beautiful morning.

 

Donovan on an Easter Egg Hunt

PJ and Mikayla hunting for eggs.

Dressed up and ready for church on Easter Sunday.

 

 

PJ taking Sophie out.

PJ usually wears flip flops to take the dog out. There weren't any available, so he borrowed Mikayla's pink heels.

Oh, yeah...work the heels, PJ.

Easter Picture from Shayne Nolden on Vimeo.

Church Easter Party

Hitomi and the Activities Committee put on a great Easter get together for the ward.  There were games, an easter egg hunt and lots of good food.  Thanks, guys!!

Stephen and baby Taki Luke.

Whitney and Cody visiting from Utah.

Hitomi finding a well-hidden Easter egg.

 

...Megan grabbing more cookies...

The Kids on an Easter Egg Hunt.

Frank with one of the Spanish Elders.

The Young-Waldens: Adam, Mindy, Kasey

Sister Myers with Sister Ballard...

Frank and PJ...

Laura (background), Severin & Emily...

Ward Easter Party: Hanging Out from Shayne Nolden on Vimeo.

Dancing Elves Videos

I love it when Jib Jab comes out with their holiday “Me Videos” where YOU are the star of the show.  The ones this year were really cute. Check out our family dancing and singing.

Elf Dance: Frank and Shayne doing the Disco from Shayne Nolden on Vimeo.

Elf Dance: Frank, Shayne and Cody Singing from Shayne Nolden on Vimeo.

Elf Dance: Liz, Megan & Mikayla doing a Country Dance from Shayne Nolden on Vimeo.

Elf Dance: PJ, Ashley & Don doing Hip Hop from Shayne Nolden on Vimeo.

Elf Dance: Grandpa & Grandma Slade Disco from Shayne Nolden on Vimeo.

Elf Dance: Grandma and Grandpa Slade Singing from Shayne Nolden on Vimeo.

Elf Dance: Grandpa & Grandma Slade Country from Shayne Nolden on Vimeo.

Christmas with the Noldens

We were able to have a second Christmas celebration with the Noldens & Jacksons again this year. Grandpa and Grandma Nolden were there as well as Sandi and Larry. Marc and Lynn weren’t able to make it this time.

Sandi's family opening up presents...

Frank and his mom watching kids open presents...

Shayne, "Woohoo, an ergonomic keyboard!!!"

The Jackson Bunch

Ashley scoring another cool present...

Grandpa Nolden, Grandpa Slade and Grandma Slade....Wake Up Grandpa Slade!!!

More presents...

Grandma Nolden, Frank and Liz

Mikayla, "Woohoo, iTunes cards for my new iPod - and socks to wear while I buy music!!!"

 

Sandi and Seth...

Cody

Hannah Banana striking a pose...

...and another...

So, we had a non-traditional Christmas Dinner (the day after Christmas). Grandma Slade helped us make her famous chili beans and we had Navajo Tacos. Yum!!! She did a LOT of cooking while she was there....which we all loved.

More cooking with Gr. Slade...

We all pitched in...Cody, Shayne & Mikayla hard at work.

Cody...it was so great to have him home...if only for a short visit...

Grandpa Slade supervising the action...

We rolled out massive amounts of dough for the fry bread...

I love this picture of the girls with Grandma Slade. We were on our way over to Sandi and Larry's house for another great dinner...this time it was a German affair...

Cody holding one of the pies that Gr. Slade made.

Larry and Gr. Nolden busy in the kitchen. Gr. Nolden was born in Germany and has passed on her great German recipes to Sandi.

This is a shirt that Frank made PJ for Christmas. PJ wants to get a Smart Car really bad when he is old enough.

Time to eat.

Cody chillin' by the fireplace before dinner.

More chillin...

Larry hanging out before dinner...

Christmas Morning 2009

We had a GREAT Christmas.  Grandpa and Grandma Slade flew out from Utah to be with us…which made it that much better.  They were with us a for a week and we had a lot of fun.

Grandma and Grandpa Slade

Mikayla, Liz and PJ opening presents....

Ashley opening presents...

Liz and PJ mugging for the camera...

Cody got a nice racquetball racquet...he and his dad are avid RB players...

Megan and Sophie opening presents...

Frank opening his presents...

Donovan, "Woohoo! Finally, more Wii games!"

Grandma and Grandpa Slade still hanging out...watching the festivities...

Nolden Family Christmas Letter

Click below:

2009 FAMILY CHRISTMAS LETTER

Thanksgiving 2009

We were able to have both of Frank’s siblings and their families over for Thanksgiving this year.  The weather was great and the kids were able to play outside in the forest and ride the 4-wheelers…it was a LOT of fun.

Uncle Marc (Frank's Brother) surrounded by all of the kids....

Frank with his two siblings: Marc and Sandi

Frank and his brother Marc...

Frank and Marc again....

Marc and Marc Anthony...

Sandi and Hannah...

Me taking a photo of Sandi taking a photo...and Hannah posing for a photo :-)...actually, I think Lynn took this photo...that's why she's not in any of them. I didn't take any photos...which is very odd for me...so I'm glad Lynn got some for us.

Seth and Hannah (Sandi and Larry's kids)

Marc Anthony taking both Donovan and PJ down at the same time on the trampoline.

Marc Anthony...what a stud!

Mikayla

Donovan

This is at the annual "Turkey Bowl" at the church. Ward members get together and play a game of flag football...while others of us were home cooking the turkey ;-). It looked like they had a lot of fun! See the video below.

Being crazy...

...and crazier...

 

Marc Anthony was the quarterback and we were very impressed by his skills!

That's Frank in the middle there...he LOVED playing...

 

The sisters: Whitworth and Leavitt. This is the first time we met Sister Whitworth. She was out on the field taking everyone down (including Frank)...so we thought she was going to be a wild woman...but she is the sweetest person you'd ever meet... :-)

Marc Anthony throwing a pass to Larry, with Elder Delgado ready to take him down...

L to R: Elder Peterson, Randy, Elder Kilpelainen, Sister Leavitt, Elder Delgado, Frank and someone else that was visiting (can't remember his name).

Donovan...they don't appreciate my mad skills!

Liz, "Yeah...I'm a star football player..."

Uncle Larry...sad that an injury kept him from playing at peak performance...

Megan...uh...I don't know...

Here is short video of the “Turkey Bowl” Football game.  Watch Marc Anthony as Quarterback…and then watch Frank…he almost loses his pants!!

Turkey Bowl 2009 from Shayne Nolden on Vimeo.

Halloween 2009

We LOVE Halloween at our house.  Here’s the gang dressed up for 2009…

Above: LtoR - Donovan, PJ, Seth, Frank, Shayne, Megan, Mikayla, Hannah, Liz, Ashley.

 

 

Above: Liz was "The Queen of Everything"

Above: Mikayla and Megan got their outfit from the kids book, "A Bad Case of the Stripes." Mikayla was the kid with stripes and Megan was the doctor treating her. Megan's friend Melissa was a nurse and trick-or-treated with us later.

above: PJ was a too scary...I regret letting him have this costume now.

Above: Ashley was a zombie again...she always goes all out.

Above: Donovan had a great outfit planned, but at the last minute decided to throw this ensemble together....he wasn't even sure what it was.

Above: Seth (cousin) was a soldier

Above: Hannah (cousin) was a Falcon's cheerleader

Above: Frank and Shayne went as Mustard and Ketchup this year. I told everyone it was because he was my "main squeeze" :-). Frank said it was because he was always trying to "Ketchup" to me.

The Church Halloween Party

We had Trunk-or-Treat at the church again this year.  We were excited because we won best decorated trunk AND best carved pumpkin…Woot Woot!

Above: Frank (mustard) and Shayne (ketchup) manning the trunk.

Above: Sandi getting Hannah ready to trunk-or-treat.

Above: PJ money bags

Above: It's a little fuzzy...but this was the festivities going on after it started raining on our trunk-or-treat.

Above: Hannah Banana

Above: More playing (Donovan and Ashley)

Above: PJ and his balloon.

Above: Donovan and Seth...finally, we can tell them apart.

Above: Shayne got a lot of dancing in running the cake walk.