~HAPPY BIRTHDAY VANESSA~

Happy birthday to my baby sis!!! I know you had a great day and got some good presents. I am glad you got to spend your day with your hubby and I am glad I got to see you!! I wanted to say what an amazing person I think you are. You are so kind and loving and have such a big heart. And you are so B-E-A-utiful!! I am glad that we have built a friendship since we have grown up. We grew up so far apart in age I didn't know if it would ever happen and I am SO glad it did. I cherish "Us" and love watching it grow. You are a very special person in my life and I am so glad that you are still here. At least we have each other since everyone else is gone!! I am proud to call you my sister and that you are part of our family!!! Happy Birthday Vanessa!! I love you :)

~HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM~

Today is my mom's birthday and I haven't blogged in a long time, so my first of many in a short period of time will be for my mom. So here it goes...

I hope you had a great day mom and I so glad you got to be with Angela and Sheena even though the other half of us couldn't be there!! I miss having you here much but I have SO many good memories!! Shopping together, decorating together, baking together, and just spending time at your house or mine. You really are an amazing woman and you have taught me SO much. I love your love for the gospel and appreciate that you have taught it to me so that I can teach my family. You have so many talents of being a homemaker and housekeeper!! Your such a great cook and housekeeper ( I don't know why I didn't get more of that) LOL You have always made a comfortable and inviting home for all of us and I appreciate that to this day!!! I always seem to have so much to say in my head and when it comes to putting it on here it never seems to come as well :) So Happy Birthday and I love you with all my heart and am so glad that you are my mom!!!

~HAIR BOWS (FLOWERS)~

Here are the pictures of the bows Aubrey. Tiffinie and I made them (mostly her on these ones). I haven't finished them yet but they won't look any different when I am done.

~GRAND JUNCTION COUSINS~

We went to Grand Junction Colorado last week and had a great time visiting friends and family!! There are our "Grand Junction cousins". The top picture is Macazlyn 7, Kayla 10, Brinlyn 5, Brett 8, Hunter 10, and Drake 3 in the front. We got to have them live close to us a couple of years ago and so the kids are really close and have a lot of fun together!! We miss and love you guys and hope to see ya soon!!

~HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY HUNTER~

My Hunter man... You were born July 2, 1999. Our only child born last century. LOL You were born in Grand Junction Colorado and it was HOT, 104 degrees hot to be exact. I wasn't feeling good the night before I had you and it was a good thing that I had a doctors appointment the day you were born. I am kinda stubborn and I don't go to the doctor very often...even if I should. So I went to my appointment and they told me my blood pressure was VERY high and they told me to go home and pack a bag and head to the hospital. I was soooo swollen and puffy it was beyond not funny and I can't say that I was to disappointed at the thought of everything being over. But I was scared too!!!! I was induced with you and you were born at 11:56 pm. You were 6 lb 2 oz and 19 3/4 in long. You were so tiny!!!! Daddy's wedding ring fit around all your little toes....(although his ring is huge) it was still really cute!!! We spent 4 days in the hospital and you were in the ICU but everything turned out ok and when we went home all of Mommy's family was there. It was nice to have the help since you were my first baby!!! You have always been a pretty easy kid. You went through some tantrums when you were around 2 but that wasn't to bad. You are soooo great with your brother and sisters!!! The way you help me and help around the house without complaining is so wonderful! You are a kind hearted and caring boy! I love that you like to be involved in activities and sports. You are a great joy in our family and I can't imagine our home without you!! I love you buddy!! Happy 10th Birthday!!!

~OUR 12TH ANNIVERSARY~

Tom and I met in December 23, 1996. We were both home for the holiday's. Home was Castle Rock CO for me and Elizabeth for him. My brother needed a ride home from work one night so Tom gave him one and that is how we met. I had just gotten out of a long distance relationship and did not want much to do with him really. I had had enough of men for a while!! But I knew there was something different about him from the start. I tried to tell myself I didn't want anything to do with him but as we can see that didn't work. LOL These first 2 pictures were engagement pictures.

We got engaged March 6, 1997 and then we were married on June 21st 1997. Here are a few pictures. One of them has our friends Brandon and Carrie, they were married 2 weeks before us. They are our "short" friends. LOL One of the pictures is when Tom threw my garter. Chad and Justin decided to go for it. Look at the air they got!!! Justin is the one that caught it. Neither one of these amazing men are with us anymore. We love and miss you both!!!! The picture with the little boy is my nephew, Stephen. I have always loved this picture!!! He is soooo cute!!!

And here we are on our 12th Anniversary. A little less hair (Tom) different colored hair (me), and some extra pounds but just as happy as ever. I just remembered that my first blog I ever did was our anniversary picture last year. How funny!! Our love has truly grown over the year and we are truly blesses with an amazing family and life!!!

~HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY DRAKE~

Happy Birthday to my little Drake. You were born in the early morning hours of June 16th 2006. You were born at 6:36 am and weighted 6 lb 8 oz on 6-16-06. LOL It's easy for me to remember your info. You were not due until July 13th but I was not feeling good so Poppy came down and took my blood pressure for me and it was VERY high. So I threw somethings in a bag and drove myself to Castle Rock to get daddy and we drove up to the doctors office in Thornton, CO. Since you weren't due for another month I wasn't sure what they were going to do, but I can say that I felt horrible!!! My blood pressure didn't go down so they checked me into the hospital because they couldn't let me go home. They watched me through the night and kept doing tests and in the early morning hours they induced me because I had pre-eclampsia/toxemia. I had my beautiful baby boy with in an hour of being induced. You we so cute and had the most hair of any of the other kids!! And amazingly long fingers (which you still have)!! You had some problems and ended up in the ICU and they wouldn't let me out of bed (cause of the pre-eclampsia) so I didn't get to see you for a while and that was hard!! But daddy was there for you!! He went to Build-a-Bear and made a special bear for you that they put in your bed with you in the ICU to keep you company. Everything turned out ok and we took you home where you had a brother and sisters who were anxiously awaiting your arrival!! You are such a sweet little boy! I love waking up to see your smiling face everyday. And I love the way you come and cuddle with me every morning!! You have such a sweet heart and you are always there if someone is sad to give them a hug!! You love to play with your monster trucks, CARS movie cars, and your Thomas the Trains. You take them with you everywhere we go in your little Thomas the Train backpack. Your favorite right now is "Lucky Tween" (Lightning McQueen). LOL Your laugh is so cute and it makes everyone else laugh and smile. You are becoming quite the follower and want to be where everyone else is and you are pretty attached to your mommy too!!! But I love it and you make me soooo happy and proud to be your mommy. I love you little man!! Happy 3rd birthday. I don't have a 3 year old picture yet, the one below is his 2 year picture.

~BROKEN TOE~

Yep there it is. Toms broken toe. Gross I know but I had to show ya. He broke it in 2 places when he was riding the Harley. Put his foot down to keep from laying the Harley down when his breaks locked up. He is fine now!!!

~KIDS??? WHAT KIDS??

Because of all the rain we have had the grass is really tall right now. It's creepin' up on Drake and when we put him in the middle of it we could barely find him. LOL Then the other 3 jumped in and we almost lost them all. LOL They thought it was pretty funny!!

~A SUMMER EVENING~

We decided to go for a walk the other night so I grabbed the camera before we walked out the door. After I started snapping pictures I realized the girls already had on the pj's...but oh well that's life. I love all the wild flowers out in the fields right now. They are so pretty and refreshing!! The girls are swinging on the old house out here on the property. It makes for some pretty great pictures and I hope to get out there again and get some better shots. Then there is Tom with Toby. He loves his dog!! I like Toby, Tom loves him. LOL

~FRENCH BRAID~

Ok so here it is. Dum Dum Dahh Dum... my first french braid. I have never french braided in my 33 years of life. Crazy I know, and I have 2 daughters and I do their hair all the time. My sister Sheena taught me before she went back to Kentucky. Here is Brinlyn with my first braid. Not bad for never having done it before!! (If ya ask me anyway) LOL

~KING OF THE HILL~

Drake was so cute when I said "Drake let me take your picture" this is what he did. And Brinlyn was out picking wildflowers.

~JUST ONE EVENING~

These are just some pictures at Lois house last week. And one picture of Kelsey and I, taken by Macazlyn. Macazlyn set up the one of her and Brinlyn. They are soooo used to having their pictures taken that they pose themselves and come up things to do and then say "mommy take my picture". It makes me laugh.

~MY LITTLE PRINCESSES~

The girls were dressed matching last week, which I don't do very often, so I got out the camera and played around a little. It was really windy but we got a few shots. Macazlyn is 7 1/2 here and Brinlyn is 5.

~HOUSE~

This is at a home decor store that I really like. They have a St. Bernard that is always there when the store is open. I think he gets his name from being as big as a "House". He was up walking around but by the time I got the kids assembled he decided to sit. They got him from a rescue and are fostering another St. Bernard right now to0. I am NOT a dog person but House isn't slobbery or loud or stinky or crotch sniffing or any of those dog traits I hate. And he is pretty and clean so it is nice to see him when we go there!!!

~DENVER TEMPLE~

While my parents are here they needed to go to the temple so we all loaded up and went together. My girls were really excited because we got to see 2 brides while we were there! They were just in awhhh of that. Then Macazlyn started asking about my wedding dress and where it is and she said she wanted to see it. I told her she can see it but I had it preserved in a box so we can't take it out. I haven't gotten it out to show her yet but she is very excited to see it. Anyway, the kids ran around in the grass and we took pictures and just spent some time as a family. It was a nice afternoon!!! It would have been great to have Angela there and as usual, when we are together, we feel someone is missing...and someone is. We missed you Chad!!