Carrie's Birthday !!!!!!!

Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to write this down while it is fresh in my mind.
Today, August 10th, is my neice Carrie's fifteenth Birthday.
As with a lot of things, it was the first on we had without Kathy there.
I was doing O.K., until she was opening her gifts and cards.
I didn't let on to anyone, but I was really missing Kathy at that time.
My Mother-in-Law had gotten a card for Carrie some time ago, and had put both of our names on it for us. Kathy had asked her to.
She had wrapped up a doll that played music, that Kathy must have bought somewhere. I have NO idea where she had got it.
Anyway, I didn't know about the doll until Joan told me when I got to her place. I'm not mad or anything, I just wish I knew ahead of time.
Well, at least things worked out tonight. We had a good time, and good food.
I am proud of Carrie, as I am of ALL my family members on both sides.
I have very smart and talanted people all around me.
Carrie plays in the Orchestra at Oak Hills High School.
I can see her doing great things in her life, as I see great things for her two brothers, and all the other nephews and neices, and great nephews and neices.
As I was telling Nanc today, ALL of the ones in our family who have children can be very proud of themselves by the way they've raised their children.
The one thing that I see that everybody has done is taught their children respect.
You don't see that in families that much these days.
Well, I'll end for now.
I'll post something agian soon.
Love to all,
Tom

Gordon Gugel Family: Gordon, son David, David's wife Angela, grandson Rowan

I don't have a more recent photo of Gordon scanned as yet, so I thought 'cowboy Gordie' would do. The photo's of David, Angela and Rowan are from their blog. Check them out at www://rowangugel.blogspot.com

I'll post more of Gordon soon. He sent out a very nice photo of himself at Christmas. I hope he sends candy this year!

Harry Gugel Family: Harry, Kim, Mindy, Chris, Chad and Melina

Harry is number five in the Gugel countdown. He lives in southern California, somewhat near to Mary Beth. I think its about an hour away, quite close in California terms. I lived 9 hours away from Mary Beth when I lived in Oakland.

I took this photo of Harry and Kim in January on my first stop in the sojourn from Oakland to Cincinnati.





Just look at this face. Harry recently had a medical problem that tuned out to be a fermenting fart. Harry claimed he was not doing it on purpose, but when he was a kid he would torture his siblings with bodily functions. He claims it was not gas, but a true medical incident. Yea, right.

These are Harry and Kim's children. Left to right: Chris, Mindy, Chad and Melina. Mindy is the oldest, followed by the twins Chris and Chad, and Melina the youngest. You have to guess at their ages, I would not dare!

McLin Family: Barb, Harold, Leslie, Heather, Michelle

Here is a photo of Barb... or Aunt B as some have started calling her. She looks so festive in her hat (crown). She kept telling me she was the Queen... so she is not only Aunt B, but Aunt Queen B.

She does not like her photo to be taken but usually allows me to snap away anyhow.... what a star!









Harold is another one who does not like his photo to be taken. But he gave this one up for a photo frame for Heather to take with her to college. Its quite a nice one.







This is the only recent photo I have of Leslie. It was taken at our Easter celebration. I love her hair, I've always wanted hair like hers. I regret that the plate of candy blocks part of her face. But that candy looks good. Its some of the candy that Sue and Co. makes at differnt holidays. Yum.




Here is Heather with her two boyfriends (two, count them, two). She told me that only one was her boyfriend, the other a friend.... and the boys are/were best friends. I just think she wanted a spare! All kidding aside, they are both great guys!


All three of them will be going to separate colleges. I'm going to miss Heather, but I have a webcam and I understand her new computer has one too. We can see each other and chat online.








And here is our first class flogger. She is so beautiful. She has been working really hard at practice for her flogging. I have seen the bruises to prove it. She gets her drivers license this week. What with school, flogging and a job (Chucky Cheese) I don't expect to see much of her this fall... or winter.... or spring.... unless I get to see her perform.









This is Lucky the dog. Shelly helped me try to get a good photo of him so Heather woudl have an image to take to college. I could not get him to sit still. If I moved as much as he does, I'd be really skinny.

Joe/Steve/Jr Laird, Mary, Spencer and Noah

This relative of our has had three names. Its always so difficult to

figure out who you are talking to when Joe/Steve/Jr. is around. I think Nancy and Steve actually had triplets, and they kept two of them out of sight in other parts of the house when we would come visit. I do believe that this is a photo of Joe. He seems normal, but watch out for his jokes!

This, I believe, is Steve. He is a great cook. I think he was kept in the pantry of the kitchen when he was growing up (kind of like Harry Potter under the stairs). He can cook for me any time. He likes to share books with me. How can you not love that?

And I think this one must be Jr. He was kept in the basement and survived on potato chips and other left over snacks. He may not have eaten well, but his clothes were beautifully laundered! He is the demented one that likes to debate until your eyebrows fall off.

No matter what, I love all three of them.

Mary is such a beautiful woman. What can we say? She takes care of Joe/Steve/Jr. AND her kids. She is always on the go. She is a GREAT crafter (a woman after my own heart). She takes almost as many photo's as I do.

Spencer the bandito. He has a great imiganation. See the necklace that passes as a bullet belt? Wish he was looking

at the camera. He has beautiful eyes. He now wears glasses, and looks SO handsome. Such a great kid.

Noah the sweetheart. He loves his necklace and is a really good artist. We like to color and draw together while lounging at the pool. He has a really long tongue and will show it off whenever he can.

Ball Game 8/7/2007

"AWSOME, TOTALLY AWSOME" !!!!!!!!!!!
For those whom may not get that reference, Jeff Spacolli said that in the movie, 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High'.
It is also the ONLY way I can discribe last night.
It was just pure magic.
Amy, if you get to read this, YOU ROCK !!!!!!!!!
It was a great night.
I am so glad that everybody had a really fun night.
I can't wait to see the pictures taken last night.
I hope the one with Michael wareing that Bronson Arroyo hat makes it onto this blog.
The funny thing is, Michael's own hair, and the hair hanging off the back of the hat are identical. I don't know if he will ware it again however, when Sue first saw him in it, she thought he was a girl.
Well, when he heard that, he took it right off.
I told him to relax, he didn't look like a girl. I think he was O.K. with it then. ( I hope)
I wish I could have stayed until the end of the game, but I had to be on a bus by 7:30 am the next day.
I'm also glad that everyone finally got to meet Nick. He is such a wonderful young man.
He can be a real card too.
Sometimes he'll do things like be on the phone, and be in the building standing in front of my door. He can be a nut.
He said he enjoyed meeting everyone.
I'm also glad that the Reds WON !!!
They've won two games in a row, both with shutouts. GO REDS !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank You all again for going to the game with me.
If anyone wants to go to some other ball game, or something, just contact me and let me know.
I'll leave another blog soon.
Tom

From California....The Wilcher Clan

Just a note from the Wilcher Clan. We are all doing great awaiting our newest family member's arrival in October 2007......Welcome Aaron Jacob (AJ)

The Proud Parents...............Aaron and Ashley

Heather's visit was the high-light of our summer.....She grew to know her cousin Mindy real well.......and her Uncle Ed too......

We had a great time in Mexico.....

This is a Mexican cray fish!! Hahaha

Mindy - Heather - MB

Ed and I are off to Cabo today....more pictures to come soon!!

Tom's First Blog

Hey all,
This is my first atempt at this.
I think its cool that we put this together.
I'm not quite sure what to write.
Marilyn told me about this and I thought I'd try it out.
I might not be able to give a message everyday, but I'll try to.
I'm going to be busy doing things.
Tomarrow I will be going to the ball game to honor Kathy. She was a Rosie Red For at least 25 years.
I am looking forward to doing that.
I'll go for now, I will update as soon as I can.
Tom

Sisters and niecester

He we all are, left to right: Sue in front of Marilyn, Nancy, Barb, Mary Beth, Shannon and then Kathy. Beauties, every one of them.

Pool Party

This party is in Nancy and Steve's new pool. John is holding all the Laird cousins: Spencer, Shelby, Olivia and Trevor. Noah is around somewhere. John is so strong.

Double Rainbow

This is the double rainbow that we saw in the sky this past spring. Pretty amazing.

Sue took this photo.

Thomas Anthony

Here is a photo of Tom that was taken on July 1, 2007. He took off his baseball hat to get his photo taken, and he worried about 'hat hair'.

Jefferson Family: Sue, Gary, John, Corey and Gary's dauther Angel

Gary, the tye dye guy. A very nice guy who usually needs a hair cut. I can't complain about this guy.... he allows me to camp out in one of his spare rooms. Well, I do cook for him occasionally.

Sue thought she would try snorkeling. She had always heard that the coral and fish were really beautiful. So she suited up and got in the pool. I don't know if she ever saw anything. I never did see her with her head underwater.

She is actually preparing herself for a trip to the Camen Islands.

I accidentally deleted the photo of Sue in the water. I can seem to get it back. Sorry about that. It kept putting it by Gary at the top of this post, and would not move. Still learning the in's and out's of working the blog.

After a hard day of snorkeling, we must take a nap. She was the last to leave the pool that day, all except for Tom. He stayed to babysit her while she slept. What a sweetie!

John is still as good looking as ever. This was taken in March, just after I finally arrived here in Cincinnati for good. I don't get to see him as much as I would like. For some reason hanging out with an aunt who is almost 60 is not something a guy in his 20's wants to do.... its scary thinking that someone would want to do that! I am SO glad he has a life!

I was bemoaning the fact that I did not have a current photo of Corey, and guess who walked into my room! Another good looking member of our family. But he does not resemble his sister, below.

The last Jefferson is Gary's daughter Angel. She is a real sweetie, and has begging for treats down to a science. She is sitting... I always make her sit when I give her a treat. She thought I was going to give her my camera as a treat!

Here is a warning: if you leave your car door open when you come here for a visit, she will be sitting in your car when you return. And just TRY getting her out of your car.... ask Barb.

Angel told me that she has decided that more people would allow her in their cars if she dressed better. She is going to talk to Shannon the next time she is here, to get some fashion tips.

Faeth Family: Shannon, Greg, Shelby, Trevor and Olivia

This is a great photo of Greg. He has a great smile. You can usually get one if you put one of those brown bottles in his hands.




Shannon just loves to dress up when she goes swimming. We
are not quite sure why that is, but she sure looks good. I
especially enjoy the bra strap look. But she must know the
latest styles, she works in the fashion industry. Kohls is part
of the fashion industry, is it not?








Shelby looks absolutely
beautiful with her new tatoos.
Aunt Sue takes ANYONE
to get tatoos.

Shelby has taken some really awesome photo's, some on this blog!





Its usually difficult to track Trevor down to
get a photo of him. He is usually flying around
somewhere....oops, there he goes. He is always
coming up with new ways to get into the pool and not always the safest way...especially when he is getting help from his Poppy Steve Laird.
I use the stairs.


Olivia is another one that loves the camera... and the camera loves her. She has been considering dressing like people in the Mid East... here she is trying out the turban. She is following in her mother's footsteps in high fashion attire.

Rauen Family: Jerry, Aubrey, Josh, Chelsey, Abby

Jerry has not changed much. He is still the silly guy you see here. He is actualy quite handsome and very strong. He has been a great support for me in throwing around boxes in my storage bins.












This is not a very good photo of Aubrey, but it really does show the close connection between Jerry and Aubrey. Now where are their hands?








I love this photo, so I used this one to show Abby. She resembles her Aunt Sue.

This is another photo of Abby. She has finally mastered the talent of walking, but she is still working on sitting in a chair!

Here is Chelsey dressed up as Hermoine of Harry Potter craze. She really looks quite a bit like her. Chelsey is cuter, with much nicer hair.
And josh, what can we say about Josh? He is definitely an actor in the making. Its hard getting a candid photo of him, he is always aware of the camera near him. But the thing about him that I like the most is that he gives great hugs!

Nancy and Steve Laird

Steve Laird at Heather's Graduation Party.















Nancy taken by Shelby at Heather's Graduation Party. The kids are getting to be really good photographers. I allow them to use my camera, and they have shown real talent developing.

Udate August 5, 2007 Marilyn

Hi everyone,

We are going to invite everyone to join, so you can write to the blog and add photo's. I'm doing this first, and adding recent photo's of those I've taken here in Cincinnati. We are going to try and change the name of the blog to just Gugel family, since Gugel's and Gugelett's (that is those connected to us even if your name is not Gugel) in other states are more than welcome to add to this blog.


Here are a couple of photo's of me. I'm usually the one taking the photo's, but here are two. The first one was taken by Shelby at Heather's Graduation Party.

The pool photo was taken by Shelly at our pool celebration for Barb's birthday.