Merry Christmas!

First off I want to say the most rewarding thing we have done this Christmas season was going shopping for an "angel" from the sharing tree at Shopko. This tree is still up for the weekend if anyone is able to help out. We picked a 2yr old boy for our "angel" and had fun picking out clothes, snow boots, books and puzzles for him. We also threw in a Thomas the train DVD and coloring book set because I remember how much those things meant to my 2 year old and how much I still love watching him enjoy them. I can't imagine not being able to put anything under the Christmas tree for my child and I know my family and I are very fortunate to have what we have and Christmas is for sharing and giving to others who are less fortunate than we are. I wish we had enough to spoil all of those "angels" but if everyone who can help out did...so many more "angels" could have a Merry Christmas. I wish the best for that little boy and his family in the coming year and hopefully things will look better for them soon. Last year when things were tight for us and we were more financially strapped than we had been our entire marriage the little "angel" still came first. Me and Skylar went without one single gift to or from each other and we did just fine. I hope that we never see the day where we cannot provide for our child/children and I can't imagine what these parents go through. Please help out if you CAN. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas this year!

Two of the most giving people I know are my aunt Dixie and uncle Bill. They love to spoil all of our kids and we are so blessed to have them in our family! Each year we put on a Christmas party the day after Thanksgiving when Dixie and Bill give out their gifts to the little ones and this was this year's party...

Brenden is super messy because I let him eat his mashed potatoes and gravy WITH his sucker instead of a spoon! Isn't that what aunts do?? All of the kiddos had so much fun with their cousins!

Uncle Bill picked a fight he couldn't win...
Of course there were gifts too...

Stetson LOVED this scooter and he now uses it to get all around the house even if he is just going from one room next door to the other...silly boy!

I just noticed not many adults appear in these pictures...I promise there was supervision most of the time!
Cole and Annilee's family weren't able to make it home this year but thanks to Skype we were able to see them open their gift which was a wii. We can't wait to see you guys for Christmas!
Thanks again to Dixie and Bill for being such wonderful giving people. We love you so much and we had so much fun seeing all of the family including all of my siblings (minus Annilee), the Risks, the Sells and my parents too! We wish you all a happy holiday season and a very Merry Christmas!

For my Daddy!

When Daddy went to Boot camp
Forty years ago
T'was Fort Hill Oklahoma
He loved to tell us so.

He talked about the courage
Of all the men he met
The food, the shots, the work routines
That you don't soon forget.

He pulled his book out many times
To proudly show us men
That represented USA
Some – not to return again.

When daddy went to Boot camp
Forty years ago
He wore his uniform with pride
And stuck his chest out so.

He slept in double bunk beds
Too tired for much sleep
And prayed to God each end of day
His humble soul to keep.

Now Daddy went to Boot camp
Just the other day
We're not sure what is going on
He didn't have much to say.

Instead of his old Army pack
He wore a Hello Kitty!
He asked us to take pictures
Must've thought it looked quite pretty!

He said his company asked him to
They sent him far away
Some secret “retreat” in the desert
Yet he didn't have much to say!

He works for JB Parsons
Construction – nonetheless
Now folks, why would they do this?
It just doesn't make sense!

Could it be age or even worse
Has he become delusional?
We tried an intervention
This behavior is so unusual.

He said it was his duty
And off he went no doubt
With Hello Kitty backpack
And his chest puffed up and out.

He said Seargent Hayes and Hadley
Might give him a bronze star
Oh daddy – we're so helpless
As we wonder where you are.

So if you read this message
And you think he's lost his mind
Please call 1-800 -lost dad
And help us – this man to find.

We've really grown quite fond of him
No matter what or where
Just bring him back in one big piece
And we'll take it from there!

Written by Janice Toolson
We love you daddy!!!!!

All ready for church...and Grandpa Reed!

Before I head for bed tonight I thought I would post these few pics! The first two are pics of Stets wearing his new church outfit (the poor kid is past due for a hair cut touch up!) and the last one is of my dad and Stetson. My dad came over on Saturday morning to go pheasant hunting with Skylar. Me and Stetson rolled out of bed around 9AM just as the boys came through the door... Skylar whipped up a yummy breakfast of biscuits and gravy (of course I had my usual of chicken noodle soup because I don't like biscuits and I can't stand gravy!!) and dad stayed to eat and chat for a while. Thanks for stopping by Grandpa Reed!

Halloween in Vegas (Now that's SCARY!)

We decided to head down to Las Vegas for a quick trip over Halloween weekend and we had such a good time!!! The day we got there we headed to see Gordie Brown at the Golden Nugget and he was AMAZING!! If you are ever in Vegas I highly recommend seeing him! We must have left Stetson in good hands because he was fast asleep when we got home...nice work Lizzy and Tylie!! We headed to Chuck E. Cheese one of the afternoons which is Cole's FAVORITE hang-out in Vegas. Stetson thought he was pretty cool when I put some tokens in his cup and just watched as he would climb into the little rides all by himself...he would sit down, buckle up the seat belts and smile as he dropped money into the machines all by himself. He is growing up sooo fast!

Tylie and Stetson vegged out and had a mini Land Before Time movie marathon! Tylie and Teigen were both SO good with Stets while we were there. Teigen liked having Stets go fetch stuff for him constantly and Ty acted like a big sis and took care of him.

As for Halloween...

Dr. Griffin was in the house! Gwen Stefani stopped by too which was fantastic! Here's Dr. Griffin showing off all of his loot. He was HILARIOUS trick or treating! He is not much of a candy fan at all and at EVERY house he said, "I don't like that"...I tried telling him to STOP saying that and just take the candy, but EVERY person there was so nice they would just hold out the entire bucket of candy and let him pick something. So that is why his bag is FULL of yummy rich chocolate! Oh and if you are wondering what the hell is growing on Skylar's face...it is hunting season AGAIN and every year that THING comes back...

Stets had a ton of fun with Hudson on Halloween night. We finally put PJs on him because he had taken off his costume and was running around in his underwear and Hudson kept asking me why he was naked all the time!! The other pics in this collage are of the pumpkin Annilee gave him to paint. There was not one spot of orange on that thing when he was finished! We accidentally left it in Vegas and luckily he has forgotten all about it so ANNILEE when you mail us the boots we left there--please do NOT send the pumpkin!!

Twice when Stets was a baby I hopped on an airplane alone with him and flew to Vegas to stay with Annilee and Cole and Skylar works in Vegas a few times a year but this was the first time we had gone together and we really enjoyed every minute. Thanks so much for everything guys!!!

Pumpkin Walk 2009

We hit the pumpkin walk this year with Megan and Landon. I was debating on whether Stets was old enough to enjoy it or not and had decided to can the idea when Megan asked if I wanted to go...and I was glad we did because it was lots of fun! The weather was great and the boys had as much fun as they always do when they get together. These two play together so so so good which is hard to find when you have a 3 yr old!!!

As you can see we had WAY TOO MUCH fun with the cardboard cutouts!!
Thanks for inviting us--we had a great time and hope to see you two again soon!

Blogging extravaganza!

Life has passed by me lately and it has been over a month since I last blogged as my number one blog follower AKA my dad has told me a few times lately so I thought I would post a little bit of this and a little bit of that to show you what we have been up to at our house! (Click on the collages to enlarge)

We were able to go to Pine Valley the second weekend in October for our annual family get together. We weren't able to make it last year so this year was extra fun for us. We hit the St. George shopping mall, Fiesta Fun center, Tai Pan (the main attraction for those who weren't there to slaughter Bambi). We also found a new home for our dog Koda who now lives with Mason in Pine Valley!

Stetson really did bath while we were on vacation though he did manage to get this dirty EVERY DAY playing outside. We headed back to the American West Heritage Center and this time there was no blood and gore involved! Personally I thought this place was overrated but as long as the boys got to ride the train it was worth our TWO trips and $12! The slide wasn't as scary as it looked at first and the boys liked climbing up and down in many times. Stets got to feed this chicken too which was pretty cool if you ask him. We always LOVE getting together with Megan and Landon!!

We rooted for the Cardinals...but not hard enough apparently....oh well....there is always next year but those of you who know about the superstition at our house know the Cards will win in TWO years and not any earlier =)

Halloween pics are to come--SOON--but there you have some updates!

It started out as a great day...

We had such a fun play date planned with our good friends Landon and Megan today and we were so excited to have some fun! I took this picture after we had been there less than five minutes! Unfortunately we had to leave not two minutes later. When Stetson jumped down from getting this picture taken he slipped and cut his head open. We tried to stop the bleeding for a few minutes but it was pretty obvious at that point this was something that needed stitches. A mother's nightmare....your baby's first stitches!!

He was a trooper while we were at the hospital. He kept telling everyone that he is going to be a Dr. for Halloween!

The Little Foot dinosaur you can see in the background was one of his birthday presents from Landon today and it was such a relief to have something for him to cuddle while we were there! You can see how loopy he started feeling when the drugs kicked in...

TA-DA---all finished! He had three internal stitches and eight external. It has been a long day but I am happy to say Stetson is running around acting like his old self and all is good in our house once again. On our way home we had to go back to Landon's house to get my car and I thought for sure Stetson would fall asleep after everything but NOPE--he wanted to see his friend so we went inside and played for a few minutes like nothing had ever happened at all. It's such a blessing that kids bounce back from things so quick!!