Northern Exposure

Be Still My Heart....

2011-11-30T20:41:00.002-09:00

Oh. My. Word. I am SO in love with this handsome little man! This post is a "just because" post. Just because he is so stinkin' cute and adorable. Parker is 17 months old now, and the time has flown by. Yet, at the same time, I can barely remember him being a baby!

Parker is so fun! He is non-stop, always on the go. He loves to run, climb, jump, slide across the floor, and kick/throw anything and everything! He is all boy and then some. He is tough and has the stalky build of a football player in the making.

This kid makes us laugh. He's always up for adventure, and if it includes his big brother and/or sister, count him in!

Although the pictures don't really show it, his big blue eyes and blonde curls in the back are a killer! It's what everyone notices first about him. Parker keeps life fun. He plays the role of the "baby" in the house quite well and is learning to irritate his brother and sister by taking their things and running! Luckily for him, they are so in love with him that he is quickly forgiven.

Nothing is safe in this house anymore....not even the umbrellas! He's always into something, exploring, playing, getting into mischief! He's tiring, yes, but so stinkin' adorable....my heart is captivated forever!

My Big Kindergarten Boy!

2011-11-30T17:03:00.002-09:00

Have you ever seen anything so handsome?? I love this kid! These are Preston's Kindergarten pictures. He is loving school! Because we decided to put Pres in a private Christian school, we had the choice of full day or half day class. We opted for the half day program so he goes to school from 11:45-2:45 each day. There are only ten kids in his class, one of which is his cousin/best friend Max.

We are so thankful for this kid. I have seen him grow and mature so much these past few months since school started. He is very independent, yet still loves to cuddle in my lap anytime I sit down. He's a leader, and a helper, and I adore that about him. He's always happy (at school anyways) and has fun in any situation. He's my calm, social, easy-going, emotional, sensitive, try anything at least once kind of kid. And I couldn't be more proud of him!

A Rainy Night

2011-09-02T21:53:00.002-08:00

Darron is gone caribou hunting, and we are tired of the rain! So, instead of sitting indoors (again), we ventured out to enjoy a night of splashing in the puddles!

And although it doesn't look like everyone was having fun, we actually were! Parker got a little irritated at having to wear big brothers rain coat, but once we filled his tray with rocks to throw, he was a happy camper....rain and all!

And those puddles didn't stand a chance to these giggly children in their rain boots!

Armed and Dangerous!

2011-09-02T21:44:00.002-08:00

Oh yeah! I'm officially armed and dangerous!

Last weekend, two of my girlfriends and I took a women's only Defensive Handgun class. We spent four hours Friday night in a lecture and about 9 hours on Saturday at the gun range learning to shoot.

I had the opportunity to shoot my father-in-law's .45 1911 Kimber. I was so excited about this class, but super nervous and I had NEVER shot a gun before! Like....NEVER.

However, Darron has enough guns and ammo to supply a small army and I have always thought about how stupid I would feel if I couldn't protect my own family when we have such a large supply! :) So....off to class I went.

And....I LOVED it! I walked away from this class feeling empowered and capable of protecting myself and my family. I learned the correct, tactical way of handling a gun, aiming, shooting, correcting jams, etc. And I learned practical tips on staying safe.

And to top it off, I was with two great friends that I had a blast learning and laughing with!

AND.....I even impressed one of the instructors with my shooting abilities! :)

So, will I be "packing heat" from now on with my own .380 handgun that Darron bought me for Christmas? Let's just say, you don't want to mess with me! :)

Welcome to Kindergarten!

2011-08-26T20:50:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my "baby" boy is starting school! You don't really realize how little they still are until you send them away to be on their own in a big school for the first time! Luckily, Preston is going to Grace Christian School and they had the option for half-day kindergarten, so that's what we chose. So, he goes to school from 11:45-2:45 every day. He wishes he went all day, but I figured starting next year he would go to school all day for the next twelve years....so I might as well hold him close for as long as I can!

The pictures are out of order, but this is how we celebrated a successful first day....an icee and popcorn at Target! :)

Preston and his best bed/cousin Max are in the same class. They also went to Preschool together. These boys are unseperable. Thankfully, they are good boys, even together, so the teacher enjoys having them! And they tend to be helpers too! I love these boys!
Preston was so excited before I took him to school. He had his back pack on and ready to go, giving Parker boy a little loving and assuring him he would be back after school.

And here is my big boy, all smiles, ready to embrace the first day!
He wasn't nervous at all! I'm so proud of him!

Payton was excited to get to walk Preston into his class. She wanted to be in his pictures. They are so silly together....when they're not fighting!

I am so thankful God led us in the direction of Grace Christian School. I NEVER intended to put my kids in a private school, after all, I'm a public school teacher! But God speaks to those who listen, and sometimes he SHOUTS to make sure He is heard! :) And I'm so thankful I finally heard Him!

Preston is loving school. He gets to see several of our good friends who teach at the school, as well as his cousin Brookelynn throughout the day. He comes home smiling and excited every day. Parker naps while Pres is in school, and that leaves Payton and I to have a few hours of alone time together. It's the perfect situaion for all of us!

Cheers to a great start to a great school year!

Family Fun in the Sun

2011-08-22T22:17:00.001-08:00

What a beautiful Sunday! Payton and I got up early and headed downtown to cheer on our close friend Marquel, who was running in her very first half marathon. We had a great time meeting up with Marquel's family and a couple of other girlfriends. It was so fun to watch Marquel and cheer for her. And any time alone with just this little sweet thing makes for a great time!

After church and an afternoon nap, we loaded up the bikes and headed to the Campbell Creek Trail system. Darron pulled Payton and Parker in the trailer and Preston pedaled hard on his bike with training wheels to keep up. The trail is BEAUTIFUL and goes all along the creek and through the woods.

After biking for awhile, we stopped at Take lake to throw some rocks into the water. Parker LOVES throwing anything, so throwing rocks and making a splash was the perfect break for him!

I am so thankful for my family, sunny days, and living in such a beautiful state!

Welcome to the Family!

2011-08-21T22:20:00.001-08:00

Meet Spikey and Fireball. Our new bearded dragons. I'm still in disbelief that I have reptiles living in my house....and that I've been forced to hold them. I am NOT a reptile fan....at.all!! But, thanks to a sweet bearded dragon named Sunny, we now are proud bearded dragon owners.

Sunny came to stay with us for two weeks while his family was on vacation in Italy. I should have known what that lead to. Darron and Preston immediatly fell in love, so two days before Sunny was scheduled to reunite with his own family, Darron and Preston were rescuing this pair of dragons from a neglegtful home.

Payton quickly took to holding the bearded dragons too. She likes to hold the little girl, and with the help of her cousin Brookelynn, they came up with the name Fireball.

And this is a perfect picture of Payton: in a princess nightgown, all girly, holding a bearded dragon!

Darron cracks me up. He gets worried about the bearded dragons is takes great care of them. He loves holding them and teaching them to "perch" on his shoulder.

This alone, makes it worthwhile to be a bearded dragon owner. Have you ever seen anything cuter than this little girl and her "beard of dragon"?!!

The "Man Truck"

2011-08-15T21:07:00.000-08:00

Introducing, Darron's new "Man Truck"! Boy is he one happy, proud man!

The Dodge Ram was starting to have some troubles and pulling our camping trailer with a 1500 truck was proving to be a difficult task. So, we went in search of a "bigger truck."

After looking, researching, and test driving, we were both set on getting a Ford 350 diesel. But, we needed to get an older model because the newer models had horrible engines. However, all of the older models were.....OLD! And came with their own set of problems.

That's when our research led us to discover the great, trusty engine in the new 2011 F-350's. And wouldn't you know it....they were having a "sale" (if you can call it that) to close out the 2011's. So....this is what ended up coming home!

We LOVE this truck! It is big, roomy, and beautiful. It pulls the trailer like nothing is attached and we feel nice and safe! Every man needs a man truck, right?

One Already?!

2011-06-17T22:14:00.002-08:00

It's hard to believe this sweet little thing is already one!! It's funny how time works. It doesn't really seem like just yesterday that I was pregnant with him or that he was a newborn, but then again, I can't believe he's already so big and just turned one! Wow!

Parker had to prove himself to be a tough little guy from the very beginning. At three weeks old, this little guy ended up in the hospital for seven days. He was poked, prodded, scanned, and messed with constantly. He had iv's, spinal taps, antibiotics, ultrasounds, and vitals checked. But he was so tough. I knew then that we had a special litte guy....a little trooper. And the Lord protected him then, and has continued to protect him! The final conclusion was that Parker had bacterial meningitis. Because we caught it early, the doctor was hoping for little or no lasting side effects. As of now, Parker is healthy and right on track developmentally! Praise the Lord!

Parker quickly won the affections of his big brother and sister! I'm not sure they could love him any more! They are always wanting to be near Parker and touch him, hold him, wrestle him, feed him, etc. And I am always amazed at how they never get mad at him. Parker can pull hair, swipe a toy, or hit and they just "correct" him and move on. It's really cool. And man does he love his brother and sister in return. He is always following them and wanting to be a part of what they are doing. And he and Payton seem to have a special connection. Lately, I've noticed that when Payton is throwing a fit and sent to her room upstairs, Parker quickly wanders off and is always found playing in Payton's room while she is in time-out. I guess that's his way of checking on her and taking care of her! :)

See those big blue eyes? Yep, those define Parker. That's what everyone first notices and comments on. Those eyes are going to get him into a lot of trouble some day!

Oh ya, and the drool on the t-shirt....yep.....his shirts STILL look that way!

Ahhh....those blue eyes!

This is Parker boy celebrating his first birthday with a chocolate cup cake. He may look like it was no big deal, but boy did he demolish that cake! We celebrated with a small family get together and it was so fun to watch him dig in!

Ohhhhh the curls! How I love those blonde little curls. Besides his blue eyes, the curls are also noticed. I just can't bring myself to cut them yet!

Parker is such a joy. He is so fun and so stinkin' cute! He has a stalky build and reminds us of a little body builder. He's into EVERYTHING.....and I do mean EVERYTHING! He climbs, bullies his way through, throws, demolishes, eats, drools, laughs, giggles, wrestles, and every now and the sits still long enough to snuggle!

Parker boy....you are so loved. I can't wait to see what God has planned for you!

Soccer Time!

2011-06-05T21:58:00.000-08:00

With the arrival of May comes the arrival of summer soccer! This was Preston's third year to play and he loved it! We were so blessed that our good friend, Stuart, was his coach this year. Pres played on a team with Diego and Max too. Although he had to miss the first two weeks of soccer due to an unexpected trip to Texas, he got right in there and looked forward to every game! Stuart quickly learned, though, that Preston and Max shouldn't be on the field at the same time....something about them always having their arms around each other and goofing off instead of watching the ball! Huh....I just can't imagine that! :)

Preston is in the middle row, far right with Max right above him.

After watching for two summers, Payton finally got her chance to play soccer! I love the way the YMCA has it set up. Although their on different teams, Pres and Payton played at the same time each week on field right next to each other.

Payton was also very fortunate to have another of our good friends to be her coach....Coach Brad! Payton loved playing soccer. She got so excited each day she got to play and she looked adorable in her uniform. She never hesitated to go out on the field, but actually watching the ball and attempting to go for it was a different story! Payton loved running around, checking on the kids who had fallen, and running past me smiling and waving! In fact, the only times she ever kicked the ball was when Coach Brad led her by the hand right to the ball. And she thought that was so fun!!

Payton is in the first row, second from the left....right next to her buddy Xavier and below her friend Faith.

Preston, Payton, and Max! This reminds me of an old picture of my brother, me, and my cousin Ronnie when we played T-ball together!

And here is a classic of my funny Payton girl and her silly faces!

Well, we survived another soccer season! Although it's fun and the kids enjoy it, twice a week can be time consuming! I'm glad it only lasted 6 weeks!
(Can you get any cuter than that little blondie learning to play soccer?!)

Easter 2011

2011-04-30T21:50:00.000-08:00

This year we celebrated Easter at the cabin. The Coronado family was not able to join us due to sickness and Pres and Payton sure missed having them there. But we still had a GREAT weekend with Grandma, Aunt Chris, Tressa, Richard, and Randall.
Aunt Chris and the "big" cousins hid easter eggs outside in the snow all around the cabin. Pres and Payton had a great time finding their eggs!

Grandma LOVES doing crafty projects with the kids and Preston just eats it up! Grandma helped the kids draw, cut out, sew, and stuff their own bunny pillows! It was so cute and the kids loved getting to help!

Of course we also had fun dying easter eggs. Preston was able to stay pretty clean....but Payton....she's a different story!

Time out at the cabin with family is unbeatable. We are so thankful for having a place to go and retreat from the world together! But more importantly, we are thankful that the tomb was empty and Jesus had risen! Praise the Lord!

Sailor for a Day

2011-03-05T14:45:00.000-09:00

My big bro, the Navy Chief, had a "Family Day" on his ship at the beginning of March. My mom mentioned the trip to me and told me she would love for me to come and join her on the ship for a day. I laughed it off and told her there was no way I could make that happen....between leaving three kids for several days and a last minute plane ticket.

But, if you read my birthday post, you know that my incredible husband DID make it happen. He surprised me with a plane ticket to meet up with my mom and brother in San Diego for five days....all.by.my.self! I had a terrific time! It was so refreshing to spend time just being a sister and daughter. I relished the time I had just visiting with my brother and getting to know him again. This is the pool house he has been renting. Such a cool little bachelor pad! Mom and I both reminded him to be sober when leaving, or he may end up IN the pool! Besides spending a day on the ship, we also had a day of just hanging out in San Diego together. We decided to tour an old submarine. Behind mom and Andy are the torpedos....pretty cool. Friday was the day we spent out on the ship. It was so cool to get an idea of what Chief Edwards and the others do on the ship all day. I can't imagine living in a "steal" environment all the time! I need me so color!

I love this flag. This huge flag is the war flag. This is what they fly when they are out to sea. It gave me chills! I was so proud to be with Chief Edwards! Andy is in charge of 70 something people on the ship and seems to be well known and respected. Very cool! This is the deck mom and I spent most of our time on. It was a long day. A fun day. A cold day. A day full of patriotism and sun. Sun.....awww the sun! Oh how I love the sun....and the nice sun burn I received as well! The shooter guys got to show off shooting the machine gun. That was cool! Watch out world! I arrived in San Diego late Wednesday night. Andy had to work all day Thursday and mom didn't get into town until later Thursday night. So I got to....I mean....."had to" spend the entire day Thursday by myself. All alone. Just me!

And what did I do? I slept in until 10. I laid in bed and watched a movie from 11-1. I got up and got dressed, then went for a short jog to find some lunch. Then a short job back. I took a shower, got cleaned up, then laid in bed and read a great book. Then treated myself to a pedicure. Andy and his girlfriend picked me up for dinner and treated me to Olive Garden. It was a PERFECT day. I soaked in every moment of it!

I am so thankful for this trip. Spending time with just my mom and brother, having no responsibilities, was amazing. I enjoyed every moment of it. And although I was ready to see my kids and hubby, it was still hard to say good-bye to Andy and my mom and this unique opportunity we had to spend a few days together!

Payton Turns Three!

2011-03-03T21:14:00.001-09:00

My "little girl" is getting so big! I can't believe three years have already gone by, yet in some ways, they have been very long and challenging! This goofy picture of Payton, with her tongue out, pretty much sums up PART of her cute personality. At three years old, Payton is hilarious! She is always goofing around, singing, dancing, making up words, laughing, and just being funny!

Payton is a tom-boy/princess all wrapped up in one bundle. The girl loves to play in the dirt, smash bugs, hold worms, and be messy. Yet, she is almost never seen without a baby, the baby's blanket, a purse or two, and any other "essential" for that moment.
This year Payton picked Chuck-E-Cheese for her party. Since I was heading out of town to spend a few days with my brother, her choice was perfect....no big preparations, and no clean up! Faith, Sydney, Diego, Xavier, Hunter, Liam, Ethan, Marquel, Hannah, and the rest of the parents all joined us for a great night.
Unfortunately, Darron and I both forgot our camera so a few pictures on our phone was all we managed to get.

Earlier I mentioned being goofy was PART of Payton's personality. The other part of her personality is the one that has given me so many gray hairs at such a young age! Payton is a very strong-willed, opionated, easily frustrated little girl. She can be silly and laughing one minute, then throwing a major fit the next minute. She is very snuggly and loving, and most people only see the happy, sweet side of our little "Pei Wei." But boy can she keep us on her toes when she's just with family!! Payton is the type of child that should come with their own "How to survive raising this child" handbook!

My mom continually tells me she is just like I was as a child! Sorry mom!!

I have no doubt God has big plans for Payton. She has so many great qualities and when she's not being onry, she has a very magnetic personality. I'm just praying we can reign in that strong personality so she will choose to use it for serving the Lord!

Payton, even with all my gray hair, I love you so much baby girl! And I can't imagine life without you.....it sure would get boring!

Birthday Surprises!

2011-02-14T14:38:00.000-09:00

Well, my wonderful hubby did it again! He richly spoiled me for my birthday....again! And it was wonderful....as always!

I woke up Friday morning, three days before my birthday, with a card left for me (Darron had gone to the gym for an early morning workout). I forgot to upload my pictures backwards so they would actually be in the correct order, so scroll down to see the card D left for me.

About 9:00 am T and her kids showed up to my house. I had been planning to babysit all day as T had to "work." Turns out, it was all part of this well organized plan. She came with bags packed ready to spend the day and night taking care of all of our kids. D came home and off we went.

Our first stop was IHop for breakfast. Breakfast with just my man on a Friday morning. Amazing!

The next stop....the movie theater for an early movie. A movie with my man at 11:00 on a Friday morning....unheard of!

And then.....a quick stop for gas and we were Girdwood bound! An afternoon and evening of skiing, dinner, hot tubbing, and a wonderful room at a beautiful ski resort hotel awaited us!The weather was perfect! The mountain wasn't crowded! And the snow was powdery! It was the perfect day! After skiing for a few hours, we changed clothes and headed to dinner down the street at the Double Musky....a favorite restaurant for special occasions! Then it was back for a little more skiing before the slopes closed down. And then a relaxing soak in the hot tub!

The only "kink" in our plans was a sick baby boy. Parker woke up with a slight cold but seemed to be doing fine when we left for the day. But, by 6 pm, he had a 102 fever and had been lethargic and laying around on T all day. Darron and I were ready to just head home, but T gave him some Tylenol and his fever went down. She insisted we stay, and so we did, with our phones right next to us. Thankfully Parker slept through the night and woke up almost back to normal the next day! I love how creative my husband is! I love that he had planned this entire two days of surprises without me even having a clue! I love that he told me about my presents in this card. And I love that he knows me well enough to know exactly how to make me feel loved and spoiled! My brother's ship in the Navy was planning a special family day. I was really wanting to go and meet my mom and brother and spend a few days with them on this special trip. After searching for tickets with no luck, once again, my wonderful hubby pulled out his tricks and bought me a plane ticket to spend five days in San Diego! Amazing. He's simply amazing! So, needless to say, my 33rd birthday was perfect. I got to spend an entire day and night doing things I love with my man....and it was all a surprise....and it was all perfect!

Reflections of 2010

2011-01-31T20:48:00.000-09:00

Well, I guess it's time to face reality. I never sent out Christmas cards and our traditional family letter this year. Bummer. I had planned to. I had the best of intentions. But, I didn't. I'll blame it on going to Texas the first couple of weeks in December. That's when I normally get our pictures and letter together, but I was on vacation mode. Then we got home during the middle of the rush of the holidays, and well, here it is February! By this point, I would generally just skip it all together, but because I turn my blog into a book every year, I wanted to get something down on paper. As I reflect back over 2010, one word keeps coming to mind: change. This was the year of change for our family. As with all change, some was good, some was okay, and some was tough, almost unbearable. Here are the highlights: -Payton turned 2 in March....and with it came a BAD case of the terrible two's! -Darron's dad was diagnosed suddenly of stage 4 pancreatic cancer on April 1st -Darron became the sole partner in his Financial business overnight after finding out his dad was sick -Parker was born June 17th -At three weeks old, Parker spiked a high fever and was admitted to the hospital for a week -Darron enjoyed several trips, including one to Hawaii, with his family -Jen braved flying to Texas with all three kids and was successful -We said good-bye to Darron's dad August 31st as he went to be with the Lord -Jen quit her job at Trailside, took a 20% position with the school district to be home most of the time with the kids -Preston started pre-school four days a week -Preston turned 5 in December Amid all the change, we enjoyed a kidless trip to Las Vegas in Februrary for Jen's birthday and again in December for our 10 year wedding anniversary. We also enjoyed many weekends at the family cabin surrounded by Darron's family, along with a trip to Texas in December to visit Jen's family. Change is change. It's usually not easy. It's a big adjustment filled with mixed emotions. 2010 was a joyous year for us as we added sweet little Parker into our family, but it was hands down the toughest year in ten years of life together. Watching someone so dear and close become sick and pass on is something I don't ever want to experience again. But I know I will. And I know our marriage and our family will survive, and possibly even be stronger because of it. God is a good God. A perfect God. He never forsakes those who seek Him and He is always there when we are ready. God showed us many things during this year of change...the biggest is the realization at how blessed we are: with our marriage, our beautiful, healthy children, incredible and supportive friends, and close family members. Good-bye 2010. We are looking ready to climb the mountain in 2011 and continue to sing God's praises as we travel this road together. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to give you and hope and a future." Jer. 29:11

New Year's Eve 2010

2011-01-22T21:40:00.003-09:00

After Christmas, we came back to town for only a few days before heading back out to the cabin for New Year's Eve. This time it was just our family, T's family, and Grandma. Again, we had a very relaxing, enjoyable time together. After a week or so of very, very cold weather, it finally warmed up enough to dump some fresh snow and allow us to play outside some.

Saturday afternoon we decided to load up on snow machines and in the van and drive around the corner to a huge sledding hill. Scott and Darron would drive us up the hill on the snow machines, we would sled down, and then do it all over again. It was so much fun! I took turns sitting in the van with Payton (who rode the snow machine to the hill and didn't want to sled, she wanted to eat crackers in the van instead) and Parker. We couldn't hardly peel Preston, Max, and Brookelynn off the hill when it was dark and time to head home!

Darron, Preston, and Payton geared up to go riding and sledding! So fun!

We also spend time just playing outside, having a snowball fight, and sitting by the fire. Brookelynn and Uncle Scott built this huge snowman! It was a school assignment for Brookelynn. Preston, Max, Payton, Brookelynn, and sweet Maverick huddled together around Frosty.

We set off fireworks, watched fireworks, played games, and watched movies together. Again, Grandpa Keith was very missed, more stories were shared, more laughter, and more tears. And after a tough year of 2010, I think we all ad mixed feelings about ringing in 2011. Happy and hopefull for a new year, yet sad to ring in the first year with Grandpa.

May 2011 be a year of growth, healing, great memories, and blessings. Happy New Year!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-22T21:05:00.004-09:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. And look, I'm even posting about before months have gone by!

This was our first Christmas without Grandpa Keith. T's family, our family, and Grandma were able to spend about four days together at the cabin. Chris and Suzy's families joined us for a couple of the days. We had a great time just relaxing, eating, playing, and spending time together. Although the cabin is still not completed inside, it is nice a cozy and was a perfect place for us to be! Parker (6 months) enjoyed ripping the paper open on some of his presents. And we even managed to grab most of it before it went into his mouth!

Preston and Max just relaxing with a snack on the spiral staircase. Those boys LOVE the cabin!

As you can see, Payton was VERY excited about her Dora Memory game. She had so much fun opening presents!

Preston is totally into Star Wars right now. Although he's never seen the movie, he and his daddy play Lego Star Wars on the Wii. He got several new action figures and was thrilled! (Those are my teenage nephews in the background! They were only about 5 when I joined the Rizer family!)

As always, the adults had a Chinese gift exchange. Along with the movie tickets and babysitting I gave, I also put in a framed picture of myself in an Elvis mask with my signature. T ended up with the gift and thought it was hilarious. I'm pretty sure my picture is on their coffee table now! :)

Spending time with family was perfect. We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas together. We missed Grandpa. We talked a lot about him, shared memories and stories, laughed, and even shed a few tears. But we know he would have been so happy celebrating with family at the cabin, and so it just felt right to be there!

And while we opened gifts and celebrated, we also remembered the REAL reason for the season...Jesus' birth and saving love.

Preston Turns 5!

2010-12-30T14:28:00.000-09:00

I can't believe it! My baby boy is 5! The time has certainly flown by, just as everyone says it will! This year Preston really wanted a sledding party at Diego's house (cause he has the coolest sledding hill at his house) and he wanted it to be Star Wars theme. So, we got busy planning, and had a great party!

Here is Preston with his homemade Jedi cake (making cakes fancy and pretty is not my speacialty....but it sure tasted good)!

Darron made Jedi robes for all the kids and I might Ligh Sabers. They earned their robes and became Jedi's after passing the "Jedi Training Course" of a light saber battle, pod racing (sledding), shooting the bad guys, and learning to use light sabers by keeping a balloon in the air. After earning their robes, they were surprise attacked by Darth Vader....but boy did they take him down...and down....and down! He didn't have a chance!

While we were in Texas, Preston and his Maggie (my mom) had a great time making him his own Jedi robe, complete with a hood!

Here is a great picture of Jedi Master Darron putting the kids through the training course of learning to shoot the bad guys!
I'm not sure who had more fun, Darron or the kids!

I love my Preston! He is funny, easy going, sensitive, happy, talkative, playful, kind, and outgoing. He is comfortable in new situations, and enjoys making new friends and being a helper. He is thrivin in Preschool this year and looks forward to learning and playing everyday. He absolutely loves his baby brother Parker and puts up with Payton pretty well. He is still a snuggler, but it's on his own terms. His cousins, Brookelynn and Max, are his favorite people and he never gets tired of playing with them. He loves Sunday School class and singing and he's doing a great job trying to understand about Jesus and Heaven. Preston brings joy to our lives. He is easy, and fun, and loving, and my boy! I'm so glad God chose ME to be his momma! Happy 5th birthday my big boy!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-29T12:28:00.002-09:00

We had a great Thanksgiving time together with family this year. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures! Confession time: I LOVE having pictures, but I don't really enjoy being responsible to take them. And Darron doesn't either. So it's not uncommon for us to forget our cameras and end up without pictures! Maybe this should be a New Year's Resolution for me!!

My family and T/Scott's family went up to Grandma's on Wednesday night. We had a quick dinner and let the kids play for awhile. Then we made pallets on the floor and got the kids settled in to bed for the night. The guys had rented a chick flick for us, and it was terrible! But we still enjoyed just relaxing together.

Thursday morning was very relaxing and we started making the food for the feast! About mid-day Chris' family and Suzie's family arrived, along with two family friends that celebrate with us. The day was complete with a huge dinner, sledding, movies for the kids, and just relaxing and playing. Darron and Scott headed to Scott's house to sleep a little before they started their 3 a.m. shopping. The rest of us slept at Grandma's. The older cousins (Tressa, Richard, and Randall) babysat the rest of our 6 kids so us girls could do our annual shopping. We were out from 4 a.m. until about 5 pm (we did sneak away to lunch and a movie during that time as well). We all had a wonderful day, including the kids. Darron and Scott took the three teens to dinner and a movie as a thank-you for keeping our kids. And Chris, T, and I (and the kids) spent one more night up at Grandma's....just for fun since the guys were out anyways.

We slowly woke up Saturday morning, had coffee and a late breakfast, played with the kids, and finally headed home for nap time.

This was the first major Holiday without Darron's dad. We all missed him greatly, and shared some fun memories of him. Darron's family is always positive and remained that way, even when missing Keith.

Although it's been a tough year enduring the sickness and loss of Grandpa Keith, we still feel very blessed in this life, and even more so in the tight family that makes up the Rizer's. We hope you had a great day celebrating and being thankful for blessings as well.

Halloween 2010

2010-12-22T14:31:00.004-09:00

I'm back! I've been gone from the blog world for awhile. Lots going on, and then you throw my laziness into the picture, and I end up MIA from blogging. But, I know I'll regret not having more in my printed blog books to look back on, and since I'm even worse at scrapbooking than I am blogging, I guess I better attempt to get caught up!

We had a great time "celebrating" Halloween. To be honest, I'm not a huge Halloween fan. I grew up wearing costumes, decorating the house, and trick-or-treating. And while I have nothing against dressing up and getting free candy :), I just don't like all the dark and scarey undertones of Halloween. So I like to think of it more as celebrating Fall and we decorate with lots of pumpkins and scarecrows...although I give in and let Darron put out a few of his Halloween-y decorations too.

Since our church didn't have a Fall Festival this year, we improvised. Several of our friends and their kids came to our house. There were 10 adults and 8 kids total....ages 5 to 4 months. We had dinner together and let the kids play for awhile. Then we suited up (it was COLD) and headed out for some trick-or-treating.

Here is Payton, the Pirate Princess. :)Our friend Brad planned some very fun games for adults and kids to play together. This is Marquel, gracefully wearing a stocking and trying to beat my time in knocking over bottles. I won! :)

Preston, Payton and I had fun digging out our pumpkins and getting them ready for Darron to carve. I think I've almost perfected my roasting seeds recipe...they were YUMMY!

After the kids were tired and winding down, we put on a movie in the other room and let them have some down time. Then the adult fun began! Brad divided us into two teams and gave us a bag full of random supplies. We had 20 minutes to dress one team member in a costume. The kids voted on the costume they liked the most. I think it was a tie! :)

Darron and Brad sported some great looks!

And here is my Parker boy! He was a clown! :) He and I stayed home during the trick-or-treating and enjoyed visiting with Kimi and Marta as they stayed to keep us company. Parker seemed to love all of the attention he got that night with so many friends holding him!

Becca sporting the hose and trying her best to beat my time! Nope Becca, that title is ALL MINE BABY!! :)

Payton getting in on the games too!

I can't believe I didn't take any more pictures than this! I was so busy having fun and taking care of kids, I just didn't get many pictures. Kimi got a great picture of all the kids in their costumes before trick-or-treating. I'll have to get a copy. And poor Preston didn't even make the pictures! He was a cute little Iron Man, plastic mask and all! :)

Seasons of Life

2010-09-11T21:55:00.003-08:00

**Warning, long post with no pictures!**

I remember when I had first had Preston, I made the choice to not be involved in as many activities and things so I could really focus on being a mom. I remember feeling guilty about not being as involved with ministries at church when an older, more experienced mom said, "Just remember, there are seasons of life we live through and you're in a new season of being a mom. Enjoy this season while you're in it." I have thought about her words of wisdom many times over the years, and especially during these last five months.

April 1, 2010 began a new season of life for our family. A tiring season. An unfamiliar season. A scarey season. A sad season. A memory making season. A season spent with family and valuing time together. A season spent learning to compromise and support each other. A season that has brought us closer together. A season that has challenged us and forced us to grow up. But thankfully, a season that we know was determined by the Lord and covered in his love and mercy.

April 1, 2010 was the day we found out the devastating news that Darron's dad had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. That day, our priorities in life changed. Everything we did centered around spending time with dad and making our last memories together.

During these past five months, our lives have been full of chaos, challenges, and time together:

*I quit my job at a school I dearly loved and had been a part of for nine years!

*Darron went solo in his business that he has shared with his dad for the past 10 years. He moved offices. And he had a huge audit for work (which of course he passed with flying colors)!

*Parker was born, then three weeks later spent seven days in the hospital. This was also the week of Darron's huge audit for work and a family fishing trip to celebrate dad's 70th birthday! More on this story in a future post.

*Countless family member flew into town to spend time with mom and dad and our family.

*Dad turned 70.

*Mom, dad, Darron, T, and Chris went to Seward together for 5 days.

*Mom, dad, Darron, T, Chris, and Suzy went to Hawaii together for 10 days.

*I flew to Texas by myself with the three kids and SURVIVED! :)

*The entire family (except for me and Parker) went on a fishing charter to celebrate dad's 70th birthday.

*Numerous weekends were spent at the cabin together and numerous evenings were spent on the Hillside having dinner together.

August 31, 2010....the pancreatic cancer that had spread to dad's liver and kidney's finally caught up with him and he passed away at 5 am. He was at the cabin surrounded by all five kids and mom.

September 9, we celebrated dad's life with a beautiful memorial service and reception. Over 300 people came to honor dad and remember the beautiful life he lived.

This season of life has been the most challenging during our 9 1/2 years of marriage. Although I don't feel as though we are transitioning to a new season yet, I do feel like the rain is letting up and the flood waters are beginning to recede.

While I don't wish for another stormy season like this, I am so thankful to have been carried through on the shoulders of dear friends, an incredible chuch family, and a close physical family. Although I still have many questions and don't understand why some things had to happen, I know that the Lord is still MY Lord and He has carried our family through. And for that I praise him.

Just like the seasons change from Summer, to Fall, to Winter, to Spring....I know our seasons in life will continue to change as well. And I'm really looking forward to a more calm, peaceful season!

Summer Fun!

2010-08-05T17:12:00.002-08:00

We have not had the best of weather this summer. May and the beginning of June started out BEAUTIFUL! Lots of sun and temps in the high 60's and mid 70's. However, we are now setting records for the most rain in years....the second rainiest July in record with 28 straight days of rain! YUCK!!

Despite the rainy weather, we take advantage of being outside anytime the sun peaks its' head out. Luckily we get direct sun in our backyard, so we have a great time playing.

Here are a few highlights of our summer fun in the backyard!

Head Straight for the ER!

2010-08-02T20:22:00.005-08:00

(This post is actually LONG overdue. But, what's new?! :) Many of you followed this story as it unfolded on Facebook, but I wanted to get it into the blog so it would be in our published book I make once a year.)

Sunday, July 11, 2010, began like any Sunday morning. We all woke up and enjoyed some lazy time before getting ready for church. Parker seemed a little fussier than normal, but I just thought he probably had gas. No big deal. We went to church, then to lunch with family, and Parker seemed normal, just a little sleepy as he slept all through lunch. After lunch we went home, put Payton down for a nap, and Parker nursed and fell asleep on me. A little into his nap, I began to think maybe he wasn't feeling well. He was very fidgety and tossing and turning. It was then I noticed he was super hot, actually sweating on me.

I decided to take his temperature and it came back at 101.7. I nursed him, then took it again. It was 101.9. I immediatly called the pediatricians office, and they told me to head straight to the ER.

Grandma (Darron's mom) came down to be with Preston and Payton as we headed to the ER with Parker. Upon arriving, they took his temperature and it was still at 101.2. The ER doc did a quick check over and told us they would have to do a full work up because anything over 100.4 in a newborn was dangerous. Parker was only 3 weeks old at the time. A full work included a urinalysis (NOT a fun experience), chest x-rays and a spinal tap. Yep, a spinal tap! Needless to say, Darron and I were panicing inside. It was horrible to watch our sweet baby boy going through this. We shed many tears and just tried to comfort Parker as much as possible. He did great for what he was going through.

After all the tests were preformed, we were expecting them to send us on our way with orders to give tylenol or something. I guess we were in denial that something could really be wrong. It wasn't long before the ER doc came back in to tell us he was working on our admitting paperwork. "Wait, do you mean we're being admitted and will be staying here??!!" I asked. Because they had to wait on the results of the spinal tap, etc., we would be staying at least 24 to 48 hours. WHAT?? After the initial shock wore off, Darron headed home to get me some clothes and food (it was not past 9pm). He came back an hour later followed by his sister T. And before long we were being escorted upstairs to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (although the assured me we were only in the PICU because they had no rooms in the regular pediatric area).

Soon, the pediatric doctor on call showed up to tell us they weren't sure what was going on yet. They were checking for menengitis, chicken pox, and several other things. OR, it could just be a bad viral cold. But we would have to wait and see.

Darron and T both really wanted to stay with me, but I knew there was nothing they could do and there was only one bed. So at about 2:00 am they headed to T's to sleep. Thankfully, Becca was not working since it was summer time so she had gone to our house to take care of Payton and Preston for us!

The next several days were a blur. Dr. Tappel, our pediatrician, came in first thing Monday morning to meet with us. The first spinal tap was unusable so he performed another spinal tap. Parker's fever reached a high of 102.9 at one point. He was miserable. Just sleeping, eating, and moaning. Darron was a mess. His dad was turning 70 and the entire family was to go fishing to celebrate and Darron had to make the choice to miss what would be the last fishing trip with his dad. IV's were given, and changed, several times. Nurses were constantly in and out to hang antibiotic fluids and check his temperature. Dr. Tappel came by several times a day to check on Parker, and us. An ultrasound of Parker's head was performed to rule out any bleeding in the brain. We were put in a non-air-flow room until it was determined he did not have chicken pox.

Finally, on Wednesday or Thursday of that week, after exhausting all other tests and ruling out all other possibilities, it was determined that little Parker either had a bad viral infection that his body would work through, or bacterial menegitis which could be VERY dangerous if not treated. So, we ll agreed to air on the side of caution and continued treating for the menengitis, which meant 7 days of IV antibiotics. We had already been on the antibiotics since Sunday, so we needed to stay the rest of the week. No problem, as long as it meant my little man was being taken care of!

I left the hospital only one time that week while Darron stayed with Parker. Luckily, because I was nursing, the hospital gave me three meal vouchers a day to use in the cafeteria. So while Parker was sleeping, I would sneak away just long enough to grab some food and head back to the room.

I certainly wasn't lonely that week. I was SO BLESSED by so many people coming by the visit. We had numerous friends from church coming by to check on us and pray for Parker. We also had wonderful friends bringing us food, drinks, magazines, movies, music, and little gifts for Parker. The pastor and his family from our chuch brought a huge tub FULL of snacks and drinks. Another dear friend brought a bag full of homemade food and snacks. To say I was well taken care of is an understatement!

And I was also blessed by dear friends who took lots of time to come sit with me and keep me company. Darron came by everyday, but he was still having to work (he had his big audit that week) and he was also still being dad to Preston and Payton.

Marquel was a HUGE help. She kept Preston and Payton for us one day and spent LOTs of time at the hospital with me!

Darron had a hard time not being able to be with me and Parker all the time, but he did a fantastic job balancing work, us, and the other kids.

This is my sweet Parker in the ER after he had his IV put in. It took two tries to get it in and then they had to change it out midweek. Poor little guy. He was such a trooper!

The one positive about the hosital was that it got Parker sleeping in his own bed. Until this visit, he wouldn't sleep well unless he was in bed with me. He felt too terrible to care where he slept, so he got used to sleeping on his own. The nurses wouldn't let me hold him if I was asleep, so we had no choice. :)
It was so hard seeing him like this. I'm just so thankful they didn't have to put the IV in his head.

This was the ultrasound to make sure there was no bleeding in the brain. Praise the Lord it came by totally normal and Parker slept through the whole thing!

Becca was a complete lifesavor during this week. She (and Craig) stayed with Payton and Preston Sunday night through Wednesday afternoon and spoiled them rotten. Then, she spent time everyday at the hospital with me and Parker....I'm talking hours.....just keeping us company and being an emotional support for me. She was truly a blessing to our family.

Now it's November and Parker is 4 1/2 months old. It seems like forever ago that we were in the hospital. He's a big 16 pound, healthy baby boy. You would never have a clue he spent a week being sick.

While I don't ever want to experience something so scarey and uncertain with one of my children again, I am thankful for what God showed us during that time. Darron and I pulled together and were a strength for each other during a VERY stressful time, a time when it's easy to take out frustrations on each other. God showed us what He intended for a Christian family to be like..a family ralling around another family to pray, offer support, bring food, take care of kids, hug and love on, and just be there when needed. I had no idea that many people deeply cared about our family. I can't imagine going through an experience like this without having the love and support of a Christian family. And God also showed us that He is in control, that He has a plan, and that He is always with us.

This experience came during the mist of a storm for our family. Darron's dad was battling pancreatic cancer and each day was a new uncertainty. Just when we thought we were already in a valley, we found ourselves in an uncertain place with Parker and his health. But we never felt alone and we always had a peace knowing that our Father was surrounding us with His love and comfort. Praise the Lord!

Welcome Baby Parker

2010-07-19T20:29:00.003-08:00

Only a month overdue....but finally......introducing William Parker Rizer.

Born Thursday, June 17th

5:15 pm

8 lbs 7 0z

20 1/2 inches Parker's birth story will always be a reminder to our family that God is in control and His timing is always perfect.

Although my due date was not until June 24, at 38 weeks I was already 5 cm dilated and 60% effaced. While this doesn't seem like a big deal, it was actually a VERY stressful time. Darron, his sisters, and his parents were leaving for a family weekend two hours away. Because Grandpa Keith is pancreatic cancer and his chemo does not seem to be working, a five day retreat to Seward was much needed for the family. My doctor encouraged Darron to still go on the trip, and told me to lay low as much as possible while he was gone! Nervous and apprehensive, Darron headed out early Thursday morning and we both prayed and trusted in the Lord's plan.

The kids and I had a fun few days, trying to stay busy without sending me into labor. Contractions were a regular part of my day and night and at one point they started coming about ten minutes apart.

Thankfully, Parker listened to his mommies pleads to stay put and Darron arrived home late Monday night to a very pregnant, contracting wife.

Less than 48 hours later, and labor was starting!

T and Scott wanted to keep Preston and Payton on Wednesday night because we all felt like labor was knocking on the door. So after dropping off the kids, Darron and I headed to a late movie. During the movie I was cramping pretty bad and having stronger contrations. After the movie we headed home and settled in for the night. I slept pretty good but woke up at 4 am needing to use the bathroom. I tried to go back to bed, but I couldn't stop thinking about a strawberry popsicle I had in the freezer. So....downstairs I went to enjoy! About 10 minutes later my contractions changed. Suddenly they were more painful and started coming closer together.

By 5:30 am I woke Darron up and told him my contractions were about seven minutes a part and pretty painful. Because of my history of delivery pretty quickly, we headed to the hospital.

T (Darron's sister and my labor support) met us at the hospital. My contractions were five minutes apart and I was still 5 cm dilated so we went walking the halls of the hospital for about an hour or so. After walking, my contractions were more painful and I had dilated another cm.

By noon I had received my epidural (LOVE those!) and the doctor decided to break my water about 1 pm. Not much happened until about 4:45. As I rolled over on my side, I felt Parker drop into place and I needed to push. In rushed the doctor and I pushed and breathed through one contraction. Parker's head came easily but the cord was wrapped around his neck twice. The doctor unwrapped the cord and suctioned his mouth and nose, then delivered the rest of him. He quickly turned from blue to red, was placed on my tummy, and screamed that precious cry all parents wait to hear. Because we didn't know if he was a boy or girl, I listened eagerly to hear several voices yell, "boy!" as he came out.....and I was RELIEVED to have another boy (not sure I can handle another girl!).

Preston LOVES his baby brother....they already have a special bond.

Walking the halls of the hospital at 39 weeks pregnant. I was way bigger with Parker than with the other two.

Happy to meet our new little man.

Is this Preston or Parker....they look SOOO much alike!

Payton and Preston meeting Parker for the first time.

Holding Parker for the first time.

Payton wasn't sure what to think at first. She LOVED Parker but wasn't sure how to handle the crying and having to share her momma's lap! She really enjoys talking to him and helping now.

Parker is a sweet little guy. Pretty laid back and easy going for the most part. Although life is busy with a four year old, a two year old (going through the terrible two's!), and a newborn....I wouldn't want it any differently! So thankful for my family and the blessing they are! And thankful for having a reminder, through Parker, of God's perfect timing and plan!

Catching Up

2010-06-05T20:30:00.002-08:00

I'm finally taking time out of my nesting frenzy to update my blog with a few pictures. As I was downloading the pictures, I realized two things: 1) the date is wrong on our camera, yet again! and 2) I haven't taken many pictures lately! But here are a few:

37 weeks pregnant and the docs say I'm due any day now. We shall see. I love being pregnant, but I have definatly felt it more this go around! I finally feel "ready" for the baby and we're super excited to see if it's a boy or a girl! Any guesses??We did our annual family campout with Darron's family to Eklutna lake over Memorial Weekend. We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather! It was HOT (in the high 70's) and wonderful! The kids had tons of fun playing in the dirst and water, going on hikes, and fishing with dad! It was great to camp with Grandpa again, although he slept a good part of the weekend.
Preston and his cousin (practically brother) are playing soccer again this year and LOVING it! Max has scored a few goals. Preston....well, let's just say sports may not be his big money maker! :) He loves to run and be around the ball and in the middle of the group, but he hasn't actually made a lot of contact with the ball. But by the smile on his face, you'd think he was scoring the winning goal!

Best buds!

Our neice got married a few weekends ago and Preston and Payton were the Ring Bearer and Flower girl (along with their cousins Brookelynn and Max). They did great and loved getting to dress up. Pres was disappointed that there was no ring on his pillow so I tied one of my rings on it for him. They were so stinkin' cute! Payton did great, but she tried to run back up the aisle. Too cute!

So far we have a had a great summer and been blessed with very warm, sunny weather! The kids love playing in the backyard this year and it's awesome to watch them enjoy something we put so much time and money into last year.

Darron's dad, Keith, is hanging in there. We just found out a couple of days ago that the chemo drug he has been on is not working. They are changing him to two different drugs starting next week. These aren't easy drugs and he will expereice many more side effects. We are trying to stay positive and enjoy our time with him. But our hearts are very heavy and the unkown is difficult. Please continue to keep our family in prayers.

Our next update will hopefully be pictures of a new baby! :)

Out of Touch

2010-05-07T20:40:00.002-08:00

It's been a month a a half since my last post. A lot has been going on in our family during this past month. Many of you have been praying for our family and are aware of what is going on through Facebook. But I definatly wanted to blog about this season in our life so I can have it in the blog book I publish each year.

On April 1st, our "normal" life changed. After having terrible back pain, going to doctors, and having tests done, the news was finally delivered to Darron's dad.....cancer. While is appeared to be kidney cancer, we soon found out it was actually pancreatic cancer that had already spread to his kidney and liver. While Darron had been told cancer, none of us knew the type or seriousness of the cancer for a few hours. I received a phone call early afternoon from his sister and brother-in-law to let me know the seriousness of the situation. Terminal cancer. The most painful, fastest spreading cancer. Darron was in an appointment with clients and didn't know yet. So I called some close friends who dropped everything to come and be with my children. Darron's sister, T, picked me up and we headed to his office. When his clients left, we walked in. He could tell from our faces something was wrong. Telling my husband that his dad is dying from terminal cancer has by far been the hardest thing I have ever had to do in our nine years of marriage. I'm in tears now just thinking of that moment.

Keith and Ann boarded a plane to Hawaii that night because they needed time away, together and alone, to process things. They were gone just under a week. During that time, Darron and his sisters and brother-in-laws begin working on remodeling his dad's bathroom to make it functional and comfortable for him. They surprised him with this when he returned from Hawaii.

Much has happened since April 1st. There have been many doctors appointments, chemo once a week, many family dinners and time spent together, enough tears to last a life time, more prayers being lifted than can possibly be counted, and more worry and stress than we bargained for.

At this time, we don't know if the chemo is working or not. The tumor in Keith's pancreas is inoperable and he is in Stage 4. The chemo is hopefully shrinking the tumor to allow for less pain and more time. We've heard anywhere from six week to a year left with Keith. Only the Lord knows.

It's amazing how much life can change in one day. We are learning to live a new "normal" of being together with Darron's parents, the kids and I being alone much more, being more spontaneous and less planned, cutting back on outside obligations and responsibilities, and learning to support each other through it all.

During this season, we are also experiencing lots of change.
-Darron is now on his own at the office....Keith was planning to retire in July but has not worked since April 1st
-Darron is moving to a new office at the end of the month
-Our neice is getting married in a week and the family has been busy, busy
-I am leaving a school I dearly love and have been teaching at for 8 years
-We are having a baby in June
-Lots of different family is beginning to come in town to visit Keith and the family

We solicite your prayers and say thank-you to all of those who have already been praying. While we feel as though we are walking through the "valley of life" right now, we do fear no evil and feel strengthened and uplifted in the Lord daily. I will keep you updated, and I will post pictures of the family soon.

Family Pictures 2010

2010-03-27T20:11:00.003-08:00

Payton Turns Two!

2010-03-15T15:28:00.003-08:00

I can't believe that my "baby girl" is already two years old! Payton turned two on March 3rd! We decided not to have a big celebration this year, but we just kept it low key instead. Here is a sweet profile of my baby girl and her cute pony tail. Anytime I pull her hair up like this she feels it and says, "tuute" (cute)!Preston, Darron, and I took Payton to Chuck-E-Cheese to play some games and ride some rides for her birthday. Here she is on the horse. Darron went birthday shopping and came home with dishes for her new kitchen and this Easter hat. She loved the kitchen, dishes, AND hat!

This was my feeble attempt at a cute birthday cake. A friend from work had given me this bear cake pan a while ago, and since Payton loves bears and babies, I thought I'd try it out. It turned out cute, and yummy.....I just wish I knew how to REALLY decorate instead of just throwing on lots of sprinkles!

My closest girlfriends came over later that night for our weekly Bible study. We all sang to Payton and they brought her gifts. She loved the attention, the presents, and the cake!

We are so blessed by our little girl. She gave me a rough start (coming too quickly for the epidural to take much affect), and began having seizure at about two weeks old. She was a pretty fussy and demanding baby to say the least! But we believe God has a mighty plan for her! The Lord completely healed her of seizures and has instilled a very happy, joyful, outgoing, spunky personality in her. She is very sensitive to correction (I have NO idea where she got that from!), and while she has a strong opinion and personality, she wants to please.

Payton LOVEs her big brother, Preston, and seems to be excited about having a new baby in June. She LOVES baby dolls, purses, and jewelry (she is so NOT my daughter)! She is still extremely attached to one specific blanket (that we have three of) and her two fingers on her left hand....they are her security and comfort.

As of this past week, Payton and Preston are sharing a room. Darron built bunk beds (a post and pictures soon to come) and Preston sleeps on the top while Payton sleeps on the bottom in a toddler bed. She has made a SMOOTH transition and we are so proud of her! She is now called our "big girl."

We love this little girl so much and we are so thankful for the joy, happiness, laughter, and love she has brought to our family! Happy second birthday Payton!

Las Vegas

2010-02-27T20:38:00.003-09:00

There is just something about Vegas. People either tend to love it or hate it. Darron and I love it....every couple of years at least. We stopped over in Vegas on our way to Texas when I was pregnant with Preston. We really enjoyed it and just over two years ago Darron TOTALLY surprised me with a 4 day trip when I was pregnant with Payton (surprised as in "get up and pack, our plane leaves in a few hours.")

Now that I'm pregnant again, we had been talking about not wanting to leave this baby out....we needed another trip to Vegas! :) Actually, we just really wanted to leave reality and parenting for a few days and spend some time together before baby number three joins our world. For us, Vegas is "close", "cheap", and fun.

So, we left the kids with Darron's family (we are forever grateful for them) and headed to Vegas for 5 days (but it actually turned in to six days since we gave up our seats and got free vouchers on the way home). Here are a few pictures from my iphone. We stayed in the Paris hotel and really enjoyed it. It's in the middle of the strip, and we were upgraded to a corner suite for free. This is towards one end of the strip looking back at our hotel (this is the day we flew in so I was pretty tired as you can see)!
On our last day, we put a $10 bill into a penny slot machine. We had been playing differnt penny slots while we where there, and had our favorites. This was a new machine we thought we'd try out while killing time before heading to the airport. We struck it rich!! Well, for penny slots anyways! We turned our $10 into $155......it was so fun!

Eating crapes at the Paris hotel.

View from our room.....we had a half view of the strip and could see the Bellagio Water show from our room.

Eating lettuce wraps at PF Changs. We had here almost every day for lunch. We LOVE PF Changs.

We had such a wonderful trip together. We tend to travel out of Alaska a couple of times a year, but it is generally to visit family....which we love. But there is something to be said for flying with no children, staying up late and sleeping in, eating when you want to without being interrupted, and not listening to a whiney two year old! :) Being parents makes you appreciate every moment of an adult only trip! It was so relaxing and a great marriage booster. And yes, we definatly missed our kids and are thankful to be home with them (most days anyways)! :)

San Diego

2010-02-27T20:02:00.003-09:00

This is a long overdue post, but better late than never! Just after Christmas, we flew to San Diego to visit my brother and his family. My parents also met us there for a week. Unfortunately, Darron and I forgot our cameras, so these pictures are all from my iphone. We had a great visit, and LOVED warming up in the sunshine some! We took the kids to Legoland, Seaworld, and Coronado Beach. Here are some highlights from our trip....Preston and Payton admiring each others apples. I just thought they were too cute in their sunglasses looking at each other.

Preston and Darron rode the Roarin' Rapids ride. THey came out soaked, but had a great time!

Preston and Maggie on the Elmo ride....

Payton and her daddy!

I had to include this sweet picture. This is my typical Payton....two fingers from her left hand in her mouth, and rubbing the corner of her blanket!

Collecting shells at Seal beach.

Maggie and Peepaw

Preston at Legoland....it was a really cool place!

Sweet Payton learned to take her naps in her stroller because we were on the go so much. Wish I could have been snuggled in next to her! :)

While standing in line for a ride, these two starting hugging each other. It was SOOO sweet!

My sister in law took some great pictures throughout our trip and they are on a CD....somewhere. Now, if I could only remember where I put that CD......

Heavy Heart

2010-02-22T16:39:00.003-09:00

Jenny B passed away this afternoon about 3:38 Texas time. Please continue to pray for her parents, siblings, husband, nine year old daughter, and all others impacted by her. Thank you for caring for those you don't even know.

Praise the Lord for a Heaven with no pain and the promise of seeing each other again!

Prayer Requests

2010-02-20T21:30:00.003-09:00

My heart is heavy tonight for two differnt friends and their families. Although I have been praying for both of them since the start of their trials, it has been on my heart to post this on my blog to enlist the prayers of all of you prayer warriors out there.

Kamara Tate Cox
Kamara and I went to ACU together. We were in all of our education classes together, and she is just an incredibly sweet, happy, Christ-like woman. Kamara unexpectantly delivered a baby girl at 24 weeks this past week. So far, Baby Cox is holding her own. But as you can imagine, she has a long road to travel. Her tests have been looking positive and she seems to be a fighter. However, as of today, her platelet count is pretty low and this is a cause for concern. Kamara, and her husband Rod, have been discharged from the hospital and are now trying to balance the life of being with Baby Cox in the NICU as well as with their 20 month old daughter, Aubrey. Please be feverently praying for this family: for life, energy, encouragement, rest, wisdom, and a continued unshakable FAITH in the Lord.

Jenny Bizaillion
Jenny went to ACU while I was there. Although I didn't know her, I recognize her. Also, Darron was friends with both her, and her husband Dave. Jenny's story is a strange, and difficult one. Today marks day 16 of Jenny being in the ICU after what they thought was the flu. Jenny went to the ER after struggling with the flu for about a week. They quickly diagnosed her with pneumonia and admitted her to the hospital. It was soon found that Jenny's body had been overtaken with sepsis (basically a poison in the body) and major organs were beginning to shut down including her lungs, kidneys, and liver. The first several days the doctors were not sure Jenny would survive. However, the Lord has continually brought her through and has miraculously saved her to this point. Unfortunately, due to drugs that had to be administered to save her organs, Jenny lost all circulation to her feet and gangreen became a huge threat. Jenny had to have both legs amputated below the knees this past week. This morning, Jenny suffered two grand mal seizures followed by a more mild seizure. After doing an MRI, the doctors have now discovered that some of the sepsis has attached to an artery in her heart and has caused lesions on her brain. The family met with doctors throughout the day today and just stated that "the prognosis is not promising."
The amazing thing in all of this is that over 4000 people in over 40 states and 5 countries are praying for Jenny that they KNOW of. I believe many more are praying for her that the family is not even aware of. The family is holding as strong as possible. They have full faith that God CAN heal her and they are trying to trust in His will.
Jenny is 31 years old and has a 9 year old daughter, Malaya.
Please be in prayer for Jenny and her family. Please join us in praying for complete healing, wisdom for the doctors, her kidneys and liver to begin functioning, and all infections to leave her body. The families anthem throughout all of this is "Mighty to Save."

I know this is a heavy blog post. My heart has been so heavy for both of these families. I am asking you to join us in prayer. TO lift these beautiful ladies and their families up in prayer throughout your days. If you want internet addresses to follow their stories, let me know.

Thank you for being prayer warriors with us!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-21T14:59:00.004-09:00

We had a great Christmas this year! I have always loved the Holidays, but I think I love them even more now that I have my kids to share them with! We have been building a Rizer Family Cabin since about 2002. Little by little it is coming together, being expanded and added on to, and coming together some more. While we spend some weekends at the cabin, we have never spent a Holiday there....until this year! The cabin is certainly not finished on the inside, but it does have electricity, heat, and hot water. On December 23rd, Darron's parents, my family, and two of Darron's sisters and their families met at the cabin. That was 8 adults and 5 children. We stayed until Dec. 27th! On Christmas Eve, another sister and her 5 teenagers also spent the day with us. We had so much fun playing in the snow, sledding, going for walks, riding the snowmachines, baking cookies, opening presents, eating, seeing Santa, and just being together. It was such a relaxing time (as much as possible with that many adults and kids) and a memorable Christmas together! Although I was missing being in Texas with my family, I feel blessed to be surrounded with an "Alaskan Family."

Preston with his brand new bike from Santa. Too bad it's hard to ride during the winter months in Alaska!
Santa Clause found us at the cabin! There is no picture with Payton and Santa because she completely flipped out when she saw him and was gripping my shirt so tight I couldn't pry her off if I had wanted to!

Preston and daddy snowmachining at the cabin. They had so much fun. I even went on a slow, easy ride down a few trails (now, when I'm not pregnant I'm all over the trails!).

Preston, Brookelynn, and Max....they may as well be brothers and sisters! We are so blessed to have cousins so close. Preston loves these two so much. They love each other and fight with each other just like siblings!

Making Christmas cookies!

Yummy!

This isn't the best picture, but they were both being too silly!

As I was cleaning upstairs, I realized these two had gotten awfully quite. I peeked into Payton's room to discover this......it made my heart melt!

We hope ya'll had a Merry Christmas and were able to enjoy some of the hustle and bustle and family time during the holiday season!

Now, let's hope we can make it through January! I wish I were on a plane to Hawaii! :)

Preston's 4th Birthday

2010-01-21T14:36:00.003-09:00

I can hardly believe that my "little" boy turned 4 last month! We had a great time celebrating. This year, Preston decided he wanted to have his birthday party in his room. So, we stayed home and invited a few of our closest friends/family over to join in on the celebrating. Luckily I was able to convice Preston to have his party downstairs in the kitchen/living area instead of his bedroom! :) Just like last year, Preston is still HOOKED on Curious George. It's his absolute favorite. So once again, we had a Curious George birthday party!

(Grrr...ignore the dates on the pictures....I need to fix my camera!)

We played "pin the butterfly on the log" (it was a Curious George version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey!) Everyone had fun, including some of the adults!
Way to be a good sport Marquel!

My big four year old stud!

Our friend Kim, from church, is a professional baker. She made Preston's cake this year! It was amazingly good! She had sculpted the Curious George on top of the cake ANd the gift box he's sitting in! Although this picture doesn't do justice, the cake was incredible and Preston was SO happy with it! He loved the Curious George!

Preston is such a great kid. We love him so much! He started talking at a very early age so he is very verbal and easy to understand. He asks some great questions (too many at times) and also has a thought or comment to share. He's a rule follower and like to make sure the other kids are in line as well (we have many talks about being bossy). He LOVES to play with other kids and is very social. He enjoys singing, and LOVES running and bouncing around the house. He likes to try new things but gets frustrated if he can't do them as well as he wants too. He enjoys being read to and is working on learning more and more letters. He loves his little sister so much and treats her great (most of the time). He is very respectful and thankful. It doesn't take much to please him or make him excited. He gets frustrated when things don't go his way (I have NO idea where he got that from!), but is easily consoled. He loves Sunday School Class and talks about God and Jesus alot. He is such a sweet snuggler and just a joy to be with (on most days)!

Preston, we are so thankful God chose us to be your mommy and daddy! We are so proud of you and love you so much!

Happy Birthday!

Where Has the TIme Gone?

2010-01-21T14:33:00.002-09:00

It's been over a month since my last post! During that time we have celebrated Preston's 4 birthday, enjoyed Christmas, and visited my family in California! Posts and pictures soon to follow!

I also published and received my very first blog book! I love it! It is on our fireplace mantle and so many people have already enjoyed glancing through our past year in the form of a book! Thank you Staci for the great idea!

Reflecting on 2009

2009-12-31T20:24:00.000-09:00

Happy Holidays to our family and friends! It feels like I just finished last years letter, and yet a year has already come and gone! As we think back over the last year, blessed is the word that keeps coming to mind.
Payton turned ONE at the beginning of March. She is such a FUN little girl. She is so snuggly, happy, easy-going (for the most part), and a great sleeper. She is pretty sensitive (I don’t know where she got THAT from) and listens really well. When she’s not “talking,” eating, or laughing, she is generally seen with her two fingers in her mouth and holding onto her favorite blanket. She LOVES her big brother, loves to dance, and loves to take care of her babies! She brings such a sweet presence to our family.
Our summer was filled with adventure, family time, and fun. We headed to Texas at the end of May and enjoyed some much needed time with Maggie and Peepaw at the Lakehouse. Preston wanted nothing more than to fish all day and night and go for the occasional jet ski or boat ride. We were also able to take Preston to Uncle Gene’s “farm” for the night where he held baby goats, chased chickens, looked at cows, and did more fishing. Preston was in his element and has talked about Uncle Gene’s farm many times!
At the end of our trip to Texas, we made a six day stop off in California and went to Disneyland! Maggie and Peepaw met us there for a few days and Jen’s sister-in-law and kids were able to join us for a day. Disneyland was SO MUCH FUN! It was definitely a highlight of our year. Preston and Payton were fearless and enjoyed every part of our trip from the rides, the characters, the food, the shows, the cousin time, the “extras” bought for them, and the special time with Maggie and Peepaw! It was a trip for the memory books for sure!
This summer also brought about lots of camping and fishing with family and friends, along with a lot of hard work! Darron worked incredibly hard to redo our backyard. He built fences, cut down trees, moved sheds, made decks, and turned dirt into beautiful grass! We now have a beautiful, relaxing backyard with a hot tub, hammock, fire pit, and play fort. We spent many nights out back as a family and loved every minute of it (minus the mosquitoes)!
As Fall came, the start of another school year began for Jen who is still teaching part-time in a 5th grade classroom. Preston and Payton are still enjoying time with cousins and even Grandma one day a week! Darron took the plunge to complete his Master’s degree in October. We are very proud of him!
Preston is turning FOUR years old at the end of this month. I can’t believe he is already so big! He is still my sweet little boy (although I was wondering who snatched his sweetness for about a four month period!) and we have so much fun with him. He is very smart and verbal, and headstrong and “right”! He LOVES Payton and time with his cousin (might as well be brother) Max. Preston played soccer for the first time this summer and really enjoyed it. He wants to play again. He loves Sunday School class and is looking forward to starting Preschool next year. He’s still a momma’s boy, but he only snuggles when he wants too. He adds great joy, laughter, and happiness to our family!
To add to our joy and blessings this year, we just found out not long ago that Baby Number Three is on the way and due at the end of June!J
As another year ends, we are so thankful for so many things: a beautiful house, two great jobs, supportive and loving families, an incredible network of close friends near and far, an awesome church home and family that we love being involved in, health, and most importantly, our God. We hope this letter finds each of you happy and healthy and finding peace in the one that matters most! Take time to remember “the reason for the season” and let us know how you are doing! Check out our family blog when you have time at www.rizerfamily.blogspot.com and Happy Holidays!

We love you all,
Darron, Jenny, Preston, and Payton

9 Great Years Together

2009-12-16T20:23:00.003-09:00

Nine years ago I snatched the best man possible to be my husband! And I'm so glad he chose me to spend this earthly life with! I knew I was a lucky woman then, but I had no idea how lucky I truely was. In honor of our nine years together (well, actually 11 together, but 9 married), here are nine things I LOVE about my husband:

(in no particular order)

1) I married a man that was always cute, but now he is sexy! He just gets better and better looking with age! That's the kind of man you want to marry! :)

2) He is an incredibly loving, caring, fun, capable father to our children. He leads by example, disciplines with love, is able to take care of them without much instruction :), and does fun things with them.

3) He is a man of God. He leads our family to know the Lord and tries to constantly better himself.

4) He is very outgoing. He is willing to meet new people and make them feel welcome.

5) He is a leader. He has stepped into some leadership positions at church and is amazing. People can't help but follow him.

6) He has a magnetic personality that attracts people. I haven't ever met anyone that doesn't just love my husband. He is open, friendly, hilarious, and makes people feel at ease.

7) He loves me. He daily makes me feel beautiful, hugs me, listens to me, and goes out of his way to take care of things that may be stressing me out (I know, hard to believe that things would stress me out)!

8) He is a family man. He loves to be with our family. He also loves his parents and sisters and it shows. Family is a top priority for him and I love that!

9) He can build and/or fix just about anything. He amazes me with his skills and know how, even when he's never done it before. It reminds me of my dad and that's pretty cool! I'm so proud of all the things he's built and fixed (like a room on our house, a family cabin, new floors, a bookcase for my school, and the list could go on and on).

I could easily name more than nine things that I love about my husband. Yes, we've had our rough years and rough days, but I have never had to question his love for me. I feel like the most loved woman because of his actions and words on a daily basis. I feel so blessed to call myself his wife and the mother of his children. We have been blessed with a beautiful family and I am so thankful he's my partner in life. Here's to all the happy years we will have together in the future! I love you D!

Here we go again!

2009-12-07T14:58:00.002-09:00

For those of you who may not check Facebook, I thought I'd let the cat out of the bag "officially" on my blog. Here we go again with Rizer baby #3! :) We are unexpectantly expecting this new baby at the end of June. We are very excited, and Preston is super excited. He's hoping for a brother! :) I'm 11 weeks now and we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat the day before Thanksgiving. Other than being extremely tired, I'm feeling pretty good and looking forward (and terrified all at the same time) of adding another little Rizer to the family. Payton really has no idea what's going on, but she LOVES her babies and rocking/feeding/taking care of them, so I hope that's a good sign. :)

I will update again soon with pictures of the kids and what we're here to. Hope you're all doing well.

Kids and Moose

2009-11-11T19:44:00.003-09:00

It's been a little while since I've posted some new pictures. Ignore the dates on the pictures. We switched back to our "old" camera and forgot to make sure the date was correct.

We had a great Halloween. Our church youth group put on a Fall Festival for the first time in at least 5 or more years. They did an AWESOME job! Everything was free, kid friendly, positive, and just plain fun!

Here is our little Pooh Bear. Payton wore her costume all night and looked adorable! Excuse the carrot in her mouth and orange drool! Preston was Tigger....again. He's had this costume for three years now and loves wearing it, even when it's not Halloween! He had his face painted at the Festival and he cried when he had to clean his face for bed!
Here is Preston, Payton, and our good friend Faith (aka. Piglet). Faith's mom (Kimi) had the Pooh Bear costume for Payton, Piglet's costume, and a little Honey Pot for her 6 month old little girl. The four of them together looked so cute....we just couldn't get a picture! Notice the two girls holding hands! Believe it or not Faith is actually 2 years old, but Payton has almost outgrown her (Faith has always been on the small side though)!

And of course our annual "dig the seeds out of the pumpkin so we can roast them" day. This year Preston actually dug in and helped. He would only get one hand messy though. And our seeds were delicious!

And for those of you who love seeing all things Alaska, here is a sweet little moose bedded down in our front yard a few weeks ago. There were actually three moose eating from the trees and bedding down, but it was hard to get good pictures. This one was right next to the drive way.

It is finally snowing here. I don't think it has ever waited this late to snow in the eight years I've lived here. We got a few inched on Sunday and another inch or so today. It's still "warmer" (in the mid 20's) so that's been nice also. But we're ready for LOTS more snow. If it's going to be cold, it may as well be beautiful and snow!

Hope you're all having a great Fall and getting ready for the Holidays!

Hockey Girl

2009-10-10T09:21:00.002-08:00

So I've been posting about my hockey games on Facebook and many of you can't believe I play hockey and have asked for pictures. So I thought I would blog about it and give you a little "proof" of me on the ice! :)

I started playing a couple of years after I moved to Alaska because my girlfriends were playing. Believe it or not, it's quite a popular sport in here, even for women. I guess it helps us stay half way in shape during our hibernating months of winter and gives us something to do! :)

I played for about 3 years until I got pregnant. I've taken a break, but my girlfriends have kept at it. They were already good, now they're great. I haven't played in several years and wasn't planning to play again, but they had an opening on their team and talked me into it. I'm loving playing again, but still not great and way out of my league with these girls. Somehow, I've managed to score the two out of our three games so far!

Here is the six of us (from left to right): Becca, Kimi, me, Marta, Hannah, Marquel

These were my first girlfriends here and these are the girls I have Bible study with every Tuesday night and girls campouts once a year. I truely LOVE these ladies!Becca, me, Marta, Kimi, Marquel, Hannah....sweaty and stinky after our game

There is me in action.....notice I'm even on my feet and not my rear-end! I'm getting better! :)

This is my (in the black and gray socks) and Marta (#9) celebrating my goal!

Here is me (in the green) waiting for the puck.

So, there you have it. Me and hockey! An uncoordinated, long-legged Texan on ice. Can't get much more humorous than that! :)

Out of the Mouth's of Babes

2009-09-29T07:57:00.003-08:00

Just wanted to share a couple of the cute things the kids are saying.

We are blessed to spend lots of time with friends and their kids. When we leave, I generally say "Bye guys" while waving to all the kids. On Friday, we had been playing with our friends and I said my normal "Bye guys." While putting Payton in her carseat, she was excitedly waving and saying, "Bye duys, bye duys, bye duys!" So cute.....

Payton is also starting to mimick the way I sit on the floor to play with her, trying to lean on her hand exactly like I do. :)

Driving home yesterday, it got quite in the car for a moment. We were driving by some new hydroseeded grass and Preston said, "Mom, are they making grass all over the Urth (Earth)?" I explained that they had made this new road and were making the sides look pretty by planting grass. Another moment of silence, then, "Mom, why does God give them Urth a big dwink of water when the Urth doesn't have a mouth?"

I love the innocense of a child! :)

Catching Up

2009-09-27T16:47:00.005-08:00

I know it's been awhile since I've posted, so this is just a catch-up post. We are doing well, just very busy. Darron is desperately trying to finish up a Master's Program by Oct. 15th. He still has one test and four papers to write, so he is spending most of his extra time studying. That means, the kids and I are spending our time together and trying to leave D alone! :)

It is definatley Fall time in Alaska. The leaves are all golden and falling from the trees. The temps are in the 40's during the day and 30's at night. "Termination dust" has hit the mountains. This is the first snowfall that starts at the tops of the mountains and slowly works its way down to us in the town....therefore, it is slowly "terminating" our summer and Fall.

The kids are both doing great, growing like weeds. Preston is getting so tall and we're continuing to work on expressing our frustrations without major fits....the joys of a 3 1/2 year old! He is surrounded with wonderful friends and has a group of about 4 little boys is "hangs with" on a regular basis. Here's a great smile from my big boy!

Darron went Halibut fishing this summer with some of his buddies. They had a great trip and came back with a lot of fish for the freezer. This was D's biggest catch of the day...about 70 lbs!

P
Payton is also doing great, growing up so quickly! She is such a momma's girl and I LOVE it! She is so happy (most of the time) and always smiling and laughing. She is learning so many words and tries to repeat everything we say. Her favorite thing to say right now is "no, no" while shaking her head....this is her general response to anything we ask her.

Preston and Payton love each other (for the most part) and their favorite thing to do together is wrestle and tackle. Usually, it's Payton taking her brother down. A few tears are shed if it gets out of hand, but most of the time the tackle sessions are full of laughter! It's so cute to watch!

Pres and Payton also love trying new things together...like Preston pulling Payton in a miniature red wagon around the living room! I think her toppling over was the funniest part for both of them. :)

These pictures are obviously out of order but here is Darron and his buddies with all of their fish....halibut, sea bass, link cod, and a red snapper!

And last, but certianly not least, the beginning of our summer was filled with putting in a backyard...a three year long project has finally come to life! When we bought this house 5 years ago, the backyard was mainly dirt, little grass. Over the years, the little grass became all dirt. We have spent the last two summers putting up fences so Maverick, our dog, would have his own area. We also had to take down old decks and make a deck for our hot tub (a big $200 purchase from Craigslist). Then, we had to move sheds, level out the yard, bring in 2 dump loads of topsoil, and spread it all. Finally, the hydroseed. I had pics of the entire process, but can't locate them now. However, this is the finished product! Complete with a hamock, an outdoor firepit, a box for a veggie garden next year, a trampoline, and a fort/slide/sandbox for the kids. We LOVE our backyard!! Thank you to my main man for working so hard to give our kids such a great place to play!

Well, that's our mid-summer/Fall catch-up. Now it's getting colder, my hockey season has started (yep, I play hockey with my girlfriends!), school is going, and we are beginning to hibernate for the long, cold winter!

Hope you all are doing well and thanks for checking in on our family. Leave us a comment and let us know how you are!

Aching Heart

2009-09-03T21:31:00.002-08:00

Tonight, I had the honor to go to a Celebration of Life for a sweet little four year old named Hannah. I first met Hannah a year ago when her older sister, Katie, was one of my fifth grade students. During Parent-Teacher Conferences in November, Katie's mom told me she would be traveling out of state for her younger daughter, Hannah. I asked a little about what was going on and little did I know that was the beginning of a year of prayer and thankfulness over this special little girl.

When Mrs. Kingsley was pregnant with Hannah, they discovered by ultrasounds that she had some heart defects. She wasn't suppose to live through birth, but that was the first miracle God performed in this little girl and families life. Hannah was born with Congestive Heart Failure and at just 8 days old she had her first heart surgery. The doctors told the Kingsley family that she would most likely need a heart transplant at some point in her life, and they were amazed she had even lived this long.

During her 4 years and 9 months of life, Hannah lived through 5 major surgeries and countless procedures. Just over a week ago, Hannah got sick and it began to turn into pneumonia. Her little heart finally gave out and she had congestive heart failure and passed away on August 28th. Although the family knew that each day was a blessing they weren't suppose to have with Hannah, they thought and hoped they would have many more years with her.

From the time I met Mrs. Kingsley a year ago, we have both been very open about our faith in the Lord. I have had numerous conversations with her and have prayed through the most recent surgery this past January for Hannah. The Kingsley family is, and has been, an incredible witness for the Lord. Little Hannah loved the Lord with all her heart and wasn't ashamed to tell people of the love of Jesus. Mr and Mrs. Kingsley have always thanked God for sharing HIS little Hannah with them for the 4 years they had, thanking Him for each added day. They have not been asking "why us" but, instead, have known that Hannah was HIS and they were blessed by her life and are thankful the Lord took her to be with Him, healthy and pain free.

My heart is aching tonight for the Kingsley family. As a mother, I can't imagine watching my child go through so many procedure and surgeries, many of which were very painful. I can't imagine watching my baby be sick and fragile. And I can't imagine saying my goodbye's for the last time on Earth. I came home tonight and just held my "baby" Preston and cried over him. I am so thankful for my two beautiful, healthy children.

Please join me in lifting the Kingsley family up in your prayers: Gary, Brenda, Meagan (19), Ryan (12), Katie (10) and Zachary (2). And if you have children, be sure to love on them and give them extra hugs and kisses.

May the Kingsley family continue to be a great witness for the Lord and an encouragement to you and I.

You know you live in Alaska when....

2009-08-11T16:14:00.003-08:00

You go fishing only to see this bear!

Do you see the black bear in the trees? Well, we didn't....until we were about 5 feet away from it! It was an incredibly amazing, and bit frightening experience!

We had just walked up on the boardwalk of the river after fishing all day. We had walked about 6 or so steps when Darron suddenly jumped back yelling "BEAR!" We all looked to the side and saw this beauty watching us from the trees. We see bear at the river all the time, but generally IN the river...not on the Boardwalk. With guns in tow, we were able to safely walk past her with no problems.

I guess we had been fairly warned by this sign! :)

This is the Kenai River, about 2 hours south of Anchorage. This is our favorite fishing hole. When the salmon are "running" we generally catch them here, along with everyone else as you can see. Believe it or not, this was not a crowded day. When the fish are really hot, it's literally almost shoulder to shoulder fishing. Some might say it's not fun to be that packed in, but as long as there is a fighting salmon at the end of my pole, I have a blast!

And here are our trusty men filleting all the fish we caught! The limit on red salmon is three a day. Darron can catch a fish in a mud puddle, so he always limits out. I had actually caught about 5 this trip, but only 1 was legal....the rest were either "snagged" in the tail or head, or got off right as I was about to have it to the shore. Oh well.

We try and make it to the Kenai River a couple of times each summer to enjoy the BEAUTIFUL river and mountains, along with good friends and fun fishing. This was our trip last Monday....Darron played hookey from work and we went for the day with Craig and Becca. We had a GREAT day, saw 4 bear total, and came home with 3 salmon each for the freezer.

I'm about to put my on the smoker now....

I truly love living in Alaska and all the adventures it has to offer....I just wish my family lived here with me!

Washington DC Trip

2009-08-08T14:44:00.004-08:00

I always forget this uploads pictures backwards, so my trip is a little out of order. Oh well.

I left late Thursday night, July 9th for Washington DC/Virginia and was gone until July 19th....almost 10 days! Earlier this year my teaching partner, Valerie, and I were accepted to the We The People Institute at James Madison University in Virginia. We applied with over 100 other people and we were one of 45 to be chosen. Our trip was all expenses paid....airfair, food, lodging, etc. We were so excited! We were in lectures/groups all day, everyday and we had some homework to do each night. We were learning about the Constitution and its history and how to teach about it in our classrooms. Although I am not a history nut, this conference was AWESOME!

We were each put into group of 5 or 6 for the week with a mentor. THis is my group: me, Joan, Karen, Angela, and Julie. Bernard was our mentor. He was definately the BEST! We had to prepare all week for a Simulated Congressional Hearing in which we had to, as a team, give a six minute prepared speech answering specific questions about the Constitution. Then a panel of judges would have four minutes to ask us follow-up questions. This is my team at our Congressional Hearing. It was fun to show off all we had been learning.
We stayed at James Madison University (Father of the Constitution). We lived in the dorms and ate in their cafeteria. The food was actually outstanding! We each had our own room and we had one bathroom mate. My bathroom mate was a girl named Kelly from Ohio. We spent a lot of time together and got along great.

One of my closest friends from ACU, Amy, lives about 45 minutes from JMU. She and her little boy Charlie drove down to take me to dinner one night. It was SO GOOD getting to catch up in person. Thanks to our blogs, I felt like we hadn't missed a beat with each other. That night was definately a highlight of the trip for me. Her little three year old boy took this picture of us....impressive! :)

This was Gifford Hall, the dorm we stayed in. Beatiful on the outside, decent on the inside!

Valerie and I flew into DC about two days before our conference started so we could tour all of the major monuments. We didn't have time for any of the museums, but we were going all day and night to capture the monuments. This is this Vietnam Memorial....very somber and humbling.

We made it to the Arlington National Cemetary and we were able to see a Changing of the Guards...awesome experience. It's incredible to try and take this all in. It makes me very proud to be an American and so thankful for the thousands that have given their lives for our country and our freedom.

The Washington Monument. We actually got to ride the elevator to the top of this and lookout! I guess they only give out so many tickets for the day at like 8 in the morning. We made it to this monument at 8 at night and were asking about it. A younger teenager was working the line and we played the "we're teachers from Alaska" card, and he let us slip in the line with no tickets!! It was so cool! And by the way, the neon green sticker on my shirt was for the trolley we were riding, not a new fashion statement! :)

I flew all night and landed about noon on Friday. By 3 pm we were off and going...first stop, our Alaska State Senators office. One of our senators, Mark Begich, was at his office between meetings. This sign is at his office door. His staff told him we were in from Alaska and we were teachers and he told them to send us in. He visited with us briefly and took some pictures with us. :)

Excuse the windblown, stuck to the side of my head, hair. This is in front of the Capitol building (obviously). We did go inside, but we didn't want to take the long tour....too much to do. Here's a cool fact: the Senator's have their own office building to the right and the Representatives are in their own office building to the left. Each building is connected to the Capitol by an underground tunnel that has it's own trolley for the Congressman. And yes, I got to ride the trolley with our Senator's staff member. How cool is that!

While in DC, Valerie and I stayed in a hotel that was about two blocks from a metro station. We took the metro (like a subway) every where we went. By the end of our two days, we were metro PRO'S! It was actually very clean and a pretty cheap, cool way to travel. We had fun and we were proud of ourselves for figuring it all out so quickly.

I had a terrific time on my trip and I missed my family greatly! My heart actually ached for my children by the fourth day, but I tried to fully enjoy my trip. Darron was fabulous with the kids and encouraged me to enjoy myself and to not worry about them. I do think he missed me though because when I got home he had reorganized/cleaned the laundry room, the house was spotless, he had bought a new comforter set for our bed and he had written about 20 little notes and left them all over the house for me. So sweet! I told him if he wasn't careful, I'd go out of town more often! :)

Disneyland

2009-07-27T19:24:00.004-08:00

Well, this post is only about a month and a half late, but better late than never! :) Here are some of the highlights from our trip to Disneyland. After spending two weeks in Texas, we stopped off in Disneyland for a week before flying home to Alaska. Maggie and Peepaw met us in Disneyland for the first 3 days we were there. We had hotel rooms across from each other and Preston and Payton loved going back and forth. After Maggie and Peepaw checked out of their room to go back to Texas, the kids had a hard time understanding that Maggie and Peepaw were no longer in the hotel room across from us!

We were blessed with beautiful, mild weather while in California and we had a very memorable, fun week! I"m pretty sure I've haven't walked that much in quite awhile...but it was probably good for me considering all the junk I was eating! :)

Preston LOVED the rides at Disneyland. He, alone, made this trip worthwhile. This is Pres and I in the teacups.....not my favorite (spinning round and round leaves me feeling a bit queasy) but he sure loved them!
Payton was such a little trooper! There wasn't a ride she went on that we didn't see this happy smile. These are the teacups.....again! I think they were Payton's favorite! :)

We had so much fun with Maggie and Peepaw. Darron, Preston, dad, and I rode the big Ferris Wheel. This is us on the Ferris Wheel. I think Maggie and Peepaw enjoyed their time with us. I wish I had a picture of dad riding the Screamer Rollercoaster of the Tower of Terror.....now THAT was fun!

Maggie and Peepaw bought the kids their own Mickey ears and had their names put on the back. Payton didn't wear hers too long, but she was adorable when she would keep them on.

Preston picked out a Cars set of Mickey ears. He wore his non-stop and they are still finding their way all over our house! :)

Andy, my big bro, is out to sea with the Navy, but his wife and two kids were able to make the 2 hour drive to spend one night and day with us at Disneyland. Preston and Lizzie hit it off great! They were often seen walking together holding hands! :) Lizzie is about 2 months older than Preston. They loved being together. Gavin was also with us....he is almost 2 and just as adorable as can be. It was so nice to see them again and spend time together!

Preston and mommy being "Goofy."

Preston kept saying he wanted to ride a rollercoaster. Being the good parents we are, we decided to let him try Thundermountain. :) This is like a run-away mine train that goes pretty fast up and down and in and out of dark tunnels. He was just barely tall enough and we tried to tell him it would be really fast and dark and scarey. He continued to say he wanted to ride, so Darron and I got in a seat and Preston rode in the seat behind us with Peepaw. This picture was taken just BEFORE the rollercoaster started. I didn't get a picture afterwards, because I was too busy consoling a teary-eyed little boy. Needless to say, he wasn't a big fan! :) But, we were so PROUD of him for trying....he's not normally too much of a daredevil! AND....two days later, Preston wanted to ride Splash Mountain (the big drop off that goes into water) with his daddy and he LOVED it! :)

Preston spotted Goofy the moment we walked into the park on the first day. Payton didn't cry, but she wasn't sure what to think. She was trying to grab him! Preston got more and more brave as the week went on and started taking his picture by himself with the characters. He wouldn't let us go with him. My big boy! :)

Eventhough Darron says he planned this trip for Preston (and Payton), I'm pretty sure he was just as excited, if not more! These are my boys at the entrance to Disneyland. THey didn't want to stop for a picture, they were ready to head in!

We had such a great trip: beautiful weather, wonderful family time with Maggie and Peepaw, fun rides and shows, and happy/well-behaved kids. Who could ask for anything more? :)

Trip to Texas

2009-06-24T20:27:00.004-08:00

THis is our sweet Payton in her adorable little night gown at the Lake House. I'm pretty sure she was in mid-sentence for the photo....no telling what she was trying to say!
My best friend from high school, Kelli, and her family came to the lake for an afternoon. Of course Maya and Preston wouldn't allow us to jet ski without them! It was a fun afternoon, but very windy on the lake.

We were fortunate enough to drive to Abilene and spend the night with Darron's college roommate, Jody, and his family. We took some time to drive around town and rehash great memories made while at ACU. In the background of the picture is where the magic of Darron and Jen all started! See the middle brown building? Darron and his roommates lived on the left while my roommates and I lived on the right. This was not planned, and we were not dating at the time....far from it! But, thankfully, the Lord had a plan and within the year, Darron and I were in love and I was preparing to make my first visit to Alaska. That townhouse holds alot of wonderful memories for us (keep it clean guys)! :)

We also spent some time walking on the ACU campus and reliving our wonderful college years. We both agreed those were much less stressful times in our lives, although we probably wouldn't have thought so then! They have made so many changes on the campus and it beautiful. It was so nice to be back there.....some of the best memories of my life were made during those years. Here's a shout out to all of my ACU friends.....thanks for the great memories of laughter, silliness, deep talks, tears, Bible studies, discovering who the Lord really is, and just plain fun! I love you guys!

While on campus, we also spent some time indocterinating (spelling?) Preston so he would grow up knowing where he is going to college! :) No, we'll let him make his own choice but we'll also do what we can to "encourage" ACU!

This is for all the ACU friends. We were lucky enough to eat lunch at Harold's BBQ!! It was SOOO good.......rough part of town, hole in the wall joint, but the BEST BBQ you'll find! We told Harold we came all the way from Alaska for his brisket....it made his day! :)

And is my sweet girl and how we found here on many car rides. She was such a trooper. She got much less sleep than normal but she was happy and just took naps when she found the time!

We went to a FT. Worth Cats Minor League Baseball game with my parents one night. It was my mom's company picnic night so we joined them. It was also my mom's birthday and I think she enjoyed getting to show off the grandkids. Preston enjoyed the game and it was a beautiful sunset with the Ft. Worth skyline in the background.

Payton and Maggie on a boat ride at the Lake House. Payton wasn't a huge fan of the boat because she couldn't walk around....but she made the best of it and Maggie enjoyed the snuggle time.

Preston driving the boat with Darron in the background and Peepaw just out of the picture giving Preston directions such as, "A little right....no I said right.....a little more right.....no, right....." I think Peepaw quickly discovered Preston doesn't know his right/left yet. But by the end of the trip, Preston was beginning to understand! :)

Preston and one of the many fish he caught. He is an avid fisherman. Standing on the dock with a pole in the water was all this little boy wanted to do! I guess he takes after his mom and dad since we both love fishing! Preston's job was to catch the minnow out of the bucket and then let us bait his pole. He could cast his own pole and reel in his fish. Peepaw also taught him how to grab the catfish by the tail to throw it back in. It was so fun fishing with him!

We had a WONDERFUL trip to Texas. Very busy and full of lots of good family/friend time, fishing, relaxing, and eating great food! Thanks Maggie and Peepaw for such a great visit! Wish we were there now!

Next to come....hopefully in the somewhat near future....Disneyland pictures!

Preston's First Soccer Game

2009-06-20T11:37:00.001-08:00

I can't believe my little boy is old enough to play soccer this summer! Preston played in his first soccer game on Wednesday night. His team has actually already had three games, but we missed them since we were at Disneyland. The organization we are playing in, Spyder soccer, is pretty disorganized, but they stress kids being active and having fun. And they seem to be having a great time!

Somehow I ended up being slated as the "co-coach" for his team so I was pretty busy during the practice/game too. How hard can coaching three year old soccer be, right?! :)

Here are a few snapshots from Pres's first game. This picture was actually the very end of the game. For some reason (probably no nap and over excited), Preston had a melt down at the end of the game and didn't want to shake the other teams hands. This is him sitting in time-out taking a break to calm himself down. Once he heard there were snacks, he was good to go! :)

I love this picture that Darron took!

Coach Jen giving a pep talk to Preston and his cousin Max before the game! :) Notice Preston clearing out his sinuses so he could breathe good during the game?

Preston and cousin Max before the game! There are also three other little boys from our church that are playing on the team, but they couldn't make the game that night. The boys were so excited to play together.

They are truely like brothers. I hope this is the start of many sports seasons together!

And where was Payton during the soccer game? She was attached to her Aunt TT that she hadn't seen in three weeks. She would hardly leave her side....until the end of the game. While passing out snacks, we noticed she was missing because she wasn't right in the middle of the food. We looked around, and she had vanished to the other end of the field with the other team. Uncle Scott ran down to get her and found her in the middle of the team with three juices and two snacks tucked away in her arms! That's my outgoing, carefree, eater of a little girl! :)

I'll try to post some Texas/Disneyland pictures later tonight or tomorrow so be sure to check back. But for now, it's off to more laundry and cleaning on the house. Does it ever end??

It's Been Awhile

2009-06-08T19:49:00.001-08:00

For the few people that actually check my blog, sorry I haven't posted in awhile. We have been in Texas visiting family and friends the past two weeks. We leave in the morning to head to Disneyland for 6 days. Preston is just beside himself with excitement! The kids are worn out from the fun we've been having with Maggie and Peepaw.

I have some great pictures I will post when we get home in another week so check back. Until then, did you notice I FINALLY figured out how to get a better background? It wasn't hard, I just finally spent the time doing it! :)

Hope you're enjoying your summer....

Summer is here!

2009-05-08T21:28:00.002-08:00

We have been have BEAUTIFUL weather lately! It has been sunny and warm the past couple of weeks with a day or two of clouds and rain. When I say warm, I'm talking high 50's to low 60's. That's summer weather for us! :) That's comparable to high 70's to low 80's for Texas weather.....seriously. The moods of people have changed....the sun is out until 10:30 or so, people are out and about running, walking, playing, cleaning yards, etc.

We've been taking advantage of the weather by going on walks, cleaning the yards, and playing at the parks. The was last Saturday at a playground area. Notice the cool shades Preston is sporting!Uncle Craig and Aunt Becca met us at the park. Uncle Craig brought a bat and ball to teach Preston how to hit. He started getting the hang of it after lots of practicing and a small melt down of frustration. I kept telling Preston is was bad pitching from Uncle Craig! :)
My mom mailed a purse to Payton several months ago. I finally got some great pictures of her carrying her purse. She LOVES it! She carries it all over the house! She always loops it on her arm and generally holds her palm up so it won't fall off.

We put things in her purse for her to take out, but I have never seen HER put anything in her purse....until last weekend. I was upstairs changing clothes in my room and Payton crawled up the stairs to find me. My cell phone was laying on one of the steps with my car keys. I few minutes later, I hear my cell phone ringing. I thought, "Hum, that sounds like it's in here, but my phone is on the steps." I listened closer and realized my phone was actually ringing in my room. I looked down to see Payton, with her purse on her arm, walking in my room. Low and behold, there was my phone....in the purse! She was so proud of herself! Thank goodness it rang or I would have been looking forever!

Maggie, see how happy this purse makes her?

Although summer weather has hit (and very early this year), it hasn't stopped our excitement of heading "to the lower 48" in a couple of weeks (yes, people in Alaska actually refer to the other states as the Lower 48)! We will be in Texas for two weeks and then hit Disneyland for a week on the way home. We can't wait to see Maggie and Peepaw and some good friends! It can't come soon enough....

Easter

2009-04-17T15:19:00.002-08:00

We had a great Easter this year! We started by going to Good Friday service at church Friday evening. Payton and I were in a little "drama" together and, although it was past her bedtime, she did great (aka. she let me carry her onto the stage without crying)! Preston and I colored eggs on Saturday morning and then the Easter bunny made his visit while the kids were sleeping that night. We had a wonderful church service Sunday morning and appearantly Preston learned that a tow truck moved to stone so Jesus could get out of the cave! :) Hmmmm....I may have to talk with his teacher! :)

After church, we met the rest of Darron's family at Grandma and Grandpa's for some great lunch, playtime with the cousins, and of course, an Easter Egg Hunt. Thankfully, it was "warm" and most of the snow had melted from the driveway! :)

Here is Preston and Max (his cousin/best friend/stand in brother).

Payton got to hunt her own eggs on the porch. After picking up two of them, she was ready to chase the big kids around!

Maggie sent Payton a purse a few weeks ago so she has been practicing carrying things on her arms. When she saw the Easter baskets, she got really excited! I think they reminded her of her purse! She carried them all over! (That's Darron's mom in the background taking a picture)!

Grandma had these plastic eggs out for decoration. They decorated Payton's mouth and hands great all afternoon! :)

And here is a quick picture of my cheezy little girl and her cheezy little grin. She's just started smiling by wrinkling her nose up and showing her teeth! It's hilarious!

We truly had a great weekend full of time with great friends and sweet family. Throughout the week we tried to teach Preston the true meaning of Easter. That night he prayed, "Dear God, thank you for the bad guys that banged Jesus on the cross for my bad choices. Amen." I've found it's REALLY HARD to teach a 3 year old why someone had to die on a cross to forgive us of our "bad choices." Then again, I've realized it's really hard for even ME to understand that! But I'm so grateful Jesus did!

I hope you had a wonderful Easter also....

Virginia, Here I Come!

2009-04-09T19:44:00.002-08:00

I am so excited! I just found out that I get to spend a week at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA from July 12-19.....alone, with no children! Don't get me wrong...I LOVE my kids. But I will FLY alone (read, watch a movie, sleep, snack when I want to), not change any diapers, not hear crying (well, hopefully), etc. etc. But, that's not the reason I'm going.

My job-share partner, Valerie, and I have been taking a professional development class this year through the Center for Civics Education. This class is the same reason I was filmed for the news story a month ago (see earlier post). Anyways, we took this class because it was one Saturday a month, little outside of class work (other than teaching this stuff in our classroom), three credits (towards a pay raise), and a $1000 stipend upon completion in May.

So, during the class we were told of an opportunity to apply to the We The People Institute at James Madison Univ. It's a week long class, all expenses paid (airfare, lodging, food, transportation) at the University with intensive study in Civics Education (mainly the Constituion, etc). I am so NOT a politically minded, government type person. But, since taking this class and teaching it to my fifth graders, I have fallen in love with the curriculum. It truly is AWESOME.

So, Val and I applied to this institution. We didn't get our hopes up though because only 84 teachers Nationwide are chosen. BUT, we both received our acceptance letters yesterday! (I know, a picture of the letter would be cool here but that would be WAY too much work to take, upload, etc....I'm lazy)!

So, I'm off to VA in July for a week of study....I'm a nerd, but an excited nerd! While it will be awesome to not be a mom for a week, I will TOTALLY miss my kids. I've never been away from them more than two nights.....

And, I'm feeling a bit guilty that I'm doing this solely for ME and I know it will be a sacrafice on my kids and husband. But....I'm sure a nice, peaceful plane ride will cure me of the guilt....right? Well, I hope so at least because I really am struggling with feeling guilty. I guess that's what happens when we become moms?

Mt. Redoubt Volcano

2009-04-01T15:08:00.006-08:00

Many of you have been hearing about Mt. Redoubt Volcano that has been erupting lately. This volcano is about 100 miles South of Anchorage across Cook Inlet. We have been hearing warnings that the volcano has been at a state of "unrest" for several months, and a week ago Sunday, she finally started to blow! In the past week and a half, the volcano has erupted more than 15 times sending large ash plumes into the sky! The last time this volcano erupted was in 1989 and the eruptions were off an on for a four month period! We could be in for a long haul!

This is a picture of the ash cloud from the volcano during an eruption on Saturday. The volcano erupted 3 times Saturday and the mid-afternoon eruption sent an ash cloud over Anchorage. Since it started erupting on March 22, we had been warned that we could get hit with ash if the winds were blowing just right. Well, Saturday they blew just right and it was NASTY! The sky got gray and foggy looking. I was "fortunate" enough to be out and about when the ash came through so I got to experience it first hand. It was hard to breath and you could feel the ash grit on your teeth and it your eyes. When you opened your car door, ash came flying in. People were wearing masks and covering their cars (it can ruin an engine I guess). We all had to cover our fireplaces and put wet towles down by the doors to minimize the ash coming into the house. Did I mention it was NASTY? The airport closed for quite a few hours on Saturday because of the ash. Over 10,000 people have been affected in their flight plans the past week and a half. Planes either can't leave or are late leaving and coming to Anchorage. They are monitoring each hour to see if they can take off and land because the ash will ruin the planes engines. Most people that are trying to get to Anchorage have been a minimum of two to three days late arriving! Crazy stuff!

I took this picture from my front door. This is snow in my driveway covered by ash!

All of the gray you see on the porch is ash. We only got a "light covering." I can't imagine getting dumped on! Praise the Lord that He allowed it to snow about 3 inches on Sunday night to cover all of the ash. Normally, I don't like seeing snow this late in the year, but at least it's white again and not so dirty looking! And to think, we could continue dealing with this for a few more months! My mom offered me a solution to my problem. I believe her exact words were "move home where you belong!" Thanks mom.....I knew I could always count on you! Of course, then I'd be dealing with Tornado warnings and flooding.....

On a happier, much cuter note....this is Preston settling in for nap time one day last week. Lately he has been wanting to take his animals or his tools to sleep with. This day he felt like he needed his safety glasses from his tool set. I guess they keep him safe while he's sleeping.

And here is my sweet little Payton and her blanket. I think she was waiting for her daddy to come out of the bathroom. I wish I had the luxury of closing the door! :) Payton is SO attached to this blanket (I have three now so I can keep them washed) and to her two fingers. When she's tired, hurt, or upset, the blanket and fingers are her biggest comfort. I wish I could say I was her biggest comfort....but they have outdone me!

Payton's 1st Birthday!

2009-03-09T15:54:00.004-08:00

I'm a little late on this post, almost a week! Payton celebrated her 1st birthday last Tuesday, March 3rd. We had a birthday party for her the Friday before. Our close friend, Becca, has the same birthday as Payton (but she turned 28!), so we had a joint party. Becca was a good sport for playing Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Donkey and having cupcakes! :) Payton checking out a new dress from Marta and the boys.
"Aunt" Becca and Payton celebrating their birthdays together!
Yummy cake! She loved it!
Oops, was anybody watching her? Notice the flame still going? She couldn't wait to dig in.
The party crew: Xavier, Faith, Diego, Aunt Becca and Preston....I think Payton was too busy trying to walk somewhere!

What a difference a year makes! I had a wonderful, enjoyable pregnancy with Payton. A not so wonderful delivery (it was super fast but I felt EVERYTHING!). A rough beginning with a baby girl who wanted to be constantly held. And then, things started smoothing out. We started understanding each other and settling in to our new lives as a family of four.

What a wonderful year it has been! Payton is a sweet, sweet baby girl. She is very sensitive (not sure where she gets that from) and very oppionated! She has an attitude...she'll throw her head on the floor when she doesn't get her way. She smiles and laughs alot, sleeps great, and LOVES her brother and dog, Maverick!

She has brought so much added joy to our family! We love you so much Payton!

Be sure to check out the other new posts below! I was busy catching up today! :)

I'm Famous!

2009-03-09T15:36:00.003-08:00

I was on the Channel 11 news at 10 pm last weekend! I'm famous! How did that happen? Well, long story short. I'm taking a professional development class throughout this year and the head of this organization had to come into my classroom to make sure I was using the materials. After observing, she asked if the CH 11 News could come in and do a report....appearantly they had called her and said they were looking for a classroom teaching democracy. We were teaching the Preamble to the Constitution so I guess that's what they were looking for.

Here is the link to the newscast. I was having a HORRIBLE HAIR DAY and don't think I did well at all, but oh well. I guess I won't be waiting by the phone for Hollywood to call anytime soon! :)

http://www.ktva.com/video?bcpid=1641243975&bclid=1632695727&bctid=15044589001

Fur Rondy

2009-03-09T15:13:00.003-08:00

Each year at the end of February, first of March, Anchorage hosts the Fur Rondy events. Basically, it's lots of crazy things happening all around town for a couple of weeks to make the winter pass by more quickly! THere's a big parade down town, running with the Reindeer (seriously!) Frostbite Footrace (5K downtown), a carnival, snow sculptures, and lots of other little events. Most importantly though, it marks the start of the Iditarod!

We try to participate in some Fur Rondy activities every year. This year, we took the kids to the carnival and to see the snow sculptures. Preston and I also did the Frostbite Footrace with the other 5th grade teachers and some of our students. Here are a few highlights!

Chuga, chuga choo-choo. Darron actually had fun on this little train. It only went in a rectangle but it went fast and looked like it was going to come off the tracks with every corner!
Of course we had to play a game! Yep, only in Alaska can you go to a carnival where you have to wear your snow gear or you'll freeze!! Actually, we still froze....

Can't you tell she was having a blast watching her brother play games and ride the rides?

Preston and Mommy and the finish line of the Frostbite Footrace!

Preston worked hard to complete this 5K race! All he cared about was the hot chocolate at the finish line! :)

Who Do the Courts Protect Anyways?

2009-03-03T19:48:00.003-09:00

Yesterday was a very stressful, enlightening day for me. I was asked to appear in Federal Court to give a statement against a guy who shot at us....well, sorta. It all started almost a year ago.

My girlfriends and I meet each Tuesday night for a time of Bible Study and prayer. However, the week of April 10, 2008 we decided to meet on a Thursday night because of scheduling conflicts. Boy, was that a mistake! As we were studying about spiritual warfare and how Satan works to keep us away from growing closer to the Lord, we heard what sounded like a gun shot. We kinda paused and looked at each other as we heard it again. Just as we were trying to figure out if that actually was gun shots, fireworks, or a car back-firing, we heard two more shots. The last shot hit the house we were at (owned by two of my single girlfriends). It was super loud and the house shook! Obviously, we all ducked to the floor in terror, not sure of what was going on. I had Payton, barely a month old, in my arms and my girlfriend had her 6 month old in her arms. After laying on the floor and calling 911, Marta and I decided to run upstairs with the crying babies so we weren't by any windows or exterior walls. A couple of minutes later, the police showed up down the street, blocked the street, and hot shotguns pulled on a house. They arrested a guy and then came to get our statements. They informed us the bullet went through the exterior wall upstairs. As we went to look, the bullet had come all the way through the wall and lodged in a mattress that was laying on the floor. If the bullet had been about 6 ft lower it would have definatley hit one of us girls. It was truely a terrifying night.

Well, we hadn't heard anything else of this case until last week. Turns out, the guy was already a felon (had three previous records of being in possesion of a weapon or misconduct with a weapon) and was found guilty in Dec. of being a felon in possession of a weapon. The Federal Proesecuting Attorneys asked us if we would come in a give a statement at his sentencing of how this experience was terrifying and how it has affected us. They were hoping our statements would help convice the judge to give him the maximum time allotted for this crime.

So, we met with the attorney and ATF Investigator yesterday, and then went to court in the afternoon. We found out during our meeting that this guy has some mental health issues and is very paranoid. Appearantly he's into the "gangsta wrap scene" and he was shooting at a car driving past his house. He said they were reaching for a gun so he shot at them and it accidentaly hit our house...bad aim I guess! The court experience itself was very intimidating because his wife, sister, mom and dad were all sitting just down the row from us! And let me tell you, he was a scrawny white guy, but I know his black wife could take me without even trying!

We each gave our statements and an hour later, the judge pretty much let the guy have it for being so stupid. He acknowledged that he needed help for his mental health issues, but he found him competent enough to make the choice to NOT be around firearams and to not shoot at people...he explained that's what the police are for! :)

Here's the kicker for me. The guy received the maximum penalty...41 months (3 1/2 years) in a federal prison (they don't allow parole in fed. prisons) followed by 3 years of supervised parole. What the heck? 3 1/2 years is the MAXIMUM for someone who has THREE previous records and now this?? When the police searched his house, they found the gun his used, plus a stolen shotgun and an "oozie" behind the washing machine. He was charged with only being in "possession" of the gun he shot with because of lack of evidence to prove he was in "possession" of the other two guns. Hello.....does anyone else find that disheartening?? The other guns were at HIS house, being hidden behind a washing machine, and he KNEW they were there....yet they can't call that being in possession? Oh my goodness! If he had been found in possession of the other two guns, the MINIMUM prison sentence would have STARTED at 92 months....does anyone else see a problem with this?

I have lost some faith in our judicial system. How many times should a person be allowed to misuse a weapon before they are locked up for more than 3 1/2 years? He (and the community) have been lucky in the past....how many more "lucky" situations do there need to be?

I am just so thankful the Lord was protecting my friends, my daughter, and myself when he decided to be so wreckless and stupid! I hope it's a long 3 1/2 years for him!

Silly Pictures

2009-02-23T19:30:00.003-09:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was hoping to upload a short video of Payton learning to walk. But the video is in HD and too big to upload. So, you'll just have to take my word for it that she is walking....or at least starting to try! :) And if you have any tricks on uploading videos (April) then please fill me in! :)

I was looking through pictures on the computer tonight to find some to print. Here are a few silly ones that made me smile.

This is about the best picture I have of Payton lately. When she sees the camera, she normally attacks it before I can get a picture! My big girl will be one next week....where has the time gone?!

Preston found this sheep sleep mask that came with a blanket my mom gave me from Bath and Body Works. I've never used the mask, but he has put it to good use! I don't think he has ever actually slept with it on, but he sometimes puts it on the top of his head at bedtime. Hey, whatever works, right? :)

My two monsters wrestling together. Payton doesn't look overly happy, but she was actually laughing. They love wrestling together...at least for a couple of minutes at a time. I keep telling Pres to be careful because one day she will be throwing him to the ground!

This was from our trip to Texas in January. My mom busted out the sewing machine to patch a few things (including some pants for me since I have no clue how to sew). I peeked in to see what these two were up to, and this is what I found. Notice the glasses from the 70's my mom is sporting and I think Preston has on a pair of my dad's reading glasses he had found.

Just so you believe we actually DO have moose here in Alaska. I took this about a month or so ago outside our front window. The poor moose have a hard time finding enough food during the winter and head for our trees and bushes. I always love watching them.

My two "fix it" guys. These are actually safety glasses that came with Preston's nerf gun game that didn't go over so well (see a previous post about Christmas). But he likes to wear them when he "helps" daddy. This pictures was taken while "they" were installing our new tile kitchen floor. Preston had to make sure daddy had his safety goggles on! :)

I truely believe God blesses us with children and uses them to bring smiles to our faces and joy to our hearts....most of the time anyways! :)

Payton

2009-02-19T22:51:00.002-09:00

Well, my sweet little "Peiwei" (that's her nickname....after the restaurant!) is starting to walk. She is so cute and so proud of herself! The last couple of weeks she has been standing a ton and trying to take a step or two. She is getting good at balancing too. A few days ago she started taking 3 or 4 steps from Darron to me and back. But the last couple of days she is intentionally walking! She will stand up and walk towards something that she wants. She can usually make 5-10 very slow, methodical steps before falling. Sometimes she gets back up, other times she just crawls. But it is cute! She claps for herself too! :) Adorable.

I tried to post a video tonight of her walking, but the video is in HD and it took to long to load. If finally timed out or something. I'll try to post it again tomorrow, along with some cute pictures, so check back!

My Sweet Boy

2009-02-06T20:20:00.002-09:00

So, Preston told me today that I am his "favorite mommy in the whole world!" Here's how the conversation went:

Me: Hey Pres, you get a surprise tonight, do you want to know what it is?

Preston: (Deep breath in) REALLY? No, I don't wanna know. (5 sec later) Okay, tell me, I wanna know!

Me: Well, daddy is going to take you to our church tonight. There's a new Veggies Tales movie that you get to watch and you're friends will be there and you'll get to eat hot dogs and chips and popcorn! What do you think?

Preston: (In a VERY excited voice) Yeah, that will be SO fun! (Runs and jumps on me as I'm laying in the floor...bear hugs me and says....) You're my most favorite mommy in the whole world!

Man, I'm so glad my sweet little boy is so easy to please. And I'm glad our church had a free movie and hot dog night so I could be declared Preston's favorite mommy. Oh, the small joys in life! :) Don't you just love being a mom?? What a life changing blessing....

Trip to Texas

2009-02-04T13:49:00.007-09:00

Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted. I've kind of been in a funk lately. I've wanted to get stuff done, but I've been tired and not motivated to do much. Then of course all of my favorite shows are on during the week and they all have to be two hour episodes. So once the kids are in bed....I've been vegging.

Anyways, if you are on Facebook, you may have already seen some of these. Thought I'd post a few of my favorites from our trip home. We've been home just over a week and Preston and I are already wanting to go back! He talks about Maggie and Peepaw daily and still talks about the "fair" (aka Stock Show) and fishing at Peepaw's. It was a wonderful trip and the end of May won't be here soon enough!

Darron and I woke up early with Preston our last Saturday in town. We decided he was finally old enough and ready for the introduction of Krispy Kream Doughnuts. He was amazed as he watched them make the doughnuts. After 1 1/2, we had to stop him because we knew the tummy ache would soon be following. It was a wonderful morning! :)

We were able to enjoy a nice dinner at a GREAT Mexican Food Restaurant with my long time friend Kelli and her family. It was SOOO good to eat together and get caught up. I miss her so much. Her little girl Maya took great care of Preston. I think he developed a little crush! We ate outside on the patio and dinner would have been perfect if it hadn't been for that cold front that decided to literally blow in during dinner! :) Thanks for making us feel at home guys!

It was in the high 70's one afternoon so Darron and I got Chick-Fil-A and took the kids to the park. We had such a great time together. As you can see, the swings were Payton's favorite. I can't wait until summer time. In Alaska, you can't go to the playground during the winter because of the cold and snow. It Texas, you HAVE to go during the winter, because in the summer it's too hot and you'll burn yourself on the slides and swings! :)

Peepaw, Darron, and Preston fished off the dock everyday. They didn't catch any fish until the last morning when they went to put away the fishing poles. To their surprise, they had a 9 pound catfish waiting for them (thanks to a jug line that had blown under the dock). Preston was so excited about his fish! He thought the funnies part was when the fish started peeing everywhere!

Peepaw and Payton hanging out. See where she gets her looks from?

Preston and Maggie making a cake together. He loves "helping" in the kitchen.

The gang at the Ft. Worth Stock Show. This was at the end of the day when we were ready to leave. We had a great time seeing all of the animals and walking around. Preston and Payton loved it. They both sacked out as soon as we were in the car.

Preston has been wanting Cowboy boots for several months (I think he saw another little boy wearing them at church one day...yes, even in Alaska). When we decided to go the the Stock Show, we knew it was time for Preston's first pair of boots and hat. Maggie and Peepaw bought him his boots and hat and he fell in love with them. The hat hasn't gotten worn much since we've been back in Alaska, but the boots are a favorite! Thanks Maggie and Peepaw!

By the way, I saved these pictures from my Facebook account and then uploaded them on here. Is that why they're so small? Hmmm....guess I won't do that again.

Family Pictures

2009-01-19T13:13:00.003-09:00

Here are a few of my favorite pictures that we had taken in December. To see all of the pictures, check out my facebook page!

Notice the fingers in Payton's mouth? It's her first two fingers on her left hand....they are rarely NOT in her mouth unless she's playing or talking!

I can't believe how big and grown up Preston is! These past three years have flown by!

I love this picture! The real reason Payton is crying is because the camera lady pulled her fingers out of her mouth! I kept telling her just to leave them! This is what happens when the fingers are disturbed! :)

As I hung this picture on our entry way wall, I found myself thinking, "Wow! Can I really be grown up enough to be married with two beautiful children?" I can't believe how fast the past 8 years have gone by and how blessed my life has been through the addition of a wonderful husband and fantastic children! I only hope the next 8 years aren't so fast.....but I"m holding on because I know they will be!

Andy Update

2009-01-15T22:13:00.002-09:00

Well, great news. Andy was released from the hospital yesterday! I was able to speak with Amy for a few minutes on her way to the hospital. She retold me the stories from surgery day, and I was pretty accurate for the most part. Here's the skinny:

Although they had complications with his leg (see blog below), everything else turned out fine (including the leg stuff). I guess the doctor reporting to Amy that he may not have pain relief and things didn't go well was just a resident and didn't know exactly what he was saying. The "real" doctor said things turned out great and he should be able to live a pretty normal life!

They were not able to replace the discs they were hoping for, but the did fuse several discs together. Amy said he should gain about an inch in height! :)

Andy was excited to go home and said he was already feeling relief in his back! Praise the Lord!! He stomach was pretty painful, but I guess that's what you excpect when they cut through muscle and take your inards out! Yuck!

So, THANK YOU for all of you praying for him and his family. Keep the prayers comin' during the long recovery time. I know it will be hard on him to not hold his children and hard on Amy and the kids to not have daddy up and going. A small price to pay for a "normal" life again!

****On another note, I have not had school the last two days!! This weather is CRAZY right now. For over two weeks we had temperatures in the negatives....like -15 and more! It was SOOOOO cold. THen, all of a sudden, God must have heard us praying for warmer weather an He delivered! In about a two day period, the temperatures have warmed up to the upper 30's and lower 40's. THis makes for freezing rain, melting snow, and refreezing streets at night time. Needless to say, school has been closed because of ICY ROADS (and extrememly high winds). THis is just crazy to me! I mean, come on...I DO live in Alaska! We've NEVER had schools closed for icy roads in the 8 years I've lived here and only had them closed for snow a couple of times! I'm certainly not complaining though...I've definately enjoyed my time off!

And now, I'm headed out on a red eye flight with the family to go to the great state of Texas to visit mom and dad for a week. We are so excited. More to come later....

My Big Bro

2009-01-13T20:44:00.002-09:00

Most of you know my big bro Andy. He's 32, a husband and a dad of three. He's WAY to young to be having serious back problems. He's been in a considerable amount of pain for the last two years (maybe more...I can't remember). The doctor told him he has the worst back he's ever seen in someone his age. They think part of it is genetics, but they are attributing part of his problems to flying on a Hovercraft in the Navy for a number of years.

Andy had surgery on his back yesterday, Monday. He was SUPER excited about the surgery because the doctors were optomistic it would bring relief to him. What was suppose to be a 4-6 hour surgery ended up being over 9 hours. They went in through is stomach (yuck!) to get to his spinal column. They were planning on fusing some discs and placing titanium rods in his back. However, his discs were in worse shape than the doctors had anticipated. They were not able to fuse the discs, or replace them. I'm not exactly sure what they did (I'm getting all the info from my mom and haven't talked with Amy or Andy directly yet). During surgery, Andy lost all feeling in his left leg. At one point, the doctors weren't sure if he would regain feeling. By the end of surgery, it appeared that he had regained this feeling, but the doctors weren't feeling near as optomistic about his outcome. What they hoped would bring wonderful relief of pain, they were now saying might bring SOME relief.

The bible says "His mercies are new every morning" and that's what I've seen happening today. Andy has regained feeling in his leg (although I guess it's pretty painful) and they've had him up and walking a couple of steps today. They took an x-ray this morning and the doctors were happy with what they saw. They are sounding more positive and are hopeful about the outcome, although I'm still not sure to what extent he will feel relief. The downside is, what they were hoping would be about a 3 month FULL recovery time is now looking more like a 6 month full recovery time.

Will you join me in praying for my brother and his family? Here are a few specifics to be bringing before the throne of the Lord:
- no infection in the surgery site
- pain relief both temporarily as he's healing and long-term
- strength, hope, and endurance during this long road of recovery
- a refreshed and renewed relationship with the Lord....this is often hard to do during stressful, painful times
- a positive outlook
- a fast recovery than the doctors predict
- endurance for his wife and family during this recovery time

I know the Lord is the ultimate Healer and I am trusting that he will heal Andy and give him many, many years of pain free fun with his children! Eventhough most of us are so far away, let's encircle him and his family in prayer! "For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord!

A Blast from the Past

2009-01-07T14:53:00.002-09:00

If you would like to see a glimpse of me from the past (inHigh School), click here http://wheathayes.blogspot.com/. A friend decided to post these pics on her blog (thanks Wheaties)! All I can say is I wish I was still that skinny....oh, and I know I have such a sexy stance in the second picture! :)

Enjoy....

Christmas

2008-12-28T22:18:00.004-09:00

We had a great Christmas together as a family...can't you tell by Payton's face? Actually, this was two days after Christmas. She was SO tired from all the going and having fun. She grabbed her blanket (that she is way to attached to), put her fingers in her mouth (it's rare that her fingers are NOT in her mouth) and about feel asleep in the middle of the floor!

This is Payton with her Uncle Scott on Christmas Eve. She LOVES Uncle Scott. He gets to keep her twice a week when I work. They have a great bond and she squels when he leaves the room!

This was pretty much what Payton did all of Christmas while we opened presents. She was really into the stocking stuffers that were on the fire place, and her spilled cherrios...but not so much the presents or paper!

Preston had been asking Santa for a basketball hoop and a telescope since this summer. I guess he's been a good boy this year because Santa delivered! We've been shooting hoops together in his room the past few days! He's getting good at the slam dunk. :)

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve with Darron's family at his parents' house. Payton was already sacked out in bed by the time we opened presents. Grandma and Grandpa got the three youngest (except Payton) an activity tray, coloring books, and a big pack of Nerds candy (thanks Grandma for that one)! The kids had a great time playing together and watching Polar Express. We even let the stay up until almost 11:00! We all had a great time with our gift exchange and playing cards. It was a great night together!

I bought Preston and Darron a Nerf Dart Gun Tag game to play together. It was really cool. It came with two vests that had targets on them, two dart guns, and these safety glasses. While Darron was getting it all out, Preston started putting on his gear. I grabbed a gun and shot at him. Appearantly I'm not the best aim and shot him in the neck. Well, although they are NERF guns, I guess they still hurt. Preston started crying and complaining that it hurt. I thought he was just being whimpy (nothing new here), so I tried to show him it didn't hurt by shooting Darron in the neck. After Darron complained that it hurt and I saw I big red whelp on his neck, I felt pretty bad! Needless to say, the Nerf Dart Tag didn't turn out to be a hit just yet, but as you can see, the glasses are still cool! Oh well, a mom can try! Maybe he'll give it a try in a few months....

On Christmas Eve, Santa came for a surprise visit at Grandma and Granpa's house! Santa (Uncle Scott) was a huge hit! Preston screamed as Santa walked in and ran right up to him! When Santa asked Preston what he wanted for Christmas, Preston answered, "Um, a dolly for Payton!" Ahhh, makes a mom proud! :) Santa gave each of the little kids a gift (there are 5 teenage cousins too). Although you can't tell in the picture, Payton was actually NOT scared by Santa. She sat in his lap just fine and played with a toy and his beard (she was close to pulling off the beard and revealing Uncle Scott). Santa went to put Payton down and we decided to have Preston sit on his lap again for the picture. Payton got mad that she didn't get to crawl around and was picked up again....that's the real reason she's crying!

We've enjoyed the past few days with family and friends. We've tried to keep the "reason for the season" in mind and we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus on Christmas. We hope you too, have had a wonderful Christmas. Now, time to start losing all the Holiday Weight I've put on....

Be sure to check out the new post about Preston's birthday below...

My Big Boy Turned 3!

2008-12-28T21:44:00.004-09:00

My big boy turned 3 on Dec. 21st! I can't believe how fast these past three years have gone. Preston has grown and learned so much. I look back at his baby pictures and barely see the same baby boy any more. He is such a sweet, tendered heart little guy. He wants to please and his is just a good natured little boy. He loves so easily and truly enjoys life. We are so proud of the little boy he is! They say 3 is harder than 2, but so far we feel so blessed by our time with this little guy! This was his special birthday breakfast....scrambled eggs, biscuits, and chocolate gravy (sounds weird, but it's AWESOME)! That was always my special birthday breakfast growing up!

We gave him Cars PJ's that came with a robe that lit up on the pocket. He loved it! Payton gave him a new game (I can't remember which one...he got so many)!

His birthday was on a Sunday, but we had his party at Chuck-E-Cheese on Saturday morning (brave, I know)! I was a little nervous as this was my first "big" birthday party to give him (the previous ones had just been a small gathering at our house). Eight of his friends joined us and we had pizza, cake, and played LOTs of games! It was a perfect party....and we beat the crowd so it was great!

Preston LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Curious George. He requested a Curious George birthday cake this year. Since I am not creative in the least bit, I asked my trusted job-share teaching partner, Valerie, to make the cake this year. As you can see, she's very talented! She did an awesome job and it tasted great! The pudding in the middle was an added bonus with the kids! :)

Poor Valerie had made the cake earlier in the week and woke up early Saturday morning to do the icing. When she went to get the cake, she was surprised to see that it had been demolished (she never said, but I have a feeling her 2 year old son may have had something to do with it). So, she quickly remade the cake, decorated it, and made it to the party only about 15 minutes late! Your the best Val! :)

Preston was very spoiled for his two days of birthday celebrations. Not only did we try to make his day special, he was given many great and thoughtful gifts from friends. And to top it off, my parents (who live in Texas) had a balloon boquet and teddy bear delivered to him! He was so excited and Birthday Bear sleeps with Pres each night now! :)

Happy Anniversary

2008-12-17T23:05:00.002-09:00

Yesterday, Dec. 16th, was mine and Darron's 8 year anniversary! We actually celebrated this past weekend and had a wonderful time. I am so upset with myself though, because I totally forgot my camera! So, I'll just have to tell you about our incredible weekend and leave the pictures up to your imagination!
We are fortunate to live 45 minutes away for a gorgeous hotel/ski slopes. It is pretty expensive though, so we only go about once a year (for our anniversary). Anyways, we left Saturday morning for the Alyeska Hotel and skiied all day (it was SOOOO cold....one of the coldest days of the year of course...about 10 for the high). After skiing all day, we hit the hot tub for awhile to warm up then headed to our room to clean up for dinner. Girdwood is a tiny town with minimal eating choices, but we decided to forgoe the normal restaurant and try a new one that had been recommended to us....BIG MISTAKE! The food was average and the service was terrible. So, we left and went to our tried and true favorite, the Doubly Musky, for dessert. After a chocolatey dessert, we headed back to the hotel. Sleeping in Sunday morning was WONDERFUL and enjoying a nice breakfast that I didn't cook was very enjoyable as well. We were able to get a late check-out so we went back to our room and just layed around watching tv and relaxing before heading back home. It was so nice to get away together and enjoy time as just a married couple with no kids desiring our attention. We love skiing together (eventhough D is MUCH faster than I am) and our ski slopes are amazing. When your at the top of the mountain, you can look down over the inlet and you're surrounded by mountains and water. It is so beautifu...again...sorry I forgot my camera!
In honor of our 8 years together, here is a list of 8 things I LOVE about my hubby (in no particular order):
1) I love that he's a man of God seeking to better himself each day
2) He adores our children and is a hands-on, fun daddy! He is so good to them!
3) I find it so sexy that he can build and fix ANYTHING on his own. Did you know he has added a room onto our house and he's been building a family cabin for the past several years? He's amazing! Friends and family are always coming to him for help with building/fix it projects.
4) He tells me I'm beautiful all of the time...even when I don't feel so beautiful.
5) He is so fun to be around. Darron has the magnetic personality that draws people to him and makes people feel so comfortable. Laughter is the main sound you hear when D is around.
6) He takes care of our family financially and tries to minimalize the stress I feel. He provides for us and wants the best for us.
7) He just gets better and better looking with age!
8) He appreciates me by helping me around the house, cooking (he's better than I am), and noticing all the work I do to keep our house clean and family organized.

I am so thankful for the 8 years we've had together already, and I am so excited to spend my life with him. Thank you Darron for being you, for loving the Lord, and for loving me! I love you!

2008-12-03T14:25:00.007-09:00

Finally....I can upload pictures again! Wahoo! I love this picture. Preston had put his "special" game on the chair so Payton couldn't get to it. She climbed up the step and pulled herself up to his level and started playing with him. He was happy though and let her join in. :)
We got about 12 inches of snow over the weekend. It was beautiful. I LOVE snow (just not the cold). Preston likes to help daddy clear off the driveway, because in his words "it's a lot of work for daddy and he needs help." So, while Darron snow blows the drive, Pres likes to shovel. He has always gotten frustrated with the big shovels though "because they don't work right." I found this shovel at Toys'R Us the other day and gave him and early Christmas Present. With a huge surprised face he said, "Ohhhhh, thanks mom!" He loved getting to help with a working shovel! :)
My sister-in-law takes her daughter to the Nutcracker Ballet every year. However, she surprised her husband with a trip and they were out of town. So, I had the honors of taking Brookelynn ( 6 1/2). We got all dressed up, had a nice Italian dinner, and went to the Ballet downtown. It was a great, much needed date night together. This is a picture of us in a downtown park. It is so beautiful with the fresh snow and lights. We had a great night together.
Thanksgiving was at our house this year. Darron cooks the Turkey every year. Doesn't it look yummy? It was! I'm only in this picture because they told me to be....I really had no part in cooking it except clearing a spot in the fridge for it! Notice the Cowboy gear!! Go Cowboys!! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving together with family and friends!
This is a back view of the first picture. I LOVE this picture! They are so cute and sweet together (most of the time)! Notice the bright red boxer briefs Preston is sporting...so cute!
We love Sushi....love it! Some friends from church came over a couple of weeks ago and taught us (actually Darron....I was busy being a mom) how to make Sushi. This was the final product...before we gobbled it! Go Ricky and Darron! It was SOOOO delicious!
My cute little Honey Pot and Tigger at Halloween. Payton was only in her costume long enough for pictures because she couldn't crawl in it. Preston wore his for several weeks leading up to Halloween! And the next several nights after Halloween he kept asking to go Trick-or-Treating because "it's dark outside mom."
The pumpkin Darron and Pres carved together....it came in 2nd place for our Pumpkin Carving Contest at the Halloween Party we threw....
Digging out the seeds together and getting all sticky! It really is a lot of work for a few seeds to roast...but well worth it once a year!

So there ya go....some updated pictures! Thanks for checking in all those who do! I love reading your blogs and keepin' in touch. Be sure to leave a message so I know you stopped by!

What is going on here??

2008-12-01T21:06:00.003-09:00

Okay, so I finally sat down to add pictures and I still can't!! Can anyone help me? I'm trying to add pictures and it lokos like it's working, and then it says it can't find the page or something.....if you want to see pictures of cute kids...I"m gonna need some help here! :)

Argh!!

2008-11-22T21:04:00.002-09:00

Blogger is not my friend lately! If any of who have been wondering where I've been lately...I've been here, but I can't post pictures!! I don't know what is going on. I started to post about a week ago and all of a sudden my computer wacked out and started opening like 100 internt pages. I had to restart and I just quit. Then, I started to past a few nights ago and my internet stopped working suddenly in the middle of that post. So I've been waiting for three days for the cable company to come out. It took the poor guy 1 1/2 hours to find the problem and fix it. But, we're up and running again. I finally got the kids in bed and decided to post tonight, and now it keeps telling me there is an error and it won't upload my pictures! So, argh!! I will try again later...but not tonight! I have some cute pictures of the kids too, so be sure and check back.

In other news, we are doing fine. My sweet little Payton is finally cutting her first tooth (I think two are coming in), so she hasn't been the happiest today. They are breaking the surface now and she's been pretty cranky and not sleeping the best. Poor little girl. She has been learning so much this past week or two. She is finally crawling up on her hands and knees (instead of an army crawl...which she had perfected quite nicely) and she has mastered two steps that get her from one living room to the other. Coming down is a different story (it generally involves a roll of some sort followed by a smile)! She is also starting to pull up on things and trying to walk holding onto our hands. She is into everything now, so Preston is learning to keep his "special" toys picked up (as well as papers and crayons)!

We finally got some more snow today....it snowed most of the day although it was small flakes so not a lot of build up. It was beautiful though. For those of you that think I"m crazy for wanting snow....my thoughts are that if it's going to be freezing cold, it may as well snow...at least it's beautiful that way!

Well, check back soon for the good stuff....

Pictures of the Kids

2008-10-30T21:06:00.003-08:00

Sorry I've been such a bad blogger lately. Not much is going on here...just gearing up for the wonderful holidays! We love this time of year. Every time it snows Preston asks if Santa Clause is coming because he really wants a basketball hoop and a telescope!
Here are a few pictures of the kids. Payton will be 8 months next week. She is getting so big so quick! I love these pictures...especially the one of Preston taunting Payton with his bananna (she almost succeeded at eating it for him)! I'll try and post Halloween pictures soon...Oh, and try not to pay too much attention to Payton's outfit in the first picture...that's definately a stay at home outfit! :)

Peepee Hina

2008-10-12T21:23:00.003-08:00

The content in this blog is slightly "x-rated" and should only be viewed by adults! :)

So, last night the kids were taking a bath together. Suddenly, Preston looks at Payton and declares, "Payton doesn't have a peepee mom!" With his serious face looking at me for an answer, I held back my laughter enough to respond, "Well, she does but she's a girl so her's looks different." He then looked down and himself and back at Payton and said, "No it isn't mom. Payton doesn't have a peepee." So, trying to do what I was taught in my child development classes, I explained that girls have vaginas and boys have a penis (this should make you proud JB)! "Oh, Payton has a hina mom?" After saying "vagina" again for Preston to say correctly, he looked down at himeself, then at Payton and said, "Ohhhhh, Payton as a peepee hina! We are the same mom...we have peepee hinas!"

As he was getting out of the bath tub a few minutes later, he was still talking about their peepee hinas! I sure love being a mom! :)

The First Snowfall

2008-10-06T21:12:00.002-08:00

Well, believe it or not we had our first snowfall yesterday! It's been snowing in the mountains for several weeks now, but it finally moved it's way down to us yesterday afternoon. It was so beautiful. The flakes were huge....probably dime size! We had a cozy fire and watched it snow for a while. Most of it melted pretty fast, leaving only traces of white this morning. But, then it started snowing again this evening. Smaller flakes this time, but it is adding up fast! It is so pretty, and the nice thing is, it's not too cold yet...in the low 30's! Preston was so funny yesterday. I woke him up a little early from his nap so he could see the first snowfall. As he was waking up, I told him it was snowing and in a half cognitive voice he said, "Right now (or white now)....it's snowing white now? That means Santa Claus is coming!" Gotta love kids!
Here's a quick update on the kids...
-Preston is fully potty trained now (except for sleeping). So much so, that I didn't pack any extra clothes for him at church yesterday. Daddy had to drop him off at class because I had to be at church early for Worship Team practice. I think Daddy forgot to remind him to tell his teacher if he needed to potty. Sure enough, he had an accident. You can imagine my embarrasent when I peeked in on him to see him running around Sunday School class with no pants...his bright orange dinasaur underwear really stood out! Praise the Lord (literally) that another mom had an extra pair of pants and let him borrow them!

-Payton is scooting all of the floor like a little army man. She is pulling and pushing herself around, getting up on her knees, but not doing the traditional crawl yet. Preston is quickly learing to keep his things picked up off the floor! Shee pooped out a light brite piece today (from her cousins house)!

-Payton is finally feeling better after having diahrea for a week. I discovered it was because of antibiotics I was on due to mastitis (that's no fun by the way). I'm glad she's feeling better, but now she's used to waking up once or twice a night....and I'm a softy and having a hard time making her cry herself back to sleep now!

That's about it for now. Oh, my washing machine broke so I'm getting a new stackable set next week! And, I had my annual girls weekend with my girlfriends up here last weekend. We went to a little "remote" cabin for the weekend and had a blast. I'll post more about it with pictures soon!

Fall in Alaska...

2008-09-22T21:00:00.006-08:00

I love this time of year in Alaska. It is so beautiful! It is definately "God's country" and is so easy to be reminded of how magnificant God is and His incredible beauty. I took a few pictures today to show the Fall colors and the mountains. These were both taken just down the street from my house. The first picture shows Cook Inlet and the second picture shows the drive into my neigborbood...we're the second street on the left (although you can't really see it in this picture). Notice the snow on the tops of the mountains. This is called "termination dust." As winter creeps in, the snow slowly decends down the mountain and we know that summer is "terminated" and we're about to freeze for several months! We do love the Fall though. The daylight begins to return to normal (until it's almost gone except for a few short hours a day), it's get chilly, and we can start having nightly fires in the fireplace. It's such a cozy time of year!

This is a picture of our home with all the fall leaves! We love it (except it makes it hard to keep the cars and carpets clean with all the birch tree seeds)!

Here is Preston with a "mohawk." It didn't turn out too well, but we were just having fun while cutting his hair!

My beautiful Payton has just started lunging herself forward to get things. She curls her toes and lunges herself across the floor. Between lunging and rolling, she's going places!

Payton likes to "fly" while she's playing!

We can still support the Cowboys even in Alaska! Go Cowboys! :)

By the way, I FINALLY figured out all the Html formatting stuff so I can write above/below my pictures! A little slow, but I got it! And, I don't know how I did this, but if you click on that little "x" by one of the pictures above, it will take you to a huge photo of the picture....it's beautiful!

My Thoughts on Sarah Palin

2008-09-11T22:22:00.005-08:00

If you know me very well, you know that I am NOT a political person. I generally have my head in the clouds and don't know much of what is going on with our government and in the political world. I normally run from political discussions and feel clueless on what is being discussed. It's just not my thing. I'm not proud of that...it kind of makes me feel like less of an American...but it's the truth of who I am. However, I have been trying to slowly get more involved during this election season, and since my girl Sarah Palin is now the Vice President candidate, I've tried to thrust myself into the political world and figure out what's it all about (I'm even listening to talk radio and enjoying it)! Still, I wouldn't normally post about politics, but I've had some of you asking my thoughts and opinions about Palin since I'm an Alaskan....so I thought I'd just get them out there.

I love Sarah Palin. I think she is for the people and she brings a lot of knowledge and experience...yes, experience, to this campaign. Palin has spent the majority of her life (since High School I believe) in Wasilla (or as we call is Wasucka) Alaska. This is a small town about 40 miles from Anchorage. The population is only about 7,000 but it is in the Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) Borough which is made up of about 80,000 people. Wasilla is also the fastest growing area in Alaska. As you've probably heard, she started off getting involved in the PTA, which led to City Council and then eventually Mayor of Wasilla. She was Mayor for two consecutive terms of three years each. She set up many great things in Wasilla, including a 2% sales tax which allowed Wasilla to have their own Police Force. Palin ran for Governor against a Republican encumbant (did I spell that right) and very well know Democrat nominee. She won with a landslide and has one of the highest approval ratings known for a Governor. She is seen around town with her family, at her childrens' school and activities, and at her modest house in her modest neighborhood. I actually met her before she became Governor. She came in to have Lasik eye surgery at the clinic I work at part-time. She was so friendly and no, we didn't botch the surgery, but she likes to wear glasses because they make her look more intellectual (I think that's what I remember her saying at least).

A few things I admire about Palin:
1) She sold the Governors jet as soon as she was in office (on e-bay I heard)
2) She fired the family chef that was being paid with government money
3) She is very involved with her kids and their lives (teenagers make mistakes...her daughter is not pregnant because Palin wasn't around)
4) She loves her baby with downs syndrome
5) She believes in Pro-life
6) She believes in drilling in ANWR to try and become more self-sufficient as a country instead of relying so heavily on foreign help
7) She believes (and has shown) that she does not agree with spending government money frugally (look at numbers 1 and 2)
8) She stands up for what she believes in, even if it "looks bad" in the medias eyes and is not the popular thing to do (the firing of the Public Safety Commissioner Monegan happened because he was unwilling to make changes.....Q: People want to know why you fired your Public Safety Commissioner Monegan. Is it because he stopped you from getting rid of your brother-in-law [in a Cabinet firing]? People want to know if this is an ethical lapse on your part.
A: I'm glad that you're asking because I never tried to fire a former brother-in-law whose been divorced from my sister for quite some time. No, it was the commissioner, that we were seeking more results, more action to fill vacant trooper positions to deal with bootlegging and alcohol abuse problems in our rural villages especially. Just needed some new direction, a lot of new energy in that position. That is why the replacement took place there of the commissioner of public safety. It had nothing to do with an estranged former brother-in-law, a divorce that had happened some years ago.)
9) Palin's life is surrounded by average Americans and therefore, I believe she knows who the people are and what we want.
10) She's a bulldog with lipstick! :)

This post is way to long, but I wanted to share my thoughts. I certainly don't claim to know all the answers, nor do I think Palin is without fault, but I do think she is exciting and I'm proud to be supporting her (McCain is a whole other issue)! :)

I'm eager to hear your thoughts and comments.....start sharing!

A Huge Milestone

2008-09-02T21:17:00.004-08:00

I think we FINALLY did it! I think my "little man" is finally potty-trained....or at least well on his way! I have been trying for several months to get Preston potty-trained. He was excited to sit on his little potty and would sit on it alot when I was in the bathroom. He never seemed to mind "trying," but not much would happen. Every now and then he would have success on the potty, but not often. Then he decided he liked diapers and didn't have much to do with the potty. I tried not to push it, just offer it as a suggestion every few days or weeks. On Sunday, I asked Pres if he wanted to wear a diaper and peepee in it, or a big boy pull-up and use the big potty. He opted for the pull-up. While I didn't have my hopes up, I was secretly praying that maybe this would be the day. And the Lord blessed us! As of Sunday, Preston is using the big potty all the time. He had one accident on Sunday, and had to pee in his pull-up while we were on a walk yesterday. Other than that, he has made it to the big potty every time! He was having breakfast at Village Inn with his aunts this morning and told Aunt "T" he "could feel his peepee coming." She had her son with her, and was feeding Payton at the same time. Not sure what to do, she told Preston that is was okay to just pee in his pull-up. He told her he couldn't! He ended up having to use the pull-up, but I was so proud of him for not wanting too!

Tonight, we had to run some errands. I knew we would be in the car for awhile so I tried to get Preston to wear a pull-up, but he insisted on his boxer briefs that he had been wearing. So I decided to bite the bullet and let him. We were in the car for about an hour and two different times he told me his "peepee is coming." He managed to hold it until I could pull into the back of a parking lot, unbuckle him, and get his pants down. THen he learned what it was like to pee "like a man" outside. He thought it was so funny! I was beyond proud of him for not having any accidents our first time out in big boy underwear!!

He let me take these pictures of him to show off his big boy underwear and him using the big potty. After a few trials, we decided it was easier to set him backwards on the big potty so he can take care of business without making such a mess! So this picture is a little deceiving! :)

I feel like such a proud mommy!! :) Everytime he uses the bathroom, I say, "I am So proud of you Preston!" and his general response is "Thanks mommy! I am SO proud of you too!"

Our New Addition

2008-08-28T21:54:00.004-08:00

Nope, it's not a baby this time! But, it does cost a lot of money, it "eats" alot, and needs lots of "hands on" attention. It's our new Tahoe! To give you some background info, I have been driving a 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee for the past 7 years. While I love my Jeep, it has 162K miles and is falling apart...literally. The windows no longer roll down (drive-thru restaurants have been fun), the radio comes and goes, the speedometer only works sometimes, and my power steering tends to quite working when I'm in parking lots (try turning into a parking spot with a 4 wheel drive vehichle and no power steering)!! So, we've been talking about getting me another car for awhile now, but we were hoping to make it another couple of years. However, I guess my husband changed his mind and didn't tell me!

Darron came home last night and told me he had a surprise for me. He told me he already had all of the financing worked out and he had a Yukon and a Tahoe picked out for me....I just needed to go look and see which one I wanted! I guess with the Employee Pricing and rebates, he decided this was the time to buy. And we did get a good deal...we got a brand new, 2008 Z71 Tahoe for about $11,000 LESS than the original price.

I am so excited. THis is my dream car. It has leather interior, bucket seats in the back, a third row seat, sun roof, power everything, 6 disc CD changer, and other stuff I don't even understand yet! Here are a few pictures of my new "baby". I guess Darron can leave for his hunting trip now without me giving him too hard of a time! :)

Alaska State Fair

2008-08-23T12:35:00.003-08:00

The Alaska State Fair comes to town every August for about one week. It's a HUGE deal. Everyone goes to the fair. Now, growing up in Texas, I know what a fair should look like. We didn't go all that often, but when we went, we would have to spend an entire DAY (or more) just to see it all. And I remember "Big Tex" standing in the middle of the fair grounds talking. While I love the Alaska State Fair, it's just not quite the same. It definately has a small town feel to it. Basically, you could walk through the entire fair grounds while browsing through the shops and be done in a couple of hours. To make it even more small town feeling, the fair grounds are in Palmer, which is about an hour drive from Anchorage in "the Valley". This is an area of spread out homes, lots of land, and farms (yes, we have farms in Alaska). But, we love the fair.

So, yesterday was the fair day for our family. Darron took off work early and we headed out in the early afternoon. We had a great time in the petting zoo, eating all the great fair food, watching the lumber jack show, and riding rides. This was Preston's first year to ride rides and he LOVED it. When he would get off of one ride, he would say "I ready go to the next ride mom!" And he would take off. In fact, he loved the fair so much, he melted when we left and cried most of the way home. I guess that's what no nap and lots of sugar will do to a kid!

Northern Exposure

2008-08-17T23:30:00.002-08:00

Thank you for all of the name suggestions for my blog. I had been thinking about Northern Exposure and North to Alaska....but wasn't quite sure. While I like the suggestion of "Baked Alaska" I just don't feel it's too appropriate considering how WHITE I constantly stay....especially with all the cool, cloudy days we've had all summer. So, I think we'll go with Northern Exposure since I will be "exposing" our family life to you (cheezy or what??)! April...you won! Congrats.....:)

Preston and Payton

2008-08-15T21:45:00.004-08:00

Here are a few of the latest....

Name Change Contest

2008-08-15T15:25:00.002-08:00

So, normally I'll try and post pictures of the kids (because I know that's what you all want to see), but first, I need to get this blog up and looking good. For those of you that know me well, you know that I am so NOT a creative person. So I need help with a name for the blog. "Rizer Family" just doesn't cut it. So, let's hear them.....

And since this is a "contest" there needs to be a prize. The prize will be the internal satisfaction of knowing that you won and I'm using your suggestion!! :) Isn't that enough?? Seriously, did you think money would be involved??

And we're off!

2008-08-15T15:15:00.003-08:00

So, I've been reading friends blogs and thinking about starting my own for quite some time now. Several things have kept me from starting my own blog:
1. Will I have anything to really blog about?
2. Fear of not being funny like Amy B.'s blog?
3. Do I really have the time to dedicate to blogging?
4. Will anyone want to read my blog?

Well, as you can see, I decided to finally face my fears and just jump in and blog. Here are the answers I came up with to the above questions:
1. My children are the most entertaining and interesting part of my life and most of what I do is because of and for them. So, my of my blogs will probably be about my children and what we are doing.
2. No one can be as funny as Amy B so I won't even try.
3. I guess I'll finally give up watching Days of Our Lives while my kids nap and I'll use that time to blog. It's going to be hard giving it up...seriously....but maybe this will be a good diversion for me as I attempt to let go of the Brady and Horton families....
4. Hopefully some of you will want to read occasionally (come on mom....bookmark this site). But mostly, I'll be blogging as a way to record our day to day happenings. My friend Stacey gave me a great idea....she prints her blogs and makes a journal type scrapbook to pass down to her children. So, that's the main goal of this blog......

With that said....we're off and going! And to all you expert bloggers, I could really use some help on changing my background and font, etc to look "cooler".....