Smith House

Happy Birthday Nevin & Averi!! #3

2009-03-17T18:25:00.005-06:00

The day we brought Nevin home. March 21, 2006

The day we brought Averi home. March 21, 2006

In their bed together napping.

TODAY!! MARCH 17, 2009

WOW time flies!! Twins are 3 today!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABIES!!!

Pictures of Ice Storm

2009-03-04T08:31:00.003-07:00

House with a bunch of branches that broke

Pole laying on ground

Substation full of ice

All the lines are down on ground.

Cody had the opportunity to go to the ice storm that hit Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky etc. back in January. There are some good pictures that he took. He was out there for 10 days. First they headed to Missouri stayed there for 6 days then headed to Arkansas.

Recipe Exchange

2009-02-04T08:28:00.002-07:00

Joining in on Ashley's Recipe Exchange. I am thankful for her doing this because I get tired of cooking the SAME thing every week.

Chicken Angelo

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
12 ounces Muenster cheese, sliced
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup (I use a big can, we like this kind of soup)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Rinse chicken breasts and pat dry. Dip chicken breasts in egg, then roll in bread crumbs to coat. Lay in a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Layer cheese on top of chicken. Spread soup on top of cheese. Bake covered in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake another 20 to 30 minutes more, until juices run clear.

ENJOY!!!

Monday Monday!!

2009-01-12T13:12:00.003-07:00

So I have not participated in "Not me Monday" in a long time. I haven't felt like in the past couple of weeks. Sorry! Our crazy life around here keeps me busy doing other things. You can head on over to Mckmama's blog to hear her "Not Me" and others. AND here I go.....

I did not enroll into school last week to get my pre reqs out of the way before I start nursing school. ME going back to school and HOW can I do that?? Sure as heck don't know but it's gonna happen!! Well hopefully anyways! Just pray for me to pass the classes!

I am not at all excited to be going back to school. Me excited...NOT ME!!

School in Colorado is NOT expensive....yeah whatever it's outreagous!

I did not have 7 children this morning to get ready for school. Well...3 of the 7 were already ready when their mom dropped them off and another 2 are not in school yet but still had to get them dressed. BUT 7 kids...wow!

I am not wondering if "Caffeine Free" is really caffeine free or is it??? I have switched over to caffeine free so I can lose some weight.

I did not look at the weather last Wednesday morning to see if it was going to snow so I could go wash my car. The weather channel showed no chance of snow so I washed my car and what do you know...Friday morning we did not wake up to snow and more snow this morning. CRAZY Colorado weather! Now my car is a mess again!

My husband did not stay up until 1:00 am Friday and Saturday playing a wii game named "Call of Duty" It's a war game and he has never played a game like that. He is MISTER sports guy.

Well that's all I can think of...have fun!

LONG overdue Pics

2009-01-04T19:32:00.005-07:00

The kids BEFORE they got cold, wet and whiney!

This year Cody and I decided to go find our own Christmas Tree (like Christmas Vacation movie) it was very frustrating taking ALL 4 kids out in the snow and finding our tree. All they did (well the twins) was whine the whole time we were out there. So we decided to head down to take them home and leave them with someone while we (Cody and I) went back up to find one. We were driving back down when I saw THE PERFECT ONE. I was very proud of my tree except it was VERY hard to get to. It was off the creek that ran down the mountain and down 2 steep hills. Cody was not happy with me after he pulled that sucker up. We measured it when we got home and it was 15 ft tall. It was HUGE. I made Cody cut 4 ft off because we needed room in our living room for it and our furniture.
Our PERFECT tree on Christmas Eve after Santa came to visit the house. Our Christmas dinner. Just the 6 of us ate the BEST Prime Rib. If you don't know how to cook Prime Rib, here is the recipe. Trust me the way you cook it...it works!! PROMISE! Hope everyone had a great holiday season and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Stamping on floor tile

2008-12-18T23:32:00.003-07:00

This is my new project for christmas gifts this year for Kalei & Emeri's teachers plus some other people with a different design (will post when done). These can be either coasters or something to hang on the wall. I think I am going to make this one to hang on the wall because I really don't want to have to deal with spraying it with a clear coat of matte finish. Hope you like and feel free to leave comments. I love comments!

Pictures that are PAST DUE

2008-12-18T10:28:00.004-07:00

HERE ARE THE PICTURES THAT WERE SUPPOSE TO BE POSTED A LONG TIME AGO.

CANON CITY PARADE OF LIGHTS

CODYS' WORK TRAILER THAT WAS IN THE PARADE. TURNED OUT GREAT THE PICTURES DOES NOT DO IT JUSTICE.

2 POLES ON EACH SIDE WITH LIGHTS IN BETWEEN WITH RAINDEER UNDER THE POLES. THERE WERE TREES AND SNOW (FAKE) ON THE TRAILER. DURING THE PARADE THERE WERE 2 GUYS THAT STOOD ON EACH POLE. IT WAS SO HARD TO GET A PICTURE IN THE DARK.

THE BUCKET TRUCK THAT PULLED THE TRAILER. THEY WON 2ND PLACE OUT OF 50. ALL THE MEN THAT WORK AT BLACK HILLS PUT GREAT EFFORT INTO THIS.

EMERI AND HER SPOON TRICK!! SHE IS THE SILLIEST KID I KNOW!!

Not Me Monday

2008-12-08T10:04:00.004-07:00

I have NOT been playing volleyball for 20 years and just until now that I was slammed in the face with a ball....literally. The guy that was stinking 6' 5" was NOT the most idiotic person going full force in hitting the ball on a girls height net. YES we were playing on a girls net because there was more girls than guys and the girls feel more comfortable playing on our net because the guys net is VERY tall. YES it was open gym and he had a right to hit the ball that hard but C'MON we are GIRLS. I did NOT cry because it hit me so hard in the nose and I did NOT cry all the way home while talking to my Mom because my nose was bleeding and I had a HUGE headache. Thanks mom for talking to me while I was driving to make sure I made it home safely and sorry I had to wake you up at 9:30 your time.

Our Sunday night volleyball league did NOT win the tournament yesterday. I'm NOT a little stoked about it. Nope NOT me that would be big headed!!

My oldest daughter did NOT have pink eye this week then give it to her sister. I did NOT immediately start drops on her just so she wouldn't get it so bad.

I did NOT wonder where in the world she got pink eye until I called my mother in law and then she then told me that my nephew had it a week before we came to Amarillo.

My husband was NOT married to his work parade float for the town christmas parade that was on Saturday. Nope NOT him because he wouldn't volunteer to do this for free...but he did.

It did NOT turn out pretty awesome and they did NOT win 2nd place out of 50 floats.

Finally...I'm NOT a little freaked out that Christmas is only 17 days away and we only have 1 more payday to get shopping done because I am not going to be that one that is shopping on Christmas Eve. Yep that is probably going to be me this year.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!! I will post pictures of the Christmas Float that my husband was on later. Thanks for reading!!

Random

2008-11-24T09:00:00.005-07:00

Nevin in Daddy's "BIG TRUCK"

Kalei and Emeri on their Cheer Night for the Florence Huskies

All 4 of them on Cheer night for the Florence Huskies. Florence, Colorado (10 minutes from Canon City) made it to the playoffs in football this year. They had a little pep rally for them the night before their first playoff game. The girls got to perform cheers and a dance for them. Then they announced every player and they cheered for them. It was very cute. Just to remind you that Kalei has a crush on #2 for this team so she was ALL excited to cheer for him. We followed this team more because Cody played football with 4 of the coaches. We may end up moving to Florence when we buy a house. Florence is a HUGE football town!! Also they win state every year in Softball. Which Kalei is starting to play on Monday nights. Right now they are just doing fundamentals then the games/tournaments start in May. Which adds to our BUSY schedule already.

Well I hope everyone has a GREAT Thanksgiving. Eat and enjoy the time with your family. We are headed to Amarillo on Wednesday and staying until Saturday/Sunday.

NOT ME MONDAY

I did NOT do laundry ALL day on Friday just to turn around and do ALL again today because we are going out of town on Wednesday.

I am NOT at all excited that we get to head out of town to see family.

My birthday is NOT on Wednesday (the day we are traveling) I don't want to travel on my birthday. Oh well guess I have to make the best of it.

I did NOT have the self-induced flu on Saturday because I did NOT get carried away on a few adult beverages on Friday night. NOT me...that would be very irresponsible of me.

I did NOT sleep all day on Saturday just to go back to bed around 8:00 that night after all the kids were in bed and the house was at least picked up. After all I did accomplish that.

I am NOT waking up on Black Friday just to go spend my b-day money. Not me...that would be selfish. Don't worry I AM buying presents for the kids.

Hope you enjoyed and again have a HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

Not Me Monday!

2008-11-17T10:03:00.009-07:00

Another Monday!! Go check out other Not Me's at Mckmama's blog. It's so great to post the things we did not do!! I don't have many but here are a few.

I did NOT make this yummy recipe for our Thanksgivng dinner last night at church and I did not (no really did not) even get to take them to the dinner because they were not done. Maybe there will NOT be a next time to take them that I will be a little more prepared!

I did NOT realize last night my SEVEN year old has the biggest crush on a MUCH OLDER boy at church. He is the quarter back for a football team that we go watch often. She comes home last night and asked me "Mom do you think #2 likes me?" OH NO she did NOT just say that??? She calls him #2 (she knows his name but thinks saying that is easier, that his is football #) I told her that she is WAY to young to be worried about that already. Which by the way they are 10 years apart. NOT me...I can't have a SEVEN y/o already boy crazy.

We did NOT have the most busy weekend this weekend and I'm NOT totally exhausted from it all.

I was NOT in bed ON a Saturday night by 8:30. NOT me...that is getting way old in age.

I did NOT laugh sooo hard at this commercial on Friday.

Finally, I am NOT so freaked out that it will be Thanksgiving next Thursday and Christmas is around the corner. NOT me...I love the holidays!!.

One more....We did NOT just move here almost 1 year ago. Where did time go????

Thanks for reading.

Not Me Monday (Early)

2008-11-02T20:29:00.004-07:00

I am posting Not me Monday early because tomorrow is going to filled with loads and loads of laundry that NEEDS to be done! If you don't know already who was the wonderful creator of this you can skip on over to Mckmama/Mckmiracle and read the other Not Me's; well just reading she may or may not post Not Me's tomorrow. And that is okay with me, she has her hands full with 4 little ones now. Their little "MckMiracle/Mckmuffin" was born and PRAISE GOD for ALL the prayers that were answered. We serve an amazing God!! He does great things in our lives and I couldn't go forward without having him in my life.

The other night I did NOT forget to turn off the light to twins bedroom after tucking them in bed and then heard Nevin crying and then yell at him to go to sleep. Normally they cry when I turn out lights not leave lights on. SILLY ME

I did NOT feed the kids waffles for lunch one day because it's what they wanted and I didn't feel like making anything else.

I do NOT have 9 loads of laundry to wash, fold and put away.

I did NOT realize that my vacuum may have been broken for a long time before Thursday. It runs like a champ now that I have replaced the belt. I am NOT a handy woman around here that would be wrong for me to be one!!

My youngest girl did NOT throw the biggest fit Friday morning when I was getting her ready to put the Minnie Mouse dress on her to go to the "Fall Fest" at her sisters school. I did NOT give into her and put another cheer outfit on her just to make her happy.

Later on that day I did NOT ask hubby to put it on her just to see if she threw a fit. She did NOT just stand there and let him put it on her without a fit (NO fit was thrown). I was NOT so mad when she did that.

I did NOT think that Emeri was the cutest "Go Go girl" EVER!!

My Go Go Girl

My Go Go Girl and Minnie Mouse

Finally, I did NOT almost hit a huge dear (buck) while leaving a message for my friend and scream right in the middle of the message instead of hanging up and driving. Instead I did NOT just ramble on and on and on about me almost hitting the dear. Then I laughed SO hard I was NOT crying because of the silly message I just left her and so scared that I came so close to hitting that huge thing.

Hope you enjoyed! Have a blessed week!

My Spider-Man

My Hannah Montana

CRAZY Hair

2008-10-28T21:20:00.002-06:00

MOUNTAIN DRY AIR AND THE TRAMPOLINE DON'T MIX....LOL!

First year

2008-10-27T22:06:00.007-06:00

This year was the first year Emeri could play soccer. They were called the "Kneekickers". It was just a bunch of kids and they just did drills with them. Then the end of the season, they scrimmaged. It was cute seeing Emeri out there.

They had to push the ball with their head on this pic. It was cute!

Then Nevin and his football OBSESSION. This boy HAS to wear something football EVERYDAY. If I would let him he would wear his Charger's jersey everyday. Every shirt I buy for this kid, I have to make sure it's football because if I dare put another shirt on him that doesn't have football, he will throw a FIT. It's pretty cute somedays but on others it's just frustrating. One morning we were just taking Kalei to the bus stop and he saw a football shirt that he HAD to wear. We were headed out the door and he wanted to take his PJ's off and put this shirt on. I told him that it was cold outside and he couldn't just wear the shirt. He threw a fit so I just put his shirt on over his pj's. He was happy with that and out the door we went. He is to funny. He wants to watch football 24/7 so I have to turn it on NFL Network so he can watch some kind of football.

I tried uploading a video but it wouldn't work. Going to have to work on that.

**FOOTBALL VIDEO**

NOT Me Monday

2008-10-27T08:34:00.008-06:00

I did NOT make all the kids and hubby grilled cheese sandwiches and for myself make nothing.

Saturday night I did NOT eat Reeses Peanut Butter cups and a banana split for dinner. NOT me that would be TOTALLY wrong!! And it was NOT after all the kids were in bed. That would be just mean if they didn't get any. NOT ME!

I did NOT tell my oldest that I would make her wear her own clothes for Halloween to be Hannah Montana then turn around and buy her an outfit of Hannah Montana while we were out shopping for the others costumes.

I did NOT buy a Spider Man costume WAY to big for my boy because that's all they had.

Last night my hubby did NOT make the BEST french toast with "Texas Toast"

I did NOT find my son trying to make toast in the pan on the stove one morning last week.

I did NOT let my 4 y/o run around like this after church because I was to lazy to make her put her skirt back on.

Finally, we did NOT lose to a team in rec volleyball in 3 games. It was NOT a important game that decided who was first. US OR THEM?? I was NOT SOOOOO upset that I dwelled on it for HOURS after the game and to find myself still dwelling today. That's okay though we will NOT totally kick their rears in the tournament to win the whole thing first of December. I'm not competitive in the least bit ;-)

Catch up on the info about NOT me Monday's at My Charming Kids. It is very fun to participate in. Have a good MONDAY everyone!!

"NOT Me" Monday

2008-10-20T13:09:00.005-06:00

Another Monday is here again. Mckmama was the wonderful creator of this, and it is very therapeutic!! I forgot that this was a Monday until I logged on to my blog and realized that there was a posting from Mckmama.

Was in the kitchen Wednesday night baking cookies and did NOT have a mouse run across my bare feet. NOT gross at all!!

Did NOT start bawling because it scared me so terribly bad.

Husband did NOT laugh at me because he thought it was funny.

Did NOT make hubby call in on Friday just so we can clean out garage and put traps down.

Did NOT take kids to pumpkin patch just so I can get more pumpkins for FREE!!

Did NOT carve my very first pumpkin on Friday night and figured out why we never did it as kids. Was NOT messy at all.

Did NOT go to Target today and buy 3 of my kids clothes and forgot to buy for Emeri (who was at school) I do NOT feel so terrible that I am going back tomorrow to buy her some.

We did NOT have family pictures taken on Saturday and did NOT have fun doing it and was NOT the most beautiful day and the trees are NOT beautiful this time of year around here. Also I will NOT make you wait until later to see the outcome of the pics.

FINALLY......

I do NOT plan on potty training my 2 1/2 year old twins this week. DO NOT wish me luck!! OH boy what fun!!

Beautiful carved pumpkin in the dark

All the kids at the Pumpkin Patch

The beautiful trees of Canon City, CO

HAND

2008-10-14T21:57:00.002-06:00

This would be a picture of Averi's hand under the door at 9:00 pm at night. She was sound asleep when I went in there to put her back in her bed. For some reason she has made her bed to be on the floor by the door SEVERAL times before this. I just happen to walk by and see her hand on this occasion. Silly girl...just had to share this!!

"NOT me!" Monday

2008-10-13T14:41:00.005-06:00

My first "NOT me!" Monday posting! You can join in on the rest of the Not Me's on Mckmama blog. She was the creator of this whole thing! I love reading others but thought I would take a shot at it.

I did NOT see a mouse run through the living room floor as I was changing Averi's diaper on Saturday IN the floor. My house have mice...NOT mine! I have NOT caught 4 mice in the house before this.

I did NOT catch the 5th mouse on Sunday after church. Again my house have mice...NO WAY.

I do NOT think that mice are just so gross I want to move out of this house and away from the fields that they could be coming from.

I am NOT so terribly scared of the Hantavirus that I refuse to clean out garage without my husband being here. OKAY enough about mice, but if you want to leave suggestions on what to do on this, feel free to leave me a comment.

I did NOT have an answer to my prayer this morning when I was talking to my friend about having pictures taken by her instead of using someone professionaly and then her telling me that someone from our church loves to take pictures because she (my friend) is not a good photographer.

I do NOT have to leave in 10 minutes to pick my 1st grader up from school.

Well there you go. This was fun...I will continue my "Not Me" Mondays. Stay tuned for our pictures to be posted when we have them done.

Love/Hate Fall

2008-10-07T10:54:00.002-06:00

Love Fall:

It's not to hot and not to cold (Well somedays living in Colorado)

The trees are BEAUTIFUL when they change color

Holidays are getting closer

Football Season

Volleyball games start

Hate Fall:

Getting the flu

Getting colds

Getting strep

We are only on the 7th day of October and 3 out of the 6 of us has been sick already. Copays to the dr when you have 4 kids are not cheap. Then perscriptions...yeah those aren't cheap either. Thank goodness for medical insurance. Twins are sick today..running fever of 104. Emeri was sick over weekend. Went to dr yesterday and the strep culture was negative but with Emeri's past experiences, they are treating her with antibiotics anyways. Not sure of what this nasty virus is but it needs to go away. I pray that my immune system is stronger than theirs because I don't have time to be sick. I pray for this season to be better than last.

Lineman's Wife Poem

2008-09-24T14:32:00.001-06:00

A JOURNEYMAN'S WIFE

Dinner’s been ready, it’s gotten pretty cold, when a call she gets, not surprised of what she’s been told.“Gotta work late again honey, I won’t be home.” She sighs, knowing that again she’ll be alone.
The money is good, but it can’t compare, to the love she has and she doesn’t want to share with a company that has become his life, the one she teases him about being his second wife.
Usually alone to events she goes, where everyone asks for him, hell don’t they know, there’s a storm tonight, he’s out in the cold, braving the weather, always so bold. And no one thinks of her when they call in for service, she knows of the dangers, bites her lip ‘cause she’s nervous. The weather gets worse, but he’s on his way home, he’ll greet his wife, she’s no longer alone.
A kiss on the lips and a really tight hug, it’s time for bed, she’s ready to snug. And with his arms around his wife, dreaming about the good things in life, the telephone rings, glancing at the caller i.d., well what do you know, it’s the power company.
So off he goes to work on your wires at all times of the night and late into the hours. She lays in their bed and prays for his life, that he’ll be home soon and safe tonight. She tosses and turns, clicks off the light, God give her strength...She’s a Journeyman’s wife.

Written by: Denise Moreno 3/01

Lineman's Rodeo 2008

2008-09-18T11:05:00.003-06:00

Last week Cody and I got to go to Kansas City for the International Lineman's Rodeo. A week away from the kids and it was a much needed break!! Codys' grandparents came into town to keep the kids. So blessed that they came and helped out. It had rained for 3 day straight so it was a MUDDY mess. On Friday night we had to go all over town to find some water boots. Thank goodness for those or I would have ruined my shoes.

None of my kids...they would have looked worse than this. This is just to show how muddy it was.

We had a blast!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMERI

2008-09-08T21:51:00.001-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMI!

BORN 9/8/04

7LBS 13OZ AT 10:04 AM

1st day of Preschool (again)

2008-09-03T13:16:00.004-06:00

Last Year

I tried putting Emeri in preschool last year but it didn't happen that way. She was still a little young and cried when I left. I couldn't handle that. Also she wasn't 3 yet when school started.

This year she is a little more mature to go. Also she has someone she knows in her class so that makes it easier. She did great when I dropped her off, didn't cry at all. As I was in the class I heard the teacher say that they will have lunch about 11:30....um oh no LUNCH? I didn't bring lunch for her. So I went to Walmart and got her a lunchable and took it back to her. As I was walking in the door I heard her crying. Why is she crying? Teacher met me before I got to the classroom and I asked her why she was crying? She was missing me, my heart was broken. I didn't want her to see me but she saw me anyways. She got better after I left the teacher said. So hopefully she will get past that and learn and be smart!!

Baby Powder

2008-09-02T22:20:00.001-06:00

WHAT A MESS!!

Nevin and Averi decided that they would have a great time getting into the baby powder on Monday. I smelled baby powder for hours after that clean up.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KALEI

2008-08-31T16:49:00.003-06:00

The clothes she has on on the top are doll clothes. They were the only things small enough to fit her at the time. She was 7 weeks old here. WOW how time flies. She was born 10:02 am August 31, 2001, 3 lbs 3 oz, 17 in long and 5 weeks early. Among all that with her intestines on outside of her body. Fighter from the beginning. Strong willed, socialable, likable, loveable and my little girl! HAPPY BIRTHDA Kalei Rae Smith!!!

1st day of 1st Grade

2008-08-18T10:43:00.003-06:00

I CANNOT believe that it's already that time of the year again. She was so excited to go to school this morning. Emeri starts September 3rd in preschool. Then twins will go next year to preschool. 3 hours of no kids is the ultimate dream for me!! I just have to wait another year! Can it be next year yet?? KIDDING! WOW how time flies!

Prayers Needed

2008-07-30T20:43:00.002-06:00

Just when I thought everything was starting to get better......tonight as I was getting Nevin out of the bath after washing his head I patted it dry then it started oozing pus. NASTY!! We saw the pediatrician today for Emeri to get her stitches out (she did great on getting them out) and I mentioned to her that Nevin's head was a little red around the area. She said nothing really because it didn't look horrible. Now I have to really monitor it closely to make sure it doesn't get worse. Please keep us in your prayers. We have been through A LOT lately. When it rains it pours! The staple I think caused more problems then it did good. Monday we had to go see a general surgeon to get it out. He was very rough with Nevin and just pulled it out, Nevin screamed the whole time and now this. If it gets worse we may have to have it drained. Pray it doesn't go that far and it will heal up just fine. I am heading to get him antibiotics to take orally so we can catch the infection maybe before it gets worse. OH BOY another week of HELL!!

Another ER visit

2008-07-28T10:31:00.004-06:00

Can you say another ER visit....less than a week apart from Nevins. Oh boy the vacation we just had was one from HELL. Started off great but then went down hill quickly. The pic above is Emeri's eye the morning after my sister in law rolled the jeep on it's side. VERY scary experience. Emeri was buckled in they say but still managed to hit something hard. Not sure what that was. Poor thing....but everything and everybody was okay after it happened. We were between Silverton, CO and Ouray, CO on a trail called "Corkscrew". We love this trail because it's not really rocky. Well Cody and I stopped at the bathrooms and then ran out of gas so we told Ranell (mother in law) to go ahead and we will meet them at top. Well just right after they passed another jeep past and went ahead of us. A little time passes as Cody is filling up tank with our gas can and the jeep that went past us came flying back down backwards. The guy jumped out and ask "Is your Mom in the wrangler up ahead?" Cody said yes, well they just rolled it. OH S*%#@ I said. First thing I think is off the mountain. Im paniced by this point and I start asking about Emeri. Guy said everything is okay and little blonde (which would be Emeri) has a pretty good cut. So I jumped in with him while Cody got everything put away. I get up there and just saw the jeep in the road turned on it's side. WHEW thank god it wasn't off the mountain. I look at Emeri and saw that she is going to need stitches. I forgot my first aid kit down at our jeep about 100 yards down the hill. So I start running down to go get it. Cody cant get the jeep started. It's flooded....oh great. I go running back up the hill without Cody. I go back to tend to Emeri and she is already bandaged up and stopped bleeding for the most part. Now what....how are we going to get down off this mountain?? There are about 7 guys helping us get the jeep turned over and out of the road. Cody is still trying to get up the hill and finally he shows up because he is the youngest of these 7 guys that were trying to get this jeep turned back over. I knew he could help ALOT!! Well after about an hour we finally got the jeep on all 4 wheels again. It wouldn't start. Our jeep finally started and we headed down the hill in our jeep with our saviors in their jeep to make sure we made it down okay. We left Ranells jeep up there until Friday morning. Called tow company to go and get it. What happened was that the jeeps engine died and so they rolled back into a bank to get it started again and went to fast and turned over. Rolled upon bank to fast then tipped. Cody would of done same thing. Got down finally and headed to Montrose, CO to the hospital. 4 stitches later and a nice drug to calm her down was a breeze!! Just very very very thankful for the people that helped us get down. Guy and Ladonna Garrett were our saviors. They had 3 great children that helped entertain ours while we were dealing with jeep. Kalei was with us while this happened and twins were with Cody's grandparents at the hotel, they are still a little to young to bring and Thankfull that they are still young.

Some pics of the moutain we went over before lunch. All this happened after lunch.

We will be getting back into a jeep, Emeri on the other hand may not be getting back into one.

Boys will be Boys

2008-07-20T15:50:00.004-06:00

My poor Nevin fell off of the bleachers Saturday night at Cody's football game just right after we got there. We maybe were there 30 minutes before he fell. The bleachers weren't very tall but he was on the second from top when he fell. He fell straight back on his head, so I jump down to see if he was okay and saw that there was a rock IN his head. I can't deal with head blood/trauma on my own children. It makes me sick to my stomach. When I saw that it was worse than I thought, there was a girl that was down there with me and I told her I can't she is gonna have to take him. I told myself that I needed to suck it up and deal with him and the head blood. She starts yelling for a medic. Good thing that there was a medic there because she told me to take him in ASAP. So I start to panic and think the worse. I leave Kalei and Emeri there with the coaches wife and me and Jen (the girl that held Nevin when I couldn't)hop in the car and go to the ER. Man it was amazing we were in there and out within a hour. That is a record ER visit. AWESOME!! They took x-rays to make sure that it wasn't in farther than we thought and it wasn't. They numbed his head and cleaned it up and man it was nasty. The rock was huge to be in that little head. It was flush with his head, like it was pushed in there. They removed the rock and there was a indention the size of the rock. Poor little guy he cried the whole time and cried even more when they put a staple in his head. I picked him up, he calmed down and he was tired of being there. He looked at me and said "BYE BYE" We laughed and said he is back to normal!! BEWARE OF PICS....KIND OF NASTY It is just a pic of what it looked like today and the rock. The rock looks really huge (it is multiplied a little)in the pic but we did keep it as his little souvenir. He's proud of it!!

Official

2008-07-20T15:34:00.002-06:00

Twins are in big beds. It's hardly possible that they are this big to be in big beds. They do really great in them!

WOW, it's been awhile!

2008-07-08T18:52:00.007-06:00

Wow just looking at when I last posted and it's been a month since I last posted. Oops! Well since then I have gone to Amarillo for my 10 year reunion, but did not take any pictures while I was there in Amarillo. Why?? I can't even tell you why. Im sure my Mom took some, I will have to hit her up for some pics. I did cut my hair off while I was in town, and I absolutely love it!! I did get to experience something I haven't in a long time. A tornado and the sirens that go along with the scare. Well technically it was a little far from where my parents live but still just the whole idea of it was scary. Girls went CRAZY. Crying and freaking out was not a sight I could handle. I remember when I was little we stood in the backyard watching stuff fall into our backyard, wondering what the heck was happening because no sirens were going off. We survived but something I haven't been through in a long time. Need to move back where we get storms not just snow and wind.

Also, we also took a little trip to Red River, NM for the 4th of July. Had sooo much fun getting to relax in the mountain air and do some jeeping. So much cooler than where we are now. Really we are only 30 minutes away from mountains but Canon City is still soo hot. It's a tradition to go up there every year for the 4th for the town parade and to go 4-wheeling. Kids love it during the parade because they throw candy to them. They leave with gallon sack full of candy. Well and I also love it to because candy is my sinful obsession. The kids get a few pieces.... ;-)

We went up a trail called "Goose Lake" with my brother, Sommer and Kyle and just after we started up we saw a bear. It was just a cub so we knew that Momma bear was somewhere so we got the heck out of there as soon as I took one picture. Luckily we didn't have any kids with us so it didn't freak out much. Just a little on the scary side.

Goose Lake is behind us. This is at the top of it. As you can see there is still some snow.

We went up Greeny Peak with just Nevin and Averi and lets just say it was a job taking them up there. They slept the most part going up but on the way down was a different story. Averi cried and Nevin wanted out of his seat. They both ended up in my lap on the way down. Miserable!!

On to Colorado Mountains in 2 weeks....can't wait!! Will post pics!

Catching Up

2008-06-09T08:43:00.006-06:00

Another visit to the Duck Pond, this time with Kalei.

Had this installed in the car on Thursday. Hopefully it will be a great thing for when we go to Amarillo. We drove to Denver this past Saturday and they did pretty good with it. They each have there own set of wireless headphones. These kids are totally spoiled! Where were these when we were kids???

Colorado Havoc vs Colorado Cobras

Lost 45 to 0...the game was horrible but you win some and you lose some! Cody is #31 and plays Middle Linebacker. I really enjoy watching him play and I always have enjoyed watching him play. Some people think he is nuts for playing since he has a family and career, but if you know Cody at all, he LOVES the game of football. He eats, breaths, talks and dreams about football. This is just to pass the time until Nevin gets into it. Just be in prayer for him!

www.hometeamsonline.com/coloradohavoc

Duck Pond

2008-05-15T23:26:00.002-06:00

The kids love to go feed the ducks. Kalei is not in the pictures because we go when she is at school. I do plan on taking all of them when school is out.

Carnival

2008-05-15T23:09:00.006-06:00

Later on in the evening we decided to take the kids to the carnival. The carnival started setting up on the Sunday before May 2nd and of course we had to drive by it EVERYDAY until a week later when we went. I had to hear everytime...."can we go, can we go?" "When are we going huh mom?" So we had to take them. Plus this is our first year in Canon so we are doing everything once! While we were there, we ran into Kalei's friend and her mom and grandparents. We all go to the same church and have become friends with the parents. Was not much the twins could ride but they did ride flying dumbos and they loved it!

Nevin and Averi on Flying Dumbos

Kalei & Nikki Averi and I Nevin & Christine

Parade

2008-05-15T22:34:00.005-06:00

Whew...I haven't posted a blog in a long time. We have been crazy busy around here.

First weekend in May every year, Canon City has a "Blossom Festival" were they have a parade, carnival, arts & crafts show, live music and a rodeo. It is suppose to celebrate when everything is blooming and coming out for the spring (not this year...snowed 2 days before that). It was a really fun weekend for the girls because they were apart of the parade. They got to join the gymnastics group. They go to gymnastics on Tuesdays for an hour each. The parade runs from 3rd st to 14th street on Main. They had to wear gloves because they were doing cartwheels on the street. I was planning on leaving them with their group but got there and saw how many people were there and said no, Im not leaving. I walked with them pushing the twins in the stroller for the whole parade. Needless to say I got my excersise. The girls had a blast and they were so tired afterwards. The weather actually turned out decent for the day.

The guys were nice enough to let the kids sit in their mini cars.

Kalei and Emeri in action during Parade.

Another Update on Rylee

2008-05-01T10:31:00.002-06:00

Rylee and Ashlee are both home. Rylee got to go home yesterday. She is now 5lbs 5oz. She has gained 2 oz since she was born. Kylee said she is so tiny compared to Kyndee (Kylee's baby girl). So glad everything went great. Ashlee is much relieved! Thanks for your prayers.

National Day of Prayer

2008-05-01T09:49:00.003-06:00

Today May 1, 2008 is "National Day of Prayer". Here is a link to the official website http://www.ndptf.org/

2008 Prayer for Our Nation

Dr. Ravi Zacharias 2008 Honorary Chairman,

National Day of Prayer Task Force Holy

Father, in a world where so many are hungry,

You have given us food in abundance;

In a world where so many are hurting,

You offer to bind up our wounds;

In a world where so many are lonely,

You offer friendship to every heart;

In a world longing for peace,

You offer hope.

Yet, we are so stubborn and resistant.

Have mercy upon us, Lord.

Our nation is at a crossroads this year;

we look to you to be our strength and shield.

Please give us the guidance to elect one who will honor you

and to respond to the wisdom from above

so that our hope may be renewed and our blessings be treasured.

In God's holy name.

I believe that prayers are so crucial right now for our nation at this time in crisis with the gas prices, housing market, for the price of groceries, election, etc. As Ricki Skaggs put it, "We are praying that a drawing toward Christ in relationship would take place. Prayer always precedes revival...no revival ever started without prayer. Prayer shows a dependency upon God."

Scriptures:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Jude 20

I ask that you be in prayer today but not because it's National Prayer Day but because our country needs it as well as individuals.

Cody is traveling to Grand Junction next week for work. Pray for safe travels for him and pray for me as I will be at home with kids the whole week without anyone here but me. This trip is his first trip away from us in a long time. He hasn't left town since before the twins were born. Kind of nervous and scared because it will be a stressful doing everything by myself. I will manage hopefully!!

Update

2008-04-28T11:51:00.004-06:00

Update on Ashlee & Rylee

Rylee is doing so great. She may be going home either tomorrow or Wednesday. She has started to eat really well. She is off of the oxygen and completely breathing on her own. For those who know when you have a little one in NICU at BSA they like to have the parents stay overnight with the baby before they go home. Well Ashlee gets to stay with her tonight. Wow the memories that brings back for me when I was suppose to stay with Kalei when she was NICU (long story for later). Anyways, they did her carseat test last night for what I know she past and did great! I really appreciate ALL your prayers for Ashlee and will update when she goes home.

Be in prayer

2008-04-22T20:14:00.002-06:00

Please be in prayer for Ashlee Ferris. She had her baby today and she was 4 weeks early. They put Rylee in NICU because she had fluid in her lungs. She weighed 5lbs 3oz. Ashlee is a very good friend of mine. She is really upset so keep her in your prayers as well.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:6-9

YUMMY Recipe

2008-04-21T18:05:00.000-06:00

The chicken recipe is for 4 pieces, so plan to double this if you need to.

Chicken with Basil Cream Sauce over Angel Hair Pasta

1/4 C. milk
1/4 C. dry bread crumbs
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 T. butter or margarine
1 T. olive oil
1/2 C. chicken broth
1 C. heavy whipping cream
1 4-oz. jar diced pimientos, drained
1/2 C. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 C. minced fresh basil (or 1 t. dried)
1/8 t. pepper
1 t. cornstarch
angel hair pasta, cooked
Preheat oven to 350°F. Place milk and bread crumbs in separate shallow bowls. Dip chicken in milk, then coat with bread crumbs. In skillet over medium heat, brown chicken on both sides in butter and olive oil. Remove and place in preheated oven to keep warm.
Add broth to skillet. Bring to a boil over medium heat and stir to loosen browned bits from pan bottom. Stir in whipping cream and pimientos, boil and stir for 1 minute. Reduce heat. Stir in Parmesan, basil and pepper and cook until heated through. Mix cornstarch with extra chicken broth and stir into skillet if needed to thicken sauce. Pour over chicken. Serve over angel hair pasta

Pedicure

2008-04-21T14:24:00.003-06:00

What has taking me so long to get a pedicure?? Yesterday was my very first one and man was it nice!!! Now if I can just get my toenails to grow longer I will be good! We all know I never get out by myself without kids and yesterday was a much needed break. I was sitting in church yesterday and looked down at my feet....and yuck, I had rough hills that needed some love!! I just think that is gross and sorry people if I offended you. So we get home after church and I told Cody that I was going to Pueblo by myself. He didn't have a problem with that. I told him if I wasn't home by 7:00 then to give the kids a bath and put them to bed. Yeah that didn't go over so well but still he didn't care what I did as long as he didn't have to go anywhere. I get in the car thinking I was headed to Pueblo to go to Sams Club and Target....well it was sooooo quiet in the car that I didn't want to make that 30 min drive there. Instead I went to Walmart and got a pedicure at the nail place there then did grocery shopping. I sat there for atleast 3 hours but didn't care...I was getting a pedicure. They were really busy. I think that is going to be my every 2 week thing now because it was sooooo nice! Yeah my toes look wonderful and my feet are better looking with out the rough hills!!

UPSET

2008-04-17T17:06:00.005-06:00

So I haven't posted anything in a while, but man I have to release some anger and sickness. I haven't watched the weather in awhile but I look at weather.com to see what the temp will be. Saw that they were forcasting "preceptitation" so that means snow for us. With the way the temps are here yeah it's always snow. So I am thinking yeah right, the past couple of storms they predicted have not happened and have not gotten any "precipitation". As I am putting the kids in the bath it starts to snow really heavy. Coming down like crazy and kept coming until I went to bed at 11 and I was thinking to myself that it was 85 on Tuesday. I woke up this morning with 3.8 inches on the ground. FRUSTRATING when it's suppose to be spring and be pretty. Not the case for Colorado. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Colorado but the snow is never going to end. Wouldn't be surprised if we get snow in June...LOL.

I get up this morning and get Kalei ready for school, running late as usual and decide to throw flip flops on. Luckily it didn't stick to the cement, only grass and rocks. So I really didn't have to walk through snow. I started scrapping my car off with a broom and that's when my feet were freezing. The snow was falling on my feet. Burrr it was cold. Get Kalei to school just fine and on time barely. Then about noon the sun came out and melted all the snow. 3:00 rolls around get in my car to go get Kalei and look at my windshield. My heart sank into the floor....my windshield was cracked. I was so devestated and wanted to cry. Out of all the cars I have had, none were cracked. I felt sooooo sick to my stomach I want to just go back home. I didn't even know there were nicks in my windshield much less this to happen. My nice bus is not so nice anymore with a cracked windshield. It's only 2 years old and it's depreciated even more now. Totally sucks and don't know if I want to get it replaced because with the way this weather is in CO it will just happen again.

This is just my pity party for my car with a cracked windshield....oh well! Pictures of what it looked like this morning.

Tangled path leads to God

2008-04-06T20:37:00.005-06:00

As many of you don't know that Canon City, Colorado has 13 prisons within Fremont County. That is A LOT of prisons just within minutes from where we live. I read this article in the Amarillo paper (yes, I still read that paper) and it put a lot of thoughts in my head. This article goes right along with what our preacher preached about today. Well he actually didn't preach but we had some of our mission people come in from Africa and tell us about the journey that they have been on for 2 years now. It was AMAZING on how they have ministered to people in Zimbabwe, Africa. I sat there thinking to myself what kind of mission would I or could I be good at?? We ALL know I can't just leave and go out of the country to share what Jesus did for me because I have 4 little ones that need me. So my mind keeps wondering how can Jesus use me to minister?? This touched me so much because Cody and I are crazy weird about prisons and what the inmates go through. We watch MSNBC all the time because they have "Lockdown" on their program that talks to inmates on what prison is like for them. Some of them are filled with hate, anger and are part of gangs and some aren't. Some of them do have Jesus with them or they say they do. All I can do is believe that that is the truth. So going back to my thoughts on how to be a part of a mission. Right now the answer hasn't come to me, all I can do is pray about this because I am NOT one to get up in front of people and speak about what God has done for me. I don't do well in front of people at all especially when it comes to talking about the Bible. So I think how can God use me on the outside of prisons from a distance and not speaking to a bunch of inmates? Hmmmm, no answers yet and there may not be an answer so I just thought I would share this article and let you pray for me on how I need to be a part of a mission. Feel free to click the link and read this article. This may not make sense to anyone but it's a thought that I needed to get out there. http://www.amarillo.com/stories/040608/new_10044168.shtml

Coloring Eggs

2008-03-25T15:33:00.006-06:00

We colored our eggs on saturday night. It was HILARIOUS. I gave Nevin the first egg and he thought it was a ball and threw it across the kitchen. Thanks goodness they were boiled and I didn't have a mess to clean up. It just cracked it, so we were down to 19 eggs. Gave Averi an egg and she dropped it on the floor. OOPS! 18 eggs left. Everytime I gave Nevin an egg, I had to make sure he didn't throw it. He did try to throw them in the coloring though. It was a eventfull evening. The babies didn't understand when we were done that the eggs had to be put up in the fridge. Hopefully next year it will be a little less chaotic!

Egg Hunt

2008-03-25T15:02:00.007-06:00

Saturday Canon City put on a big Easter egg hunt. Being that we are new to the town I thought that would be so cool to go to. Well the thought was not what I thought it would be (if that even makes sense?) We get there a little early thinking that they would have vendors out there serving lunch or food......um no they had nothing to eat but candy out there. They had all the sections of the park roped off labeled with age groups and the sections were full of eggs. Trying to keep the kids out of the sections for an hour was impossible. Thank goodness for strollers! Well the twins egg hunt was at 1:00 pm, they started getting a little cranky about 12:35 because they wanted the eggs or they wanted to run around. By that time there were zillions of people around their little section to where I didn't want them running around. I kept telling them no they can't have eggs that they will get their turn soon. The rules were that if they were over 1 years old that the parents had to stay back and not help them. Finally 1:00 came and they said "GO", the babies just looked at me like "HUH we can go" I told them to go without me going out there myself and helping them and by that time the eggs were ALL gone. Twins did not get 1 egg or 1 piece of candy. I think I was the ONLY parent that followed the rules. Needless to say is that we won't go back next year because of the fact that they had very little eggs for zillions of kids. VERY frustrating! Kalei and Emeri got some eggs because they were a little faster at it, but the overall outcome of the whole deal just upset me. Luckily I had over 60 eggs at home for 4 kids and only 18 of them were real. So the rest were full of candy!

Sin City

2008-03-18T13:47:00.006-06:00

We are headed to "Sin City" in April for a wedding. I have been searching for flights and hotels for the past couple of weeks. I am not really sure what hotels are nice downtown. The wedding party is staying at the Golden Nugget but I really don't want to pay $140 a night if there is a nicer cheaper price down there. So therefore, I need your input on hotels in the downtown area of Las Vegas. Also I need input on whether or not I want to combine airfare and hotel or separate them because there is a possibility of it being cheaper. Heck who knows...as you can tell we don't fly much or go really anywhere that requires thought and planning. We are used to going to places that we are familiar with!!! Thanks for your input! You can comment under this posting. Just click "comment" after all of our names.

Happy Birthday to my Twins!!

2008-03-17T14:28:00.011-06:00

WOW...time flies by so fast. Nevin and Averi turn 2 today. Seems like yesterday I found out that we were having twins. We had just a little birthday for them on Saturday. My parents came to town and we drove to Colorado Springs to have a party at Chuck E Cheese. Well since it was just going to be us and my parents I did not reserve any spot for a party. No need to! We got to Chuck E Cheese about 1:00 thinking that would be a good time to go because the lunch crowd would be phased out. Um not this case.....the line was out the door to get checked in and there was no parking. I was soooo bummed and felt really bad because we ended up not going in. Kalei and Emeri were so upset because we did not get to go so I told them we would come back over spring break which is next week. We ended up eating lunch at Macaroni Grill which was awesome food and having their cake and opening presents at home. Averi was sick on Saturday and I think if we went in to Chuck E Cheese she would have been MISERABLE. She slept through lunch and I had to hold her and eat at the same time. Hopefully in the future I will plan things better. This year their birthday came so fast! It's been a rough year with all of them being sick.

For their birthday, they got clothes from my Mom and MeMa and they are the cutest clothes. Having pictures made in them because Kalei and Emeri got the same outfit as Averi (so look our for that posting!). From Cody and I they got ride on things. Averi's is a Pooh Airplane and Nevin got a ride on 4-wheeler. Of course they fight over just one and it's the airplane....go figure!!

Learning something new.....

2008-03-17T12:49:00.006-06:00

Well being that we are away from our family and friends, blogs are the easiest way to keep up with our family since almost everyone has internet access now! I am just getting started with the whole blog thing so patience everyone...I will get the hang of it!! This is a awesome way of posting new pictures of us and for everyone to keep up with our family of 6. So keep checking back, I will post when I can!