Family Pictures 2008

This past Saturday we finally found some time to get out, during the day, and take some new family pictures! Of course, that was the day it snowed everywhere and got really, really cold. I was determined not to let this daylight go wasted and when the kids woke up from naps and it wasn't snowing any more we called my sister, Tracy, over to take some pictures.

The first few we tried inside the house and they turned out okay, but I didn't want just Christmasy pictures of our family and I like outdoor shots the best, so we loaded into Tracy's van and took off to find the perfect location.

The kids freaked out when we got out of the van. First because they were so cold and second because the cows behind us were mooooing and the kids thought that the cows were going to get them! You would think we've lived pretty rurally for most of their lives, but I guess they haven't actually been close to the animals before. This is what we were fighting with. . .
Besides some teary eyes and fake smiles, the shots were okay.

The one that I actually chose for Christmas cards was the one below. However, I ordered them wrong and won't be getting them until the day before Christmas, so if and when I get them I will be sending them out late. So, you might get a Christmas card this year and you might not, but either way I really tried!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!! We love each one of you and are grateful for your friendships!
Love, The Williams Family 2008

Welcome Baby Lewis!!

We are so excited! My little brother, Jared and his wife, Casi had baby number 3 and their first boy, Lewis David Wright yesterday at around 5:50pm. We went to see them at the hospital tonight and he is the cutest little boy ever!! He was 8 pounds even and 20.5 inches and he has loads of brown hair! When we saw him tonight his hair was in a mohawk and it just suited him perfectly!

We only saw him for a few minutes and then they took him to get circumcised, so all of these pictures were taken right after he got back from that - poor thing. He wasn't too happy, but we were glad to get to spend some time with them and to take some pictures for everyone to see. I am sure Casi will blog some super cute pictures when she feels up to it.

Way to go guys!! He is the cutest thing ever (and he looks just like Casi's family to us)!




I know some of the pictures of Jared are funny, but Lewis is a cutie!!

Jake's Surgery

For those of you that have weak stomachs (MOM) this is a warning of some post surgical pictures, so you might not want to look ahead if things bother you.

Our dog, Jake, is almost 11 years old. We got Jake just a few months after we got married back in 1998 and he is an amazing dog! We have people tell us all the time that if we need to get rid of him that they would very happily take him for us! Bump is going to have a very hard time when Jake passes on, he is a big part of our family.

Anyway, Jake has had some fatty growths on different parts of his body for a few years and the vet assured us that these are very normal and most dogs get at least one. He had a large one on his back for quite awhile, but over the last few months that one on his back has gotten quite large. We knew we needed to take him to the vet but it was just time and money that we haven't had lately, so we put it off.

We determined last week that we would take him to the vet this week and see what was wrong with this huge growth (it was the size of my fist). Well, by Wednesday morning we still hadn't taken him. I noticed that his growth looked kind of funny, like it was growing more and so I determined to get Bump to take him in the next day and I was going to call him after I took Gabby to preschool. Well, when I went to take Gabby to preschool and let the dog outside for the morning something was definitely not right. Jake's growth had completely popped and he had yellow pussy goo running all down his fur. Eeeeewwwww! I don't deal well with gross dog things, especially when I don't know what is wrong. So, I made him stay outside and I called Bump to get an appointment.

Anyway, to make a long story short. . . we took Jake into the vet yesterday and he spent the day. The vet said that it was some kind of cyst that can be caused by just a blocked pore or something small like that and that it has gotten larger and was very infected (yes I feel incredibly guilty about that). So, we had her remove what was left of it and clean everything out. While he was under she also clipped his long toenails, lasered a "rice crispy" from his eye, pulled (or filed down, I haven't checked yet) 2 broken teeth and also cleaned his teeth thoroughly. Jake is like a new dog now - or at least he will be when he heals up. He had to have 11 staples put in his back and he's on pain killers and antibiotics for 10 days. She said that Jake actually looks really great for his age and I think Bump was happy to hear that!

He was pretty ticked off at Bump when we picked him up. Bump actually had his parents pick Jake up from the Vet and then we got him last night. He didn't want to go out to the car with Bump. I think he didn't trust him not to take him back to the vet! Today he seems to be doing pretty good and we are happy to have things fixed! I have some pictures of his big ouchy on his back, don't look if it bothers you. I wish I had taken some before pictures, but I don't thing you would have really wanted to see it - especially after it popped! Yuck, it made me sick!

He needs a hair cut and so he looks a bit shaggy, but he is a great dog and we are glad that things are okay now!!



Yes, Jake's spots are even on his skin - isn't that cool??

15 years later

Bump and I were talking the other day about how lucky we were to have such amazing friends in high school. We hung out with a really great group of people. They all had good values and helped to lift each other up and were amazing examples to everyone.

I had some especially wonderful girlfriends and I am going to embarrass any of them that read this blog by posting our senior pictures from the yearbook. I hate mine and I am sure the girls aren't really in love with theirs either, but they are all beautiful girls! (sorry I couldn't adjust the pictures so that heads weren't cut off)
Yesterday Marisa had us all up to her house for a pot-luck lunch. We brought our kids that weren't in school and had a really great time catching up! It's been 15 years since we graduated from Woods Cross High School and all of these amazing girls are still strong. Each are happily married mommies and so full of life! It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that we were hanging out in the halls at school or going to stomps on Friday nights. We missed Megan and Mara and all of our other awesome friends, but it was so good so see everyone that could be there again.

I honestly don't know where I would be without such great friends. These were (and still are) my peers and I couldn't ask for better examples to follow. When you think about how many people are divorced or have fallen into bad habits or made some really poor choices, and then look at how our close friends have remained strong, you realize how lucky you really are to have them! And how lucky I was to have them during the tough emotional times in my youth! Thank you for being such great girl friends!
Karisa's little daughter was kind enough to take this picture for us, so sorry for the head chopping, but it was nice to have everyone in the picture. These are about half of the kids that we had there and there are several more in school and 3 that are not born yet (congrats Cassie, Angie and Natalie)
The kids had a blast playing down in the basement and I hardly saw them! My kids love to meet new friends and it's always fun playing with new toys!

Christmas Decorations

After a wonderful Thanksgiving at Bump's brother's house we decided to get busy and decorate our house for Christmas! I had a specific look in mind and wanted to keep with the age and style of the house. It is simple, but we love it and have had good comments from neighbors.

We put garland all around our new fence (you can't have a picket fence without decorating it can you?) and a few bows for color. We hung wreaths with bright red bows on all the windows except the bay with the Christmas tree. And our Christmas lights consist only of candles in each window. We fell in love with this look while we lived in Vermont and decided that our house was just made for the Vermont look. We might still do a bit of tweeking, but we are really happy with how it turned out.


We also had the chance this year to put up our Dept 56 Dicken's Village. This has been a collection started by Bump's parents and they handed it down to us to continue. We add a new piece each year. This is the first year we have been able to put it up since we had kids. The kids just love to look at the lights and all the little people and to watch the skaters on the pond. It's a fun thing to have and we were really excited to finally put it up.


Our stocking are hung and the tree is decorated - well sometimes the tree is decorated - I have to re-decorate it every day as the kids pull each ornament off and I find them all over the house. But, we are still loving our old house and it's so fun to have it decorated for the holidays!! Merry Christmas everyone!