Many Happy Returns...

Merry Christmas

and a very happy New Year to all!

We hope everyone's 2009 was as blessed as ours!

Love, The Faulconer Family
Brian, Lori, MaryEllen,
Henry and Emmett

I am thankful for family, pizza, and that Soccer is over!

We had a great Thanksgiving this year! Starting, as always, with the Run to Feed the Hungry. I didn't do great, but did better than I thought I would! Brian opted to forgo the run to play Football with the ward and then go to bed. (he came home cold, tired, and with a slightly black eye!)

We spent the day with my Family this year, and enjoyed seeing my Aunt Bonnie and most of her family who were in town from Southern California. We had a spectacular feast and the kids had a great time playing with their 2nd cousin Zoe.

Black Friday shopping was successful for me... I scanned the ads days before and was able to narrow down which stores I needed to go to get just what I needed. It also helps that I went with my sister in law Francesca, who could take the gold in the Shopping Olympics, if there were such a thing. (She shopped for almost 24 hrs. straight! I took the easy way out and went for a mere 4 hrs.)

The next day we went to "Happy Hill" (apple hill... Henry really likes it, and has changed the name for all of us.) with Aunt Bonnie and the family. Henry rode the Pony this time! He was so brave and the whole way home he said, "I'm a cowboy!" We all got treats and froze our rears off, which made for a very cozy ride home with the heater at full blast. Overall, it was an excellent holiday!


My cousin Lindsay, rocking the cranberry sauce.


Avery shares the gorry details of his ER visit and stitches just days before Thanksgiving.


Ashley's daughter, Zoe. (slightly younger than Henry.)


My brother Logan cooked the bird this year.


Henry and his pony.



MaryEllen has always wanted one of these caramel apples covered in chocolate and m&m's. I finally gave in and she only ate about 1/4 of it... guess who ate the rest?

The following week our big event was the end of the season party for Brian and MaryEllen's soccer team, the Kickaroos. We pigged out on way too much pizza (that's what happens when you ask Brian to order!) and cake, and the girls all loved being able to hang out and play together one last time. MaryEllen has made some really fantastic friends through soccer this year and we are so glad we will be able to stay close to most of them !


I made the cake. The little soccer balls on the sides were made of gumpaste and had each girls # on them, so they each got one.



Brian's coach plaque.


The trophy's were super cute... they each had a little posable soccer guy on top.


One last game of foose- ball before parting ways!
(Does any one know how to spell fooseball? I tried several different ways and got hit with the wavy red line EVERY TIME!!!)