Monday, December 21, 2009

Gary Did It!

Gary finally graduated from UNLV, with a biological science degree on December 15th. It was a good ceremony, long but good. Now hopefully on to dental school. We'll just have to wait and see. Congratulations Gary on a job well done!


Gary is the one right behind the guy wearing red
Gary is the 3rd one from the left standing

Kayla, Kinzi, Gary, Troy & Mazie
Ryan, Gary & Craig

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

A LOT HAS BEEN GOING ON!

Ahhh....I can't believe this month is almost done. A lot has been going on and I still have a lot to do. Bear with me as I try to recall everything in chronological order. OK...On Saturday December 5th we had our ward Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun and I know the kids enjoyed it. This year they did a Christmas breakfast with Santa. There were pancakes, different kinds of eggs and egg casseroles and milk. It was good. After breakfast we sang some Christmas carols and then good ole Santa Clause came. Santa told us, but mostly the children, the true meaning of Christmas. It was very good and whoever was Santa did a very good job. After the program all the children and some youth got their picture taken with Santa.
On Monday December the 8th we headed down to California. We decided to leave very early in the morning...like around 2am because honestly we didn't want to deal with the crying and stopping. But the good news is we made it. We spent a week down there and everyday there was something going on. You heard how we started the week...Ashley and stitches. Ya, fun! That evening we had our family Christmas celebration. Every year we start with an ornament exchange. 5 years ago we started a new tradition-just the girls. We do an ornament exchange and this year instead of just giving an ornament we decided to pick a theme which turned out to be Disney animals. Click here to see pictures on Heather's blog and who got who.
Also this year we decided to start a new tradition by doing a siblings & spouses gift exchange. It was a lot of fun! We decided not to do a set dollar amount but a minimum dollar amount, which I thought was a really good idea and to make things more interesting it was suppose to be a secret. But as it got closer I think we all have a pretty good idea who had who. Again to see picture Click here. But one correction Craig had Stephanie and I had Sandy.
I think with all the excitement with the gift exchange every one wanted every one else to open their gifts that every one got for each other. Here are a few picture but to see more Click here.

We got my dad a performance chip, something that goes on his truck to make it run more efficiently
Stephanie gave Craig a Kramer shirt
Sandy and the boys gave Kayla a new Princess Tiana coloring book with crayons and a Disney princess search and find book
Heather gave Austin a nice church outfit
Sandy gave all of us girls a beanie

Thursday night the 10th, my family, Heather, my mom and dad and for a little bit Sandy and her boys went bowling. We had two lanes the kids, Kayla, Austin, Ashley and me on one lane and Heather, my dad, my mom and Craig on the other. Its been a while since the family has gone bowling but I know everyone had a blast.

Craig helping Ashley
Craig and Austin waiting to see how many pins Austin will knock over
Kayla getting ready to bowl a strike
My dad helping Daniel
The gang
Before bowling I took Kayla to the Disney store in the mall. They were doing a Masquerade thing to make way for the new Disney Princess Tiana. They did story time and then had the kids make they own masks.
Stephanie helping Kayla

Friday afternoon, Kayla, Heather and I went and saw the Princess and the Frog in theaters. It was good and Kayla can't stop talking about it. Disney did a good job although some parts I thought were a little scary for children but overall I liked it.
And to end the week, Friday night Stephanie's boyfriend Juan got baptized. It was a very spiritual evening. There was a lot of family and friends to help support him. The missionaries gave the talks and Stephanie sang "His Hands". She did a very good job. I don't think there was a dry eye there.

Juan and Craig

Congratulations Juan and I know this is just the beginning.

Overall it was a good week, full of memories and fun. Now on to the next chapter.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Stitches And Headaches

So...we're in California for the week to share Christmas with my family. We got here Tuesday, which is really a blur because I slept most of the day. I think it had something to do with leaving Overton at 2am. Anyways, Wednesday...what a day. The kids were in the backyard playing on the play set when I heard Ashley crying. The next thing I remember is handing her to Michael's girlfriend Sandra and blood being everywhere. I guess she hit her head on one of the climbing rocks and it split her head wide open. Of course Craig and my dad were golfing and my mom just left for work and no one else was around except Sandra, thank goodness. Needless to say I was a little freaked out. The good thing is my mom just left so I called her back. Her bosses wife was with her and she told me to follow them to the office (my mom works at an oral surgeons office) and Dr. Smith gave her 2 stitches in her head. I know if I would've taken her to the ER they would have shaved her head and wouldn't have numbed her. Dr. Smith is a good man and did everything possible to avoid all that. Ashley was a very brave little girl. I don't know about all of you, but when my kids are in pain and all you want to do is help them and do the best for them, it breaks my heart to see them suffer even if its for a brief moment. But she is doing a lot better.
This is the play set

Dr. Smith said it cut clear to the skull


After the stitches
Now we'll see how the rest of the week goes.

Friday, December 4, 2009

UPDATE ON PIANO

WE SOLD THE PIANO! It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the ad just come out in the local paper and the the first person bought it. NICE!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Last Name Game



I thought this would be fun. LAST NAME GAME....PLEASE don't spoil it for others!Rules: It's harder than it looks! Copy & Paste, erase my answers, enter yours and POST. Comment on my post to let me know you posted on your blog. Tag 10 other people.Use the 1st letter OF YOUR LAST NAME to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real places, names, things,Nothing made up. Use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You can't use your name for the boy/girl question. Have Fun!!

1. What is your last name? R....
2. Name an animal....Rhino
3. A Boys name...Randy
4. A Girls name…… Rachel
5. An occupation.... Rodeo Clown
6.A COLOR... Royal Blue
7. Something you wear...Running Shorts
8. A beverage ... Red Bull
9. A food... Reese's pieces
10. Something found in the bathroom...Razor
11. A place...Russia
12. A Reason for being late....Railroad crossing had a really long train on it, and you had to wait for it
13. Something you shout... Really!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Finally Done

It took us about 4 months but we finally finished restoring 1 of the 2 pianos we found. Here are some pictures from start to finish.

This is how we got it

When we stripped it downAfter sanding it for many, many hours
A couple of coats of polyurethane and now it looks beautiful
We still need to do a few little touch ups like new hardware and new pads for the keys but other than that this ready to sell. We still can't decide on how much to sell it for. Any thoughts? Its a Story and Clark Piano and I think it was made in 1958. The only thing that it needs is a bench and to be tuned but other than that it's good.


Monday, November 9, 2009

It's Been A While

Gosh, I haven't blogged for a while and I feel I have so much to say . The family and I just got back from spending a week down in California with my family. It felt so good just getting away and relaxing with nothing to do. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins and seeing family that they don't see that often. Craig spent most of the week with my dad, golfing and going to different job sites and just doing guy things-whatever that is. But needless to say it was a worth while trip.

Now let me back track a little, this year for Halloween we weren't quite sure what we were going to do. The stake suggested that all the wards cancel their trunk or treats, to help support the community trunk or treat. So they did, but then someone told us that the community canceled too, but thank goodness that was wrong. The community did have their trunk or treat, it was a little smaller then usually, but it was fun. During the evening of Halloween at the community trunk or treat someone told us that some of the wards at the stake center were having a (hush, hush) trunk or treat. For being hush, hush there sure were a lot of people there. Overall the kids had a blast. This year the kids picked out their own costumes.
Kayla was non other than Princess Jasmine
Austin was Thomas the Train
Little Ashley was the cutest ladybug
Its funny because a couple of weeks ago we were trying to take a family picture, I don't know if all of you guys have the same problem but we had to take a hundred pictures and we still didn't get a good one, that's so irritating, but thank goodness for digital cameras.