Through the Years...

 

 This morning I was updating the kids pictures and I took Sydnee's out first and had the pictures across the table just looking at how time has flown by, so I decided to pull all of them out and take a look at my kids through the years. Soooo crazy how life as a parent you don't think time goes that fast, but when you look back it has FLOWN BY!!! I am so glad that I have thoroughly enjoyed ALL STAGES of my kids and I don't have a regret. I'm sad that time is getting to the point that they will start moving out and going to colleges and getting married and that will leave me with an empty nest, but I guess that's the CIRCLE OF LIFE!!!!

 

My Syd is growing up

My baby is getting older and more mature. It freaks me out! This morning I saw her leaving for school and I had to do a double take because she is looking more and more like her older sisters, and she is my baby!!! Now I am thinking, I wish I would've had more kids, cause I am running out of children. I will just continue to enjoy the one's I have and get rid of that stupid thought!!!!

Sunday's as a Family

 Sunday's are my favorite day of the week. I love that we have church and then we spend the WHOLE DAY as a family~Together!!!! About 5:00pm on Sunday evenings we always go for a walk. As we walk the kids bring a football and practice with Trevor. We just love being together.

I was trying to take a picture of me and Bryan and guess who popped in~CAM!!!

 My kids are my everything!!! They are just getting older and older and bigger and bigger!

I always want to remember these times together!!!

Technology...

 I told Bryan that I received a notice from our ASB President from High School about our 25 year class reunion, that they are planning. He asked me where I got the notice and I told him on FACEBOOK. So he wanted to see his FACEBOOK page. Since Bryan doesn't get on the computer very often, he needs help from his children. When he opened his page there were 7 messages, 32 friend requests and 15 notifications. Sydnee just laughed, Oh yah and LOTS of HAPPY BIRTHDAY's which made his day, a month late.  So Sydnee sat down with dad and gave him a class of FACEBOOK 101 and How to use the Cursor 101. It was pretty funny. He refuses that he is getting old, but the glasses give it away and the gray hair.

 He cracks me up. But I will grow old with him ANYDAY!!!

Boys will be Boys!!!

Last night something scary happened with Trevor and his friends. Trevor had asked if he could go and do a bonfire with his friends, but we were on our way to Cambria's dance performance with KALAMITY, so I told him that he needed to support his sister first, and then we will drop him off at his friends house and do the bonfire. Well we get to his friend, Navy's house and there are 2 trucks and a trailer filled with Christmas Trees. Navy comes running to the car, so excited to see Trevor and says, "Tonya, look at all of our trees, we are going to have a huge bonfire." I was a little taken back and concerned about seeing HOW MANY TREES they had. It was going to be huge. I told Bryan, "I don't know about this", Bryan says, "Tonya~boys will be boys, Trevor will be fine." Navy heard him and said, "Tonya~Trevor is going to be fine, my dad and Marshall's dad is fine about this and we will be safe." So we drove off and I told Trevor to be safe and NOT stupid.
Well, Trevor came home about an hour later~a little soon, after a bonfire and tons of trees. I asked him how it was~ and the boy with very little words to say, said, "Good". I could tell something wasn't right, so I continued to ask questions. "Did somebody get hurt?" Then his face said it all, like "HOW DID YOU KNOW?" He said, "Navy burned his face" (So matter-of-factly). Like I was suppose to say, "Oh is that it?" I said, "WHAT?" Trevor starts trying to explain.. "We piled the trees and Navy threw gas on it and lit it and it flashed onto his face and burned his eyes and lips." OH MY GOODNESS, "Where Were you standing?" "Behind him". So then what happened. "Navy stopped, dropped and rolled and then Marshall took him to his house to his parents and Chaz and I stayed with the fire until we could put it out."

So I called Echo and she said that they were taking him to the hospital. He had synged his hair and his face and lips were bad. So when she got to the hospital she let me know that he had inhaled alot of smoke and he had soot in his lungs. They were worried, considering he had asthma. So they put him on IV and cleaned up his face and burns. Trevor was worried, so he and his friend, Chaz went to the hospital to see Navy. When they got there, they were releasing him from the hospital. They went to Navy's house and visited with him for a while. But boy were we glad that it wasn't worse than that. It could've been so much worse. While talking to Echo, she said that she had a dream about Navy getting burned last week. And I said, "And you allowed him to go and do a bonfire?" She said, "Tonya, how was I to know, I can't keep him in a bubble, I just have to trust in my Heavenly Father and my son and pray that he makes wise decisions." SOOO True, very profound statement.

Trevor has been through alot with Navy and that's what continues to strengthen their friendship. Navy is like one of my own kids and I sure love that kid. I am so glad that he is OK and nothing more serious happened.

Integrity!!!!

 The other day, we were talking about Integrity and Cecilee shared with me something that I wanted to make sure to have in my family journal. She said, "Mom, this week I picked up my paycheck from Pizza Factory and went to the bank and put $200.00 in my savings and $48.00 in my checking. So as I left I put my receipts in my purse, cause they make NO sense to me at all, and when I got home I checked my accounts on my phone. I saw that my $200.00 was in my savings and in my checking it said that I had $148.00. I was surprised, so I looked at what was in my account before I asked them to put the $48.00 in and there wasn't anything in there. So I realized that the lady made a mistake and accidentally put an extra $100.00 in my account. I went back to the bank the next day and approached one of the tellers and told her what happened and she was shocked that I came back and so grateful, because she said that the lady was on the verge of loosing her job and was bawling that morning. The lady told her, "don't be surprised if you get a thank you  letter from her in the mail". Cecilee said I didn't do it for a thank you, I did it because it was the right thing to do. It wasn't my money.

I was so proud of her and her decision to do what was right. Who would've know, besides the one that matters, Our Heavenly Father.

INTEGRITY to me means: Doing something that you know is right and standing up for it, especially when NOBODY is watching.  It's what determines your character.

“I will have the moral courage to make my actions consistent with my knowledge of right and wrong” (Young Women Personal Progress, p.54).

The final value in the Personal Progress book is Integrity. The theme for this value is "I will have the moral courage to make my decisions based on my knowledge of what is right and wrong." The scripture is Job 27:5: "Till I die I will not have my integrity removed from me." This is a wonderful value that will help your daughter develop strong and good characters.

I, as Cecilee's mom cannot be any prouder and so happy about her story. She has always been such an honest and strong young woman, but that test was a TEST.

I know how much money means to ANYONE, and especially my girls who work for everything and pay for most everything that they need or want. To be tested with money and to pass with flying colors, I know that Heavenly Father was looking down and wondering how Cecilee was going to handle this test, that he was about to send her way. And I know that he was proud of her, as well as I am. She didn't even say anything about it to me when it happened. It wasn't a big deal to her, but I made it a bigger deal, because to me, it was a big deal.

I love my CEC-So-Sweet!!!!

Happy Birthday Tia!!!!!

 This little lady has been part of my life since I was 16 yrs old. I was so excited when my mom told me that she was having another baby (SURPRISE) , but I thought I could have my own live doll. And that was exactly what she was, MY DOLL and I spoiled her rotten.

 I feel so blessed to have her as my little sister. Heavenly Father knew exactly what he was doing when he waited 7 years to send her to our family. We needed her at that time and still need her.

 She has done amazing things with her life and I am so proud of her. She found her PRINCE CHARMING and ETERNAL COMPANION and has 2 little men who are the light of her life as well as ours. I am so grateful that she shares them with us. She has developed a dance group that dances for THE BIGGER PICTURE-for helping those in need.

 She has the biggest heart that I know and LOVES everyone. She has a testimony of Jesus Christ and lives it to it's fullest. She is such an amazing example to everyone she comes in contact with. She not only teaches DANCE, she teaches LIFE LESSONS to all of these little girls who look up to her. She helps them to be grateful for their talent that they've been blessed with. She helps them to learn to give service, cause "When you are in the service of your fellowbeing, you are ONLY in the service of your GOD!!!" She is amazing and I am glad that she's my SISTER!!!

 Her greatest work is in her own home with her wonderful husband and cute little family.

She's a great mom and wonderful wife who is always looking for ways to make them happy.

 Her favorite thing in life is to be with them, hiking, playing and just being together. I love you Tia and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

 This saying totally exemplifies TIA!!!!!

My Funny Son

I am so sad that I don't have pictures of this incident, Cambria said that she remembered her camera after the suds had gone down, but I want to remember it and have it in my book so I am going to record it.

Tonight I had a stake YW Meeting and reminded Trevor to get his dishes done before I get home. He was working on them when I left and I came home to the dishwasher torn apart. My heart sunk, I thought,"Oh my goodness, now we need a new dishwasher." I asked nicely, why the bottom rack of the dishwasher filled with dishes was on the counter, the silverware rack sitting beside it and the dishwasher wide open? The girls couldn't wait to tell me the story. "Mom, Trevor put the wrong soap in the dishwasher, he put dishsoap and it was like the Brady Bunch with suds everywhere." I just busted up laughing, I wish I could've seen it. Trevor totally didn't expect that reaction from me. The girls said that he almost cried when he saw the mess and his first thought was, "Mom is going to be so mad." Well it took a few runs before the dishwasher was suds free. The dishes in that cycle was soooo clean. We told Trevor it was a good thing that he made that mistake, because now the dishwasher is cleaner than it's ever been. I love funny moments like these, that make us laugh at life.
 Why get made, it's not going  to change the situation, LAUGH AT IT!!!!

2nd half of our New Years Activity

AhQuin Family Traditional New Years Walk

 Every year for the last 30 years, my dad has started a tradition that still continues to this day. Especially for this year, we continued with this tradition because my dad was unable to do the walk with us because of his "LACK OF KNEE" problems. But he will FOR SURE be with us next year, and I'm afraid it may be the full 5 miles. As the generations have added we have not done the full 5 mile walk, it's been changed to a walk to the park and play sports, Soccer & Football, etc. It's exercise, but we are having fun doing it.

 We all gathered at Clay's house and walked to the park and the ladies continued on our walk and the guys stayed with the kids. (It was surprising, there was NO COMPLAINING from the guys to have to watch the kids this time.)

 As we walked to the park, Max and Bryan played football. Kids rode bikes, scooters and wave boards. As long as we are all as a family, that's all that matters.

 Clay helping Major ride the scooter.

 The ladies continuing on our walk.

Irene, Julee, Mom, Sunshine, Me, Janette (Tia was taking the picture)

 3 of my 4 brothers: Joe, Max & Clay watching the kids play at the park.

 The teenage girls: Sydnee, Raya, Kiana, Tayvia & Lisia

 Tia and her cute little guy, Legend

 Major was so determined to learn how to ride this scooter, "ALL BY HIMSELF" he didn't want anyone's help, but when he did, it was Aunty Ton. (I love it)

 Janette and Janessa riding JT's bike

 Everyone walking back to Clay's house for the 2nd part of our activity.

My mom is so strong, even though she struggles so much with her walking and her left side. She is such an example to me of never giving up and always putting one foot, in front of the other and just go and do!!! You can see her concentration in this picture of her walking, especially alone at this time, without my dad. He is usually her crutch to give her strength for her weak side. I love her!!!

 Everyone slowly getting back to Clay's house.

We love this tradition and we have loved watching the kids enjoy it and playing together. My dad has always wanted us to appreciate our health and strength and to appreciate the Pioneers.

Elder JP Neilson

Bryan has coached quite a few boys and have really gotten to be close to a group of young men. This YM in particular has been one of Bryan's favorites. HE coached him as a Freshman and Sophomore and helped coach him as a Junior and Senior. He has been called to serve in Ohio as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Bryan went late to his open house because we didn't know about it. Cecilee came home and said,"Dad, JP's Dad and JP were looking for you at the open house. They kept asking if you were coming, they wanted to thank you." So Bryan hurried and threw on some clothes to run over and give JP a quick hug and wish him well. He is so proud of these young men who chose to put off their worldly activities to serve the Lord. He will be a great missionary.

The hand signal is, "JV for Live" Their JV year they took region & had a blast!!

Ringing In The NEW YEAR!!! 2012

We had a great New Year's Eve. Usually, Bryan and I end up falling asleep at 10:00pm and celebrating with New York in ringing in the new year. This year, I wanted to have fun and play games and try to stay up for the midnight hour. And it worked. I had my two sisters over with their families and we had a blast.

Me and my two sisters goofing off and celebrating, making noise and having fun!!

We got some sparklers for the kids and Irene brought some fireworks.
The kids had so much fun, REALLY it's all about the kids and making memories for them.

Hannemann showing off his sparkler
Major very intrigued by his sparkler

Andy and Tia having a blast, don't let Andy's face tell you different!! hahaha We love him!!

Cambria and Legend playing with the sparklers!

You can't ring in the NEW YEAR without Bubbly Bubbly!!!
EVERYONE had a fancy glass with Apple Cider.

Major absolutely loved his glass and sparkling cider

CHEERS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

We had ALL KINDS OF FOOD!!!! Pizza, OREOS, vegie tray, lasagna, cocoa rice, cookies, etc.

After the celebrating it was time to go ahead and fall asleep.

HAPPY NEW YEARS !!!!!