Conner's 11th birthday

Conner decided he wanted to go see the Lego movie for his birthday this year. So we took him.
He first had a indoor soccer game. It was his last so he really didn't want to miss it even for his birthday.

He played goalie and did pretty good even though they didn't win.
We then went and ate at his favorite restaurant. Buffalo Wild Wings. We then had him open his gifts. He got a couple of video games, a kit to make rubber band bracelets, and some skylanders.

We then had John's side of the family over for dinner. He requested that I make panini's. So that's is what we had with chips, salad, and jello. I also made him a chocolate cake with chocolate chips in it with blue and orange frosting per his request.

Conner is a great kid. He loves to play football and rugby. He loves having air soft wars with his friends and playing street hockey. Loves kit kats and snickers peanut butter candy bars. He is a very active and goofy kid. We love him very much.

What a weekend

It was quite the weekend we had. First off we celebrated Sawyer's 7th birthday. He wanted to go to classic skate so that's where we went. We went Friday night because we thought Saturday (his actual birthday) would be too crowded. I think it was almost divine intervention that we went Friday instead of Saturday. The boys took their roller blades and scooters. They had some bounce houses and then we could also play some games. We had a lot of fun. He then chose Burger King for his birthday dinner.

Some of his favorite things....
His fav color is Blue, Black, Red, Orange
His fav food is Mcdonalds chicken nuggets
His fav show is Spongebob squarepants
His fav movies are Despicable Me 2 and Planes

He is so funny. Always coming up with crazy things. He told me the morning of his birthday that he was getting bigger. I said oh yeah? He said yeah I looked down at my legs and they look longer.
He is now 3'10".

That night we got a phone call from John's mom telling John that he needed to get to the hospital fast, that his dad was having a heart attack. So he hurried and got dressed and rushed there. He was already in surgery by the time he got there. They put a stint in his heart. He was very lucky to catch it in time. We were all very lucky to still have him here. He means a lot to our family. He stayed the weekend in the hospital but as you can see was in good spirits. Sunday after we were coming home from visiting grandpa Sawyer asked if something had scared grandpa, we said no why? He said I thought something really scared grandpa to give him a heart attack. Oh the mind of Sawyer.

Timmie, Harley, and Scottie were able to make it into town to spend time with us. We enjoyed that time together just wished they could have been under better circumstances. So very grateful for families!

Catching up

So as you have noticed I haven't blogged since the boys went back to school almost 5 months ago. Slacker. Oh well I blame it on my new job. Yes I got a new job. I LOVE it. I am a lunch lady at Westlake High school. I started Oct 15th. I was a little nervous at first having to deal with the kids there, but they can be really nice. I don't tend kids anymore. That was an adventure. I did enjoy it and it allowed me to be at home with the boys but it was definitely time for a change. And now that Sawyer is in first grade it allowed me to look for other options. Working at the school is great, I get the same days off the boys do and I am home before they get home. It has been such a blessing. Anyway here are some pics of the recent holidays. Enjoy.

Halloween. Bubba was a scary clown although he is not wearing his mask because this pic was taken before school and they can't wear masks to school and I forgot to get a pic with his mask on. Conner was a ninja, and Sawyer was a zombie soccer player.

Thanksgiving was wonderful as always. Had dinner at the in-laws and ate way to much. I may have even licked my plate a little. I enjoyed it way to much. But it's just so good. No pics even though I did take my camera.

Christmas was lovely. I think everyone got just about everything they wanted. My parents came home from their Leeds England mission just in time for Christmas which was great. We spent Christmas Eve night at the in-laws. A tradition we have grown to look forward to every year and love. This year Sawyer had a rough time getting to sleep though. He was worried Santa wouldn't bring him any gifts he didn't feel like he was a very good boy this year. I reassured him that we put in a good word for him and he did get gifts.

New Years Eve was spent at my sister's house. We enjoyed spending time with family and again eating too much food. As I look back on this past year I am so very grateful for family and friends that I have in my life. I would not trade anything that has happened as it has made me learn and grow to be the better person I am now. Here's to 2014 may it bring lessons and love to us all.

First Day of School 2013

Ok so the first day of school was Aug 20th and yes that was two weeks ago. It was a rough week to say the least and I really didn't want to re-visit it so I am now just getting around to posting it. I don't know why it was so rough, it wasn't this bad when Sawyer went to kindergarten. Maybe because he is gone all day. Plus we have had a pretty fun summer. I love hanging out with my boys, and I know it's not going to be long when they won't want to hang out with me or they have moved out of the house. Anyway now that I am feeling better about my boys getting bigger and not needing me as much I can post their first day of school pics. John is in 8th grade. Conner is in 5th grade and has Ms Decker. Sawyer is in 1st grade and has Ms Eliason.

Sawyer

We had a neighbor tell us a story about Sawyer the other day that I wanted to post to remember it.

Neighbor sees Sawyer out riding his scooter.
Neighbor: Hey Sawyer, what's up?
Sawyer: Just livin the dream.
Neighbor: Oh yeah. How's that going for ya.
Sawyer: Riding my scooter just doin what I do.

If only we could all live in Sawyer's care free world.

Melba Larue Bridges

My grandma passed away yesterday. I have mixed feelings about this. I'm sad, happy, and even a little jealous. Let me explain. Obviously I'm sad because she is gone. She was such a wonderful mother, grandma, and great grandma to my kids, and she was even a great-great grandma to others. Probably even more greats than just great-great. I'm happy because she is no longer suffering with the constrictions of her physical body. She was 97 1/2 for heavens sake. (I put the half in there cuz I know it's important to the little kids and it should be important to when you reach that age.) I'm jealous cuz she gets to see my mom (her daughter) again. But that also makes me happy to think about to so then the jealousy goes away cuz I know I will be able to see them both again. I tell ya she was one tough cookie. Her husband (my grandpa) passed away when my mom was younger and she raised her kids (2 boys and a girl) by herself since then. She was an awesome cook. We lived down the street from her so we would go to her house every other Sunday for dinner and she would come to ours the other Sunday's. She would stay over Christmas eve or come over that morning to watch us open presents and she then had us all over for breakfast that morning. It was so good. I remember traveling with her and having so much fun. Always humming church hymns. I can still hear her. Oh how I miss her. These are only a fraction of her greatness and accomplishments. I will always love and cherish those moments and memories. Love you grandma!

New kitten

Yes we got a new kitten. I couldn't resist. I love cats. So I got on KSL and started the search. We found quite a few actually. John liked the gray one's and I liked the orange tabby's. The solid gray one's we found were all gone but then we found a gray tabby, a mix of what we both wanted. So we went and picked him up. His name is Zeus. The first day with Butch was a little rough but now they get along quite well.