HALLOWEEN TIME

Halloween has come and gone already but we had a blast. Mom had her traditional Halloween Party. We always look forward to this party. The kids love it and it's a lot of fun watching all the kids have fun.

Austin went as a modern day vampire (not Edward Cullen)

Chance was Optimus Prime

I dressed up as static cling for mom's party because I was estatic to be there.

Cole was a Black Stallion. Mike had to work so he was unable to go to the party, but I'm sure he would have dressed up as the HVAC man (ha, ha). I would have had more pictures but I didn't realize the battery was so low on the camera so unfortunatly the battery on my camera died. But the kids played Musical Tombstone (Cole marched in the circle with them). they also played Halloween Bingo, Pumpkin Ring Toss, and Tic Tac Toe Halloween style of course. They made some cool Haunted Houses from graham crakers, forsting, and loads of candy. We ate some yummy tacos except for Chance he had his usual chicken nuggets. Big Thanks to mom for starting a tradition that is fun for all!

FAMILY CAMP OUT

We went camping this past weekend at Joe's Valley with my family. It was my mom's birthday on the 13th and Mike's birthday on the 14th. By the way Mike is 40 now (he, he). We had a lot of fun, especially the kids and dogs. The kids played in the dirt almost the entire time. When they weren't in the dirt they were riding 4-wheelers or eating. My brother Kirk brought his dog and we had our dog and they played in the dirt as much as the kids did.


This is my baby, Cole, he got so dirty we had to use the vaccum on him and Mike spent most of Sunday morning picking stickers out of his fur.

This is my nephew Alex. He's one of the youngest boys and I think he won the prize for the dirtest boy that weekend. This picture of him is probably the cleanest he was all weekend. I was watching him play in the dirt with a little plastic sand shovel and he would scoop the dirt up and pour it over his head then he would sit on the ground and pour the dirt over his legs and up the leg of his shorts.

Here is my little guy, Chance, it almost looks like he was eating the dirt. Well . . . at least he ate something.

Here is Uncle Kirk (my little brother) giving Ryan a ride on my machine.

Here is Adam and Leslye in the Razer with my hubby (the 40 year old).

Here is grandpa with Ryan

and here is my sis, Heather, with her 2 boys Ryan and Caleb.

Here are my handsome boys, Austin and Chance on Austin's machine. And no Chance is not flipping me off he is showing me the peace sign.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Hip Hip Hooray! School has started! Austin has started the sixth grade. He really likes his teacher, Mrs. Smith. Our goal is to have a better year this year. He is going to focus more and improve his grades and get ready for Jr. High.

Chance is starting kindergaten and he gives it a thumbs up. He has been so excited to start school he could hardly stand it. He loves his teacher, Mrs Wood. Kindergaten starts a week later than the other kids and Chance was pretty upset when Austin started school and he didn't. But once the day rolled around for his turn he couldn't have been happier.

BRACE FACE

So Austin had braces intalled yesterday. I can't believe how fast he is growing up!! I feel so old. And to think he only has 1 more year left in elementary and than it's off to Jr. High. Where does the time go?

Goodbye Sawsha

Today was one of the toughest days of my life. We made the decision to put Sawsha down. It was extremely hard to finally do this. We have been saying for about a year that it was getting close to that time. I'm glad I was there to hold her and comfort her as she left her body but it was heart breaking to say goodbye. Poor Sawsha could hardly walk anymore and she must have been in some kind of pain even though she never showed it. I think of Sawsha as my baby, I often called her baby girl even though in dog years she was much older than me. She was such a good dog! I wish dogs lives weren't so short. We were lucky to have such a wonderful friend for the past 12+ years. She has blessed us with many, many memories. MOMMY WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU BABY GIRL!

EASTER 2009

Easter morning was great. We had to wake the kids up so they could do their Easter hunt and still have time to get ready for church. Both the boys got some yummy candy. Chance got a new outfit. Austin got a new suit as well, however it did not fit but we still took his picture in his nice sunday clothes. Later that afternoon it was off to the traditional Easter Sunday dinner and Easter hunt at Grandma Tess and Grandpa Randy's house. The kids always love the hunt at grandma's and grandpa's. They get a bunch of candy and toys and spread it all over the yard and the kids collect all the goodies into a basket to take home.

COLORED EGGS

The saturday before Easter we colored our Easter Eggs. Austin and Chance's cousin Alex, Travis, and Kylie were there too. It was alot of fun. Austin would not look at the camera he was being difficult but we still had fun!

First hair cut

Cole got his first schnauzer hair cut. He was such a good boy for the groomer.

Cole

Here are some pictures of Cole. He loves to hang out with Sasha. Sasha does pretty good with him . . . most of the time. He follow's her around like a lost puppy dog, and he even copies what she does sometimes.

Here is Cole with his new winter coat on.

Our new baby!

Here is our new baby that we got on Tuesday night (3/10). I wasn't sure if we were going to get another dog or not. I love having a dog but I wanted to get a fence first so they can have the full backyard to run and play. And if we did get a dog I wanted a smaller sized dog. Then we were offered this dog at a great deal, for free. But really, how can you say no to this adorable little guy? Chance wanted to call him CC, but he wants to name everything CC. C is his favorite letter. We have been calling him Cole, so it looks like that name is going to stay. He is 9 weeks old and is a Mini Schnauzer. He is all black with a small white spot on his chest. He is the cutest thing. The kids just adore him. I think they like the fact you can actually pick him up and hold him. He is starting to get use to us. He starting to play a little bit. He loves to cuddle and he's been letting the kids pack him around everywhere (I hope he doesn't forget how to walk). Sasha checked him out but doesn't really want anything to do with him. She stays her distance most of the time. He was trying to cuddle with her this morning and she didn't really care for that. Hopefully she'll warm up to him a little more once she realizes he's staying. We have been giving Sasha extra hugs and kisses so she doesn't feel left out.

GRANDPA FIFE

It's with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to my Grandpa Fife. He passed away Sunday evening after struglling with Alzheimers. It's good that he is in a better place and reunited with his loved ones that have passed before him but it's still a little sad to say goodbye to grandpa. One of my foundest memories of Grandpa was when we were all in the mountains having a picnic and grandpa placed Austin, who was mabye 1 years old, on his lap and took him for a ride on his scooter. I took their picture as they raced down the street both of them smiling and having fun. Even though grandpa was at times grumpy and didn't hold back with expressing his opinion, I loved his great smile. It made him look like the cute little old man he really was. Love you grandpa and I will miss you!!

UPDATE

I haven't posted anything for awhile so I thought I would just give a quick run down of what has been going on with us.

The boys are doing great. Austin has been off track all month, but he goes back to school on the 23rd. He's not happy about returning to school. Did I mention that I hate year round school. The kids go off track for weeks at a time then it so hard to get them back into the routine of going to school. Chance is still Chance. I still can't get him to eat very well. He was telling me the other day that dad was so cool and strong. So I told him he can be just as cool and strong if he would eat dinner. He said "But I don't like dinner. I only like cereal." I don't know what to do. His diet mostly contains cereal, toast, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, chicken nuggets, corn dogs, and hot dogs. I always offer him everything we have and he always refuses and never even tries it. It's so frustrating. Mike has been laid off work, again. It's a stressful and scary time for us. I'm hopeful that everything will turn out, but it's still hard not to freak out. I am turning another year older this month. I'm not sure what to think about that. I'm not 40 yet but I'm not in my 20's either. Life passes by to fast.

BOY'S WEEKEND

Mike took the boys down to St. George for some quality guy time "Jeepin". Uncle Matt and Uncle Hay went down as well. The boys had a lot of fun. Even though it rained it was a little bit warmer than home. Mom got to stay home and enjoy the quite time.

FOUR EYES II

Here is the picture of Austin with his new glasses. He is amazed that he can see so much better now. Everything is so much more clear to him. On the way home we was reading all the signs that he couldn't before. He even says the TV looks much better now. I remeber when I got my first pair of glasses. I couldn't believe how good I could see. I didn't realize my eye sight was that bad.

If you notice by his right eye he's a little scrapped up. He was sledding down the snow hill in our front yard and I guess he used his face instead of his snow sled. Good thing he was not wearing his glasses when he did this.

CHRISTMAS 2008

Here are some pictures of the boys and the dog opening their gifts on Christmas morning. We had so much fun! The boys really enjoyed their Christmas.

FOUR EYES

Well Austin has not avoided the curse of bad eye site. Austin brought home a slip from school indicating that he failed his vision screening. I took Austin to the eye doctor yesterday and of course he needs glasses. He picked out some nice blue wired frames. He looks so cute!!! He should get his glasses in about 5 business days, so when he gets them I will post a picture. I was a little worried on how Austin would take the news of needing glasses since he complained and whined about having to wear head gear to get ready for braces (which he will get this year sometime), but he took the news well. During his eye exam his brother Chance was a little concerned for his big brother and keep asking what the doctor was doing to his eyeballs. And then when the doctor asked Austin to read the letters on the wall across the room Chance started to give the answers away. He had been learning his letters in day care and he loves to pick out letters and tell everyone the sound the letter makes and sometimes words that start with that letter. So the doctor tells Austin read those letter that you can see clearly. Chance starts shouting out "F, f says ffff B, b says bbbb V, v says vvvv" (you have to imagine the letter sounds on this one). I was hoping Austin wasn't paying attention to his little brother, and he wasn't, but it was funny regardless.

BAD BOYS

Here are the boys after playing a game of taget practice with each other. This is one of there many "Macho Man" pictures. I don't remember when I took this picture but is was summer of 2008.