Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone! I haven't been able to blog for a while now. It is amazing how much I miss it :) Anyways, long story short... We have had the virus from hell hit our home. Sara had bronchitis, Jimmy had croup along with a 105 fever. I had bronchitis and strep (I was in bed for a week). And now my poor Eberly has it now on Thanksgiving and her birthday!
I just wanted all of you to know I have not vanished. I have just been laid up in bed with that horrible bug! I have been trying to catch up on reading. I will try and start catching up on my posting too here soon. Have to catch up on the week of housework first!
Love you all. Looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Help!

Calling all sister-in-laws, mother-in-laws, friends, sisters.... ANYONE! We have a party to go to tomorrow for Michael's squad. I am supposed to bring a side dish... BUT I am totally bored with my same old same old recipes.
If you have any great side dish recipes... PLEASE send them on over. I know so many of you are great cooks and very creative so I am very excited to see what you can come up with.

THANKS A MILLION!

Happy Birhtday Jimmy

Make a Smilebox slideshow

4 Years ago... Our family was made complete with the birth of our little guy... Jimmy.. Here is a little slideshow of some pictures from the last 4 years. It has gone by so fast. We are so greatful to have him in our home. We never have a dull moment with him in our home :)

Happy Birthday Jimmy!

Love a Man in Uniform

Mike made his debut on Cops last Saturday night. We had a blast watching him. Mike was working that night, but he was still hoping to be able to watch it at his department. That didn't happen. He got a call during the second tidbit that they showed. So, he missed the whole thing. Eberly, Katie, Jimmy and I watched it together. (Sara was spending the night at my mom's house) The kids were SO excited to see him on TV. You could see the look of pride on their faces. Mike called me about half way through the episode to see what they were showing. I finally had to tell him to "shut up" and hung up on him. He was interrupting!
The kids all clapped when it was all done. Sara called me and screamed "COOL! DAD IS FAMOUS!" You would have thought he won an emmy. The kids were on cloud 9. They said to me "We can't go to sleep now, MOM! We are too excited."
I love how proud they are of him. I am proud of the work he does. Next Friday Mike is getting a special Sheriff's Certificate of Lifesaving. He helped to save a man's life and Sheriff Kolender will be presenting him with an award at a special ceremony.
If you weren't able to watch the episode, you can watch it on the website:
http://www.cops.com
They will have it on the website for about another week. They have said that he might be on again. I will keep you all posted. Love my man in uniform!

Welcome Home

Two weeks ago Wednesday, my second son came home! Garrett returned from his mission in Tempe Arizona. He called us Wednesday night and was able to talk to each of the kids. He was shocked at how much Jimmy talked. On Saturday he gave us a call to see if he could come over. We really wanted to surprise the kids so we didn't tell them he was coming. We told them we had a surprise for them. Eberly says "It's Garrett huh? He's coming over?" We didn't want to ruin it for them, so we told them "No, we are just going to let you guys stay up late and watch a movie." They were really disappointed. When Mike saw his car pull up he went outside telling the kids he was just checking to make sure his car was locked. They were all engrossed in a movie when Garrett quietly walked in. All of a sudden Eberly saw him out of the corner of her eye; about the same time that Jimmy did. Eberly was all wrapped up in her blanket and couldn't get out fast enough. Garrett was bombarded with lovings! What a great welcome home.

We were able to see him last Sunday for his homecoming talk. As I mentioned when Kyle came home, I was so impressed with how well he spoke. You could tell how much knowledge he has of the gospel.

We got to spend some time with him this afternoon. He was able to come with us to pick up the kids from school. They all ran to him and soon as they saw him. Mike and I were cooking dinner and all we could hear outside was laughter. Garrett was out there with the kids playing dodgeball, tag and wrestling. I got a couple of pictures, but my camera's batteries were dying and half of them turned out fuzzy. As you can see from the two pics that actually turned out, there was nothing but happiness in my backyard this afternoon. At one point I looked out the window and Garrett had ALL 4 kids hanging on him. I wish I could save that laughter in a bottle. It was priceless. After dinner we sat down and watched a movie together. All the kids took turns snuggling in Garrett's lap to watch the movie.

As VERY hard as it was to say goodbye two years ago, it has been so special and wonderful welcoming my boys home.