Christmas Tree Hunt

So, the day after thanksgiving we decided to leave Dad at the cabin to work on some homework and go find a Christmas Tree.... It was so fun! WE found such a cute little tree.




We had a grand ole time! I rode with my dad in his truck along with Chan, Chayden, and Charger. My dad likes to show off his diesel to me sometimes, and stomped on the pedal for a bit and let off. Well, Charger did not like the let off part. He kept saying "Grandpa go fast again." In his own little words. It was very cute!! Grandpa of course got a kick out of it. These are the good times!!!

Halloween Pics...

Chayce is our Dracula, Chanley is our cute little pirate, Chayden is our GIRL (only for halloween), and Charger is our M&M.... It was an interesting night. The kids were out of control. Although I did bribe them that they couldn't go trick or treating unless their bedroom was clean. SO..... they cleaned their rooms but must have put their manners and kindness away with their toys because they were freakin hellians!!!!!!!!!!! Jeff was about to freak, and I had no more patience either.. but we made it through the horrible night. These are the times we will look back and laugh SOMEDAY!

Picture of beans!

He absolutely loves the camera!!! CHEESE!!!

Worm Race anyone??!!!???

These are FUN TIMES we had during summer! We went to the library and had WORM RACES!!! GROSS!!!! The kids absolutely loved it. Charger even got to do the worm races and the kids all wanted to bring their worm home! They were yelling "come on" it was so great to hear such encouraging words out of little kids mouths! I loved it.

Our New Nephew!!!

Welcome to the World, Cute little Baby Boy!!!
Chad and Sondra (Jeff's brother and his wife) Have had their 3rd beautiful baby! YAY!!! Another Nephew for us!!! He is doing well, and was born safely on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 11:42 a.m.. He was 7 lbs 6 oz and 20 inches long. Momma is well too! He is soo cute I cannot wait to meet him! I had to share these beautiful photos!
Justice Samuel Jones

I hAvE bEeN tAgGeD!

*Random Facts*
1. I love to Read, especially The Twighlight Series (All-time Fav)
2. I like to garden, I love to plant new plants in our yard. I would love for it to be a serene garden someday!
3. I miss the Primary, but love Cub Scouts!
4. I am actually very shy until I warm up... alot of times I have been accused of being "cold" but I am just shy!!
*Current Obsessions*
1. Blogging
2. Scrapbooking
3. Reading
4. Canning, trying to build up the food storage.
5. Getting my own school stuff underway.
*Goals*
1. Exercise
2. Spend more quality, fun time with my kids and husband.
3. Get organized.
4. Be more like my mom.
*My Fears*
1. Losing someone close to me!!!!!
2. Missing out on something important with my family for something not so important.
3. Kids, Kids, Kids!!!!!!!!! I hope they make it past adolescents!!!
4. Strangers
5. The dark!
*My Joys*
1. The five men in my life! ;)
2. Love to spend time with family and friends!
3. The Gospel!
4. Having chaos at home, I love it! It reminds me I have a family, and we are healthy enough to be chaotic!!
5. Scrapbooking
6. Reading
7. Learning
I tag Jesi, Lori, and whoever else has yet to be tagged.

Chayce's Baptism Day

What a special day for him! He had some special talks given to him on this special day, and he loved every second of the whole day!! We are very blessed to have him in our family and to be blessed by his wonderful spirit. He is a huge helper and loves to be "in charge" and we absolutely love every second we have with him. We are constantly telling him to be a kid and not to worry so much, but I was the oldest too and so was Jeff and we both know how that goes! He will grow up so fast and then turn around and wish he was a kid again! That is apart of life I guess!

RAnDoM PiCs

Beans,,,,,and

Beans,,,,,and

Beans,,,,,

Can you say "cheese"

Loves, loves the camera!

Awwwwww! How cute!

Luv it!

Beans and Bug!

Birthday Boy!!!

Beans finally turned TWO!!!! And let me tell you he is every bit of two! WOW! Between that and being the baby, and the diabetic, and so on-this kid is giving us a run! We love him tons though! It is great to see them grow up! I fell down the other day, my knee wasn't feeling to hot, and he was the first one by my side to say "u otay?" over and over while rubbing my shoulder. What a sweet heart I tell ya! Anyway, we just hung out at home and did a little birthday party for him while having pizza, popcorn, and movies all in our jammas! It was a great time. We had the infamous cone hats, as well as the blow things that unravel while you blow thru them and roll back up, and of course you cannot forget the cake we had that had "beans" on top (since that is his nickname just don't ask me why but it stuck).


He knew it was his day, and he was like an angel that whole day! I thought he would be a pill but it was a great day for him, and us too!

After pizza, I put him on the table and let him open his presents, he kept looking at me like are you sure you want me on the table? Hello, mom what are you thinking?? Then he was like ok cool, I will open presents up here. He loved every one of them, bikes, trucks, you name it he loves it!

Another trip to the ER for Bug...

Well, we made another trip to the Instacare for ChanleyBug yesterday, and yet again it ended with getting his head stapled. This poor kid is only six and has had now 18 staples in his head, from a couple different occasions, several stitch-ups and lots of cuts and bruises. Somehow they all end up on his face or head.
I was outside pulling our wonderful yard full of stinkin weeds, yuck! When about 5:30 Chan started screaming bloody murder, so I lift my head to see what happened. Chayden was standing on top of the trampoline and had just thrown a vinyl fence post to the ground because he had just whacked Chan in the head with it. If you have ever seen a head wound then you know that they bleed a TON! There was blood everywhere. I jump up and take him inside to get a towel to see how bad it actually was. Well, of course Chan sees the blood and totally freaks out and wants to see it now.....tell me how you look at your own head???? I finally get it where I can see the battle wound and it is pretty bad. It went clear to the skull and is about an inch or so long. There are some skids on it as well where it kinda snagged his skin for about another two inches, which includes a huge goose egg. Jeff had just left about 30 minutes before to fix something for someone at their house. I called him and said you need to come home right now because I need to take Chan to the ER. When he got home he saw it and said "Yep, you better take him in." Fortunately he had finished up that little job he was at. I take Chan in to the Instacare and there was one other person that got there at the same time we did, and other than that there was nobody else there. We waited long enough for Chan to look at the picture I just took of his head. Of course when we get in to start the process, everyone asks what happened, and Chan is not shy to tell them that his four year old brother had "Cracked his head open with a fence post." You can imagine the look on everyone's faces by his response. They all have to ask again how old his brother was and cannot believe that a four year old could this sort of damage. He got a little frog to help him thru the process, which he was very happy to receive. When they started stapling his head I offered him my hand to squeeze and oh my goodness, I thought I would have to pull my hand back because that is exactly what he did with it. He can squeeze hard by the way!! The first staple the doctor asked if he could feel and he said "nope", the second he said that one "kind of felt like tiny little pinches", the third one said "kind of hurt", and the fourth one the Doctor said that's it your done, and Chan said "I didn't even cry." He was soo brave and tough. He was proud of himself for not crying. He cried the whole way to the Instacare from the anxiety. He did not want staples. Everyone there told him what a tough guy he had been. The doctor went and got him an airplane for being so good! He was pretty excited about that. Before we even left the house he asked if he would get an airplane from them because he remembered he got one before and liked it. You will have to look at his get up on the photos. He was wearing his Spiderman costume and I told him to get his shoes on so he put his all-time favorite cowboy boots on. He looked fabulous! It was quite funny! But it also made him feel tough so it was ok.
On the way home I had to stop because he couldn't wait!!!! He had to go potty so bad he said. But, of course he couldn't tell me before we left the Instacare. We stopped at the gas station for him which then has to turn into wanting a treat for being so tough. He chooses milk duds and strawberry milkshake. When we check-out he has to tell the cashiers what happened. He is quite the kid.
When we made it home only an hour and a half after we left, Chayden had put himself to sleep in his bed. I hadn't said too much to him before I left, and Jeff said he talked to him a bit but not too much. It was enough torture for him to know we had to take Chan to the ER that I didn't feel the need for further punishment. After he woke up he started bawling when he saw Chan's head. We finally get the whole story out of them both. Chan had actually hit Chayden in the head first with a push toy of Charger's that was only plastic, but he had started it. So, Chayden was just getting revenge. Little did he know to what extent.
Anyway, everything works out for the best and self-torture turned out to be enough punishment for the both of them.

Mammoth Cave Trip

So, Sunday July 20th we woke up at 9:00 a.m. Well, that would be what time our church starts!! OOPS!! I had my alarm set and apparently when it went off for the 3rd or 4th time I turned it OFF!!! So, we decide since we have already sluffed today we would make it a family day and do something fun with the kids. We decide to go to Cedar Mountain to Mammoth Caves. The kids were stoked. I was stoked and Jeff was searching for flashlights. We managed to come up with enough and a lantern which would make up for a couple individual flashlights. That was about an hour process by the way. Trying to find a flashlight at our house is next to impossible, well one that is still fully functionable with batteries, and all ya know. Any who, we head out for our journey. The weather was great, a little overcast, which made it cooler than normal. It rained on us the way up there, not too bad though! We find the caves after Jeff is completely heartbroken over how "commercialized" it has become, since it has been like 15 years since his visit there.. It is supposed to stay the same. The road is graded, fairly decent sized. There are intersections, and BATHROOMS!!! And even a parking lot! Jeff was devastated at this recent discovery called CHANGE!!! Then again he counted about 1000,00000 cars that we passed on the way up the mountain with Nevada plates.....not too sure whats wrong with NEVADANS!!!!! HEHEHEHE!! LOL! Anyway, we find the cave surprisingly it was where Jeff's memory had told him! We head down it, and go thru the barred entrance that you have to shimmy thru. They have erected the barred fence to protect the bats that hibernate in the caves. EEEWWWW!!!!! We go thru the large cave for about 1/4 mile maybe thru the rocks and mud. It was soo fun! The kids loved it! Chayden thought he would follow dad in this section right before it gets to crawl spaces literally, and finds the MUD SPOT! If you know Chayden very well, then you know his "faster shoes" they happen to be Cars and they are not exactly the tightest shoes on his feet. Ya, every time he would try to move his foot, his shoe would get stuck in the mud and stay in the mud while he took a step. He was going in circles and falling down IN THE MUD trying to get to a rock to stand on. It was hilarious to watch, I was having a ball! Jeff got a huge piece of ice for the kids to see, they thought that was pretty awesome! We made a U-turn and headed back for the entrance.
Once we made it out of that one, Jeff wanted to try this other one that he could remember going in when he was younger and smaller! We had to shimmy on our belly's thru this one most of the way. I had a hard time this time, because I get freaked out if I am in a small confined space. I am very claustrophobic! Can't breathe, and start panicking. But, I managed thru it. I only got a little frantic a couple of times. Charger kept trying to stand up. He would bonk his head on the rocks above him and fall back down. The poor kids' head had to be SO sore. He kept going ahead of me and turning around saying "Mommy" while holding his hand out to help me. What a sweetheart to look out for his mommy! I loved it. Chayce, Chanley, and Chayden went ahead to make sure we had an exit without turning around. Needless to say they were out of the cave and back in waiting for us for a bit. They kept yelling to make sure mom was ok. I will tell ya, that is one thing that is nice about all these sons, is that they make sure that Momma is taken care of! I couldn't ask for anything better! We finally made it out of the cave and had to walk a bit to get back to the Tahoe, it was perfect!
We decided to head back home and go thru Hatch, on into Coral Pink Sand Dunes to let the "kids" play in the sand. Jeff was wishing pretty hard that his four wheeler would just appear in front of him so he could ride it. The kids went "rolling" down the hills, getting sand in places you wouldn't care to know! The storm was working it's way to us, and by the time we were back in the car after playing there for an hour, it started to rain. We headed back over the Caines Bed Road that Jeff had heard so much about and had to explore. We renamed it "beer can road". They were everywhere on the side of the road.
We made it back home in six, one pieces safely. We even had a little bit of leftover energy to make dinner and have a great evening to the perfect "mini-vacation" day with our great little family! We absolutely love these days, and we will miss them.....when they're gone that is!!!

I HATE PICTURES OF MYSELF

Ok, here is the deal. I needed an UPDATED picture of myself for my new business cards. I have been trying to find the time to take one for the last couple months. Finally it is down to the wire, and I can wait no longer! I made the switch to St George GMAC Real Estate from another company and at that point needed new cards, DUH!!!! Well, I was going to just use my old photo, but Jeff finally informed me how he hadn't particularly liked that photo! He thought I was much prettier than it turned out in that photo. HELLO..... I have been using that photo for about 2 years!!! Thanks for finally telling me this now! RIGHT???? Well, ok, down to the point....I am at the point where I need it done TODAY! So, I ask Jeff if he will take the photo for me. He is like more than willing to. YA!!! SO, I get all ready and tell him I need it done now. He is pretty excited at this point...literally!!!! So we are trying to find a good spot that is not dark or too bright (I thought). He has the great idea he wants to take it on the back porch, about 9:30 AM, facing the EAST.....FIGURE THAT OUT!!! I said no way, I will be squinting in between my sneezing...not a good idea. He doesn't like my disagreeance of the choice he made. So back inside we go. We find a spot in the kitchen, and I guess I was not to clear on WHAT PART of me I needed a picture of. I end up with like all these pictures of not my face, if you get my drift!!! I get totally peaved and tell him I will just pay someone else that can handle the task, he goes into his office and closes the door. Well, I still need the picture done today, and Chayce is hanging out with me. YA you get my point. Chayce is a great picture taker, when he presses the right button, and holds it long enough, and gets it straight, with me actually in the picture, and is super short so I am actually looking down. Ya, obviously that didn't work out too well. I call Jeff back in and finally get the picture taken...turned out just fine, but it was interesting getting to that point!!! Thought I would share!
GREAT TIMES!!!!!

We are taking the plunge....

Jeff and I are finally starting our process to go back to school. WOW, alot of stuff to do! We have both applied to SUU. We are wanting to start in the fall of this year. Jeff is being very optimistic on his calendar days on how many credit hours he is pursuing. I, on the other hand, will probably only take one or two classes to start out with and see how my time management skills actually are!!! It will be interesting. We are both excited though. I have a very long road ahead of me. Jeff should be done in half the time as me. He has also found a position in Sevier County that he would love to have, so he is in the process of scoping out that opportunity. It will be interesting to see what happens. It is amazing how you want to do something or have something you want to pursue things start to fall into place for ya. I am absolutely amazed at how things work out. I will keep ya posted on how our progress goes with this whole school thing!! In the meantime it's work, work, work!!!! : ) But I am sure you know what I mean!!

Chayden's perception of a brush...

On our way to the library Thursday, July 3 we were running a little bit late. We started walking out of the house to leave, and I look up as I am ussuring children out the door, and Chayden is standing at the top of the stairs stark naked. OH WOW!!! What else, when you are super late, right! Well, I guess he wasn't getting himself dressed today, he wanted me to do it for him. Ok, fine. Gather him some clothes, put them on. Ask him to go grab the brush and the hairspray and I will come his hair on the way. Meanwhile I go out and get the rest of the kids buckled up ready to go. This time we brought our friend Kellen with us. He is a well-behaved kid that lives near us. I come back in to see if Chayden is almost back down from his errand I sent him on, and he is looking for his shoes. He is carrying a "PAINTBRUSH." I asked what he thought I was going to do with a paintbrush on his hair, and you could almost see the light go off in his head that I actually wanted a hairbrush!! WHOA, the things our kids come up with!

I LOST MY PERMANENT TOOTH

Last night, wednesday, Chayce was outside with Jeff and I while Jeff was fixing a bike. It was about ten thirty or so. Chayce was climbing our front tree, and for some silly reason had a rope that he was holding on to with his front teeth. He climbed it safely, then started to get out of the tree when, I am still not quite sure how, but he fell out of the tree and started screaming. "My permanent tooth, my permanent tooth!" He was holding his mouth and blood was oozing out of his gums, immediately he fell to the floor and started looking for his tooth. Apparently it was just his side tooth right nest to his front top premanent tooth. He freaked out that it was still his permanent tooth. Then you see Chayce, Courtney, and myself on the ground with this huge spotlight and a couple flashlights looking for a tiny little baby tooth in a bunch of rocks....NO LUCK!!!! Can't find the tooth, but Chayce is not too sad because apparently the Tooth Fairy still came to visit him. He made a quarter of off the whole deal. Now he walks around with his quarter telling everyone his tooth story. Maybe he should've gotten more than a quarter huh, what a cheap Tooth Fairy!!! LOL!

Dogs are very Smart

This was Wednesday, the day before the whole In-n-Out, Library trip and Kellee and I had the marvelous thought getting beck from scrapbooking that we should invite Charity tonight to go to the library with us tomorrow. It was 10 o'clock at night or 10 in the morning. We chose to invite her tonight. I go to the door, and the lights are still on, so I knocked. She answered and came outside with us, Wiley is one of her dogs, and can get out of the house by himself because of the type of handles they have on their doors. Well, we heard him behind her scratching at the door and didn't open it so we didn't think too much about it. Until she decides to go back inside, and we were headed back across the street to get kids into bed, and same with Kellee, when behind me I hear Charity say my name sounding a little scared. WILEY LOCKED HER OUT! She was barefoot, and didn't have her keys, cell phone, or anything else that could get her back into her house. David, her husband was out of town, so we could not call him. They have a friend that has a spare, so we call him. We only have the phonebook, so have to call his house, and of course he doesn't answer. His cell number is in her cell phone inside the house. Of course, with her husband gone, she has her house locked tighter than tight! All of the windows are locked, every door is dead bolted, even the garage door is bolted shut. Her windows even have reinforced locks on some of them. SAFE HOUSE!!!! It was virtually impossible to break into without busting the windows. Jeff and Dave (our other neighbor), and Courtney (Kellee's husband) work on this for a while. We decide to go to hurricane where her friend lives to see if we can get the key. He is not there, and the keys are nowhere to be found. We get back home, and try some more to get in, and finally after about another hour or so, are successful! It was now about midnight or later. Her husband David had tried calling her 5 times but her phone was inside the house, she was now concerned he was freaking out. She stayed calm and waited til morning and he called her back and had a good laugh at he situation the previous night. So everything worked out just fine, and we found some humor in it.

WOW!!! I am loosing it!!

Thursday, June 26th...Kellee and I went to the library for story-time and invited our sweet neighbor to come along. Our usual "Traditional" story-time date is we go to the library, and participate in story-time, then checkout books, and then we go to MacDonald's. Sounds bad when you think about it because there are a total of 8 kids between the two of us....it's really not too bad, we kind of have it down. This time Charity came, mind you she is pregnant with her FIRST baby, but she is a second grade teacher. She has very good patience!!! Here is how it started..... We had to drive our van because Kellee was maxed on her seat capacity in her truck. No problem other than, the air conditioning is out. Well, maybe we will not be in the car too long for it to make a huge problem for us. Well, then after story-time our kids draw prizes if they read all their books for the week, this time they happen to draw coupons for Del taco (Kellee's kids) and Charity says she has never been to In-n-Out Burger. WHICH IS A BIG MISTAKE AROUND KELLEE AND I!!! We love that place. It happens to be right next door to Del taco...see where we went with this!!! YEP!!! We drove into St. George with no air, and only the driver side window rolls down, because the passenger side tends to not roll back up. We get all the kids situated at Del taco. Kellee stays with the kids while Charity and I walk to In-N-Out to get the ADULT Food. Outside was no cars thru the drivethru, WE SHOULD HAVE DRIVEN THRU!!! Inside was everyone!!! Finally we get our food, get back and we all eat.
Then, we get to attempt the errands I have to run. We have to go to Lowe's to get stuff for the garden, and Verizon to get a new phone because mine has finally broke enough that it is not working. We decide to go to Verizon first. We get there, which is actually in Bloomington and we came from Washington where we ate WITH NO AIR STILL!!!! The kids by this point are all wound up from the play place at Del taco, so have no interest in behaving in the quiet cell phone store. Luckily the person we are going to see is my cousin Karl, and there is only one other person in there and he works there...not too bad. Come to find out, the phone I want they do not stock, they have to order (which is a whole new story!!)
Now we get to go to Lowe's, which is in St George on the far east side (Yep we are backtracking, with a pregnant lady, and NO AIR!!) Get to Lowe's and find our section for the tomato blossom spray, and this man starts up a conversation with me about what I think works and what doesn't. Not a big deal; however, my kids by this point are climbing in the shelves, out of control because Mom is distracted, and Charity is like "OK, WOW" she didn't say anything, bless her heart, but I am sure she was thinking it. I had a basket that I had Charger in and Chayden was having issues with staying inside of it!! When I was talking to my new friend, I felt "the basket" brush up against me and I reach out and grab it without looking, out of habit. I finish talking with the man and turn to look at the basket and get a head count for kids at the same time Charity is gently tapping my arm to make me aware of THE BASKET I am holding. IT WAS NOT MINE! It was another man's that is just standing there looking at me. Once I realize, I pull my hand off in sheer embarrassment, and his reply was "it's ok, I would've went with ya!" OH MY GOODNESS!!!! I was so embarrassed!! Charity of course was laughing pretty hard, and I was rushing to gather my children and get out of the store.
We finally make it back home safely, Charity seemed to survive the whole thing, and was very polite might I add. But, WOW, I say, WHAT A TRIP!!! I love it though, and I will miss it one day, I am positive!

Primary Children's Photos of Charger

Here are some pic's of our Charger (Beans) when he was life-flighted to Primary Children's Hospital and diagnosed with Type 1 (Juvenile onset) Diabetes. His glucose level was 1,243 (Range should be 100-200). He lost 8 pounds in a week, was very lathargic. He probably slept about 98% of the day. He constantly had a drink with him, and urinated soooo much, and was not hungry. He was treated for RSV, had chest x-rays, was unnecesarily doing breathing treatments twice a day. Watch for those things in your own kids. All it takes is a blood test.
Now, he is healthy. He loves to eat! I check his sugar about 10 times a day. He gets about 5-6 shots of insulin a day. We are still trying to figure it out but he is doing wonderful! We are so happy that he is still here with us and that his disease is manageable! What a blessing. There are much worse things out there that could happen than Diabetes!!! ; )

St George Roadrunners....

We went to My kids' school on Wednesday for the program that they have during summer. They have "take home library". They give the kids 4 or 5 books to read during the week (or the night before they are supposed to go back sometimes....haha) Anyway, this week they had a St george Roadrunner player, Brandon Taylor (Local baseball team) come and read a book to the kids called "Out of the ball park." It was great, and my kids absolutely loved it. I was sitting with a couple of freinds and afterwards, Chayce went to say hi to him and Kellee was sitting next to me and was like "nudging" my arm saying where's your camera, over and over. I wasn't paying attention, I was busy talking. I was trying to brush her off because I thought she was one of my kids,,,,,,haha. I look over finally and am like OH CRAP WHERE IS MY PHONE THAT'S MY KID!!!! She was like duh... I was trying to tell you...Great times!!!!

Our Fav Music

Apparently this thing is pretty high tech, but I am figuring it out SLOWLY, with the help of my great neighbor Court!!! HEHE!!!

Cub Scouts......aaahhh!!!!

Yes, yes, yes I know with four boys of my own this was expected to be called to the scouting program. But, after being in primary for 12+ years, I don't know that I am quite ready to "graduate." LOL.
We had our first Den Meeting today! I think we pulled it off. Whew!!!! I was pretty stressed. I am not sure why though, because I have taught these same kids in primary for years, and coached them in T-Ball, and Machine pitch. So it's not like I don't know them! But, I am feeling lots more comfortable now that I have one out of the way. It was actually kind of fun! You get to do silly things, and they think you are cool for it...WOW! When does that ever happen! So we played a game with them with a pillow case full of items that if the whistle blew and you were holding the case, you had to wear an article from it. ONE OF THE BOYS (from the start of the game) WAS HOPING TO PULL OUT A DRESS SO HE COULD WEAR IT!!!!!! He was serious!!! I thought it was a crack up! I loved it. Then we played more games, and familiarized ourselves on what each one needed to pass off. This really could be a fun thing! I am sure I will enjoy this! What a great blessing this will be for my little family. I am very thankful for all of our endeavors that we are given to endure. I know that if I am diligent in my calling and remember what life is all about that it all works out for the best!Hopefully someday I can be even half of the spiritual giant my mom was. I keep her in my mind thru all of my actions, and it helps alot!! ;) I am very lucky to have such a wonderful example!

Our Fam's Photo's ; )