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Brooke played upwards basketball this year, with Jeff as her coach. She loved it, and is playing again this year!

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Jeff bought a new car this year -- a red Infiniti G35! He loves it!

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Here we are at Easter 2008

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Posed picture of Evan in Spring 2008 -- he's getting so big!

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In May, Taylor travelled by herself to Pennsylvania to spend a week with MeMe, and to learn to sew. She really picked it up quickly, and loves it!

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Taylor and MeMe riding a horse and carriage in Center City, Philadelphia!

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Taylor had a Hawaiian-themed pool party for her 9th birthday this year

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Here are Taylor and "Hannah Banana" jumping in the water together

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Taylor swimming underwater at her party

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Taylor and Evan having some fun in the water at the Houston Zoo

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Brooke with her 1st grade teacher, Ms. Scherer, at her Accelerated Reader (AR) parade in May 2008.

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Taylor and Brooke with some of their friends (see Sarah in between them) at a fun dance at Challenger Elementary

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Jeff and Dana got to go to Australia in July. This is the view from our hotel room in Hamilton Island. Unfortunately, our portable hard drive crashed on this trip, and we lost all of our digital pictures from June and July, including from our summer trip to Alabama to see new cousin Cross Bowen, and the rest of the Nielsen clan, and Jeff's trip to Dublin.

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Another picture from Hamilton Island, where cockatoos are wild all around the island. After the picture, this guy stole our bag of bread from the bakery and tried to fly away from it!

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We got to spend a few days on the way back in Sydney -- to me the most beautiful city I ever visited!

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Here we are at the Sydney Aquarium and small animal zoo.

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Here is Dana on Coogee Beach, right near Sydney, where we met Jeff's work friend Matt Wand and his wife.

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In August, the whole family traveled to Chicago -- here are Taylor and Brooke at the top of the Sears Tower!

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From Chicago, we drove to see Jeff's dad who owns Mini Mountain campground in New Carlisle, Indiana.

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Here is Jeff's dad "Funny Grandpop Fred" with Evan

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We got to spend time at the beach on the east coast of Lake Michigan -- here are Taylor and Brooke after being buried in the sand.

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We climbed up to the top of the sand mound -- here are Taylor and Brooke after regaining their breath! Lake Michigan in the background.

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At Mini Mountain, we got to fish with the kids. Here is Brooke with a fish she caught.

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Evan's first fish he ever caught!

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Dana is homeschooling Taylor (4th grade) and Brooke (2nd grade) this year. Here they are on the first day of school in our "home school room"

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Hurricane Ike hit the Houston area on the night of September 13, 2008. Here we are outside in the early evening as the storm was approaching, with some of our friends and neighbors. It was pretty windy (look at Prancer's face), but this was nothing compared to later in the night.

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Here is the radar of Ike when it made landfall in Galveston around midnight. We were in teh eyewall from midnight until around 5 in the morning, so bore the brunt of the storm. Scary night, but we were safe. We felt blessed, as our house sustained minimal damage.

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The day after Ike, all of us without electricity and facing the prospect of several weeks without, made the best of it and had a neighborhood party where we barbecued all of our meat before it went bad. There was great comradery in the neighborhoods all around Houston after the storm, as our lives were on hold.

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Here is Jeff, helping clean up a neighbor's house whose roof failed and a ceiling in their master closet fell in.

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"Larry Boy" at the Veggie Tales live show

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Taylor has taken guitar this year, seen here at her lesson with Mike, her instructor.

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Dana and Taylor at the park

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Evan walking Prancer. Prancer had cancer last year before Christmas, and we didn't expect him to make it more than 6 months. 1 year later, he is still going strong and doing well! He will be 13 years old in January!

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The Phillies were World Series bound in 2008, and here is Evan all dressed up for the World Series games! Meme and Pop-Pop Teddy came in the week of Halloween, and got to watch the games with us!

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Of course the Phillies won the World Series, giving the city its first championship in 25 years! Here is Jeff at his birthday with a wall plaque commemorating the victory!

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Here is Meme with the kids in a pumpkin patch

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Jeff and Evan having some autumn fun!

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Halloween costumes for 2008!

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We travelled to PA for Thanksgiving this year, for Jeff's 20 year Pennridge High School reunion. Here are the kids at the playground in Sellersville that Jeff and Tina always played at as children!

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Evan going down the slide!

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Cousin carlo, with Brooke, Taylor, and Evan! They love their big cousin Carlo!

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Evan with cousins Robbie and Nathan, who he met for the first time this Thanksgiving. When Evan saw them, he ran to them and hugged Robbie, saying "My friends!"

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We had snow in Houston on December 10th, 2008! Here are the kids in front of our Christmas ornaments -- notice the big flakes falling!

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Here is Jeff with the snowman "Bernadette" we built outback with the snow from the deck in the early evening.

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It just kept snowing, and so Jeff went out with Taylor and Brooke from 9-10pm, and there was enough snow to build a big snowman! We all had lots of fun, and Taylor said "it was the best day in my life"

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Brooke had a Build-a-Bear party for her 8th birthday party -- here is the whole crew!

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Here is Jeff with Evan and his Build-a-Bear!

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Family picture at Chick-fil-A with Santa!

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Dana's parents Puddin' and Nancy came over the week of Christmas! Here we are at Christmas dinner, with Nancy and Puddin' and Jens, Jeff's student from Denmark.