Happy Holidays!

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~Burton Hillis

This year has been amazing. We started the year off with a bit of a surprise when Jim received an offer to work for a 100 year old company that he has respected for many years. The only catch to the offer was that we would have to move again. He started his new job the first of February. He is now the Southwest Regional Manager for Telsmith, a heavy machinery manufacturing company. We moved to our new home in March.

With Jim busy at his new job, Crystal has been busy with the kids and church. She has gotten involved with the school this year also. She has been helping out in the kid’s class rooms and teaching the Junior Achievement program in Ryder’s kindergarten class. When she isn’t at the school she is at home having fun with Ella. I think the Tea Parties are probably her favorite!



Although she was sad to leave her friends Randi has done well here. It isn’t hard for her to make new friends and get involved. She is in 4th grade now. Her teacher, Mr. Rolfe, is apparently the best thing since sliced bread and we make some pretty dang good bread! She is in the school Choir and loves it! She loves to sing so much Jim hopes to get her into the church Choir next month. She spent the summer in swimming lessons, an acting class, and singing classes. She just can’t get enough. Randi broke her arm while roller skating on a Family Home Evening activity a few months ago. That was an adventure! She still reminds us every week that FHE is just that Family HOME Evening!



Ryder started Kindergarten this year. He goes to school all day! His Mom wasn’t too excited about sending him to school all day but it is working out pretty good for him. He loves school, he loves to learn, and he has made some good friends. He enjoys being outside. He is in a running club, enjoys riding his bike, rollerblading, and playing at the park. Ryder is very loving and brings peace to our home with all of his love. He enjoys being around all babies and is a loving big brother to Ella. He always worries about her and makes sure she is taken care of before he is.



Ella has grown from a baby to a little girl over the year. She amazes me every day with her new words and little things she picks up and repeats. Her favorites lately has been ‘Come On’, ‘Oh My Gosh’, and ‘That’s amazing’. Everything at our house is amazing to her. She thinks Randi hung the moon, no doubt where she got the ‘Oh My Gosh’ and “That’s amazing’. Ella always has a smile that is contagious, she loves to sing, and dance. She keeps the house singing her favorites all day. She loves nursery and is very impatient when she has to wait through Sacrament Meeting before she can go. Last week she stood in the isle and screamed “Come on!” Her favorite part of the day is walking to the bus to pick up Randi and Ryder although we usually don’t make it much past the playground.

Thanks for stopping by to see what we have been up to this year. Remember to leave a comment so we know you were here. Check back regularly to keep up on what is happening in our family throughout the year.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun at our house this year. We had a lot of family come over. This is the first year family has come to OUR house for Thanksgivine and what fun it was!!!

The kids had fun playing outside, down at the park, and in the sprinklers while we cooked. Then, Becki, had the kids make place cards.

After the great feast the kids played the WII all evening.

Then we broke out the left overs and ate again!

Farewell to a friend

Randy Gene Owens, 48, died Nov. 18, 2008

Jim and Randy met when they were 11. They quickly became friends and enjoyed their time together in school, scouts, and church. They always found a reason to go camping and exploring. Jim has a lot of crazy stories about their times together. Like their trip to Wendover going 100 mph in a blizzard, their trips to Vernal, and cutting down Christmas trees in snow up to his bellybutton.

As they got older and married they kept in touch. We tried to go see Randy and his family every time we were in Utah. When we moved to Utah in 2002 it didn't take long for them to get together for lunch and to catch up. Shortly after their lunch Randy was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease, or ALS). Despite his grim prognosis Randy was positive and always had a smile. He even invited us to stay at his house that week when we were thinking of coming up to another mutual friends funeral.

We left for Utah Thursday and were able to attend his funeral in Hooper Ut on Friday morning and his burial in Panguitch Ut on Saturday afternoon.

Ella Turns TWO!!

We celebrated Ella's birthday yesterday. What fun it is to have a two year old. She keeps us young and reminds us what life is all about.

The simple joy of a balloon

Kara and Jamie came over for dinner. We had Ella's favorites, Mac and Cheese and Hotdogs. Kara made her a cake.

Ella loves Blue's Clues!! So she got mostly Blue's Clues stuff. If we had only known! It was just two years ago, when we were moving from Utah, that we got rid of all of Randi's Blue's Clues stuff. I believe my exact words were "What is the likelyhood of us having another Blue's Clues fan?" as it all went to the dump.

We all had fun!

Halloween

Halloween was so much fun this year. When I first moves to Utah I was disappointed when Cindy's kids had to bundle up to go trick-or-treating. It was almost not worth even dressing them up. By the time my kids came along, it was just how things were. I had forgotten how wonderful it was to be able to go outside in a simple costume without covering it up with a coat and then still freeze!

Kara apparently loves Halloween and was missing her family. Cindy use to tell me how wonderful it was to have her around to dress the kids up. I am so happy to have her here now to dress my kids up. Randi was a devil. Probably the most beautiful devil I have ever seen. She danced around all night and didn't want to wash it all off when we were all done. Randi had so much fun!! Kara and her are so much alike!


Ryder was Dracula. Kara had more plans for him but he is picky and didn't want white makeup or the mold in teeth. His plastic ones were fine! LOL Just like a boy huh? He did let her color his hair black, but that was about all the "makeup" he was going to tolerate!


Isabele was not happy about the Witches hat. Luckily Kara had another plan of just a cute ribbon for her hair. She was just interested in all the commotion and wanted to eat all the candy!!!


Kara and I sat OUTSIDE and handed out candy while Jim took the kids around to the neighbors. No more hiding in our house, running to two or three houses, running back to warm up, and turning off the lights early in the evening because we are to cold to keep opening the door to give more treats out.

I even had a bonus! Kara took all of our pictures, edited them, and emailed them to me. I really did nothing this Halloween!

Oh the simple joys in life!

Randi's Surgery

With Ryder on the bus, headed back to school, Jim dropped Randi and I off at the hospital to get things going while he took Ella to Kara's house. Randi was pretty nervous this morning, but as soon as we walked into the hospital she spotted another little girl with her arm in a sling. As the girls started talking and finding out how similar their accidents and injury's were they both relaxed some.

The surgery took a bit longer than expected. Ok, a lot longer than expected. The estimate was 30-45 minutes. Two hours after they took her back, we were a bit concerned. Finally Dr. Scoggin came out saying "This was a tough one!". He said he had to open her arm up to pry the bones into place. He also said we would have to trust him on this one, because he couldn't perfectly align them. However, he did assure us that she will heal straight. He could only get a pin in the radius bone, so we hope that holds well enough for the other bone to stay in place long enough to heal OK. He also let us know, with a smile, that he was able to put the PINK cast on, just to her elbow as promised.

Not to long after talking to the doctor the nurse took us to Randi. Just suffice it to say, she was glad to see us. We packed her up and took her home a little while later. She is doing good! Glad it is over!!!

Mr. Rolfe, her 4th grade teacher, and her class sent cards and letters home. She wants to go back to school! Crazy huh? I would have loved a chance to miss school.

What an eventful couple of weeks. We are glad to say Fall Break 2008 is OVER!

Randi's Arm Update

We went to see Randi's Orthopedic Surgeon this morning. The x-ray showed that the bones had slipped back to where they were. She is scheduled to go in for surgery tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.

I keep trying to remind her that there are some good parts to this...

• She will get a shorter cast (only to the elbow)
• No more sling (although I have made her a couple of very cute ones)
• She doesn't have to worry about it slipping again
• It will start feeling better!!!
• Mom won't take her skating again for a while!

While we were there I had the doctor look at Ryder's finger. It has gotten a bit better but still sore. He took an x-ray of it and said he looks ok! Must have just sprained it pretty good. YEA!!!

Pizza & Kareoke

We had fun doing some Karaoke and eating Pizza for FHE tonight.

Yummy Pizza

Fun with Karaoke

We had a great time and most important NO INJURIES!! We hope you enjoyed your Family Home Evening!!

Accident Prone

We have been on break for about two weeks now. We have had a lot of fun during the break! A bit accident prone but fun!

We started the break picking apples at Angles Orchard up Mt. Graham. It was a day trip to get there and home, but so worth the joy of picking the apples and having them to eat for the past two weeks. What fun!

My problem has been forgetting my camera. I would love to tell you more about picking apples, the kids sleeping out on the trampoline, spending the day swimming, playing in the fountains at the mall, and the good parts of our evening of skating. But without pictures, it isn't as interesting.

We haven't done much since Randi's trip to the ER on Monday. With her in a cast and Ryder in a splint (that he only wears for show) there just isn't much we can do. Although, I found out Thursday that it wasn't all over yet.

Thursday morning, Jim left early for a meeting in Phoenix. He called me about 30 minutes after he left to tell me he had been in an accident. By the time the accident got cleaned up, his truck was towed, and he got home it was late morning. We packed everyone up and headed back to the Urgent Care to get his eye looked at.

Jim's Black Eye

The doctor didn't stitch him up. He said he would make it look worse. He has a wonderful black eye and he is a bit sore, but at least he is ok! I wanted a picture of his truck but by the time he saw the doctor and we got to the truck they had already pulled it apart.

The kids were starving by the time we got done with the doctor and truck so we thought we would stop by Chick-fil-a for some lunch and to let the little ones play. But while playing a little boy bit Ella. I looked for broken skin and checked her over pretty good then assured the boys mother that she was fine. I have to admit I was secretly wondering if any of us would make it home alive!!

I didn't think I should take a picture until this morning. I can't believe the welt is still there! It does look much better though.

Ella's Arm

I have never been so happy that it is Friday!!! I honestly hope that this week and all our crazy accidents are OVER!!!

The joys of Family Home Evening!

Wait a minute... was that Family HOME Evening? We weren't supposed to go out?? Hey, wait! I think I have found our problem!!

About a month ago my friend, Julie emailed me a FHE idea. She invited our family to join with her and other families in a fun FHE lesson and activity. We were supposed to all have FHE on 10/6/08 (yesterday) and do a "Ghost of Halloween" ring and run with a treat. The last time we attempted this kind of thing (we did "Relief Society Angel" ring and run with a treat), Jamie, Kara, and my kids were chased down through the park with the guy yelling he was calling the cops and dialing the phone before Jim finally stopped him and told him who we were and what we were doing. We chose NOT to try to get arrested for FHE this week, instead go roller skating at the local skating rink. Sounds fun huh?!?

Everything was going pretty good. Everyone had a good time on their skates - including Ellie. Ryder has been skating for a few years now. He was out on the rink skating with the best of them in no time. Randi is still learning but after a few falls she had a very sweet boy giving her a few hints and she was really taking off. Jim and I didn't do to bad even though it has been a few years.

Ryder had a spill that left him in tears. Not like him! I usually just hear, "I'm OK Mom". After telling me he hurt his hand, he was back out with the rest of them.

Randi needed a drink of water. Jim told her where the drinking fountain was and she headed off... everything went down hill from there. A few minutes later Ryder came rushing to me screaming Randi had fallen and hurt her hand too. A lady was right behind him telling me that Randi was hurt. When I got to her there were 4 or 5 women kneeling around her trying to help. She was holding her arm and one look told me everything. We got her skates off, packed everyone up, and headed to the Urgent Care.

Yep, that is both bones that are broken! After looking at the X-Ray's, the Urgent Care Doctor came in to tell us he was giving her some "really good drugs". He splinted her arm and we were off to the Pediatric ER.

I hate the ER! It always seems to be an all night experience. Not this time! We just barely set walked in when they called us back. I was surprised at how quickly the Orthopedic Surgeon was in there telling me what he needed to do. He shewed us out and went to work. It only took about an hour for her to wake up and be ready to come home.

She is feeling much better today!!

Remember Ryder's injured hand? I didn't!!! The poor kid kept telling me that his hand still hurt, but I was to busy worrying about Randi's arm. When we got home from the ER, I finally took a good look at it. I was surprised to see it swollen and purple. I wrapped it and sent him to bed. By this morning we were headed back to the Urgent Care. Luckily, this trip only entailed a splint!

Next week we will just stay at home and have a lesson!!

Family Pictures

Our Family

Kara at Edit Photography Studio, took our family pictures this year. We got to play in the water!! We had so much fun! If you want to see more of her work or more of our pictures, check out her blog http://editphotographystudio.blogspot.com/.

Our Family


The kids

Randi and Ryder

Randi

Ryder

Isabele

Thank you Kara! You did a beautiful job!!

Fun

I hope this will be a fun way to keep friends and family up to date on our family. Not much post worthy happens in our family, but that little bit that does, I will try to keep you up on it. I can't wait get started!