Christmas and The Incredible Shrinking Man

Logan checking things out with his new binoculars. Hope we haven't created a stalker!

Kevin got the book "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" and the moose that goes with it. It was so cute...he pulled the moose out of the box, took one look at it, and gave it a big hug.

Steven was trying not to show TOO much enthusiasm over his UNLV Cheer and Dance teams calendar that Logan gave him. Logan said it would be a gift they could enjoy together the whole year long. :-)

Emma got a new scooter from the money Grandpa Sullivan sent. She was very excited!

We also got a Wii! Yipee! Emma and I played so hard on Saturday, that neither one of us could lift our arms on Sunday.

Kevin's Lego City Farm from Grandpa Sullivan. It's pretty cool!

One of Logan's random pictures of the kid's tree. Kind of pretty, I think.

Here's Craig on Christmas day...9 days post-surgery. He's getting thinner every day.

He can smile a little now, and the bruising is almost gone.

Profile shots.

6 days later...

The first 3 pictures are at day 3. The last 3 are from day 6. I can't believe the change. He saw the doctor yesterday, and he cleared him to eat anything he can get through a straw. We went straight home and he had pureed clam chowder. (Gross!) He loved it!!! Later he had chicken enchiladas and green beans. Then cookies and milk. This is going to be fun, I can tell! ;-)
The doctor was a little concerned about one tooth that seems to want to go back to where it was before. He's hoping the rubber bands will hold it in place, but if not he'll do a quick repair in his office.
We saw the x-ray, also. 4 plates and about 16 screws. AWESOME!

Day 1 at home

Not too bad. The swelling is worse on the left side for whatever reason. His eyes are getting black and blue and he keeps getting nosebleeds if his heart beats too fast or he bends over even the tiniest little bit. Baby steps. He did give the vanilla Ensure (Target brand) a thumbs up, however. That's good, because that's about all he gets for several days. We'll keep you posted!

Surgery Complete!

After 2 1/2 years of waiting, Craig finally had his oral surgery this morning. Everything went well; he just looks swollen and bruised. Now on to 6 weeks of liquid diet. Wish us luck! We'll be posting pictures regularly, so check it out if you have a strong stomach.

Volleyball and Baseball

Just a few pictures of the boys and their chosen sports. Ahhhh, springtime!

Gray Hair

Someone once said that your kids will cause gray hair. Well, it is so true. I first want to apologize to my mom and dad for their gray hair which I am sure I caused. I totally expect Rebecca, Tara, Steven, Logan, Emma and Kevin to someday also apologize to me. Recent gray was cause when Tara stood in the door and said, "Dad, I totally didn't see your car parked in the driveway when I backed out of the garage." This would not have been so bad except that the car that she backed into was a truck and it belonged to LVMPD, my take home car for work. It was minor damage, nothing that baler twine and duct tape can't fix, however there is more to this story. Both Rebecca and Tara have now wrecked more cars that don't belong to them than both Ruth and I have our whole lives. And, Tara has now wrecked both the front and back of the PT Crusier. Again minor and the car still runs but the gray hair keeps coming.

Trip to Payson, AZ

Craig and I took a quick trip to Payson, AZ in April for his National Guard reunion. We lived in Payson for about 2 years, although it seems much longer than that. Right after we moved to Roosevelt, UT, his unit was activated to go to Desert Storm. His paperwork had been stalled, so he had to go with them. They were in Saudi Arabia for 6 months. He hadn't seen any of them for 18 years! We could hardly believe it had been that long. We were a little nervous to go, but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves once we got there. All the guys had a great time remembering their time together, and all the wives learned things we never knew. We went to Flagstaff on Friday night, then on to Payson Saturday morning. We explored the town and found all 3 of the places we lived in. It was a little strange. For some reason I remembered everything being bigger than it actually was. After the reunion we left for home. So...our whole trip was about 30 hours! It was really fun and we took lots of pictures, so beware!

This is the bridge being built near Hoover Dam. It was so amazing to see something like that up close!



This is the newspaper office Craig worked for.


This is our first apartment. We were upstairs on the right.

This was our second place. We lived in Ruby's basement.

And this was the third place. We lived in a pre-fab home on the spot where I'm standing. Below is "the meadow" out our front door.

This is the hospital where Tara was born. She was the only baby in the hospital that day.



A giant Saguaro cactus.

Craig and his army buddies.

All of the guys at the reunion.

The guys in Craig's platoon.

This was just an unlucky turn that ended up being a lucky, awesome find in Kingman. It looks like the sheriff in Cars!

Where's the sun?

It's BARELY partly cloudy outside today, and Emma and Kevin said to Tara on the way to school, "Dang! Now we won't be able to play shadow tag."

Baby Charlotte is here!

After much anticipation, Baby Charlotte arrived on May 11, 2009 at 2:51 pm. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 2 oz. and is 20" long. Rebecca and baby are doing fine; just tired. Rebecca had an easy delivery after a trying start; she was slow to dilate, but then went from a 4 to a 10 in about 2 hours! The baby simply came out without any pushing! In fact, the nurse delivered the baby because the doctor didn't get there in time! What a great story she'll have to tell. Here are a few pictures we took yesterday. We think she's a keeper!