RICHARDSON FAMILY

2011-09-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

Here we are almost at the end of September. I have meant to sit down and blog but just haven't. But as I was proofing this blog lol...I noticed the date was September 10th. I did start it on the 10th but did not finish until today, the 25th.

I am now back at work and glad to be working again. They have me working in the counseling center and I am loving it. So far they haven't overloaded me. I love the people that I work with and the atmosphere is good. I am back working with Penny and very glad. I love that lady!

Believe it or not miss Bailee just turned 2. She is so cute. We had the Jones come out and celebrate with cake and ice cream. Jed and I took her to the store and let her pick out her gift. She found this teddy bear chair that she liked and sat on all through the store. When we got out to the car and put it in next to her, you should have seen her eyes. She was so excited that it was coming home with her.
Ron recently decided that he wanted to become a barber. I wouldn't have even known except he left the scissors laying on my bathroom counter with the hair in the sink. Silly boy! He must have a little of miss Evva in him.

Labor day we just hung out at the house and ate. I love it when we are all together as a family. We miss Jeddy and Ady. One of these day's they may join us. Who knows.
Timmy has been doing a parenting program. Once a week an advocate, Manuel would come out for a couple of hours to work with him. I was very impressed with him. He understood about parenting. No two kids are the same and each one need to be disciplined different. It was so refreshing to hear that after hearing how you should put them in time out. Sometimes time out doesn't work with all kids. Especially hearing it from state workers that didn't even have kids...or more than one child. Every child is different.
Anywho......Here he is! DONE!! For his last class Manuel had him bake a cake while they studied and then we all celebrated his last class.
We are nearing the end of this nightmare....I hope. We have one more hearing and if all goes well, we will be done. I am very proud of Timmy and all that he has accomplished. We are so glad that we have the boys here with us and now my prayers are that they will be raised knowing that they are loves and they don't need to fear being taken away ever again.

2011-08-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

Wow....I have really slowed down on blogging. I guess that must mean I am busy or just being lazy. oh well, It's summer and it's going fast!

Saturday was such a special day. I can't believe that Zoee is 8. I remember her in the infant seat of her parents car knocking on the window trying to get her to look up and smile at us before driving off. Desi would just shake her head at us. Now look at how grown up she is. . . and how beautiful she is. It was fun to have Kaylee be baptized on the same day. What a sweet girl she is. The other little girl is one of Zoee's good friends. What cute girls.

Desi had a lot of pictures taken of her for her baptism. I will have to take time and post some of them. The all turned out so beautiful.

These girls have been friends since high school days. It's fun to see that the still keep in touch.

Zoee had a little tea party after the baptism. It was so much fun.
Lot's of fun gifts but always special when you get your very own set of scriptures.
What a special day!
I am so proud of her and love her so much!!

on to the next....

All of our goat's have had there picture taken on the side of our house so I had better post one of Tawnii. She had her horns burned off and she did so good. She still dances around, it didn't change her personality like it did Billy and Jezz. I am so glad.

job update:
Today I went in to Cyprus High and applied for a job in the counseling center. Crazy-I know. I am just so ready to go back to work. I have put in applications all over the place and nothing yet. We will have to see what happens. That would mean that I could be back to work as soon as next week.

Trek

2011-07-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

What an amazing experience we had this past week at trek. It was one of the hardest things I have done in a long time but oh so worth it. Yes, I would do it again. We started out at 4 am Saturday morning. The kids all rode on school buses. We were hauling a trailer so we were in Jed's truck until....we got to the top of Parleys. Yep, we broke down. Jed was sure that the motor was toast. Pres. Droubay was behind us thank goodness. He stopped and they hoked on the trailer and took Carrie and Patric and we turned around and came home to grab our Xterra. We hurried as fast as we could back, we didn't want to miss anything. When we got to Evanston Wyoming we found out that one of the buses had broke down so we were not the last ones.

First stop - Martins Cove
We all arrived safely, even the broken down bus people. We went up to Dan's Cove and then did the river crossing. We camped over night at a camp ground.

Sunday
Sacrament meeting was amazing. What a great opportunity we had to have the sacrament out in the open with all of the youth. We then got to walk into Martins Cove and feel the spirit that was there. We then loaded up the buses and headed over to Sage Campground to set up for the night. That night was crazy. Rain, thunder, lightning, scarred kids, soaked tents, no sleep for the people in tents. Thank goodness Jed and I were in a trailer "roughing it" LOL....

Monday
14 miles to trek. Most people had no sleep. Ground was so muddy that it felt like 10 lb weights on the bottom of our feet. We still rolled out. We had 2 groups - the Smart group and the Droubay group. I was in the 1st group. I was so glad. I don't even know where to start.

Women's pull WOW. They had a speaker talk to us. Her husband is a paraplegic. He spoke to the men and she spoke to the women. She is so amazing. She talked about the story of Jens Jensen who was a big man and his wife a tiny woman that carried him in the hand cart because he was to sick. Then talked about our trials and are we going to be strong and faithful like this mans wife. After she spoke to the second group she did the women's pull and carried her husband up the hill in the handcart.

The 1st bog....lol was awful! It was so muddy and hard for the kids to go through. One group lost there lunch in the mud. They tried to save some of it. They were worried about what they were going to eat at lunch time. 10 hours is a long time to go with out food on a 14 mile hike. When we stopped for lunch we found out that they had not packed lunch for support. It was amazing how everyone pulled together and both the family and support staff were fed and fed well.
I have never walked so far and wanted so badly to be to the end. It was hard! When I reached almost the end, Jed ran up and met me and walked the last 1/2 mile with me. We went back to camp and helped with dinner.

I was so tired that I told Jed "I have to go rest". He said "if you feel the trailer move, don't worry, we are just taking it to the parking lot for the night. So here I am resting and I hear the door close. "no prob, they are just going to park". The truck starts up and it drives up the hill and then over some cattle guards and drove on and on (it felt like forever) I start to freak. I grabbed my phone and text Jed "WHERE ARE THEY TAKING ME"? I then called him and he said, "they just pulled into the parking lot". Shewwww! Then I hear them all talking outside the trailer. Jed "did you know my wife was in the trailer"? OMG I thought they were all going to die laughing. It was quit the experience. Steve apologized over and over again. I thought it was funny-after it was over. A ride I will always remember.

Dirty, hot, tired, burned, I was ready to come home. Not ready to face the trial of a truck. Not knowing what we were going to do. We don't have the money to buy a new truck. We worried! It took Jed a while to take a look at his truck. I was getting ready to bite the bullet and apply for a loan. When he finally looked at it, it wasn't as bad as he thought. He was able to fix it. I know it was a trial, maybe even apart of the trek experience but I feel like we were blessed.
I am so grateful for what we have. I don't think I could have been a pioneer but I do know that they suffered so that they could worship the way that they wanted to so I could too. I am so thankful to them.

Sorry such a long post, I just don't want to forget this grate opportunity that we had. Life changing!!

Where did June go?

2011-06-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

I guess it is okay that I have been slacking on blogging cause I really have been busy this month. Thank goodness for camera's so I can keep track of things.

Of course 1st...Desi's birthday. I can still remember taking her home from the hospital. Wasn't that just yesterday? She was so beautiful and more beautiful now. I always enjoy when we get family time. Thank goodness those day's of not being with family are now over. Tim and Desi have been such a great strength to us during our last 6 months of our trials. I truly was blessed when she came into my life! MMmmm she was even an easy delivery :)

On fast Sunday we all meet at our old home ward to bless Timmy's little girl Shelby. I can't believe how much she looks like Isaiha. She is so cute!

Then preparing for girls camp. 1st night up there with the YCL's it rained and then came the rainbow. You can't see it in this picture but it was a double rainbow. Oh My Gosh....it was beautiful.
Here is our cute little tent ( I kept calling my cabin). Last year for us setting it up in this spot. Next year we are finding flat ground. Poor Jed. And he thought his back hurt before camp.
Family night with the YCL's was a blast. Have you ever seen the show minute to win it? I hadn't even heard about it until our camp director had us think up some games. Here Steve had to knock over the bottles with his cute little tail in a minute.
This is our Stake Camp Director. What an amazing lady she is. I am trying to absorb all I can from her. Quick story....2 weeks before girls camp we were all called into Pres. Droubay's office to talk about girls camp.
Pres. D.....Sister Bruns, what are we going to do about girls camp
Sister B......We are going
Pres.......Where?
Sister B...Friendship Meadows
Pres.....You do know that the last report we got was 18 inches of snow and it has snowed twice since?
Sister B....Yes
Pres....So let's be realistic.
Sister B.....WHERE IS YOUR FAITH!
End of story.....We went to Friendship Meadows. NO SNOW! Ground Dry. Talk about Faith!!
Here is our cute Pres. D. What a sport he is. He was covered in shaving cream and the ycl had a minute to stick at least 8 fruit loops to his face.
Yea, I got to do it to Jed too....LOL it was a blast :D
Tuesday Morning: Theme for this year was CEREAL
Christs
Eternal
Role
Enriches
All
Lives
We all chose a cereal. These were lucky charms.
These cute girls were Life cereal. Love the earrings!
Here are our cute YCL's. We had such a good group of girls this year. NO DRAMA...yep
We bonded. I even remembered all of there names. That's good for me.
Here is the group..
Camp directors....
Our ward....
I love our girls. Anna is such a crack up!
The priesthood brethren are such good sports.
how can anyone take you seriously?
We had a dance
And we were the Froot Loops. Our slogan was "You toucan be faithful"
Pebbles....the 19th ward. Our ward! Check out, even Meagan was with us this year.
Yes, that is a diaper on his face. You know those stinkin skit bags.
All in all it was a fun camp. 6 mile hike and all.

Then we had Meagans birthday. Once again we are so blessed to have her in our family!!
My highlight was going to spend time with my cute Zoee and her school at Hollywood connection. I got to watch over these cute 3.
Little golf, rides, games and
at the end I think they were a little tires. Me too! It was so fun to be with Zoee. I am glad she had invited me to go.
Now my focus is on trek. I finished the journals and took them into the printers. Fingers crossed - I hope they will turn out good. The lady at the printers said that I had done a good job. That was nice to hear. I have been working on them now for 3 months. If anyone is going on trek and needs a journal....I have one all ready for you.

Things are looking good on our home front. If all goes well, Tim will get full custody back with in the next 3 months. Then it's back to life and ...Grandma day!

2011-05-24T19:04:00.000-07:00

It was so nice of the sun to come out for a while so that we could get our poor chickens out of their little crate and into their home.

No, these are not my chickens but I haven't posted a picture of my goats for a long time so I just had to show you all that they are still just a hanging around. The one on the right is our mischievous goat. He thinks that the pasture is greener on the other side of the fence. I think Timmy had to chase him down three times today. He goes over to our neighbors and hangs with their goats all the time. We are about ready to just give him to them. The one on the left is our princess Jezzabell. Poor goat is the only girl out of the four. She is our pigmy goat and the smallest of them all.
Ok, back to the chickens. They have gotten so big.

We have ten of them. They were so glad to get out into the open. It was fun just watching them in their new house.

Every time Jed would come home from work it seemed like it was always raining. We didn't dare just put them out back for fear the wild animals around here would get them. So he didn't get the coop done until tonight. He still has some work to do on it but it's close enough.
The boys had fun playing out back with the goats and chickens and tractors. When we put them in bed tonight, I didn't hear a peep. Oh except for Tweeter. She slept outside for the first time last night. I don't think she liked that so tonight she came up to the door early so that we wouldn't leave her outside. She is now tucked into her crate with clean pine chips, water and food. She's a pretty spoiled little dog...oh I mean duck.
Then there is Karl. Just like a kid, he has to be in Jed's back pocket all the time. Every time he turns around Karl is right there. Ya just gotta love the animals. LOL....who would have thought!

Computer up again.....

2011-05-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

I am going to admit it. I am addicted to my computer. I didn't think I was going to live not being able to look at blogs, facebook and email. That is the 1st step, right?

Just to catch up on a few things around here.

I am very proud of Derrik. He has been out of the Gifts Program now for 10 years. I got a call from the school and they are going to recognize him for his accomplishments since leaving the Gifts Program. We are going to go up the the graduation on Wednesday where they will honor him.

Last weekend Jed, Derrik and Timmy got to go to our wards Fathers and son's outing with all the boys. I was so lost without the kids I didn't know what to do with myself. I will say it was nice :) just for a moment.

Now for the up-date on Tweeter. MY BABY IS GROWING UP! This duck has personality! He has finally made friends with Chloe and Rosie and doesn't want to hang with me anymore. I put her out the other day and she loved it. They all started hanger together. When it got dark, Tweeter came up to the door and wanted in so, I let her in. The next day I took her out again and then when it got dark I heard her chirp so I asked Timmy to go bring her in. It took him a minute to catch her but finally caught her and brought her in. Well....Today I finally decided that she would spend her first night out with the big ducks. I cleaned up her bed and put it away. Well not to long ago - yep, a chirp came to my back door. I opened up the door and here she came a waddling in. LOL.... I still think she thinks she's a dog.

Graduation time is here. Our kindergarten gets out a week earlier than the rest of the school. Isaiha has got the best bus driver. Every morning he would get on the bus and the first thing he would do is go give Lenard a big hug. He was so cute with Isaiha.

The graduating class of 2023 WOW.
Once again he had the best teachers ever. I love these ladies. Ms. Wilson is moving schools next year. I am so sad to see her go. She was the best thing for Isaiha. The nice thing is the SE teacher he will have next year is a lady in our ward. I visit teach her. That is the only reason I didn't go down to the district and tell them they can't move her. She will be missed!
Isaiha was so excited to get his certificate. Just watch how cute he was. It was fun to be a part of his kindergarten year. I didn't realize just how attached I got.

I keep hoping that the boys stay here for a long while. They have settled in so well. It's nice to have Tim home with us again too. Maybe we are coming to the end of this awful trial.

2011-05-19T15:43:00.000-07:00

computer has a virus :(
hopefully back soon...

2011-05-14T20:12:00.001-07:00

We have had a good week this week. It started off a little stressful but worked out good.
On Monday I got a call saying that our Foster License was taken from us because I forgot to send in a paper and prof of Divorce and Marriage. (like the state doesn't have access to all that stuff anyways). I hurried and got everything I needed and quickly turned them into the state. On Thursday, We went back to court to find out......I didn't need to do all that running around anyway. They were putting the boys back with Tim. YEA!!!!!! We are still under watch by the state but Tim is now with us and the boys. He has 90 days before we go back to court to find a job and prove that he can care for them. In the mean time: WOW, I have time again. Now maybe I can focus on 'girls camp' trek' relief society and my house....mmmmm

!st off I had to post this picture for Tae, Sav, Jessica and Matt. LOOK how big Tweeter is. Jed thinks he is a she though. That is ok. We have lots of people that like our duck eggs. They are so good for cooking.

Friday night the boys went with grandpa and dad's to the fathers and son's outing. I think the boys had a good time. Boy it sure was easy to put them to bed tonight. They were so tired. I took them to Home Depo with me and all Isaiha could say is "I want to go home". He was soooo tired. I will have to say I missed them. It's been a long while since I have been home with out little boys. I didn't quiet know what to do with my self.

I have got such a good husband that would take the time to go and make sure these boy's get to have those experiences. Now he is off to the temple. Thank you Jed for being such a good Husband!!! Father!!!! and Grandpa!!!!

Another Chapter of my life

2011-05-07T18:55:00.000-07:00

Not a lot to update except.....I quit my job last week. It was something I have been thinking about doing for a long time. I have felt like I really needed to be home with the boys so when I was pulled into the office and they told me they were cutting my hours, that pretty much helped me along the way. Some day's I am sad cause I really liked the kids. I really wanted to feel like I could help them is some way but I guess it just wasn't meant to be so here we go again, another chapter in my life.

I am still staying busy with boys, Relief Society,(I am suppose to be studying for my lesson I give in the morning, and here I am blogging) Girls camp and Trek. I don't have a lot of time to slack. I finally finished my activity book for trek. I am way excited about it. If anyone is ever in need, I will get you a copy. A big THANKS to Jenny Phillips. That woman is amazing!

And of course the farm. 4 goats, 10 chickens and 3 Ducks. Tweet is getting bigger each day. The chickens have too but they aren't nice like this duck. Tweet still follows me all around and if I leave the room, he get's louder and louder. It is hilarious. Our ducks aren't very nice to him 'yet' but I keep telling them "you better be nice cause it will be you that will leave, not Tweet". Yea, Tweet is my duck. Oh, if ducks could only talk. One of our goats keeps jumping over the fence and hangs out with our neighbors goats and horses. He is so mischievous! It's a good thing that our neighbor is cool about it.

So as far as yard work ... MMmmm what can I say. I cleaned up a little area and planted some flowers. When I went to get the flowers, the yellow just stuck out so I went with yellow.

When I got home and got it all planted it looked so nice, and it even matches my front lawn. lol....

We still have so much work to do and we thought that it would only take 2 years to fix up. OMG...we are coming up on our 2 years. I can hardly believe it. I don't even dare predict how much longer it will take. With all the farm animal we are getting though, I think Jed is planning to stay for a while. He loves the farm life. I am kinda liking it too. I guess I would be happy anywhere as long as I was with Jed.

2011-05-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe that this little girl is 6.

She is so full of life.

And...such a girl!
We had fun at her party

Pinata was fun. Thank you for not putting a lot of candy in it. My boys don't need no sugar :)

We love you miss Evva! Happy Birthday.

I do have to just add one more thing. I had made Evva a barbie cake a few years ago for her birthday. I told Desi that I would make one too. (Desi's is the cute one by the way) Well, I went to get the pan that I had used to make her cake and realized that I had just cleaned out my closet and taken them to DI's a few weeks ago. Well....off to D I 's I went. I ended up buying back one of my pans for $ 2. ...Oh yea. lol, I know it was mine too, It had the same marks on it. I don't think I will be so quick to clean out my pans again.

2011-05-01T20:28:00.000-07:00

Tweet... He is so stinkin cute! The boy's are loving him.

2011-04-25T15:52:00.000-07:00

April is the month for Birthdays around her. Briggs, Timmy, Jeddy Jed & this week miss Evva.
It's nice be able to have the family together. I won't even tell you how old Timmy is now cause then you will know how old I am getting.

The kids came out for Jed's birthday and went to church with us. Tim J put the thought and the labor into his Jed's present this year.
And Desi put in the elbow grease and Dr. Pepper and treats :) Nice and clean on the inside....
Brand new grill on the out side. It looks like a brand new truck.
We all got together and colored Easter eggs. This year we had BIG duck eggs.
Oh and we got some more chickens...
Easter was fun. We went over to the Jones's for church to listen to Desi talk. She did such a nice job. It was fun to be back home again. What an amazing ward.
And of course, the Easter Bunny was very good to the boys. New bikes!
They got to see both Mom and Dad...
And spent some time with their Nana. She made them the cute little homemade baskets behind them.
My most favorite part about this month is that we get to spend a lot of time with family and I love my family. How blessed I am to have FAMILY.

Conference Weekend

2011-04-06T20:12:00.000-07:00

Next to the 4th of July, conference weekend is my favorite. I love getting together and 'trying' to listen to General Conference. We usually go up to Mel's cabin but once again there was to much snow. My sweet husband took a CAT up to try and plow into the cabin. He worked for hours until we all finally decided MMmmm Best Western sound pretty good.

We got two rooms that joined. They gave us a really good deal!

It was fun relaxing.
We even went swimming.
and of course shopping - I just forgot to take pictures.
The funny thing is, when I went to down load the pictures I realized someone else was trying to take pictures for me. lol..... Nice Toilet paper!
I think the funniest part of the weekend was watching Justin and his little groupies. LOL... He has some pretty cute girls following him around. Funny how they ended up at the same hotel as us. We had a good laugh. Ohh, to be young again.

It is always hard to come home for a nice weekend.

Tonight we took Evva and Briggs with us to go get some Chicks.
They are so stinkin cute!! We got 6 for now.
They are so tiny. It was fun.

2011-03-25T18:33:00.000-07:00

House up-date: I finally got another cupboard....One piece at a time.
Duck Trivia:
Where do the ducks carry their eggs?
So my ducks looked like they had 'excuse my words for just a moment'....but, Big boobs! It just wasn't right. One day they were big and then the next they were not which made me stop and think: Where do they carry their eggs? Yep, I was right. In their neck or boobs...which ever.

Now you have learned something I will move on to this past few weeks.
Tysen turned 4 years old. Crazy how fast they grow. We had the family over for cake and ice cream.

of course he got a Thomas the train cake. Not like that is his world - oh wait a minute....it is his world.
That weekend we had the girls come over and I let them make a train cake for Tysen. See our Peay boy's like to celebrate there birthday for at least one or two weeks. Ok, Derrik a month :)
This weekend we took the kids and went (or tried) to go up to the cabin. OMG there is so much snow up there. We didn't make it in to the cabin but we stopped long enough to go sledding.

When we got home and everything in the house.....The sun came out. Why am I not use to this kind of weather? I live in Utah!

Last but not least....Bon Jovi.
I have the best husband in the world!! He was so good to take me to see Bon Jovi last Tuesday. We had a blast. Are seats were clear up but it didn't matter. I have not had that much fun in a long time. Bon Jovi put's on an amazing show. I love his music and it doesn't hurt that he is still dang good lookin too. Okay, not as good lookin as my husband but nice eye candy indeed. He has been around for 27 years and I think I have enjoyed his music for 27 years too. Mmmm and I still like his music.

Mini Spinnies Mini Studs

2011-03-12T19:44:00.000-08:00

2011-02-26T19:12:00.000-08:00

These two ducks are pooped out!

LOL...This is why:

I went out side and looked under a piece of wood and found these. Seven (7) eggs in one night. The most we have seen is two. So we decided that if they are going to lay that many eggs, we had better start eating them. So for breakfast today we had scrambled duck eggs. Mmmm not bad:)

Saturdays have been very busy for us the past month and so it is nice that they have slowed back down. The boys had a visit with the "other" grandma today. For Timmy's visit today they all came over to the house and we took the kids sledding.
That is Timmy on the back of the sled with Isaiha.
It was so much fun.
I am glad that Timmy is okay with us all hanging with him while he plays with his boys.
It's also been nice not having to go to the mall and time the visits. We can now spend more time together as a family. Maybe soon life will settle back down and we can live a normal life again.

2011-02-19T19:11:00.000-08:00

I have had such a nice weekend. I love having day's off. I know, I don't work very much but it is still nice. The best thing was that Desi and the kids came and spent the night while Tim went up camping with the scouts. It was fun just hanging out and letting the kid's run wild. (poor Jed)! I love just sitting and visiting with Desi...and the kids.

So our duck laid an egg.

I was pretty excited. Okay, so this is a first time for me. I know very little about farm life but Jed is slowly teaching me. Now Derrik on the other hand thought Meagan was pulling his leg when she told him....Derrik: Ducks don't lay eggs! LOL...I can't say much cause I didn't think they did either until I started to think about "how do we get more ducks". Okay so on the other side of that....I didn't know that a girl duck can just lay an egg and then the male sits on the egg to fertilize it. We don't have a male duck. No little Ducklings for us. We did get two more eggs this morning.

Before I forget I just have to write this down.

Me: boys will you come with me over to Ron's pre-school and help me clean?
Ron: Yes
Isaiha: No!
Ron: Please Isaiha? I really need you. My pre-school is a mess!

Phone call today-from Zoee's phone line.
Me: Hello
Briggs: Can I speak to Ron.
Me: um, yea...sure
Ron talks for a minute and then Isaiha talks. I finally get the phone back.
Me: So Briggs, where is Zoee?
Briggs: Upstairs watching TV.
Me: Where is Evva?
Briggs: Upstairs watching TV with Zoee.
Me: Where's mom?
Briggs: Down stairs working
Desi in the back ground....
Briggs, who are you talking to?

He is too cute. He called all by himself.
Yea lol-he is only 3

2011-02-06T19:30:00.000-08:00

Quick up-date on Isaiha. Can you tell he is feeling much better. He helped me make cookies tonight and enjoyed cleaning up the beater.

We stayed home again today. He is ready to get out of the house. We will see how he's feels in the morning.
Anyone know how long you keep a kid in when they have pneumonia?

I did go to Young Woman's today to hear Meagan give her lesson. She did such a good job. I am very proud of her.

The Jone's came out and visited with us. It is so much fun when they come out. The house get's crazy with the kids running but oh how I love to have them all over.

Evva lost another tooth. She is so cute. Ron keeps telling me "Evva misses me". Cracks me up. It's more like um....Ron misses Evva. I just tell him. "oh yes, she misses you"

Zoee made Grandpa a cake while they were out. Grandpa has been sick too and she wanted to make something for him. She is such a sweetheart. She recited the 13th article of faith to me tonight. I am so impressed with her. She is so bright!
It's always hard to say good byes. You would think that we live hundreds of miles away from each other but we don't get to spend much time together now that we have the kids and they have Timmy. I keep telling the girls that this will soon pass and then we can be back together again.
Once again I wonder if the "State" realizes what they are doing to families. The say in the last day's that Satan will attack the family~Mmmmm Would that be the devil in disguise? LOL....just kidding (kind of). Okay, never mind.
I am so grateful for my family. Life wouldn't be worth living without my family. They make it all worth while.

DATE NIGHT

2011-02-05T19:14:00.000-08:00

So I have to chuckle just a little to think that here we are (My baby in her 20's) and date night ends up being with Isaiha in the Doctors office. At least we were together, right!

Poor little guy. When I got home from work he kept telling me that he was tired. I took his temperature and it was 104. (Reminded me of the good old day's with Timmy). We went into a night time pediatrics out here in Tooele that will now be our pediatrician. VERY impressed! He sent us to the hospital for chest X-Rays and went back to find out that he has pneumonia. Isaiah kept saying...."NO FLU SHOT". I didn't lie to him about not getting a flu shot but he did get 2 big shots in his legs. They found that he also has Asama and sent us home with a nebulizer and a years worth of prescription for his breathing treatment. That was from 5 pm - 8

Then it was 8 pm at Wal Mart to fill perscriptions
2 am Wal Mart for tylenol-cause I forgot it the 1st time.
4 am fever finally broke and off to sleep we went.
Mmmmm anyone that knows me knows "I like my sleep". Oh well, he is worth it 10 X over again.

Today he is feeling so much better. He keep trying to convince me that he is all better and he can go out side. Hahahah...I don't think so but I am glad he is feeling better.

Jed went back to the Temple tonight. He has been off since we got the boys and has really struggled on if he should go back or not. He had decided that he would quit and stay home but he got too much flak from a few of us. We keep telling him that we need those blessings :)

Life keeps changing ~ who knows where we will be in a year from now. We will just keep our seat belts on.

2011-02-03T19:19:00.000-08:00

President Thomas S. Monson - Prophet of the Lord.

" My dear sisters, do not pray for tasks equal to your abilities, but pray for abilities equal to your tasks. Then the performance of your tasks will be no miracle, but you will be the miracle."

I always need a good thought to keep me going. Thank goodness for small miracles like these cute kids.

Our time has been filled with visits for the kids, with DCFS, phone visits, kids, school, foster classes and work. As you can tell by my blogging or lack of....I haven't had much time for anything else. One nice thing is that Timmy get's longer visits so we have been able to have family night with the Jones family as well. I have really missed my grandma day with them.

I do have to tell you, I had asked Isaiha to get his socks on for church. Look how well he minded. Yes-we made him change his socks. I thought it was pretty cute.
These 3 have become very good friends. Ok so Isaiha may have a few battle wounds on his face from Tysen but they still love each other.
I have learned a lot this past month. I really enjoyed the foster classes but I am grateful to have those out of the way. I am hoping that February will bring back a little bit of normal around our home. Jed will be going back to the Temple this Saturday. He has missed that very much. Few more weeks before we return to court again. So I will keep praying and praying and praying. Soon I hope to have my family all back together again without the state in the middle.

This to will pass......

2011-01-02T16:56:00.000-08:00

For Christmas we got the boys some new church clothes. It has been fun to dress them up nice and go to church. They look so handsome that I just had to share.
Since we have had the boy's we have not had much time with the Jone's. That has been very hard for me. I keep wishing that the courts would ask me what I think of "their" program. I sure have an opinion and I don't think they would like it. The system focuses on taring families apart. Re-Unification? Ha....It's all about power and money....okay, enough of that. That is for another day. Back to - we have not had much time to spend with the Jone's cause Timmy is living with them and the boy's can't be near him, except for 1 hour a week. I use to have grandma day every Wednesday and spend time with them. Go to the park, movie, McD's or what ever we could do. It's been over a month now and we have not had that time, so we decided (Zoee and Me) that it was time for a sleep over. We talked about playing games all night long. "ha ha...all night with me"? Any ways... We had fun!
Zoee was such a good helper with the boys and finding different games for them to play. We even played Twister. That was pretty fun.

So the all night games ended about 10:30 for me. I was pretty proud of staying up so late. I just don't function after 9.

The next day there was so much snow that we got out the sleds and Zoee pulled the kids around until we went to the park and went down the hill. Evva didn't feel well and the boy's got cold fast so we didn't stay long.
On the way to take the girls home we stopped off at McD's to have - oh yea, Ice Cream. Zoee's most favorite food. I had so much fun just being with the girls.

Briggs was home sick so we will have to have another sleep over just for him.

We went and spent time with Jone's yesterday. We took the kids to Carl Jr. (Jed is figuring out this McD or Carl Jr. play ground thing-he likes letting the kids play hard while we visit). Then we went over and Tim cut the boy's hair. Don't they look sharp! He actually has cut all the boy's hair. He does a good job. Then we went and saw "Yogi Bear". It was so fun.

Today the boys all went into new classes. Tysen is now a Sunbeam. Ron is in CTR 4 and Isaiha is in CTR 5. They were so excited.
We survived church and the boy's all had a good time.

Christmas Time

2010-12-28T06:29:00.000-08:00

I thought I would introduce you to Timmy's little family. I think this is the first time that I have had them together where I can take a picture of them all together. Shelby looks so much like Isaiha.
We had the family over for Christmas Eve. We were going to do little Christmas Eve (Norwegian tradition) but ended up Christmas Eve instead. We still tried to do a little of the Norwegian thing with the little sandwiches. Mmmmm shrimp, salmon but no reindeer or sardines. I just couldn't get my self to do that nor do I think anyone in my family would have eaten them. One tradition that Janet has shared with me was to put an almond in the rice pudding and who ever got the almond would get a present. Well we doubled the recipe and .....
everyone was a little sick of rice pudding before the almond was found. Desi cheat? lol...she was just helping her daughter cheat.

I tried to find the Norwegian shop for a gift but it has moved and I couldn't find it so they ended up with a blanket for the gift and they all shared for a minute.

After the rice pudding overload we all went into the living room to....
Visit? I just couldn't resist.

Christmas morning for us was a little different than usual. It was fun to share it with children again.
These kids have had so much fun playing with all of their toys that it has been hard to leave the house.
We did go visit the Jones family for our traditional breakfast. Tim has fixed us breakfast for the past few years. If you know Tim's cooking you know how good it is. Mmmm! Timmy had got the boys some ride on toys (that they LOVE).
We could only stay for a short time (1 hour) but it was so much fun. I love my family and any time that I get to spend with them.
On the way home Ronaldo was so tired that he passed out on us until I took this picture and then his eyes
flew open. They played so hard.
The last thing I wanted to share was our Christmas gift from our family. I LOVE IT! (and all the toys you see is just the reflection of my messy front room off of the glass). What a great way to remind us what Christmas is all about. I also go a beautiful picture of Christ with two children. Every time I look at it, I cry. I know-Shocker.
I love my Savior and love to see him with Children. Thanks kids for our gifts...and for you. I love you all so very much.

Gingerbread houses

2010-12-15T09:36:00.001-08:00

2010-12-12T19:19:00.000-08:00

Life keeps getting busier and busier. I need some good tips from you young mom's that can keep up on everything. I have forgotten what it was like to have little boys with lot's of energy. I know I said this once before...like my last blog but bed time for us is like the same time as bed time for kids and they go to bed early.

Thanksgiving was nice. We had most of the family with us. We missed having Jeddy and Ady with us but it was nice to have everyone else out here with us.

And yes, we had to drag Derrik up out of bed for our picture.

Ronaldo turned 4. We had sleep over and dinner with the family. I think we ended up celebrating for 3 days. He must be related to his uncle Derrik. We had fun!

This past weekend we got to go and watch Evva perform. She is so cute!! I am so proud of all my Grand kids if you can't tell.

We are now doing Foster Care classes which have been very interesting. Between work, our classes, therapy sessions for Isaiha, DCFS meetings and home visits and of course the dreaded court hearings we are running. Would I do it again? Yes! There is just nothing quit like family that brings joy to my life.

Once there was a snow man......

2010-11-24T14:02:00.000-08:00

We had fun trying to pack the snow to make a snow man. It just wasn't packable but we were determined. This is about as big as we could make it.
Check out the mouth. Lol...big like mine.

They were pretty cold so we didn't last to long. Maybe we can finish tomorrow when all of the cousins come and play.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

1st day with the boys....

2010-11-23T15:36:00.000-08:00

They are finally here. I have had the day off and I am so glad....the weather is awful but the boys are doing good. We have played and done laundry all day. They sure have a lot of clothes. I think I might visit DI's soon.

I sure hope that they go to bed early tonight. I just might be too old to play all day :)

DCFS came out today and passed us all off. Crazy, I didn't think we would do it. I am always amazed at how much my Father in Heaven takes care of us. I sure love him!

2010-11-16T16:48:00.000-08:00

I am so excited! Today was court. (not excited about court) It ended good. The Judge placed Ron and Isaiha in our custody. It is only temporary because they are still working on re-unification with the parents. I was so proud of Timmy today, even the Judge acknowledged that Tim has done what he has been asked to do. He only has a few hard things to complete. You know, things like getting a job so he can get a place of his own so he can support the boys etc. etc. I know he can do it. He has come a long way. He does have to move out and Desi has been so good to let him come stay with her. They are going to allow Jed and I to do the supervised visitation for both Heather and Timmy. With the Holiday's coming upon us that means that we are going to be able to have Timmy with us for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am so glad. I was so worried about Tim being alone for the holidays.

We get the boys Monday night. shewwww, we have a lot to get done before Monday. Did you read my post about only in Tooele. Well, it still looks the same along with some safety issues that we need to take care of. It just seems like there is not enough hours in the day. Now that the sun goes to bed at 5, I think I have to too. LOL...and my kids thought I was bad going to bed at 9. I am sure that things will fall into place.

Once again I have to acknowledge Heavenly Fathers hand in my life. He has blessed me so much. I am so grateful for all He does for me. I hope and pray that I can accomplish those things that I promised Him I would do.

I also have to thank all my family for the love and support they have been. My kids have been so great and supportive through all of this....and we are not done yet but THANK YOU! Heavenly Father gave me a great family too. See.....

2010-11-14T16:43:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share some amazing things that have happened in between our nightmare. I have had some amazing (spiritual) things happen to me in my life time and this one is right up there.

I have spent many hours praying for guidance. I have hit "I don't think I can take this any longer" point and opened up the scriptures. You know, you all have done this when you plop open the scriptures to get some kind of inspiration. Well that's what I did and this is what page it opened up to.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

I love how my Heavenly Father talks to me! (you would think I would spend all my time reading the scriptures). It left such a sweet feeling knowing that everything is in His hands. I am not sure the time table of this but it was close to this experiences when I had a dear friend tell me his mother was an attorney. Her specialty "family law". The next thing I knew he had her on the phone with me and we talked. I will keep her nameless but this attorney is well known. I thought even if she just made a few calls to let the state know we mean business, that would do wonders. Not only has she made calls but she turned up at DCFS for our appointment.
Now this I had to smile at. I LOVE this woman.

DCFS - you can't be in her
Attorney - oh yes I can
DCFS - you will have to leave
Attorney - I am not leaving. I have every right to be here.
DCFS - We will have to include every one's attorney if you stay.
Attorney - That's fine, I'm not leaving.
Guess what, she stayed. I loved it.

I just have not had a good experience with DCFS. They are not my friend! They have treated us like trash and now, all of a sudden, they are treating us like we are people.

I will have to say that she was heaven sent. I was at my end. I figured that we had lost those boys and now we may have a little hope. We will find out on Tuesday where they are going to place them and yes, my new best friend will be right by my side.

Do I know that my Heavenly Father loves me? YES! He has been so good to me. I am so grateful for His hand in my life. I know that He is aware of our struggles. I trust Him. I testify of Him. I love Him! I know He will lead me by my hand. I am okay with what ever happens on Tuesday because I know it is His will.

Only in Tooele

2010-11-08T18:49:00.000-08:00

So It is time to do something with our bathrooms. The sad thing is, they both need a remodel desperately. Jed asked me if I could live with out a shower for a while. Baths are okay but I prefer showers. So while he is taring down my bathroom with a shower....
He has made me a little make-shift shower. Now stop your laughing! It works :)

Yes Amber, this is the infamous bath tub for all my animals and kids. LOL....
I just had to share.

2010-11-07T16:35:00.000-08:00

We had such a nice day today. First I have to show off the bow that Desi made for Bailee. So cute!

Now on to business. Derrik and Meagan blessed Bailee today. A long time coming and so glad to see the day come. Derrik works nights and we don't get to be with him at church very much so it was so nice to have him with us and hear his testimony. I am so proud of him!

Jed's sister Jozette had made Bailee a blessing dress last year. We were going to go get her a new dress but Desi had suggested that she try on the dress Jozette had made for her.
She did and it fit! She looked so cute in her dress.
Derrik gave Bailee such a nice blessing.
It was so much fun to have family and friends come and join us for this special day. I hope you all know how much we appreciate all the love and support that you show Derrik and Meagan. Thanks to Mom, Lynda, Colleen, Julie and Dave for come in too. I know how busy Sunday's can be. We love you guys!!
It was fun to have Mom and Lynda with us. This was their ward when they lived here and so it was fun to see everyone excited to see them.
Families are the best! I am so blessed to have my family and all of the support. I am grateful for the gospel and the knowledge that one day we will be able to go home and be with my Heavenly Father. That we will be together forever. I am so blessed!!

2010-11-01T18:49:00.000-07:00

Friday night we got to go and listen to Desi and many friends from Magna sing up at the Assembly Hall at Temple Square. WOW, talk about angels singing. It was beautiful!

Sunday was the Lake Ridge 10th wards primary program. What can I say "angels" again. The program was so good and the spirit was so strong. Children are truly amazing. The kids looked so cute (as always). I always like going back home and visiting all my friends in the 10th ward. We will always have a special place in our hearts for that ward.

Aren't they precious!!
We had Shane's wife make bows to match the girls dresses. I love the bows! and the kids!!

It was such a nice day. I love Sundays - I love being with family - I love my amazing daughter! She does so much for us. She is so talented and I wish I had half her energy. Thanks Desi & Tim for a great weekend.
Who would have thought that Halloween could be such a spiritual day.

Witches Night Out

2010-10-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

Last year Desi wanted to check out Witches night out down at Gardner Village. We had so much fun that we had to do it again. It just might be one of our new traditions.
Meagan joined us this year. We had fun walking around and watching all the witches. I was surprised at how many did not dress up this year. I think it should be a requirement if you go.

We ended up leaving early enough to hit Tie Pan and then we ran over to IHop for some (get this) Hot Chocolate and Ice Cream. Okay We did have some fries too. Oh yuk, my stomach still hurts. Not sure if it was the food or the laughing.
On the way home we stopped at the gas station to get gas. Meagan ran in to use the restroom. As she was walking out of the store you should have seen the faces of the people walking out behind her. I don't think I have laughed so hard for a very long time.

A well deserved night out with my girls :) Next year we will take anyone else that would like to join in on our new tradition but you have to dress up.

Thanks Ladies!

As the Stomach Turns

2010-10-22T15:48:00.000-07:00

Okay - so yesterday as we were sitting waiting for court to begin, we all decided that we should have our own reality show. We just might get rich. No Really!

It really was Desi's idea. Desi has such a good way of breaking the tension. Thanks Desi for helping us laugh at a time I wanted to cry and you weren't even there. Go figure

As you may know....we can't talk about the case so I will just tell you that it will be continued until November 16th. Nothing has changed. My love just grows for DCFS and The Other grandma. JK

I just hope Heavenly Father will forgive me for all the mean thoughts I have had.

If anyone has a good name for our reality show - please share :)

Thank goodness for photos

2010-10-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

I am not sure that I would even remember what we have done the past little bit if it wasn't for pictures. When I downloaded my camera, there were so many cute pictures to share but I won't bore you. Only with a few.
Miss Bailee turned 1
BEFORE:

AFTER She is so cute!

We had our Hello week at Cyprus where we did the "Lawn Chair Drill Team" It can be viewed on You Tube. We Rock!
Our boys are so cute, don't you think?
My favorite time of year is General Conference and going with the family to the cabin. Right when we got there the moose was standing right by Mel's cabin. Da Moose da moose...... ;)

And here it is almost Halloween. Things are so busy in everyone's lives right now that we decided to do our traditional Dinner in a Pumpkin.
Then we carved pumpkins.
So since I'm now a pirate, I really liked this one.
But they were all so cute and we had such a fun night.
I just love being with my family. They are the best!

Quick Up-date

2010-10-14T07:13:00.001-07:00

Most of you already know that we are seeking custody of our two grandsons-Isaiha & Ron. We have spent all summer and now fall going to court and trying to do all that DCFS has asked us to do.
Last night we spend a few hours with DCFS going over safety and care for these boys if we get them. She was very nice. Actually, she is the first one to even listen to us. I guess there are a few that work for DCFS that really cares. (Maybe one) Of course our home does not meet the standards that are required but she seemed to be very positive and thought that the boys would be okay in our home. Before they would let them come we would have to do some quick fixing up.
I had to laugh that the bed room had to be so big for the boys. I thought about Jed's father who had 12 siblings in their one bedroom home. Truly-I wonder how any of us (okay, not me cause I had it way good) every lived.
I have been filled with many emotions this past 6 months wondering how in the world the 'STATE' can take away your grand kids. There are day's when I wonder if America is still free. I know many people go through tougher trials than what we are facing right now but this trial for me is an eternal trial, this is family. I use to say if it's not eternal it doesn't matter. Boy does Satan hear every word.
I have come to the conclusion that I have to turn it over to my Heavenly Father. I know that whatever happens will happen for a reason and in the best interest of those two boys. I guess sometimes that may mean that I may have to let them go. That doesn't mean that I have to quit loving those two boys.
We go back to court next Thursday the 21st. Please keep my Timmy and those two boys in your prayers. I know that prayer works and I do know that my Heavenly Father if fully aware of what we are going through at this time. Timmy is a good man! I will stand by his side though thick or thin cause that is what family does.
I am so grateful to my parents, brother & sisters who have taught me by example how important family is.

Family Home evening ideas on the Proclamation.

2010-09-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

I really have been slacking on my blog. It seems as if 'all of a sudden' I don't have time.

I will work on being more diligent for the rest of the month.

This week I am finding different family home evenings that will teach about the proclamation. Of course The Idea Door is one of the best places to go for idea's. And Sugardoodle...I love those two sites.

If you have any ideas...let me know and I will post it.

http://www.theideadoor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=311

Value Color the Proclamation.

2010-09-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

I have actually done this one. We did it for a Young Womens activity. Even if you are not in YW it is good to have one colored with the values.

http://www.lds-yw.com/family_proclamation_value_colored_ready_to_print.pdf

President Gordon B Hinckley (talk after 911)

2010-09-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

I remember 9-11 as if it was yesterday.

I remember walking into work and hearing that the first plane had flown into the twin tower...then the second one then into the Pentagon. I was away from my family. We only had 1 or 2 customers in the store. It was so quiet. We had the TV on and we were glued to the TV. I wanted to just run home and gather my family and hover over them. My family was the only thing that I worried about. How grateful I am for a living prophet who continued in faith. Giving us wise counsel. Knowing that there was still much work to be done. His wise word....

"There is no need to fear"... psalms 46:10 "Be still and Know that I am God".

Proclamation Photo Book

2010-09-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

I thought that this family photo book centered around the proclamation was a great idea. What a great way to teach your children about the proclamation. Plain and simple.

I am still waiting to hear from you if you have any cute idea's that you would like to share

http://www.legacydigitaldesign.com/?page_id=220

Family Proclamation Crafting Idea's

2010-09-09T18:47:00.000-07:00

For this week I am gathering Proclamation craft ideas to share with everyone. I am just not crafty. Now don't get me wrong....I love to craft! They just are not my idea. I copy ;) So I thought I had better give credit where credit is due. Here are some cute way's to display the proclamation.

http://theredpolkadot.blogspot.com/2008/12/familya-proclamation-to-world.html

I really love this one. I think this will be our conference weekend craft.

http://mellies-musings.blogspot.com/2009/02/little-weekend-craft.html

There are so many cute idea's.

If you have an idea that you would like to share-Please leave a comment, a blog address or email me a picture and I will share it here.

Every home should have a Family Proclamation displayed where all can read it when ever they have time. It is such a powerful statement that can guide all of us through good times and hard times. I hope each of you have taken time to ponder and read the proclamation this past week. If you haven't.....you can do it now. ;)

Good night everyone!

Warnings of The Proclamation

2010-09-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.

I don't think that it could have been said any more clearly. I can personally testify that by not following these warnings that calamity and disintegration does happen within a family. As I have gone through it and watched some of my family go through heartache-I always wonder how Heavenly Father feels as He watches His children not follow the commandments given to us. I think of our Heavenly Mother with tears in Her eyes waiting for all Her children to come home. I think our our Savior, who suffered in my behalf wondering when we will "follow him".

I know that no matter what my children do, I still and will always love them. I am so proud of who they are. There are day's that I want to just take them away and hide them in a safe place until all the heartache is over. But I can't. I just hope and pray that one day, our family will be an eternal family with that fairy tale ending....

Quick blurp...

2010-09-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to get the pink gone from outside my house that I just had to share.
Little by little, it's coming along.

Family....That's what it is all about!

2010-09-06T08:04:00.001-07:00

2010-09-05T19:08:00.000-07:00

The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.

I remember the day that I received a copy of the proclamation.

My faithful home teacher brought me over a copy. I remember sitting and reading it and having an overwhelming feeling come over me that the decisions that I had just made, were the right decisions for my family and myself.

I had always thought that you get married and live happily ever after...the end.

That is not how it always works out.

I would never wish divorce on any family unless circumstances are 'in the safety of your family'.

Because of bad decisions on my part-I was faced with many circumstances and hardships in the safety of my family and I still do face many hardships because I did not rear my children up as I should have.

The difference today is, because of a wise daughter and many loving family members and a faithful home teacher-I have the gospel in my life, I have a husband that honors his priesthood and me. He treats my (grown) children as his children. We work together for the things that are most important in life-each other and our family. I really thought that the proclamation was mine, written for me and it is.

How grateful I am for a living prophet who is so inspired by a loving Heavenly Father. I testify that our Heavenly Father does listen and hear our pleads. It is our responsibility to listen for the answers. The Proclamation was the answer to my prayer at a time that I really needed it and when I was willing to listen.

Children are an heritage of the Lord

2010-09-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. "Children are an heritage of the Lord" (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

Plan for Happiness

2010-09-02T19:50:00.000-07:00

In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.

The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God's commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.

We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God's eternal plan.

I Have Purpose....

2010-09-02T05:36:00.000-07:00

All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

The Family Proclamation To The World

2010-08-31T16:24:00.000-07:00

The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

More Cute Pictures of Shelby

2010-08-22T18:46:00.000-07:00

3 days old.

Check out all the dark hair. Mmmm must be from Jed's side ;)

Derrik and the Duck's

2010-08-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

I needed a good laugh today. Thought I would share.

2010-08-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

So my battery died for my camera and I had to try and find one. Nobody had one - so I had to order one off of the Internet. I was soooo HAPPY when it finally came. I don't like not having my camera.

When I looked at my pictures off of my camera it had all of Zoee's party pictures. We had such a good time at her party. I even got in and played on the big water slide. I will save the shock of my white body and not post that picture...lol I can hardly believe that Zoee is 7. She is such a beautiful girl. She reminds me so much of her mom.
Jed has been working hard on the house. He has very little time to spend at home but I can say that the time he does have he spends on the house.... and of course

the goats. LOL

I have been waiting to take a picture of Jed and his kids how they follow him back to get food. They crack me up. I will have to show you more of Willy jumping on his back. They keep us entertained.

Okay - laugh it up - Just wait until you guys turn 50...lol

Shelby Jaylynn

2010-08-21T17:19:00.000-07:00

Shelby Jaylynn arrived Thursday August 19. This is Tim and Angelina's little girls.
7 lbs 13 oz
19 inch long
Desi went up to the hospital and took these pictures or her. Thanks Des.....

2010-08-18T17:29:00.000-07:00

You Are Invited to a Family Proclamation Celebration...

What: A month-long blog party celebrating The Family Proclamation - with link-up parties, guest posts galore, and lots of giveaways

When: September 2010
Where: "We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice In Christ" and "Chocolate On My Cranium" and all across the blogosphere!

Why: Because we love The Family Proclamation and want to encourage you to share it, to live it, and to teach it to your family. Also because it has been around for 15 years now!

2010-08-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

I found this awesome picture online and wanted to share it. I can't even remember who's link I took it off of. If I find it, I will post it.

I know, I have been boring lately 'but' my battery died on my camera and I had to order a new one. How can I blog with out my camera? That is just unheard of. Give me a couple of days and I will up-date my blog.

2010-08-02T08:51:00.000-07:00

I received this poem from a sweet lady in our old ward the other day. I still have no idea why she would give this to me but it sure did touch my heart at a time that I really needed it.
I wanted to share it will all of you.....

Walking Home With You

Not long ago when I was home with Father every day,
He finally said, "It's time for school," and sent me on my way.
Just as I was leaving there, He said, "Please hurry home."
"I'm sending others too, so you won't be alone."
He knew that I would need a friend, So he sent you to help me home again.
And I would like to thank you for everything you do.
I'm glad I'm walking home with you.
During times I realize that I have so much to learn.
There is someone there teaching me at every turn.
And when the road is rocky and my heart starts to complain.
You are there to comfort me and take away the pain.
He knew that I would need a friend. So he sent you to help me home again.
And I will like to thank you for every thing you do.
I'm glad I'm walking home with you.

Christy Riches Hickson

2010-07-30T05:43:00.000-07:00

This past week has been very busy. Where is the summer going? Crazy to think that I will be back to school in 25 days. Not sure I can say that I have enjoyed this summer though. Who ever said "Life is not easy" knew what he was saying. I am hoping that "but worth it" comes to light. Thank goodness for family and friends.

My cute daughter is so thoughtful of everyone. She does so much and I am so proud of her. Did I say 'my daughter' Oh yea, I am proud of her....I love her tons!!

She put together a shower for Angelina. Ang didn't pass out invitations to her friends so it was just a small one. Thanks to Leslie for joining in with us.

Meagan had some fun games to play.

Desi is always finds great buys :)

She decorated up her home so cute.

Now we just wait for our little girl to arrive.

Oh did I tell you how glad the kids were to have Justin home. LOL....he got molled. It was nice to hear his report back from his mission. Justin is just a part of our family.

Also on Sunday Tim got put in as 2nd Counselor in the Young Men's. He will do such a good job. We are so proud of him!

On Monday we had another birthday BBQ, this time for Derrik. The only problem was that the rain came down :( grrr. Thanks again to Tim and Desi for 1st letting us have it at their home and 2nd for letting us all come in the house. She had it fixed up so cute.

Justin came and joined the party.

Steven's came too. He was our home teacher when we first moved into our ward "and not active" He would come over and get his ears talked off from my boys. LOL....just ask him. Amber thought she kept my husband long ... he he he We did our share with Pres. Stevens.

So so grateful for a good home teacher that continued not to give up on us. Needless to say, he is in the Stake Presidency now.

Vickers came and joined in. They are so good to my Derrik.

Derrik made a very special friend when he was in the 10th ward. It was so hard for him when Bro. Bateman moved away. He is so dear to Derrik. When we opened the door and saw him and his family, we were so excited. I will have to say - that was the best gift he could have gotten. And as you can see by this picture.....He also talked Bro. Batemans ear off too. Love you Man!

It has been a while since we have seen the Bateman's. I could not believe how (I was going to say big but that's not what I mean. . .can I say old...?) and beautiful Lindsy is. I had to take a picture. I will always remember her with her long blond hair and the cute little dresses she always wore. Isn't she so cute!

Thanks to everyone that celebrated everything with us this past week. I do love get togethers with those that we love.

Next big day......

Zoee's Birthday Party.

30 years old!

2010-07-26T06:59:00.001-07:00

I can hardly believe that he is 30. It wasn't that long ago that I wondered if he would ever make it to 1...but he did. How blessed I am to have been a part of his life this past 30 years. You know there once was a Doctor that told me...."he will never walk or talk". Not only does he walk and talk, he is an amazing son, brother, husband, father. He is such a hard worker. WalMart is very lucky to have him.

Derrik has taught me so much. I don't know anyone that is so quick to forgive and move on. His love is truly unconditional. He loves his cousins, uncles and aunts. I recall him telling each one of them that they were his "favorite" and he meant it. They have always been his cheerleaders in his life and for that I thank you!!!!

I am so proud of all of my kids but today I will focus on my miracle child for that is what he is. I thank my Heavenly Father for allowing me to raise this precious child - for I know that his life was in His hands.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DERRIK! I love you!!!!

My Brave Little Baby Girl ;)

2010-07-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

She was so brave! We had to wait for 1 hour in the waiting room. Not once but twice (2) she let me know that she needed to go potty. I took her out and she went both times. Yes - not only is she pretty, she is smart too. lol.....
I should have waited to bathe her. I forgot the smell of the burning hair.

Her little voice is very soft now that she screamed while they burned her horns. Everyone in the waiting room could hear her cry. She is doing better, she is now back with her men.

Zoee would have been very proud of her!

My Up Town Goat

2010-07-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

So we all joke about my goats being up town goats. It all started when I would run behind my goats to wipe their bums and give them baths. I just like things to be clean! lol.....

Well we recently got 2 more goats. Jezzebell and Karl. Today I have an appointment to have Jezzes horns burned off. This is very traumatic for goats when they are older. Some goats are even put under for this but Jezz is going to be brave and so I thought I would just coddle her for a while starting out with a nice bubble bath.
When I put her in the bath tub - she didn't try to jump out like our other goats. Look.....no hands. Okay the last owners of her must have given her baths before. I am not the only goat owner that likes her goats to be up towners.

Then she got a nice shampoo/conditioning and then yes...I gave her a bottle of water and let her stay in our back yard 'without those boys'. She gets to eat all she wants and let the ducks chase her all around. Next post will be the down side of this day. The Vet...and no more horns.

Now isn't she precious! ;)

2010-07-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Zoee asked Grandpa if he would help her with a float for a neighborhood primary parade. They talked about fixing up his truck and letting the kids all ride in the back but then were told "no motor vehicles allowed" in the parade. So Jed started with a little coleman trailer
added a little paint. I helped with the stars.

Added a little material and some cute little pioneers.

And went to the parade. He is so clever!

What a fun idea for the kids.

Only one problem. HEAT!

I was glad to see near the end of the parade that someone was smart enought to hand out some otter pops.

I don't think the kids even minded the heat. They had fun.

Then we went over to the church and had a BBQ with our old ward. It was so nice to see everyone and to visit. The kids really enjoyed the slip and slide.

Has anyone ever noticed that it is alway's my grandkids that end up naked? Like at McDonalds and parks. Okay so atleast they don't look for big tree's. LOL. Can't say I blame them. If I could have - I would have too.

This next week brings us more BBQ's. I am looking forward to Tims '30'th Birthday BBQ and Justins welcome home. Wow - where does the time go?

2010-07-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, so my priorities may not be in order but that's okay for now. I do know that my family comes 1st and that is most important. It's the time it takes to blog and what I should be doing right now ... like helping Jed.

Oh well - I had to tell you all about today before I forget.
Today was free day at This is the Place. I love that place, especially when it's free! We started early in the morning.
We got there before the crowd. YES!

So the kids got to ride the horses about 5 times - right in a row.

I think they had fun.

Then we went down and did some crafts. What a sport the boys were.

Of course we had to ride the train.

Tysen LOVES trains. Thomas the train that is.

It was hot today so the ride was nice.

Even Baylee got hot so we ate lots of free Popsicles.

Zoee and Evva entered in a contest. I think they should have won. They were the cutest in my book.

After eating all the Popsicles the kids were hungry so we stopped and ate.

I chose this picture of Desi and Derrik over the 'see' food...thank you very much Derrik.

It was fun just walking around and looking at all the old homes.

So can you tell what kind of rug they are laying on?

Buffalo

Then another little train ride.

and then off home we went. It was a fun day. Thanks everyone for spending the day with me. Okay now I had better go and help Jed.

2010-07-07T06:28:00.000-07:00

First things first.
I so love that Jed was excited that he made my blog that I had to post him again. Not only does he have one of the best name ever...and one of the cutest wive and children ever...he married into the best EVER family and we are so glad he did! You and Meg make me laugh. I love you guys.
Next, I have to show one accomplishment for the week. They seem to come very slow for me. Jed does okay, I'm slow.
Before - Yuk

After - better/

Now to finish off my blog for the day (I think).
Jed and I are not good when it comes to stress. We spend money on things that we really don't need but want.

1st off, we bought carpet for the spare room.
2nd...meet our new kids.

I love our goats. I want to have baby goats so I got a little girl (not fixed)

Oh wops. These two are fixed and yes they are both boys.

Isn't she so cute!

And a cute little boy (not fixed)

They both have blue eyes and they both have been bottle feed. That poor little girls with 3 boys! There names are Twix and Snickers. So I think we are going to change that real fast. I told Meagan that if they are going to name them after candy bars - make it good candy bars like Tobleron (manly name) and Dovee (the two ee's to follow the Jones tradition) 'Your welcome Zoee' ;). The people had to have them gone by Friday so we picked them up last night. Yes - we are still looking for some good names so throw them my way....

2010-07-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

Every year for the 4th the Peterson family has always gone to the Provo parade. This year the parade is on Monday and so it made it hard for some of us to go on the 5th so this year we went and watched the neighborhood parade over at Colleen and Craig's house.
Every year they have a cute 'short' parade which made many in my family happy.

Then of course we did the food thing as always. Colleen and Craig are so good to have it at there house every year. We are so glad they have a big house and property to have all of us over.

The kids have fun playing in the yard. Lot's of water to play in and tramp to jump on.

Bailee loved the water. She would cry if she wasn't playing in it.

The food was yummy - especially the Raspberries! Okay, Megan didn't eat all of them by herself. Some of us helped. ;)

Somehow the kids got water balloons and guess who was the target?

Oh yea, Jed. I will have to say that he called it on.

They all got together and tried to get him but I think he got the best of them...lol
I am sure glad he has the energy to play.

A lot of the family was not with us this year and mine had left when we pulled the family together for pictures.

Jed came back right as we finished up the pictures so he had to do one all by himself.

Thanks Colleen and Craig and all the family that came and joined in. I love being with you all. Thanks to Neena, Steve and Brad who talked about my dad and brought back so many memories of him. It seems like forever ago that he was here and I can't wait to see him again. I loved listening to Pete talk about events that happened in Iran when they lived there and talked about how lucky we are to live here in the United States where we are free. I am so grateful to be an American. To live here in Utah and close to my family. I am so blessed!!

2010-07-01T19:09:00.000-07:00

For the past 10 months I have been doing my dishes in this sink. Which is in my laundry room. Where my dishwasher has also been hooked up too.
Okay, now you know why I use mostly paper products or dine out. It's all of about 3 X 5. Okay, maybe a little bigger 4X6...
Anyway, my husband went and got me a sink. OMGosh....it's big. Meagan said it only looks big because of the one I am use to. lol

Costco had faucets on sale last month and I got one. I have been spoiled with the kind of faucet that you can pull down and spray ever since Timmy got me one for Christmas one year. Now I don't like them if you can't pull it down. Yes, I am still spoiled!

To top it off, Jed got me a disposal. I haven't had that for a while either.

AND GUESS WHAT I GOT TONIGHT?
WATER. Running water. In my kitchen

I am just a little excited if you can't tell. :)

2010-06-30T05:25:00.001-07:00

Last night when Jed got home I was telling him.

Me: Those ducks love that pool. They have been in it ever since I brought it home.

Jed: Umm, I don't think they can get out!

LOL....he was right. They were so glad when we got them out. Their pool now has steps for them to get out.

2010-06-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

I know, it's either feast or famine. I guess I just have time today and lot's of thoughts. Chloee and Rosee got a new home today. I went and bought them a swimming pool. They are loving it. I tried to get them in the pool but they ran from me. One day soon, they are going to figure out that I am not going to hurt them. Silly Ducks!

I didn't even think twice about getting the pool today until I went to WalMart and paid for the pool. For most of you - you know that Derrik drowned in a little pool like this. It has been 29 years ago this month. I 'don't think' I have bought a pool since. I may have....you know that part timers/Alzheimer. Wait, did I say 29 years ago ;0 Truly I am the only mom that is only 29 and has 'almost' 2 kids that are older then her.
It just really hit me as I went to pick it up and put it in my car. I remember it as if it were yesterday. I know - after 29 years it's time to let go! Easy said.....We just have a rule around here. NO ADULTS - NO KIDS ALLOWED. My poor grand kids. It's amazing I let them even breath.

2010-06-29T11:20:00.000-07:00

So I need to go on about camp just a little more. It helps me to remember the neat things that we did.
1st off....I love that Stake Camp is every year. Oh yea, we have already had our 1st meeting for camp 2011. Is that crazy?
All the YCL's went up on Monday and we got things ready for everyone to come on Tuesday. It also gave us a little time to get to know our YCL's. We had 21 on Stake Staff this year.
Every morning we had a morning side. All the speakers were from the stake. One of the ladies that spoke - her husband had been in an awful accident on the farm and is paralyzed. He now goes around and does motivational speaking. She was amazing herself. She talked about realizing that she didn't HAVE TO do all that she does for her husband but that it was a choice. Very powerful! And her choice was to serve him and Him.

Of course we had crafts. Tooele now has the hot dog roasters too. They loved them.

On Wednesday we had a spiritual activity that started at 9:30 PM.

Oh yea....and I didn't even turn into a pumpkin.

We had a garden of Gethsemane. They did a little narration and then Jed spoke at that one for about 2 minutes, music and then the went to the next spot where Jed had built a cross and I had made a crown of thorns. They had a narration, speaker, music and then they all went up to the resurrection. The tree was covered in Christmas lights and they did the same...narration of what took place, speaker, music and then Pres. Drubay sang "Walk Tall". The spirit was amazing. I will always remember that sweet spirit that was there.

We got up early one morning (4:30) and went on a sunrise hike. We sat and watched as light came into the mountains, we listened as the birds sang. It was incredible.

I really liked Iron Chef. The wards are given ingredients up at camp and they have to come up with a dish using all the ingredients. It is judged on taste and looks. This year they had garlic, lemon and strawberries. I got to be one of the judges and let me just tell you.....Some of those wards are good cooks. That was fun.

I almost forgot...how could I ever forget "The Moose".... It goes something like this. 'This is a repeat after me song' Da moose da moose - swimming in the water - eating his breakfast -where does he go? - He goes to sleep - he goes to sleep - he goes to sleep - This is the quiet part -"repeat in a quiet voice" Then it goes to the LOUD part- and then the Sad Part - da moose da moose -floating in the water - he eats no breakfast - where does he go? - He decompose -he decompose - he de com pose...... (LOL)

Best part of all though is going up and being around amazing youth and leaders. I have grown to love Sister Bruns who is so in tune with the spirit. Oh wait...I can't forget destiny. Our Stake President dedicated destiny, a place to go read your scriptures and each day there was a speaker. One of the days they had "When have you felt the Lords love around you". They let girls get up and share times in there lives that they felt our Saviors love. I can not believe all that our youth is going through in their lives. My life was such a fairy tale. I am so grateful to know that my Savior loves me. I know it because of the many times I have felt his presents, His arms around me, helping me with my heavy loads.

I have such a Strong testimony of girls camp. I truly believe that it is where many girls have 'life changing' moments. I am so grateful for the theme this year "The Lord is My Light". For I know that He is my light. I could not do what I do without him in my life. He is my Savior and my Redeemer and I love Him with all my heart.

Thanks girls for a great girls camp and I thank My Father in Heaven for knowing my desire to continue being with the youth and allowing me to go to camp with them.

2010-06-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

I have a little catching up to do. It's been a while since I have blogged. It just seems like there is no down time.
Fathers day was nice. Jones & Peay's came over after church for dinner. It was nice to have some of our family that day. We did miss the rest of them.
Desi is so creative. Check out the tie that she made Jed for fathers day. It has a picture of all our grand kids on it. "oh yea, she's my daughter" :)
And this is "My Man"! He is such a good dad and grandpa. Heavenly Father Loves me.

Monday we headed up to camp. So I remember girls camp and braids. This has got to top it.....

I think her hair weighed so much it put her right out. (LOL)

Sorry Pres. I had to show this picture. He was such a great sport. I am learning that you have to be to be in the Stake Presidency. The girls just love him. He was up with us all week.

Camp was amazing of course. The theme this year was "The Light Of Christ". Everything was centered around our Savior. What an amazing theme. I have felt very humble this week. I have also felt my Savior by my side during some very hard struggles that our family is going through at this time. I really needed camp this year. I really needed to learn and know more about my Savior and know that He is there for me.

It was nice to get home though. I missed my goats and ducks and of course....my grandkids. Our ducks got so big this week we had to let them out of their pen. All of our pets are now where they are suppose to be....NOT in my house.
Smell is much better....

While we were up at camp we missed Meagan's birthday so the Jone's came over last night and we had cake and ice cream. It is always nice to have family over. Thank goodness for birthdays.

Our house is coming little by little. We just seem to have different priorities - like girls camp.

I felt so blessed to be a part of this camp. It was really hard for me to leave Magna and the young women. When they called me to be an assistant camp director I felt like Heavenly Father really knew my desires of my heart. It has helped me to let go a little of 'Magna'. Now don't get me wrong, I will always be attached to my friends and memories there but I know that we are doing what we are suppose to be doing.

5 Cinemas (The Reel) PTA Summer Movies

2010-06-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

Times are 11:30 & 1:30
Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays

June 22-24 Lassie
June 29-July 1 Monsters vs Aliens
July 6-8 Over the Hedge
July 13-15 School of Rock
July 20-22 The Prince of Egypt
July 27-29 Madagascar 2
August 3-5 Lemony Snicket
August 10-12 Bee Movie

2010-06-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

Grandma day was today and we had fun. We had a sleep over and then we had to do the chores - bath the ducks, clean out their bed, feed the goats, make the bed and clean up the sleeping bags. I think I ended up telling the kids the story of the Hen that had to do it all. You remember the story where she ends up eating the bread all by herself. LOL....now I know why my mom told me that story.
We went to the library for reading time over here in Tooele. The reader was darling. The kids loved it! Of course we had to do the McDonald's things too. Zoee has missed out on that all year because of school. When we got home I told the kids that they needed to take a nap so that they wouldn't be ornery for the birthday party that they were going to tonight.
Meagan came up and helped me with camp handouts. We put Bailee in the high chair and she ate marshmallows. Check out her chin. She had a little beard growing. It reminded me of Grandma Goat. lol....she likes marshmallows!
Little miss Zoee fixed her goats a bed to sleep in.

She even put a little note on it. She is so stinkin cute!

Billy got all kinds of attention today. Evva loved carrying him around. She even gave him a ride in the wheelbarrow.

I always feel bad sending the kids home after a day at our house. I am sure they smell like they were on a farm - at least I know that they had fun.

2010-06-16T04:50:00.000-07:00

Okay all you girls camp specialists. I am looking for a short but spiritual activity for FHE at girls camp. If you have any great idea's...Please pass it on to me.

2010-06-15T06:10:00.000-07:00

Are any of you having a hard time reading my blog? Okay, not because I am boring LOL...but because of not being able to see the wording. Please let me know....Thanks!

Facts about ducks

2010-06-14T17:43:00.000-07:00

Ducks are birds. duhhh

Facts:
1. Females are known as duck and males as drake, babies are called ducklings. And they stink!
2. They feed on grasses, aquatic plants, fish, insects, small amphibians, worms, and small
molluscs and their own poop. and they stink!
3. Ducks are hunted for food. Ummm YUK not my girls! But they still stink!
4. Ducks have no blood vessels or nerves in their feet, so they can't feel cold even in frigid water. Thank goodness they take baths!
5. Ducks are related to geese and swans. The duck is the smallest of them all and have shorter necks and wings and a stout body. And they all stink!
6. Ducks can live from 2-12 years, depending on the species. And of course their owners.
7. Ducks have webbed feet, which act like paddles.
8. Ducks are economical as they provide us with eggs, meat and feathers. What ever!
9. Their feathers are waterproof. There is a special gland that produces oil near the tail that spreads and covers the outer coat of feathers. Beneath this waterproof layer are fluffy and soft feathers to keep the duck warm.
10. The weight of adult drake (the male) is 9 lbs and of adult duck (the female) is 8 lbs.
11. They adapt very easily to different climates, and are found throughout the United States. Then why are they still in my house?
Okay, we kind of like them :)

12 years today

2010-06-12T12:42:00.000-07:00

It was 12 years ago today that we were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. How grateful I am for him. He is such a good husband, father, grandfather, farmer, (can't forget our farm animals too) and friend. All I can say is "I must have done something right to get such a great man"!
Yesterday we met with Susan & Mark & Janet & Phil to celebrate all of our wedding anniversary together. We went and did a session at the Draper temple and then went out to lunch. I could not think of a better way to spend our day. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
Once again I am so blessed with such an awesome family.

Tomorrow I get to teach about my Savior and I am feeling very humble for my life and all that He has done for me. I am grateful to my husband for His love for our Savior and the example that Jed is to me and our children. He is right now serving in the Temple where I know that he should be and thinking that I just might go join him tonight so that we can be together where we began our life together just 12 years ago today.

2010-06-06T20:27:00.000-07:00

This weekend was Zoee's weekend to come and spend with me. We always have fun just hanging out. She is such a big help around the house and with the farm animals.
She asked if she could take the ducks for show and teach tomorrow. So of course we had to give them a bath so that they would be clean for her class.

Well, I think the ducks liked the bath until they saw the camera and then they just froz up. They must be modest duck, ya think?

Thanks Zoee for a fun weekend!

WARNING.....

2010-06-05T19:09:00.000-07:00

DO NOT BUY BOUNCE DRYER BARS....... I just bought it and did not read any reviews before hand. The first load of laundry was our whites. Big BIG mistake. The are all yellow now. Yellow pants, garments, shirt. And then to top it off, I called the phone number on the back 1-800-5-bounce. The lady on the phone said "We don't take calls for bounce". Okay, do ya think that it might be because of all the problems they are having?

Okay, take a deep breath.
Think new white pants, shirt, garments :)
I think I might be okay.
Shewwwww thanks for listening.

2010-06-04T05:12:00.000-07:00

Old door
New door. I love it!

My hutch almost done and I am getting ready to paint my new cupboards. Finally I feel like things are coming together. Now that school is almost out...today :) I can really work on the house. That will be so nice.

Graduation was yesterday. I didn't think I would get emotional. Okay-never mind. I should have known better. It started out before I even left the house. Oh my Gosh.....I am really going to miss my good friends. I will still have life savers for you in my office if you ever want to come back and visit.

Graduating class of 2010 WOW!

I miss you Doris. You know we should be down on the floor with everyone. It's just not the same.

I am so proud of all those that graduated. Hard, but great year.

Until we meet again.......

2010-06-02T18:04:00.000-07:00

I have so much to catch up on I don't know where to start. Thank goodness for pictures to remind me what to blog about. I will start with our long weekend at the cabin. I don't even have to tell you how much fun it was. I just knew that I didn't want to come home yet. It's been a while since we have gone to the cabin when it hasn't been conference weekend. I keep going to turn on the TV thinking it would be on. We did all go to church in Park City on Sunday. The kid's thought that was way nice cause we went to the visitors meeting and they didn't have any classes after.
We hit the out let stores (of course) so that they could all get clothes for Sunday. Meagan paid all of $3 for that little dress that Bailee is wearing. Her and Desi matched.

The kids love to fish up at the pond but this time - no fish. I think the water was still to cold and they were all still sleeping.

Yes, we took the boys with us. And yes, we now have a black and brown one. He is a little more wild than our other boys so we had to put him in a harness. I tried to find one with diamonds and rubies but then I remembered he was a boy and stuck with blue. Billy, he just follows us where ever we go. He is such a good kid.

The kids had fun playing with grandpa. Okay, Grandpa had fun with the kids :)

When Zoee was real young, I would hold her up to this deer and she would cry. I know - I am mean.

But I had to show it off to Bailee too. He little body would stiffen up. She is now initiated into the cabin.

And here are the goats again. Okay I know they are spoiled but Billy had pneumonia and we had to give him a shot twice a day. We have already lost 2 little goats, we are not going to lose any more. That has been heart wrenching.

Back at home. This is what we found coming home from work. This is our Willy. He now has Billy doing the same thing. They both sit on top of the BBQ and yell.
Are poor neighbors!

Well to end this blog...cause I really need to go get something done, here is my Billy walking across our house. See how stinkin cute they are!

The Farm is being put on hold

2010-05-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

I guess the Ducks did him in. No more animals until the house is put together. tee hee hee. So look what I got today. OMG I'm not going to know how to feel.

All in a day at the Barn Yard....

2010-05-19T18:10:00.000-07:00

We are all doing better this week. I think I finally kicked that stickin cold. Yeah!! Last week was not good.

Tysen is having fun with the goats. He likes to chase them all around. Just look at those big blue innocent eyes.

Jed has been working hard out side in the yard getting our garden all in that our house has been left undone. Poor guy, he doesn't have much rest at all. But....we finally painted primer on one of our walls this week. I am so excited... (okay, it was Jed. It just sounds so much better when I say we)
A couple of new additions were added to our family today also. They are so cute. Ducks. and yes, they have to be in the house for the next 6 weeks. Desi said she was going to make me a big sign for my house that say's "Richardson's Barn". Yep, that's us.

I was also thinking about asking Chuck if she could knit me some booties for my boys. Desi is giving me such a bad time about not letting them in the house with shoes on. I guess the boys are going to have to ware botties.

Just don't tell Jed that I posted this picture of him giving our boys a bath. He would kill me! I don't see anything wrong with keeping our boys clean.

Love you Jed!

2010-05-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

Looking for a cute night time story and handout for girls camp. Any good suggestions?

2010-05-12T09:39:00.000-07:00

I have a little to catch up on but I have some time right now to do it. I guess the last week stress caught up with me. I am home sick. YUK!!
My boys are doing good. We decided to call them Buster and Billy. I thought Billy and Sue would be good cause everyone thinks that Buster is a girl. "he whines a lot and wants to be held most of the time". They are getting big now. To big for the play pen so pray for sun.
We finally did our 5K. Not very many people showed up but people were very generous. Thank you so much to family and friends that came out to run. Not sure I would get up at 5 am and drive an hour and pay to run, so thank you so much!

The club memebers came and helped out tons along with Desi. She is amazing.

Jamal Tongo came in first place (not a shocker) he's the one in the yellow shorts and gray-blue hoody. He did it in 10 minutes. He is an amazing kid. KSL did a feature on him last year. If you ever have a minute you should look it up. He has an amazing story and wants to become a Doctor.

Bishop came in 2nd. Good job Bishop!

After the run we had a few things that we raffled off. We felt like the people that were there were the people that have helped out the Sullivans the most and we wanted to reward them in some way. (and I won't tell you that it wasn't a true 5K. I learned alot through this project)

All in all it turned out very good. Even though we had no bathrooms. Long story.

Now for the up-date on the transplant and my stress. Yesterday the 11th was a very trying day. Evva had her Echo. Thank goodness that everything looked good. YEAH!!!! I stress every year about her. I told her to take a pretty picture for them and she did. Good job Evva. I had found a lump and went in for an ultra-sound to find out it's just a sist. YEAH!!!! Brandan went in for his transplant to find out the his sisters kidney was not healthy enough to use. Not sure of all the details but that means he is back on the list for a kidney. My heart goes out to the Sullivans. I know that it's a good thing they found it before the transplant (thank goodness) I was just waiting to hear that Brandan and Amber had a new chance on life.

I will keep praying that a kidney will come along very soon. I think he is 0- blood. Very rare. I am very thankful that they found it before. It could have been so much worse. We will keep raising money and putting it in his account for when that time comes. Maybe that's why it didn't go through....I didn't make the money that I had thought. jk...

Kimmy is still taking the family pictures this Saturday in Magna for anyone still interested. $20 will get you a free 8X10 and the CD with all photo copy rights. All the money will go to Brandan's family. Thanks Kimmy!!

You know we still have such good people here. Thank you to all that have helped in any way!!

A day in the life of 2 spoiled boys.....

2010-05-03T20:06:00.000-07:00

Okay so these boys are in our house because it is to cold out side for them. I thought that our house was warm to hot. Well I guess not because, I was walking out of the back bedroom and going into the TV room when my boys came up missing. It was quiet and I couldn't figure out where they had gone.
Let me go back up just a little. I have no idea where the people that lived in this home before the Richardson's - got there ideas for modeling homes but.....someone put the vent from the dryer to underneath the cabinet in the bathroom. I know..don't ask me. I have no idea. Jed said they were just trying to keep their pipes from freezing. What ever....Okay, back to the story.
Guess where I found them?

They were cold and found some heat from the dryer under the cabnet in the bathroom.

"it's foggy because of the hot air."
They loved it under there. And yes, they got warm, wanted some food and then went to sleep like good little boys.

Today was a nice day and we let them out to play.

They had so much fun. I put the camera away too fast cause after playing, they were walking out on the ledge of the house. Oh my, I do have my hand full.

2010-04-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

I have to first show you that Evva got her hard cast on yesterday. What a trooper she is. She loves the colors pink and purple so she chose a pink cast and then her parents got her a purple marker so people could write on it. We were all signing her cast before she left and so Briggs thought that was cool. He brought me up a marker and showed me his arm. LOL....I had to tell him "no Briggs, Grandma can't write on your arm.
Okay...now for the next part. I know Desi....I got goats because they are outside pets. I know, that's where they should be. I don't like pets indoors. But you have to hear me out first before you start laughing at me.

You all know that we had an awful Monday with our black lamb dieing. It was a very hard day for both Jed and me. For family night we went up and got one more goat. (I didn't want the other one to die from a broken heart..or me). The new little boy was doing really good. He took to the bottle and was eating really well.
Today I came home late to find Jed, Meagan and Derrik all around my littlest boy goat. The first one we got. He had become very sick and couldn't walk. Both Jed and I had said we were done if we lost one more. It's just too hard on the heart. (I know, we are softies). He looked like the little girl looked before she died. Jed called the Vet and the Vet told Jed all of the symptom that we were seeing. The Vet told us to get him on a heating pad and feed him his milk with some corn syrup in it or try some pedialite. I ran as fast as I could to the first store I came to, grabbed the corn syrup and pedialite and ran home. I fixed a bottle of pedialite with some corn syrup. It didn't take long and he was feeling better again. I guess they go into like a hyperglycemia state when they get cold. Yes cold.....so the Vet told Jed that we needed to keep them inside the house for the night or he won't make it. So yes....They are sleeping inside tonight in the playpen.

Yes, they are loving it! Okay, you can now laugh at us.
We are now going to go to bed. Jed just finished covering them up for the night.

RIP

2010-04-26T04:17:00.000-07:00

Are little girl goat passed away this morning in Jed's arms. It was very sad. The little boy is out side crying. He looked over her like he was the mom. When I went out early this morning he was standing over her. She just wouldn't eat. She was looking pretty skinny yesterday and we kind of had an idea she wouldn't make it. We hoped that she would. We are going to try and get another one if Becky still has any left. I am afraid that the little boy will die from a broken heart if we don't do something.
Now I remember why I didn't want any pets!

Bad News First

2010-04-24T18:38:00.000-07:00

So to look at this picture is nothing compared to what it looks like today. This poor little girl has got the blackest eye. When I was watching her, she went into the garage and stood up on a chair to get a leash down for her dog. Well the chair broke and she feel down 3 cement stairs and hit her head. Oh yea....I freaked out. It took me a minute to collect myself and then to make that phone call to her mom. I just told Desi that she just got hurt and she better come home. I tried to be calm, mmmm not sure if I was. You will have to ask Des.

I had asked her if anything else hurt and she said no. Well now she not only has a black eye but fractured her wrist and she is now in a cast.
Now for some good news-I think?

Jed and I have been wanting to get a bum Lamb for the kids to play with while they were young and then we were going to ship them off when they got big. Well I finally found some lambs but they were clear down in Fountain Green. By the time we decided we were going to get them I found an ad for dwarf goats. I thought..."MMMmmmm they could eat the grass down in the pasture and the kids could still play with them". So Jed and I grabbed Evva and Briggs and took a trip up to Clinton to get 'a' goat.

We were only going to get one but if you bought 2 then it was cheaper, besides they were so stinkin cute!

The first day home they would not eat. I was getting pretty worried about them. I called the lady we bought them from and she asked about the nipples we had bought. We had gone to IFA and got some big black ones. She suggested getting a baby bottle.

So we ran to the store and got a couple of bottles and today they finally eat. The black one is a girl and the tan one is a boy. "FIXED" . I think the girl was the runt. She was the smallest one of the bunch. She was lookin pretty skinny today but I think she will start to fatten up now that she is eating.

When I got home tonight from a baptism, they were so excited to see me. They both climbed on me but the boy had to get right up in my face and lick it. Not sure but I am thinking they are thinking I am their mom.

They are pretty cute!

2010-04-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

The other night we went and crashed the Magna Central Stakes Temple night-again. Thanks guys! That will always be our home. It was so much fun. After the adult meeting we went and did sealings. I don't know why but when ever I go do sealings and or baptisms I get a little giddy. We were waiting up stairs for Jed and he didn't come. I joked about how I am always waiting for him...."but believe me, the wait is so well worth it"!!!! until I realized that maybe he didn't know that we were doing sealings. Yep......he had been waiting for me down stairs in the chapel to do an endowment session.
We finally meet up and all was well. 'shewwww' I just kept thinking about how lucky I am that he is so patient with me. He is such a good man. I am not sure why I was so blessed to have someone like him come into my life and take on all of my stuff but I am sure glad I am. I couldn't have asked for a better husband, friend, father, granddad than him. I am so glad that we get to grow old together! "but he is the older one" lol okay only by a few months.

This is a picture of his family at a family birthday/get together we just had. From oldest to youngest. Happy Birthday Jed...and mom and Jessica...thanks Jessica for putting this all together. You are amazing - just like your brother!

5K Walk/Run

2010-04-09T05:16:00.000-07:00

We really need everyone support on this 5K. If it is at all possible for any of you to participate in this run, please please do. It is for a really good cause! We only have 4 people signed up as of yesterday and we really need a lot more.

To register, click on this link:

http://webstores.activenetwork.com/school-software/cyprus_high_school_o/index.php?l=product_detail&p=395

100% or the money will be donated directly to the family.

I am challenging any and all Peterson Family members to come join and if you do....
This is my Dads birthday. I will provide cake and ice cream/ or some kind of breakfast for any of you after the 5K to celebrate his birthday.

Happy Birthday Bubba...

2010-04-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe that this little guy is going to be 2. We have had so much fun with him. It's hard to believe that he has only been around for the past 2 years. Check it out - already texting! The other night we took him with us to a family party. He had so much fun! He loved hanging out with Grandpa and Adrianne but he always made sure that I knew he loved me.

He was running across the gym floor and both Jed and I had our arms stretched out for him. We didn't know who he was going to run to, Grandpa or me. At that last second he ran into Grandpas arms, gave him a hug and quickly jumped into my arms. That little tease!

I am excited to spend his birthday with him.

2010-04-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

Conference was great! I think my favorite talk (besides all of them) was the one "Grandpa, are you there"?
They were all very good and I love going up to the cabin to enjoy that time with the family. There was so much snow up there. Someone was kind enough to plow the drive way for us so - with chains - Jed was able to drive right up to the cabin.

We had bought sleds last year and then ended up at the hotel with new swimming suits instead. So this year we had to take our sleds up to the cabin along with some rented sleds.
We went to "Toy It Up" and got 2 snowmobiles for Friday. We only did 24 hours. It is all a little pricey but it was worth it. They all had so much fun.

On Sunday for Easter we did a pinata.

They each got a turn but it was Bubba

That got the last swing.

And then all the candy!!

While the boys went to Priesthood, Desi and I did our traditional shopping up in Park City. We missed you Bennett's!! The kids all got new outfits and then we went to Cafe Rio for dinner. I love spending the time with my family but why does the time go so stinkin fast? I love that Tim and Desi don't mind hanging out with us.

I am so blessed to have my family. We really missed those that didn't come with us this time. Maybe next time....Next time, Justin will be home from his mission. Talk about time flying.

Hope you all had a Happy Easter!

2010-03-31T14:21:00.000-07:00

Weeks are going faster and faster. I can hardly believe that we are in our last term at school. It makes me sad to think about going to graduation with out my friend Doris. We always had so much fun at graduation. We would sit down on the floor with the graduates and cheer them on. It just wont be the same with out her there.
This last week we had a ice cream social with the girls basketball team. They were going to do it down in the Cafeteria but I didn't like that idea. YUK! So I talked them into doing it up in the library. I really didn't think that we would have such a good turn out. Maybe we should have had it in the cafeteria. Oh well - it's done!
I got to decorate the tables. The best investment I ever made was in those cute lanterns. I think they have been worth every penny. The funny thing is, I still had them in my car when I went to a Relief Society meeting and we were talking about decorations and I ran out and grabbed one to show them.
We will be using them once again for our RS night.
I gave all the Varsity girls their picture in a frame. One of the players took all the pictures that I had taken over the season and put them together with some music so that we could watch them while they ate ice cream. Coach Adams gave out the awards. It was short and sweet.

This is Coach Anderson. We were all trying to fix her up until she finally admitted she had a boyfriend. Well, about 2 weeks ago he proposed to her. He is one lucky guy!! She is such a good lady.

When I told Zoee that I was going to go with the basketball girls she said "I think I should go too, I was their number 1 best cheer leader". When I told Adams about that he said "go get her". She should be there. I think she had fun. She wanted me to take a picture of her and her 'aunt' Mahina. I really had fun working with these girls and watching the team pull together. I don't know what it is but there is just something about working with young women this age.....

I guess the Lord thinks I have something for them too because...I just got called to be the assistant Stake Camp Director for out stake. YEAY!
I love Girls Camp!!

Okay so it won't be as good as the Magna Central Girls "I will always love you girls"! But it's a new chapter to something that I love. I am so excited. I think I shocked the Stake President with my reaction. I just couldn't contain myself. I really thought that we were being called in to speak at stake conference...

So we have lived out here for 6 months. For 5 of those months I was sliding along with no calling. Okay I did have one, visiting teaching. Way too much time on my hands. In this past month I have received 3 callings. Relief Society board, Relief Society Teacher and now camp. When I was called in for the 2nd calling, I said to the 1st counselor "so how many callings does everyone get out her"?

Really I was just joking.

I really think that Heavenly Father was letting me finish up with the basketball season. What perfect timing.

Now spring break....
I am so ready. I went and picked up Briggs and Evva last night and we had a sleep over. Yes, we got stuck in that parking lot on 80th because of the stinkin fire. The kids were such troopers. I was almost in tears waiting for them to let us drive through. Miss Evva said a prayer and with in 5 minutes they let us go. All in all we were stuck for about 1 1/2 hours. It was her prayer that helped (or helped me) through that.

Tysen came up for the cousin bath time.

They have so much fun together. I am looking forward to these days off and being with my family. I love Conference weekend and Easter (or the Easter candy). I am excited to listen to our Prophet and hear what he has to tell me.

Next to the 4th of July, Conference weekend is my favorite.

One last thing.....I am so excited for Timmy and Ang. IT'S A GIRL!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

Yard Sale......

2010-03-27T17:50:00.000-07:00

So Jed was out with the boy scouts from the 10th ward on an overnighter last night which means..."I can't sleep". Maybe that was a good thing though. I got up at 3:30, yes a.m. and got ready to go to the yard sale. When I walked out of the house it was snowing. I wasn't going to let that stinkin snow get to me. I was in it rain or snow. Thank goodness when I got out of Toolee - no snow. I'm not sure how happy Tim Jones was to see me at 5:45 with hot chocolate in my hands and ready to go but I was ready to go. (So glad you love me). They dropped me off up at the school and I started to set up the yard sale. We had 2 people stop before we were set up. It was still dark out side. The one lady was from Sandy and said she had read it in the news paper. She got a killer deal on some porcelain dolls cause I had no clue how much to charge her. It was still dark and she made the comment " I knew I should have brought my flash light". LOL I guess the early risers really know how to shop these yard sales. The other shopper just donated money.
Can I just tell you how overwhelming it was to see people come and donate stuff and $$. When people found out what the cause was, they didn't want their change back.

Tim's work donated about $2,000 worth of tools for this.

We had clothes and more clothes....

I was totally blown away....I cried! yep me ;) I love watching the community pull together.

One time I went up to a group of ladies and started to tell them why we were doing the yard sale and the one girl turned and said "I know, I am the donor". Yep....I cried again! Maybe I needed more sleep but I will have to say I am humbled. Amber was right by my side the whole day helping. She is amazing! Amber, I sure hope you know what a great example you are to me. I am not so sure I would be as strong as you so I guess Jed had better just stay healthy!

Some of the things that were donated were new. Some people had hand made. And then the home made bread that I wish I would have hid before it was sold :(

You know we didn't see one 8 track. I was really surprised at how much was gone by 1.

I just want to thank everyone that was there and helped with this. If I started to name names I am afraid that I would forget someone "yea-I am quit forgetful". You know who you are. Thank you thank you thank you. You are all truly amazing. I pray that you will always be taken care of.

I do need to acknowledge Desi. You are amazing Des! Thank you and Tim for all the time and effort that you put into this. I love you tons.

5K Registration

2010-03-25T04:50:00.000-07:00

For those of you that are willing to walk or run or just donate to the cause...Here is a link that you can register and pay.

http://webstores.activenetwork.com/school-software/cyprus_high_school_o/index.php?l=product_detail&p=395

For those of you that would just like to come shop our yard sale.
7 am Saturday
Pleasant green Elementary School in Magna.
It's approximately
8300 West 2700 South.
I am sure that you will be able to follow the signs.

Please come out and help in our cause.

Yard Sale Fundraiser

2010-03-19T04:28:00.001-07:00

If you are all in the mood for spring cleaning and find some treasures that you would like to donate to our fundraiser, let me know. I will even come pick them up.
If you are wanting to find some treasures....

Come to our Yard Sale:
Saturday March 27
Pleasant Green Elementary School
(2700 south 8100 West)
Come early to see all the good stuff. There might even be some baked goods for sale.

See you all there.

2010-03-16T17:02:00.000-07:00

This little boy is having a birthday this week so we got together over at Desi's house for a party. I can hardly believe that he is almost 3. Boy how time goes. It was fun to see him and Bailee. It's been way too long.
Meagan brought Ice Cream and Cake. It was yummy!

I was starving so we brought the pizza. "quick and easy"

Tysen opened up his presents and all the kids played.

So do you think that this little girl just might have her dad wrapped around her little finger? Ummm, YEP!

Zoee is going to be such a good baby-sitter!

Check out those blue eyes.

Briggs kind of liked her too.

It is always fun to be with family. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Tysen.

Maybe Next Week...

2010-03-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

I am really hoping that next week will be a better week. I know -I have nothing to complain about but...last week was just not my week. I think that every time I think "we just might get a head enough to buy some cupboards..." Something happens like needing tires or car breaks down, So I have taken that out of my thought proses from here forward. I am going back to " I will never". That seems to work out better for me. Like back in the day when "I will never live in Magna" I will never get married again". lol!

Friday was Temple night. We were going to go early so that we could be home at a reasonable time. We went over to Tim and Desi's a little early and just visited. As we were loading up in the car I asked them all...."Do you all have your recommends"? And then a little voice in the back of my head said "Do you know you have yours"? I didn't. They said, "you can call your Bishop or your stake president". I haven't been in our ward long enough for them to even know that I have a recommend. You know - that's an awful feeling! So we all took a nice long trip out to Tooele to pick up my recommend. Early night was not so early after all. Thanks guys for making sure I came with. I even thought about dropping them off and then going back and picking them up from the Temple. Okay, I'm selfish! I wanted to go too.
Saturday I decided I was not going to stay home. Jed had work and then the Temple. Somehow I talked Derrik into going in to Salt Lake to do some shopping. He may never want to go with me again. He works all night and had very little sleep. So we jumped in the car and drove 35 miles an hour through the snow storm so that I could do some shopping. Everything was great until we went out to the car and tried to start it. It wouldn't start. I knew it wasn't the battery. I could tell it was something to do with the fuel pump. What was I going to do? Jed was at the Temple. Desi was at the Library with Jen and Tim was at school. I had to go walk for a minute to pull my thoughts together. It's been a long time since I have had car problems where I needed to call someone to come help me. So who could I call? Who did I use to call? JED. It has always been Jed. Even back in the days we were not married and my x was too busy to come help me - I called Jed. He has always been there to help me. Thank goodness I have the temple phone number memorized. I called the Temple and within 5 minutes Jed called me back and came to my rescue again. MY KNIGHT! All dressed up in a suit. Then Desi and Jen came and then Tim came and the car got towed away. What a day!

Sunday...I wanted to take some pictures and went to find my camera. MY CAMERA! It's in my car.
Okay so there are some things that give me high anxiety. No temple recommend, No car, NO CAMERA. Thank goodness for BEJEWELED and my blood pressure medicine. My stress relievers. (jk)..kind of. It's the weekend so I can't really do anything until tomorrow. So here's to next week. I may 'never' have a good week.

Sorry no pictures. Just imagine 7" of fresh snow. That's what we got out here.

2010-03-09T16:50:00.000-08:00

5K / Neighborhood yard Sale

Brandan Sullivan has been suffering with End Stage Renal Failure (Kidney Failure), since March 2000. Because of the dialysis treatments that he has had to do, Brandan has also developed Congestive Heart Failure. Recently, Brandan has been approved to have a kidney transplant. A family member has come forward to be the kidney donor for him.

In order to restore Brandan's health so that he can resume a somewhat normal life¬style, this kidney transplant is necessary. With this transplant comes a big expense. Even with insurance, the costs are extremely high.•
Co-Payment for surgery - $2,300.00•
Necessary drugs following surgery - $4,000.00•
20% Deductible Fee for hospital - $2,238.00(This deductible does not include doctors or anesthesiologist)
These are only some of the costs that we are currently aware of. Beside the medical expenses, there will also be cost of living expenses. This is a huge financial burden that looks impossible for them to meet right now.Brandan will be in the hospital for approximately 7-15 days, and recovery will be an additional 6-8 weeks before he will be able to return to work. This will all take place if there are no complications.

I am hoping that we can get as many people together as possible to help out this cute little family. I have scheduled a
neighborhood yard sale for March 27th and a
5K is also being put together for May 8th.

There is also an account set up at the Cyprus Credit Union for those who would just like to donate money.

Donation Account # 221873 - Brandan Sullivan

Please put these dates on your calendars. Anyone wanting to help please let me know. Desi will be setting up a website for them over the next few days so we can keep in touch and I can keep everyone updated.

To our dear friend Amber....I hope and pray that you don't get mad at us for doing this. You have been such a great example to me and have served my family for many years now. We have grown to love you and your family and pray that a miracle happens all the way around. It is now our turn to serve you....so in "Amber's" terms: "So just deal with it" he he And know that you are loved.

Random Thoughts:

2010-03-06T15:34:00.000-08:00

Some of you have wondered what it meant by "Owner of The Pit Bull" under Mahinas picture. Those of you who may know her will totally understand but for those of you who don't ... this girl is very feisty. When she was a sophomore I was shocked to hear that she had been in a fight. "I know, I am very naive". She can be tough because she has had to be all of her life.
Oh, did I say long story short?
Not sure if that will happen!
During basketball some girls from the other team got on her and it took everything she had not to turn and punch them - oh yea, the whole team. "I was so proud that she kept her cool"!!!!
Well after that, everyone started to call her the pit bull - and it stuck. She printed me out a sign that said "Owner of the Pit Bull". She had said she couldn't punch them because she saw Tina and my face.
Anyways.........
She found me on facebook yesterday and I had accepted her. She left a message on my wall but when I clicked on it to get the message it said "Message not Available".
Oh my gosh - I typed in her name and there was no Mahina there. I was a little worried so I put on my status "Where did my Mahina go"?
lol, if you ever want to know where someone is, just post it on facebook.
Thanks to all of my good friends that tracked her down and made her call me to check in. Thanks you for not calling me at midnight though, your sister and brother can explain why.

Next:
Yesterday as Jed was leaving work, he went out to find that he had a flat tire. YUK! His tires are bald and we knew that it would be happening soon. It's just that stinkin $$ thing. So we had to "suck it up" (I will only say that once, thanks Des) and pay for 2 new tires. Well as we were finishing up at the desk paying for the tires, the guy that changed the tire came in with eyes as big as golf balls. He said "Man - that was so weird! As I was backing your truck up all of a sudden there were these lights flashing. I didn't know what the heck until I looked in your back seat and saw that disco ball".
LOL

We had lent it to the Magna Central Stake for their dance and he had never taken in out of his truck.
Okay, I guess you had to be there. It was pretty funny if I don't say so myself.

Now my last random thought for today:
I had the opportunity to give a Book of Mormon away this past week. For all of you that know me, I cry at the drop of a hat. These girls don't really know me like that. I am the one that yell at them all in the halls and tells them to get to class. I am sure I must have shocked the poor girl. Yes I cried as I testified of the Book of Mormon and asked her if she would read it. This girl has class. Her response was "I will read it because you guys gave it to me and I love you guys". I have never given away a bom before and wasn't quit sure how receptive someone would be so the next day I pulled her aside and asked her to tell me the truth, how she felt.

Her response touched my heart.
"I know that you care about me and that is why you would give the book to me. I was not offended at all. I believe in religion and it's good".
So for anyone out there that is afraid to share something that you believe in - Don't be!
Do I think she will read it?
Yes I do because I believe that she cares about me too.

2010-03-04T16:45:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to blog for no reason at all. I don't have cute pictures to blog about just a wonderful daughter that has so much energy that it makes me tired. jk....I love it! She seems to motivate me when my motor is on idle.

We have some very close friends that are going through some trials right now. I wish that we had $$. That just seems to be one problem everywhere. My daughter has come up with some great ideas to help raise some money for this family but we need everyone to help.

1st: Garage Sale
This will take place on March 27th (location will be announced soon)
We would like 100% of the money raised from this to go straight to the family. If you have anything that you would like to donate (please no 8 track tapes, etc) that may bring in some money, let us know. If you feel ambitious and would like to bake cookies to sale - please know that I may eat at least one before selling them. I just want to make sure they aren't poisoned. tee hee.

2nd: 5 K
I have found someone that will help with shirts. We will have to pay for them but he will give us a good deal so that we can make money.
We are thinking around the end of April.
If you are ambitious and want to help out, let Desi or me know.
We will need flyer's made and passed out.
Maybe even some goodies made to have there to sell.
I would love to see hundreds of people there.

3rd: $$
If anyone would just like to donate money :)

I am sure you are wondering for what? So long story short.....
We have a close friend who's husband has been on dialysis for a very long time. He has the chance to get a kidney but in order for them to do it - -oh yea...$$
This family has always taken care of those around them. They have blessed my family many times. Always thinking of others. I have always wondered how she can stay so happy. What a great example she has been to me. I just pray that a miracle will happen...just for them!

Now back to my daughter that is so awesome....Thank you for being you and having a big heart. You have such a big purpose here and I am so blessed to call you mine! I love you!!

100 Years Old

2010-02-27T18:17:00.000-08:00

I have a cousin that lives in California (which I might add is quit amazing) that has put on a family reunion and now a birthday party for his Mom (my Aunt) in the past 2 years. See most of us cousins live here in the Salt Lake area and it takes the one farthest away to get us all together. Pretty crazy-I know!

Anyways......

This beautiful lady just turned 100 years old. She is my dads sister and the oldest of his family.

This is my dads younger brother Uncle Elden and Aunt Alice.

My brother Pete and his wife Colleen.

My sister Janet and her husband Phil

My sister Colleen and her husband Craig.

My sister Susan and her husband Mark

and of course....me and Jed.

We had such a good time. After each family got pictures taken with Aunt Rhoda, we went in and had dinner. We had it at Gardner Village and it was good! They went around the room and each family got to introduce themselves and say something that they remembered about Aunt Rhoda. It was fun to hear all the comments. Then they showed a DVD they had put together of Rhoda and the past 100 years. It was so fun to see the pictures. Fun to see pictures of my mom and dad too. Boy it brought back a lot of memories.

They brought out cake and we all sang to her. Each family got to take home a copy of the DVD and a framed picture of Aunt Rhoda. What a great party and company. It was so nice to be with family today. I will have to say too that if I ever get to be 100 years old (and no I don't wish that) I hope to be just like her.