Good hair day gone really really BAD!

I wish that I would have taken a picture of Rylenn when her hairs was all done. It was really cute! Who could have guessed that one little nap could have done this!

Crazy hair for a crazy girl!

Growing up Josh!

This last week was Josh's 29th birthday! We went out to dinner with Josh's parents and then came home to open a couple of gifts and have ice-cream. It is so funny cause the kids think that you can't have a birthday unless you turn off all the lights and hide and when they come home you jump out and shout Happy Birthday. They do this with everyone it is kind of funny! Anyway I hope Josh had a good day, and I hope that he knows how much he means to me and the kids. I truly mean it when I saw that we have the best Dad in the world, and I feel a little bit sad for the rest of you! But that's OK I'm sure most of your husbands come in at a close 2nd! Well I thought it would be fun to give you a sneak peek at Josh's life growing up. But first, I love this picture that I got of Josh and Rylenn while he was blowing out his candles, Ry looks so nervous!

Did you like Josh's rice crispy and twinkie birthday cake? I know you're impressed!

These are in no particular order

Josh with his Grand Champion Steer!

I fell in love with that smile!

Always spending time with the kids! One of our favorite things to do is ride quads at Grandpa and Grandmas

Josh opening his mission call. Josh served in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania mission.

6th grade school picture! What a cutie!

Josh at Eagar Daze doing the mud obstacles!

Josh rocking out with Rock Band. He actually has a really good voice!

Josh has 2 passions, football and cows. As far as football goes, as long as it is a college or high school game it doesn't matter who is playing he is watching! Most of the time he will even be one of the first ones at the game, cause you know it is so important that you watch the players warm up! During football season on Friday nights I become a widow. But it doesn't just end when the game is over then you have to come home and turn on the radio and listen to all the highlights and then read White Mountain Football online to see all the trash talk for the up coming games. He loves it! anything and everything about the game he loves! For the most part I don't mind, I actually like going to the games with him, so it becomes a fun family event. I'm glad he has a hobby that he enjoys so much!


This year we were very lucky and were able to get ASU season tickets, we had a blast and were even able to bring Emmy and Tucker to one of the games. Go ASU!

Any yes I did say his other passion is cows! Josh grew up doing 4H, mostly steers and he loves it! He is counting down the days till Emmy is old enough to get a steer! We have a little joke going and I told him as long as she can have a pink show halter with diamonds across the nose then she can have a steer! Josh wants no part of that! Josh, Tucker and Josh's Dad will spend hours looking at a good herd of cows, I really don't know what they are looking at, but they love it!

This is one of my favorites! What a cute cowboy!!!

Josh graduated from Round Valley High 1998

Josh at his baptism!

Love this picture!, funny thing is, we have a picture almost identical to this with Tucker on a horse when he was really little and Josh was leading

This is Josh's senior picture and probably my most favorite! It brings back so many memories When Josh left on his mission this was the picture that I had and that I would cry over every night! J/K It does bring back a lot of good memories and of letters back and forth for 2 years!

I just have to say that Josh is the most amazing person I have ever met! There is nothing he can't do! He is the worlds best Dad, he watches all 4 kids without a hitch and most of the time can do it better then I can! He is a excellent cook and cooks most of our meals! The kids adore him when he walks into the room all they want is Dad! He even helps out with most of the house work, just this last weekend after I had gone to bed Josh stayed up late and cleaned the house for me, he said it was because he knew how hard I had worked to get it clean and that it always gets trashed in a matter of minutes! I was so grateful not only for the clean house but also for the fact that he understands! But probably the most attractive quality that Josh has is his testimony and his Faith of our Father in Heaven. He never waivers! He is always there to pull me back or lift me up! He honors his priesthood and is the rock in our family! Josh is truly an amazing person and if you have ever met him you know what I mean, I have never met a person that didn't like Josh or even had anything unkind to say about him. When I married him my Mom would always tell me that I had found my prince! But truthfully most of the time I feel a little bit inadequate and that I don't measure up! But that is good it keeps me striving to be better! I don't know what I did to deserve you but I'm so glad that you are my husband and that I get to spend eternity with you! I hope you have a Happy Birthday!

The rest of Christmas!

I know these posts about Christmas have dragged on for way to long now, but I want to write it all down so we can remember later in life. So if you are sick of hearing about our Christmas just skip over this and come back tomorrow.

Here is what the rest of our day looked like....


Yes that is Grandpa painting Rylenns finger nails. Emmy got lots of polish for Christmas so she wasted no time in painting her nails, and of course what Emmy does Ry wants to do. So Grandpa helped out and painted Rylenns nails.

He is even blowing them dry for her! Priceless!

I love this picture most of all, proof that Grandpa really did paint finger nails. What a good Grandpa!!!

Of course the kids were begging to go outside and play with the horse, so we bundled them up and let them go out for awhile. Sugar Cookie is still pretty young and hasn't been broke yet so we didn't really know what to expect from her. Josh walked out into the pasture to get her and she met him have way, she was so gentle that we decided to let the kids lead her around for a bit. They loved it! They would have stayed out there with her all day if we would have let them. But it was way cold!

I was so surprised at how gentle she was with the kids! I'm so excited that we have her, I just can't wait to be able to ride!

Hut Hut!

This was Tuckers Christmas this year, football, football and more football! This is just couple of the things he got, his helmet, jersey, pants and football slippers! The pants are actually under armor pads that you ware under your pants, but we couldn't find him football pants that were small enough to fit him, Actually everything was way to big they just don't make football gear for kids that small! Oh well he doesn't know the difference and he loves them anyway!

Yep, Tucker wore this all day long. In fact he wore it the rest of the week! It was so cold outside that I had to convince him to at least put on a long sleeve under shirt on. He wasn't to thrilled about that until a football got turned on and he could see the football players in long sleeve under shirts. Then he was all for it! This kid cracks me up he truly loves football! He will sit in front of the T.V. and watch a whole game, but he doesn't just watch he picks a player to be and then mimics what ever that guy does. It he goes long for a pass, so does Tuck, if he gets tackled, Tucker falls to the ground, when they huddle he huddles, when they get down on the line so does he. It is hilarious to watch but to him it is all business! and he will do this through the whole game. In the morning instead of asking for cartoons he wants to know if there is a football game on. Crazy kid! I just can't wait to watch him play when he gets old enough. He is just so little that I hope he grows a little first! Well that night we had dinner with family and then had a cousin bring over Rock Band. We decided to let the kids play first, then us adults could play without the "whens it our turn" in our ear every couple of minutes. This is Emmy singing away to "Eye of the Tiger" (her favorite song). She did really well, and not just with singing, this girl can rock! She did awesome on the drums and the guitar but I think singing is her favorite!

Tucker rocking out on guitar!

Well that about raps up our Christmas! I do have to say that was probably the best Christmas we have had!

We love Sugar Cookies!

Many of you know that a couple of months ago at my Uncles benefit dinner and auction someone donated a little paint pony to be auctioned off. We were able to get her at a very good price. So we decided to save her for the kids Christmas gift. I was so excited! I think every kid at some point in there childhood asks for a pony. Well this year was going to be the year that my kids wish came true! Friends allowed us to keep her on their ranch up in Eagar till Christmas eve. That night when the kids were in bed Josh and my Father in-law went and got her and put her in the front pasture at my in-laws where we were staying for Christmas. Josh pined her in the front of the pasture so that she would be up close to the house when it was time for the kids to see her. The next morning after all the gifts were opened and it was light outside we handed the kids one more gift. In it was a clue that started them on a big treasure hunt all around the house. The final clue was found in the garage with a bag of carrots, the funny thing was that there is this wild rabbit living at my in-laws that my kids have been trying to hunt down. The final clue said something like, go around the bend to see our new family friend. So they thought we had caught the rabbit and that the carrots were for it. So around the corner they went......

As soon as they saw the horse Emmy said yay we get to feed a horse some carrots. She thought that was there gift, feeding a horse some carrots. We had to explain it over and over that this was there horse. After it finally sunk in there was a lot of jumping up and down and screaming and Ry kept saying over and over, my hosey my hosey. Tucker ran over and grabbed her around the neck and was hanging there hugging her. Emmy was trying as fast as she could to get the carrots opened to feed them to her and Ry just kept jumping up and down "my hosey my hosey". We were all over feeding and petting the horse and I could here the kids talking about how they were so excited for their cousins to come up later that day so they could show them the knew horse that they would all share. I realized they thought that the horse was going to stay at Grandma and Grandpas and that they would share her with their cousins. Once again I had to explain. This was their horse we would be taking her home with us to Coolidge and although I was glad they wanted to share with their cousins this was just their horse nobody elses. More screaming and more jumping up and down and I think they finally realized that this was their horse.

Tucker feeding his new horse a carrot!

At one point Tucker started screaming this is the best day ever we got a horse and it is snowing! You can see in this picture that it was snowing! It was the perfect Christmas morning that we will be talking about for a long time!!!

Along with our new pet came new chores but this was a chore that everybody wanted to be a part of! Here is Josh with the kids getting some feed for our new horse! I love how Ry is calling her to come like she is a dog! To cute!

Ready and willing to help with chores. All week every time it was time to feed the horse all the kids wanted to go help, it was so cold outside that we would have to bundle them all up just to go outside for a few minutes to feed the horse. I just hope that excitement about there new chore lasts!

I love Emmy's face after letting the horse eat gain out of her hand!

Well Grandpa had it all planed out. He would turn on some good ol' John Wayne movies and the kids could think for a couple of days about what to name their new horse, but as soon as they saw it that was the first thing they wanted to do. I suggested that we give her a Christmas name like Jingle bell or Holly Berry or Sugar Cookie. All the kids started screaming, ya Sugar Cookie, we like Sugar Cookie. And so it is Sugar Cookie. You may be wondering what sugar cookies have to do with Christmas but everyone knows, that is Santa's favorite cookie so that is what we leave for him every year. Well Dad and Grandpa were not happy that I had given the kids any suggestions, they hate the name! Oh well hopefully it will grow on them. The kids love it!

Christmas Day! The Opening of the Gifts!

From my last post you know we have a tradition of opening a gift on Christmas Eve (which is always PJ's, but Shhhhh my kids haven't figured that out yet!), and this year we started a new tradition. In the morning when my kids wake up they are under strict orders to not go out of there room till they wake up Mom and Dad and we can all go in together. Well this year I thought it would be fun to start a new tradition, when they wake up on Christmas morning there will be a gift waiting for them on their bed that they are aloud to open with out us (it will always be slippers, but shhhh they don't know that either). It was fun to start that this year and to hear them all giggling about the presents on there beds! But somehow in all the commotion I forgot to take a picture of all there cute slippers. Maybe next year I'll remember to get one! After they opened their slippers we all piled into Grandma and Grandpa's room to make sure they were good and awake. Grandpa and Dad build a fire and turn on the Christmas music and get it all ready for us to see what Santa brought!

All Tucker wanted from Santa was football stuff. This kid has two obsessions football and cowboys! Santa came through and gave Tucker 2 football helmets complete with his brand on them and a Jersey!

Tucker Trying on his new football pads from Mom and Dad!

Emmy asked for this little dog named Tisha, Santa was very thought full and also brought her a caring case so Emmy can take Tisha with her where ever she goes! Oh yay!

Emmy is growing up so fast, for Christmas this year she wanted jewelry, I just know next time I blink its going to be make up and shaving. SCARY!

Haydenn got this toy and one other. The other toy that she got is so cute it is a butterfly that is suppose to help them to crawl. It sings and rolls around on the floor but when we got it out to give it to her she started freaking out. She hates it! It scares her to death! Poor girl those 2 things was all she got. At least she likes this one!

Santa actually brought Ry a microphone that has a stand and different buttons that you can push which she loved but I guess that I didn't get a picture of it. So here is Ry with the fairy doll from her stocking. We couldn't get Ry to open her gifts all she wanted was her stocking, she could see the toys and candy and stuff coming out of it. But once she realized that if she would open her gift there was toys in them, she was all over it!

Well there was a lot more gifts and a lot more pictures but I think you get the idea with these! I'll post about our most very special gift to the kids and the rest of our Christmas day later!

Nativity and PJ's

Christmas Eve 2008

Like I said before this year for Christmas we were in Eagar at my in-laws. So on Christmas eve we did the traditional, take the goody plates around to our friends and look at the Christmas lights. This year was way cool because while we were out we saw Santa and his reindeer flying through the air, we could even see the glowing nose leading the way. My kids were dying to get home and get to bed cause they thought Santa was going to pass over our house cause they were still awake. It was a lot of fun. I never seen them so excited! When we got home it wasn't quite time for bed we still had some fun stuff to do. So we started out with getting them all dressed up and they acted out the nativity while Grandpa read it. That was a lot of fun! I did get a little teary eyed seeing my kids play those special roles!

Haydenn had a really cute beanie on that was a little to small so it kept coming off, she looked like a Jew wearing those funny hat things

After our Nativity my kids got to open one gift, this is always a tradition as well.

The anticipation of what it could possibly be. So excited!

PJ's! It is always the same every year, PJ's for Christmas eve, but they still haven't caught on to that yet!

All the kiddos in there new pj's. I would have like the girls to have matching jammies but this year I just took what I could get! And they still look so cute and cozy!

Emmy in her new Christmas jammies!

Ry in her new pj's and boots. She has become attached to these boots. They are irrigation boots that we bought this summer to go camping in and she hasn't taken them off since. As soon as she got on her jammies the boots came on to. What can you do?

I don't know why but I didn't get pics of Haydenn or Tucker in there new jammies, it was kind of a crazy night. After opening there pj's we put the kids to bed they really didn't do to bad, in fact about 30 min after sending them to bed we realized that we forgot to put out cookies and milk for Santa. So all the kids got back up to leave the cookies and milk. I was thinking oh great now they are really going to be wired. But they did really good, they went back to bed no problem and were asleep in no time. It was a fun evening!

Santa IS real!!!!

This year for Christmas we went up to my in laws in Eagar! I left Monday afternoon hoping to beat a big storm that was coming and Josh came up with his Dad on Tuesday night. Well as you can see from my header (which I did all by myself) the storm definitely came! I did actually get caught in it. It was really scary! My in-laws had taken Tucker and Emmy up with them the Friday before so it was just me and the 2 little girls. About 45 min outside of Showlow it started snowing really hard, No big deal I can deal with this. As long as I can see the road markings so I can tell where I'm at on the road I will be fine. Did I mention that it was now dark outside! Well it was snowing so hard that it only took like 15 min before the road was completely snowed over, and I couldn't see the road markings. I was all by myself on the road to there wasn't another car insight. I finally had to pull over on the shoulder and call Josh to ask for help! We were trying to decide if I should just sit there and maybe wait it out and see if it cleared up at all, but we knew the weather had said that it was going to be snowing all night long. I thought maybe I should just keep trying to go, but I knew that there was one more mountain pass that I had to get through and that is what scared me. Quickly I said another prayer and just then a truck passed me, I could see his tire marks on the rode. So I decided to go for it! I was glad I did a little ways down the road the snow eased up a little just long enough for me to get through that mountain pass and then it started again. By the time I got to Showlow I think I passed like 8 snow plows headed the direction that I had just come from. Where were they when I needed them? From Showlow on it wasn't to bad. It snowed, but I made it. Well showlow got the brunt end of the storm it kind of just went around Eagar but the next day my kids did wake up to snow on the ground and they were so excited! Emmy said "Mom Santa gave us snow for Christmas just like we wanted! We played outside in it for a little bit but got to cold, so then went inside to sit by the fire and watch it snow some more. Thanks Santa!!! The snow was perfect for making snow balls!
Or for eating, Emmy loved eating the snow! Doesn't she look so cute! a true snow bunny!

She even tried to get Ry to eat some. Ry was so unsure of the whole snow thing!

I had just nailed Tucker in the head with a snowball. You can see it on his hat!

What else is the snow good for? SNOW BALL FIGHTS!! Grandma even joined in, and check out those boots, I think those things were around when I was a kid! Looking good Grandma!

More snow ball fights!

So proud of the snow angels they had made!

It was starting to get cold but we couldn't go inside without building a snowman!

I know it was a pretty pathetic snowman, but hey they were proud of it!