Thank you to all of our friends and family that made this Christmas the BEST Christmas we have EVER had! We have had an extremely tough year. We were not able to get the boys anything this year, but our wonderful family and an anonymous friend blessed the boys & Jason & I with a wonderful Christmas. The Christmas Spirit is always alive and well around the Holidays but this year more than ever thanks to wonderful Friends and Family.

Family Christmas Party

My boys went home with a tone of clothes! My sisters spoiled them rotten. They needed it desperately! They were so excited! Thanks guys your the BEST!


More Games



Jason reading The Night Before Christmas.... Or should I say a REDNECK night before Christmas. We laughed so hard. I am not sue who went home with that one.




Tucker & Casey My Very cute single little Bro!

LOL Don't shot me Casey! Love ya

This is our annual Family Christmas party. All of (well most of) the syblings get together for Christmas. We have this awesome game we play every year.

This year everyone was pretty broke so we did white elephant gifts. You all sit in a circle and the gifts are in the center. Everyone takes turns rolling the die. If you roll a 7 or an 11 you put on the oven mitts and choose a gift. Its is not quite as easy as it sounds and we all know what we are doing so we use extra tape. When the next person rolls a seven or an eleven the previous player has to stop unwrapping. The player that rolled the die now chooses if they want to take the present the previous person was unwrapping or get a new one. And so it continues, its makes it interesting because you can also steal someones open present. So if someone gets something you want you can take it when you roll a 7 or 11. But each present can only be taken 2 times.

So we have a lot of fun!

This is tucker giving it a go! He did a great job!

Gabe, He got a special car waxing kit. Sorry kiddo be a few years before you can use it on your car, but I think my car could use a wax.

Rachel, getting a pair of Cookie Lee earrings.



Jason M. He got a crepe maker.

It took Jason a few to find what was in this special big box, but he got a DVD, the Sandlot.

Gabe kicking back on uncle Brian's chair snuggling with Brilee's pink bear. Aaah.

Tucker playing with his Dinosaurs.

Dylan's 17th Birthday. Wow how time flies. He was born December 18th 1991 at about 8:41 am. He was 7lbs and 21 in long.

This is him with his Grandma Linda about 8 months old.

Dylan blowing out his 17 candles!

Opening his presents! I think he is a little spoiled. He got more cash that I ever have in my pocket. Oh to be a kid again. We bought him The Dark Night, The NEW Batman. He loved that movie, we all did, but Dylan did especially. We put it in a cereal box and wrapped it up it was great!

My TOO cute Niece's and Nephew Tuck eating birthday cake!

This is what Dylan both with his birthday money. It was a set a hand gun P99 and an MP5, The hand gun broke within the first few days so he returned it and be bought an all metal MP5. Much nicer and more sturdy.

Dylan is getting ready for WAR with a couple of his friends. Good thing there are all toys, I would be a little nervous!

Yes this is a strange picture to put onto our blog. But it tells such a wonderful story, I wanted to share.

In short. About a year ago we had some things happen in our family that threw our lives into turmoil. It was a very hard and trying year. We were financially and emotionally drained.

A few months ago we had to go to our Bishop and ask for help. For the cupboard you see in this picture was bare.

We have been faithful paying our tithing and praying for a miracle.

We were in such a bad position, we were facing even loosing our home. Up until a few days ago we thought it might come to that. But our prayers have been answered in more than one way.

Each year Jason gets a Christmas bonus from his employer. Its how we buy Christmas for the kids. During a family council we had the boys told us that they didn't want anything for Christmas they just wanted to keep the house if it was at all possible. What a sacrifice for three wonderful boys. Christmas has aways been a very big deal in our home. (as with most of us parents) We tend to go a little overboard. I prayed about what to do and Jason and I talked about this in great length. We decided it was best to make sure we had our 3 months food storage in case things got bad again or any number of things we are supposed to be ready for.

Then for Christmas one set of my parents bought us food storage! How wonderful! They followed the spirit and helped us prepare. I am SO Thankful for them! We used most of our bonus and purchased a 3 month supply. We have only a couple of more things we need to be fully prepared and will have them next week. What a difference a month and the blessings of the lord make!

“When obedience ceases to be an irritant and
becomes our quest, in that moment God Will
endow us with power” --Pres. Ezra Taft Benson

AMEN!

I have seen the heavens open and the blessings pour out and we have not enough room to receive them or to store them.

We have parents telling us not to worry about our kids they will be well taken care of and my wonderful sisters as well. How much does one person deserve. I can tell you I want nothing more this year for Christmas! I have a wonderful family, my children are all healthy and happy and I have not enough room to receive the blessings the lord has given me. So in return I am letting everyone I know, know how grateful I am and how thankful I am!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

May the Light of Christ Fill your Lives this Wonderful Season!

It has been crazy at our home the past few weeks. We Always put our Christmas decorations up the day after Thanksgiving every year. This year we (meaning Dylan) put the tree up for Thanksgiving and put the lights on it. (fabulous job BTW) Our Christmas boxes have sat in our living room for the past hmm...... Almost 3 WEEKS! So today after church I decided it was time to get in the Christmas spirit and get the decor out!
Wow I am exhausted, and I just set up our village. The boys must have had 10 lbs of sugar each. They were bouncing off the walls. Finally we got the tree decorated, and I was told I could now make the necessary adjustments because I do every year after they go to bed. LOL how do they know. So we moved a few things around, only because the have not quite got the concept of spacing yet. They did a fabulous job!

Dylan, because he put the lights on this year got the honor of putting up the angel. The first time, as you can see from the picture was a little crooked. :-) So he made a few adjustments and now we have a lovely angel adorned at the top of our tree.
Then because they expended so much energy they were hungry. Surprised...I'm not these boys eat like they have not eaten in a week, and that's at every meal!
Cole loves to cook. So he made waffles, wow I didn't know kids could have so much fun cooking. I think the wound up on the ground wrestling more than standing and actually cooking. But it was nice not to have the worry of cooking tonight. Yeah!

What a crazy group we have here. But we love em!

This Cole & Dylan getting their 2nd class Scouting rank December 3rd 2008. Great Job guys!!

This was the same night Dylan led the Color Guard. This was his first court of honor that he led his fellow scouts. He did a fantastic job!

Gabriel received the rank of Tender Foot. Fantastic work Kid-O!!

How blessed I am to have such a great group of kids!

This is my Niece. She was in the Nutcracker this year. She was the cutest cookie Ever!!

Our little family is not so little any more. At 5'4 I am the shortest in the family. So we added another member so I would be a little taller. Meet Dobie...Our little Min Pin... He chases the cats around the house like a mad man. The poor cats. They are getting used to him more everyday. Now Kiki just sits and

growls and hisses at him. She has even swatted him a few times. She's letting him know who the queen of the castle is. LOL its been a week..I am told it will get better. Picaso is just skittish and hides; but at least he is coming out to eat. He has even sat on the other side of the couch opposite of Dobie while he sleeps. But as soon as he opens his eyes it sounds like world war 3 has just broken out in my house. Maybe he just has little dog syndrome and that's why he is picking on the cats..who knows just pray for us. We are attached to them all we can't give any of them up.

We decided to go for a ride today. We went to the Geode beds in the West desert. We brought the newest member of our family too, Dobie. (the cats really needed a break) We stopped at the pet cemetery and the Pony Express Monument on the way up and stretched our legs, 80 miles on a dirt road does a number on you.
We had a lot of fun and the boys loved it. Digging in the dirt collecting rocks. Sweet!

We are enjoying all the family time we can get out of our fast growing ever maturing teens. I am reminded almost weekly that Dylan will be 18 in a little over a year. He recently announced he was going on a mission. YES!!!!! We will continue to pray over the next two years that he will stay the course. He got his patriarchal blessing last Sunday; it was an amazing experience. I am grateful he shared it with us.

Home Coming 2008

This is Cole First dance. Home Coming 2008.











Cole humoring his mother with a very cheesy grin.
Ahslee and Cole getting ready to exchange corsage and boutonniere.

No blood lost here. Good job guys.



Posing for lost of pictures. Thanks!! Such good sports for the parents.

I never imagined I would Ever be in this position, mom of 3 teenagers. Seeing her kids grow older and go through the steps of growing up and moving on. I hope the moving on is still at least 5 years.


I am so blessed to have such great kids!

As promised.....Pic of Cole's Favorite Past time.

Ok so all my friends are hounding me to update my blog! Life just gets crazy and time slips away from you. Every one is doing well and growing to fast! Dylan will be 17 in December, Cole will be 16 in February and Gabriel will be 13 Next Week! Wow how time flies. I went from raising little boys to raising young men. And what handsome young men they are!

This is Cole & Gabe backing up a storm in the kitchen. Gabriel is going to grow up and be a chef. Then I can be a his baker.

Dylan as you can see is my Army man. He has been working on this Gilli suit for a month it is quite tedious work but he loves putting it on and sneaking up on you. Its great camouflage with out carpet. Almost tripped over him the other day. LOL he thought that was the best.

Cole is our resident musician, he has been teaching himself how to play guitar and is really good. I do have pictures of him...how ever my computer is giving me fits and I don't have access to most of my picture. So this update will have to do for now.