Fernley Visit

HOME SWEET HOME

It is amazing to me how attached I got to this place. The appeal was not in its beauty, but the people are what made me love this place. They truly did become family to us and I will remember them always. So when we finally saw this exit sign Friday I was so excited! It felt like home.

We joke with the Chapman's that Olivia and Cole will marry one day so we can truly become family...if things keep up between these two that might just happen. (Olivia he is going on a mission don't worry!) I wanted to use a better picture of Cole but this is the best one I had...he looks a little questionable in this...like he is a little player.


After we got situated at our hotel we went and hung out at Jaine's house. It was sooo fun to see how the kids had changed and to watch them interact with each other. Here Reece is doing damage control because they had a little skiff and Morgan got upset.

It didn't take her long to warm back up to little Reece!


Tressa is so great she had a little party at her house so we could all hang out. It was so fun. The kids (all 20 + of them!) had a great time! I can't express how happy it made me to see all the kids playing together again. Super fun Tressa thank you so much! And of course you have to have a group shot of all us women!

I was not about to try and get the men to pose so I thought this would have to do. We are missing Trevor in this picture though dang it!

Carson was in heaven..eating Popsicles, jumping on the tramp with all the girls and just having fun!

Morgan was so good there. She didn't fuss all night.

Here is the man himself....Mr. Shane Chapman.

These ladies are so fun. There is never any dull conversation when these guys are around!

This is the best picture I had of Janie and I. She truly is a fabulous woman and I consider her my sister. Her testimony is so strong and she is such an example to me. Thank you Janie for letting us stay with you!!

Mike and Nathan hanging out...I know Mike was really happy to see his friends again. We decided that we will have to make this trip again in the future.

Lots Going On!

I hate it when I don't keep up with blogging because when I finally do its such a huge job! (Too overwhelming and its hard to keep pictures organized.) The pictures are a little out of order but o-well here we go. I will persevere in the name of family history!

RANDOM SHOTS

These two are pretty cute together. I love how he has his arm around her. The boys for the most part are really good to her.


These babies came straight from my garden in one picking! I went overboard with tomatoes this year and feel a little successful with them. I was (and still am) able to go out everyday and get a handful of these. I had some problems with the big ones splitting but that's about all.


Mo and me getting ready to go to Uncle TJ's house to play.


Carson and I looking at each other very lovingly. Carson is a good boy he is going to make some girl one day very happy.


Here is the little man on his first day of preschool. He was, and still is, pretty excited about school. We got him into a cute little place really close to the house. I am excited about all the fun things he will be doing.


Here he is outside of Miss. Reine's house.


This is his little class and teacher coming out so we can pick him up.


This is a very beautiful thing going on in this picture. We have had 5 chickens and 1 rooster roaming around our backyard for awhile now. Can I just say crap was everywhere! They roosted on our porch so when we came out there would be all this poop right where we needed to walk. Well, Michael heard my crys and came to the rescue. Brandon and Mike are working on our new (huge) chicken coop...its almost done!

My baby girl turned two on Sunday! Is she not the sweetest thing? She is a joy to have in our home! We would not be complete with out her.


We have three horses now. One is ours and two we board. This is Bradon's 4 year old horse. He is always so sweet to the kids and takes them on rides.

For Mike growing up a city boy he has sure adjusted to living in the country for the years. He loves his horse and enjoys riding. It makes me happy to see him so happy!

This is Lily. This is the female horse that has caused a lot of drama between all the horses. I never realized how much personality horses have. She is concerned in this picture cuz Mike is taking her boyfriend away. The whole time he rides Yancy she will sit and cry after him. It is fascinating to watch.

Little Morgan walking all the way out to the corral in the back. She is a little trooper.

Here is Morgan's first day of school. I have decided to have one on one teaching time with her the days Carson goes to preschool. I can tell already she is going to excell just like the other boys. She likes to work on her alaphbet already!

So here is my new hair do. I totally went drastic. Mike and I had our 8th anniversay a few weeks back so I thought it would be fun to send him on a treasure hunt and at the end when he saw me I would be totally different. (I wanted to spice things up a bit.) Well, I got the reaction I wanted... he was totally surprised. Gone are the days of putting so much time into how I look. Granted I think I look better blonde but #1 my hair grows out dark too fast #2 I don't want to have to fork over the doe to keep up with it and #3 when its longer I have to put so much time and effort into it.

Here is Morgan playing with one of her new birthday toys. (Thank you family for the b-day money we got her some good toys that she loved.)

Mike and Yancy.

Thought on 9/11

That day almost 9 years ago definitely changed me. I was 22 at the time. I was going to college and new in the gospel...life was really good. My roommate, Liz, called me that morning and woke me up and told me kind of in a panic to get up and turn on the TV. I did what she asked because her tone was different. What I saw on the news was that the first plane had hit and just minutes into watching I watched as the second plane hit. As I type this I feel the shock and sorrow of the day.

I thought, what is going on? Two planes crashing into the same building... this is not an accident. For some reason the realization that there was people out there that would kill themselves in order to kill and hurt others really grieved me.

For the next week (at least!) I was glued to the TV. I couldn't get enough of what was being said and what new information that kept coming in. I was totally obsessed.

Now nine years later I still get sad over the evil, crazies out there but more than focus on the evil in human nature I like to reflect on how people came together. All the people from all over the country that came to volunteer was amazing, all the patriotic e-mails that I got inundated with that made me feel good, all the news stories that told of brave men and women doing heroic things to help one another survive the attack. This is the side of human nature that I like to linger on.

Its my belief that there are more good, decent, human beings out there than we think. Its also my belief that this is God's promised land and that if we remember Him and remember our neighbors in times of need we will all be okay...no matter what happens!

Where To Begin?

Parent's Visit
Mom & Randy came and visited with us for a few hours one day. We love having them come and visit. Now that we are closer their plan is to come and visit then leave, no more overnighter's which we will miss, but we are closer so we'll not complain. The boys love rough housing with Grandpa! They are always ready for mortal combat when he comes to play. And with Grandma its coloring time and showing off all the new things they have learned.




Shana & John Visit
I am so bummed! My computer crashed on me (that has never happened before) and I lost the pictures of Shana's visit. She is my 1st cousin. We were really close when we were younger. I spent a lot of time at her house growing up there for awhile. We would always think of fun things to do and always cry when it was time for me to go. To make us feel better my Aunt Kathleen would give us some Coke to drink before she took me home. Great memories so it was Wonderful to have her and her wonderful husband visit us here. They came twice and it was a blast. We hope to see them a lot more now. Hopefully, when they come again they will have fine tuned their skills in bowling so we won't have to school them again. And maybe the boys will go camping again and me and Shana can have a workout/cry-fest like last time. (I promise this next time I won't cry through the whole movie!)


Date With Cole
To get Cole ready for school I thought it would be fun to make a special day out of it. We went into town and got his school uniform and then went to Red Robin and pigged out! Cole is now in first grade!! I can't believe it. I will save how I feel all about that in his first day of school post.