Shelly's Birthday Dinner!

Bryson eating pizza @ Bottom's Up!

Rolando (Naomi's Hubby) , Naomi (my oldest sister) , & Logan (my 13-year-old nephew), & Brycie

Naomi, Alex (my 15-year-old nephew) , & Logan

Shelly (the birthday girl & my middle sister) , & Logan

My Momma & Shelly

I always love when my whole family gets together, Robbie, Maribel, & Randy were the only 3 people that we were missing that night.

Crazy Times!!!!!

Well, we have had some sad and very unexpected events happen in our extended family lately, that is another reason that I haven't blogged in awhile. The first incident happened in mid July, Randy's 20 year-old cousin, Tyson, died very unexpectedly on a Friday morning. The ME said the death was caused by low insulin. He was a type 1 diabetic but I never thought he would die from it. He and his father, Randy's uncle have been living in Charlottesville for the past 2 and half years because he is in the military. We have gotten to be very close to them and so this was a totally sad time for my little family. He loved my boys and they in turn loved him very much and even though Bryson is too little to know he is gone, Christopher understood a little. He told me that Tyson is with Heavenly Father now and he is okay. What sweet innocence a little child has, I love it! We will miss Tyson very much but we know that one day we will be with him again. We love you, Tyson!

On August 6, in the morning, my Dad had changed the oil in his truck and was cleaning up and walked into his shed and back out after putting something away and saw something on the ground and took a step back to pick it up and didn't realize the 2 foot step ladder was behind him. Well, needless to say, his leg got tangled in it and the other leg went down underneath of him. He was so hurt he couldn't walk so he had to crawl back into the house and call for my brother who was asleep upstairs. After about 3 or 4 calls he finally heard him and came downstairs to find his Dad laid out on floor. So, he called me and I went and got my Mom from work and we rushed to the house and Robbie stayed with the boys and my Mom and I took my Dad to the ER. Well, to make a long story short, he ended up messing his knee up really bad and had to have surgery on Friday morning, the 8th (mine and Randy's anniversary). He now has a cast from just below his hip to his ankle for a total of 6 weeks and then physical therapy. The Orthopedic Surgeon said that this will take a good 6 months to get over and get back to normal.

Then this week my Mom, on Wednesday, started having what she thought was just heartburn, well, she went to the doctor and he sent her to the ER and they ended up keeping her for 24 hours and ran all sorts of tests. Friday morning she went and had an ultra sound of her heart and also went home with a heart monitor attached for 24 hours. As she said, she was all wired up! Well, at the ER, she was having irregular heart rhythms so they are just trying to get down to the bottom of everything.

So, as you can see, I have been quite busy trying to help my parents as much as possible. I love them very much and would do anything for them. My biggest fear in life is seeing my parents age. I hate it! It makes me sad sometimes. But, I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowlegde that I have about eternal families. Knowing that I will be with them forever makes it wonderful!

Sunday Best!!!!

I always find joy in dressing my boys for church. I am a little biased, but I always think they look so cute. This little outfit was my nephew's, who are now 15 and 13. The suspenders and shorts match and they have frogs on them. And who couldn't love that cheesy smile.

We found these pinks shirts on clearance at Wal-Mart for I think $7 each (ties included). He didn't want to get his pic taken.

Christopher let me take his pic as long as he could take a funny pic afterwards.

My silly boy!!!!!!!

Randy had me get his 2 suits dry cleaned, my doesn't he look handsome!!!!!

DVD Players are awesome!

First, I would just like to say sorry, I have really fallen behind on my blogging, my last entry was July 22nd, WOW! But, here I am. Well, our new van has a DVD player and boy, I don't know what I did without it. Here are two funny pics of my boys watching some movie with their headphones on, sorry the pics are kind of blurry.

Car troubles!!!!!!!!!!

Well, where do I start!? Our van decided to start giving us problems about a month ago with the check engine light coming on so immediately we went to Advanced Auto to get a test ran on it and it said that the EGR Flow Valve was bad or dirty or who knows what, so that was the first of our troubles, then our vans inspection sticker runs out in July so Randy and I decided to take it to get inspected and the guy calls me from the place to tell me that the rear brake drums are leaking fluid and that won't pass inspection and also that the rack and pinion are starting to leak but that would pass. So, we got the van inspected and the fuel system cleaned and the rear brake drums fixed from leaking to the tune of $363 and some change. My dad was wonderful and took us over there to pick it up when it was finished and as soon as we pulled out on to Hull St. the check engine light came back on and it started sputtering again, so the $60 we paid to get the fuel system cleaned didn't work one stinkin' bit. We should of just drove down Hull St. which is a street we frequent quite a bit and let 60 one dollar bills blow out the window, that is soooooo the way we felt. So, since paying all this money we didn't have anymore to fix the other problems and were getting really sick of our 2004 van that we have had since Christopher was two weeks old. Then to top it off Randy's new car (not new but new to him) that he got for work has been giving him problems too. We think it is just the battery and he is in the process of getting a new one as I type. So needless to say, we have been really sick of vehicles. Well, come to find it wasn't his battery after all it was his starter so that had to be replaced. And, then yesterday, he blew a tire on 95 going to a customers house and ended up getting all four tires replaced. But good news, two Mondays ago, (July 21,2008) we ended trading in our 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan for a brand-new 2008 Grand Caravan. I have been so happy with it. It is so beautiful and it has a DVD Player for the boys, which they love and it also has the GIG entertainment system in it with Sirius satellite radio free for one year. I have found an awesome 80's station that I love, it brings back memories, lets just say that. I am going to take some pictures of the van and post them soon. Plus, we got a really good deal on the van and now we don't have any car troubles, YEAH!

Blogs are the best!!!

When blogs first came out, I didn't know what they were about or even what they were used for and then I found out by accident when my dear friend in Utah started one and she emailed me the address. I loved the idea that you could let your friends and family that are sooooo far away or maybe even close by keep an eye on the happenings of your family. Me, being a very into my friends and family kind of person, finally decided I should start a blog and I am so glad that I did. I have also found old friends and now can keep in touch with them by blogging, I LOVE IT!!!!!! Life can get so hectic at times and for me I am glad that blogging is my outlet to de-stress. It has been so good for me. My dear friend that I mentioned above has two adorable twins and I wish Utah and Virginia where closer or next to each other would be even better but they are not so seeing these two adorable babies through their mommies blog has been wonderful. (G, keep the pics and videos coming :) Lastly, I just wanted to say that I love my friends and family, old and new, very much and am so grateful for them.

Chesterfield's own-Smithfield the Pig

We went to see Smithfield the Painting Pig at our local library and he is actually from Chesterfield County where we live but he has been on Regis and Kelly and I think Oprah. His latest trip was to America's Got Talent, if you watched the opening of the show on July 15th you would of seen him for about 2 seconds but that was it. He has also had cancer 2x. He does tricks and he paints. He is about 11 years old, she said she bought him when he was 6 weeks old at the Chesterfield County Fair. We went the evening of Christopher's Birthday, sorry this is getting posted so late. It was really fun and the boys enjoyed it.