Once upon a time...and they lived happily ever after!

So many of you have asked me what the buttons on the side of my blog were all about~"I read NieNie" and "Nie Recovery"~Well, they are for Stephanie and Christian Nielson. They are a couple that live in Mesa. Just a couple of weeks ago they were involved in a plane crash in St. Johns, AZ where the pilot Doug Kinneard was killed. Christian sustained burns over 30% of his body and Stephanie received burns to 80% of her body. Although Christian has a broken back also, he is expected to recover. Stephanie is more critical at this time. They have 4 small children that weren't involved in the crash~Claire 6, Jane 5, Ollie 3, and Gigs 1. They are still heavily sedated, and as far as we have heard, haven't yet realized what has taken place. The children have been taken back to Utah (where Stephanie is from) with Stephanie's sister Courtney. Stephanie's parents are staying at the hospital to care for the injured couple. The amazing thing about this story is that most of us never even knew the Nielsons~I read about the plane crash in the newspaper and then looked her blog up (the address was given in the newspaper). I also found out my cousin Sara had been following the "NieNie Dialogues," I started to read it and could not stop! Stephanie is an incredible writer and VERY inspiring! She loves all things vintage and is a very good mother to her kids. Steph loves pretty things and is freaked out in love with her husband!~She makes you want to be a better person. Soon after the crash many more people that didn't know her wanted to do something to help. They started about 300ish auctions of various items with all of the proceeds going to the family. Its so cool to see how people have come together for a family that they don't even know! People have donated clothes for the children (as Courtney only had one newborn). Other People have brought in food, movies, toys etc. Some have offered babysitting, laundry help and cooking. Some people were even trying to help the other day, by figuring out what Ollie (the 3rd youngest) was trying to say. I guess he was trying to tell his Aunt what movie he wanted to watch, in his own baby talk. He kept saying something that sounded like "Reginald King." Courtney wrote about it on her blog and lots of people commented with ideas of what he might be saying. Finally a mom suggested that it might be "Lightning McQueen," with a ton of other ideas from other moms. It turned out to be The movie "Cars" with Lightning McQueen. I just thought it was so cool how so many moms were concerned and knew how frustrating that would've been for little Ollie and how Stephanie, wouldn't have wanted her little boy to struggle, so people jumped in to help! So if you would like to donate you can go the the button at the top of the page OR bid on an item~ Go here to check out the auctions OR Go here to read Courtney's blog with updates on the couple and the children. I would love to somehow get her blog published with all of the proceeds going to the family. I would LOVE to have a copy of her blog in book form, to pick up when ever I needed a lift!! She is truly amazing and VERY inspiring! They have a very long road in front of them (especially Stephanie) so please keep them in your prayers!

Game Day!

Cooper traveled to Joe City on Thursday~ and had a lot of GREAT plays! We are looking forward to many more exciting games!

Lobos 44 Wildcats 6

GO LOBOS!

Its A Bird, Its A Plane, ITS A CRANE!

My neighbor Don came over and told me to grab my camera~I did as I was told and followed him across the street and this is what he showed me. This HUGE crane was on the top of our neighbors roof~he stayed there for a long time just watching something out in the pond, and then he gracefully flew away!

Jaxon's 1st day of preschool!!

Holy cow did this day take FOREVER to get here~at least in Jaxon's eyes! When Tuesday FINALLY came Jaxon was in my room at around 6am with the BIGGEST smile on his face. It was the cutest thing ever! He made me smile just looking at him (which is a hard thing for me to do at 6 am (smile))!! I said guess what today is???? He said my preschool!!! He was about to jump right out of his skin with excitement!~Then it just took 3 more hours for 9 o'clock to roll around!~Today was red day so everyone had to wear red~He also learned about circles and made a fruit loop necklace! He was over the moon! He wants to go to school so bad and cannot wait until he turns 5 so he can go, but preschool is the next best thing!~he just had to bring his back pack with a notebook, pencil and paper with him ( I talked him out of the notebook and paper)!!~now the count down is on until the next preschool day! Jaxon, you are growing up too fast!!

Uncle Tony Hendrickson

Today I received the horrible shocking news that my Uncle Tony passed away after having a heart valve replaced. There were complications afterward, his blood pressure was very low and they were having a hard time getting it back to normal. We are so sad about this as he is my Dad's first sibling to pass away and it feels awful! Tony was a HUGE man but very gentle! He LOVED his grand kids that he and my Aunt Jae Dee waited years for! ~in fact, Tony and Jae Dee were so baby hungry that when I had Jaxon, they came and visited me in the hospital up here while they were at their cabin in Pinetop, just to be able to hold him for a while, and visit. As soon as their grandchildren started to arrive I don't think I have ever seen them happier!! They were just here for the 24th celebration and I happened to get these pictures of him, just 1 short month ago!! We loved Tony, he was a good Uncle and he will be missed a lot!!!Tony and my Dad
Uncle Ruel, Tony and Charlie Hendrickson

Uncle Zacky's Big Adventure...and The White Star!

My brother Zac just left for Pharmaceutical school at Lake Erie University in Pennsylvania.

We had a little get together for him before he left, at Ashley's. It was fun to hang out and talk and eat some yummy food. All of his sisters are worried about him but know he will be fine and we will see him soon!Everyone relaxing and watching the Olympics
hanging out after lunch...

We also had the opportunity to go and see "The White Star" (the sequel to Saturday's Warrior)~I LOVED Saturday's Warrior, I saw it when it was a play, I think I was around 11 or 12 years old. It left a huge impression on me as a young girl, I had the album and played it over and over again! We bought the tickets as soon as we heard it was coming to Phoenix, knowing it would sell out fast! We also knew we wouldn't be getting much of a vacation this year and thought this would be something fun for the kids to look forward to (and us)! Ashley and Chad also had tickets and we invited Brint and Brea and Kacie and Koby to come with us~(Kac and Koby weren't able to come, bummer!) My friend Francie also got tickets for the same night and so we all ended up sitting close together. WE had a blast and LOVED the show!! It was a sacrifice to purchase so many tickets, but was TOTALLY worth it after we saw the show!! We LOVED IT! If you get the chance to see it, don't miss out! I ended up forgetting to bring my camera (I left it at Ashleys) but Brittnee (Francie's daughter and my friend) had hers and shared the pictures she took with me~Thanks Britt!!! This is Taylor and Tess (Taylor is Francie's daughter)

Cooper was sitting down the row a bit and Jaxon was left with a babysitter (his first outside of his brothers and sisters!)~he STILL hasn't stopped talking about "Cicely"and how she was MAGIC!! He loved her and had a super fun time with his first babysitter, and wants her to come and babysit again!!!

Oh No, Not The 1st Day Of School????

The dreaded day has arrived as you can see from Cooper's face!!!

Madison & Jaxon(he has 1 more year at home but had to have a notebook like the other kids and get ready to go just like them!) Madison is a big bad Senior this year (unbelievable how fast time goes)~she goes to NPC in the mornings, then to the High School in the afternoon, Madi will have enough credits and taken the right classes to have earned her Associates Degree when she graduates from high school this May!!~WAY TO GO MADISON!!!

This is the picture AFTER I threatened Cooper that if he didn't look excited to go to school I was going to find a year round school for him!!! (haha)

What to do when the golf course floods!

Pioneer Days....

Jaxon & Tatum waiting patiently for the parade to start!!

All the piranhas waiting for the candy to be thrown

When waiting forever for a parade to start "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "2 thumbs up" always help it to come faster!

Cooper and Tess were asked at the last minute to help with banners this year~normally at least one of my kids are on a float, they weren't thrilled (after-all, this means no candy you know!) but agreed to help out!

Cute little Tess


Cooper sad to leave us!


The firetruck is always the LAST float of the parade to hose off anyone that wants to be hosed off. This is usually the cue for all of the women(who have hair-dos and makeup that is) to grab your camera and chair and run for your life! Jaxon stuck with that firetruck way down the street and was dangerously too close to those big wheels! (Jaxon~close to the truck in the blue shirt and Tess in the blue tank top.
Cozie, Tess, Griffin, Piper and Leif~I'm SURE Jaxon is still at the beginning of the truck!
Everyone having a good time visiting together and eating lots of good food!
Jaxon and my cousin Renee's little girl Amber


fireworks are ALWAYS a good ending to the 24th!!!

apparently~"Some people in our nation don't have maps..." LOL!!