Merry Christmas Greetings

Merry Christmas from Jary and Dee

Merry Christmas from the Cory Manns

From Judy and Larry

Above are some Christmas Greetings and Christmas pictures I have received from members of the Phillip family. If I get more, I will post again before Christmas! Below are Christmas notes and letters from Judy & Don

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM

THE LARRY MANNS

The most exciting news of 2009 is that Jared and Melanie are expecting their second child in July. Keaton will be a great big brother and we are so happy for the three of them.

Colter is 7, Chloe is 6 and Keaton is 3. They bring so much joy into our home. Colter and Chloe do really well in school and we are so proud of them. Keaton just spent two weeks in “school” with the high school students in a child development and family science course. The only thing I heard about that was when they asked all of the little kids to move to another area of the classroom, he said “No, I want my mom.” But, he did make it through the two weeks without much resistance.

All of us keep busy with the farming and livestock. This year was exceptionally challenging for the farming side—a whole lot of rain and cooler weather made it almost impossible to keep the crops growing at a rapid pace. Sherry and Melanie are often here driving a tractor or doing whatever is needed. I wish I would have had my camera when I walked into the barn one day during calving. Sherry was milking a cow and Melanie was hanging onto the cow’s tail to keep it from slapping Sherry’s face. They were great help during calving and spent most days watching the cows and tagging the calves.

Mom and Dad are doing quite well and seem to enjoy living at the assisted living center.

Only one camping, fishing trip was enjoyed by us. Larry and I went to Angostura Lake in South Dakota for several days after Memorial Day. We enjoyed the time away from home and did catch some fish.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Love, Judy and Larry ~ 4jmann@bbc.net

Merry Christmas to all the Phillip relatives.

Verlene spent most of her time working on her Woods family book. Don drove me to Rushville, NE in July for a reunion on the family farm.

Then in Aug, we went to Clarinda, IA for another Woods reunion and a 90th birthday of a 2nd cousin.

Don spent the summer driving Verlene to Woods reunions and Bob and our sons and grandson to several Masonic reunions. Alliance, Lincoln and Omaha

Robert Phillip now has 4 generations in the Alliance Mason Lodge.

Best Wishes to all in 2010.

Don and Verlene

Phillip Family Newest Addition, YouTube

The newest member of the Phillip family

Mae Kumiko Sugatani

Parents ~ Karla & Toshi

Sugatani

Grandparents ~ Bill & Janet Phillip

This is Toshi's handwriting of Mae's

name written in Japanese

Born December 14, 2009, 4:30 a.m.

Height 18 inches

Weight 6 pounds 13 ounces

Where Swedish Hospital, Seattle, WA

Picture to left is Toshi (Dad), Karla (Mom), Mae, with a Teddy Bear given to Mae by her Uncle Tom (one that he had when he was a baby).

Dani (Ray & Judi's daughter) posted some pictures of Mae and family at this site ~ guess you can tell that there hasn't been a newborn baby in the Bill Phillip family since 1980. You don't have to join this web site ~ just scroll down and click on "view album".

Some have been asking about the YouTube video of Bob and the well-trained Daisy Mae (or is it that Bob is "well-trained"). So here is the YouTube address

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4mNvx9iN5I

Anyone who wants Christmas greetings posted on the web may send them by email to me for posting to the Phillip blog. singo2@verizon.net

Christmas Greetings from Sharon & Tony

This is our Christmas letter for 2009, written by Tony. If anyone would like their Christmas letter to go out to all the Phillip family on the blog, you can email it to me. If you send me a Christmas letter and don't want it to go on the blog, let me know. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Hi you guys and a Merry 2009 Christmas,

We’re here again in front of the computer trying hard to remember all the things we’ve done this past year and why we did them. The first three months we spent in Arizona as before, this got us away from the harsh Idaho winter and into the far warmer conditions near the Mexican border. Boon docking or dry camping, as its known, out in the desert for half of that time is rather nice especially with our own car and ATV and friends to go on long rides and adventures with. Having said that we had to be towed across the desert because our ATV broke down with serious transmission failure thus meaning a complete strip down when we get back home. But by the beginning of April it began to get too hot so back up North we came.

Sadly this year we made two long trips to Nebraska for two funerals of Sharon’s aunts Despite the sombre occasions it was really good to get to see some of her friends and relatives out there – her mother and all her three uncles and aunts are in their late 80’s and early 90’s and have been married 65 years or more.

I finally finished making an oak pedestal desk for our office, a project started last year in an attempt to hide away all the cables of the computer and printer. Then Sharon wanted something similar to match it but not quite so lavish – she now has an oak "skirt" round her desk which seems to fit the bill.

There was so much rain and snow here during the winter our back lawn was flooded when we came home. This coupled with the risk of our motor home sinking into the mire prompted us to get a friend to excavate a large area about 15 inches deep and fill it with aggregate so we could have a reliable place to park it. Then we opened up the workshop to create enough space for a medium sized centre lathe for me to "play on".

Sharon made preparations for family gatherings on Easter Sunday, Mothers’ Day and of course the 4th of July. On one of these events there were 28 people trying to sit round our 12-seater dining table. She continues to paint pictures, blog, crochet, and cross stitch. She convinced me to make her rails to hang on one of our hallway walls so her paintings could be displayed. The grandchildren are here often ~ which keeps her young.

When time permits we still love to go camping to our favourite Meadow Creek spot. I’m afraid swinging an axe to split our quota of winter logs is getting just a touch too difficult so we had to give in this year and buy some from one of our camping friends. I then made a mechanical log splitter.

We spent a really nice week with my cousin Linda and Mike up in Glacier National Park, Montana. Not to see the glaciers, they’ve all gone, but to see how they totally reshaped some of the mountains up there. On the way we visited a pottery shop, a coffee bean factory and a drive round a black bear park. Later in the year we drove out into the wilds of Idaho to a little place called Dixie from where we took a lengthy ATV ride down some 4000 feet to a remote area beside a swift river where they actually had a small sandy beach. People really lived down there and their only access was by small plane or ATV across a narrow bridge.

A week over Thanksgiving at Sharon’s brother’s homes in Riverton WY and Green River WY was a lot of fun and we were fortunate with the weather. We have a Christmas party planned here at home and one more small trip planned to Leavenworth WA for the Christmas lighting festivities with friends the week before Christmas. We look forward to visits from UK relatives next year after our return from being "snowbirds" in Arizona & California.

Retirement is still good to us but we’re all getting older so drink the good wine first!

Happy Christmas
Sharon and Tony

December Birthdays and Anniversaries

December Birthdays

Leanne Persinger Saltar (Ray's s daughter-in-law, Scott's wife) December 2, 1967












Jeanna Roberson Wilson (Sharon's daughter-in-law, Dennis' wife), December 7, 1973












Sherry Faith Runyan Phillip (Judy's daughter-in-law, Cory's wife) December 8, 1976















Gabrielle Rose Wilson (Abby) (Sharon's granddaughter, Ken's daughter), December 8, 1997















Cory Lee Mann (Judy's son), December 12, 1974














Ethan Cody Saltar (Ray's s grandson, Scott's son) December 15, 1993














Sarah Suzanne Shatel (Jary's granddaughter, Jennifer's daughter) December 17, 2001












Chloe Faith Mann (Judy's granddaughter, Cory's daughter) December 18, 2003














Melanie Jo Paradeis Phillip (Judy's daughter-in-law, Jared's wife) December 21, 1980













Brandon Paisley (Sharon's s grandson, Ken's s son) December 22, 1990

Anniversaries

Zetta & Leo Phillip, December 15, 1946
















Dennis & Jeanna Wilson, December 31, 2000













This will probably be the last time I do the monthly special events. Getting current pictures of everyone is sometimes very hard to do, and once in awhile impossible.

Miscellaneous from Emails

This is just a blog with miscellaneous items that I have received lately.

This is Keaton ~ he has some news to tell everyone ~ double click on his picture and you will see that his shirt says "I'm going to be a Big Brother". Keaton is the only son of Jared & Melanie Mann, grandson of Judy and Larry Mann, and Jean & Maxine's great grandson. I believe the due date of this new baby is next July sometime.

This is the clever birth announcement for Henry James Lawrence (Brian & Meghann's first child, Janice & Archie's grandchild, Bob & Bernadine's great grandchild).

Janice got her two sons together ~ while boys went to a University of Nebraska football game, she got to babysit the two grandsons ~seems strange that the young boys were all dressed up in "Nebraska Cornhusker" clothing when they weren't going to the game anyway. In picture (left to right) ~ Archie, Janice, Kyle, Carter, Brian, and Henry

Stay tuned for the birth of Karla & Toshi's baby sometime in December (Bill's daughter).

Anyone is welcome to send your Christmas greetings to all of the Phillip family through this blog. I will post once a week if there is enough interest through the month of December with any of your Christmas letters or cards that I receive through snail mail or via email (singo2@verizon.net).