Happy New Year!

It's the first day of 2012. What's that? 2012, when did that happen? Kenny Chesney says how I feel best in the song Don't Blink~ (yes my words of wisdom always come from songs) but time seems to be going by at record speed and I can't do a darn thing to slow it down!

Don't blink

Just like that you're six years old and you take a nap and you
Wake up and you're twenty-five and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife
Don't blink
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads next thing you know your better half
Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend a hundred years goes faster than you think
So don't blink . . .


All three kids were SUPER excited to go to church today, I had to get this rare occasion on film!. Why can't they act like this every Sunday? Koda is SO happy to finally be in senior primary. Jdog is almost twelve (he can't wait to be in young mens) and loves being the oldest class in primary. Bailia was excited to meet her new teacher and to wear her new church shoes! I won't lie, I am really bummed to be teaching in junior primary this year. I have been in senior for years and I LOVE it! In junior primary I feel more like a babysitter, than a teacher.  Hopefully I will end up enjoying it as much as I have in the past, time will tell. 

Just like last year, I can't believe that another year has passed. It was another crazy busy year for us! It seems like the older the kids get, the busier they get! Here are a few highlights from 2011 . . .

Koda turned seven, and had his first ever friend party!

We did a lot of hiking, fishing, and swimming, played a lot of golf and soccer, and spent many, many hours at gymnastics!

The bake sale for Jessica. What a great experience for all of us.

Bill Cosby at Tuacahan. Love him.

Girls trip to Vegas. Jill and I were just saying we need another one SOON!

Bailia competed in the Hershey's State Track Meet. You're a superstar Sis!

Jdog graduated elementary, Sis said goodbye to 4th grade, and Koda to 1st. Tears may or may not have been streaming down my cheeks. 

Koda split his head open and received eight staples. I about had a heart attack!

Jdog decided to compete in the older age division in JAG, and won player of the year! You're awesome Dog!

Last minute California trip ~ Seaworld and Disneyland! Good times!

Jdog and Sis got braces! $$$$

I threw Jdog a surprise party for his 11th birthday! He was in total shock, and loved every minute of it!

Sis turned 10 and we rocked it at a Taylor Swift concert! She puts on a fantastic concert!

Padre turned 50! Talk about getting OLD! :) 

Jdog and Sis took first place in the Elks State Shoot Out! Proud parent moment.

Koda's strange welts!?! Still don't know what caused them.

Jdog started 6th grade, Sis 5th, and Koda 2nd. More momma tears ~ my babies are getting to big.

Koda got really sick and lost eleven pounds! Such a hard week.

The deer hunt. So many memories . . .

Bailia competed in gym meets. 

Snakes, bobcats, scorpions, owls, and lizards!

A turned 39, and I turned 32! Seriously how are we getting so old?!

We celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary! I love him even more than I did back then!

I had my 4th surgery on my insides. It was the pits, it has been four weeks and I still don't feel like myself! 

Christmas went by way too fast, and here we are starting a new year! 

November 2011 Jdog's Choir Concert, Soccer, Veteran's Day, Story Telling Competition, Picture Time, Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving Soccer Tournament.

During the month of November, it seems like I didn't take my camera with me on purpose. I felt like I was digging a deeper and deeper hole every time I took another picture. If you know me, being three months behind on scrapbooking, means thousands of pictures to go through! So I may not have many pictures to document our crazy month, but trust me, we were super busy!

Bailia played on a turf field for the first time down in Mesquite. The field was completely fenced in, so there wasn't an out of bounds area. It was a fast paced game and a lot of fun to watch. One thing we didn't plan on~cold weather! We were freezing! Thank goodness A carries a lot of cold weather golf jackets in his truck! 

The Warriors played in the annual Thanksgiving weekend soccer tournament. They played two games on Friday (the night time game was ice cold~thank heavens for A's golf heater!), and two games on Saturday. The teams were tough, but our girls played their hearts out and won the tournament!

October 2011 ~ Golf, Gymnastics, Soccer, Raptor Romp, A's Birthday, Halloween, Sick Little Koda, Hunting, and Family Fun!

I am going to stop saying "how has it been X amount of months since my last post" because every time I do it seems to add another month before my next post. That's right ~ it has been almost THREE months since my last post! Wowzers! Life is just crazy busy right now. But now I am caught up on October, and I plan on being completely caught up by the time Christmas break is over. Wish me luck!




Jdog had a blast playing in the two day tournament at Red Hills, with Adam, Jed, and Schimbeck. As always, Jdog made me so proud! He can go out and acts like it's just another day on the course! The thought of playing in a tournament with all adults doesn't intimidate him! He goes out thinking ~ I'm going to win this thing! I love his confidence, and his love for golf! Way to go boys!

After not doing very well during her first two meets, Bailia did great at her third meet! Taking 2nd on Vault with a 9.15! Her abilities are improving SO quickly it is awesome! I love to watch her do her double back handsprings, and wish I could do it too! She has mastered her cartwheel on the beam, and does a beautiful handstand on the beam!

The Raptor Romp has come and gone again! Next year it will only be Koda performing in it! Where do the years go!?! Koda won three t-shirts, three pizza hut gift certificates, and a $20 gift certificate to Durango's with his raffle tickets! The highlight of the night was at the end when everyone can go out onto the field and do the chicken dance. I  absolutely loved watching Jdog and his friends giggling and dancing away, having the time of their lives! I'm sure they love getting older, but I'm guessing that there is a part of them that misses their elementary days.

Jdog, you ROCK! 

Koda, you are hilarious! 

I watched my brothers little girl, Mariah,  for the morning while he went out searching for deer. She is such a character! She LOVED the kids~she especially enjoyed the story that Koda read to her.

Looking at these pictures still makes me sad! Koda came down with a really bad case of the flu. The first night and into the day he would throw up every 15-20 minutes. Then the diarrhea came and stayed with the throwing up. It was a miserable night to say the least! The night turned into day, which turned into a week! Two doctor visits, blood drawn, prescriptions, and multiple tests later revealed that it was just a REALLY bad flu bug. I'm praying that it is the only bug we will catch this year! Koda slept a lot during his sickness. I have never seen someone sleep so much, it scared me. Through all of the fevers, throwing up, diarrhea, and sleep, Koda lost ELEVEN pounds! The picture of him just getting out of the tub was after day three, he had lost six pounds and was becoming dehydrated. By the time he started to feel better he was just skin and bones! It was a really hard week, and I'm glad to have it behind us!

The hunt. Do I even want to tell this story? I better, for journaling purposes! Haha! I should start this story by saying that when A and I were first together I went out hunting with him. He told me that if we saw something that he would let me shoot it. Well, we saw something, it was a NICE buck! I squatted down and got ready to shoot, when the gun was ripped out of my hands! A couldn't let me take the shot! It was "too nice of a buck to let go" so Mr. Trigger Happy took three or four shots at it, and missed. Every single time. So I have always given him grief that when I finally draw out he can't take the gun from me, he had to let me shoot it!
Well the time finally came ~ I drew out! I had ever drawn out before, even though I had had my hunters safety for years! I should also say that I am not a hunter. I have gone out and about with A, but I have never had the desire to become a full blown hunter. Until now. Adam may be regretting getting me into hunters safety all those years ago! 
Back to the story. I had to miss the opening weekend of the hunt because Koda was so sick. To be honest, I didn't really care. Then about mid~week we decided that Koda was feeling good enough to stay with Gary, and A took me out on the 4-wheeler. We were almost to the top of the mountain where we wanted to be when I spotted a buck. A said get your gun ready! I jumped off of the 4-wheeler and A said it's a nice one~shoot it! I loaded a bullet and before I could even get the gun up to my shoulder, yes you guessed it, Mr Trigger Happy was at it again! But this time he killed the deer. MY deer!
He has never seen me so mad! I lit into him, screaming that I knew he would do this to me! As I stormed off (yes I'm sure I looked like a five year old, mad that someone had ruined my toy ~ but gosh darn it ~ it was my toy! Haha!) to hike up the hill to look at the deer, A hollers at me BABE, you weren't fast enough! At least I didn't rip the gun out of your hands this time, I used my own gun! And the next one we see I can't shoot since my tag is used now, so you don't have to worry! 
Umm, is this supposed to make me feel better? It didn't! It made me even more upset. I called my dad, then Gary. I had to complain, and they were just the people to complain to! Both being avid hunters, I knew they would understand.
To make a long story short~I forgave A (even though he still hasn't heard the end of it~ let's be honest~ he never will) because someone had to help him drag the deer to the 4-wheeler! I didn't get a deer, but I did catch the hunting fever. I would wake up at 4:00 and ask A if I could go out by myself. He never let me ~ he thought it was too dangerous for his woman to go out alone. Hello!  I have a gun, and I know how to use it now! Haha! Oh well, there's always next year! That is IF I draw out . . .
Looks closely at the bottom left picture. It just looks like a mountain, with a bunch of trees that have lost their leaves, right? Wrong! A and I spent a good two hours looking for deer. We couldn't believe that we had only seen three deer! We stopped to get off of the 4-wheeler and hike for a little bit, and before we got off I said oh my word~LOOK! There standing 30 feet from us were five or six deer! That's right, the picture on the bottom left has five or six deer in it ~ take a look and see if you can spot them! That hillside  camouflaged them perfectly!