Hospital Hopping!

Well today we went hospital hopping!  Emery came to the hotel we were staying at and ate breakfast with us.  The breakfasts at this hotel are totally amazing!  They have someone that makes fresh omlets and they are wonderful!  They also have french toast that is really good and just a whole lot of other things.  They have a juice that is a peach citrus that is amazing!  Here is our cook!

We then went and saw Michael this morning.  He is still sedated and still has all the IV's and breathing tubes still in.  The nurse he has today is horrible!  Sara said she was really mean and short with her.  She asked her if she would please update us if there was any changes and especially if they pull the breathing tube out and he wakes up.  While we were there Daryl took Brandon for the day.

Here is the clan on the way up in the elevator...we decided not to jump!

After a couple of hours we then went to a hospital in Scottsdale and saw Michael's nephew and our adopted brother Randall who is in the hospital because a lead came out of his pacemaker and he had to go into surgery to have it fixed on Monday.  His sweet wife Jamie and his cute little boy Braxton was there.  We also saw his Dad (Michael's brother) Curtis at the hospital.  Next we went to Mesa and visited Liza who is in the hospital for a bone marrow transplant.  She has a form of Leukemia and we are hoping this will really help her.  Shanna is her donor.  So Mom had planned on coming down here this weekend to be with her sisters anyway.  Shanna has been having to take shots to draw the good blood cells out of her bone marrow so they can take it out on Monday.  They will turn around and put it into Liza on Monday as well.  So far Shanna said the shots hasn't been as painful as she has heard they would be.  We decided to go eat at Golden Corral and Duskin joined us.

While we were there Sara called to check on Michael and they told her that he was awake and the breathing tube was out.  She was so angry that they didn't call her!  We hurried back to the hospital and I couldn't help but take this sweet picture of the two of them!

He is awake and he is looking pretty good.  They made him sit in the chair for 5 hours.  Although Michael wasn't very happy that Sara wasn't there to begin with, but the stupid nurse didn't tell her!  We stayed tonight in the hotel again.  

My Anniversary!

Well today is my anniversary and it was actually a pretty wonderful day!  Rob took the day off and got to come to Church with us.  Because of his work schedule he doesn't get to come very often.  But I absolutely love it when he does!  We came home and I had put a pork roast on to cook when I left and it was just right when I got home.  I love Sundays!  When we come home, everyone pitches in and helps cook dinner!  Tyson made a wonderful salad and Darius made some awesome mashed potatoes with garlic, butter and bacon bites!  Tyanne helped me make some cheddar garlic biscuits that turned absolutely wonderful!  It is so nice to sit down to the table at least once a week and have dinner and just talk with the kids!  Jess and Jordan came over a little bit later, poor Jess has to work nights tonight.  I didn't hear from Emery and Duskin, but that is because they are on the Pacific on their way to Mexico....totally jealous!  Robby did text us Happy Anniversary!  Love those kids!  Oh and Tyson got started on his mission papers tonight.  He had an interview with the bishop and came home and got them started...Woo Hoo!  But also melancholy at the same time!  Man...

State Wrestling Tournament at Tim Toyota's Center in Prescott

This year's wrestling has been a little hard on Darius.  He is now a freshman and as being a freshman you are now at the bottom of the food chain.  He is used to being the top dog after the last few years and has wanted to quit several times.  It has taken him a while and a lot of work to get to this point.  It was hard for him to just make varsity but he stuck it out and was the one to be able to go to State in his weight class of 128 from Safford.  Bad thing is this year was a bad year because they ended up cancelling Sectionals across the state because of impetigo.  So Darius ended up with a pigtail at State and in loosing his first match was now out of the state tournament.  Which I think is highly unfair, but what can I do?  So Friday night we stayed in this stinky cigarette smelling, nasty hotel in Camp Verde on Friday night and then ended up meeting Emery in Mesa on Saturday at Cici's pizza for lunch.  We then went to the movie at the Arizona Mills Mall and then went shopping a little bit.  We then went back to Emery's apartment, after going to Costco, got some Panda Express and In-n-Out for dinner and watched Smallville.  It was a fun couple of days!

This was what it looked like when they let all the teams out on the mats to warm up.  To give you a better idea, there were ten mats out there on the floor!  It was a big place with a lot of wrestlers!

Here is Kason Bryce, Darius' best friend!  Even though he is goes to Thatcher they still find plenty of time to hang out and spend time together.  They really are the best of friends!  I just love this sweet boy.  He also got 2nd Place here at State.  He is an amazing wrestler!

Here is Darius with the guy from Show Low.  As you can tell the kid is a lot bigger then he is!  Darius got pinned in the first period.  Dang it!

Here is Herman Andrews the Wrestling head coach and the assistant coach (I can't remember his name) while they are coaching a wrestler.  They kids all love Herman!  He is also the jumping coach during Track.  He is a really good coach!

This was a really fun surprise!  Tyanne and Kendal got to see each other at the tournament!  Kendal was there watching her boyfriend who is from Show Low!  She is such a sweetheart.  They have known each other since they were about a year old!  They really have been friends for most of their life.  Kendal's mom was one of my best friends in Snowflake.  Heidee and I have known each other since kindergarten but have been great friends since Jr. High when I lived in Shumway.  When Heidee moved back to Snowflake about when the girls were 1 years old.  We were together a lot so these girls have spent most of their lives together.

Just hanging out on a Sunday.

Well today was a pretty normal Sunday for our family.  We just got up, ate breakfast, showered and got ready for church, which right now is at 11.  Church was really good and inspiring today.  Penny Whetten gave a talk on "Coming to Christ" in Relief Society which was really good and Brother Hancock told us that he won't be teaching our Sunday class any longer and I really loved his lessons!  So Amazing!  Came home made lunch, which, wasn't really the greatest today.  I normally fix a great lunch, but I am trying really hard to loose weight at the moment and eat really healthy and it just didn't turn out like I had expected.  The Healthy Brownies may have been healthy but they were gross!  The roast took forever to cook and I burnt...which I never do...the cauliflower!  Ya...not my day!  Jess, Jordan and David came over which is a wonderful Sunday ritual and I just love it!  Brooklyn came to visit Tyanne and Hayden came by to visit Tyson.  It was pretty laid back and fun!  The highlight of the night was watching a few Pentatonix You Tube videos and then we found some videos of the kids and I singing (lip syncing) in the car.  When ever we would take a trip it always seems that we do some form of this.  I will share an example.  Have fun!  Obviously we were!

Day Trip to the Gilbert Temple

Today we got to take this sweet little face on a day trip with us to the Gilbert Temple open house.  He was so much fun and he is just as precious as he can be!

This temple is just a beautiful and serene place.  Everything about it is just relaxing, inviting, and gorgeous.

It was such a neat experience to take the kids through and to answer a lot of questions that they had.  It was fun for the to be able to see the inside of the temple.  They were really excited especially Darius and he had lots of questions!

The family after the tour, Tyanne, Rob, Crick, David, Tyson and Darius.  What a wonderful day!

We even got to meet up with Antie Em and have lunch with her.  She was on her lunch break.  She works as a dental assistant for Dr. Beavers, Jordan's uncle.

We also met up with Great Grandma Aceves!  This was just a last minute, she happened to be in the valley, meeting.  She was in the valley with Liza  and Shanna who have been having some tests done for Liza's bone marrow transplant.  Aunt Shelly was also here for lunch.  I am just sad I didn't get a picture with everyone!

This is where we had lunch.  It was right around the corner from the temple.  It was called Joe's Farm Grill.  We just had hamburgers but honestly, I think these were the best hamburgers I have ever had!  It was a really neat place and their strawberry lemonade was amazing....if you like pulp, which I do!

Super Bowl!

Well I was looking back over my blog and the last few years and I really wish I had kept up on it.  I officially hate face book and I am turning back to blogging.  This is more of a history of my family and I love it.  I love to look back and see pictures and events I have forgotten about.  SO HERE WE GO!

Tonight we enjoyed watching the super bowl although none us really cared who won.  Seattle killed Denver!  Emery and Duskin were here and it was a nice evening!  I know, we probably shouldn't have been watching it on Sunday.  Oh well!

Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band

We went to a Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band concert and it was awesome! Jessica, Jordan, Emery, Rob, David and I all sat together. Tyanne and Darius along with the Safford Choir got to sing a sing with them. It was really neat. Tyson was playing basketball in Snowflake and didn't get to sing. But here is a picture of David with the band after the concert!  Since Tyanne sold the second most tickets she also got to eat dinner with them. And as it turned out one of her best friend sold the first so you can imagine the fun that they had!

Homecoming 2010!

 Emery and her Homecoming group!  She went with Ricky Montajano!

Darius out on the field after the first quarter.  He was getting awarded for being the football player of the game in his football game!

The girls during their "Haka" at the Homecoming Assembally!

Darius on the field before the game!

The Soccer girls on their Homecoming Float.

Tyson playing the drums with the marching band in the parade.

Tyanne with the lobo mask on in the Homecoming parade on the Freshman float!

Soccer girls agian!

Darius was on this float playing with the intermediate band!

This year was a fun Homecoming!  Rob was able to be here and Jess and Robby both came home Friday night for the game.  Emery and Tyanne were both on Varisty Soccer this year and Tyson was on the Freshman football team.  It was kinda weird since Robby and Jessica were not back yet and all the other kids were in the parade....Rob and I had to sit and watch the parade and get our own candy by ourselves!

A New Year's Resolution!

Well I have to say I have fallen victim to Facebook's evil influence LOL!  I have totally neglected my blog!  I am now going to try to at least update it once a month...if not more!  We had a great Christmas at my Mom's this year and one of the highlights was taking family pictures...which we have not really ever done!  We have had so much fun this Christmas spending time with each other playing games...and eating!  Wow...I can not even tell you how much we have eaten, other then it shows!

This was Emery and I at Sunrise on Thursday trying our hand at snowboarding! Well it was pretty fun for the first half of the day...the second half was tiresome...and our legs were very sore and burning. We would have to stop halfway down the hill and just take a rest. It was fun just spending the day with her and I have to say that she was amazing...

We went with the High School and several of her friend said "We can teach you!" I had been once before and had taken a lessen, but she had no fear....she went straight to the top for her first time and came right down...she did great. She spent half her time waiting for me! She is such a sweetheart.

Our Christmas!

You know I was doing so good with this whole bloging thing till I found facebook...then I find myself looking and spending a ton of time on there! Jackie it is all your fault....lol! Well I would count myself as ungrateful if I didn't spend a little time talking about my holidays...I am not much of a story teller and no one thing in particular happened....it was just kind of the magic of the entire season.

First of all we knew that we would not have a normal Christmas because with Rob working out of town and on shift work we were not going to have our Christmas until Saturday Morning...December 27. So every Christmas my Mom, Brothers and Sister draw names and give each other a special gift, that way we don't have to buy presents for everyone...and everyone gets one...saves a lot on money, but it is fun to find that special present for the one person you have. We have found you really learn a lot about that person! Well my Aunt Shana has moved here from California and is living with my Mom til her house gets built....so we also added her to our gift exchange...this was a special treat because living in California she doesn't get to visit a lot. Next we were talking with my Uncle Josh and his wife when we were staying down in the valley with them and they were saying that they were going to be up for that Saturday...which was also a treat because we also don't get to see them that often.....so then we also added them and there daughter Melinda to our gift exchange. Then my Dad was also coming that Saturday...so we also added him to our gift exchange. This was an extra special treat for me. Over my lifetime I have not spent a great deal of time with my Dad, but over the last two years I have seen him a lot more. He came last Christmas and spent almost a week, which was a load of fun, then he came for one of Robby's football games, which was absolutely wonderful...but for him to come shortly after that for Christmas and spend a week with us.....well I can't tell you how excited I was. Well we also had one more suprise visit and that was from Rob's brother Drew, from Las Vegas! He got here Friday afternoon. It was amazing...my most favorite people in the world were all going to be here to spend Christmas with us!

Well...our Christmas Eve....Friday night...we spent at the Dog House and had a blast...we had a air hockey tournament and I was worried all night....Rob was on his way home and called and said he was stuck in Globe...they had closed the roads for the night. So poor Rob had to stay in the car all night waiting for it to open. So Dad got to my house at about midnight on Friday night...he got there early so he could see us open our presents...so Saturday morning we all headed to my Mom's house with all our presents in tow...and had to wait for Rob to arrive...to open presents. My poor kids...lol they were fine waiting a couple of days...it was the last few hours that killed them waiting for their Dad to make his way home! When Rob came in the door it was wonderful........Christmas with my entire family! Mom, Dad, Brothers, Sister, Kids, and some very special guests that is what Christmas is about Family! We started opening about 10 and Rob took his place as the passer outer of the presents and we ...for the first time...really took our time opening presents and enjoying being together opening presents from each other, laughing, and having a great time.

Then came the eating! Holy Cow...can my family cook and eat! Well most of the cooking came from my Dad! The first night my Dad cooked us all Orange Roughy Fish...and to anyone who knows me I HATE FISH! Well he made the best fish I had ever had! Don't ask me...he had it in Milk and other things, but it was really good! Next on the menu was Crawfish (otherwise known as crawdads) Louisianna style with red potatoes and corn on the cob...and gumbo. WOW! This was good! We had a blast sitting around the table peeling and eating them...it was fun. Next came his famous chili..well that was good too, but the topper for that night was the cactus dip he made. It literally had prickly pear cactus in it! It was wonderful! Next but not least was the making of Tamales...yes we spent all day Thursday making tamales. Amy and Dad took the lead on this. I had never made them before, this was quite an adventure! Boy were they good, and I think we ended up with about 20 or so dozen. So in between eating our delicious meals we played a ton of Rock Band, went out shooting, and one of the funnest adventures was geocaching out by woodruff. It was one week that I will truly never forget! Family....Food....and.... Fun!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Well we had somewhat of a different Halloween this year! With Robby playing football and Halloween being on Friday that was pretty much our Halloween. Although we had a trunk or treat with our ward on Thursday night and after that Mom, Sara, and I went to the haunted corn maze. This was the scarriest, funniest thing we have ever done! We laughed, screamed, ran, froze, fell, and laughed some more! So then on Friday we met over at Mom's and took the kids to about 5 houses and then we had to hit the Udahls house for the annual Witches Brew (homemade rootbeer!), it just wouldn't have been Halloween without it. Then we hit the Football game agianst Payson....which ended badly, but hey that was our Halloween!

Snowflake's Flag Girls!

Here is Jessica and Emery with there Lobo Flags! They have worked hard with the band and look good playing and performing for halftime!

Homecoming Assembly!