Preston turns 7!

Mr. Preston is now a big 7 year old. I can't believe it! He is getting so big.

For Preston's birthday this year he wanted to go Ice Skating. So we decided to take the boys on Friday night. But when we got there, the place was so packed. So we talked talked the boys into coming back the next day and we would be the first in line and then we would have longer to skate. So we ended up going to watch Papa and his group sing and a pizza place. Then we took Preston to the mall and let him pick out his own clothes and shoes for his birthday. He thought that was awesome. Then we came home and had cake and ice cream.

Then on Saturday we went Ice Skating. Which I should have taken pictures, but I didn't, but it was pretty darn funny. The boys couldn't stay up on their skates for anything. By the end they got the hang of it. But a lot of time was spent on the their behinds. :)

I also surprised Preston at school on his birthday with balloons and a treat. Mason and I delivered them to his classroom and he thought that was pretty cool. His teacher is in our ward so I talked to her the Sunday before to make sure she was ok with it. So she knew I was coming and let me take pictures.

I think he had a great birthday. No big party this year. But he got to have several fun things, so that was ok with him.

Here are some things that Preston is and loves at 7.

He is in 1st grade and absolutely loves it. He loves his teacher and is learning so much.

He now loves to read and is reading really well. He has improved so much this year.

He does not like waking up in the morning and wants to take 3o minute showers every morning. It's a constant battle.

He loves clothes and shoes. And always wants to be stylish.

He loves to run and is always trying to run faster and faster.

He has the most contageous laugh and smile. When he's smiling and laughing, you can't help yourself, you have to laugh too.

He is getting much better at doing his chores. He is now unloading the dishwasher among other things. And has done really well at keeping his room clean.

He doesn't like red sauce for anything, spaghetti, etc. He does however, love white sauce, aka Alfredo. :)

He does like onions, peppers, which the other boys can't stand. And we can get him to try just about any kind of food at least once.

He loves to jump rope. I mean LOVE LOVES! He can do it forever and just keeps jumping and jumping. Little energizer bunny.

He is most of all the sweetest, and best person to get a hug from.

We love you Preston!!!

Update on Sarah

Just a quick update on my friend Sarah.

Her husband Matt posted this on Facebook today.

Jane Mendenhall was born on Sunday December 22nd at 7:01 pm. She weighed in at 1lb 9oz and was 13 1/2 inches long. She is beautiful girl and we hope and pray she will have a successful stay at the NICU.

I talked to Matt on IM today and he said tomorrow is Jane's big day where she has Heart and Brain Scans. So again, if you have a minute, please add Sarah and Jane to your prayers.

Thanks and Merry Christmas!

Reflections

This week I got a call from the school and they told me that Tyson's reflections project won! He was so excited. That means that it is now on to the region to represent his school.

We are so proud of him. He colored a picture and the theme was Beautiful Is...
As soon as we get it back I will have to take some pictures and post them here. We went to his school on Friday where they had an assembly and recognized all the winners. Tyson got a balloon, a certificate, and a baggy with goodies and also a little gumball machine.

Good Job Tyson!!!

Please Pray for Sarah

Hi Everyone,
Or at least the few of you who still read this blog. :)

I need a huge favor!!!!

I have the most amazing friend Sarah, we met as sophomores in high school when I moved down the street from her. We have been friends ever since. And her husband Matt, who was also my wonderful friend from High School. ( they married eachother, how cute is that )

Well Sarah is in the hospital on bed rest. She is 23 weeks pregnant and is trying to hold that baby girl in. She has VERY difficult pregnancies. She has lost another little girl, when she was born at 22 (i think) weeks. She has two little darlings at home, a darling daughter and and her little boy who was born at 24 weeks, he is happy and healthy. They have really struggled to get their family here.

She needs our prayers. Anything past 24 to 25 weeks is ideal and that is what they are trying for. She's hoping to be in the hospital for Christmas this year, because that means the baby hasn't come yet. She is in good spirits, but needs as many prayers and we can give.

Please if you have a minute today, tomorrow, the next day, next week, keep her and her family in your prayers. They are the most amazing people you will ever meet. Please pass it around to anyone you know.

Thanks!!

Cheryl

Fondue Night

I think I may be back to blogging. I'm not going to hold my breath though. We'll see if it sticks. :) And I'm not going back. Maybe later, but for today, I'm just looking forward.


Well last night we did or annual "Decorate the Tree, Have Chocolate Fondue and watch The Forgotten Carols" night. It was yummy. We actually added cheese fondue to the line up, Tyler made it and it was awesome! That will be happening every year from now on.

We also started a new tradition last night. We usually give our kids their Christmas PJ's on Christmas Eve. But we decided to do it last night. I thought we would have a revolt on our hands, but the boys actually loved the idea and they now get to enjoy their Christmas PJ's all month. Tyler and I even got some. :)

We set up the camera to get a picture of all of us and one of them actually turned out so I think it's going to be our Christmas card this year. Now that would be amazing. It's only the 3rd of Dec and I may just get Christmas cards out this year. Shocker!!!

Enjoy some picture. I actually took some! I'm on a roll!

Starting the decorating

Mason getting it just right

Tyson adding the tinsel

All the boys

The final decorated tree

Starting the chocolate fondue. Yum!

Tyson, definitely excited about the chocolate ;)

Mason dipping ore0s

Everyone enjoying the chocolate. Shoveling may be a better term.

The boys getting ready to open their pj's, sorry no pic of the pj's. Waiting to get the cards out.

Sneak peek of Sophie! We couldn't forget her pj's. Too darn cute.

Our Uncle Leo

I haven't posted in a very long time. But I need to post this.

We are all sad today because my wonderful Uncle Leo passed away yesterday.

I found this article on the local online newspaper site for his area.
http://www.noozhawk.com/local_news/article/113009_lionel_g._leo_trujillo_1933-2009/
It lists all of the amazing things he accomplished during his life.

But for us he was our amazing and wonderful uncle. Even though he lived in California, my boys were Uncle Leo fans.

He was a kind, sweet man who was gentle, soft spoken and generous. I have memories of visiting him and my Aunt Eileen (my dad's sister) in California when we would go on vacation there. He would show us the neighbors dog and how it wasn't scary to walk by the fence. (It was a Doberman Pinscher and we were always scared to walk by) Silly the memories you remember.
He would show us his telescope and we would look out to see Catalina Island from their back yard.

More recently he has sent my boys really cool silver dollars from his collection. With hand written notes to them. Treasures.

The most amazing treasure he sent to Mason. He found out Mason's love for stuffed animals. He was the councilman in Santa Maria California. He raised money for the new library there. And to help raise money he had a bear that he used to help. Library Bear. Well, he sent that bear to Mason. Mason loved it.That will be a treasure that we will always keep.


We will miss you Uncle Leo. We love you.

The D Word

We have one child that is always saying swear words. Preston. He just whips them out into conversation like they are a normal part of our families vocabulary.

Well today Tyler told me this funny story about Mr. P-Dog.

All of the boys were helping Tyler clean up some tools and stuff. Preston started rubbing his neck and this was the conversation that happened.

Preston: oh, my damn neck is killing me.

Tyler looked over at Tyson and his eyes about bugged out of his head. (I don't think Tyson has said a swear word in his life)

Tyler tried not to laugh.

Tyler: oh really, your neck is hurting?

Preston: Yeah, my damn neck is really hurting.

Tyler: Hey Preston, did yo know that is a bad word?

Preston: What is?

Tyler: Damn.

Preston: It is? I had no idea.

Tyler: yeah you probably shouldn't say it anymore.

Preston: Ok.

What a funny kid. I don't know where he gets these things.
I think he must get it from his grandmas. ;)

New Favorite!

I absolutely love the Tayl0r Sw1ft song, L0ve St0ry. I saw this on someone elses blog and had to have it here. It's amazing. It's arranged by J0hn Schmidt.

(it might take a second to load)

Enjoy!

A New Day

My life has taken a new turn. One that was expected in a way, but not entirely unwelcome, but definitely scary.

Last week, the President of my company called and left a voicemail that he needed to talk to me. From the minute I heard his voice, I knew what he was going to talk to me about. He rarely calls. Which is unusual for a boss, but not this one. He's a very passive, let you do what you do, talk once a week in business meeting conference call, otherwise, leave me alone to do my work, kind of boss.

When I called him back he said he had some bad news for me. Since I was already expecting what he was about to say, I handled it pretty well. The company has been going down for quite some time and I was just trying to hold on as long as possible. I've made it through several layoffs and downsizing. But being in my business meetings every week, I could tell that the company wasn't doing so well. He felt really bad, he said it's hard to lay someone off when they are such an asset to the company and they just don't have the money.

I hung up the phone, took a deep breath. Almost a sigh of relief in a way. I went to out to finish helping the kids with their breakfast and kept going. When I had a small break, I went and found the phone and called Tyler. He took it much harder than I did. He immediately went to into the how are we going to survive mode. I've been at a place, where I've been wondering the last 6 months. How am I going to survive much longer doing this. So he was much more upset than me. He said he would finish what he was doing and then he was coming home for the day.

We were supposed to have friends over for dinner, but we decided that we wouldn't be the best hosts that night and we opted for not sharing our gloom with anyone else that night.

I tried to call my mom. She couldn't get a signal on her phone until the next afternoon.

We don't know what or where we are going from here. I do know that, I haven't had headaches since that day. I've been much happier. My house actually got cleaned the other day. I've been able to think a little clearer. I've been able to sleep a little better. Even though I have a new stress, my shoulders don't feel so heavy.

I've also noticed, that you create habits that are hard to break when you work from home for 3 years. I'm a little lost with what to do. I find myself on my computer and then have to remind myself that I can do whatever I want. I got to go run errands with my mom yesterday and I didn't have to stress that I was missing something, or needed to be back for a conference call or make up hours because I was taking time in the day to go somewhere.

We haven't said anything to the kids. They haven't really noticed, since Tysons at school all day, he thinks everything is just the same. I don't want to stress him out.

We are starting a new company, and hopefully I can get it up and running so I don't have to go back full time. But for now, while I am getting paid my severance and vacation pay, I'm enjoying not working.

Even though it is quite stressful trying to figure out what we are going to do. Cutting back every non-essential spending. My days are flying by. My week has flown by. Life is going to hit us pretty soon, and hard, but I'm hopeful that everything will work out. I have a wonderful husband and 3 amazing boys. And family and friends and the Lord. And I know we will be ok. I will be ok. I don't know how yet, but we will survive. And our New Day will hopefully bring us more joy then yesterday. I'm counting on it.

Sophie has a new best friend

Sophie's new best friend is here for 2 weeks while my mom is in New York. Her name is Chloe and she is adorable. They play all day and then cuddle up next to each other and sleep. They share their food and bones and kisses.



(Sophie is really ragged looking. She got spayed last week and she wasn't supposed to have a bath. It is definitely time though)