Update!!!

Ok...so I gave a bunch of you admin privileges so you could post pictures of your families on the side like I did with the Hulewsky's picture. I also invited Sam, Grandpa & Lee and Nik & Jessika to be authors on this blog. I saw that some of you have set up blogs for your own families so I listed those on the side so we could all check each other out. I also put my friend Cindy's blog up there too. She's married to Tom Wilhelm's cousin Ron Kersey so it's sort of like family...ha. It's fun to keep up with everyone this way. At this point I can't find my dvd with the family photo's on it so if one of you has a picture of the whole family you want to post as part of the header that would be great. I gave admin rights to Rachel, Danny & Janessa, Ian & Melissa, Caleb & Jamie, Annah, and Faith. I'm so glad more people are getting involved.

Haylee's sixth birthday

Haylee turned six yesterday. I can not believe how the time flies!!

We started the day cleaning the church building, how many of us can say that's what we did on our birthday?!? And then Haylee, Bryan and I went miniature golfing in the 100 degree weather.

This picture was taken around hole 5, so before Haylee started complaining of her head dripping sweat.

Then later in the day we had a Hannah Montana party and watched the 3-D movie.

Her and all of her cousins and friends had a fun time.

Once the party was over and everyone left, this is what I was lucky enough to have.

Thanks MOM you are the best!!

The "Bunkers"

Hey Family! Like Rachel, I don't really know what I am doing but I figured I would try. I think the blog thing is a fun idea.

Karlee just celebrated her 6 month birthday friday! Its very exciting for us that we haven't killed her yet :) Haha...J/k. We celebrated by getting her first pictures taken ( I know...I'm a bad mom, I missed newborn and 3 months...).

Our First Family Picture

Karlee loves the bath!

Isn't she so cute? :)

Besides that...nothing too exciting. We are just waiting for Holly to come home, which happens the end of August. Everyone is excited about that. It will be nice to have the whole family "home". Jason is in the middle of race season...they just won their last race (which is pretty exciting for them). His Grandpa raced, now his dad races the same car. Jason just works on a car (for now), which is good for my sanity and nerves...seeing that the cars go about 220 MPH. Here is a picture of the cars.

The car Jason works on....

The car his dad now races...

The last piece of news is that we are planning on having a reception/renewal of vows in October at our one year anniversary! We are pretty excited, but we will keep you posted...

Thank you Betty Crocker

Now that's a beautiful stew. The picture doesn't do it justice. I decided to make a stew and I love to look at recipes so I looked online and they all seemed a bit too complicated so I pulled out my Betty Crocker cookbook and used the basic simple recipe contained in that incredible cookbook. I always tweak a recipe when I cook and tonight was no different but the end result was wonderful. I invited Caleb and Jamie to eat with us since there appeared to be plenty of stew. In the midst of all of the usual commotion around here Caleb asked..."aren't the missionaries coming for dinner?" I can't believe how forgetful I've become. They just called last night to set up the time and here I had forgotten. Well we barely had enough and I'm sure if there had been more it would have been eaten too. Thank you Betty Crocker. I think that I will order several Betty Crocker cookbooks from Amazon and use them as wedding gifts. A good cookbook never goes out of style...

Attempt at something new

Alright I am trying this thing. I am not sure how well I'll do but it doesn't hurt to try, right!! We like being able to check up on everyone and Haylee always asks whats on Haylee.com and I try to tell her "Not you" but she thinks it is kind of cool to see pictures of everyone online so here are a couple of the "Wilhelm" family.

We went on a very short notice family vacation at the end of May to a cabin up in Tahoe. It was right through where the big fires were up there last year. It turned out being great.

The cabin was really nice and the weather even cleared up enough for us to spend a day quading.

At the end of June, actually the weekend of Nik and Jessica's wedding, Haylee had her dance recital.

We were a little shocked by her outfit...but she did a great job. It was amazing to see how much more confidence she had at this recital versus her first one that she performed in last June.

The lucky girl...her dad even gave her roses!

In case you don't know, Bryan and I are having our second baby in December. We had our ultrasound and they say he is a body!! We are all very excited for our new addition.

We are sad...

Funny angle on this one. Makes it look like the van is driving down, down, down. Who knows where down is?

These pictures are out of order...this one should be last. Leaving the driveway.

Loading up the van...

Even Leah knows something is up.

It should be illegal for children to move far away from their parents especially once there are grandchildren involved. We are all so sad our little buddies left. Our house is just too quiet. Nik and Jessika are married. The open house is over. Caleb and Jamie and Liam will be moving soon. Emily and Grace will be starting high school in a couple of weeks. Gabe will be a senior. Where does the time go? Right now I am sad that time is moving on. I know that's the plan so I will just have to buck up. I'll do that tomorrow. Thanks Ian and Melissa for letting us take your boys for a little while. Please let them come back. Until then we will all miss them. Love you guys.

Story Time

Those boys love story time and big Caleb had fun reading to them all.

Gramma and her buddies

These are not the best photos. I was sitting with my buddies and I was sort of falling asleep while I was trying to get my buddies relaxed and ready for sleep. One of the girls took the pictures. By the time the second shot was taken I was recovered from my sleepy stupor. Aren't they just the cutest? I think so...

Open House pictures

Nice family table shot with the always handsome Marvin at the head of the table.

A good shot of the all important food table. Gotta love all that food. And of course the lovely ladies who helped out...a big cheer for them.

Another family shot. Mary is always so happy. How does she do it???

A nice panoramic view of the tables before the guests arrived. Not bad.

What a smashing orange kitchen. Who is their decorator was the question of the evening. Not really but these are the ladies who made it all happen. From left to right of course me first, Maryan Jenkins, Terry Seymour, Mindy Gillespie, Pam Fowers, Mello Carlton and in the front Jacquie McAllister. Great friends sure make the load lighter.

The lovely couple. Jessika and Nikolas Hulewsky...

Rob Bonds in the center. He's the father of the bride.


Joann and Rachelle Veeck. Can you believe that Faith and Rachelle have been friends since kindergarten? Now that's a long time. The open house went off without a hitch. Lots of guests and plenty of food. It was a great party and I hate parties so that's saying something.

Party prep...

Preparing the chicken for the family lunch and the open house. Two events in one day. We are really talented...


Anatole looking very pleased with himself.


The cool new umbrella's. We got two on clearance. So exciting. Really adds to the ambiance don't you think?

I somehow deleted some of the pictures. Slow computer and an operator with some real deficiencies. Two strikes...

July 4th

Grace looking very happy. At least the rest of the group seems to be pretty interested in what they are eating.


Emily and Julian. Doesn't he look patriotic in his festive hat? It was the usual pancake breakfast at the church. Of course no 4th is complete without a flag ceremony and recognition of those that have served our country through military service along with beautiful flute music and patriotic readings. It's always a great time at these events. It took forever for these pictures to load so I will wait until tomorrow to post the pictures from the open house we had here last night for Nik and Jessika. I invited more "Gilbert's" to be contributors to this blog so let me know if you got the invite. We will all be looking forward to more family news.

The Elmo cake

Isn't this a great cake?


Two little boys who couldn't wait to get their fingers into their second birthday cake.


Now that's a satisfied smile. Cake must have hit the spot.


Caleb looking very serious after devouring his cake.

We had the cutie pies for their second birthday July 1st. I'm not much of a planner but we threw together a little party to celebrate the occasion. Emily and Grace let me know that Elmo was a favorite and we invited Margie's grandkids and of course grandpa and Lee and it was a party. I have lots of pictures but this old laptop is driving me crazy. It was a very short drive...ha. Anyway it takes forever for these photos to upload. Once I balance my checkbook I think it's time for a new computer.

A few more pic's from Nik's wedding

A lovely picture of the bride and groom with their respective parents. Aren't the colors fabulous...


Anatole and Louise nearing the end of a very long and tiring day...


Nik and his cousin Joanna. Joanna came all the way from Massachusetts just to attend Nik's wedding. Pretty cool huh...