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Meet Jack....

That is, if you haven't already. Kimily, Eefy, and all you cute kids, this is our somewhat new baby, Jachxon Rhaey Holliday. Pretty adorable I know, we finally had a baby with hair.




Just kidding,.. Jackson Ray Holliday. He was born.

The little grin on his face is starting to be seen a little more often thank goodness. Normally when he's not on the bo...... earmuffs..... ..... ........... feeder, he's not happy.
We wish we could get him to do this more often. But he if fun and cute and we love him.
And Lucy is a big stister now. She's sooooo excited and proud of that. We just need to convince her that now that she is a big stister she needs to keep her clothes on.


Anyway, much love to you all. Especially you Texans that I don't get to see at all. Bye

Little Ethan Flashback

Wow! Remember when there was only ONE cute little grandbaby? I do. I loved that little Ethan so much! A few random things I remember about him...He was a sweaty baby. I would hold him for a few minutes while he slept in my arms and when I'd lay him down we were both pretty wet. He liked movement to sooth himself. I remember putting him in his car seat at the house on 7th street and then putting the car seat on top of the dryer to get him to settle down and fall asleep. I remember the day he was born (I was late to my senior trip because of it) :) It was the most incredible, beautiful thing I'd ever witnessed. He was such a sweet baby! I was such a pround auntie. Its amazing that this little guy is now SO BIG! He is such a good kid and as far as being the oldest grandchild, he's perfect for the job!

Jonas just looked at this picture and said, "Hey mom! That's Gavin! That's my cousin Gavin!"

Remember how excited we were to watch Ethan sit at the piano, he would get this look of pure bliss when he could make that sound with just the touch of the finger. He also, of course, loved flipping the pages of the music until he found just what he wanted to "play."

Woa, Sean looks so little in this one...now I know what people meant when they called him baby faced.

OK, at this point he wasn't the only grandchild, but I couldn't resist posting these pictures, he is too funny and cute!

I love this one! He's modeling my veil, and I must say, he looks beautiful. ;o)

I'm not sure what's in his mouth, but that face is priceless.

And one of my personal favorites...

I'm not going to be responsible for ruining Christmas!!!

OK, so apparently y'all want to do a big family gift, at least according to one frustrating brother. If you guys want to do that, then let's do it. The only reason I called everyone and got your votes is because nobody wanted to talk about it and actually make a decision when you were together. Since you were all together and talked about it, it sounds like you came to a decision. I think that's great. If its what everybody (or most everybody) wants to do, then I will not be responsible for keeping the family from doing what they want. I personally don't care that much that we won't be able to use the big family gift at mom and dad's. If I remember correctly, I was the one who suggested a big family gift at mom and dad's in the first place (though I could not remember clearly, as I wasn't actually there when you talked about it the first time). A big family gift will be cool, and we'll get to use sometimes.

I'm really frustrated that I was told that everyone's "not really OK" with doing a family gift exchange. I say again I AM NOT GOING TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR RUINING CHRISTMAS! Whatever the majority of people want to do, we'll do, but in this family, trust me, we're not going to be able to please everyone. Why don't the people that really care about what we do just decide for the rest of us. I was under the impression when I talked to everyone, that pretty much everyone "would be OK" with either, apparently I was wrong. I don't care what you all decide just make a decision and don't make me feel like its my fault when someone isn't happy about it.

Flashback: Richy and the Mission

I have all these pictures of Richy going on his mission and thought they'd make a good flashback. I'll be writing random memories of this time too. Please add your own!

Mom and Richy at the MTC, I remember Mom being so proud and happy having her final boy going on a mission. You guys really made her proud!

Heather, the tease. It wasn't bad enough that she broke Richy's heart by marrying Sean. She had to follow him to the MTC and try to kiss him. Sheesh! ;o)

I think that that kiss was better than Richy expected, he tried to make a break for it! Sean didn't want the competition.

At the airport. I don't remember if Grandma was sick already at this time. She was obviously well enough to be there. I'm pretty sure she was still working at the Temple, so I guess she was doing OK.

Again with the kissing! I wonder what he did in Germany! ;o) Doesn't Grandma look so cute and happy!

Before Rich left on his mission, I remember feeling like he was not very nice. He was always so concerned with hanging with his friends...as you can see, he had a lot of them!

Random memories of his time in Germany:

• getting lectured about steady dating
• getting called to repentance about reading the Book of Mormon-hey! I read everyday!
• feeling livid at the choice of my high school musical senior year
• wishing Richy could be there to see me perform
• crying and crying about not getting Region Sterling Scholar and getting Richy's letters of condolences
• 7Dave starting to date Adrienne... weird!
• Grandpa Dalton dying
  
• 7Dave marrying Adrienne... even weirder... but WAY awesome!
  
• breaking up with Van and getting "I told you so" letters
• the birth of our first nephew, the cutest baby I'd ever seen, Ethan
• redecorating the living room right before he got home
• anxiously awaiting his return

The day finally came and we went to pick him up. I'm so glad that all my brothers missions were before the crummy airport security stuff. I remember many walks along those corridors with my favorite roaming companion, Heather.

And the rest is history! We love Richy!

Flashback Friday

I am starting a new tradition on this family blog: Flashback Friday. The concept is simple, on Friday you do a post about the past. I have been coming across some real gems in my unpacking, but this one may just take the cake. Feel free to join me with your own memories. So with no further adieu, I give you...

April Fool's Day 2000

Remember how weird Richy was sleeping on the floor all the time? It made for lots of room to tie his room up though!

And who could possibly forget Dennis' true passion? "Thanks for being such a good fan, Den. Its fans like you that make it all worth it!"

Hopefully you can see the humor in the prank now (if you even check this thing). Heaven knows it was HILARIOUS! Thanks Heather and Sean for the idea and thanks to everyone else for making such a fantastic memory!

Christmas Decision 2008-You Decide

Hello all! We need to make a decision about what is going to happen for Christmas with our family this year. I know there have been several suggestions made about what we might do, but we need to discuss what we all want to see happen and try to come up with a perfect solution. ;o)

So far the options I've heard are:

• keep the same tradition, buy for kids and siblings
• buy for just siblings
• buy for just kids
• buy for family gifts
  
• pool money and buy a big gift for mom and dad's house for all to use
• do a tree for Festival of Trees-or some other donation

I think that's about it, if I've missed something please let me know!

Now, we need to know what all of y'all's (how do you like my Texan?) preferences are. How strongly do you feel in your preferences? The comments are a great place for you to explain these things and no one will be able to interrupt you (will that be a Holliday first?) ;o) and you can think about how you really feel, before responding without feeling a bunch of emotion and blurting something out that you'll regret (not that any of us have ever done that in a family discussion, right?). You can even leave it as "anonymous" if you'd prefer.

I've posted a survey at the side as well. This is to visually see what everyone else is feeling. Even if you don't want to leave a comment, please vote! I don't get to be there for the discussion and as you can tell, I hate to miss all the fun. I hope that we can use this forum to get at least some direction for the next family "meeting" without all the options. If we can get it narrowed down to two of the choices, y'all could go from there.

No matter what we decide, let's remember that Christmas is a time to celebrate our Saviour's birth and the best way to do that is as a family no matter what the tradition. I love y'all! (By the way- "y'all" doesn't even flag the spell checker...you better watch out, Texas might take over the world before long!)