New camera!!

So I guess you would expect to see some pictures on this post right?? Me too!! Unfortunately my new camera is not working with my 6 year old computer. Strange I know. I have taken my computer to a guy to have it looked at. I have high hopes that when It comes home it will run like a champ and that I will be back in the game of Blogging. Craig got me a Nikon p100. It is a lot like my old Sony but it has more pixels and more zoom. 26x zoom will be a lot of fun to play with. I struggled with what camera to get so I am glad Craig made the decision in the end. I still dream of my camera coming home to me but until then I have an awesome new camera!! Thanks Craig for making my Christmas morning wonderful!! Not that it would have been less wonderful with a less expensive gift. =) I will post some pictures when I get everything up and running.

13 Years Ago

Most of you that read this Blog know that 13 years ago today was the day our son Blake left to serve his mission. I have listened to some dear friends of mine talk of their sons leaving on their missions in this life and also watched my nephew Nathan leave for his in Peru. It makes me sad and happy at the same time. My son's mission is a little longer than theirs will be but I know it's where he is suppose to be. It's how his life was suppose to go. I see kids that are turning 14 now and I wonder what he might look like or what kind of person he would be. Who would he be friends with? What kinds of movies or music would he love? Would he and Alexys fight all the time or be the best of friends. Probably both. =)

Losing Blake is one of the hardest things we have ever gone through. We are blessed to have had Alexys in our lives through it all. She most definitely saved us from ourselves. Katie coming into our lives has also been a huge blessing. What wonderful kids I have been blessed with. I wanted to share some pictures of my boy with you today so you could see how beautiful he is. I know he is a grown and busy man on the other side but this is the boy I remember and love.

I know we will see him again. I know that God loves us all and that every trial we go through in this life is made to make us stronger if we choose to let it not break us down. I send my heart and prayers out to any this Christmas that are remembering a loved one they have lost. I know it hurts but don't ever stop remembering the ones that are still here. We are so lucky to have the restored Gospel and a Prophet on the earth today to guide and direct us. It's easy to get caught up in our sorrows and forget just how blessed we are as a nation and as a community. I love where I live and love to be so close to those that believe the same things I do. I love my three kids!! They are all as good as kids can get. My husband is a wonderful hard working man that has a big heart. Sometimes we lose perspective on things but we always come back to the reality of what we have and share. I love him more than I could ever express. I have wonderful parents and siblings. They are an example to me every day. We are always there for each other and what a comfort that is to know they are there to listen or to lend a hand when we need them the most. I have been truly blessed in my life and I thank my Father in Heaven for that every day. I hope you all are as blessed as me. I know if you stop and think about it you will find that you are.

Merry Christmas!!

Alexys age 2 Blake age 10 months.

My Angels!!

These pictures were taken 3 weeks before Blake passed away.
They had been sent out in our Christmas cards.


Blake with Santa the night before he died. We were at our Ward Christmas party.

Blake age 8 months old. These pumpkins were quite small. Only about 8 inches high. What a sweet smile he has.

Love him!!


My Angels here on earth!!

Alexys age 15 Katie age 8 and me!!

Me and my Sweetheart!

My Family!! With one only in spirit. =)

We love and miss you every day Blake!!

Merry Christmas!

Click on image to enlarge!

Home for Christmas

Turn on your speakers to hear the music.

I heard this song last night on the Country Music Christmas show. I was very moved by it. The images of the soldiers celebrating in war zones and without their families. The images of the families at home waiting for them to return. I love this country and all we represent. What a blessing it is to live here. I hope this Christmas we can all take a minute to remember how and why we are so blessed.

I love my Family and know that we are so lucky to live the life we live.

What a wonderful season to have a chance to look more closely at what really matters.

Have a wonderful Holiday season.

Merry Christmas!!

New family Pictures

We had Jennifer (Nichols) Cook do some family pics for us. I won a contest and so it was fun to have someone else try to get Katie to smile right. It was not easy! Anyway here are some of them. Let me know what you think. =)

This one is a little different but I wanted to try it.

Give me your honest opinion.=)

Hope you are having a great Fall Season!!

Can you believe Thanksgiving is only 3 weeks away?? WOW!! Crazy.........

7 Days in Park City

We just spent 7 days in Park City. It rained most of the time but was still beautiful. Maybe more so because of it. We did a lot of swimming and shopping.=) Once we came back to our room and a man in the hall commented on how much fun we were having while shopping because we had so many bags in our hands. We did get a lot of Christmas shopping done.

Well here are a lot of pictures. Enjoy!!

This is the first thing Alexys saw when we got to the resort.

She slept the last half our of our ride.

We stayed at the Marriott Mountainside. It is a great place right on the ski slopes. If you get a chance to ever stay there do it.

In our room.
Katie is always playing football by herself but this time she used her little weeble toys as a line up. Funny girl! =)

A mine car on display. Katie thought it was cool.

This is Main street Park City.

Such a cool looking town with all it's old architecture.

And right on the mountain side so it also feels a lot like a mini San Fransisco.

There must have been some sort of Porche show or just a gathering of owners because we saw these things everywhere. All of them looked like they were from the 50 or 60's. I thought they were pretty cool. Does anyone know what their years are?

This one was the first one we saw and it was also my favorite.

The people driving it were laughing as we passed by and I was taking their picture.

My new moose friend. I thought his smile was funny.

Alexys and her new friend.

And Katie having a conversation with her new friend.

This is a view of some of the pools at the condo. They are heated year round. They had waterfalls that connected most of them. It was a pretty place.

Night swimming.

Rainy day swimming!

Here are the pictures of our train ride through Provo Canyon.

This is when we had just taken off from the train station.

This is just before we took off. She was waiting very patiently.

This is when we started to move. She laughed pretty hard.

Alexys laughing for I don't know what reason.

Me taking my own picture so I could prove I really exist.=)


Alexys and my Mom. Grandma Housley.

My parents are the ones that took us on this great vacation.

Thanks Mom and Dad!!!!!!!

Alexys and my Dad.

Relaxing up the canyon. The ride lasted 3 hours. So we had a lot of time to just kick back.

We realized about 45 minutes into the ride that our windows opened so we were hanging our heads out the window.

Provo Canyon fall colors. I wish I had my nice camera back.

These picture don't do the colors justice.

Cool train.

Well this is the end of the tracks I guess. Thanks for stopping by to see a week in our life.

Have a great week yourself!!

Park City

These are pictures of places I have not been to but would love to go to in the fall some day. Vermont or anywhere back East. They are just breath taking.=)

We are getting to stay in Park City this week with my Mom and Dad.

Craig had to stay home. =( I wish he could have come with us but I guess someone has to be responsible. =) Anyway we are staying in a great condo and are just relaxing right now. If you have any ideas on fun inexpensive things to do up this way leave me a comment about it. We will be here all week. I hope you are all finding fun things to do for Spud Harvest. I'm sorry if you don't get to play for Harvest or if you just don't get one. Because they ROCK!! Have a great week. I'll post pictures next week. =)

September and Football.

September seems to be flying by. With working and just life in general it seems there is never enough time. We have done a few fun things this month so far. For Labor Day weekend we went up into the mountains and camped. If you can call it that. My parents got a motor home and we were lucky enough to get to use it. We watched movies and played cards and I cooked on the stove. Not really camping but still we were in the mountains. =)

Alexys loves to pull the faces for the camera. I think she picked that up from her cousins.

Craig and Katie snuggling for a second. It never last much more than that with Katie. She is on the go a lot.


Katie was playing football by herself. She does this then picks up the ball and runs with it a ways then drops to the ground on her back. Then she stands up and cheers.
We think it's pretty funny.=)

This past week at school was homecoming. They have Powder Puff football for the girls. Alexys got to be the quarterback for the Sophomore team. She did a pretty good job.
She is the number 95. That is Craig's old football jersey form high school.

Here she is running a play.
They lost 12-6 to the Juniors but it was still a good game. She really did do a good job.
Just for your info our boys won their game that night 28-8. I love my Cougars!!

Well I will post the rest of September later. That is if we do anything worth posting.
Have a great rest of your summer!!
Bring on Fall!!!