Happy Mothers Day

so after reading my last post and being all gushy mushy about my kiddo's and my Mom I failed to mention a few things
first: I have been blessed to have had an amazing Mother in-Law... I won't sugar coat it, our relationship wasn't always butterflies and roses (we both LOVE super hard and sometimes could but heads a bit) but I can not deny the fact that she made my amazing, wonderful, supportive husband.. she was so much fun.. there are ways she mothered her children that I WISH I could be like.. the fun part.. I need more Sheri in my mothering for sure.  I have another Mother in Law today, I don't know her well (that will change soon I'm sure) but I am thankful for her, Ben's Dad cared for his Mom for several years before she passed away and so to see him so happy again was good.. She is really coming through in a major way as of late with some of Ben's Dad's health issue (remember, not my story to tell) and we can't be more thankful for her love of him and her devotion.. what a 1st year of marriage for them!!!

which leads into my next issue I failed to mention before.. my HUSBAND.. I am blessed to have an amazingly supportive husband who puts up with my hormonal teary rants.. who knows when I need to get out of the house and then insists upon it.. He supports our family and works so hard.. I am thankful for him and how he leads our family...

I came upon this video in another blog and its what sparked my thoughts today
http://youtu.be/3LQ80TFOGvw

so thankful I have a Husband who is teaching my kids how to love their wives, future mother of their children!!!

Columbus day Apple Picking!!!

so it's FREEZING here.. we are still bound and determined to keep the thermostat below 70 on some kind of consistant basis, but my will is BREAKING!!!

Since its columbus day and the kids (and ME!) are off of school we decided to do what all the other locals do and we went apple picking.. Ben was working so we took off early (to try to beat any kind of crowds!) and ate at a GREAT pancake place and headed up the mountain to pick apples.. it was SO fun BUT it took like 15 minutes before we had filled out big 18-20 pounder bag and we had gotten our assorted variety's (according to the kids)... my fav variety so far are the Empire... the weather was cold BUT at least the sun came out so it didn't really do anything to the temp but it made me feel better at least (total mind trip I know!!!) these apple trees were nothing like I had ever seen before, they were puney and more like apple shrubs but boy the HUGE apples that they produce are YUMMY!!! the guy at the farm said after the first good snow the'll probably close cuz the apples get too mushy and since there is snow forcasted for tonight (VERY early for this neck of the woods) it's so sad all those great apples will go to waist (ok not to waist the guy also said they go through and get the ones that aren't totally smashed from the ground below the trees they send off to make cider so I would think after some snow it all goes to cider)...

now the question, what the heck do I do with 22 pounds of APPLES!!! i'm defrosting pie crust (no judgements steph!) and i'm going to do a couple of pies and probably some apple sauce and I found a recipe for cookies but i'm not sure about those.. here's what I know forsure.. we will be COMPLETELY appled out by time we get through all of this...

ta ta

Day 1 of Feb Break... Shoot me NOW!!!

Ok so let me set the scene for you... I have 3 LOVELY children who normally are fairly well behaved (don't scoff!)... only throw in a 5 day stomach flu, 2+ feet of snow, and a little girl that is probably fighting some kind of bug because she can't seem to stay awake and when she is awake she is whining and screaming and you get one frazzled mother who is ready to call the superintendent and INSIST school be called back to session we have snow days to make up after all!!!

Anyway I have no clue how many inches we got yesterday, we were forcasted to get more than 2 feet but it snowed on and off most of the day today also and After Brad went and snow plowed several times today mostly due to the awful heavy wind Ben came home and cleaned up the corners of the entrance of the driveway... Have i mentioned how DONE i am with SNOW!!! Ben is trying to get me to take a picture of our drive way because you can see the several feet of snow that has built up over last few months and thats even after our slight thaw we got a few weeks ago.. Maybe i'll do that tomorrow!

I don't have any idea whats wrong with KayLea but she is SUPER CRANKY and she has taken a nap for the last 3 days (something she hasn't done since she was 2)... she insists her ears don't hurt and although she did up-chuck one night last week I really think it was because she ate a whole box of Peeps and not much else... she's not running a fever and after sleeping for 2 hours this afternoon I made her wake up for fear she would never sleep tonight.. although the nap's don't seem to be doing ANYTHING for her sunny disposition (or lack there of!)

Hunter and Brad are fighting over who gets to plow etc. (you'd think that would be a good thing.. it's really not!) and I'm holding having a friend over later in the week for a sleepover over Hunters head to pry good behavior...

although all 3 seemed to find something great by the end of the day, an hour or so before dinner they all wanted to play outside.. I was skeptical because the wind was still harsh and the temp was VERY LOW but I was at my whits end so I gave in, they somehow got into making snow forts (snow caves really)... they ALL thought it was the coolest thing KayLea LOVED being the guinny pig and going in and trying out the "forts" to see if they needed more room etc.. they probably could have been out there for hours if it hadn't gotten dark...

Tomorrow I think we are going to try for a Movie, we have a play date with another family for a movie on Thursday too so cross our fingers that will be enough to break up the week so I won't want to send them all away to boarding schools by Friday!!!

Oh yea Ben's birthday is Wednesday, only bummer he has to work and Brad has an orthodontist appt and we have scouts that night so I don't know when we'll celebrate more than a cake and happy birthday, but such is life for us old fogies!.. for his birthday he's going to Lake winnapisacki (spelling sucks folks!) and spending the night on the frozen lake in a snow hut.. doesn't sound anything like fun to me but he's wanted to do this for a while and his 35th seemed like a good one to do that.. he's going this weekend so I'll have to take him out for his Birthday sometime after that... and he works so hard he deserves a weekend of ice fishing...

so that's the long and short of it
ta ta

Wrapping my mind around..

This is what i've been trying to do for the last day and a half.. My parents called me night before last to tell my my younger sister will most likely have to have a radical hysterectomy next week.. My sis has been struggling for some time with fertility issues and finally came to terms with her situation and gets slammed with this news which only puts a period at the end of any kind of miracle sentence.. They do have one child (my only neice right now!) and so there are blessings to be recognized for sure!

Here's what I have to wrap my mind around.. My sister has ALWAYS wanted to be a mother, I'm pretty certain I relentlessly teased her for the fact that when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up that was her first response. Motherhood was deffenately second to any senario I had envisioned when I was a teenager.. I had grand plans.. college, a high powered career then perhaps children when i was established.. admitting this now only shows the blogsphere how totally out of touch I was as a Teenager.. don't get me wrong when I had Brad I then knew this is what I was suppose to do.. I in no way want to convey that I don't like being a Mother.. It is my life's calling.. anyway getting off subject.. During Stephanie's wedding shower they did a little game where they asked her then soon to be husband how many children they wanted and then she had to give her answer to see how close they matched.. I don't remmber allot of the other answers but BOTH of them answered 12 and they ment it!!! we all laughed..

So this news for my sister had a profound effect on me the the last 2 nights.. It made me think of what Heavenly Father has planned for us and how his plan is sometimes so different than what we had planned.. Stephanie is very blessed she is devistated now BUT i do know she will be fine.. I have to admit I was pretty angry at the big guy up stairs it was my first gut instinct, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around all of this but mostly I'm praying for a speedy recovery for my sis, I called her yesterday and Just balled with her.. these are times when we all scratch our heads and figure out why we moved so far from each other.. I wish as the Big Sister I could just go out and take care of her for as long as she needs it but I'm not yet in that stag of life.. (i'm being torn by wanting to put a brick on my kids heads so they don't grow up and wanting them to be able to drive and be self sufficent) So She knows what I can do and for now it's just being here to listen to her cry.. We love her and know she is being watched over!

tata

ANOTHER snowy sunday and My life is now my own again!

So once again for the 3rd time this season the roads were way too awful for us to brave Church this morning... I just got a new calling in the Primary Presidency and I'm beginning to wonder if they think I'm avoiding it... I know they don't, they know I live in the sticks but really this is getting WAY old!!!

As for the my life is my own again, THE PLAY IS OVER!!! it was a great success and the kids had a blast But I have to say I'm glad it's done... It was so much work...Here are some pictures.. I have to just share, KayLea was a little ham and did great but when we were getting ready to leave for the theatre the first night of the show she announced she didn't want ME to do her hair, she had heard there would be "someone" there who would be doing the girls hair, I told her the person was really only there to do the lead girl's hair (they needed up-do's) and she might not have time to do a curly high pony tail for her so I would leave with out it being done but she better not argue if I ended up having to do it.. she agree and to her glee we got there earlier than anyone else and she got to be the first one done and was so excited she also got to wear "real makeup" (don't worry we already told her it was ONLY when she was in a show) so besides the fact that she kept asking every 5 minutes if she needed more lip stick she was excited way before the show even started...

Hunter was Mayor Shinn below he's in the 4th of July scene (he wasn't nearly that colorful the whole time)KayLea was the youngest shinn daughter (Hunter's youngest daughter haha!)

KayLea's part was actually invented when we realized the stair step of the girl's heights; above is KayLea behind her two shinn sisters (yes I made the bows)

Ok so I've tried to add a few more pic's and i'm giving up for now i'll try to post some tomorrow maybe.

So I have to say the let down the day after the last show was HUGE... Hunter was exhausted and we were actually suppose to have Friday off of school for a 4 day weekend for MLK day BUT because we've already missed like 6 days for the ice Storm and recent snow days the district decided to cancel the day off on Friday and HAVE school, Hunter woke up and immediately had a melt down due to his homework not being done for the week so I gave him a day off, maybe that wasn't the right thing to do BUT I actually told his teacher and his principal and they both agreed with me that he needed a day off...

All in all i'm glad I was a "drama Mamma" as the kids and their teacher started to call the 3 Mom's who basically were at every rehearsal and anything related to the play... It was a success and I did have fun and it REALLY did help me get over the hump of having ALL of my kiddo's in school half of the day... BUT I'm not so sure I'll do it again.. I probably will have a VERY hard time saying NO if I am asked again and if KayLea is to be in any future plays up until 4th grade I may not have a choice (the play is actually for 4-5th grade's only but she was asked to be in it mostly because she was there anyway and she started learning the dances etc. and the cast and the teacher just thought she was so cute.) BUT we'll cross that bridge when we get there... I can't help but feel blessed that I am able to do these things and be a volunteer for the kids school.. I am so lucky to have great kids and a wonderful husband who not only supports these hair brained things I get myself into but who also doesn't quickly say "I told you so" when I come home exhausted and cranky...

So it's deffenatly time for bed now

ta ta

Back to the Grind

We've been back from Arkansas for almost a week now but trying to get back into the swing of things has taken a little more than it should have.. we once AGAIN have no washer the SAME thing went wrong the repair guy came today and at least seems as though he wants to get things moving ALLOT faster than the last guy so crossing my fingers we will be back up and running ALLOT quicker than 2 months (the amt of time the last guy took)...
Anyway, our Trip to AR was GREAT.. it was fun to see Grandma and Grandpa it was also great because I decided to get REALLY sick about a day into our trip and my kids could just be occupied by the Grandparents and Uncle Jeff and I could loaf and sleep the week away.. it took the better part of the week for me to feel like a human again just in time to come back home and I'm actually feeling allot like crap today and my throat is throbbing AGAIN.. at least this time if it gets bad I'll go in to the Dr. it's just the creeping crud and it went to my chest last time.. KayLea came home with an ear infection but other than that no one else seems to have been affected (yippee!)
the next 2 weeks are going to be busy.. next week is the play I've been slaving away at for so long.. I'm exhausted but excited for it to all come together.. and KayLea and Hunter are gitty with anticipation I'll be sure to take pic's and post at some point but not sure when I'll be on again to post..
I've been thinking allot the past couple of weeks about how great my extended family is.. My Grandma Livingston has been on my mind and heavy on my heart and prayers.. We don't know exactly whats going with her health just yet but I am SOOO thankful for my awesome Aunt Carol, She has been there for all of us as our Medical source of info at various times throught out all of our lives, I can remember when she was going to medical school I thought that was SO cool she would send us stethascops for christmas and we could tell all our friends they were REAL AUTHENTIC from our DR Aunt! Carol and my other awesome Aunt Sandy have kind of taken the lead on Grandma's health and I know My Mom and her other siblings are grateful. My Mom is kind of having a hard time coming to terms with it all, but what a blessing my Grandma who I have to admit I don't know as well as my other Grandma's but She deffenately had a presance in my life growing up I do hope and pray answers will come quick and a game plan will be able to be applied and that we will be able to enjoy her for a long time to come!

On our trip I was so happy to see my littlest brother Jeff.. boy do I love that boy!!! He has turned into such a great guy He helped Brad rescue his helicopter and had lots of fun playing with the boys toys but he also got them to clean when necessary which I have to say warmed my heart.. KayLea also has him wrapped around her little finger just as all uncles should be! Jeff always hated when I came over (when I lived close) because I always made him and Ashley clean so Mom and Dad would come home to a semi clean house.. I"m glad he sees the value in that now! I know it's hard on Jeff sometimes being the youngest of such a large family he said Christmas was pretty boring until we came so I was glad we could brighten his holiday... I also know Jeff feels allot of pressure weather we try to not pressure him or not to live up to what we all want for him I hope he knows he's great and we'll love him no matter what live brings by him!!!
thats all for now have a great week!
ta ta

Busy Birthday for her or me??

So KayLea's Birthday is passed, She got to open ONE present in the morning (the sweater she's wearing in the pic's) although she wasn't too happy it wasn't toys (she was told she had to wait for the "toys" for when Daddy got home from work) she managed ok.. we went out to breakfast (Dunkin Donuts) and then she picked her favorite lunch (McD's) then off to school.. she brought in yummy brownies for her class and she had a GREAT DAY she came home to a Lasagna dinner and yummy brownie sundae's for her desert (does this girl know how to pick a birthday dinner or what?).. Then she opened markers for her doodle bear, an art set and some hair stuff and fun lip gloss (she has one more "big" presant waiting for her party) I had to quick sing happy birthday and eat quick cuz Brad and I had to skedaddle to the Church for a Temple Trip Ben was gracious enough to deal with the mess and kids so I could go with the youth.. did I mention I HAVE A GREAT HUSBAND!!! he actually had to wake up super early this morning for work and won't be home until VERY late tonight so yea, I'm sure he wasn't super excited for me to just take off amidst birthday kayos but he fared pretty well..

So I'm not sure we were the smartest parents on the planet KayLea's friend party isn't until next sat (Ben's work schedule couldn't handle a party today) so I'm sure we'll be in Birthday bliss for another week here in the Fox home but somehow it always seems KayLea's birthday lasts pretty much the whole month of Nov!
I'm recovering from little sleep but I'm a proud momma for sure!
Ta TA

Halloween

Where the heck did October go??? I'm a horrible sister and daughter Happy birthday Steph and Mom when I call on Sunday I'll be apologizing over and over for not calling on your birthday and oh yea happy anniversary to you and Dad too HECK I'm just not doing well.. I have a million excuses but none that should keep me from remembering these things!

Ok On to Halloween this week for family night we carved the pumpkins.. this proved to have a slight slow start because I had put the pumpkins on the front porch after I got them (you know to look festive) and well they kind of froze a little bit not enough to make them yucky when they thawed only enough to when we brought them in and warmed them up they had ALLOT of condensation on them which made the first step of tracing the stencil kind of difficult especially with the market that was provided.. to top this off the boys convinced us they were old enough to be in charge of one of the pumpkins and with Ben's urging i caved and said ok.. so they chose their design from the stencils and off they went..

so here's the before pic of both pumpkins after the tracing (ok I get you can't really see anything but go with me here!)

So after that first step off they all went cutting and sawing following the lines looking back at the stencil to see if there was something they missed.. somehow I don't have any pictures of Ben cutting away but let me tell you he did and he was into it.. the boys they were also into it and I'll have to admit there were a few times I just couldn't watch i just kept reminding them to keep their fingers away from their line of cutting

I'm happy to report no human was harmed in the cutting of the pumpkins.. only KayLea's ego because there was NO WAY she was getting a hold of anything that could cut a pumpkin and she was none to happy about that but she perked up when she was told she could set in the candles.. yippee!

So the finished products they were quite cute if I do say so my self.. the one on the right is the one the boys did the left is what Ben did under KayLea's direction

Anyway we had a fun Halloween Day ... I am room mom for both Hunter and KayLea's rooms (something I'm putting in the remember bin to NOT do both again) thankfully there are a whole troop of Mom's that understood my dilemma of not being able to be in 2 places at once and pitched in.. and luckily at least for this party KayLea's was before the Halloween parade and Hunter's was After so except for some set up in Hunter's room and clean up in KayLea's room I think I fared pretty well and we'll cross our finger for the winter party (ie: Christmas who are we kidding!) they keep the same schedule (I'm afraid no chance there!) and frankly Hunter's class really only wants the treats the crafts and games they are way too old and cool for so why am I complaining??
these first ones are of KayLea's party

Here's the parade

Hunter's Party

KayLea was a Princess Elephant, the story behind that was a conversation we had about a month ago.. but first you should know KayLea has wanted to be this Elephant for as long as she could choose a Halloween costume because it was Bradley's Elephant costume he used when he was about her age (if i was a good blogger I would scrounge up the pic of Brad in the costume but I don't wanna sorry!) it's been in the dress up trunk well before she was born.. but it was always too huge for her so this year it FINALLY fit and she has been talking for a good 6-8 months that she can FINALLY be an elephant so there's the set up here's the conversation;;

KayLea: Mom, I think i want to be a Princess for Halloween

Me: ok that's fine we can do that

KayLea; but I REALLY want to be the Elephant

Me: Fine KayLea you can be either we just need to make a decision so I can get things going if you want to be a Princess..

KayLea: But it's hard to choose

Me: I know but you HAVE TO CHOOSE

KayLea: Why do I have to choose, Why Can't I be a Princess Elephant??

me: I don't know why, I guess there is no reason YES, YES you can be a Princess Elephant!!!

So she was a princess elephant and Hunter was Elvis..

I almost forgot (probably cuz I didn't take any pictures, go figure!) we did go trick or treating.. the next town over actually has a neighborhood and by that I mean 20 or so houses semi close together.. it still was probably about a 2 mile walk but we did I guess the good part the kids felt like they fufilled their need to trick or treat but they didn't come home with too much candy.. now we had no clue if we'd get trick or treaters at our house we live on a major road so we knew we wouldn't get foot traffic but everyone knows we live here we lit the jack o lanterns i got a bag of candy (at Sam's) and NEVER cracked it open so I guess it IS a good thing the kids didn't get much candy cuz we have a TON that i purchased myself I can't win!!!

Ta, TA

My Verson of the Story...

This is NOT an Ostrich it is an EMU just for the record

Ok so I'm totally steeling this idea from my Sister's Blog.. Only with my own twist on it.. Reading her account of a VERY funny family story that has almost turned into folklore in the Lane clan made me realize that we all have our different spin on the memory so here is my challenge to Mom, Jack, Jody, Ashley and even Jeff (Jeff i know you don't have a blog BUT maybe it's high time you got one even if its ONLY for this challenge or can you do something like that on facebook??).. perhaps we ALL can write our memory of this event (even your "animal background" would be cool too!) and compare notes..

Ok so like Steph I'm going to give a little back ground on the Lane's failure of pets.. We tried hard to be "animal people" you'd think with my Mother growing up on a cattle ranch she would have some of these instincts from her birth right WRONG we think it skipped her but as Steph said, I also remember VIVIDLY her calling my Grandpa Jack to "take care" of the for mentioned hamster (Dad was away on a business trip) I remember vicious dogs (ok only remember 1 dog but it was so bad it had to stay in the gated off end of our back yard in LaMirada) and my Animal memories wouldn't be complete with out mentioning Lippity the demented MEAN ATTACK BUNNY, bet you didn't know bunnies chased and bit children on the ankles, they do if they are left out in the sun too long (lesson learned) and of coarse our slutty dog princess who had more puppies than since and was i think the huge thorn in my Mother's side in Oregon..

Ok on to the Emu saga, It was in the Summer and if Steph says we were all there then I believe her, because I know the main players My parents, Stephanie, Jack and Jody were there so I'm assuming Ashley and Jeff must have been there also.. We were sitting down to lunch and if anyone has sat with the Lane's for a meal you know it can get loud.. not in a mean bad way (contrary to a friend of Steph's who got VERY uncomfortable at the noise desable) but we ALL want to be heard and that means usually loud talking laughing etc. etc.. anyway I am sitting facing a bay window that faces the back yard when i see something run across the back yard.. it's something so odd I'm almost afraid to say it but i do and announce "I just saw an ostrich run
across the back yard" when EVERYONE erupts in laughter asking what am I smoking etc (which might give you some insight in my role in the family for saying ALLOT of stupid/silly stuff).. and I insist i saw something when they all look Steh announces it's an emu.. we immediately assume someone has lost their precious pet and we MUST help.. we call the Humane society (which in Arkansas is pretty much an old lady that takes in stray dogs and cats in her home) and of coarse they don't deal with anything like Emu's but she directs us to an Emu farmer that might be willing to take the beast.. We call the Farmer He tells us lots of people got into raising Emu's with the prospect of selling expensive meat and got out of it because it wasn't all it was cracked up to be..he then directs us on how to catch the Bird; he says get a large roap and try to lasso the bird and call him back because IF we end up catching it, he could come pick him up in a few hours, Jack and Jody went into action and went to the garage, only problem, they couldn't find a roap but they did find a large orange extension Cord (that will do right??) they chased the Emu as far as they could then decided they needed a better plan and jumped into the little white truck; because I wasn't with them how they exactly caught the bird is still kind of a mystery but they came back with Jody in the back of the truck with the Emu.. they tied it to the Tree My Mother quickly calls the farmer back saying "We have the Emu" she then asks is there anything we should do to make him more comfortable, told him how we had him contained etc... the Farmer then says "these birds are tough its virtually impossible to kill them".. In my memory (and the way we've always told it) no sooner than my mother hung up the phone we saw the bird from the same window we had originally saw it.. lying on the ground with his neck in a very awful position, still tied to the tree.. we all looked at each other in kind of a panic and said "no way"... Yes the bird was dead.. not only was it dead we had ALREADY called the emu farmer so we couldn't just "forget" this had happened.. so Mom called back the Emu guy (again a reminder she had JUST got off the phone with him) she said something like this "Ummm, well, it looks like you don't have to come somehow it looks like he has broken his neck and well he's dead"... and the farmer; the SAME guy who said just minutes before you can't kill the beasts said; "Yea, they sometimes do that"... WHAT!!!!! evedently when Emu's get distressed they contort their necks or even sometimes beat their heads against hard objects so in essence the Emu couldn't stand to be in the Animal killers presance so it committed suicide (was that too dramatic??) so Jack and Jody disposed of the Emu somewhere on the 10 acres of my parents property they'll never reveal where (not like it would matter now anyway) and they still won't talk about it (it's kinda funny!) But that is the legend of the Lane's and the Emu..
OK siblings get writing!!!

The new member of the Family

So We've actually had him for almost 2 weeks BUT I have been hesitant to post this because we have had some bumps in the road and I was afraid either 1. He would run away, get hit by a car or otherwise "not be with us" any longer or 2. we (and by "we" mean I) would feel he wasn't a good fit for our family and thus "not be with us any longer"...
This is Rangler (he came with the name) a 3 year old Treeing Walker Coonhound; His previous owner (brother of the girlfriend of a friend/coworker of Ben) had him since he was born; was a single guy who unfortunately was in a pretty aweful logging accident and was forced to move back with his parents and could no longer take care of him.. We had promised the kids a dog since we moved into this house but told them it would be the end of summer so we wouldn't have to board a dog right after getting him etc (due to summer trips etc).. Ben has looked and looked at Humane Society websites they are all independant out here and privately owned etc.. and some of them wern't any cheeper than going through a breeder.. we REALLY wanted to "rescue" a dog but were beginning to think we'd have to go the breeder route, when this opportunity to get Rangler came along.. He IS a very sweet dog and is good with the kids for the most part.. and the best part he's already been Neutered and he's house trained (we did have one "accident" the first night but i think thats probably to be expected) but he's a pure bread dog so we get the benefit of going through a breeder with out the cost AND going through the "puppy" stage.. bonus!

So we've taken him to the Vet he's healthy and we learned how to clean out his ears get him to loose some weight (he's about 25 lb's overweight) and got him caught up on all his vaccinations and heartworm etc. etc... then got one of those things that keeps dogs from barking outside (oh and he barked!) AND after spending WAY more than I think we both wanted (on both the Vet and the gadget) i guess he's staying cuz now we've poured some money into the beast! (funny how that works out hua!)

I still want to get a crate but I'm being veto'd quite heavely but we'll see...

on a completely different topic! it's getting cooler! i like FALL!
ta ta

dejavu

ok i know I've shared this pic from our wedding before but due to recent events (ie: Sammy getting married!) i had to share the comparison..

12/27/1994

7/19/2008

that's right folks almost 14 years later... awww the memories!

I'll probably post later I'm taking the kids to the lake and I'm bound and determined to get some good pic's to share.. ta ta

Back among the wired..

So we just replaced the modem.. and we are back among the internet.. so it's time to share our trip... brace yourselves this is going to take a bit to get through...

we'll start from the beginning... or at least the beginning where i started taking pictures... We had a Fox Family BBQ it was fun and yummy and we swam and just visited and had a great time.. the kids had a ball playing with Levi their cousin who they only saw one time before.. and KayLea was just in love with Dylan the new baby cousin... everyone but Sheri and the happy new couple was there (actually Sam made a short appearance to eat and run but i got ho photographic proof) KayLea's most exciting thing to share was that she no longer has a phobia about swimming and infact LOVES to jump in now... she was a little fish...

Levi and Dylan were just adorable and Dylan even tolerated me getting him out of his pack and play and onto the grass so i coud get some cute shots of him... we realized this trip that i have completely lost my mojo for babies.. i mean i still love them but they not so much love me... i think it must be the baby factory closed sign that my faramones give off, and Levi was giving his parents a heart attack by "learning to climb a tree" (his dad is just out of camera shot)...

After our lovely BBQ (actually later that evening), the Fox girls (Me, Shannon and Trisha) took out the soon to be Fox girl (AmberLee, Sam's then fiancea) out for dessert to get to know her better and welcome her with open arms.. hopefully i won't be thrown out of the club for posting these but it was such a fun evening i just had to share.. Shannon got the prize for turning her checks a cute shade of red but come on,this picture is pretty mild if you ask me! i won't share what else was in the bag! haha! Amber is a great girl and will fit in nicely.. I'm sure she and Sam will be so happy!

Ok so the next fun thing was wedding day.. the morning of the wedding Ben decided would be a great time to teach the boys how to tie a tie.. i couldn't resist shooting some pic's of this.. it was funny but very touching!

Ok so i'm going to publish this and start a new one for the wedding

California take 2

ok so i was getting some fits from blogspot and it got me nervous so i decided to publish and start a new post.. where did i leave off, oh yea.. the wedding it was a great day, the weather was hot but clear and the sealing was great.. the absolutely only hitch was that Sheri (Ben's Mom) couldn't attend the Temple.. she had such a great recovery from just the week or so before but she still wasn't well enough to be released from the hosp and make the trek to LA.. I'm posting this group of pic's in small if you want to get a better look click on the pictures..

The kids of coarse got board to tears during the pictures so a great girl Jenae (formerly Dalton but she's married now, don't know her married name) played games with the kids and got them coloring etc.. what a great girl, i knew her when she was just a little girl.. be still my old heart!!

So i think the highlight for my day was going to see Sheri, we had promised her we'd bring the kids up all dressed up and Sam and Amber also came all spiffed up in their wedding attire.. you could tell she was a little sad that she missed the temple but i think it brightened her day to see everyone.. the hospital staff couldn't have been more nice, they really overlooked allot of stuff (there was more than 10 of us there) and i have to acknowledge the good deed of the photographer.. when she heard Sam's Mom was in the hospital she asked where it was then said she'd meet us there.. this wasn't pre arranged or part of her financial agreement etc.. she just realized how much it would mean.. i wish i knew her name so i could give her some free advertisement but if your in the market for a photographer in the S. California area let me know and I'm sure i can get you her name!
here's the only decent picture i got with the kids and Sheri... but it's only because my camera somehow got off of manual focus and i didn't realize it until i had taken a few quick picks (didn't want to tick off the photographer!)

I almost forgot the reception.. it was decorated really nicely (I'm not just saying that cuz i helped decorate!) and the food was great.. the kids had fun and KayLea zoomed in on all her 2nd cousins (all of Ben's cousins came with their little kids.. just the right age for KayLea..) she had a blast dancing and playing.. all the kids were asleep before their heads hit the pillow...

So the last Fox kids is married... hard to believe! it was really a great day!

OK one more post of Disneyland!