An Amazing Man

"Let us all try to stand a little taller, rise a little higher, be a little better. Make the extra effort. You will be happier."

What an amazing man. I am really going to miss his humor, and his great attitude about life! He will be greatly missed.

Chad's New Career

I think that Chad is in the wrong career. He says that he loves his job at TNI but I think that secretly he wants to be a used car salesman! He likes selling cars and a bit too fast sometimes. Back in September he thought that he would put his Civic up for sale and get him a dream car....anything with AC! So within minutes he had an offer on his car and was so excited he called to tell me the good news. I thought okay the car is 13 years old and has had a good run, time to pass it on to the next lucky person. Then as the day went by I realized that I have attachment issues with this car and don't know why. By the time Chad got home I was in tears and told him that we couldn't sell the car and he needed to call the guy back and tell him that is was a no go. He did and was completely embarrassed!! So again this weekend we got the bug to get a new car. So Chad worked his magic again and within minutes of him posting the add for my car on the internet he had it sold! This time there were no tears, I must not have attachment issues with my car like I do his. The only hard thing now is that we are down to one car and we have to go car shopping, and I don't think that I like car shopping, any volunteers??

Family Photos

Those of you that have been to my house know that I have needed to update my family picture, the one I have hanging on the wall Blake is 6 months old. We did have family pictures done this past June but Luke was 3 weeks old and looks like a little worm. So while my brother Ryan was here I had him take a few so I could get things updated. And of course I am a fan of outdoor pictures and January in Utah means snow..... so out we went!! My apologies to Ryan he is a warm weather man and I'm sure the high was 20 or so and we did have the wind to factor in. So pretty much we froze!! He is now suffering from a mild case of frost bite, but that is the price you pay to get good pictures. So thanks again big guy, and hey black finger tips are really in!

Holiday Fun!

Christmas morningLuke is not sure he likes Christmas
Bowling

Here is a look back at the good times that we had this holiday season. Christmas was so fun this year! It actually lasted longer then 10 min. It helps that we had another kid, and Blake is getting older and really understood what was going on, he was so excited about everything except for the clothes he got, he made sure to tell us that he never asked for that stuff and tried putting them in the garbage pile. Luke had no idea of corse, and was ready to have a nap half way through. We then spent New Years with the Cooks, Ryan and Shelley were able to come from California. We spent all night playing the Wii, we were doing so well at the bowling game that we thought we should go bowling New Years day, we realized that we are much better at Wii bowling then the real thing!

We need to get out more...

This year we thought we would take Blake to Temple Square to see the lights. He has really been into seeing Christmas lights and would do it all night if we let him. So last Monday night we decided to head up to the big SLC! Thanks to my mom for volunteering to watch Luke, now we were stroller free and had two adults to man one four year old. As soon as we got into downtown Blake looked around and said "are we in New York City or something, this place is huge!!" Chad and I started to laugh, then I thought to myself we really need to get out more! But hey, if a 30 min ride makes Blake think that we have traveled across the United States I'm going to let him think that for now.

Christmas Vacation

I just love the movie Christmas Vacation, you know the one with Chevy Chase. Usually Chad and I love to settle in on Thanksgiving night, blow the dust off the VCR, that's right we still have it on VHS...you can never get rid of a classic, and bring in the Christmas spirit with laughs! This year however we were a bit late and did not get around to watching it until last weekend. But it was worth the wait because we got to watch it with are friends the Stailey's who know a good thing when they see it! Here are some of our favorite lines;

"Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?

Naw, I'm doing just fine, Clark."

"What are you looking at?

Oh, the silent majesty of a winter's morn... the clean, cool chill of the holiday air... a jerk in his bathrobe, emptying a chemical toilet into my sewer... [Eddie, in the driveway, is draining the RV's toilet] Crapper was full."

"Now don't go puttin' none o' that stuff on my sled, Clark. You know that metal plate in my head?""Ah! How could I forget?""I had to have it replaced, because every time Catherine revved up the microwave, I'd wet my pants and forget who I was for a half-hour or so. So over at the VA, they had to replace it with a plastic one, and it ain't as strong, so... hehehe... I don't know if I oughtta go sailin' down no hill with nothin' between the ground and my brain but a piece of government plastic, hehehe.""Hehehe... you really think it matters, Eddie?"

"Well, see the plate runs right underneath the part here. See, over here, nothing. But, here if this gets dented, then my hair just ain't going to look right."

"So, when did you get the tenament on wheels?Oh, that uh, that there's an RV.Yeah, yeah, I borrowed it off a buddy of mine. He took my house, I took the RV. It's a good looking vehicle, ain't it? Yeah, it looks so nice parked in the driveway. Yeah, it sure does. But, don't you go falling in love with it now, because, we're taking it with us when we leave here next month."

"You're pretty set so far as shopping goes?" "Well, I can't lie to you Clark. The truth is, things ain't going too good at all. You know I told you I borrowed the RV from my neighbor? Nope. It's mine. We live in it. I had to sell off the house, the barn, the ten acres. All I kept was a 50-foot plot, the pigs and the worm farm. If only I had back the money that me and Cathrine sent that TV preacher." "His kids can fend for themselves. "No, your kids." "Oh, well, that's the hard part of it. See, I don't know what to do. We coasted into town on fumes. The gas money give out in Gurnee. " "Eddie, Ellen and I want to help you give the kids a nice Christmas." "Oh Clark, I couldn't do that." "No, no, we insist." "Oh, no; I'm not one for charity, now." "Oh, I know that Eddie. This isn't charity; it's family." "Ooh, I don't know about that."

"Now, come on; if you don't tell me what they want, I,ll go out and get it on my own." "Oh boy, this is a surprise Clark. This is just a real nice surprise. Just a real nice surprise. Here's a little list. Alphabetical, starting with Cathrine. And if it wouldn't be too much, I'd like to get something for you Clark. Something really nice."

Blake & Luke

Luke in his "Lock up your daughters" shirt...watch out!
Smiley man
Blake just finished his masterpeice
sweet boys

How time does fly...I can't believe how big our boys are getting! And just today my sister in law Kristi brought it to my attention that Luke is HUGE and compared to her sweet tiny baby Justin that is coming in at a heafty 6lbs I guess that he is. Blake thinks that he has figured out life and knows the answers to everything, and reminds Chad that he is going to have to teach him somethings so he can be as smart as Blake. Luke is pretty quiet and just smiles all the time, but nobody can make him laugh like Blake, yes he has his favorites and it's not me. I will have to work on it.