About Our Family ... Page 2

Taken in summer of 2007 - Diane had just "rescued" Adrienne from the "rock" in the kids' park.

Diane is still attending college at BYU-Idaho. She seems to be enjoying her classes for the most part, especially her communication courses and German. She hasn’t always been thrilled with the tidiness of some of her roommates this year and often lets off steam in her online blog. ;-) Working at the bakery for years has caused her to be more mindful of sanitation issues than the average young person. She will be taking a long trip in May after completing the spring term. There is a convention in Toronto she wants to attend and some of her online friends will be converging there. She’ll fly into New York and proceed to Toronto.That should be an adventure. I look forward to her pictures. When she has time, she still makes small dolls (from scratch... no patterns) and sells them on a limited basis to fellow anime nuts to earn spending money. Diane has put up a web page on the Internet which is devoted to her favorite Japanese anime characters. Out of 8 in the family, four of us have web pages. She and Lynda share their devotion to anime and spend a lot of time working on their respective websites as they have time. If you'd like to visit Diane's web page, here is the link: Slayer's Victory!

Diane likes to sketch sometimes and this was a doodle she made when trying to imagine a cross between a cat and a rabbit. Sometimes exercises like these can help keep her awake in class at college!

Diane (a few years ago) working on some dolls.

Like her sister, Kristine, Karen has had some major developments in her life this past year. She graduated with an accounting degree from BYU-Idaho in April and began a job at Lockheed-Martin in Littleton, Colorado. She’s been feeling burned out about the whole dating scene after a serious releationship that fizzled during her last semester at college. I visited her in October to see where she lives and do some family history sleuthing in Erie with my brother who lives in a nearby town. After visiting he and his wife, I also wanted to see an old friend who’d lived in the same town for 9 years. Their family was in our ward when our children were little, before they moved from Washington State. We’ve kept track of one another via email and the occasional phone call. Karen had zero interest in one more stop that day (does tired and grouchy cover it?) but 6 weeks later, she became engaged to Niklas Skinner, James and Nancy’s youngest boy. He was born only a few weeks after Karen, but because there was a New Year between the dates, he was always in the next younger Primary class at church. She didn’t remember him and he remembered her vividly as the girl with the huge glasses. We had so much fun with Nancy and her two boys. I hadn’t laughed so hard in months! I got a feeling about the whole thing while we were there the second day, but had no clue how quickly! We're so happy for both girls to meet young men that bring them so much joy. They defied every “logical” intention they’d had when meeting and becoming engaged to these young men in such a short space of time. One of life’s little ironies!

Karen and Niklas plan to marry in May and she will be moving back to her old haunts in Rexburg because he will be attending BYU-Idaho. She’s actually looking forward to living there as a married person. She also has lots of details to work out with relocating, but feels it is the right thing and will fall into place. Pictures of their beaming faces can be seen when you scroll down.

Taken when we took Karen to college at BYU-Idaho in early January of 2003. The above photo was taken in nearby Idaho Falls (it looks like the Idaho Falls Temple is sprouting out of our heads!). We were in town to do some last minute shopping for her school needs and spend time with Ron's sister before delivering Karen to her dorm in Rexburg.

From her freshman year at BYU-Idaho - After a first year roommate "bonding experience," everyone had to wash tempra paint off the bottoms of their feet!

Here's a tired but fun group of folks! Karen is the third from the right in the reddish wig. She attended the Harry Potter premiere in Salt Lake City in November of 2005 with the Bohls family and a couple of friends. The gal second from the left (Susan) sewed all of the costumes and helped get everyone ready. She and the kid dressed as Harry (Josh... who'd served a mission in our area) actually had a tiny spot on the news the next morning!

Now for some photos of Karen with the "new" guy in her life (rediscovered is more like it)...

A picture of mutual delight - Karen with her fiancé, Niklas Skinner - November 2007

Niklas and Karen ready for her office Christmas Party - December 2007

The following are from an "engagement photo shoot" in Blackfoot, Idaho - February 2008. The weather was FREEZING cold and very windy. I won't leave all of these up indefinitely, but thought it would be fun to show a few that were not chosen for the actual announcement.

Taken in the park's gazebo.

One of Lynda's computer drawings for a Digipen assignment.

In memory of our former kitty cats... all passed now. Purrcy with the three kittens born in August of 1990 during their "first" Christmas season. Kittens from left to right are Puff, Tawny and Max.