12/31/2009

Wow...A Five Year Old!

I can't believe that we have a 5 year old. Time flies, he was 2 1/2 when I met Braden. Jaxon is getting so tall. Ever since I've been with Braden the boys will be pretty much the same size, then Jaxon will have a growth spurt and be taller, then Alek will shoot up and they'll be the same size. Lately its been Jax growing and growing and growing, he hasn't let Alek catch up. He's probably growing so much, because he eats more than I do. Jaxon is a tank. He always claims that he's starving. Never hungry, starving! If I'm not fast enough getting him something to eat, he'll go and make his own sandwich. His favorite "peanut butter on peanut butter". We don't have many left overs, Jaxon takes care of those. When we get done eating, Jaxon usually has 3 plates in front of him his, Alek's , and Joye's. Waste not!

Jaxon loves school and learning. He knows all of his letter's and number's. He goes through every book and tells us the letters. He loves to tell us what letter words start with. But when he tells us he usually gets them backwards, he'll say, "P starts with the letter piggy" He gets them right most of the time. He loves to do homework, but it's all about quantity, not quality. Everything is like this Jaxon goes as fast as he can, and Alek wants to take his time. When I pick them up from Pre-School, they always have a cute little craft that they have done. Jaxon's usually breaks on the way to the truck, I could never figure it out. But it must be the quality of work put into them.

Jaxon loves everyone. Him and Joye have a special bond. She loves him so much. She'll let him pick her up and carry her every where. They'll get up on the couch together and play or read books, or just cuddle. It's so cute. When they read books they'll take turns reading to each other, and Joye will reach out and put her arm around Jaxon's neck and pull him into her. He is so caring and worried about everybody. He is our compliment giver, Nobody feels bad about themselves when Jaxon is around. For example I was wrapping some Christmas presents, and Jaxon walks up and out of no where he says, "Wow! Great cutting Mom. You're a great cutter" Then it's followed by a big smile and a reassuring head nod. It's so funny, even if I'm in a bad mood, it always brings a smile to my face. My favorite is when we are playing ball, he will drop catches and not be able to make contact, but almost every time that Braden or I will catch or hit, he'll say, "Good catch Mom!" or "Great hit Dad!" He's such a good kid.

Jaxon is still our dancer. He loves it. Whenever there is music, no matter where we are, he's dancing. He'll hear music and start dancing, then yell at Alek and Joye to get up and dance. Joye will usually comply but Alek's too cool for that. He loves Thursday's. He gets to go to school, then go to dance, and then go to Aunt Mi-A's to play with Ryten and Renee. Ahh a perfect day!

Happy Birthday Jax! We love you so much. You are such a special part of our family. You make us laugh everyday. You are a great big brother, you always look out for Alek and Joye. And will give up any thing for them, if it makes them happy. Momma Tina will be looking in on you today! So remember to give her a smile!

12/30/2009

Christmas 2009

Well better late than never. I decided I better get these up before tomorrow so I can post for Jaxon's birthday. I have combined all of our Christmas activities into one post so there are tons of pictures. There should be more but I have been such a slacker about taking pictures, or even remembering the camera when we go places. The Saturday before Christmas was the Anderson Christmas Party. I didn't take the camera, but the kids had a blast, and made cute snow globes.

Then on Christmas Eve we let the kids open their presents from us, before we went down to my brother's for the Smith Christmas Party.

Joye knew what she was doing this year, she ripped open her presents.
Braves Blankets!!!
Jaxon has a special place in his heart for blankets, especially the ones that are tied.
Joye has got Jaxon's enthusiasm for gifts, she was so excited.
And Alek doesn't like to show emotion, so I had to beat him to smile, even though he really liked his blanket.
And Braden opening our blanket. He's making fun of Joye and Jaxon, but he really loved it!
The Smith Party
We had traditional bread bowls and soup. My Favorite! Then we opened presents. We draw names, and then start with the youngest, so Joye got to go first.
She doesn't look very happy but she loved it!
Jaxon so excited! "This is just what I always wanted!!!" I don't think he even knew what it was. Notice Joye in the picture. She loves Uncle Ricky, most days. She sat with him a lot, and she is eating cereal. Every time she's there, she goes for the cereal. Aunt Mi-A gives her a little bowl and she's content.
Alek barely showing emotion. He went into the corner and played with it all night.
Braden and I got matching hoodies
I had to put this picture up. This is my niece Cambree, she loves ladybugs. Alek had her name so we got her a CTR necklace that is a ladybug. She was so excited when she opened it. She carried it around with her on the cardboard. I asked her if she wanted me to put it on for her, she was so excited and said yes. After I had put it on her she went up to her sister Sierra and said, "When I die I want to be buried with this on!" I'm glad that she enjoyed her present. But I hope she doesn't get her wish for a very very long time :)
Christmas Morning!
Here's Joye opening her first present. She was so fun this year, every present she opened she would OO and Ah, and get so excited. It was an Elmo Potty Video. Elmo is her favorite. She was so excited she ran over to show her brothers.
Joye also got some blocks!
Here are the boys opening their presents. They got puzzles and card games, little Disney Ipods, and movies.
They opened everything on the couch, and then asked, "Is this it?" I wanted to say yes, little ungratefuls. But Santa had left something in mom and dad's room.
Here's Jaxon's reaction when I rolled out the Razor Scooters! Of course Alek no expression.
Grandma and Grandpa Anderson gave Joye a doll. I'm so glad that Joye has taken to dolls!
After we opened presents from Santa and Grandma and Grandpa Anderson came over, we packed up and went to Wolf Creek to see Braden's family. The kids got spoiled from everyone this year. We went and played racquetball and went hot tubbing, and played games. All Jaxon wanted to do was go to the hot tub. I didn't have my camera yet again. I wish I had. The boys got their own rackets and goggles and got to play. They were so cute playing together and trying to hit the balls. The best part of Wolf Creek though was getting to talk to Jairon. We all miss that kid so much. It was good to hear him.

12/23/2009

Merry Christmas To Us!

I went down to Riverdale yesterday to go to breakfast with some friends. It started to snow so I decided that I better get home before it got too bad. I got on the freeway at 31st street. And the roads weren’t the best, as I passed the 24th street exit I thought maybe I should have taken the back roads. That’s when it happened. As I came up on the 21st street exit, there was a red car that had spun out of control in front of me in my lane. I slowed down and moved over so I wouldn’t hit them; I had control of the Jeep for a split second then I hit ice and started to fish tail. I tried to get control but as I got closer and closer to the median with cement barriers, I knew I was done for. I smashed the driver’s side front end into the cement, and both air bags deployed. I hit with so much impact, that it bounced me back into traffic, and another vehicle hit me. At this point I didn’t see what hit me. The Jeep rolled (on its tires) to a stop in the area between the exit and the freeway. The first thing I did was check my face; it’s what hurt the worst. I thought that maybe the airbag burned me or my nose was bleeding or something. I was fine, my knee hurt, but other than that I felt fine. While I was still in the Jeep I called the Anderson’s because Braden was supposed to be there, and he had forgotten his cell phone. Next I called Ricky because he was the closest and he could come get me. I got out of the Jeep and everyone was concerned but after awhile they seemed overly concerned, I couldn’t figure out why. The driver of the other vehicle that hit me came up and asked, “Are you ok?” I said, “Yeah. Are you?” He replied, “Yeah, I didn’t feel a thing.” Then I got really confused, and why didn’t he feel a thing? Oh yeah he was driving a dump truck! I about passed out, no wonder everybody was overly concerned, I had just gotten out of a smashed to pieces Jeep, after being hit by a dump truck. I couldn’t believe it; I kept asking myself how am I standing here. Well the cops and fire truck came. I warmed up in the fire truck and then was moved to the back of the police cruiser like some criminal. Ricky got there right as the wrecker did, and the cop wanted to go down to the Pilot on 12th street to finish all the paper work. The dump truck had driven down there to wait. Well I just stayed in the cruiser, and after I got there Ricky informed me that he was driving with his lights on like he was transporting a prisoner. No wonder everyone was staring. Well we went over to the dump truck as the cop was finishing up the paperwork. I did a pretty good number on it, considering. I was surprised I thought that he was just going to drive away. I pushed in his bumper and caused the left front tire to go flat. I also broke a metal thing on his truck; I think it’s for when they cover their load. Anyway, then we were talking to him and we got the story about what happened after I hit the wall. I remember being hit again and that’s about it. He said I bounced back and he was trying to move over. He hit my passenger front end with his driver’s side front bumper, which then caused me to swing around and hit the back passenger side of the Jeep right by his back tires on the driver’s side. Well I didn’t get a ticket but blame was put on me, because I should have stayed in my lane. The red car that caused the problem got off the exit and drove away. Nice! There were so many other accidents at this same time, that the cop would call in to check on stuff or see about the wrecker, and they had to keep saying are you talking about the truck that hit the sign, or the car that rolled. The dispatchers couldn’t keep it straight.

So I walked away with 1 really hurt knee, some other bruises on my legs, a bruise on my chest from my seat belt, and a little mark/skinned chin from the air bag. And of course I’m so achy this morning I can barley move. I was very blessed. On our way home last night Braden told me that this was either a blessing in disguise or just another trial, either way we’ll get through it.
I totaled the Jeep. Braden has wrecked it twice before, apparently third time’s a charm. When I called the Anderson’s, while I was still in the car, Bruce answered. I was still really shaken up. I told him I was in a really bad car accident. He didn’t know who I was; he thought I sounded like Sherin. He asked and I told him who I was, he asked me if I was ok, and where I was. I said I was fine, but I totaled the Jeep. And that I was on I-15. I didn’t know for sure that I had totaled the Jeep; I hadn’t gotten out yet to even look at the damages. But there was no doubt in my mind, after hitting the cement and someone else hitting me that it couldn’t be. Here are some pictures of our poor Jeep that will be gone forever.
I know that my mom was there with me helping me through, and calming me down enough to make calls and talk to the police. I couldn’t believe how fast I had calmed down. I was still shaken, but I could function. Last night while I said my prayers and thanked Heavenly Father that I hadn’t decided to take Joye with me that day, and thanked him for blessing me and letting me get out and walk away with only minor, minor injuries. Our family has been so blessed this Christmas, we may be down to only 1 working vehicle, but at least I will be spending Christmas with my kids, and Braden, conscious, in my own home and not unconscious in the hospital

Ricky and my dad went with us over to the tow truck place to clean the Jeep out. Joye was not happy about staying in the truck. It was cold and snowing, my hair froze. Braden and I went inside to sign some paperwork and Ricky stayed with Joye. Look at that lip. Ricky said she was way worse but every time he would try to take a picture of her, she would stop.

12/20/2009

Joye's 5 Dollar's

We all know who's on the 5 dollar bill. Guess what. Joye does too! She got $5 from Great-Grandma Johnson for Christmas. She ripped the envelope open and took the money out and studied both the front and the back for a very long time. After a while she pointed to good Ole Abe and said, "Grandpop" I said, "Who is it Joye?" "Is Grandpop" she replied. Apparently after much study and review Joye has discovered that Grandpa Anderson (Bruce) is on the 5 dollar bill. He does look like Abe, if you squint and tilt your head to the side. You try!




12/07/2009

Temple Square

On Saturday we went down to Temple Square to see the lights, with my brother Ricky and his family. We had a good time, except for how cold it was. And I don't know if it's because we went early this year or if they cut back this year, but a lot of the big trees didn't have lights on them. it wasn't as cool. Oh, and we lost Jaxon. You would think the oldest kid would know to stay by us. Therefore we would lose a younger one. This is the third time we've lost him. He gets a leash next time we go out. We were in the South Visitors Center listening to the singers. All the kids were standing in front of us watching. Joye was tired of sitting in her stroller so she got out to walk around. My eyes were scanning from Joye to the boys, making sure they were still with us. He was there one second then gone the next. Braden took off one way and I the other. We met up outside with no luck. I went back inside to see if Ricky had found him, he had. He said that he found him down by one of the doors, trying to keep the automatic, sliding doors open. I thought that since he was there one second and gone the next that someone had taken him, and when we couldn't find him, I thought he was gone! It was awful!! Anyway we had a fun time and Jaxon and Alek had a great time with Ryten, they are best friends.
Here's Me and Braden

Our family.

Ricky and his family

Pretty Joye. I love her dimples!

Alek J

And Creeper Jaxon.
I hope he either grows out of this weird smiling phase. Or let us at least teach him how to smile better.

The Girls

12/02/2009

Wednesday Night Excitement!

Braden and I were sitting on the couch while the kids were playing in the boys room. Joye was coming down the hall, whining. We didn't think anything of it. She had a play saw that makes a cutting sound, I looked up to see what she was cutting. She didn't have it in her hands, I looked down she had gotten her foot through the handle and was stuck. I laughed and told Braden to help her. He bent down and started to pull and nothing happened. We tried to tag team it and the saw wouldn't even budge. We decided that we were going to have to cut it off. Our hack saw didn't have a good blade on it so Braden got this...
His reciprocating saw (which is silly and ironic, because that's the type of saw that was stuck on her leg) I held Joye's legs down, we got Jaxon to come hold the play saw, and Braden went to cutting. Joye did not like this, not one little bit. It took us a few tries to cut through. We got one side cut enough that Braden broke it, but he couldn't break it all the way through because it was digging into her ankle. Well after a few more cuts we got it off!
Here is her leg after we finally got it off.
You can't really see it very good in these pictures, but I think Joye might have a nice little bruise on her ankle.