May 2010 Bring You Good Health and Heartfelt Happiness<3

MERRY CHRISTMAS! God Bless Us Every One!

Happy 12 Days of Christmas :)

We love this version! Enjoy!

Happy 21st Birthday Elder Bubba!

Close-up of Trey almost on cover & Larger New Era 2009 cover

Trey makes the cover of The New Era ...well almost ;)

Happy 3rd Birthday Lainey bug!

Happy 3rd Birthday to our sweet little Lainey bug! You may be small in size, but you take up a huge part of our hearts! We love you so much and are so proud of you our sweet girl! We are so glad you are part of our family! Love you Bugsy!

Trunk or Treating in Tennesse!

With:
The wicked witch of the West-Elphaba
The Wicked witch of the East-NessaRose
and SUPER LENNON!

MONSTER MASH variety show

http://www.monstermashup.com/7f2e5c



http://www.monstermashup.com/97ab52



http://www.monstermashup.com/

Yo everyone! Just writing a short post that there is a rugby scrimmage Tuesday at 7 P.M. (Probably) at Helaman Fields on the BYU campus. BYU will be scrimmaging UVU and you can come see the National Champion cougars play. Maybe even get to see me get in there :)

Did you get your Flu Shot?

We got ours today!
(It's my first one ever!)

Love the Look!

Thanks Patricia for the great looking
new October theme. Love it!

GO TREY and GO BYU RUGBY

National Champion Cougars Honored at Football Halftime


October 2, 2009

Provo, UT—A sold out Lavell Edwards Stadium crowd honored the 2009 National Champion BYU Cougars at the halftime of the BYU football game tonight.

The half time ceremony was the first of it's kind for any non-NCAA sports team at BYU highlighting the support of the rugby program at the university.

A video piece was shown on the two stadium big screen TV’s highlighting last season’s campaign culminating with footage from the Cougars’ come-from-behind championship victory over Cal.

After the video the team was announced and honored near mid-field with the home crowd of over 65,000 giving the Cougars a loud standing ovation. Both players from last year's team and the current squad were on hand for the ceremony.

BYU head coach David Smyth, who was on hand with the team and staff for the mid-field ceremony, said he was glad that the school was able to recognize the program for its success.

“I was very happy for the boys,” he said, “It was a fantastic for our university to recognize their efforts and achievements from this past season. It was a nice touch that was greatly appreciated.”

All-American prop Mike Su’a, who was vital to last season’s national championship, felt the halftime ceremony was something that will help continue to build the visibility of the program in the BYU sports community.

“It was awesome to get that kind of recognition at the football game,” he said, “We already get so much support, but to have something like this happen will go a long ways towards next season.”

The Cougars are heavily entrenched in their pre-season preparations and will be building towards their 2010 season over the coming months. 2010 season schedules will be released in the coming weeks.

Our New Home...Ames, Iowa

Tracy and Heidi Welch
2826 Heathrow Drive #68
Ames, Iowa
50014

"A home is much more than a house built of lumber, brick, or stone. A home is made of love, sacrifice, and respect. We are responsible for the homes we build. We must build wisely, for eternity is not a short voyage. There will be calm and wind, sunlight and shadows, joy and sorrow. But if we really try, our home can be a bit of heaven here on earth. The thoughts we think, the deeds we do, the lives we live not only influence the success of our earthly journey, they also mark the way to our eternal goals."

--President Thomas S. Monson,

Happy 31st Birthday Eric, Esq

Happy 29th Stephanie!!! We love you!

We love you Pops: Thanks for the Memories!

Happy Birthday Heidi - Defying Gravity!!!

Best Places To Live The Simple Life

Got to love it!



5 Best Places To Live The Simple Life

By Sarah Mahoney, September & October 2009

Rich culture, great food, low stress. Who wouldn't want to call these affordable cities home?

Tucson, Arizona
Greenville, South Carolina
Montpelier, Vermont
Logan, Utah YEAH!

5. AMES, IOWA

Ames, Iowa

Vibe: Wholesome Americana
Population: 55,000
Median housing price: $159,270
Average commute: 17 minutes
Average number of sunny days: 202 per year

Most relaxing way to spend an afternoon:
Paddling a canoe in Ada Hayden Heritage Park,
where you may spot—besides hundreds of common
birds—a short-eared owl or a summer tanager

Simple fun for less than $10: Touring Reiman
Gardens at Iowa State University, where $7
buys access to award-winning rose gardens
and more

Who knew?: It recently ranked as the sixth-smartest city in the United States.


Ames is a gracious town—with broad lawns,
leafy neighborhoods, pretty parks and
ponds—and its distinctly rural flavor is
the key to its urban charm. With its
thrice-weekly farmers' markets, paddling
options on the Skunk River, and 55 miles
of city-maintained trails for avid bikers,
runners, and walkers, Ames is a place for
people who like wide-open spaces. "You can
drive less than five minutes outside of town
and you are really in the country," says
Russ Cross, 53, a bank executive in
Des Moines, 30 miles away. The lively
downtown area—including a long Main Street,
fun restaurants (such as favorite Aunt Maude's,
serving up local meats, cheeses, and produce),
and a pub with its own brew—adds to the charm.
"I love that when I step outside my office
on Main Street, it's such a clean little town,"
says Russ's wife, Beth, 51, president of a
local marketing company. "It's one of the
most welcoming places I've ever seen."
The couple, who like to run on Ames's trails
with their golden retriever, say they are a
long way from retiring, but when they do,
they can't imagine moving anywhere else.
"There's just so much that I want to do
right here," Beth says.

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY LENNON!

Oh my Heaven's Patricia's 27!

Katchie is 1/4 of a Century! Happy 25th<3

Aleece is 5! Can you believe it? Happy b-day<3

Dad's Day

Happy Father's Day to the Dad's in our life! Biggie and Val: you are the two best dad's in the whole world! We hope your day is amazing because you both deserve it!!!

THANKS

Just wanted to say THANK YOU for everything my wonderful family has done for me in the past week! I could not ask for a better family. You are all so amazing and really, thank you for everything, all you love, support, calls, texts, flowers and so much more! I love you all very much and THANKS!
Love, Katch and my sorry jaw :)

Have a Rockin 28th Jeph!

Happy 28th ADAM ADAMS!

Thanks Patricia, love the new summer look!

And we are working on opening a big old lemonade stand! LOL

Happy Graduation Trey!!!

Four year seminary graduate! and a speaker as well!

All those early mornings getting himself up and out the door, (it was better that way trust us;) paid off. Congrats big Guy-well done.

Happy Mama's Day

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MAMA!!!

Thanks for being so amazing, caring and fabulous!!
We all love you!!

Vote!!!

Remember to vote for Val in the Mormon Times Music Showcase please! Love you all!

VOTE FOR VAL HERE!!!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!

Today's holiday commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely defeat of French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín. The outnumbered Mexicans defeated a much better-equipped French army that had known no defeat for almost 50 years. For more info on Cinco de Mayo you can go here. It's a good excuse to enjoy some good Mexican food and to try to fit a siesta into your schedule! Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Marshall Prom 2009

What fun a guy can have with a corvette!
All the Prom activities were fun as well;)
Our last prom shindig until the grandkids go.
We have great memories of so many proms,
this one was as good as the rest and all
those wonderful welchkin smiles are etched in our memories.

What a Wonderful Easter Vacation!

We thought we needed to post some pictures of our
fun Easter adventure. We may have missed General Conference
due to our crazy travel adventure, but what fun we had.
Thanks to our great hosts!

The Story Of Stuff

Eric and I thought this was something everyone should watch. Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day 2009!

We hope you're having a warm
and sunny Earth Day!
We hope you are having some
'green' success in our green year.
We love the daily suggestions
from the 'green calendar'.
Three things we have been
some success with are:

1. Using reusable cloth bags at the store.
We have found thatsome stores (not Walmart)
give a 5-10 cent refund for each bag.
Put them in between the front seats where
you unbuckle your seat belt, then you
see them as you get out.

2. Using cloth napkins for the day or
several days instead of paper napkins
or paper towels has really worked well
for us. Sam's sells great white restaurant
napkins, maybe we could get
some and split them.

3. Using less plastic water bottles.
Using filtered water and
refillable's definitely helps the
pocketbook as well as the earth!

We'd love to hear of anything that
is working well at your houses.
Have a wonderful green day and remember,
EVERYDAY IS EARTH DAY!

Hoppy Easter Everybunny!

Our Crazy Adventure in Photos

Millions I tell you of them! Can you see the line of semi's stretching forever into the distance. More than imaginable!




This is what we saw all the way from Sydney, NE to Utah when we looked out the window.




Can you see the sideways snow? This guy was actually walking pretty upright compared to the rest of us:)



My companions in our crazy adventure...they made it even more adventurous, trust me!



This was what it looked like out our window for hours and hours. Plus this is what we walked out into to wait in our cars during the fire.

What an Adventure! The really condensed version!!

Friday we prepared to go to Utah.
We had gotten tickets to both the
Saturday afternoon session and the
Sunday morning session at the
conference center. We are really
trying to be better people and more
spiritual so we were really anxious
to go. Dad and Trey had never been
and I think I went once years ago
when I was small.
And from that moment until now we
have been on one wild “adventure”.
It started with a last minute call
about showing the house while we
were gone which involved a more
extensive cleaning plan which then
set us back 2 ½ hours from leaving.
It then went on to wind and snow,
which the forecast said would be
rain until the next day, to a full
blown wicked blizzard, to closed
freeways and an extra night in a
hotel room which turned into a
electrical power outage hotel room,
then a fire alarm, leave the building
into a roaring blizzard while sitting
in your car waiting for the fire
department to work on a smoky
electrical fire for over an hour
hotel room while helping strangers
carry children out and trying not to
scare them (turns out they were
from Utah!) finally returning to the
powerless room and getting ready for
bed in cell phone one light!
We got power at 2am and awoke to a
still closed freeway! We decided to
stay and watch on the internet
(like we had the day before) the
morning session since we had looked
forward to it so much even though we
weren’t there, we were really looking
forward to hearing the prophet.
The talks all conference seemed meant
for us. It was a great session but
as the prophet got to the best part
of his talk (apparently what we were
needing to hear) the computer froze!
We tried everything only to have it
continue as he said amen! We then
determined that the adversary must
surely not have wanted us to be there
and hear these inspirational words
and also to be in Utah with our family
because he was working hard to stop us!
But we laughed in his face, and set out
to continue the journey. The freeway
had finally opened and we along with
a million, trust me this hardly seems
like an exaggeration,
semi trucks began our journey.
Then it was way way too many trucks,
still bad roads and 4 times coming
to complete stops on I80 while waiting
to go on, but we continued our adventure!
We may be giving Job some competition
but We the Welchkins will now and
always endure! Because this family
knows…Love is all you need! Right!!?

pictures soon!

Leecy T's pneumonia

The winds blew, the pollen scattered
and our sweet Leecy T now has
allergy induced pneumonia.
She rode an ambulance from the doctors
to the hospital and she is now in the hospital.
It gives a new meaning to "the more the merrier"
in a hospital room.
Keep a speedy recovery in your prayers.<3

Soccer...next generation :)

Grampy and Lainey Bug the future soccer star.

Val showing his scoccer skills.

Proud mama Steph and Mr. Lennon learning the ropes.

She scores!

Leecy T quite a soccer prodigy and so pretty as well!

Happy Pi Day!

Pi=3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510 ...... well, you get the idea!





In honor of pie day make yourself a pi(e) or go splurge and buy a piece somewhere! After all, it only happens once a year! :)