Ryan w/gun = SCARY!!!

Eating a hillbilly hotdog.... yes that is a restaurant
We have all felt like this before! hopefully they don't pull the trigger!

Elder James, Walter (the one who pulled a gun on Ryan) and Elder Bakker

Hardware Ranch

Mom has the eyes of an eagle! we saw that on the way home while we were going REALLY slow because the roads were so bad.

Getting ready for the sleigh ride.... 
The ONE and ONLY elk we saw!
No need for explanation!
yep thats right i had two pairs of gloves the whole time!  while Nicole only had one glove...  haha

Quinns B-day

In honor of Ryan... Straight from the Fender store in NashvilleUnwrapping some presents
Nicole helping Morgan floss
STORM TROOPER!!
Quinn in his new outfit...  Rocking out

Thanksgiving!

Terri blowing up a ginormous ornament, the old fashioned way.  Grandpa was the smart one.
Ryan joined us for Thanksgiving

Wow!! what an awesome hand!
Karly lost her chin has anyone found it?
Ben is the new Criss Angel!  We like to have fun at grandma's!
Nicole, the panther and Katie, the skunk!
Haha  Grandma got spilled on!  the good news, none of it got on the floor!

  I am sure that this has a pretty awesome story to go along with it, all we can do is imagine!  I just love Ryan's girlish giggle!

SOOO....  Here are some pictures of Ryan,  He has officially learned the hillbilly language, is pro at getting people to give him their cigarettes. He had his first baptism last week but wasn't able to make it because he was transferred.  He is loving life (or so he tells us) Ryan wanted to fit in with the rest of the gallopians, so we bought him some billy bob teeth.  Doesn't he look cute with a part in his hair? Our little brother is growing up!

Melissa and John's Party

I had to show Melissa and John's cute little "watch dog".  They were going to be Bob and Jillian from the Biggest loser but must not have got to the tattoo store before Kat Von D, so the grim reaper family was the choice to be (poetic, I know).   John tried on Grandma Flaherty's earrings, by the way, they hurt real bad to wear!  Oh, and here's our front porch ( I decorated 3 days before Halloween, sad I know).  Enjoy

Halloween

TLC eat your heart out!  Karly is totally hotter than Kat Von D!  She had the faux leather pants and all (which were really old dancing pants!  Nicole rocked the Hell's Angels with the dead flower bouquet and I tried to be the Masquerade Venetian mask wearing girl in the princess jewels from Grandma Flaherty.  Amy Marcek was excited to live in the 80's again, channeling Girls Just want to have fun!  Oh, and look out LA Ink, Nicole was totally channeling the tattoo artist vibe when she Inked Karly.  It was all Nicole's idea for the Kat Von D, so if anyone needs Halloween costume suggestions, you know who to ask!

So, we are home now :( and trying to adjust (jet lag really sucks)! Ryan got transferred to Gallipolis, OH.  If anyone has seen Mothman Prophecies then you will have seen his new home!  CREEEEEPY!  His new address is: 136 1/2 First Avenue # 2, Gallipolis Ohio, 45631. He would love a letter!  He is doing really great and really excited to start backing out his companion in the car. His last area he was on a bike so he is pretty excited about having a car.  He loves being a missionary and is having a wonderful time!  We miss him but we are so happy for him! Oh, we got a cat a few weeks ago to fill the void that Ryan has left.  In his honor we named her Cincinattali we call her Natti and the kids call her Cinci. She is soo cute but she is sick right now so not much fun! Not as funny as Ryan but possibly as crazy!

Update of Rome 10.20.08

Yeah, so the purses... what can we say?!  I think that we bought a total of 21 purses combined (not ashamed either!!)  We saw the Euros go right out the window or as the Italians say "Arreviderchi "(I'm sure that is totally spelled wrong, but it should be easier to read).  I'm not sure that we can show you the pics of today, too much effort to change to JPG files, and iTunes works here, so we have some Grey's Anatomy to watch to Americanize ourselves again.  Eating at the Hard Rock sure helps to make you feel a little more love for the good old USA (we did it twice to be exact!)  We are excited to see everyone, but not too excited to travel forever in the plane.  Anyway, we'll see you tomorrow.  McDreamy is waiting... Ciao!

The Trevi Fountain

This is the Trevi fountain post but has an added bonus.  The other picture is in front of the "Wedding Cake Building"  I can't remember the name but the building is really huge and I will know the name when I haven't been up almost 24 hours (not a lot of sleep the last few nights, even though our hotel in Venice was sooo nice!  I would recommend it to anyone going to Venice!  It had my dream bathroom, robes, a King size bed and slippers!  Who could ask for more (besides to actually enjoy the bed for longer than 4 hours).  Anyway, the Trevi Fountain was beautiful and crowded.  Had some great Gelati on the corner and walked on cobblestone until our feet are so sore, we want to cut them off and get electric wheelchairs like Caitlin suggested!

Sorry I added the wrong photo...

Here's Alecia's photo at the Colosseum.  Kaylee, you are super spoiled!  I think that your mom has more things for you than for herself!  Oh, and I added a pic from the outside of the Colosseum that I thought was pretty cool.

Rome!!

Our first big stop was really the Capuccin Monks!  But no pictures allowed.  You should check them out online.  They have a website if you google them and add Rome, Italy in your search.  Nicole got totally grossed out (it doesn't take much... the word "chunks" makes her gag.)  So we followed up the bone pictures with a little Hard Rock Cafe, the best hamburgers we've ever had, might I add.  Our next stop was the Colosseum.  We took a tour (left half way through because we were sick of the tour thing... shocker) but got some sweet pics to share!  Oh, and I forgot to mention that we stopped by the tie shop that I bought ties at in Rome from the guy who likes the missionaries and gave us the "missionary discount", and I told him that I had bought from him before, and he said " oh, you're the sister"  I looked at him a bit weird and said "yeah, I'm a girl" (great comment, I know), then he said " no, your the sister with the Mormons".  Totally remembered me, crazy.  We are going to get some ties tomorrow for Ry and the boys.