Tyson update...

One quick message from Tyson's mission pres....

Dear Parents & families:
>
>I have been in touch with all of the missionaries today and all are
>fine. They are now involved in clean-up efforts and are enjoying
>being of service. Thank you for your prayers and concern. We have
>been blessed.
>
>With love,
>
>Pres. Allred
>
So my baby is fine.... Joey

Life is precious...

We lost a very dear friend on Friday afternoon to a tragic auto accident. Brent Oborn was one of the very first people that Ed and I met when moving to Tooele. His wife Debbie has been one of my closest friends from that time on. They managed the apartments that we moved into when Ed graduated from BYU, and we have remained very close since. As I sit here in shock and disbelief, my mind keeps thinking how precious life is, and how we just can't take anything for granted...savor every moment... don't let the small mundane things get you down, and rule your life. Enjoy what you have... cause you don't know what tomorrow will bring. My heart is breaking for my sweet, sweet friend who is now wondering how to go on... and my thoughts and prayers are constantly with her, and her 8 beautiful children. I can't begin to comprehend what it would be like to lose a spouse, but I have been thinking about my mom alot the past few days... and how she struggled after losing her sweetheart. One of the things that she talked to me about just days before her passing was how hard parts of her life had been... but that she had agreed to those trials in the pre-existence, and had even been excited to take them on... she said that she had agreed to come to earth to do "the hard stuff"... and she wanted me to know that her battle with cancer was really hard, but that she wasn't complaining, because she knew she could get through it with the Lord's help. She was such an inspiration to me, and I will never forget that conversation we had that day. Debbie... I just want you to know that your Heavenly Father loves you, and knows that you are "doing the hard stuff" right now... and he will help you get through it, cause that was the deal. You do as much as you can, and he will help you with the rest. For the rest of you out there.... don't take one second for granted... live as if you don't have tomorrow... and remember that I love you... Joey

Coming along nicely...

Well, the swelling is almost gone, and the color is deepening...
So this little boy did give me some resistance about the picture today... I said "come on bud... people are waiting for this, don't ya know? (haha)..don't you know you are famous?" He just laughed at me and said the pictures always come out goofy looking... So I told him to stop looking so goofy then....and he says "It's your fault mom... you're just not a very good artist.... What? What is that supposed to mean.... am I not a good photographer, or did I not do a good job in the actual designing and creating of the actual product being photographed??? Hmmmm... something to ponder.... it did make me laugh... and excuse me, but anyone who really knows me knows that I am a FANTASTIC artist! And I have adorable children... what does he know anyway... Joey

Hurricane Ike

So for everyone out there worried about my missionary and hurricane Ike, I am posting this map so you can see where he is (his area is marked with the red A). He should most likely experience extreme winds and rain, but nothing too serious... now check out where Texas City is... right along the eastern side of the coast... that is where he was before his last transfer... please pray for the missionaries in that area. They are part of Tyson's zone... his mission president is keeping the parents informed of all happenings out there, and I am sure those missionaries will be moved for a bit... anyway... just thought I would share, cause we have had many concerned inquiries.... Joey

Day two...

Day two of the eye saga.... so the swelling has gone down quite a bit, but is starting to turn a lovely shade of lavender.... with some nice hues of burgandy on the lid... at least he's smiling today, right? He is totally humoring me on this photo logging thing... thinks I'm crazy...hmm..whatever. No comments on the crazy please... Joey

My poor baby...

What's up with 2 posts in a day, and like 4 in a week? Yeah, I know... weird... but this just happened to my baby boy about an hour ago... Trampoline incident... quite the goose egg... we will have to watch how this thing colors nicely... Joey

Tyson the writer...

So I just have to post a bit from Ty's email a few weeks ago.... He has a gift for writing, which was apparent clear back in elementary school... Mom used to be so proud of anything that he wrote, and would gush on and on about how it is in his genes... his grandpa Linton was a gifted writer as well.... anyway, she used to always tell him that's what he should do when he got older... and he would just kinda shrug his shoulders...
anyway... it looks like he may finally be realizing what we already knew... who out there is dying to read this "Brotherhood of the Cloak" besides me???? Anyway, I know his Grandma Jeri is bragging him up to anyone up there with her who will listen... you know how she was... ;)
and sorry about his typing skills... he is obviously much too busy to proofread...

i dont remember if i told you about this or not, but when iwas with elder griffin i started to write a story.. Elder Griffin lovedstories. I started doing it with my extra time at night and during lunchsometimes. Its called the brotherhood of the cloak. It really wasntanything big... but then elder griffin loved it, i mean, loved it. Hewould always beg me to write more story. Anyway, he loved it. THen hegot transferreed,and the story stopped. I didnt think much about it. Well, about 2 weeks ago i mentioned it to elder cooper and he said hewanted to read it. And guess what.. he loves it too. REally. Not onlythat, he read it all, and now the rest of my district is reading it. I know its hard to imagine me actually writing a book, but it comesreally easy, i just sit and write.. and i dont even like to read books.ha. i know, it doesnt make much sense.. but im using a standard schoolnotbook.. like the one with lined pages..and im on page 168 right now!ha. Again.. i know .. its weird.. but they love it. THey all talk aboutit and even quote it. its pretty funny. so i guess i may have to keepwriting a little more and see what happens. Thats what we did for thelast hour of Pday last week, read the BrotherHood of the Cloak. ha. theweird things that happen in a missionaries life... i love it.

Weekend with the nephews....

So how cute are they? We had Payton, Tate, and Brock for the weekend while Mike and Angie went to Park City for a credit union convention.... (I had to swipe this photo from Angie's blog cause these boys didn't hold still long enough for me to take many pictures....)
Brockie thought it was great fun to sit under the tramp and throw rocks up at Tate while he jumped...


Jordyn and I took Tate and Brock to McDonald's one night while Payton went swimming with Colton and Cameron...

So much energy in two little boys.....

Jordyn is trying to get Brock to go up to the top, but he said it was scary.... scary? I didn't think Brockie was scared of anything.... turns out he changed his mind, and was up at the top within minutes...


TaterBug waiting with great anticipation for me to get his happy meal toy open....







Nightime fun on the tramp....





That's a lot of bubbles for two little boys... they giggled, and they giggled... and then giggled some more.... how cute is that?










Uncle Eddie took the boys up to the reservoir (half a mile up the road from our house at the mouth of Settlement Canyon) to throw rocks in the water... they came home filthy, but very happy... Tate was very impressed by our close proximity to the canyon, and must have told me a million times that I lived in the mountains... this is very, very impressive to a 4 year old....

Sunday we took the boys to church. After sacrament meeting was over Payton asked me if we were going home now... I told him no... he said "We have to go to class?" I said yep, and got a big "Oh man!" outta him.... but he survived the ordeal.... didn't ya Pate?

Anyway....We had a great time, and I think so did Mike and Ange.... Joey

My new toy...

How fun is that? Way..... Joey

Labor Day Fun....

So take a good look at the jet skis..... this was supposed to be our fun Labor Day.... jetskiing at Utah Lake.... but did mother nature agree? Swearword no.... 62 degrees for the high, with rain, no less.... so what did we do instead?

We went bowling.... yep...bowling.

We did have a good time... though we were disappointed....


So.... it was me, Ed, Troy, Josh, Jordyn, Colton, and Cameron. Don't have many pictures to share, because my children would not cooperate... so just pretend that you see a picture of Josh and Colton. And sorry about the blurry Troy... he was also trying to dodge a picture.... I surround myself with trouble makes, I tell ya...

Oh well.... at least WE had fun.... Joey