More Christmas 2008

We need an updated family photo bad....this one will have to do for now. This is when we were at my parents house getting ready for our family party. I thought the boys were pretty good while we were there. I was proud of them.

I colored my hair a few weeks back and I think I love it. This way with the economy crashing and all, I don't have to worry about dark roots anymore.

Morgan Ann loves her daddy. It is so cute to see her face light up when she sees him. And it is really cute to see how sweet Michael is with her.

The two baby girls. Bella is extremely sweet. She is a very easy going baby and it was fun to spend a little time with her.

And Cassie Kaunanie (I don't even know how to spell her middle name)! I have so much fun with her. She always has a great sense of humor and is really fun to be around. We always seem to be laughing when we are with each other. I am very fortunate to have her...even with all her drama.

I am sad to say I didn't even get one photo of me or any of my kids with mom and Randy. We will have to make it a point next time. They are so wonderful to take us all into there home when we come.

Christmas 2008 in Idaho

We went to Idaho the week before Christmas and we got lucky. We were able to attend two Christmas parties. One with the Collet's and one with the Call's. It was a lot of fun to see all my family. It is very strange to see how everyone is growing up. I usually don't get to see both sides, so it was a really special trip.



Whats nice about family is that you pick right up where you left off. You may not talk everyday or even once a year but when you get together it is like old times.




My grandma Clydene with baby Bella.

Shana and Jon. It was nice to finally meet him and see how happy Shana is.


My awesome brother Jake. He is always so fun to be around. He has the best sense of humor.

Paul and Corene with one of there little ones. While we were there we played this game called Mofia (Ben taught us how to play)...it was so fun. I think we started around 8pm and played till 12:30 am.

Here are all the cousins on the Collet side together. They all played really well together. It was cute to watch.

November Moments

Cole's naps are few and far between these days. But today he just so happened to take one underneath is bed. He told me he was going to camp out. Its in moments like these, when he is sleeping and so sweet, that I just want to hold him in my arms and tell him I am going to be the best mom I can be for him, because he deserves it. My little baby Cole is not my little baby any more. He is going to be turning 5 next year and going to school. I can't believe that.

My sweet little Morgan. She is a wonderful baby. I want this time with her to go by slow. It seems like life is going so fast for me and I want to savor these special moments of the kids when they are little. I really have high hopes for this little one to stay sweet even when she gets older. It will be fun to read back on this when she is in her terrible two's and I can say to myself "at lest I hoped".

Little Carson is such a character these days. He is in the telling story's phase. And it is so fun to watch his expressions as he tells of his adventures of running into sharks or spiders that he had to fight off. He is so animated when he tells them I just love to watch him.

Thanksgiving List

This article was written by Janene W. Baadsgaard and I have to post it cause I want this to be saved. This is so perfect and fitting in my life right now.

I am grateful my children demand I talk to them when I don't feel like talking, feed them when I am not hungry, and change their diapers even when I am all dressed up and ready to go somewhere special. I don't think I would discover the world outside my own needs without them.

I'm grateful my children haven't learned how to hold back their tears when they're sad, laughter when they're happy, or screams when they're frightened. They constantly remind me that emotions are for sharing.

I'm grateful my children have broken nearly everything in my home and used a crayon or ink marker on the rest. They've taught me that things aren't important, but people are.

I'm grateful my children start out small and helpless so they don't become aware of my incompetence until they're teenagers. By then, we've both grown so accustomed to each other, we somehow manage to make it through the rest of life together.

I'm grateful my children get their pants dirty, pick their noses, burp without saying "excuse me", and quarrel in public so I'll never be able to get too arrogant, proper, or judgemental of other people's chilren.

I'm grateful my children always need new shoes, piano books, perscriptions, haircuts, fieldtrip money, tution, food, toothpaste, and underware. That way, I don't have to waste my time thinking about a new sofa. Its difficult to get wealthy and think about lixuries when you have to buy toilet paper and milk by the truckload each week.

I'm grateful my children question my every command and giggle when I get angry. It's difficult to feel powerful or self-rightous with kids around to remind you of how funny you look when you are pointing you finger.

I am grateful my children insist I hug, kiss, rock, or put my arms around them often. Otherwise I think I'd forget how the sense of touch is so healing.

I'm grateful each of my children is unique when the same strange, inexperienced mother raised them. Somehow they don't seem to let me ruin them much.

And lastly, I'm grateful for the gift of children in my life. God willing, I'd like to fill the rest of my days with those interesting people who call me mom but eventually Grandma.

Family Visit

I am so behind on keeping up with things.

We had Mike's family come and stay with us for Morgan's blessing. It just so happened to be the same weekend of Halloween which was awesome! Grandma Pressley came up Thursday evening and the boys loved seeing her. We are so proud that she took the trip all by herself. We sure did miss Grandpa Pressley though.

T.J. and his family came Friday. And it was so much fun to be with them again. I can't believe how much the girls have grown. I really enjoyed talking with them and seeing what was going on in there lives. Kids really do grow up fast.

I forgot how much the boys LOVE playing with them. I don't think I had to yell at them once while they were here. Cole and Carson were so busy with the girls they didn't have time to fight with each other.

A huge perk of family visiting, besides my boys not beating on each other, was the baby was held the whole time. If I had to do something it wasn't a problem.

Here is Elaine with her boys. It was fun to see how happy she was, and Mike. She should really be proud of herself for raising two great men.

Good job Elaine!

Trunk Or Treat

Here we are at the church for trunk or treat. I am with my beautiful friends... the mouse and the crazied prom queen who are Jessica and Janie.

Here is Michael with Obama (a.k.a. Shane). Mike was lucky enough to recieve some of the wealth that was being spread around by Obama that night.

These two characters had a lot of fun. Carson was very hesitant about the scary, dressed up people at the church. He stayed by me the whole night. Cole, however, was loving life. He was a little chef and enjoyed chasing around with the kids that night.

Morgan was a little fussy. She wasn't having it. And I was a little miserable trying to hold her. I had on that nasty wig that would not stay out of my face. I might need to rethink that one next year.

Morgan was a pumkin on Halloween. We took her out for a little bit that night.

Cole wanted to be a chef. He loves the chef on the Little Mermaid and is always acting out the part where he is trying to kill the crab.

And of course Carson wanted to be a football player. It was actually a toss up between this and a soccer boy. I didn't want him to go treak or treating in shorts though, so thankfully he was happy with this one.

President Obama, What Did We Do?

I have followed this election more closely than any before and I am numb by what has transpired. Obama didn't just win, he smoked McCain! Am I surprised at this outcome? Yes and no.

I think Obama is a good, intelligent, human being that probably means well. And I love that he is black and won the election. He is an inspiration to those who think they can't or that their color in this country is a deterrent. However, these are not reasons to vote him in as President of the United States. There needs to be substance to his message, experience in his leading and transparency in his life.

To many out there fell in love with his message of "change". What change is he talking about? Obama described all these ideals with feel good messages but never told us how he was going to accomplish them. And when you get to the root of what he was talking about it came down to helping those that want handouts. I don't want to help those kinds of people. Maybe that is unchristian of me, but I want to help those who will help themselves and be thankful and grateful for what I give and not receive and ask "Is that all?"

Obama has had 170 something days in the Senate and was a community leader vs. McCain's many years in the Senate, his military history and his extensive knowledge of world events. I don't question McCain's love of country because he has worked for it all his life.

I do however question Obama's, which leads me to the transparency issue. Some judge in Hawaii has sealed Obama's birth certificate...why? If our new President wants his people to trust him he needs to let us know where he was born. (This is important because in order to be president of the United States you need to be born here.) Not to mention his ties with unseemly characters that have done harm to our country. And what blows me away the most is his membership in Reverend Wrights church. We all remember that American bashing preacher don't we? I don't think we do because look who are president is.

I am surprised that he is president for the above reasons.

Now why I am not surprised he is our president. Too many of us want to have our ears tickled with what others are going to do for us, not what we have to do for ourselves. Its like the story in the New Testament. The majority of people followed Christ to be feed, not by His Word, but with the bread he gave them. We love those that will feed us and that is not good. Why? because that's how we become enslaved. We give up so much for the "easy life". The good life is not easy nor do we want it to be when you ponder what you loose to obtain ease.

Not only do we want someone to feed us we don't do our homework. We let the media teach us what to think and rely on the source being truthful to us. We don't make our freedom a priority so we don't follow up on the things we hear. We have become complacent and lazy. I am included in this and it makes me sad. I think we need to wake up and get involved. We need to demand more from the people that represent us in congress. We need to demand more from our own selves.

So now we have President Obama to lead us for the next four years. I choose to be hopeful about whats going to come to pass but I am going to plan for the worse. I will look for the good in the man and hope he will protect us and our rights while he is in office. I do have to say I am so thankful that we know what is coming in these last days and we have a prophet on the watch tower.