Catching Up....

It's been some time since I've had time to blog... so since I have so many things to be thankful for I figured I needed to find time to post a few things that have been happening in our lives!
Last weekend all of my brothers & sisters got together (oh yea, minus Eric but only because he was sick) at my parents house to visit. My mom went in on Tuesday for open heart surgery & we all wanted to get together to wish her luck. I think this is the only picture I have of my mom & just us girls. I love it!! I think times like this you really realize how special your family is. It was great seeing my brother Todd & two of his daughters - he lives in Utah & we don't get together often enough!!
While we were all visiting with family, Zak was meeting his new temporary family (His Mission President & his wife) in Detroit. Zak is loving being a missionary! Even though we miss him terribly, we are so incredibly proud of him too!! It is so great to hear of his experiences & to know that the Lord is watching over him.
This is a picture of the family minus Zak. It just isn't the same without him!!! But we wouldn't want him anywhere else at the moment!!

18 Years of Troy

Troy is 18 years old today. I just can't believe it. Troy can make me crazy like no other person can, but I sure love him. He is so full of charm, I can't help myself!

Troy is the most energetic person I know. He's always grabbed life and took it head on. He had several serious injuries, and I just KNEW that he would never even see his 12th birthday. I'm so glad he's survived them all, and he's got GREAT stories to share with his kids.

As I have gone through the pictures of his life, I am so full of happy memories. I love his smile. It was so hard choosing just a few to share, so please pardon a proud mom on this special day!

Happy Birthday, Troy. I truly love you.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

San Diego in January

Friday after work, David and I went to Cowles Mountain and walked. We only made it half way up before the sun set. We walked the rest of the way up and back down in the dark. It's a beautiful view from there. Saturday, we went to Ocean Beach and hiked from the pier down the tidepools as far as you can go safely. Then we walked up to the street and back down the pier. The weather was perfect. It's hard to believe it's January and so much of the country is getting pounded with storms. I LOVE SAN DIEGO!!!!!!!!!!

Day at the desert

Jason has been spending the last few days in the desert with Mark. We went to Gordon's Wells to pick him up, and then out to Superstition for the day. Note to self: 50 miles each way difference makes for a really long drive and a late start to the day. But we're glad to have Jason back with us. Wouldn't ya know, we didn't get any pictures of him, either. Troy loves to jump his dirt bike. He did a great job.
We used his cell phone and did the 9 shot setting. It turned out really well.
That's kinda high, son!
Eric got new riding gear for Christmas. He had to pose for me so I could take his picture.
He looked really cute.

We had a fun day. The weather was perfect out there and it's so peaceful. It's sad that our vacation is over, but we will have some fun memories.

Joshua Tree

Monday we went to Joshua Tree. It was mine and Eric's first time there. It is so beautiful. Not the same kind of desert we're used to, that's for sure! Brien & Jody were nice enough to invite us to hang out for a day. Ashley has climbed for a few years. She did a great job.
Troy & Jason have been once before with the scouts. Troy climbed like Spiderman. He took it on like he takes on life. Just go for it big. There were two walls that were set up to climb. The first one looked pretty hard. The second was rated 5.12 out of 5.15 (or something like that). Straight up and nowhere to hold on to. Wall 2 is top two pictures.

Jason only climbed the first wall. He was pretty fast up that, too. It's crazy how animal like these guys are!!

Eric did great for his first time. He had a hard time on the top of wall 1, but he made it. He even tried the second wall, and made it to the middle before it came to one crack to hold.

Notice there are no pictures of me. The guys think I'm a wimp, but that's okay. I am afraid of heights. We did climb the boulders and I got almost to the top of the back side, but it was pretty high up there, and I wasn't going anywhere near an edge.

David didn't climb, either. He really wanted to, but he pulled a muscle in his neck a week ago, and was smart enough not to give it a shot. We enjoyed the time to hang out together and watch our monkeys, though.

Christmas 2009

Our Christmas this year was one of my favorites in awhile. We got to spend time with so many family and friends. Christmas Eve at my mom's house was nice. Those that weren't there were definitely missed! It's been tradition to sing Christmas carols. As the boys are getting older, and they're boys, they don't really enjoy that part. I'm so glad they were good sports for me. They know that's one of my favorite things to do. One of the songs we sing is The 12 Days of Christmas. Everyone gets to sing a "day". Bill, my brother with Cerebral Palsy, always gets "5 Golden Rings". Every time he has to be reminded it's his turn. It's a good thing there are only 12 days, because it gets a little old by the end, but it's pretty funny. Christmas lasted for a few days with friends coming by. The boys were all lined up with something electronic to play. It was funny. At least they've had something to keep them busy!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and I am so glad that with all the technology we have these days, we are able to keep in contact so closely with those we love. Happy Holidays from our house to yours!!

Christmas vacation

This year since we celebrated Christmas two weeks before the actual day (due to Zak leaving on his mission right before) we decided to pack up & celebrate Christmas at a friends vacation house in Northern Arizona. Little did I realize that it is COLD there & covered in snow this time of year. Above is a picture of the "vacation house" we stayed out. Pretty nice house if you ask me!!
On Christmas day we decided to head to the Grand Canyon since we were staying only about a half hour away. On the way to the Grand Canyon is a little tourist place & most of it is about the Flinstones but it also had this jet in front. So of course the boys decided to climb up on it to get a photo opportunity! I'm sure the employees weren't surprised since we had been doing donuts in the parking lot before we decided to take pictures.....
The guy who's house we were staying at is a professional skateboarder & he had a bunch of skate ramps on his property. Of course they were all covered in snow, so the boys decided they wanted to clear it off & skate it. Although they did almost get it all cleared off, they never did get to skate it. It was just way too cold!!
Noah found this awesome icicle out by the ramp (there were actually a lot of icicles but this one was close enough to reach). He looks like he has claws in this picture.
Some beautiful pictures of the Grand Canyon covered in snow. It was pretty crowded there, but I think we were the only Americans visiting it on Christmas day. ha ha ha.



Here are a few more pictures of the Flinstone tourist spot. No one was there & we didn't actually visit it, we just used their parking lot to do donuts in the snow & take funny pictures.
We were missing Zak in our fun family pictures, but we also know he is doing much more important things these days!!
Below is a picture of Jamey & me on one of the ramps outside the house we were staying. There aren't many houses around where we were so we were able to enjoy a peaceful vacation. We did see a few bunnies & a fox outside in the snow.

The boys at the Grand Canyon - I'm just happy no one fell in... there were a few times I got nervous!!