My Blonde Dog!

Paris decided she wanted something under the can rack and then got stuck!  She just whined for about 3 minutes until I finally went in to find her stuck under the rack.  Blonde!  Caden had to take apart the right side of the rack and save her.  

Caden & Dean Receive Scout Awards

Caden  and Dean were honored on Saturday night with scouting awards for the Tahquitz scouting district.   

Dean was awarded the Driving Force Award along with 4 or 5 other adults who help with the scouting program.  

Caden was honored with the Varsity Scout of the Year Award.  Of the over 200 Varsity scouts in the district, Caden was nominated by his scout leader, Scott Kennedy (on the right of Caden in this picture) and awarded this honor by the district.  Our good friend, Tony Morris,  is the other leader in the picture who serves as the Stake Young Men's President in the church with Dean as his secretary.  This award was a surprise to Caden.

Caden is pictured here with the other recipients from cub scout of the year all the way to leaders of the year.  (Yes, unbeknownst to me, there are girls in the scouting program.  Once they get to Venture scouts, it is coed.  This young lady took home the Venture Scout of the Year Award.  

I'm so proud of my scouting men.  

Kyle's Nose Surgery

Kyle is recovering well from his nose surgery.  Although he looks like the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man now!  His surgery was on Friday to correct a poorly healed broken nose that happened on his mission when his companion whacked him with a racquetball racquet.  He was having trouble breathing and headaches for the last 3 months of his mission and hopefully this will have fixed it.  Plus his Owen Wilson looking nose is now straightened.... we hope.  So - he is healing and enjoying all the extra mommy attention.  

My Nieces

Since I've been corresponding and blogging with my nieces, I thought they'd get a kick out of these photos.  I came across them while unpacking boxes from storage.  Aren't they cute??!!!!  I miss playing make-up and having those girl days! 

For those who don't know my nieces, they are all graduated now and all grown up.  From the top, Tarah (TJ) is married with 3 babies, Sara just graduated 2 years ago and is living in the Palm Desert area, Emry is married with 1 baby, Vanessa has been living in Northern California with her love for too long now (I miss you) and Kensy is married with 1 baby and 1 on the way.  They've all grown into beautiful women with distinct personalities, none of which was influenced by me.  I was and am just lucky to be a part of their lives.  Love you girls.

Kyle's Fish

Kyle went fishing at our pond and pulled out some 10" bass and some pretty decent sized blue gill.  This is a picture of one of the blue gill (in case you don't know the difference).

Normally, we catch and release till they get bigger, but he caught a good sized bass, so WE ATE IT!  Thought we'd see what it tasted like and it wasn't too bad.  Okay - Dean and Kyle thought it was great, but I'm not a real fish person except for salmon and a little halibut, and it was perty dang good.

Sooo - the fish are biting!  If you live close and want to come by and fish for the afternoon, feel free!

Elder Chris and Elder Kyle Serve Together!

What a great experience for my older boys to serve as missionaries together.  

After Kyle came home and was released from serving in the Colorado, Colorado Springs mission, he had permission to go and serve with Chris in Houston if it was within his first week home.  They have been planning this for months and they had a great time.  

Kyle flew in on December 29th, Elder Chris and his companion picked him up at the airport, and they had 2 full days and 2 half days to be together.

Kyle said it was a great experience and that the Houston mission is totally different than the Colorado Springs mission, but all in all, it's missionary work.  

At one point, Chris' bike broke and so Chris couldn't pedal the bike.  So Kyle took off his belt, Chris and Kyle each held one end of the belt and Kyle pulled him home.  (see the top picture)

They spent New Years Eve together and listened to millions of firecrackers and fireworks go off and even set off a few themselves (as Houston has no ban on fireworks).  

All in all, I loved seeing pictures and video of my boys together and now it's back to work for Elder Chris.

Kyle returned home safely last night and headed out this morning with Caden on a scout campout in Barstow to burn Christmas trees.  Kaylee is wondering when Kyle will stay home!

In case I haven't said so yet - Happy New Year to all who are kind enough to read my blog.  Keep your posts coming, I read each and every one whether I comment on them or not and love to see all the pictures of the kids in Utah.  Thanks for getting my hooked on blogging girls!  

Kaylee's Haircut

Kaylee wanted everyone to see her new haircut.  She's been wanting to cut it off for a while, but I told her she had to wait until after the holidays.  She reminded me this morning that the holidays are over!  She's been growing her bangs out forever and now with this cut they are 'almost' the same length.  One more trim in 6 months and we'll have made it.  Then she wants to grow it all long again.  The life of a pre-teen!