TOBIN FAMILY

WOW REALLY?!?!?!?

2011-10-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

So, I just realized that life is INSANE, and I have not even been ON here for a year. LOTS has happened in that year!

First things first, we are all good, the kids are growing up quick!

Now for the highlights(low-lights?)

Thom and I am in the middle of a divorce, since April. Yeah, it sucks! But, we will see what the future holds for us. We are focused on being friends right now for the kids' sake. I know this will come as NO surprise to most of you. But I have anger, and control issues. Thom finally got sick of it, and left me. I am in counseling and hoping for good things:-)

We(Thom) finally got approved for our house. It's been almost 3 years in the making, but hopefully before Christmas is will be signed, sealed, and delivered!

Kaiden got the starting QB position this year. VERY proud of him!! But he broke his wrist playing in the second play of the first scrimmage of the season, so he had to sit out the whole season, totally a bummer! But now, 9 weeks later he is FINALLY out of the cast and cleared for football.

Due to medical reasons I had a hysterectomy this past Monday. Being a single mom to 5, I did not have much down time, but I am recovering alright.

Well, I think that is about it, yeah we are pretty boring:-) Hopefully it will not be a year next time!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-30T10:33:00.000-08:00

We went to Salt Lake for Thanksgiving this year. We had a wonderful time visiting family and friends. But I want to make a couple points before you look! 1st: No, Katalin is no longer with us, so I did not 'leave her out'. 2nd: Kayla had the camera 98% of the time. 3rd: These pictures are in no particular order!

I WAS ABLE TO SPEND SOME TIME WITH MY BEST FRIEND FROM BACK IN THE DAY, WE HAVE BEEN BEST FRIENDS FOR 20 YEARS NOW! SHEESH, WE'S GETTIN OLD!

THE BOYS ENTERTAINING THEMSELVES, WHILE THE GIRLS CHATTED

WE ARE STARVING, CAN WE GO EAT YET!

OH AND AUNTIE TOOK RY SHOPPING FOR HER BIRTHDAY, IT WAS WAY FUN!

WE WENT DOWNTOWN TO TEMPLE SQUARE TO CHEKC OUT THE LIGHTS ON FRIDAY THE NIGHT AFTER THANKSGIVING. IT WAS COLD, BUT WE HAD FUN!

WE TOOK THE "CHOO CHOO" DOWN (TRAX)

NOT SURE?????

TONY AND NICOLE CAME OVER WITH AUNT DEBBIE:-)

AND RICK AND ANNE AND THE KIDS:-)

THIS ONE BELONGS UP IN THE TEMPLE SQUARE OUTING SECTION.

AUNT DEBIE MOVED BACK FROM ALASKA, YAY, YAY, YAY!!!!!! SO SHE GOT A PICTURE WITH TWO OF HER BROTHERS, MY DADDY, AND UNCLE DENNIS!

THE GROUP THAT WAS OVER THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING

ALL THE BOY COUSINS COCOONED THEMSELVES DOWNSTAIRS TO PLAY VIDEO GAMES.

SNOW DAY! WE ESCAPED THE HECTIC THANKSGIVING KITHCEN AND TOOK ALL THE KIDS TO THE PARK TO PLAY IN THE SNOW FROM THE "BLIZZARD OF THE CENTURY" EAH IT WAS NOT THAT GREAT! BUT THE SNOW WAS FUN TO PLAY IN, I HAD TONS OF PICTURES OF ALL THE KIDS PLAYING IN THE SNOW (EVEN THE BIG KIDS), BUT SOMEHOW BY THE TIME I GOT HOME, THERE WAS ONLY LEFT:( I WAS SOOOO BUMMED! BUT THIS IS A CUTE PIC SO ITS OKAY:-)

THE PIE HELPERS??????

THE BEAUTIFUL VIEWS FROM MIKE'S KITCHEN

MY BEAUTIFUL BLESSINGS!!!!

Our Newest Addition.

2010-09-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

Okay so it has been MONTHS, but if you spent even one hour in my life, you would understand that I have NO TIME to do ANYTHING! So here is a very delayed, short posting. We decided to host a foriegn exchange student. We used the company AYUSA, which is the best, well I work for them so i have to say that huh?:-) But no, we checked around and felt this one was the best. Our new daughter, Katalin, arrived the last day of July. And things have been crazy ever since:) She is 17, and she is from the Netherlands, Holland. It has been quite an adjustment, for all of us. The first week she was here, we also had about 22 missionaries from Oklahoma visiting, that Thom and I were 'in charge' of. So her first week here she was thrown right into our chaotic life. But she did real well. Here are some pictures of her and some of our new Oklahoma friends, from our trip to Zion.

KATALIN, LAUREN, LAYNA (L to R, friends fromOK) at Zion
KATALIN ON THE TOP OF ANGELS LANDING IN ZION

JENN, LAUREN, LAYNA, KATALIN, SHANA (the girls before we headed up Angels Landing)

Soccer~~~~2010

2010-05-03T07:27:00.000-07:00

Kayla, Ry and Nic played soccer this Spring. They loved it and I gotta say Nic and Ry were AMAZING! Kayla was good also, put her personality got in the way, she is timid and does like like to get all up in your face, which is VERY good in life, but not so much on a sports field. But Nic and Ry have no issues getting aggressive and all up in your face, LOL. These are not teh best pictures, they are just a quick snap shot before or after a game, cause my "sports" control on my camera, is RETARDED. Also due to my hectic work schedule, thye missed about half their games, so that was a bummer, all three even missed their last game, so they did not get their team pics, or their trophies:-(

CRAZY HAIR DAY~DR SUESS WEEK~2010

2010-03-05T07:04:00.000-08:00

My Life as told by a columnist in the Spectrum

2010-02-16T10:01:00.000-08:00

I saw this article and it made me laugh and think of my life (was she watching me as she wrote this????)

St. George Spectrum & Daily News

People often ask how I come up with ideas for my column every week. My answer is the same each time. I get my ideas from life...from grand events to something as insignificant as a word said in a conversation. Yesterday, life took me on a shopping trip to the grocery store, five rambunctious kids in tow, so here you have the metaphorical fruit of that trip. (The literal fruit is in the fridge).

Shopping with five kids under the age of ten is... There are so many obvious and obligatory endings to that sentence. Chaos? Pandemonium? Never boring? Good exercise? Grounds for a police action? It's an adventure, anyway. Let the record show that I have five kids. I planned to have five kids, and I'm happy to have five kids. I wouldn't trade them for the world. I just thought by the time I had five, I'd be rich and famous and have a crack team of personal assistants to do all my shopping for me.To illustrate: Shopping trips tend to follow the same pattern. I write a menu and a list, getting valuable feedback like, "McDonald's!" and "Candy!" from the kids. I remind everyone to make their last minute trips to the bathroom and we're off.Once we've reached the parking lot, it's time for a quick going over of the Wilson Family rules of shopping. 1) Stay together. 2) No begging. 3) No whining. 4) No lying down on the floor and refusing to move. 6) No smacking your sister with pilfered fruit from the cart. 7) If you have money for vending machines, you can spend it AFTER we're ALL finished. 8) If you don't have money, you should get a job...no, I don't care that you're only 4.And then we're off...or more appropriately, THEY'RE off. Two seconds after hearing the vending machine rule, my kids scatter for the vending machines until I haul them back to the cart. We then proceed down the aisles, five little voices begging and whining for this cereal and that fruit snack. At some point, someone is on the the floor, refusing to move. It's not long before a wayward piece of fruit is sailing toward someone's head.Just when I feel like I'm getting things under control, one of them starts the dance. You know the one. Legs crossed, hopping from one foot to the next, dancing along to the beat of, "Gotta go potteeeeeeeeeee!" And like a rapidly incubating strain of some foreign plague, it spreads until every non diaper wearing Wilson is in an extreme state of bladder distress. On a good day, we finish in under three hours, I manage to keep all the kids in the same checkout lane, and we get home with everything we've purchased. In the non summer months when the pavement isn't capable of searing my lips right off my face, I kiss the ground in front of my home and praise the Lord above that I have another two weeks before I have to do it again.That's about the time I realize I forgot to buy the light bulbs.

FALL PHOTOS 2009

2009-12-21T13:13:00.000-08:00

THE LIGHTING ID HORRIBLE ON THIS PICTURE, BUT IT IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES!

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-21T12:15:00.000-08:00

My brother, Rick and his family, came down to spend Thanksgiving with us(along with my parents). We had tons of fun catching up, here are some pics, again in no particular order.

FEEDING THE DUCKS

WE TOOK A WALK DOWN TO GRANDPA'S POND IN THE BEAUTIFUL WEATHER THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING. WE MADE QUITE A TRAIN:-)

MOM, ANNE, AND I

NATHANIEL AND NIC

MATTHEW

RICK AND TIGGER TAKING A NAP (AWWW HOW CUTE!)

ANNE

JEANETTE

HANNAH

JOHNATHAN

PAPA PLAYING WITH POOH

THE GIRLS HELP MAKE THE APPITIZERS
WILL DOING WHAT HE DOES BEST, STEALING FOOD!

THE CHEF! MY HUBBY IS AN AWESOME COOK, AND I AM SO GRATEFUL THAT HE TAKES OVER AND I DON'T HAVE TO, LOL!

Goat Fun!

2009-12-21T12:08:00.000-08:00

This is our new pet. She is SOOO precious! Her and Will get along adorabley! She was actually Rylie's early birthday present(we talked her out of a pig, LOL). So Ry named her Winter Snow, we call her Winnie for short. Here are some pictures of her and Will's cuteness!

FALL FUN

2009-11-02T17:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I bribed Thom again, and he left the office for 2 whole hours, WAHOO :-), and we took the kids to Staheli Farm, we went to the corn maize and pumpkin patch. We had tons of fun! Again my blogger is have problems, so these pictures are in no particular order, and I have not added captions, but most are self-explanatory.

2009-11-02T16:57:00.000-08:00

Well I have been trying to post for a couple weeks now, but was having issues with the 'blogger.' But here you go, this was the second weekend in October, I took the kids to the homecoming tailgate party at Dixie State College. Thom was there with the bull, I have decided that if I want time with my husband, I am going to have to go to him. So we have been spending quiet a bit of our 'extra' time at the college.

The Iceberg guy brought shakes for after the burgers and dogs, and then he rode the bull.

The following day, Sunday, we decided to go on a hike. We went with my parents and some good friends of ours, the Wilkins. We had 15 people and two dogs piled into our 12 passenger van. It was tight and illegal, but we had fun! These pictures are in no particular order.

Misty, Wyatt, Kaiden and Sarah(the dog)
See, my husband even joined us, he was bribed with Bill:-)

Ry is TOOO cute! Have no idea what she is laughing at?

Pretending to eat something?

NO idea what Kayla is doing!

Tiara

Willie Wonka!

It was a big hill, we were tired:-)

Cute kids! Kaiden, Kayla, Ry, and Tiara

This was some 'house', we were up the Anasazi trail, and this was one of their houses or something. Tiara, Kayla, and Ry again.

Kaiden, Wyatt, and Nic

Sarah stole my seat! She was trying to get away from Hunter, my pyshcotic dog, that REALLY wanted her!

2009-09-30T07:10:00.000-07:00

Well here I go negelecting my blog again, it has been weeks, though I did not realize that till I was on one of the teacher's websites, that stated 17 days till fall break, and my last post was the first day of school, LOL!! Oh well, Thom was gone for 2 1/2 months so life was hectic! He is now home for "good", but my computer is causing me lots of issues, it has many a virus, so i can only use it for necessities, for other stuff, I am using the library or my mom's, or my phone, but my phone can only do so much, so until I get my computer fixed, I will be out of the loop, but hopefully that will be SOON, Bill tried, but, I think Thom did not do the follow through cause he left for out of town. But I will keep pestering for it to be fixed or to get a new computer all together. And hopefully I will be up and running again soon. Until then most of my updates and pictures will be sent to Facebook, cause I can do this via my phone. There is a bunch of new pics on there from this last weekend in Midway. That is all for now, but hopefully not long:-)

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2009

2009-08-21T07:07:00.000-07:00

So I am late getting this up. The first day/week of school has been hectic but here it is.
If these pics seem kinda grainy and blurry, I think they are, my camera is on the frizz.

(these pics were actually taken AFTER school, opposed to before cause my batteries died before school, AUGH!!, so I did not get a pic with their teacher yet, except Nic who startd the following day))
KAIDEN FIRST DAY OF 5TH GRADE!!!!

MAKAYLA FIRST DAY OF 3RD GRADE!!!

RYLIE FIRST DAY OF 1ST GRADE!!!

NIC FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN WITH MRS. MASSEY HIS TEACHER(WE lOVE MRS. MASSEY SHE WAS RY'S KINDERGARTEN TEACHER!!)
WALKING INTO CLASS WITH SOME CLASSMATES(HE IS SOOO TINY, AND HE IS OUR 'AVERAGE' CHILD, LOL)

BUSY LIFE

2009-08-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

So, yes...I have been neglecting my blog again. But only because I have been busy(being a single mother), and I have taken no pictures. No pictures, no blog. Simple:-)

School starts again this Thursday. I am quite torn. Summer went way too quick! And I am not ready for my kids to go back, but I am DEFINITELY ready for the trials of summer to be over.

Thom is gone. Has been, will be. He left last week for 2 weeks at Camp Williams for BNCOC. He comes home for a couple days(still undetermined) then he leaves for Germany for 3 weeks, for a 'training deployment', then he comes home for a couple days(again undetermined amount of time) and leaves again for Camp Williams for Field Medic Training for 2 weeks. Then comes home again then leaves for the annual Battalion Conference. Basically Thom will not be home till Octoberish at which time he will have to THROW himself into his job(which his job load got tripled)so yeah even after he is home, we will still not see much of him:( So it looks like for quite some time I will be playing the single mom card. And WHY did all this happen? Because I guess since Obama(GRRR) took office we have to play this 'job security game'. But I am a survivor, and I have AMAZING friends and family who help me, and I will be okay, we will make it:-)!

The kids are doing great. Will is not talking talking yet, but he does add more words here and there. His hearing seems to be MUCH improved since his surgery, PTL! He had his post op appointment and all appears to be working properly so far!!!! YAY!!! Now he just needs to play catch up.

KAIDEN'S 10TH BIRTHDAY

2009-07-14T07:16:00.000-07:00

Kaiden's 10th birthday party, DOUBLE DIGITS, WOW, WOW, WOW!!!!!

He looks a little stoned or something in this picture (I pulled him in from the water balloon fight to get a solo picture from him and he was mad at mom, LOL)

My backyard looks totally trashed in these pictures(well it is) but the kids had a water/water balloon fight, they had 'forts' set up, and they had a blast, but wow, my backyard, LOL!

EXPLORING THE GREAT OUTDOORS

2009-07-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

In the early morning and late evening while our back yard is shaded, and it is a mere 90ish degrees:-) the cats and bunnies have been enjoying the backyard and freedom. Thom has decided the cats, since there is 3 of them, need to be indoor/outdoor cats. Makayla got two bunnies for her birthday, you will notice I skipped Kayla's BD party, cause that camera is still on the fritz, so I cannot those pictures yet:(

TIGGER
MIDNIGHT (WE DID LET THEM OFF THE LEASHES, ONCE THEY GOT USED TO BEING OUTSIDE)

MY HONEY BEAR

LIBERTY

FLOPSY

LAKE POWELL 2009

2009-07-09T18:13:00.000-07:00

Thom and I went to Lake Powell with his team, last month. It was interesting. We left the kids with my VERY good friend, thanks again Misty!!! We were only gone for 4 days, but we had an ABSOLUTE BLAST!!!!! It was totally worth the trauma of leaving the kids:-) We had SOOOOO much fun!!! Words will never be able to describe it! It was like a second honeymoon. It is absolutely beautiful there. We went to the Wahweap part, not the Bullfrog.

This is the dam at Page, AZ.

This is the new bridge they installed to cross, since 9/11.

This was our boat, a 32(ish) foot, 3 pontoon.

This was the floating restaurant the guys took all us wives to for an 'honorary' dinner the first night we were there, horrible service but it was beautiful, and WONDERFUL times!

Thom and I showed up early and sat in the bar and lounge and waited for everyone else, these are pictures from the lounge. These pics are from Thom's phone if you can't tell, too many of me:-)

SURGERY 2009

2009-07-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

So I have totally been neglecting you lately, sorry. Life has been crazy around here. Put on top of that my computer crashed, as well as both my cameras:-(

Pooh had his tonsils out and tubes put in a week and a half ago. He has been a real stinker since:-) And he is still not fully recovered. But the surgery went well!
Trying to get his jammies off and his gown on was interesting! I had to lay on the bed with him

This was after the sedative

Cute baby!!

Dad quit taking pictures!!! This was after his 'baby cocktail' really starting taking effect:-) he was so cute and drunk!

This was right after we got him back from the post-op recovery room to the regular recovery room where we could join him.

Eating his first meal, pudding:-) Only about 45 mintues or so after his surgery, he did real good! Look at his swet little hand all bandaged and IV'd:-(

Reading up on post-op at home care, you would think that after 5 kids, I would know how to do this, but this is my baby, and I was a spazz!

CUTE VIDEO

2009-06-01T19:09:00.000-07:00

This video is TOOO cute! It's enbedding has been disabled, so I cannot post it here, but you can go look at it, I greatly encourage it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFOpO0IpcHw

UPDATE ON WILLIAM

2009-05-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday Pooh had his Sedated ABR. It was interesting to say the least! They let us stay in the room with him while the did the test, which I liked, and luckily they warned us before they gave him the medication, that sedated him, that was freaky! His eyes stared twitching and rolling around and back and then he just went limp, really scary! Not something you want to see happen to your baby! But Thom was holding him and I was doing paperwork, and my friend was talking to me(she is an occupational therapist in the NICU, so she was working that day, and came down to 'take care of me'), so I just kinda tried to ignore it. But once they got started he just looked like he was sleeping. He was sick, OF COURSE! So they had to suction his throat a couple times, but other than that he did well. The test lasted all of 15 minutes. And they said he would wake up in about 5 or 10 minutes. So i am waiting, and WAITING. After 20 the nurse watching him, says, well try to wake him up now, so I start to try to wake him up. He will not wake up! I am like umm...is he okay, and they are all like yeah he is fine! But he will not wake up! FINALLY an hour and a half later, after Thom rubs a cold cloth on his face, he woke up. He was "drunk" for about an hour or so afterward, and awfully cranky the rest of the day, but otherwise no ill effects. It was determined that he had 'moderate' hearing loss in his right ear. But it is thought that with another set of tubes and speech therapy he will be good as new, and should lead a normal life, and will be like all the other kids by Kindergarten or 1st grade, developmentally. So I have calls in to his pediatrician, his ENT, and a speech therapist. So hopefully by next week, we will have a plan of action in effect to start bring him developmentally up to date. That is all for now!

Also, I want to say CONGRATULATIONS!!!! to all the new Nadeau babies! Wow there are a LOT of new little ones coming into this family, four at least, wow, I feel so left out! Maybe we should get working on it:-) JK

A MEMORAIL DAY TRIBUTE

2009-05-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

45 LESSONS IN LIFE

2009-05-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

This is something we should all read at least once a week!

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio"

To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.

It is the most-requested column I've ever written.

"My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's,we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Friends are the family that we choose for ourselves.

FUNNY YARD SIGN

2009-05-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

I THOUGHT THIS WAS HUMUROUS, AND THOUGHT IT BRIGHTENED MY DAY, THOUGHT IT COULD YOURS ALSO:-)

2009-05-18T07:30:00.000-07:00

HOW MUCH HAVE YOU CHANGED IN 15 YEARS (Copied from Ashlee's blog)
15 YEARS AGO (1994)
1. How old were you? 14
2. Who were you dating? I was 14.
3. Where did you work? I babysat all the time, mostly for the Stahls.
4. Where did you live? Sandy, Utah
5. Where did you hang out? the Dolls' house? I don't really remember.
6. Did you wear contacts and/or glasses? No
7. Who were your best friends? I think Leslie Doll, Besa Brotherson
8. How many tattoos did you have? 09.
How many piercings did you have? My ears
10. What kind of car did you drive? I was 14
.11. Had you been to a real party? No
12. Had you had your heart broken? No
13. Were you Single/Taken/Married/Divorced? Single
14. Any kids? No

10 YEARS AGO (1999)
1. How old were you? 19
2. Who were you dating? Half the year I was dating Thom the other half I was married to him.
3. Where did you work? half the year at Frontier Pies in Sandy the other half as a mommy at home with my boy
4. Where did you live? West Jordan, Utah
5. Where did you hang out? mostly home or at Thom's work
7. Who were your best/close friends? 1999 kinda sucked as far as friends went. I lost most of them due to the "Jesse saga" but of course my bestest friend forever(we are still good friends after 19 years)Besa and Christina, even those friendships got shook up, so I was kinda on my own with Thom and my family.
8. What were you driving? a Geo Prism
9. How many tattoos did you have? 0
10. How many piercings did you have? Twice in my ears
11. Had your heart broken? yep, refer back to question 7
12. Were you Single/Taken/Married/Divorced? maried
13. Any kids? Kaiden

5 yrs ago (2004)
1. How old were you? 24
2. Who were you dating? Still married
3. Where did you work? still working at home
4. Where did you live? Santa Clara, Utah
5. Where did you hang out? mostly at home I guess
6. Did you wear contacts or glasses? No
7. Who were your best/close friends? Thom and my parents
8. What were you driving? Gosh, have been through so many vehicles I think it was a mini van of some sort
9. How many tattoos did you have? I think just the one at that time, the one my brother-in-law got for me
10. How many piercings did you have? still just my ears
11. Had your heart broken? No
12. Were you Single/Taken/Married/Divorced? still married
13. Any kids? Kaiden, Kayla, Rylie, and Nicholas

Today.
1. How old are you? 29
2. Who are you dating? nobody, my husband does not take me out:-)
3. Where do you work? Home
4. Where do you live? Hurricane, Utah
5. Where do you hang out? Home. Mom's house
6. Do you wear contacts or glasses? No
7. Who are your best/close friends? My family, Besa, Sarah,and I have quite a few close church friends now, the Wilkin's, the Kerstens', the Beses', The Herpins', The Humphreys', and others, and others, I could be here all day naming important people in my life now, so I will stop now:-) We are truely blessed!
8. What do you drive? We have a Ford Explorer and the Green Bean
9. How many tattoos do you have? 2
10. How many piercings do you have? still just my ears, too chicken for anything else
11. Had your heart broken?
No12. Are you single/taken/married/divorced? Married
13. Any kids? Kaiden, Kayla, Rylie, Nicholas, and William

LIFE

2009-05-14T07:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I am feeling wonderful today! So happy and energized! NOT a normal occurrence! I am ususally depressed and lethargic and have a hard time just getting out of bed. I think it was because I started working out last night. Yes, Thom worked my butt off. I really enjoyed it. Nothing serious. We just did somethings around the house. But I worked up a sweat and woke up sore. And for you perverts, the bed was not involved! But I stayed up late doing the laundry and cleaning the house, and woke up early and kept on going. I am just feeling so GOOD! I figured I can't get my butt to the gym, because of the kids, but there are some things I can do around here, I mean we have spent enough on money no gym equipment over the last 10 years, with enough eye rolls from my husband, LOL, to give myself enough of a workout right here, so why not? So, I feel GREAT! I am going to keep it up, not necessarily for the weight, though that is a good benefit, but because of my mental state after, wow, it has been years, since I have felt this good! Anyhoo, side note, LOL, sorry! I guess I will tell you about my newest addition since she is laying at my feet wagging her tail and looking at me with her big browns. I got a new dog. SHUT UP, I do not want to hear it! Her name is Roxie. I adopted her from the pound, nobody is quite sure about her, cause she was wondering the streets and she got picked up but by best pound gestimations. She is about 10 months old, she is part Rott maybe, maybe some German Shepherd. And Charlie and Sherlyn, she is a dog, not a doormat, YAY!!! She is younger than I wanted, but I LOVE her! So far she has been a real good dog, BUT I have only had her for 3 days. Also I took Pooh to the ENT yesterday and he thinks that after three attacks of strep throat in a four month period that we should take his tonsils out, which is what I took him in for, I don't want him to have to go through that but at the same time, I am so sick of seeing my poor baby sick all the time. But Dr. Chase wants to wait and see if after having the sedated ABR shows a need for an additional set of tubes, if so we will do it all in one swoop, so he will only go into surgery once, instead of twice. Which his test was rescheduled for the 28th, instead of this morning. So we are doing good, just been too busy to blog:-) We are in the final stretch of school! Only 6 days remaining(after today)!

OKAY

2009-05-01T11:31:00.001-07:00

So life has been....well life:-) Have you heard that new song by Darryl Worrly(sp?) "Sounds Like Life to Me." Great song, story of my life lately:-) Anyway. So Kaiden and Kayla went to the orthodontist this week. We(the orthodontist and I) have decided to wait 6 months before doing anything with Makayla's teeth, as he feels hers are still in the developing stages and it might harm he fragile teeth at this point in time. But Kaiden will be beginning the first stage of orthodontic work on Monday(yes, there are 2 expensive stages:-) ). he is actually really looking forward to it! Pooh has been real sick lately, AGAIN!!! I was up with him with a temp of 103, for a few nights, turns out he had strep AGAIN!!! So he is back on antibiotics, AGAIN!!! He has an appointment with his ENT, to see about getting his tonsils out to see if that may correct his repeatedly sick problem. Also he went in for his follow up hearing test, after the week of antibiotics in the ear. NOPE, still deaf. DANG IT! So now he has to go in for a sedated ABR, on the 14th of May. This is where he goes into the hospital and they sedate him and put electrodes on his brain stem and try to find out if the hearing loss is a permanent situation or if it can be corrected. So obviously I am freaking out. And of course, Thom has been real busy with work and not around to help me make these decisions, or to keep me calm:-) So I leave the audiologists office, and I am kinda freaking out, so I called my friend who works at the hospital, to ask her about this procedure, cause it sounds awfully terrifying to me! She tells me, that it is common, and she knows all the nurses, the doctor who is performing the procedure, and NOT TO WORRY about it, he is going to be just fine, he is in good hands, they will take care of him. And because by this time, I am bawling! She says she will be at work that day, so she will come up and sit with me and she will get me through it too:-) So it sounds scary, but I guess, he will be okay. And if all else fails, God is going to be the one performing it anyways, so what do I have to worry about, huh? So that is the status of where we are at. hopefully they will discover that it just something that can easily be corrected, cause he passed his hearing tests when he was born, so he can't REALLY be deaf, right?!?!?! So Kaiden will have braces on Monday, yeah! And hopefully the following week, Pooh will get fixed, or at least be headed in the right direction:-)

MILITARY PAY

2009-04-27T06:53:00.000-07:00

"A TRUE SOLDIER SOES NOT FIGHT BECAUSE HE HATES WHAT IS IN FRONT OF HIM, BUT BECAUSE HE LOVES WHAT IS BEHIND HIM"

This is an Airman's response to Cindy Williams' editorial piece in the Washington Times about MILITARY PAY, it should be printed in all newspapers across America.On Nov. 12, Ms Cindy Williams (from Laverne and Shirley TV show) wrote a piece 20 for the Washington Times, denouncing the pay raise(s) coming service members' way this year -- citing that the stated 13% wage was more than they deserve.A young airman from Hill AFB responds to her article.He ought to get a bonus for this.

"Ms Williams:I just had the pleasure of reading your column, "Our GIs earn enough" and I am a bit confused. Frankly, I'm wondering where this vaunted overpayment is going, because as far as I can tell, it disappears every month between DFAS (The Defense Finance and Accounting Service)and my bank account.Checking my latest earnings statement I see that I make $1,117.80 before taxes. After taxes, I take home $874.20. When I run that through the calculator, I come up with an annual salary of $13,413.60 before taxes, and $10,490.40, after.I work in the Air Force Network Control Center where I am part of the team responsible for a 5,000 host computer network I am involved with infrastructure segments, specifically with Cisco Systemsequipment .. A quick check under jobs for Network Technicians in the Washington , D.C. area reveals a position in mycareer field, requiring three years experience with my job. Amazingly, this job does NOT pay $13,413.60 a year.

No, this job is being offered at $70,000 to $80,000 per annum...

I'm sure you can draw the obvious conclusions.Given the tenor of your column, I would assume that you NEVER had the pleasure of serving your country in her armed forces.Before you take it upon yourself to once more castigatecongressional and DOD leadership for attempting to getthe families in the military's lowest pay brackets off ofWIC and food stamps, I suggest that you join a groupof deploying soldiers headed for AFGHANISTAN ;I leave the choice of service branch up to you.Whatever choice you make, though, opt for the20SIX month rotation:it will guarantee you the longest possible time away from your family and friends, thus giving you full "deployment experience."As your group prepares to board the plane, make sure to notethe spouses and children who are saying good-bye to their loved ones. Also take care to note that several families are still unsure of how they'll be able to make ends meet while the primary breadwinner is gone obviously they've been squandering the "vast" piles of cash the government has been giving them. Try to deploy over a major holiday; Christmas and Thanksgiving are perennial favorites. And when you're actually over there, sitting in a foxhole, shivering against the cold desert night; and the flight sergeant tells you that there aren't enough people on shift torelieve you for chow, remember this:

Trade whatever MRE (meal-ready- to-eat) you manage to get for the tuna noodle casserole or cheese tortellini, and add Tabasco to everything. This gives some flavor. Talk to your loved ones 20 as often as you are permitted; it won't nearly be long enough or often enough, but take what you can get and be thankful for it. You may have picked up on the fact that I disagree with most of the points you present in your opened piece. But, tomorrow from KABUL , I will defend to the death your right to say it. You see, I am an American fighting man, a guarantor of your First Amendment rights and every other right you cherish.. On a daily basis, my brother and sister soldiers worldwide ensure that you and people like you can thumb your collective nose at us, all on a salary that is nothing short of pitiful and under conditions that would make most people cringe. We hemorrhage our best and brightest into the private sector because we can't offer the stability and pay of civilian companies. And you, Ms. Williams, have the gall to say that we make more than we deserve?

Rubbish!

A1C Michael Bragg Hill AFB AFNCC

AND I JUST NEED TO COMMENT ON MY ON BLOG AND SAY 'AMEN'! YOU GO AIRMEN BRAGG! FOR ALL THEM DANG POLITICIANS WHO KEEP TRYING TO TAKE OUR BENEFITS AND INCOME AWAY FROM US!

UPDATE ON BOYS

2009-04-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday was an EXCEEDINGLY exhausting day!!!! I kept all the kids home from school. We started the day off by leaving the house at 8 am. And we headed to Will's audiologist appointment. I was thoroughly unimpressed with the doctors bedside manner. But he performed the tests. And his left ear, is doing fine. His right ear, is basically deaf right now. But because there is a tube in his ear, the doctor seems to think that it is just a clogged tube causing the problem. And he passed the rest of the testing just fine! So I called the his pediatrician. And he gave me a prescription ear drop to put in his ear for five days, and then he will need to go back in for another hearing test in his right ear. Hopefully this will correct the problem, if not...I am not sure what our next course of action will be. Either was he will need speech therapy:-(.

Then we ran a few errands.

Then we proceeded to the dentist. My mom showed up to help me here(God bless moms :-) ) And we are five for five, no cavities!!!!! But Kaiden and Makayla do need to see an orthodontist ASAP, before their teeth get any worse, they both have an appointment next Tuesday!

Then we proceeded to go to the ophthalmologist for Nic. He did GREAT!! He was so brave! I LOVED this doctor! Nic has 20/20 vision in one eye and 20/25 in the other. So NO issues! Praise God!!!

We finally got home after 3:30, I was SOOOO exhausted!!! Both physically and emotionally. And I never made it to Costco! Shoot, sometime this week I will!!!! I have to!

TINY TOTS

2009-04-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, there is more vacation pics, but I am done doing catchup, so you will not see them! I am moving on now:-)

I took the little boys to the doctor on Wednesday for their well checks and shots. And they are TEENY!!! Now, I knew this, but the doctor kept saying it also, luckily I LOVE their doctor, so I let it slide, LOL! Nic, is weighing in at a whooping 40 pounds and 41 inches tall. And he is FIVE!!! He received his Kindergarten shots. We then proceeded to the school, registered him, and last night we attended the 'kindergarten roundup', where we met the teachers and they tested him and what not. I have requested the same teacher that Rylie has now. We will see. The doctor also mentioned that he needs to go see an optomologist. For which I TOTALLY blame Thom's side of the family!!! But Nic is also going through this shy stage, and I am HOPING that that is part of the reason he failed the eye portion of the exam, cause he did NOT want to talk to the lady giving it. We will see, I have yet to make an appointment, cause I am living in denial. I know, bad mom! I will though:-)
Will is now weighing in at 24 pounds and 32 inches tall, he also received a shot. He has speech delay, which I also knew, duh, my two year old is not talking. He says this is VERY common in boys. I know this also, which is why I have not been stressing. And also due to all his ear infections, and trauma. But he does want him to see an audiologist for testing, and see exactly where his hearing ranges are. And maybe enroll him in speech therapy. He has an appointment on Monday morning to have the testing done. So we will have more answers after that. I have known all along that he will be okay, but it has still been a MAJOR stress for me. So that is all for my tiny tots! :-)

The house is coming along, I would like to say nicely, but no. It is a mess. It is so hard to move and unpack when you have five kids. Cause you still have all the normal day to day piles of laundry and dishes, the sibling quarrels, kids' friends coming over, and the many sicknesses to deal with PLUS the unpacking and cleaning from moving. It is so unending and FRUSTRATING!!!! So that is how I am doing :-)

But Rylie is HILARIOUS!!! I was looking over her homework the other day and I noticed her name was spelled different on her test. And I said, "Hey, Ry, is there another Rylie in your class." (fairly certain there was not, but, thinking the teacher had given her the wrong test back.) And she said no. So I said, "Why did you spell your name wrong?" She said, "Oh, that is how I spell it now." I said, "Ry, honey, you can't just change the way you spell your name." She said, "You said I could." I said, "Yes, when you are 18, if you still want to." And so it went for about 10 minutes. LMAO. So now I am wondering, should I let her. I mean really, it is not really that big of a deal. It is the same name. she just wants to change it from Rylie to Rylee. What's the big deal??? So I am seriously considering going down and having her name changed.

So this has turned into more of an update then just a 'tiny tot' story. So might as well give a full update:-)

Thom is now working at the college, he is the new ROTC recruiter, for Dixie. Which SHOULD make his job a whole lot easier, and more stable and secure***fingers crossed****please God!!!! He has only been there a week now, but is liking it so far.

There is not too much going on with Kaiden and Kayla, they are looking forward to the end of the school year, they are both busy practicing for their end of year programs. And are greatly enjoying living in this new neighborhood with all their friends close by. They have both gotten a taste of "the dreaded teen years" this week. A boy was 'being mean' to Makayla this week, and Kaiden had to 'take care' of the issue. Now on first report of this issue of course 'momma bear' comes out and I go to calm down and I called Thom to talk to him about it and he starts laughing I said what is your problem!!!! So when he gets home, we sit them both down to go over the situation again. And Makayla says what the boy says to her(it is VERY mild, not real mean at all, just to a big brother is it very offensive). Thom calls Rylie in and proceeds to explain to the girls about how gorgeous they are how boys will 'be mean' to them in an attempt to get them to notice them, but yes it is still up to their brothers to take care of them make sure no boy ever hurts their sister. I am SOOO grateful the boys outnumber the girls, LOL!!! And now the boy keeps telling Makayla how beautiful she is and now after she knows what he is up to even he 'meanness' is still flattering to her, LOL. Can we hold off on the teen years for awhile????

We have come to a compromise on our newest additions. I am keeping my three kittens (any doubt there:-) ), Belle now has a new home. But Thom gets to keep his two puppies. And the kittens HAVE to be declawed and fixed as soon as they turn 6 months, which will be in August.

LEGOLAND 2009

2009-04-14T08:36:00.000-07:00

STILL DOING CATCHUP :-)

SAN DIEGO'S WILD ANIMAL PARK 2009

2009-04-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

More catchup:-)

This was one of my sicker days, I felt horrible! But Thom would not quit taking pictures!!! I am trying to be a good sport for the kids' sake :-)

Pooh is THOROUGHLY displeased with whole picture thing:-)

HARBOR EXCURSION 2009

2009-04-07T14:57:00.000-07:00

Hear is some more picture catchup:-) These pictures are backwards so you may want to start at the bottom, I was too tired of my cranky computer to deal with fixing them:-)

Afterwards we ate at this beautiful restaurant on the beach, we actually ate on the patio, and the kids enjoyed feeding the birds their expensive dinner most, LOL! They LOVED it!!!

After the boat ride we walked towards the boardwalk and found this beautiful park with these old trees and decided to take some pictures, the kids got ahold of the camera soon (as you can tell), and yes Sarah, we will get a room, LOL!

Can you tell that Thom had the camera most of the day?? There are WAY to many pictures of me! Just randomly taken:-)

This was the day that Will's illness REALLY hit him! He slept most of the boat ride!

Our boat

PICTURE CATCHUP 2

2009-04-06T09:19:00.000-07:00

These are some of the pictures from Lego Land, my computer is being retarded!!! So this is the end of the catch ups for a little while, till I figure out what the deal is:-) The kids adore Lego Land, me and Will, not so much, we sat and watched the kids and Daddy play all day, but there was not much for Pooh to do, so I sat with him most of the day, which was alright, at least the weather was beautiful for it! I will post more pics as soon as I can. But remember I am only posting SOME, as we took over 800:-)

PICTURE CATHUP FINALLY :-)

2009-04-06T08:42:00.001-07:00

These are some pictures from Sea World. Just a few of them. We LOVE Sea World it is our FAVORITE place!!!

Me and Pooh had to sit on the side lines for about an hour while the kids and Daddy went and got SOAKED on the rides!

The Budweiser horse, DJ.

AT THE RISK OF UPSETTING SOME OF MY READERS....

2009-04-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

I have to say that my God is AN AWESOME GOD!!!!!!!!!! Last night some very dear friends of our were at a youth event for our church out in the desert just outside of Hurricane, and due to the weather conditions, they decided to pack it in and head back to the church. On the way back one of the vehicles being driven by a youth (our friends' daughter) with her brother and sister in the car (also youth aged), lost control, and rolled repeatedly. Apparently the kids were trapped in the Excursion and I am not even sure how they were gotten out (jaws of life???), but I have seen pictures of the accident, and it is an ABSOLUTE MIRACLE that these precious kids are ALIVE! They were taken to the hospital and later released with bumps and bruises, and probably sore as all get out, but PRAISE GOD they are alive! I may never get the picture of that car out of my brain, and I pray that the other youth that drove by are able to overcome the trauma of it. But praise God we serve and AMAZING, LOVING God!! I am just on a high today!!! God's angels were around that car and that youth event last night, and you CANNOT tell me there is not a God. I am not going to get all philosophical right now. I just wanted to mention what an awesome God we have!

TAYLOR, CASEY AND CONNER, WE LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH, AND ARE SO THANKFUL THAT YOU ARE STILL WITH US!

WELL I HAVE BEEN REAL BAD

2009-04-04T07:33:00.000-07:00

about this whole blog thing lately. Well actually about everything in life lately. Life has been absolutely chaotic!!! But I did want to say a special HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET NIC NAC who is 5 today, can you believe it FIVE!!!! That is all for now, I will try to catch up with pictures and such at a later time, but well honestly I am not sure when I see life calming down enough to do that, but I will try:-)

Vacation

2009-03-25T08:20:00.000-07:00

Well we are back from vacation. We had a BLAST!!! It was a wonderful time! Though I must admit it was too long. By the end of our vacation, the kids were on each others' nerves and fighting over stupid things (more so then normal), and we have decided that next time we will limit the amount of activities we have planned, and just go with the flow more. Because we had more fun on our beach days, then we did on all our park days, racing here and there, trying to cram in everything that the parks had for us. We truly enjoyed the beach the best. Even the kids said that their favorite part was the beach, so all the hundreds of dollars we spent on the parks, we could have saved just by going to the beach! Lesson learned. The weather was GORGEOUS, the entire time we were there, sunny, and in the 70's-80's, just PERFECT!!! We took tons of pictures, I will get them posted as soon as I get a chance, we actually took too many, we had to stop and buy a new memory stick (we had brought the laptop, but not any of the cables to hookup the camera, or a thumb drive, so we had to buy a new memory stick) LOL, so there is A LOT of pictures, about 800 or so, you will not see them all, but I will post a few :-), Thom and the kids were camera happy :-) We also got sick while we were gone. Actually, me and Will were the sickest while we were gone. We had strep throat, ear and sinus infections! AUGH! It was horrible!! I actually did not even get out of bed yesterday, Thom was sweet enough to stay home form work another day and take care of me and the kids. me and the boys are all sick. We are on antibiotics, so hopefully we should start feeling better soon, I am out of bed today, so I see that as improvement :-) I will get pictures posted as soon as I get some things unpacked and find the camera and memory sticks. Also the next two weeks will be BUSY, with MOVING!!!!! So posting and computer time will be limited!

SOME MORE BIRTHDAY PICS

2009-03-14T06:48:00.000-07:00

Way too much of a close up Daddy!!!
Beautiful girls!!!

My handsome boys!

Cheese Daddy!

Thanks Gramma an Papa!

And now we are headed out the door to California for a nine days for Spring Break to have some much needed and well earned fun! Will post pics when we get home:-) Have a fun break!

BIRTHDAY PARTY

2009-03-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

Well tonight we had a nice little party for mom and Will cause we are going to be in Cali for our birthdays. We are leaving tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is my birthday and Will's is next Saturday. So we had a fun thing at my mom and dad's. Dinner, cake and presents. We had lots of fun! And we got spoiled, of course! My computer is on the fritz, so here are just a few of the pictures.

Pooh did really good, and he blew out the candles by himself:-)
And I blew out mine:-)

We shared an ice cream cake, it was delicious!!

Pooh got his own gun, and they had a HUGE war afterward!

A PRAISE GOD IS DEFINETELY IN ORDER!!!!

2009-03-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

Well as you know things have not been going our way lately. And I have been low on faith. Thanks for all your continued prayers, cause I have needed them! Our good friend Shirley called after contacting a friend of hers who happen to be a real estate agent, and she suggested we look at homes with lease options. So we contacted our agent, and he got right on it, thank you Chuck, YOU ARE A LIFESAVER!!!! We found this gorgeous house, and we did not think that the terms would work for us, but we went to look at it today anyways. As we pulled down the street, we were falling in love, and as soon as we walked inside we fell instantly IN LOVE, it is so much better than we could have ever hoped for. Yet still we were apprehensive. And Chuck says, "Um, you guys are awfully quiet." And I said, "It is TOO perfect, everything about it is perfect." And he says okay lets get it done then. But of course after all the bad luck we have been having I think it is impossible for all of it to come together and all parties be happy, in this lease option. As we were moving into a home with a VA loan and therefore no money down, and a lease option generally wants 10-20,000 dollars down. So we laid out what we could do, and Chuck and their agent went to work. I just received a call from Chuck, WE GOT OUR HOUSE!!!!! We go into escrow tomorrow, and everything should be signed and done before we leave on vacation on Saturday!!!!!! Is God good or what!?!?!?!? Yet to be totally honest, I am still waiting for the bottom to fall out from under us. I know, I am horrible, I am low on faith right now, but when we are in it, what a faith builder that will have been:-)

These are off the MLS listing

2009-03-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

Well, not much is going on here. We have all been fairly sick, lovely! Thom has been EXTREMELY busy with work, he had been spending the majority of his time up in Salt lake, generally Monday through Friday the last couple months, only spending the weekends with us, which is generally busy doing church work. but we have survived and things seem to be calming down, he is not going at all this week:-). And we are busy getting ready to go on vacation for Spring Break, we are going to San Diego, as are many of our friends, so this SHOULD BE an enjoyable time, I am apprehensive as things have not been going our way lately, to think that everything will go wonderful and smooth. We still have not found a house (thanks Misty I called on that house this morning, and I am going to look at it this afternoon, but she did not sound positive that it was still available), we need to have a house nailed down before we leave to go on vacation, because we will only have a week remaining in the month to get out of our house when we return form vacation in which to move, not enough time to find a house and move. So I hope to be busy this week, FINDING the house! Yes, the house in the last blog was PERFECT, but the last time I talked to her she said that there was a stack of apps before ours and when and if they got to ours she would let me know, and until then she recommended that we continue looking, so I did not see that as a good sign, LOL. my kitties are 4 weeks old today! They are cute little buggers! I think we have finally come to a compromise on what we are going to do with them. My mom wants Liberty. Belle, is being naughty, so she is going away (this would have happened, regardless of anything else, due to the things she has been doing), she is either going to the no-kill shelter, or she will go to Thom's friends Cobb's daughter. And we will be keeping Tigger and Honey. Well that is all for now. If you are of the praying persuasion. PLEASE BE PRAYING FOR US!!!!! I KNOW God has a plan for us, I just wish He would not wait till that last minute to reveal it to us, LOL!

HOUSE UPDATE

2009-03-06T10:32:00.000-08:00

Well we are not getting our house, we have given up, actually our broker gave up, she said their was nothing we could do after the economy has taken the turn that it has, mortgage lenders have had to set the new terms and there is nothing we can do about it. But we still have to be out of our house in three weeks, so we are currently looking for a new house to rent. I found a house that I am TOTALLY in love with!!! It is actually only two streets up from where we are at now, so the same neighborhood, same school, the kids can still play with their friends (and we still get to be close to our friends Kat and Van, Mike and Cindy, and John and Michelle). But the yard is larger, the house is larger, and the rent is cheaper! I am really excited about it. I know, I should know better than to get excited about something, cause it seems to always fall apart huh? So we will see what happens, but we have three weeks to get everything to fall into place SOMEWHERE so we should not be homeless at all:-) And you know what, I am okay and content with all this, God is working on my heart. And with everything frickin Obama keeps yanking from us who knows if Thom will even have a job in say 6 months, so maybe we should not even be buying a house, God knows what is best for us, I believe He is saving us from making a huge mistake right now. I would LOVE to go off on an I TOTALLY DISLIKE Obama rant right now, but I do not have the 5 days it would take, so I will not:-) SO yeah, I think we did not get our house, because God is saving us. So we are going to be content with wherever He places us. And whenever He decides to clue us in on where that is, I will let you know:-)

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF BABES

2009-03-04T18:20:00.000-08:00

***This is a report that Kaiden had to write for school:***

IF I WERE PRESIDENT
BY: KAIDEN TOBIN

If I were President I would keep the Mexican boundaries and there would be no democrats and republicans, there would only be Americans. I will give riches to the poor. I will lower gas prices. I would end this terrible war that has cost thousands of lives, with billions of atomic bombs. My Vice President would be Zackary Cluff and my Secretary would be Talon Fiut. Together we’ll be unstoppable. Wa, ha, ha, ha, ha. I would live in the White House with my wife and my three children named Tad, Kaiden Jr, and Mark (a.k.a. Mark Twain). I would put an arcade, game room, a built in Gold’s Gym, and Disneyland all in the White House. I would also say; this to all terrorist, “We will, we will rock you, we will, we will, hunt you down sock you down me and my gang, so watch it.” I also declare schools and businesses will be remodels and helped. And the economy will be fixed and renewed. I would also have blacks and whites will both be Americans. And the rich will give thousands to the poor There would be one class form each state that will get to live in the white house for a days using all the riches and servants they want. The Olympics would be every three years. There would also be one class in the United States would win one million dollars for each student and the teacher. That means every kid would walk home and say, “Mommy I got a million dollars!” And that why I would want to be President.

HOUSE UPDATE

2009-03-03T10:22:00.000-08:00

*****PLEASE BE WARNED RANT AHEAD*****

Okay, so this was our week, right, we have been waiting for March 1st, everyone told us, that on March 1st, our credit "discrepancies" (discrepancies that again were NOT our fault!) would be fixed, so after 4 months of working on this, we have been waiting for march 1st, we received an extension on our house until March 16th, so we are okay, as long as on March 1st, everything IS fixed. Now if you remember, we had received a 'pre-approval' cause all HUMANS looking at our paperwork say YES, it is definitely a go-ahead, it is just the dang computer we were having issues with, getting the final approval, because of this ONE little line on our credit, would keep the computer form being able to sale it after we closed.So we had to WAIT for this line to be fixed. So March 1st was our date. So yesterday I called our broker. And YES, PRAISE GOD, OUR CREDIT IS FIXED!!!!!!!!!!!! But, of course, there is always a but in our lives! As of March 1st, the is a new requirement, "all across the board, on all new home loans", that there is a minimum credit score of ____. Okay fine, great, BUT, after 4 months of trying to get our credit fixed, they(whoever 'they' is) pulled our credit NUMEROUS times, and now our credit is BELOW that minimum line!!!!! So if whoever could have just gotten our credit fixed February 28th, we would be able to close and move on with our lives. Oh my gosh, seriously!!!! I am FREAKING OUT!!!!!!!!!!!! Regardless we have to be out of house we are currently living in by March 31st. We are praying and covet your prayers! It is going to take a miracle for anything good to come out of this situation now. BUT, luckily, I still believe in miracles:-)

I KNOW YOU HAVE BEEN FEELING LEFT OUT AND

2009-02-27T18:13:00.001-08:00

DEPRESSED.....
...caused you have missed my updates on the babies, LOL. But my camera and computer have both been on the fritz, but we are back on, so here you go. The babies are two weeks old now. And cute as can be! They are growing up so much! They no longer want to be in the box, they want to get out and crawl around, and explore. They no longer want to be contained, which is a problem, when we are moving soon, and do not want then making a mess on the carpet. So we are trying our best to contain these little cuties! But I think we are going to have to get drastic soon:-) And Belle is just done! She still nurses them and spends time with them, but she is spending more and more time away from them and is also venturing outside again.

News on the home front. We should begin to have news again on Monday, hopefully GOOD news **fingerscrossed**!! I will keep you posted, please keep us in your prayers, we NEED them:-)

WHAT HAVE I BECOME????? PART 2

2009-02-24T09:56:00.000-08:00

This is Craig Morgan singing Tough at the Grand Ol Opry. I do not like this video, but his actual music video he disabled, it so it was not able to be played anywhere else, smart of him I guess. So you get the idea anyways:-) My husband has since my medical issues, dedicated this song to me (aside from the bacon, LOL). And since it has been five years today, and in the song it says five years I thought I would post it now. "The Doctor said, she'd have to fight to live." I did, I fought to get my life back. I am strong, I am a survivor, I am a fighter. And I thank God that He allowed me the wonderful blessing of continuing to live when all medical science said I should have been dead. That is my God, He is a miracle worker! And He has not only given me the spirit that I needed to overcome the things in my life, He has given a wonderful family and friends to walk beside me and help me along the way. You know who you are, and if I don't say it enough, I love you, thank you! I would not be here without you. That is all for now, I may add tidbits along the way today as I feel it in my heart. Thanks:-)

WHAT HAVE I BECOME?????

2009-02-24T07:31:00.000-08:00

Well five years ago today marks the beginning of my new life, and I have been asking myself all week what have I done with my life? And as of yet I have not come up with any answers:-), I will let you know if I do.

Five years ago today is when I had my ruptured aneurysm in my brain, that left me paralyzed and demented (I had sever dementia), and according to my doctor the chief of neurosurgery at the U of U(the number two in the nation), dead upon arrival. SO obviously I have made HUGE physical advances, and I am a HUGE MIRACLE of God's wonderful love and power! Unless you really know me, you would never know anything ever happen to me. But I still carry the scars, both physically and mentally. I will spare you the pictures of that time cause they are VERY scary! But honestly, I always thought God saved me for a purpose, that I am here for a reason, but five years later, I am still the same horrible person. I am still not the mother that I feel my kids should have, I am still not the wife I feel my husband should have. And the list just goes on. What is different today then that day five years ago? Aside from the fact that I am not 8 months pregnant? Nothing! Five years is a HUGE landmark, and I wanted to do something with my life, be someone! Any ideas on how to become the person you want to be or was intended to be?

We always spend the day of in fasting and prayer for our family and church family, and any needs in healing that we see. So today we are praying and fasting and we would love you all to join in with us. And then tomorrow, on the day that I finally came out of the brain surgery and they knew I would live , we have a big feast/party. So tomorrow we will be feasting at our church. We invite you all to join us there as well.

1 WEEK OLD

2009-02-17T19:35:00.000-08:00

My babies are one week old today, and they are cute as can be!!!!! They are finally calmed down and settled in. They live in the girls' closet in a box, I just wanna eat them they are so adorable!!!!

MY PRECIOUS TINY LITTLE LIBERTY. SHE IS THE RUNT OF THE LITTER. SO TINY AND SCRAWNY, AND SHE IS WHINY. BUT PRECIOUS JUST THE SAME, I LOVE HER SO:-)

AND BOTH HER EYES ARE OPEN TODAY:-)
MY SWEET LITTLE HONEY, SHE IS MY PORKY INDEPENDENT ONE. THE CHUBBIEST AND SHE WANDERS AROUND THE MOST. SHE IS JUST SO PRECIOUS. AND ONE OF HER CUTE LITTLE EYES IS CRACKED OPENED TODAY:-0

TIGGER, SO CUTE!!! I LOVE HER!!!!!!!!!

Also, my boys got mohawks. They look good, I love it:-) Most people are shocked when they see them, but hey, that is what they wanted, and it is only hair, it will grow back!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

2009-02-14T08:23:00.000-08:00

Well Happy Valentine's Day! Hope you all have a wonderful blessed day. I woke up this morning to get ready to go to work, yeah I had to work but only for a few hours in the morning so it is all good. And my beautiful children had breakfast cooked and ready for me and Thom:-) How sweet are they!!! Kaiden had made pancakes and Rylie had set the table. They are so special. They have such sweet little hearts. We have been wonderfully blessed with sitters tonight. Our church is putting on a 'movie night' and dinner for the kids, us parents can drop our children off and go out, guaranteed competent free sitters, SO AWESOME!!!! We are probably just going to dinner and a movie, but we are really looking forward to it! That is all, just wanted to brag about how wonderful my hubby(oh yeah, Thom took me shopping yesterday let me buy whatever I wanted and watched the kids while I shopped, and he bought me roses) and kids are, and how beautifully blessed I am!!!!!:-)

AN EARLY VALENTINE...

2009-02-11T08:51:00.000-08:00

AND THE BEST ONE YOU COULD EVER RECEIVE!

OUR NEWEST ARRIVALS

2009-02-09T18:33:00.000-08:00

Well my babies finally came. They were a few days late, and I was getting worried. But she finally went into labor this morning. Of course, I freaked, LOL! I locked her in the laundry room and called Thom, and told him to get his butt home:-) She is so young, she is only 10 1/2 months old, I did not think she would be able to do this on her own. I went and jumped in the shower before Thom got home and when I came out she had one little one out, and she had done it all herself. The little one was all cleaned up and was nursing heartily. I was SOOO impressed! It took from about 10:00 this morning to 2:00 for her to deliver them all, so it took a long time, but she did it! She only had three, but they are all SO DANG CUTE!!! Obviously we are not sure what they are yet, but at this time we think they are all girls.

This is Liberty, the first born. Thom named her Liberty cause of the Liberty 'Bell', and because when he gets his dog he can say that it is "Chasing Liberty", LMAO, yeah lame I know, but whatever, I needed the laugh today, so it stuck:-)

This is Lucky, cause she is lucky to be alive, her mother tried to kill her!!!! Seriously, I was traumatized! This one was her third, so when she came out the other two were climbing on her and she totally ignored this one, she was just lying listlessly in between Belle's legs. I freaked out but luckily my good friend Maria was there, and she said chill out and picked up the baby and helped her then got Belle to finally take to her. Then we heard loud anxious baby screaming and we ran in there and Belle had thrown her out of the cupboard onto the tile floor beneath (only 6 inches but still), and she still had the after birth attached. I freaked again but again Maria stepped up and helped Belle out. About an hour later Belle finally had her cleaned off and was nursing her. It took her awhile to get attached to this one, but she finally did and all is well now:-)

And this one is Honey. Just cause she is so gosh darn cute!!!!:-)

These little ones are SOO precious!! And, yes, I am keeping them all:-) Though my mom and Maria may convince me to give them each one, we will see.:-)

DO YOU KNOW WHAT I HATE?

2009-02-05T11:24:00.000-08:00

When my kids turn to me and ask me a question, fully believing that I will answer them, yet....I am too dumb and I don't know the answers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE it!!! And as they are getting older it is happening more and more, it is always, "I don't know, wait till your dad gets home and ask him." I hate having to tell my kids that I don't know something. I should be able to answer any of their questions. And what happens when they get older and they start asking the really tough questions of life? You know you watch TV, and the mom always has the right answers, or the perfect way to talk her daughter down after she has been dumped, or the proper way to "direct" her children to do the right thing. I am not that mom!! I think I suck at this whole mom thing, and it is only going to get worse! AAAUUUGGGHHHHHH*sob*sob*!!

And this all started from a simple, "Mom, what makes electricity?" LMAO!

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

2009-02-04T07:22:00.000-08:00

written by a Canadian woman, but oh how it also applies to theU.S. , U.K. and Australia

THIS ONE PACKS A FIRM PUNCH

Here is a woman w ho should run for Prime Minister!Written by a housewife in New Brunswick , to her local newspaper.

This is one ticked off lady.'Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we?

Was it or was it notstarted by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001and have continually threatened to do so since?

Were people from all over the world, not brutally murdered that day,in downtown Manhattan , across the Potomac from the nation's capitol and ina field in Pennsylvania ?Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible,burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they?

And I'm supposed to care that a few Taliban were claiming to betortured by a justice system of the nation they come from and are fightingagainst in a brutal insurgency.

I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repentsfor incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.

I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East startcaring about the Holy Bible, the mere belief of which is a crime punishableby beheading in Afghanistan .

I'll care when these thugs tell the world they are sorry for hacki ngoff Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling slashedthroat.

I'll care when the cowardly so-called 'insurgents' in Afghanistan comeout and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion byhiding in mosques.

I'll care when the mindless zealots who blows themselves up in searchof nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicidebombs.

I'll care when the Canadian media stops pretending that their freedomof speech on stories is more important than the lives of the soldiers onthe ground or their families waiting at home to hear about them whensomething happens.

In the meantime, when I hear a story about a CANADIAN soldier roughingup an Insurgent terrorist to obtain information, know this:

I don't care.

When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told notto move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank:

I don't care.

When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat,and 'fed special' food that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complainingthat his holy book is being 'mishandled,' you can absolutely believe inyour heart of hearts:

I don't care.

And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled 'Koran'and other times 'Quran.' Well, Jimmy Crack Corn you guessed it,

I don't care!!

If you agree with this viewpoint, pass this on to all your E-mailfriends Sooner or later, it'll get to the people responsible for thisridiculous behaviour!If you don't agree, then by all means hit the delete button. Should you choose the latter, then please don't complain when more atrocities committed by radical Muslims happen here in our great Country!

And may I add:'Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made adifference in the world. But, the Soldiers don't have that problem.'I have another quote that I would like to add, AND.......I hope youforward all this.

One last thought for the day:Only five defining forces have ever offered to die for you:

1. Jesus Christ

2. The Canadian Soldier.

3. The British Soldier.

4. The US Soldier, and

5. The Australian Soldier

One died for your soul, the other 4 for your freedom.

MY BIRDS

2009-02-02T07:20:00.000-08:00

LOVED the Superbowl!!!! This is them staring at the TV.

Seriously, it was so funny! They were doing their squawking and fighting and just being them. Then the game started, and they sat just like this watching it. half time came and they were 'birds' again, but the second half started and they took their game positions back. They were even cheering with us when the Cardinals made a touchdown. It was hilarious!!! They are so cute!! That is all, just wanted to mention my cute birds.

WE MADE IT!!

2009-01-28T13:12:00.000-08:00

Okay so Thom has been out of town since Sunday. No big deal, he goes out of town all the time, right? No, this annual trip he takes with his buddies to Fish Lake, has notoriously been rough on the family. He is only 3 hours away, but he has no reception whatsoever. And generally the weather is very rough. And there has not been one trip that he has taken that I have not ended up in the ER with one or more of our children, unable to reach the person I need the most right now. Or he ends up getting stuck there because of the weather, and I don't even know it, cause he can't call me, and then I worry. But he got home this afternoon, as per the plan, and me and the kids were just fine!! Guess our bad luck is over:-) I dread this trip every year, and walked on pins and needles while he was gone. But God was watching over us all, and we made it!!!!:-)

WHEN WILL I DIE?

2009-01-26T10:39:00.000-08:00

An interesting, enlightening email:

WILL I LIVE TO BE 80?

Here's something to think about.

I recently picked a new primary care doctor. After two visits and exhaustive lab tests, he said I was doing 'fairly well' for my age.

A little concerned about that comment, I couldn't resist asking him, 'Do you think I'll live to be 80?'

He asked, 'Do you smoke tobacco, or drink beer or wine?'

'Oh no,' I replied. 'I'm not doing drugs, either!'

Then he asked, 'Do you eat rib-eye steaks and barbecued ribs?

'I said, 'No, my former doctor said that all red meat is very unhealthy!'

'Do you spend a lot of time in the sun, like playing golf, sailing, hiking, or bicycling?'

'No, I don't,' I said.

He asked, 'Do you gamble, drive fast cars, or have a lot of sex?'

'No,' I said.

He looked at me and said,....'Then, why do you even give a shit?

FAT CAT

2009-01-23T19:26:00.000-08:00

Here are my preggo Belle pics:-)

A LITTLE SAD

2009-01-22T07:40:00.000-08:00

So I have a Facebook and Myspace account, I keep in contact with friends from back in the day, and family from across the US. And sometimes, like today it is a little depressing. Everyone, I swear, everyone! is having babies, either just had or is currently expecting. I feel so out of it. I know I already had mine. But I guess now is the time in my life that stuff like that should be happening. I feel so sad and left out. I know that is so silly. But as most of you know, I DO want one more baby. And now seems like the time, with everyone else having them. But I know that is not going to happen. And I am truly grateful for the 5 blessings that God gave me. And congratulations to all you starting your families, may you be as blessed in them as I have been.

WILL'S GOING INTO HIDING

2009-01-21T15:45:00.000-08:00

Apparently Will must be hid away for awhile. As per Nic's requests. I was doing bills yesterday on the computer, and the boys came in (i only have Will and Nic at this time of day), and the inaguration is on the tv, Nic hears 'Obama', and he sys what is a obama? I laughed and explained that is he the new president, and Nic looks at Will, very concerned and says "Oh, is he the baby killer one?" I said, yes he is. Nic says, very seriously, "Well we better hide Will away for awhile and never let him see him, we don't want him to die." So I chuckled a little, and explained to him what that really meant. But he still seems convinced that we need to put Will in hiding somewhere, LOL.

On a side note about Obama, our fears are slowly coming to realization about him. Before he was ever sworn into office, he made plans to do away with the military's life insurance, as well as to allow gays back into the military. I am quiet upset about the life insurance, and Thom is LIVID about the gays. So as this is only a pebble in the "Cannot stand obama" campaign, this is just the beginning to what he is going to do to my family. And we can only pray it does not get worse. I am scared,honestly I am terrified.

BOY, ARE WE IN FOR IT!

2009-01-20T08:31:00.000-08:00

Well I had a light bulb moment while I was trying to sleep this morning, it did not work out well, I am EXHAUSTED! But I am too busy thinking about the future, and it is scary:-) I have two BEAUTIFUL princesses, who are only 18 months apart, and will be teenagers together. Now I always knew this, but I had my light bulb moment now. My daughters are perfect! They are adorable, and have always been told this, as well as how they look just like me. I always thought that was cute. But now I am realizing how much they act like me too!

Makayla is very quiet and shy, as I was when I was younger. Which seems okay at first, but then I remember how much my shyness caused problems in my life, and how I am still scared from some of the experiences I have had, due to my personality. And I know this will cause her issues in life. So we are in for drama with her.
And my beautiful Rylie Noel. She is more like me than I really want to acknowledge or admit. She is very what I like to call "passionate". Her emotions are very strong and she is very outspoken about them:-) It cracks me up and terrifies me at the same time. She is definitely her mother's child. Very dramatic and high strung.

So we are definitely in for it! Watch out world there is two more of me coming for you!!!:-)

TODAY

2009-01-18T11:11:00.000-08:00

Not much to write, not much going on around here, so I will just update on everything:-). Belle is getting fat!:-) We figure she has about two weeks left. Her little middle is swelling out, and you can definetely tell she is preggers from all angles now, it is so cute! And she is getting obnoxious, she is looking for a place to have her babies, and apparently cant find a safe place in the house (go figure with fifty million kids running around all the time). So she keeps trying to get out, and I will not let her out, cause the last thing I need is her giving birth out there somewhere, that would not be safe, we have coyotes at our house near every night (or so Mike,my neighbor says, I have only seen them a couple times, but he says he sees them almost every night), so I will not allow my little one out there in her condition. I am trying to convince my husband that we will be keeping all her babies ( I made the kids a deal, if she has 3 or less, we will keep them all), apparently a typical litter yields 7ish, but my last mommy only had 2, and we kept them both, I could not part with them, and feel that will be the case this time as well, especially with 5 kids becoming attached. He says if we are in our new house, he will consider it. Which leads me into my next update. We are to be closing on our house in 8 days. Are we? NO! We are having some issues. Pardon my language, but the credit people are dicking us around. There is one line on one of the reports that one of the credit agenices is reporting, which is causing us issues, and our underwriters are refusing to underwrite our loan until it is corrected (apparently they can not sell it with this one line written the way it is). All agencies and companies involved are admitting that it is incorrect, but nobody is willing to fix it! But now one guy at one agency is "going to fix it", but he said it may take up to 30 days! We have received an extension until the 20th of February, and we are going to try to light a fire under this guy and get it all done. This si the most frustrating experience! AND, we have to be out of our house now on the 28th of February, so we are hoping everythign falls together in a timely matter:-), I guess we have our trailer to live in if need be. Which is another segway. We bought our 12 passenger van because I was babysitting 14 kids over the summer last year, and because we needed something bigger than my Explorer to pull the trailer. Well lets just say that it has been broken down for 4 months now. We finally got it fixed two weeks ago, and NOW the starter went out on it!!!!!!! So it will sit there for another month or two while we try to get it fixed!!!! So frustrating. But aside from the house and van situation and Kaiden situation(will not go into that one!!!), we are doing great!:-) Been busy working and enjoying the new year. Things are picking up for Thom at work which is wonderful. I am still babysitting kids, and have picked up an extra few days from one kid that will be doubling the time I have him, and money I will be receiving from him:-) I am still not sure how long the store I am working part time at will be in business, but I have finally got it down to part time (from 50 to 10 hours a week) and my Scentsy business is going alright, i don't make a lot of money, but I do enjoy it. If oyu would be interested in shopping or hosting a party please call me, or visit my website, www.scentsy.com/tobin. Thanks:-) That is all for now, we are going to go play with some friends and I am late:-)

I CANNOT EVEN BEGIN TO TELL YOU HOW MUCH I NEEDED THIS TODAY!

2009-01-14T13:56:00.000-08:00

There comes a point in your life when you realize

who matters,

who never did,

who won't anymore...

and who always will.

So, don't worry about people from your past,there's a reason why they didn't make it to your future.

'Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

PICTURES FINALLY

2009-01-12T10:36:00.000-08:00

These are from Kaiden's game on Saturday. Of course they won again! This is a great team!

Waiting to get in on the action!

Final score!

I THINK WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!!!!

2009-01-09T09:25:00.000-08:00

No not me you crazy people! That would take an act of God at this point:-) We believe me little Belle is preggers:-) She is losing hair around her nipples, and she is 'nesting', not in the traditional sense of nesting, but she won't go outside and play anymore, she is content to just sleep the days away under or on a bed. And she keeps PUKING!!! I know that is not a symptom of cat pregnancies, but it makes sense to me:-) We figure if she is she has about 3 weeks left. The kids are SO excited, heck so am I:-) Thom? Not so much:-) I guess we will see, but all signs are pointing in that direction.

A GREAT REMINDER FOR THE NEW YEAR

2009-01-08T07:14:00.000-08:00

STRESS

A lecturer when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked 'How heavy is this glass of water?'
Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.
The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter.
It depends on how long you try to hold it.
If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem.
If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.
If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.
In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.' He continued, 'And that's the way it is with stress management.
If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding itagain.' When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.'
'So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow.
Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can.'
So, my friend, put down anything that may be a burden to you right now. Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while.

Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:
* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.
* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
* Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply be kind to others.
* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time because then you won't have a leg to stand on.
* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
* Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.
* The second mouse gets the cheese.
* When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
* We could learn a lot from crayons... Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Have a great Year!

CHATCHUP 7 OF 5:-)

2009-01-06T10:49:00.000-08:00

We are in the middle of trying to buy a house, it is not a new house (built in 2001), but it is nice and fits us perfectly, and is close to the city pool, ball fields, and new park. We are real excited about it. We are 'in escrow' right now, the bank is wanting to close the 26th of this month, but our agent is calling to have that extended, cause we will not have all our stuff done by then. It is a short sale, so apparently if we are not in compliance with what the bank wants they can pull our offer, and sale to someone else??? Not sure how all this works. But we are hoping to be in our new house the first part of next month:-)

THESE PICTURES WERE TAKEN OFF THE MLS LISTING.

RV PAD FRO OUR TRIALER (PICS STILL TO COME:-) )

VIEWS OUT FRONT AND BACK

KITCHEN

LIVING ROOM
MASTER BEDROOM(THIS ROOM IS ON THE SMALL SIDE:-( )
BOYS' ROOM

KAIDEN'S ROOM

GIRLS ROOM

SO I LIED, CATCHUP 6 0F 5

2009-01-06T10:39:00.001-08:00

Again, no pictures. But Kaiden is playing basketball now. And he loves it! I love that little one but he is not very athletic. He is doing his best, and every game and practice he is getting better! He is a great learner. But his personality and disposition are not aggressive or in your face, and I think if he was more that way, he would do a little better. But he is doing good,and we are real proud of him. He has had two games so far, and they totally slaughtered the other team in both games:-) It is so fun to go and watch them play! His best friend is on his team, and his best friend's dad is the coach( he went to college on a basketball scholarship, so he is awesome!), so it will be a fun season. And we are really enjoying it!

CATCHUP 5 OF 5

2009-01-06T10:31:00.001-08:00

On New Years Eve we had a large party at our house, it was fun. I have no pictures, of course! We had friends over till about 1:00, which I know is not late, but it is lately for us! Especially Will, he had a rough go of it, he was so tired! We had soup and games, it was fun, and very safe:-)

I have new year's eve 'goals'. I will not disclose them all, cause I will probably fail at them and then you can rub it in my face. But no, I really do want to lose about 65 pounds (I know big numbers, but sine I am done having children, I want to get back down to my pre children weight). That is my main one. And probably the hardest one! I have the inspiration, and the 'buddy' system, and my family behind me, so I am praying it works, but I just have so little will power over food, and energy to work out! It is going to be HUGELY difficult! All your prayers and good thoughts are greatly appreciated:-)

CATCHUP 4 OF 5

2009-01-06T10:21:00.000-08:00

Christmas Morning we woke up early, opened presents then went to Gramma and Papa's and opened more. Of course the kids were spoiled! This is the day that my 'on the fritz' camera officially died! So not many more pictures. I received a new camera from my wonderful hubby for Christmas, but I just barely got it working as well, so there is about a week here of no pictures:(. Then we had a large DELICIOUS meal at Gramma and Papa's. Then we went to a movie with some good friends of ours, the Wilkin's. We went and saw Bedtime Stories, it was way cute, and I highly recommend it! Then we came home ate candy out of stockings and tried to clear trail ways to our beds:-).

CATCHUP 3 OF 5

2009-01-06T10:04:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve was challenging, I had to work in the morning, and ended up stuck there for an extra 2 hours, which is per normal. And before I left for work Rylie was sick throwing up, through the night and into the afternoon, needless to say we were EXHAUSTED! She finally started to feel better, but we had canceled our dinner plans, We were having a large Christmas Eve dinner at our house, but because Ry was sick nobody wanted their children sick for Christmas, it ended up just being us and my parents, which was fine. We did end up going to the Christmas Eve candle light service at our church. That was beautiful and fun. I did make the kids get dressed up and look nice, though it was EXTREMELY hard to get them to sit for pictures, AUGH!!!! Here are the pictures of my beautiful children!!!!

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY TWO FRONT TEETH!

CATHCUP 1 0F 5 PART 2

2009-01-06T09:55:00.000-08:00

Well I realized I forgot these pictures in the original part 1 of 5, so here is another portion of it. If you know me well, you know that an occasion HAS to be celebrated on its origninal day, regardless of how we celebrated before. So even though Rylie had a HUGE party, we still had to go out on her actual birhtday! We (just our family) took her to a new restuarant in town, it is called Pirate Island Pizza, and then she got to have a movie night. Pirate Island Pizza is a way fun! We had a blast. These are pictures of her getting her birthday cake from the restaurant, and them singing "Pirate Queen" to her. It was great!:-)

CATCHUP 2 OF 5

2009-01-06T08:21:00.001-08:00

The Saturday before Christmas our church did their annual children's Christmas play and 'happy Birthday Jesus' party. This year they performed the Singing Christmas Tree from Veggie Tales. It was WAYYY cute!!! All of my kids except Will were in it this year. Kaiden was a French Pea, Kayla was a sheep, Rylie was a cow, and Nic was a camel. All except Nic had a solo of some sort. It was so cute, I was SO proud of them, they did such a good job, and it was so stinkin cute! I am hoping to get the video of it. And keep it for ever, it was just so precious. Here are some pictures, again camera on the fritz.

CATCHUP 1 OF 5

2009-01-06T07:36:00.000-08:00

So I have not posted for awhile. Sorry! I have been in a quiet a 'funk' lately. But now I am going to try to play catchup on some of my posts here.

RYLIE'S 6TH BIRTHDAY

Rylie's brithday was two days before christmas. We had a party the weekend before. This was her first real party. Cause it being so close to Christmas, not many people have ever showed up, due to being out of town and other issues. Except her 1st birthday was HUGE! But she does not remember that. And also this was her first year in school, so she was able to invite her whole class. We had a quite a large party, it was extremely loud and she had lots of fun! My camera is on the fritz, so these are not good pictures but you get the idea:-) Let me see there was probably 35 people, it was CHAOS!!!!!:-) But she was SOO blessed!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2008-12-24T00:05:00.000-08:00

DIAMOND RIO

2008-12-22T10:49:00.000-08:00

Tequila and Salt

2008-12-21T20:05:00.000-08:00

This should probably be taped to your bathroom mirror where one could read it every day. You may not realize it, but it's 100% true.

1. There are at least two people in this world that you would die for.

2.. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.

3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.

4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don't like you.

5. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.

6. You mean the world to someone.

7. You are special and unique.

8. Someone that you don' t even know exists loves you.

9. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.

10. When you think the world has turned its back on you take another look.

11. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.

And always remember.... when life hands you Lemons, ask for Tequila and Salt and call me over!

Good friends are like stars...You don't always see them, But you know they are always there.

Happiness keeps You Sweet, Trials keep You Strong, Sorrows keep You Human, Failures keeps You Humble, Success keeps You Glowing, But Only God keeps You Going

I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SEE THE DAY

2008-12-18T08:40:00.000-08:00

When they CLOSED ALL THE SCHOOLS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, my children are home from school today. All the schools in the county have been shut down to to SNOW! I still cannot believe it. The desert!?!?!?! Also a mere 120 miles away in LAS VEGAS! they have shut down the airport as well as 3 major freeways, due to the SNOW! I am just in awe, this sort of thing does not happen here.

Well we are off to play!:-)

WINTER COMES TO THE DESERT

2008-12-14T10:23:00.000-08:00

We walked out of Walmart last night to howling wind and fierce rain. By the time we got home (a 30 minute drive), it had turned into snow flurries. Nothing big, but it was flaky, we assumed it would be gone by morning. But by the time we got up this morning, we had snow on the ground. Not much, as you can see in this first picture, you can still see some grass. But the kids LOVED it, they were so excited to go out and build a snow fort and snowman. I gently explained to them that there was not enough snow for such fun. But they said they would do it anyway. So I bundled them up and sent them out. They ended up with a large mound of snow, that they had accumulated from the cars, and every square inch of our front yard, as well as out neighbors. LOL, they had fun, but did not have more than a 3 foot by 6 inch mound to show for it. Oh well, they had a great morning.

Pooh was not too sure about it, he sat bundled up on the sidewalk watching them for about 20 minutes then decided that the snow was too cold and not any fun:-) But he looks so cute all bundled up, I still need to buy him some mittens that fit.

WHAT CUTE BOYS I HAVE!

2008-12-09T11:21:00.000-08:00

Well we finally did it, we gave Kaiden his own room back, and put the two little boys in their own room again. Kaiden is MUCH happier with this, but half the time Nic still ends up on Kaiden's bottom bunk. And look how I caught my sweet boys one night. Pooh generally ends up on this Cars couch they have, but this night, they were both cuddled up together on it:-)

A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS POEM

2008-12-08T21:28:00.000-08:00

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight. My wife was asleep, her head on my chest, My daughter beside me, angelic in rest. Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe, Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve. My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep. In perfect contentment, or so it would seem, So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near, But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear. Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow. My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight. A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old, Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold. Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
'What are you doing?' I asked without fear, 'Come in this moment, it's freezing out here! Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve, You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!' For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light Then he sighed and he said 'Its really all right, I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night.' 'It's my duty to stand at the front of the line, That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me. My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,' Then he sighed, 'That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers.' My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam', And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while, But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile. Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, The red, white, and blue... an American flag. I can live through the cold and the being alone, Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat. I can carry the weight of killing another, Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.. Who stand at the front against any and all, To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.'
' So go back inside,' he said, 'harbor no fright, Your family is waiting and I'll be all right.' 'But isn't there something I can do, at the least, 'Give you money,' I asked, 'or prepare you a feast? It seems all too little for all that you've done, For being away from your wife and your son.'
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, 'Just tell us you love us, and never forget. To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone, To stand your own watch, no matter how long. For when we come home, either standing or dead, To know you remember we fought and we bled. Is payment enough, and with that we will trust, That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.'

CHRISTMAS PICTURES

2008-12-08T09:14:00.000-08:00

WE WENT UP TO RED CLIFFS YESTERDAY TO TAKE OUR CHRISTMAS PICUTRES! HERE ARE OUR CHRISTMAS SHOTS AS WELL AS SOME RANDOM PICTURES THAT WERE TAKEN.

THIS ONE IS MY FAVORITE, THE KIDS WERE BEING SO ROUDY I WAS DONE MESSING WITH THEM AND TRYING TO GET THEM TO SIT STILL, LOL. THIS PICTURE SHOWS TRUE TOBIN LIFE! I WAS TRYING SO HARD NOT TO LAUGH, BUT THOM WAS NOT HELPING, HE WAS JUST LAUGHING!

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY TWO FRONT TEETH!

$4,000 IN BRACES SITTING RIGHT THERE:-)

ANOTHER $4,000. ACTUALLY LAST TIME WE WERE AT THE DENTIST IT WAS $4,000 TIMES 5! KAIDEN AND KAYLA'S ARE JUST MOST OBVIOUS AT THIS TIME IN THEIR LIVES

DADDY AND HIS BOYS

MOMMY AND GIRLS

HOW CUTE ARE MY KIDS?!?!?!?!
WE WENT WITH OUR GOOD FRIENDS MELISSA AND LEVI, AND THEIR TWO BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN, ZAYNE AND SKYLUR.

AUGH help me!!!

2008-12-06T06:59:00.000-08:00

My cat is in heat, and she is driving us CRAZY!!!! And no, it had honestly never crossed my mind to get her spayed. I mean obviously I would have eventually, but had not thought of it as of yet. And now she is howling and carrying on. She got out last night. And I am not too stressed about it, if she gets pregnant, then we will have babies:-) And then we will get her fixed. Either way immediately after this heat cycle is done we will get her fixed, well not immediately cause if she did get knocked up I am NOT about to abort her babies, we will just deal with it. So how can you help me, you ask? Do you have an unneutered male at your house I could borrow for a couple days to shut my cat up? The last time I have a cat that went into heat that is what we did, we had a friend and his male stayed with us for a week, shut my up. And then we had the most precious babies! My little Ben and Jerry, we ended up keeping both of them and mom. They were the best cats we ever had. Luckily she only had two though so that was an option. And we put an offer in on a house, so babies would not be an issue now either, well at least a few of them, unless she had like 10 or something! But right now we are just trying to deal with her howling. Unless you have a male!

MOVIE REVIEW

2008-12-05T07:03:00.000-08:00

Thom and I went to see a movie last night, my parents watched the kids, as it was our 'mock anniversary'. The anniversary of our wedding, but not our legal anniversary. We celebrate our legal anniversary and do the whole anniversary thing (if you really want to know why this happened the way it happened you will have to email me for the answer). But on the anniversary of our big wedding, we try to at least do dinner or a movie or something. Anyhoo, so we went to a movie last night. THE BEST movie!!! We give it two enthusiastic thumbs up! We went to Four Christmases, starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon. It was EXTREMELY hilarious! We laughed through the whole movie. I strongly recommend you try to make it to see this movie this holiday season with a good 'family' message. It honestly did touch a heart string also, I teared up at one point. So a good movie for all. Now go see it!!!

http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie/four-christmases/

THANKSGIVING AT THE TOBINS

2008-11-28T18:55:00.000-08:00

MELISSA AND LEVI

ME AND MY BABY

GRAMMA, PAPA AND PAPA'S BOY!

TWO OF THE COOKS

WE ALL TOOK OUR TURN IN THE KITCHEN THIS YEAR:-) (OR FRONT PORCH IN LEVI'S CASE, LOL)

THE BOYS SHOOTIN THE SHIT

KAIDEN PLANTED HIMSELF IN FRONT OF THE TV TO WATCH FOOTBALL ALL DAY IN TYPICAL MALE FASHION

RYLIE ENJOYED THE HALF TIEM ENTERTAINMENT

THE KID TABLE

AND IN THE END WE TRIED TO GET A PICTURE OF ALL 9 KIDS, IT DID NOT WORK WELL:-) (FROM L TO R~GARRETT, WILL, ZAYNE, KAYLA, KAIDEN, ELI, RYLIE,SKYLUR)

IN TYPICAL WILL AND SKYLUR FASHION, LOL:-)

TO MY BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN THAT I AM SOOO THANKFUL FOR!!!!

2008-11-26T15:40:00.000-08:00

Paul Harvey Writes:

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better. I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated. I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car. And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room,but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her. I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one. I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boygirl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it.. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hannukah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.
These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.
Written with a pen. Sealed with a kiss. I'm here for you. And if I die before you do, I'll go to heaven and wait for you.

PLEASE HELP SUPPORT ME!

2008-11-14T15:18:00.001-08:00

FOR ALL YOUR CANDLE AND HOLIDAY NEEDS. PLEASE SUPPORT MY NEW ENDEAVOR:-)

http://www.scentsy.com/18739

YOU CAN CALL ME, OR PLACE YOUR ORDER DIRECTLY THROUGH THIS WEBSITE.

THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!

VERY IMPORTANT PLEASE READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-12T12:38:00.000-08:00

I am sure most of you have a daughter, a granddaughter, a niece, a friend ora friend's daughter......this might be worth checking out.PASS THIS ON EVEN IF YOU DON'T USE IT!!Recently this past week, my cousin Nicole Dishuk (age 31....new grad student with a doctoral degree about to start her new career as a Doctor...) was flown into a nearby hospital, because she passed out.They found a blood clot in her neck, and immediately took her by helicopter to the ER to operate. By the time they removed the right half of her skull to relieve the pressure on her brain the clot had spread to her brain causing severe damage. Since last Wednesday night, she was battling. They induced her into a coma to stop the blood flow.They operated 3 times. Finally, they said there was nothing left that they could do. They found multiple clots in the left side of her brain, the swelling wouldn't stop, and she was on the life support. She died at 4:30 yesterday. She leaves behind her husband, a 2 yr old Randon and a 4 yr old Justin. The CAUSE of DEATH they found was a birth control she was taking that allows you to only have your period 3 X's a year. They said it interrupts life's menstrual cycle, and although it is FDA approved......it shouldn't be. I ask you to boycott this product and deal with your periods once a month, so you can live the rest of the months that your life has in store for you.Please send this to every woman you know - you may save someone's life. Remember you have a cycle for a reason.

VETERANS DAY

2008-11-11T09:48:00.000-08:00

KNOW THIS, A SOLDIER DOES NOT FIGHT BECAUSE HE HATES WHAT IS IN FRONT OF HIM AS MUCH AS HE FIGHTS BECAUSE HE LOVES WHAT IS BEHIND HIM!

In the words of the great Walt Whitman,

"The moon gives you light,

And the bugles and the drums give you music,

And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,

My heart gives you love."

GOD BLESS OUR VETERANS AND GOD BLESS AMERICA!

1/2 BOY, 1/2 MAN

2008-11-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

The average age of the military man is 19 years. He is a short haired, tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy. Not yet dry behind the ears, not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country. He never really cared much for work and he would rather wax his own car than wash his father's, but he has never collected unemployment either. He's a recent High School graduate; he was probably an average student , pursued some form of sport activities, drives a ten year old jalopy, and has a steady girlfriend that either broke up with him when he left, or swears to be waiting when he returns from half a world away. He listens to rock and roll or hip-hop or rap or jazz or swing and a 155mm howitzer. He is 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when he was at home because he is working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk. He has trouble spelling, thus letter writing is a pain for him, but he can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and reassemble it in less time in the dark.
He can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if he must. He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional. He can march until he is told to stop, or stop until he is told to march. He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation, but he is not without spirit or individual dignity. He is self-sufficient. He has two sets of fatigues: he washes one and wears the other. He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry. He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never to clean his rifle. He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts.If you're thirsty, he'll share his water with you; if you are hungry, his food. He'll even split his ammunition with you in the midst of battle when you run low. He has learned to use his hands like weapons and weapons like they were his hands. He can save your life - or take it, because that is his job. He will often do twice the work of a civilian, draw half the pay, and still find ironic humor in it all. He has seen more suffering and death than he should have in his short lifetime. He has wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and is unashamed. He feels every note of the National Anthem vibrate through his body while at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to 'square-away ' those around him who haven't bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking. In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from home, he defends their right to be disrespectful. Just as did his Father, Grandfather, and Great- grandfather, he is paying the price for our freedom. Beardless or not, he is not a boy. He is the American Fighting Man that has kept this country free for over 200 years. He has asked nothing in return, except our friendship and understanding. Remember him, always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood. And now we even have women over there in danger, doing their part in this tradition of going to War when our nation calls us to do so. As you go to bed tonight, remember this shot. . . A short lull, a little shade and a picture of loved ones in their helmets. A Prayer wheel for our military... please don't break it Please send this on after a short prayer. Prayer Wheel 'Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen.' When you receive this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our troops in Afghanistan , sailors on ships, and airmen in the air, and for those in Iraq , Afghanistan and all foreign countries. There is nothing attached... This can be very powerful... Of all the gifts you could give a U.S. Airman, Soldier, Coastguardsman, Marine, or Sailor, prayer is the very best one.

I QUIT!

2008-11-09T17:09:00.000-08:00

Apparently we are just not dog people anymore. Maddie is going to the pound tomorrow when I get off work. Being older she is VERY mellow, which I love! Personality wise, we LOVE her. She is a great dog. Very sweet, she is not the watch dog that we want, but it is okay, Cause I think if someone were going to break in or look around our house to break in, you see a Rott, and you are not going to do it. So I thought she was going to work out great. BUT, she is having hip problems, and we can not afford that. So I was just thinking that, well we can make her as comfortable as we can in her last year or so, no problem. But then the problems began! She is old, and she does not have control of her 'bodily functions' and she was 'going' all over my house! I took her out this morning when we got up, and she peed. I came inside took a shower and began to get ready for church. Thom comes in and says that she peed in the living room, and I said I JUST took her out. He said well, she did. So I continued to get ready and get the kids ready. And Thom yells for me, I walk out into the living room, and am OVERWHELMED with the smell of poop. She had diarrhea and peed all over the toy room. OMG, it was SO overwhelming! SO we were late for church today while we cleaned the toy room, so within the span of an hour and a half, she peed in the house twice and had diarrhea, which diarrhea is fine, she is nervous, and new food, all that, but the POINT is she did it in the house. Also while cleaning the toy room we found a dry spot where she had peed yesterday. And most dogs will cower knowing they did wrong, but she is in total oblivion to it. She is getting old, and does not have control over it anymore, and I think she is becoming senile. I feel SO bad for her, but I cannot keep her in the condition she is in. But my heart is breaking for her. She is so sweet:( But I WILL NOT be using the pounds exchange policy, I am DONE with dogs!

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

2008-11-08T11:18:00.000-08:00

That is right, as predicted, Addie is no more. She was an EXCELLENT watch dog, very sweet with the kids, listened, I felt good about her. But she had one bad habit, and we tried to break her of it, we tried to compensate for it. And NOTHING would work, and today was the final straw, she had to go. She WANTED/NEEDED to go outside. When the front door would open she would plow down everyone in her path to get outside then she would run, RUN! And keep running, I swear she was like Forest Gump, she just felt like running. So we ran with her every day, we walked her every day, we played ball with her every day. Nothing worked! AND, she could get out of the door herself, we have the lever handles, and she would pull it down, put her paw out and RUN. So we kept all the doors locked at all times, we only went in and out of the garage. Cause we really wanted to keep her, she was so good in the other areas that we wanted. But this morning she got out, (Thom had left for work and forgotten to lock the front door behind him), she plowed down all my kids on the front walk(who had gone out the garage), then RAN. On her way back, Kaiden grabbed her, and was walking her home. But my neighbor was out walking her three big dogs. Addie saw them, went running, dragging Kaiden along in the process (scrapped up his whole side up and down the ENTIRE thing), and attacked my neighbors three dogs. I finally got her dragged away from my neighbor (who by the way is REALLY upset with me), and threw her in the car, took her back to the pound. So I washed my hands of her. I am sad, cause she was everything we were looking for in a dog, but it just did not work out. The pound does not do refund, but you can exchange. So Rylie, FELL IN LOVE with this dog. So we brought home a Rottweiler, she is 8 years old. She is VERY mellow and calm. I do not think she will be the watch dog I wanted but maybe the looks of her will scare people away? Hopefully. I am not posting pictures right now, cause well, lets make sure this one works. I am telling you I have commitment issues with animals. But we do still have Belle. And she is a sweet thing. We love her, and we are in it for the long haul with her (well all but Thom, but I am bigger than him, LOL) The new dogs name is Maddie (short for Madison?), which Ry loves so I think we are going to keep it the same.

I NEEDED THIS TODAY, THOUGHT YOU MIGHT ALSO :-)

2008-11-07T07:17:00.000-08:00

THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE EMAILS, AND GOD MADE SURE I GOT IT AGAIN TODAY WHEN I NEEDED IT :-) SO I THOUGHT I WOULD SHARE.

Ever have one of those days, when something seemed a bit 'off' but you just couldn't put your finger on it...

Or it seemed like all the people around you just wanted to buttheads...

Or just get into some kind of weird tug of war?

Sometimes you just need to take a fresh new look. And get a different perspective on things.

Remember to try your best to show kindness to others...

(sometimes looking at things from their perspective might help...)
So, when life gets you down...

Remember to just keep going, and keep your head above water...

And you'll get by with a little help from your friends!

FOR THE RECORD

2008-11-06T18:51:00.000-08:00

I am NOT racist! I know some MANY great black people, including my main mentor all throughout high school, who pushed me to my fullest potential, was a WONDERFUL black man, I love you Vern, you helped me in more ways than you will ever know. Although our 'mighty five' is no longer together, you will ALWAYS remain dear to my heart.
I think it is a wonderful thing, that our nation has evolved enough to have a black man as our President. I have NOTHING against Obama as a man, or the color of his skin. I do however have issues with his political standings. But this post is not about my political issues, cause I am DONE talking politics, I am so sick of it! I just wanted to set the record straight that I AM NOT RACIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FUNNY STORY

2008-11-04T19:51:00.000-08:00

So I am thoroughly depressed with this election, as I assumed I would be. Predicting the outcome weeks ago. Anyhoo, not getting into that. I had a funny story. I picked Rylie up form the bus stop today, and she asked me what that sticker is for. She was referring to my "I Voted" sticker. So I explained that I had gone and voted. And she said, out of the mouth of babes, "I hope you did not vote for that man who kills babies!". I was appalled that my 5 year old would say something like that. And also proud that my 5 year old is smarter than the majority of American adults. That is all I have, just my daughter and she cracked me up today. I COULD NOT believe that came out of my 5 year olds mouth!

I LEFT MY PRINT

2008-11-04T08:15:00.001-08:00

AND VOTED!!!!

We got out there early this morning, as soon as we got the kids on the school bus. We were watching the news about 3-6 hour long waits. And here in Hickville, there was 3 people in front of us, it was great:-) I am sure the polls here will pick up, but I also know alot of people who voted early. So I guess we will see. And I am anxious for 4:00 to roll around so we can start getting some results in. Without going into the politics of it all, cause I am so sick of that. I am genuinely terrified of the results and the impact they will have on our country. And that is all I have to say for now:-) Go vote and have a great day!!

ON A BRIGHTER SUBJECT

2008-11-03T07:12:00.000-08:00

Well I was not going to mention this for awhile. But as I am so sick of political issues, I wanted to think about something happier. We got a new dog last weekend, and I did not want to mention it cause, well I have commitment issues when it comes to animals. But here she is. She is a German Short Hair Pointer, she is two years old. Her name is Addie. So far she is a good dog, I think she may last, LOL:) The kids love her and she is a great watchdog. Which is why we got her, the crime in Hurricane is really going up, and felt is best to have a dog with Thom out of town so much. So here is my new baby girl.

CHRISTMAS

2008-11-02T08:09:00.000-08:00

Well with the end of Halloween (thank God!!!), Christmas is right around the corner. We started shopping early this year. Cause the hustle and bustle of the holidays is just too frustrating. So we have been enjoying our Christmas shopping. We did ALL of our Christmas shopping in October (yes we are done!!!!), In November we will be doing all of our outdoor lighting. And as per normal we will spend the last week of November decorating the inside, on Thanksgiving we always put up our tree. So December we can just coast and have fun. Actually spend the holidays with family, and enjoy our kids, and the holidays in general, enjoy more holiday parties. I am really looking forward to this holiday season.

That is all I really have to say, just real excited to get Halloween over, so we can get to having fun with the holidays:-)

Patriotism

2008-10-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

My niece wrote this, and I thought it was very insightful, and wanted to share it hear:-) She makes a lot of sense:-)

Patriotism--Love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it.-

Word Web

What do you think of when you hear patriotism? Maybe you think of people throughout history that loved America; people like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Or maybe you have a patriotic hero from history that not everyone has heard of, but who loved their country, literally, to death. Perhaps it is someone that's lived during your lifetime, like Ronald Reagan. Have you ever looked around, though, and seen many people showing patriotism today? It's getting more rare, folks. Patriotism is disappearing. One of the reasons patriotism is disappearing is because... well, let's just put it this way: America's getting worse. What do I mean by that? It seems like crimes are increasing and getting worse, people don't care about laws, and most importantly, people don't care about each other, which is probably the root cause for not caring about laws. Of course, there are some laws, such as abortion, that people don't agree with, and for a good reason. When you just live your life, not caring about others or what you do, that's going to start impacting people everywhere you go. If you look back to WWI and WWII, people did care about others, they worked like crazy to show it and make a difference. Today, people are starting to get lazy; starting to take America for granted. Back when America was a bunch of people with goals, hard work, and love for her and her people, we were a great country. What can you do? Stop taking America for granted, work hard and show you care.Another reason patriotism is disappearing is because kids aren't taught to respect their country in school, so if they're parents don't teach them, they're not going to care at all. Kids, even though they might have told you that it was in school, freedom is not burning the flag to protest.A third reason is because we are forgetting God. I don't care what you say, our nation was build on Biblical ideas and principles. I once heard a quote by a Frenchman who came to America in the 18th century, wondering why our democracy worked so much better than France's. He basically said, "America works because it is good". America was founded on Christian principles and should continue to be. Now there are those people out there that try and convince you that America shouldn't be Christian because of "The separation of church and state." "You know guys, it says in the first amendment of the Constitution..." Guess what? The first amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." OK, now tell me where it says that the government can't have Christian based ideas. Tell me where it says that we can't have anything that mentions God in public schools. Oh no, it doesn't! America is somewhat mixed up in a way, people are becoming lazy and uncaring. They are forgetting what America is and what it stands for. But deep down inside, I think everyone still has a little bit of patriotism, and they just need to find it and show it to the world. Not just when something bad happens to bring us all together, do it now. Don't say America is great, show that America is great. It's not great because we say so, it's great because we do so. It's the people and their freedom, not the government, not the powerful military, it's the people.

AT LONG LAST.....

2008-10-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

.....WE HAVE OUR TRAILER!!!! It has been two years in the making, but we finally got it:-) Thom and Nic left on Sunday and they got home late last night. For those who do not know. Thom's mom and dad live in Arizona, they are retired and travel around in a camper trailer. They bought a new trailer 2 YEARS ago, and they decided they wanted to give us their old one, instead of trading it in. But it has been a trial for the last 2 years trying to get up there and get it. Now it is an older trailer, but in very good shape. My mother-in-law, God bless her wonderful soul, we love her so much, she is a little insane:-) She still has all the owner manuals that came with it, and there is plastic from day one on all the appliances, flooring and furniture. This is just the way she is. So while the colors are old and nasty(oranges and browns, you know old school), it is in fairly good condition. And heck it was free. Well except the money to get to it in Arizona, and now the money to fix my mom's truck (apparently while Thom was gone with her truck, he had to take her truck cause our van to pull it is broken down, apparently her truck got a few scratches on it, which we will of course pay to have fixed, don't know how they got there, but we are definitely paying to fix it. So not totally free, but still a couple grand on a 28 foot trailer, not too bad. The kids are going to have blast camping next year! We can not wait to go out, we are all so excited. And this also means we get to take our long-time trip in the making up to Washington to see my family up there, WAHOO!! SO excited for that! Thom had a real god time catching up with his dad, and Nic loved meeting his grandparents. Due to their ill health, they do not get out as much as they want, or used to, and we have not been financially in the position to go vist them, and it has been 7 years since we have sen them. They have never met, Rylie, Nic, or Will, and only saw Kayla when she was a week old, so kaiden was what? 2 years old. This was a much overdue trip. And with the use of our new trailer, we hope to never go that long without seeing them again:-) Here are some pictures from Thom and Nic's trip. Also this winter/spring we will be refurbishing the trailer(you know into more modern colors and stuff) so I will post pictures at that time, of the trailer.

NIC SO CUTE!!!

NIC AND GRANDPA TOBIN

GRANDMA AND GRANDPA TOBIN

DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING, BUT THEY ARE CUTE:-)

THIS IS WHERE THEY ARE STAYING RIGHT NOW, IT IS BEAUTIFUL!

YEAH, PICTURES

2008-10-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

RANDOM CUTENESS

MAKAYLA'S NEW HAIR CUT (NOT A GOOD PICTURE BUT YOU GET THE IDEA, SHE REALLY WANTED BANGS!)

RYLIE'S NEW HAIR CUT (NOT A BIG CHANGE, BUT STILL CUTE)