Family Pics

 
Adam, Laura, and Sam. Laura is my cousin that is more like a sister and Adam is her husband.
 
This is my cousin Jacob who is more like a little brother.
  
This is a good lookin' family.

Grandma with the Great Grand Kids

 
 
 
  

Sam in the sky

 
 
 
  

Sam in the Air

We went to my cousin Ryan's house for Thanksgiving. I made a green bean casserole, peanut butter pie, and a pumpkin cake. The first two turned out well the last one wasn't so good. But, practice makes perfect. All the food was very good. So good in fact my cousin Jacob got some extra turkey. (see picture below)So my Grandma loves her grandchildren. She played with Sam a lot and really liked holding Anna. They have the same name you know. So does my cousin Anna Laura who goes by Laura. So Ryan and Wendy have one of those new virtual reality Nintendo games so we played that for awhile. It was fun but I kinda missed uno. Sam had a lot of fun. He was thrown in the air and got to slide down the banister. In other news, Anna had her first baby cereal the other day and Sam counted to three this morning. Go Sam! Well I can't download pics right now. But, I will soon.

Sorry I've been slacking

So I turned twenty-four. Time goes into warp speed after you have kids. Seems like I just turned twenty. Well, where do I begin? It has been a while since I blogged. My Birthday was so great! I went to Emilee's and made my first official scrapbook page. It turned out so cute and now I am addicted. I love scrap booking! Emilee also made me the best chocolate chip cookies. She is the Queen. They are way better than store bought! I had like fifteen in two days. It was so great. It has been a few days and my sugar buzz is finally gone. Mmmmm we also had pizza that night with Black Cherry Vanilla coke mmmmmm. My husband ordered my presents on-line and I hope they will be here soon. My Grandpa and Mom gave me money which is always very nice. What else have I been up too? Oh yeah we had a family staying in our basement last week. Daryl and Stacy are moving back to the area and so they were here for a week. It was nice having company. I almost forgot, the best thing happened. Bro. Jon and Chris watched the older kids last Friday night and Emilee, the babies and I all went out for dinner and shopping. It was great. It has been over a year since we have done anything like that.

I was in Texas Yesterday

It is always strange when I switch states so quickly. I love air travel. I sat by the window on the return trip and got to see the wing move as we took off and landed. It was very cool. I flew to Texas Saturday to see my Grandpa. It was a really good trip. I'm glad I got to see him. He was recovering well from the head injury I blogged about last month, but, recently contracted pneumonia. I flew down because we were not sure he was going to make it. He is doing much better and is stabilized. Unfortunately, he keeps pulling out his feeding tube which makes his throat soar and then he does not want to eat which means the feeding tube stays in longer. Other than that he is doing well. I was able to talk to him a lot about the Lord. I am so glad that God provided a way for me to go.

The Brooks happened to be in Dallas on their return trip from their ministers convention and I was able to spend a few hours with them on Sunday. It was so good to see them, especially, brother Jimmy. It has been way too long. With him going to Iraq and all I haven't seen him for a couple years. We had Sunday School together and then went to Soper Salad. It was lots of fun. I hope someday we get to be in the same local church again!



Anna was great on the plane. On the way there she got her own seat. I took the car seat on the plane. I guess that make is a plane seat. On the way back she had to sit in my lap. She drew a lot of attention from the other passengers. Because she is so cute. Everyone was so nice at the airport. A lot of people offered to help me anyway they could. It was great. Carrying a backpack, a baby, a big diaperbag, and a car/plane seat can be kinda tricky. Especially through security.

 
 
  

Babie's Retreat

 
Here is Anna just waking up and streching.
 
Jamie and I just happened to dress our little girls in the same outfit on the same night for bed. It was wierd. But it turned out to be great for a cute picture.
 
Baby party on the bed
   Baby party on the couch.

Ladie's Retreat

  This is Chris Clarkson, you know how he is, always wants to be with the girls. He was actually helping to shuttle up all of the Ladie's luggage, seeing as how with all of the snow, 28" to be exact, only four-wheel-drive vechicles could make it up to our cabin. It took two and a half hours to get everyone to retreat.
  Here is Chris' lovely wife Shanda.
  Michelle didn't want her picture taken like usual so Sister Shuler is holding her hands down in this one so she can't block the camera.
   Here is crazy Karen and Kaufmen (Tammy).
So, retreat was grand. We had so much fun and lots of snowball fights. Most of us stayed up late and woke up too early. We had some set backs due to the snow but I don't think we would have changed that if we could. Even the set backs were fun. For me anyway. And best of all the presence of the Lord was so sweet. There was a beautiful Spirit of surrender as the Ladies came ready to worship God and recieve soemthing from Him. This is the kind of retreat you think back on years from now and smile big. It was wonderful.

She is just so pretty

  

Men in skirts

 
 
 
  
The picture you can't really see is of a very large sling shot and the other picture is of me and Anna with pumpkin launchers behind us.
 
  

Pumpkin Launch

Hello blogging world. I missed you. I downloaded something bad that took over my computer. My very nice Pastor, Brother Jon came over with Emilee and the kids and fixed it for me but I was without a computer for awhile. First I would like to say that my Grandpa is doing much better. Thank you so much for all of your prayers. He is able to eat for himself, sit up and answer easy questions. This is a dramatic improvement. He goes to the hospital again soon to make sure his brain is still okay. I was able to talk to him on the phone tonight. I couldn't understand much of what he was trying to say but it was still very good to hear his voice. The goal is for him to regain enough mobility that he will be able to return to his home and receive in home care. Please keep praying for his salvation. I am praying for an opportunity to share the gospel with him. Perhaps a letter or card will be the best way. In other news I went to the pumpkin launch on Saturday with Sister Becky. The best launcher was was a twenty five foot tall sling shot made from a huge Aspen tree. None of my pumpkin launcher pictures turned out real well. There were fifteen launchers total. Some launched the pumpkins 1,000 feet and some launched the pumpkins 15 feet. It was very cool to watch. This weekend is my Grandma's eightieth birthday. Most of the family is going to go celebrate with her this Saturday. I am very excited. I can't wait to see her again. I haven't seen her since Anna's birth day. I made some great cookies yesterday with Sam's help. Luckily the lids of my spices are on tight otherwise we would have had garlic salt in the cookie dough. These are the best cookies I have ever made and I am very proud of myself. Well I will try to blog again soon. Bye for now.

Isn't she so cute?

  

Calamity Sam

Sam decided to climb up his dresser today. I herd bump bump ba bump bump AHHHHHHH!!! He wasn't hurt thank the Lord, but he was scared.
 
  

The Mall

My husband took me and the kids to the mall last night. It was so much fun! I think I liked the Disney store the best. They have the cutest holloweeen outfits and while we don't celebrate holloween I couldn't help but want to see Sam and Anna in little cute outfits. I can't wait til they are older and can play dress up. We will have lots of fun! We also looked at the pet store. My strange husband wants a poodle like his Dad. They actually look kind of cute without the prissy hair cuts. I wold like a little scotty dog. I don't know what they are called but they are so cute and don't shed. What am I saying? I don't want a dog. Just inside the front of the mall were two Scions you know the ugly box things on wheels. My husband thinks they are great and he liked looking at them. I don't understand. Of course we had to stop by the Orange Julius booth before we left. What trip to the mall is complete without that? The Orange Julius I had was not a good as I remebered but I don't think they mixed it well, it tasted grity at the bottom like powder mix. Overall the tip to the mall was great!
SCOTTY DOG
SCION

The Latest News

So after the surgery yesterday my Grandpa was doing really good. He opened his eyes this morning and seemed to recognize my Uncle. They did a cat scan and found the bleeding had stopped. Then this afternoon they did another cat scan and found the bleeding had started again. They probably won't be taking him into surgery again so pray for the blood to clot.

What We've Been Up To

Well there is no new news on my Grandpa. I thought I would post about what has been going on around here. Sam's bigger four wheeler doesn't work even with batteries so Chris decided to tie it to the back of a bike and give Sam a ride. It was a little scary for me but Sam loved it and he holds on really good. He even leans into the turns. After I got over the initial shock of how fast they were going it was actually really entertaining.


This last Saturday we, the whole family together in our car, went to a firefighter day. They had out the trucks, a big inflatable firetruck slide, snow cones, and a robot they use for the bomb squad. Chris liked the robot best. It was a good time and the kids both got little plastic fire hats. Anna's disappeared somewhere but it didn't fit very good anyway. So we were at one of the booths and Chris was helping Sam fish in the kiddie pool for a rubber ducky that would yield a cheesy prize and this lady asked if Anna was a boy or girl. I had Anna strapped on in one of those baby backpack things and had her covered with a pink blanket. I said she is a girl. The lady said oh I didn't know with the pink. Is there a fad I don't know about? To my knowledge pink means girl and blue means boy and ugly green or yellow means they had the baby shower before they knew what the baby was going to be. Anyway, it was funny. Afterward we went to my Grandma's house and she had presents for the kids, new clothes. Yay! She said she didn't have her glasses when she bought Anna's clothes so they are 18 months but that's alright with me. They are very cute and will fit eventually. She got Sam a Harley Davidson outfit. It is very orange and it makes him look like a little basketball. I love it!

 
Today I decided to rearrange the furniture in the living room, the kid's room and our room. It is so good to not be pregnant and able to move things again. I think the furniture may have actually looked better before but I was in the mood for a change. In other news Sam has been doing great with Anna. He likes to push her in her swing although I don't let him so it very often.

 

He also likes to lay by her on the floor when she is in the baby gym. He is a good brother.

  

Update/Explaination

I will try to explain this as best I can. It is all a bit confusing to me but I'm going to try. My Grandpa was hit so hard in the head that it caused his brain to move. Then the excess blood moved it even more before they were able to relieve the pressure. In a younger person's brain the brain is up against the skull which stops bleeding in the brain. Because my Grandpa is older and his brain has moved the bleeding isn't stopping like it should. This is why he has been in surgery twice now, to stop the bleeding. However, it can easily start again and they can't just keep taking him into surgery. They are hoping that the blood will clot on it's own, but, the impression I have is that unless God intervenes it is only a matter of time before my Grandpa dies. Thank you so much for all of your prayers. Please keep praying for him.

Back in Surgery

My Grandpa's neurosurgeon found some fresh bleeding so my Grandpa is going back in for more surgery. Please keep praying for his salvation. I've been praying that God would remind him of the gospel, the good news that Jesus already came and paid a price so that my Grandpa doesn't have to spend an eternity in hell. At one point in his life my Grandpa had a lot of scripture memorized. They are not sure how much Grandpa understands right now when they speak to him but the Holy Ghost speaks to the heart and can bring about a lot of understanding.

My Grandpa

My Grandpa is conscious. Thank you for all of your prayers! He can only say uh-huh at this point and has some paralysis on the right side of his face. It will take a long time in therapy for him to get back to where he was before. Please keep praying for his healing and salvation. Thanks again everyone.