Christmas Wishes from the Cousins

I tried to rally an enthusiastic Merry Christmas from the Utah cousins to the Oregon & California cousins...Noah finally pulled through at the end. This is from Christmas Eve at the Muno's.
-Mark

Mic and "the Muno" showing off their furs

Starring Baby Jesus

Wynn was baby Jesus in our Neighborhood/Ward Christmas pageant tonight. And according to cute Joseph, "he was great and slept the whole time." It was pretty cute.

Introducing

Reagan Frances Budge

November 19th, 2008

8lbs. 7oz. 21 1/2 inches

The blog is back!

Ever since my friend Kenny posted his Obama rant on my friends blog I gave it up now that the password is gone I will direct my killer blog skills this way.

Muno thank you for the Christmas list.

Graham

A few more...

Henry sporting my headband

the finger toes...proof he's Mic's child

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

I'd like to propose that we remove the password entry to our family blog. I've discussed this with a few members of the family and it seems logging in is often more of a pain than it's worth. Please let me know if you have a strong objection and why, otherwise I think I'll take it off making it much, much easier to participate in this blog.

Christian

Lee Doyle

Lee is starting to stand up a bit and balance. We have this little video camera called a Flip - and while it's not very sophisticated, it is very easy to shoot video and then upload it, email it, edit it, etc - so, testing to see how/if it uploads to the blog.
-Mark

Honey Time

I am sure many of you know we have been keeping bees this past year. What a lark (as Nan would say). The picture to the side is when they first came. They came in this small cage and then we "released" them into the hive we had built. Many thanks to the kids who helped me build the hive. When they first arrived, they came with a queen and about 10,000 bees. The average bee lives just 60 days. After about 3 months, we estimate we had about 50,000 to 60,000 bees. The queen lays about 2,000 eggs a day.

Just a couple of weeks ago, we extracted our share of the honey (we have to leave some for the bees so they can overwinter). Most of what we had read said we would be lucky to harvest 30 lbs the first year--because the bees spend a lot of energy building the wax honeycomb during the first year. An interesting note, to produce a pound of honey, one bee would have to travel the same distance as going around the entire earth 3 times. To do this, this solo bee would require 1 ounce of honey for food. It is definitely a good thing there are 60,000 of them. We were extremely blessed. We extracted 67 lbs of honey and 24 honeycomb rounds. What a blast. I would love to send everyone some honey, but I am not sure how it would travel in the mail. We will save some for you so when you come out we can give you a bottle or two.

Wynn David Woodman

Born 3:19 a.m. - October 10, 2008 - 8 lbs 3 oz - 21.5 inches

Favor

Hello everyone.
My cell phone took a bath (I think) a few weeks ago and as a result, I've lost all info. If you have a moment, will you please email me darbygal78@yahoo.com your cell number and home number.
Thanks.

Highland Homeys

Quiet time turned into a "Highland Homey" fest for Samuel and Noah!

Henry's latest obsession

Mancation III

A few more.

Graham, do you think your brother in law will loan me the Olympic Eagle for Halloween?

Mancation II

Yes, I'll second Mark's comments. I thought the mancation was really fun and can't wait till next year. Where are we headed?

Check out Graham's welt. NICE.

Mancation

Just a plug for mancation - I had a great time and look forward to something next year. It was great to see everyone and, frankly, nice to just hang out with the guys. Christian - any blog-worthy pics?
-Mark

Stephanie Clark in need of your prayers

Stephanie Clark and her husband Christian were in a plane accident Saturday evening--a small plane, Christian with a new license, instructor, Stephanie. The instructor is dead, Christian has 20% burns on his body and a broken back, Stephanie has 60% burns on her body and a badly damaged pancreas. She is in extremely critical condition.

I know you will want to add your prayers for them. Her update is located on her sister Courteny's blog: cjanerun.com.

Love you~Mom

We Miss Our Family!

We had so much fun visiting with everyone and we really miss you. Here are a few photos from the trip. If any of you would like photos, between Christian and me there are quite a few and we can e-mail them or send you a cd. We can't wait for ALL of you to visit us in Portland. Happy Day!

Where have all the Darby's gone?

Miss the contact! How about the newsletter again?

Later MULLET

Now you see it...
Now you don't.

Henry had his first hair cut today. I have to admit I was sad to see the mini curls go, but we were able to keep the cute side wings (see below) so I'm happy.

Happy Anniversary Christian and Linda!

Thanks for the great example. We LOVE you.

Lee & Isaac

Lee on Muno's beautiful quilt; Isaac at preschool 'graduation'; Lee crawling - she has finally figured it out...6 months and 20+lbs later

Alton

outdoor school

In Oregon they do this really cool thing called Outdoor Science School and for four day the 5/6th graders get to run around a few hundred acres and do experiments and field study and have campfires, etc.  It is pretty sweet.  Gretchen is very excited.  She has never been away from home for more than a night though(and that was with cousins) so I am nervous for her.  anyway, she can get mail at outdoor school.  I think she would be very excited to get mail from her family.  If you would like to send mail it should be sent by this saturday in order for her to get it on time.  Please send mail to this address:

Gretchen Darby

Camp Trickle Creek

5390 4-H Road NW

Salem, OR  97304

In the bottom left corner of the envelope please write Palisades Elementary School

Thanks so much.  I know this will mean a lot to her.

 

Sarah Darby?

Can someone tell us a little more about Sarah Darby's 'track & field' success...we heard something about it...a record? or at least a very fast time?...but we're not sure...the Doyle boys are very excited & want to know. They just had a track/field day at school and Seth was really hoping to break a school record...he came close, but it didn't happen. We'd like to know more about Sarah.

Number 4

Wade and I are happy to say that Number 4 will join us around Thanksgiving!

First Shiner

Friday, 3:09am

Yes, I am sitting in the dark listening to Lee crying, hoping she'll get the hint and go back to sleep, so I can go back to sleep. Wow.

Mancation? Have we settled on a date?

one vote?

one vote? I guess I can write anything I want. No one reads the blog and even if they did they don't post. Since I am the one and only vote let's end the blog. (talking to myself)OK let's do.

Cute Cousins

It was so Fun to have the Oregon Darby's in town. Can't wait to see you again soon!!

No Napkin, No Problem

Graham was halfway through his delicious Disneyland s'more before he realized it wasn't all going in his mouth. Alton didn't seem to mind.

Guatemela

I am off to Guatemela Friday morning. Contacting me will be pretty difficult, but in an emergency I can be reached thru the director Dave Hadley, email dave@bountifultravel.com I am returning Sunday evening the 17th.

We will visit the archeological ruins of Copan and Quinigua with Book of Mormon lectures from archaeologists and LDS scholars, visit Antiua, Church at a local branch, The largest native market in Central America at Chichicastenango, visit Lake Atilan where we can swim and take a boat ride on the lake, visit bananna planatation, some museums, snorkeling, a visit to an orphanage and lots of lectures.

I am excited and delighted that the Sperry's invited me along with them.

Love you~Mom

one doodle we don't want undone

We are happy to announce we are expecting baby number two in early October.
Hugs, Megan, Mic and Henry