Hannah's Home!!!

Hannah arrived home on Tuesday evening after serving her mission in Houston, Texas. We are so proud of her and so happy to have her home with us just in time for the holidays! Hannah greeting her happy family. Madison missed her Aunt so much and rushed to steal the first hug.

Most of the gang waiting for Hannah to come down the escalator. We made posters and had balloons and made a huge fuss over Hannah...just the way she likes it!

ANTICIPATION, ANTIC-uh-PA-A-TION!

Hannah getting mauled by all of her adoring fans!! (nieces and nephews)

Hannah greeting Steve while "her fans" look on in admiration.

Uncle Daniel and Paige clowning around in the wheel-chair.

I think this video speaks for itself we were just so excited!

Wha' happened !?!?!?

I woke early this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. I was determined to have a "good day" today since my whole family (myself included) has been very sick all week long and I've been feeling a bit drained. Karley was already up and was sitting down stairs eating her breakfast all by her lonesome. I told her, "Grandpa Rick is going to be having a surgery on Friday what should we do?" She said, "OK, here's what we'll do, we'll fix him breakfast, ooh!, an omelet and we'll bring it to him before he has to go!" I told her that you aren't supposed to eat before a surgery and so she paused a minute before she came up with this doozy... She said, "OOH! OOH! OOH! I know!!! We'll buy him a GUITAR ... an ELECTRIC guitar... so that we can sing him a song!!! Karley was so excited and I could tell she was pretty proud that she came up with that one all by herself. I'm just surprised she didn't want to buy Grandpa Rick a 4-wheeler or a dirt-bike, one of her OTHER favorite things! She is a very thoughtful girl and I tell you if we could afford it ( and if that WOULD somehow be soothing to Grandpa) we would for sure do that! I'm sorry that we won't be sending over a home-made omelet or an electric guitar but we'll be thinking about you and praying for your speedy recovery, Grandpa!
After breakfast we headed over to the park for our weekly play group. It was such a beautiful day today, a bit breezy but it was so wonderful just to be outside in the fresh air! Scott had a great time pushing the dirt around under the playground equipment and the girl's played with Karley's soccer ball. They even wore their "soccer uniforms"( matching little outfits they'd put together) it was a good time. Scott spent the rest of the afternoon sick and I was so sad because I thought we were out of the woods, he had just thrown-up last Thursday and now poor little guy has the runs( and a burnt bummy!)
I had my activity days talent show tonight! I am so glad that's over, I've been dreading it for the last month or so and I'm glad to be done with it! Madison and Karley sang a duet and they both did a great job! I was so proud of them for going through with it!!! They nailed it!! Dustin put Scott to bed at 7:00 and I'm sure the little guy was exhausted since he hadn't gotten a nap all day! I'm going to unwind tonight by watching one of my favorite shows and despite the crazy day it ended up being, it was still a "good day"!!! Good night!!

Nike 5K for kids

Kris and Dustin ran in a charity 5K this weekend to support valley school's physical education programs! They both did an amazing job! Kris brought home 2nd place in her age division and Dustin finished 5th in his. You can check out the official results at http://www.nike5kforkids.com/lasvegas/ Dustin wants you all to know that the Santa Run is coming up in December for anyone who'd like to participate.

Farewell!!

sweet embrace... Mark and Victoria


Mark, Victoria, and Madeline


Mark's company

Mark and Madeline

The Gang
Mark and Mom

Brother's don't shake hands, Brother's gotta HUG
Proud Parents!!

Here are some picture that we took at the Henderson armory on Saturday. We went to a family ceremony they held for Mark's company and their families.

My Markie, My HERO!

I wanted to post a small tribute to my brother, Mark, who will be leaving for Iraq in just a few short days. I think sometimes it's easier to try and forget that our country is fighting a war because it makes living day to day so much easier. Most of the time I just go throughout life trying to forget about the troublesome times we live in. I'm guilty of giving little thought to the soldiers as individuals who put their lives on the line to defend THIS GREAT COUNTRY. I cannot express how grateful I am that there are souls out there brave enough, who are so dedicated that they would leave the ones they hold dear for such a cause. It is incredible to me that someone would sacrifice so much so that we can enjoy the freedoms that we cherish.

My brother is MY hero. I am so very thankful for him and his sweet little family in my life. I want to list just a few things that I love about Markie...

He is brave, He is dedicated, He is a hard worker, He is kind, He is generous, He is patriotic, He is loving, He is hilarious, He is forgiving, He is fun to be with, He is a good husband and a good father, He sacrifices, He gives much and asks little in return, He is a fabulous cook, He is a fun uncle, He is extremely intelligent, He is angelic, He loves his family and everyone who is a part of it, He honors his priesthood, He is a great example, He is committed, He is charitable, He is honest, He is always there for any one who needs him, He would give you the shirt off of his back, He LOVES his country, He is humble, He is helpful, He is MY little BROTHER and I'm very blessed to be a part of his life!!!

Markie, while you are away I promise to watch over "your girls" and look out for them and I pray that Heavenly Father will watch over you and bring you back to us safely and without harm. I love you so much and I just want you to know that I look up to you and I'm so proud of you. Stay safe, stay happy, and know that you'll be in our thoughts and prayers...ALWAYS! Love you!

Scotty riding The HUFF and PUFF at Knott's

The kiddies were so adorable on the huff and puff. Scott had to get pushed along but I think he had a good time. I showed him how to do it but he chose to just go along for the ride!

Check out my Slide Show!

A little ahead of schedule

Look at this devilish grin. Oh and I love the drool!!

I love this picture but OOPS it's sideways.

Scott loves to read books when he's not climbing out of his crib.

He loves a good book. Scott looks at it for a couple seconds and then he usually chews it ,slobbers it up, and then bends the pages, it's great.

Today while I was checking e-mails I heard a loud crash followed by a very scary scream coming from Scott's room. Before I left my chair I knew exactly what had happened. My predictions were right. Scott had fallen out of his crib and landed on a metal trash can that was near his crib, totally denting it in. When I threw open the door I first looked into his crib and noticed he wasn't in it but I couldn't see Scott because he was on the other side of the crib crying with a look of shock on his face. I felt so bad for him cause I could tell he was really scared and probably hurt (who put that stupid trash can there!?!!!), so hopefully he won't try that again. I know Madison never gave me such grief and I can't remember if Paige ever did this but I know Karley used to climb out of her crib all the time at 18 months which is a little too soon for that type of monkey business if you ask me! I was hoping to not have to deal with this yet but since we're rapidly approaching that 18 month mark here we are. Since he can also open any door in this house I'm thinking nap time as we know it may be a thing of the past! I guess we'll just have to wait and see when I put him down for his next nap. Keep your fingers crossed, I NEED nap time!!!!

OOPS....

OK I really jacked up the blog somehow. I have no idea what happened so I might need one of you expert bloggers to help me fix my settings! I had no idea that I couldn't even recieve comments until my Bro., Andy, called to tell me. Thanks for looking out for me! I hope no one thinks I was trying to shut them out. Please don't give up on me!!!!! I'm gonna try to fix this so i hope I don't make anything worse!

and on to the next HOLIDAY...

I always love this time of year. The weather is beautiful and I get to celebrate my favorite holiday...you guessed it, Halloween! For some reason after the ward trunk-or-treat and the school carnival I just wasn't feeling it on the actual holiday. The kids got dressed up for both prior occasions and I was just ready to move on.

I go to the park with some friends every Wednesday and we were invited to have dinner with a family in our ward. She made chili, the really good kind that's chunky with lots of junk in it.YUMMY! We ate and then took the kids around in the neighborhood, visited with friends, and ended up having a really good time! The kids made out like bandits which they are very happy about. After we were done we headed over to some friends for a quick visit and then it was on to Grandma's house. Kris just loves to sit on her porch and pass out candy, it's so cute and this year her street was just hoppin'! We stayed for a bit while the girl's helped Gram pass out more candy to all the adorable trick-or-treaters! Our friend Miriam Gubler happened to come by with her cute family, including her husband, Russell, and their 5 children. She wanted me to tell Kourtney Hi! for her. So HI!!! KOURT, from Miriam. It was so much fun to see everyone all dressed up! We ended up having a really great Halloween... but I'm still ready to move on:)