Merry Christmas!!!

Besides being super busy, our computer hard drive went out, so I've been without a computer. I am using my in-laws' computer. I don't have any bit of news in my life, I really just wanted to wish all of you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My elf family

Hello again. It has been a very long time, for me, since my last post. I can't even start to explain how busy I've been in the last couple weeks. I really appreciate all of your kind words, it has helped me a lot. Things are going a little better, but we're not out of this trial yet. I haven't been able to get into the Christmas spirit yet. But this video below helps a little :) Any of you can create a video like the one below, it is a LOT of fun!!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Writer's block...AGAIN

Hey everyone. I first of all want to apologize about not being on here as much since my trip to Colorado this summer. After getting out of the habit of posting blogs, I just can't seem to get back into the groove. Plus, I've had A LOT of ups and downs in my life happen. Mostly downs. I'm not really myself lately. Please continue to pray for my family. My husband and I have been through some rough times in the last few months. The adversary is REALLY trying to split us up. He hasn't worked in over 2 months, and I've found myself losing my patience with him. That's why I've been working lately, so we would have SOME income, certainly not even close to enough to pay all of our bills. We are in a desperate situation. Something needs to change, and FAST. We can't keep going like this. So please, keep us in your prayers, and please continue to have patience with my blogging, I will return to my old self, after these trials pass. I care for each and every person that I've gotten to know. Until next time, take care :)

Pics from Halloween

I know this is a little late for these, but better late than never :) Here is the whole group of children that went trick or treating (lots of Star Wars ;) There was Derrick - (SW) Clone Trooper, Jordan - (SW) Clone Trooper, September - Cleopatra, Bradley - Scary clown, Dylan - (SW) Storm Trooper, Autumn - Pink cat, Blake - (SW) Obi Wan Kenobi, Aiden - Batman, Wynter - Brown cat, Anakin - (SW) Darth Vader (BTW, Darth Vader's real name in the movie is Anakin Skywalker, so I thought it was cute that they made Anakin...Anakin), and Taylor - a zombie. The kids had a blast!

Ryan's pumpkin

Me and my WONDERFUL sister-in-law, and even more... FRIEND, Melissa

Happy Halloween!

I just wanted to wish everyone a safe and Happy Halloween! I thought I would post a picture of what my kids are going to be for Halloween. Taylor, a zombie. Blake, Obi-Wan Kenobi (from Star Wars). I TRIED and TRIED to get Taylor to be something more "girly" but she refused... She wanted to be something SCARY. We were invited by one of Ryan's cousin to attend his work party at Dish Network last night. It was really just for kids. They had lots of kid games and prizes. They also took pictures, and that is what is below. We had fun :) Tonight will be really fun! We are going trick-or-treating in Ryan's aunt's neighborhood, which is a nice area. Anyway, again, I hope all of you have a great day!

Henryetta campout pictures

Here are the pictures I promised. We had such a WONDERFUL weekend. It was a very uplifting weekend. We visited with so many brethren, and it was just perfect!Ryan and the kids in front of our tentUs and brother Paul, the guy that married us, he's so special to us!!!My Uncle Ronnie visiting with my father-in-law, Ollie.The kids with Grandma SharonA stick bug I found on my tire, these things are neat!

Major catch-up & PRAYER request for my mother

Hello, I'm so sorry I haven't been on here in a long time, and even more sorry that I haven't been commenting on your blogs. I've been a busy lady lately. I finally have a day off today, but will mainly be catching up on my house today. But I have the first half of next week off and I will try to get caught up on everyone else's blogs. A lot has happened since my last post. First of all, I got a different job, the hotel did have a couple perks, but had wayyy more downfalls. So now I am doing something I love, and that is taking pictures at the Wal-Mart Portrait Studio (PictureMe). So far it is really fun. I enjoy taking pictures and I love kids/babies, which is the main people getting their pictures done. So that has been going good so far. I don't plan on being there forever, but until we can get back on track/caught up.
Our lives have been really confusing and stressful. Ryan quit his job, and things have just been... not good. But, Ryan has figured out what he wants to do and is going for it now! I'm happy for him. He is starting, on Monday, to take online courses to be a Personal Fitness Trainer. It will take 10 months to get his certification, and then he will be doing what he has always wanted to do. And he also got a job that he is excited about. I hope this job goes good for him, he is very optimistic about it. He just started demonstrating Kirby vacuums. He doesn't have to sell them, but he does show people what they can do. So we'll see how that goes.
I haven't been myself, I've just been so stressed and I'm finally feeling like myself again after praying that things would work out, things are starting to go good again.
This past weekend was the Henryetta campouts. Ryan and I took our tent down there and we all stayed in a tent (which was FUN) for 3 nights. The whole weekend was SO wonderful and UPLIFTING! We got to visit with so many brethren, and the meeting on Sunday was WONDERFUL! I will post some pictures in a couple days when I have a little more time.
I really need to go for now, and get back to my chores, and just be patient with me, I WILL be commenting on all your blogs in just a few days :)
I do have ONE more thing to ask of all of you... PLEASE pray for my mom, she has been down, unable to walk for a week or more. She has been down with Gout in her right foot. Her name is Nora, and she REALLY needs prayers.
We'll talk to you all very soon ♥

Goodbye Buddy, hello Gabriel!

Yesterday was the day I actually needed to post this, but it didn't happen, so oh well ;) We sold our cockatiel, Buddy yesterday. A super nice family bought him, and I know he will be very happy with the new family. I will kind of miss him, but I am mostly relieved. We had just gotten tired of having him around.
And also yesterday, I got a new baby nephew, ♥ Gabriel ♥ . I hate that he lives about 2500 miles away from me. I hope that I get to see him before he gets too big. But I'm thrilled about the new little addition to my family. I am getting another niece/nephew in March, and can't wait for that little bundle to arrive. But anyway... Congratulations Lee and Cherrie, oh and happy anniversary as well :)
Also, I've still been on the search for a job. I went to an interview today and immediately after the interview, the manager got out her paperwork for a new employee, so I got the job. I was a little shocked that she didn't wait a day or two to call me back, but I was glad that everything went well. I will be a photographer, which is great because you all know how much I love pictures! A LOT :) So I'm pretty excited. It is 25 cents an hour less than the hotel job, but I don't have to pay $8.00 a day to park at this place, so that is a major plus over the other place. I have a much better feeling about this place than I did at the hotel. We are still in need of prayers, this has been a huge setback for us, and we'll make it, but it will take a lot of work.

Change of heart

Hello again. Some of you are probably thinking: What happened to the last 2 posts. Well, I deleted them. I am no longer going to work for that Hotel. There were a couple good things about it, but a LOT of issues/problems. I had been praying about it, they kept telling me more and more things that just didn't seem worth it, so I figured I had better just go ahead and not go through with it, and that way, no one would have to waste their own time training me. I am still looking for work, but I'm looking to stay here in town, save some money on gas. Another thing was I would have to pay $8.00 in parking PER DAY! So with that and the price of gas, it just made it sound not worth it. So that is why I deleted them. I feel VERY relieved that I'm not going to go ahead and work there. So that is what is happening in our life. We are both looking for work, and we really need prayers right now. But... other than those issues, we are doing good :) My niece, Stephanie is actually visiting right now, and I'm thoroughly enjoying having her! Hope everyone is doing good :) Talk to you all soon.

Truck touch

Hello everyone. I am sorry that I haven't been on here a lot. I have been going through a lot of turmoil in my life lately and I just haven't been in a blogging mood. I am still going to work, and am supposed to start Monday. I will be a full time worker, so I definitely won't have any time, except if maybe the evenings and weekends, I can steal away and blog a little.

Today was a pretty fun day, my kids' school organized a "truck touch". That's just basically where a lot of different vehicles park their trucks, etc... and the kids can get in them and see what they are like on the inside. They actually landed a helicopter and the kids got to get in it. They had fire trucks, ambulances, cop cars, cranes, semis, etc... It was nice to get out and be able to do something as a family. They also had a car that had been wrecked, and they let people hit it with a sledgehammer (25 cents a whack ;) Ryan and the kids all hit the car a couple times. They gave away tons of items to the kids, everyone likes getting free stuff, right :D The kids had a really nice time, it turned out to be a great day for our family.

I won't be here as much, starting VERY soon.

I wanted to write and let everyone know that I won't be on here near as much as I used to be. I am having to go back to work. I already have had an interview, and I think I'm as good as hired. It will be full time, so I will be SUPER busy. I would much rather be staying home and keeping up the house, but unfortunately, that won't work for a while. The kids are in school in the daytime anyway, so I won't be losing time with my family, so that's good. Some things have happened that has forced Ryan and I to make this decision. Please keep us in your prayers, we really need them, we're going through a LOT.

One wrong thing to another...

Today hasn't been the best day... First of all, I woke up to our driveway being tore up, which really didn't bother me that much, except for it will probably take them several days to repair it. Then, Ryan called me this afternoon and told me that he had a blow out on one of the tires on our truck. So I had to go get him and get the tire off. We also noticed that the spare tire has a screw in it. We then took the broken tire to a tire place, to see if they had any used tires, because we honestly don't have enough money for a new tire. Of course they didn't have a used tire, and their new tires were about $70.00 each. So we came back to the house and I thought I would just have the spare tire repaired and just buy another spare tire when we could. So I went to have the spare tire repaired, and of course they couldn't do it... Because the screw was on the side of the tire, well kind of the bottom/side. SO there went that idea. So I am going to have to call around tomorrow and try to find somewhere with a used tire. I hate leaving our truck by the side of the road, mainly because I don't want it vandalized. I know I need to just relax about it though. I'm actually very thankful that Ryan wasn't killed when he had the blowout. He said the truck was swerving pretty good on the road. I'm so glad that God allowed him to keep control of the truck and be able to pull off the side of the road. By the way... this happened on a highway that has a speed limit of 75 MPH, and I'm sure Ryan was going at least that fast. Please keep us in your prayers.

My driveway is tore up!

When I returned home from Colorado, I noticed that a part of my driveway was wet and had mildew growing on it. I asked Ryan about it and he said that it had been that way for quite a while. I didn't think much of it. One month has went by and our driveway has never dried up. There is a fire hydrant about 5 feet from our driveway, and we figured that there was a water leak somewhere by that hydrant. Finally yesterday Ryan told me to call the city and inform them that there is a definite leak by that fire hydrant. So that was my plan was to call the city today and have them come out and look at it. Well, this morning, I got up, and was getting the kids ready for school, and started hearing some loud machinery. I just figured it was somewhere in our neighborhood and didn't think a lot about it. Then, when I went outside to drive the kids to school, I saw several men in our driveway. I had NO idea they were going to be working at our house, it was a total shock. They were sawing our driveway when I left to take the kids to school. Then about an hour later, I glanced outside and noticed that they were digging a great big hole in our driveway. I was very glad to see that the problem was getting fixed. I thought it was kind of funny that the DAY that I was going to call them about this problem, they were already there fixing it. LOL. I honestly don't know how long this process will take, but I will be glad when it is fixed. Ryan will be so shocked when he comes home and his parking spot is not there anymore ;) So that is what is going on here at my house, along with my own daily chores. How is everyone's day going out there?

God works in great ways!

I feel so happy this weekend. We have had a little bit of a hard time with money since we've been back from Colorado. We are playing "catch-up" from the trip. So we haven't been able to spend much on groceries. Just the very BASIC items. I have had to be very creative the last 3 weeks, to make dinner. Our refrigerator was almost completely EMPTY. I was waiting until payday and would go grocery shopping today and get just enough to get us through this next week. Well yesterday morning, I got a call from a sister who owns a restaurant here in town, and her family is moving to Colorado and she asked if I would come help her pack up the restaurant. I didn't have much going on, and I wanted to be helpful to her, so I said yes. I worked ALL day yesterday and at the end of the day, she gave me SOOO much food. She didn't want to take perishable items. I was SO happy, my refrigerator, freezer and cabinets are full again. I can't even explain how much food she gave us, but we will be good on food for a little while!!! It was so nice of them, and I'm SO grateful!!!

Catch-up pictures!!!

I have mentioned in my past posts that I would post some pictures that I wasn't able to, because I am missing my USB cable. Anyway, I made a disc and am able to upload. Here they are:We went camping at Silver Jack reservoir. I hadn't been camping since I was about 3 months old, which I definitely don't remember. So I was VERRRRY happy to finally get to see what it was like. And I LOVED it!!! I can't wait to go again.

We had a shapshot of our family taken. It will be on our Christmas cards this year. It isn't professional, but I thought it turned out really good!!!This is one of my very closest friends, Beth. She is great!!!We ran into some ugly weather on the way home from Colorado. This is about 1 hour from Denver. Yes, it is snowing in August, how crazy is that?!?!
And last but not least, here are my children on their first day of school. Aren't they CUTE!!!

Finding long lost items makes me SOOO happy!

Yay! I am a very happy person right now. When we moved from Grand Junction to here, it was a SUPER fast move and a lot of things were just put here and there. Well, I had lost a certain family picture (the picture above) that I have wanted to put up but didn't know where to find it. Well, I found it today. It was inside an envelope inside of a photo album. I had searched high and low for this picture. So I am very happy.
I have almost gotten everything back to normal. I've been working a lot, inside and out of the house. Weeds had overrun our yard, and they are finally gone. I'm pretty happy to have the inside back to normal as well. It just takes constant work to keep it looking good, and when you're gone for over a month, it REALLY takes a lot of work to get back to normal. I can't even start to describe how HAPPY I am to be home. The kids have been in school since the 20th. I took some pictures of their first day, but I can't find my cable that connects my camera to my computer, so I can't upload them yet. Hopefully I can get that done soon.
Now that I am getting the house back to normal, I also want to start back into scrapbooking and working on a couple quilts that I have halfway done, LOL.
It seems like the blogging world is very slow right now. So I guess it's not just me that's been super busy ;) Hope everyone is doing good!

My niece's wedding

Hello again :) I'm taking a small break, and just couldn't resist posting about my niece's wedding. I have a few pictures from my sister, and when I get more time I will upload some of my own pictures from her wedding. It really was a beautiful wedding. Taylor was a candle lighter and Blake was the ring bearer. I thought they were adorable ;) When it was time for the kiss, Trevor did something I have never seen before, he dipped her and then kissed her, I thought that was so romantic, and cute! They are definitely crazy about each other, and I gained a WONDERFUL nephew!!! Left to right: My sister, Sue; Me; My Mom, Nora; and my sister, Peggy

My sister, Sue and her family

I'm HOME!!!

YAY! I'm finally home. However, I still won't be on here a lot this week because I am going to be SOOO busy! I have a 1 1/2 month "bachelor" house to clean up after. This evening I have been mowing my back yard (I'm taking a break RIGHT NOW) and cleaning the swimming pool. Plus, our kids start school on Wednesday. So I'm also preparing for that. I will post pictures from my niece's wedding very soon. I will also comment everyone, but it may take a little while for me to get back into the swing of things. I was VERY homesick, and am VERY glad to be home!!!!!! We'll talk to everyone soon :D

My Dad's 70th birthday

Today would have been my Dad's 70th birthday. I find it hard to believe. Here I am, in my 20's and if my dad would have made it, he would have been 70. He and my mom were definitely old enough to be my grandparents. But, they got married at 23 and 26. Then had a couple daughters, and life was great for them, and SURPRISE, over a decade later here comes another one on the way ;) Dad was 43, Mom was 40, Sue was 14 and Peggy was almost 11. HEHE, but I'm glad that I did have a chance to be alive. It is still hard to not be able to call him and tell him Happy Birthday in person, but that's just life I guess.

I also wanted to let everyone know that we have lost another WONDERFUL person. Brother Bob C. (elder from Montrose) passed away this morning. I believe he had bone (?) cancer. I did have the honor of going to see him about 3 weeks ago. He was a GREAT example to me. He will be missed GREATLY. Him and my dad were great friends, I thought it was a little ironic that he passed on my dad's birthday. But please remember to pray for his family. :(

I also wanted to apologize for not being the blogger that I normally am. My mom's computer is SO SLOW and I have TRIED to leave comments on some of my friends' blogs and the computer takes so long, and half (or more) of the times I try, it gives me an error notice. Neena: I've tried like 10 times to leave you a comment, and it just won't let me. Anyway, I hope everyone can forgive me, I will be home in about 2 1/2 weeks or maybe 3 weeks and I'll be back to my normal blogging self :D

P.S. - I'M HOMESICK and REALLY MISS MY HUSBAND!!!

So much to catch you up on...

I mentioned that Taylor had her birthday last week, well my family decided to do a 3-person birthday with my niece, Savanna. And also my niece, Stephanie's brother-in-law, Nathan (from Oklahoma), who was visiting here at the moment. So we had a very nice party for the 3 of them. Taylor turned 8, Savanna turned 18, and Nathan turned 19. We had an Italian dinner, cake and homemade ice cream for the party. Then afterwards, we had our own firework show. It turned out to be a great evening. The next day, two of my nieces, Stephanie and Savanna, my kids, me, and two other girls went up to Ouray for the day. It was kind of Savanna's bachelorette party. Except it was just a day trip that turned out to be very nice. We went to the Ouray Hot Springs and soaked/played for 3 hours or so. Then we hiked up to Cascade Falls. It was SO COLD right next to the waterfall. And very windy, so it was hard to get a good picture of it. Then after our fun day in Ouray, we came home and crashed.
The following day, I went to church in Delta and got to meet Lori, Lorraine, and Craig. It was so awesome getting to meet them and spend the afternoon with them. I brought them to my mom's house and we all got to visit for quite a while. We REALLY enjoyed our visit with them, they are such a nice family!!! Both my mom and I thought so ;) I'm so glad I have gotten to know them on here!!!
In the middle of the next week, my niece, Savanna wanted to go to Durango, where her fiance is working, and surprise him. She called and asked me and the kids if we wanted to go with her. I was very excited to tell her YES! So we drove down to Durango and walked around town, it is also very much a tourist town. We went to the historic Durango/Silverton train station and took a few pictures in front of the train. Ryan and I rode it on our honeymoon and it was really neat if anyone ever gets a chance to ride it. When my kids are older, I plan to take them on it. Later that evening, Trevor came in from work and got a big surprise. He was so happy to see his sweetheart. He said it MADE his whole week. I was so glad we got to do that for him.

The following day, we drove over to Mesa Verde, by Cortez, CO. I had been to Mesa Verde when I was 10 years old. For those of you who don't know, it is a place that Anasazi Indians built around 1,000 years ago. They built their homes in covered cliffs. They were preserved from the rain and snow all these years because they were covered, and they were discovered 100 years ago. It is a very amazing place to go. The kids LOVED it!

Blake climbing up the trail to exit Cliff Palace

And last but not least, we came back and had my niece, Savanna's personal shower. Her theme was a Luau. It turned out to be a really nice party. P.S. - All the drinks were non-alcoholic ;)

My sweet little girl is 8!

I know that I'm a little late posting this but, my daughter turned 8 on July 15th. She had a nice birthday party at my sisters house, which she shared with two others who had a birthday the same week. And then we had a sisters luncheon on her actual birthday and she got to play with several little girls, and I supplied some crafts, so they all made a craft project, which they all loved. Then afterwards, we went to Joann's house and she played with Emily in her pool and had so much fun! I love my little sweetie, I can't believe she is 8 years old. She is growing up to be a BEAUTIFUL and SWEET girl!

1 week in Colorado

I have been in Colorado for 1 week and already have SOOO much to write about. The only thing I can do is start with the day I arrived and go in order in what I have done since I've been here. I arrived Saturday, June 28th and that evening I went to my cousin, Arlene's wedding. It was very nice, and I LOVED seeing surprised faces ;) The next day, I went to church in Montrose and LOVED the new building. For the last 17 years, Montrose has held meetings in a TEENY TINY little building that just wasn't the ideal place for holding meetings. But they were blessed with a church just down the road from the old building. It was a church that had caught fire (while the people were in there) and so our church had a lot of work ahead of them. It took almost one year of cleaning and rebuilding, but they finally finished. It is SOOO nice. I will try to take some pictures sometime and post them. But it was amazing being able to sit in a nice building for church. After church, I went to a double anniversary party. This is pretty amazing, the girl that got married on Saturday, it was her parent's 25th anniversary, and her grandparent's 50th anniversary. So they all were married 25 years apart. I thought that was neat. It was my Aunt and Uncle that celebrated the 50th anniversary. It was a VERY nice turnout, I think there was around 250 people there. I enjoyed it :) Monday, I didn't do a lot, but did visit with my immediate family. Tuesday, I went to see my cousins, Jeanette and Amber, they are also out of towners ;) I had a nice time visiting with them. Wednesday, I didn't do much, I had severe allergies :P Thursday, I went to see my good friend, Beth. We always have good things to talk about, and I'm so happy to have a friend like her!!! Then I left from her house, to my sister's house in Ouray.

(These are taken from my sister's deck)

Ouray is seriously the most beautiful place I've ever been to!!! My sister has lived there for around 13 years, and I don't think she will ever leave Ouray. It is a tourist town. Ouray has a big July 4th festival, and I had never been to the day festivals. I had been to the firework show once, and it was amazing. Every time a firework boomed, it echoed because Ouray is a valley town surrounded by gorgeous mountains! SO it sounded like thunder all around. My sister, Peggy took me up into the mountains a little ways. There is this one cliff that is SCARY. It doesn't go straight down, it goes in a little bit. I love looking down from that cliff, but it always scares me!!! So Thursday was basically a sightseeing day. Then Friday was the best day ever. There was a July 4th parade. It was a very fun parade. Lots of water was flung to and from the floats. They really get into water fights there ;) Then, to our surprise, 2 (1940's) fighter planes flew over us, and I was able to get a great picture of one of them. It made the whole town cheer, and it was a very exciting moment. Those planes were very brave to fly in between mountains like they did. It was awesome. The parade ended and we immediately went to the park for the childrens races. They had a lot of different races for different ages of children. Taylor won the sprinting race, and the gunny sack race. She got $2.00 for winning. She is my little athlete. Then after that, we (me, my niece, Kayla, and the kids) went back to my sister's house and ate lunch and rested for a while. Then we went back to Main Street for the water fights. When you think of water fights, you think everyone had a water gun and was shooting everyone with it. NOPE that's not what this water fight was... This one is where the firefighters hook up two hoses and they have groups of 2 people spraying each other with those POWERFUL hoses. They spray each other until the other team either falls down, or loses control of the hoses. It was very intense. They also sprayed upwards and drenched everyone in the audience many times. After that, we went back to my sisters house and rested again. Then I took my kids to a place called Box Canyon. It is a MAJOR tourist attraction, you walk right up to a VERY powerful waterfall that has carved a small canyon. It is one of my favorite places to go. After that we went back to my sister's house and watched the fireworks from her roof. They were so amazing, I LOVED hearing the rumble all around me!!!

The next morning, I woke up and my niece and I took the kids and went to Grand Junction for another wedding, Nicole and Jered. It was a short and sweet wedding. Then we came back to Olathe (where I'm from). Then Sunday I went to church in Montrose again. It is Monday again, and I'm ready to slow this week down a little. The last week was so busy for me, I was running so much last week that I'm just not wanting to do anything this week, except spend time with my immediate family.
Whew... Sorry for the long story of my first week here. I hope I didn't bore anyone with it ;) I hope everyone else had a great July 4th!!!