a sad day for my mom

Today my mom called me crying and choked out that her sister had died last night. It was so sad, then she says she could not understand her mom on the phone and apparently it turns out my aunt, my moms sister had some type of unknown thing happen last night and she is in a coma, non responsive and the doctors say she will not make it and she will live on life support. I feel so bad for my mom! since she lives in AZ and they are in Oregon she has not been able to be very close with her family. she is on her way down to my house now and we will leave for Oregon in the morning. It is so sad to lose a family member whether you are close or not and I could not imagine losing Brandi-my only sis. Keep my moms family in your prayers if you stumble across my blog, i know miracles can happen-Prayer works.

Katie and Kyle's Wedding 11.09

My sister in law Katie got married back in November! I know I am so late but we are so happy for these two. Andrew and I were lucky enough to have Katie to hang out with us for a while after we got married and before she moved away;she was even able to go with us to Utah to see Kyle. I was also able to make a surprise road trip up to Provo and surprise Katie with her mom when she thought that her mom was not going to be able to make the trip alone. It was alot of fun. I can't believe of how such good friends me and Katie were in high school and ow we are family! All of the lunch trips and the state wrestling trip with her still hod alot of memories. We are so glad she found a great guy like kyle who was worthy and could take her through the temple and spend eternity with. Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Kartchner! (AKA-KKK) so cute.

a very big family and there are 2 families missing...

Only one missing is Caroline, she just had her baby so she was not able to make it up

These guys are too hilarious!

The Kartchner cake that Sarai made, it's BEAUTIFUL she made it despite all she had been through the past week-what a trooper)

Marcie and Leon doing up the hair: First it was too much "poof" so Katie says so she smalled it up a bit

I did her makeup, she looked so good. Since Katie is a natural pretty girl she didn't need much makeup, i did it too dark so we lightened it up a bit

an amazing trooper

I'm sure most of you who read my blog read nie nie as well, she is such an amazing woman. I can't imagine going through what she has faced and still goes through every day-it will be with her for the rest of her life. Can you imagine almost dying? I know I can't, and i can't imagine my kids forgetting me. or being scared to come to me after such an event. I could only hope that my husband would be as compassionate and willing and understading as Mr. Nielson is to stephanie. Stephanie is her name. Mr. Nielson reads to her at night and it just makes me cry. I follow her blog for hours sometimes, re-reading what i have already read, looking at all the pictures. It's so crazy. I mean I think about it and she still has such a strong heart, a heart of steel! She is optimistic and she stays positive. She LOVES life, she knows what it is like to almost not have it. I just can't imagine. She is an inspiration to me, (even though i need to redo my face when im done reading:)) Knowing that there are REAL events that happen that can take your life so fast makes me take a step back and rethink what i have, what i want, where i need to go, and how I AM taking my life for grantid. It is almost sickening to me to think of the way i judge things and get upset and am not grateful for the things i have or want the things i don't have, WHEN I HAVE LIFE. It's almost too much to stomach. I'm getting a little way to carried away here, back to the subject... Stephanie, she is here in AZ and I'm going to see her tomorrow, I know she is in the hospital and it would be such a blessing to meet this woman and hear her testimony, if i am able... I know it sounds completely off the wall to waltz into a hospital and ask to see a woman i have only followed on a blog. Is that stalkerish? I hope not. To meet her would be a blessing. I will bring her something nice. I hope she is doing well, keep her in your prayers and thoughts, i know i will:)

Tell me, do you take the things in your life for grantid?

Andrews Coues Deer hunt 09

Andrew shot his deer on December 22nd. He went out that morning very early with Daniel and Mike Hancock. Around noonish it was heavily snowing and it was really cold and they were not back yet so i knew it had to be one of 2 things...they were stuck or he had got his deer... He came back with this. He is just a bit bigger than the coues he shot 2 years ago. Andrew is sad that it will take a year to get him back, he is ready for him in our home NOW! Good job babe~

Daniel scoring him... 101!

Daniel and Andrew caping him out in the garage

Hello mr. eyeball...

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving in Heber (as usual) I did not take many pictures, we spent most of the picture time taking famiy pictures so me and my sis could finish my mom's christmas present which i will post later. Here are some of my favorite pictures. dinner was great (as usual) we started the day at my mom's then went to Andrew's parents after, most of the Crandell family was not able to make it up this year so it was just a small thanksgiving this year.

um... yeah, don't ask

Bugaboo

This is my favorite picture that i took out of all the HUNDREDS! my mom, their grandma. I just still can't believe she has this many and yet brandi is having another one,and andrew and I have not even begun!

Our family is dysfunkshional...ha can you tell...

I absolutely love this man with every ounce of my being! We didnt really do much for Thanksgiving as far as taking pictures of us at dinner, just took the family pictures mainly.

WARNING: Time to play catch up: WARNING

I just want to send the warning that there willo be post OVERLOAD! keep going when you think you are done... :) sorry it's been so long. I'm sitting on the couch with andrew and he does not want me to blog, he tells me to let my blog go into foreclosure! haha, he is so funny.

The last of the lazy days-transformation time

Well... I may as well join the world of running since everyone else is doing it... although to be quite honest it hurts! Ugh... Alright i am doing the ragnar at the end of February with most of my in law fam, I signed up MONTHS ago, but i am just starting to consistently run... I know i know, procrastination is TERRIBLE! I wish i were better. Well Dixie... this awesome trainer woman whom i am only getting to know, she is Jens sister in law, well she put together a running schedule for me that is really working out for me. when i first started running with my sister in law amy, i was doing 2 miles but it was not a continuous run, i physically thought my chest was going to pop, now i am easing into the 2 miles. Leon is the captain of the team and he names us the trail trotters... can i rename myself the SNAIL TROTTER? haha! Well i just did.. thats me the snail trotter of the trail trotters. I will be honest for a second I am TERRIFIED of running at some points in theis ragnar... the most one i am scared of is running at night, Jennie said it was her funnest run but i dont like me being alone in the dark in a weird place! What if a yote comes to take a bite of my leg! i'm not a seasoned runner yet so i would not be able to out run it... then my other worst fear is because since i dont have a job now (thanks!) I have been watching forensic files, and all these people just come up missing then found later... DEAD! phew, that is scary to me... i will say a prayer that i wont come up missing, OR yote meat.
One last addition, on top of doing the running, Dixie is HOSTING a biggest loser competition. It's going to be awesome... but also very very humiliating. there will be pictures of my not so hot anymore body and my weight! Time to take off the covers... I am just at that point where i never thought i would be, or ever wanted to be of course, I need and want my healthier lifestyle back, to get rid of the tv and the cheese crisps that my husband loves. The comfort food, the soda...although i already gave that up, and the boredom eating. Although my family genes are not as small as Andrew, they are not obese or big by any means so there is absolutely NO EXCUSE. I have made a deal with the devil and I decided to do the bigest loser along the way, since it is my favorite show:) Even if i don't win the biggest loser, i will still win since i will be more healthier. I will post my feelings on this later, there is much more but i know how boring blogs are with WAY too much words and not enough pictures. Want to know the sad part? The laptop is downstairs where i dont do pictures on and i have not wanted to step foot int he office which is located upstairs to blog which i need to catch up on since NOVEMBER! wow... I guess i need a vitamin b shot! haha, well goodnight. Tomorrow is the first day of my TRANSFORMATION!

I have been so lazy

Let me explain... since November 18Th, my life has been like one big crazy bad dream that i can't wake up from. what happened that day you ask? Or maybe you don't ask, but i will tell.... Our dishwasher i found out had a slow leak in it that had been slowly damaging THOUSANDS of dollars worth of cabinets, walls and floors in our kitchen in our new home that we bought in august. Let me just tell you that it has been insane trying to get it put back together the way it was before. I can not even imagine how i would have done it had i of been a mother and needed to feed children 3 or 4 times a day. My loving wonderful husband has been so good and patient with me as i rant and rave about all the bad doings and not even thinking about the good. All this going on right as i give up on my race day training commitment. I'm horrible! I have to run in the Ragnar in a month and a half! up to 6 miles i could get at one time and i think i could do one and then die right now. Luckily i got some help starting Monday its training! I'm kinda happy i don't have a job so i can focus on this a do it! finish it. I cant wait, not only do i need to do it for myself but others are counting on me to. The Trail Trotters... I am pretty sure i will need to do more than trot:) Well i need to post about thanksgiving, Christmas, Andrews hunt and even Katie and kyles wedding...that's how far back i am. Geez! now that i don't have a job i cant even tell you what day of the week it is! i need something to pass the time, a SERIOUS hobby or something fierce, anyone got any suggestions?