Lou Lou & UB...& Baby Happy Hour!!

Little Gracilyn, aka Lou Lou, LOVES her UB (Uncle Brandon)!!  It makes UB's day that she loves to come visit him!!

UB reading her a book

Maron has to fight for the attention when Lou Lou is around:)

A couple weeks back these three went missing and I found them out back on our play set having Happy Hour baby style!!

LOVE this picture...Mallori, Lou Lou, and Maron

Gotta love a cousin that is willing to share!!

They must have put something in Maron's bottle cause she fell asleep swinging!!!

Never a Dull Moment...What is going on around here??!!

 Back on April 20th, Maron was outside playing on one side of the teeter totter when Mallori decided to get on the other side.  When Mallori pulled down her side it flung Maron off.  She cried for a bit but calmed down.  Through out that day she fussed a little but was still using her arm.  Well after a couple days of her babying it and crying anytime we tried to move it we decided to take her to the urgent care.  Come to find out she had broken both bones in her left forearm.  We felt HORRIBLE!!  They put a splint on it but we had to go to the valley to get a cast put on.  She was quite the little trooper and adjusted really well to only using one arm.  It always break my heart to see my kids hurting!!

 After the put the splint on it!

 Showing it off!  The splint starting coming undone before she got her cast so we had to keep a sock over it...plus it help keep it a tad cleaner!

 She did really well when they casted her...give this girl a sucker and she is HAPPY!!!

 Leaving the Doctors office!...she still has her sucker!

 SHOW OFF!!

The day after we got her cast off, on May 18th,  Miles ended up knocking 3 of his front teeth out.  We had some friends over for a BBQ and we were just wrapping things up when he came running up to me screaming with blood everywhere.  He had tripped over our hose in the front yard and fell and hit his mouth on the corner bricks of our flower bed.  I picked him up and ran him to the kitchen sink not knowing how bad it was.  When I got him to the sink he reached in his mouth and pulled out one of his teeth and threw it on the counter.  At that point I screamed for Brandon and let him take over.  The 2nd tooth was just hanging there and after calling my dentist brother, Jody, Brandon ended up pulling it out.  As for the 3rd tooth we had thought that maybe it had broke off at the gums.  Well after we got him all cleaned up we took him outside to have him show up where he hit and sure enough there was the 3rd tooth laying in the grass.  Some might say I am crazy for saying we witnessed a Tender Mercy since he did lose 3 of his teeth, but the tender mercy was the fact that it didn't even fatten his lip.  He hit just right where it only knocked out his front teeth and cut up his gums a bit.  Had he hit sooner or in a different spot it could have been a LOT worse!!  We are grateful Heavenly Father was watching over us!!  All I know is that we have some AWESOME guardian angels!!!!

WARNING:   The pictures are pretty gross!!!

 This picture was taken before we pulled the 2nd tooth

 Here is a pic after cleaning it all up

 These were taken a couple days later!

I was dying laughing at this picture because I told him to hold his head still for the picture so he grabbed the sides of his head:)

Poor guy!

HOPING WE ARE ACCIDENT FREE FOR A WHILE!!

50th Anniversary!!!

So I've been procrastinating on posting this blog post but I figure it's past due...I have a hard time putting my feelings down on paper. (I am not one that has a creative writing bone in my body.)  I have such deep gratitude for the amazing family I was born into.  I know that each person feels that their family is the BEST, but I appreciate the opportunity to share my feelings about mine.  I have had a lot of spiritual experiences over the past year since my dad was diagnosed with Stage 4 Ocular Melanoma of the Liver.  I have always HATED the 'C' word and think it is one of the most awful words that one can hear.  It's a word that really doesn't have much meaning until someone you love is diagnosed with it.  Then all of a sudden it's a very dark and scary word.  

We had no idea how long my dad would be here.  Most people diagnosed with this type of cancer has a life expectancy of 2-7 months and only 15% of people with this type of cancer live 12 months.  There are many thoughts that enter one's mind when they hear news like this.  All I can say is that time became more precious and the things that I thought were important at the time became less important.  Here we are a year later and he is still with us...for how much longer we are not sure.  One thing is for sure...we have seen the miracle!!

Now about the 50th!!

My sister and I had been talking for the last couple years about how mom and dad's 50th anniversary was coming up.  My mom has dreamed about their 50th for a long time, and for her sake I am extremely grateful Heavenly Father left Dad here to see their 50th.  We started planning the big party back in January and it couldn't have been pulled off without all of my siblings!! 

April 13th was a beautiful evening, very special for our family.  There was an overwhelming amount of support and we appreciate everyone's love and prayers for our family and especially for my Dad!!!

The whole Famn Family...minus our 2 missionaries

The quilt we gave our parents.

The cake topper is their original cake topper from 50 years ago!

I love them more than words can say...

This was my favorite moment of the evening...

Arrow of Light...Closing Ceremony!

  I was put in as Cubmaster back in January and I was a little worried about it, but once I started to learn the program I have changed my outlook!(don't get me wrong...I still wish someday that the church would come out saying we are sticking to the Faith in God and Duty to God and doing away with scouts:)  I have enjoyed working with the boys in our ward, but I am looking forward to the break from in over the summer:)   

We had 3 boys earn their Arrow of Light that evening and one of em was our Michael!!

 We are SO proud of Michael for receiving his Arrow of Light Award!!

 One of the bonuses for sleeping with the Cubmaster is getting roped into things you wouldn't normally do!!  BIG thanks to my hunk of a husband for being willing to dress up as our Chief Fullofbull!!  He did  GREAT job!!

 Michael putting the Arrow of Light pin on me!

Michael and Me

Bucket List = 260 Trailhead Hike

I love having a Bucket List, but even more than that I love that my sister has one and always invites me along when she decides to fulfill hers!  She has always wanted to hike the 260 Trailhead which is at the bottom of the Rim.  It's a 5 mile hike that goes up to the 300 (woods canyon lake) Road and back.  She finally decided it was time to accomplish this so she invited some friends along.  We had a wonderful time and it is something I would definitely do again!!

Not sure what Jami is pointing to:)

Sandee Tenney, Lori Nelson, Marinda Parry, Shawna McLaws, Jamilyn, and Paula Blackburn

Group hug!

The view from about half way up the trail!

Marinda and I rock climbing...you shoulda seen our mad climbing skills!

Marinda, me, and Shawna...I've been blessed with amazing friends!

My sister and I...there's not a sister in the world better than mine!!

Lori once again excited that it didn't take us NEAR as long as she thought it would!!:)

The hard part was over...down hill from here baby!!

Funny Story...

So on our way down the trail Marinda, Lori, Sandee and I were leading the pack when all of a sudden we heard this noise.  We just kind of ignored it...but then we heard it again.  It stopped all of us in our tracks.  I looked at Sandee and said 'that sounded like a Bear!'.  I turn around to see Marinda running back to the other half of the group.  I just stood still and figured there was NO point in me running when I was the slowest and meatiest one there and would get eaten first!!  Sandee hopped up on some logs and looked down a draw but didn't see anything.  We never saw the thing, but I would bet my life on it that there was a bear near by us!! 

Happy Mothers Day...

Happy Mother's Day to this amazing woman!! 

  I have been beyond blessed with such an amazing woman to call my earthly Mother.  She is such an amazing example in so many ways!!

Mother I love you...I love you, I do!!

Happy Birthday Eva...the big 13!!

  Eva is my Cinco de Mayo girl and is officially a stinking teenager!!  I seriously wouldn't know what to do without this angel daughter of mine!  Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when he sent her to our family! I took her and a couple friends down to Payson and out to dinner for a girls night out to celebrate.  We had a BLAST!!

Eva...we love you more than you know and are super proud of the beautiful, talented, sweet, and loving young lady you are!! 

 Ev and Kaitlyn...these two are hilarious!!

 Eating some yummy ribs!!

 Emmie and Amelia...I promise it's Rootbeer!

 Well...at least I think it was rootbeer:)

More to come...

WOOHOO!!  I've made 6 posts so far and there are more to come!!!

Happy Birthday to Me...

 Since my birthday is the day after my father-in-laws we decided to celebrate by driving down to Scottsdale and eating at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse!!  This is one of mine and Brandon's favorite places to eat so he doesn't ever have to twist my arm to get me to go:)

 Me and my sexy beast!!

 My awesome in-laws

 

 Ross and Tiffani

Also, Brandon bought me a new gun for my birthday.  My dad has promised me a hunting trip this fall so Brandon thought I needed to go in style.  We took it out to break it in...

I love going shooting!

My mother-in-law cracked me up.  She hasn't shot a gun in quite a while and we talked her into it!

I think she has watched too many Rambo movies!

Dad and Miles

Mallori and Maron getting a shooting lesson too!