Out of commision-ish.

My camera died! For no reason what so ever it died. I have some posts that i'd like to get to, but with no camera i'm at a loss. I am in the process of searching for a new camera. If any one has some good advice on this process, i'm willing to take any info in.
I could use some help. Leave me a comment and tell me what camera you have and what you love/hate about it. thanks for your help.

Gracie-moe?

This maybe old news to some at this point, but new news to others so bear with me. Blake's little sister, Jaimi, and her husband, Jeff, have been trying to adopt for the last little while. They have a little girl named Summer that they adopted 3 years ago and were up for round two. Over the holiday they found out that they were being considered for placement. But as these things go they tried not to put all their hope on it. Some work out and some don't. But alas this one was meant to be. They got a call New Year's Eve day, saying they were being requested for a meeting so that the birth mom could meet them in person. And then they found out that night they had been picked. And New Years Day they had their new little girl in their arms on their way home to meet the rest of the family. It's really neat to hear all the little details that "just seem to work out" or the tender mercies that come with adoption. Gracen is a beautiful little angel. I've only seen a few babies with so much hair, and the color is amazing. Sam suggested Moses, but Jaimi has been saving this name for a long time. But don't be too surprised to hear Sam call her Gracie-moe.

Congratulation Jaimi and Jeff and Welcome to the family, Gracen!

(thanks Hailey for letting me "borrow" the pics. my camera is on the fritz!)

Christmas 2008

Usually the holidays speed by at record pace and we run from one thing to the other and feel like we're stretching ourselves pretty thin. Christmas eve generally is a very enjoyable gathering of family (both sides--since we can't break from either tradition) and of course the different meals and activities with both, by the time we get home to our bed it's really late and the boys are exhausted. This year was slightly different.

Mom and Dad Young went up to Portland, OR. to visit Blake's brother and his family for a few days just before Christmas. The plan was for them to get home 3 days before Christmas. But alas, mother nature had other plans. The weather in the north west coast was horrible and kept grounding flight after flight after flight. Some people were staying at the airport for 2-3 days, since they were all anxious to get home to family for the holidays. Thankfully, Mom and Dad were able to spend Christmas with Nate and Anne and their family, rather than being stuck somewhere in the middle of nowhere with no family. It was an opportunity that maybe wouldn't be taken otherwise.

With this change of plans we were able to do Christmas eve with my family. With the usual dinner and nativity and then we were able to talk with my mom and dad over the internet with the video cam and everything. Then Christmas day, just us and the boys (the boys got to enjoy their toys right away). It was quiet and relaxing and really nice. As much as we missed mom and dad and were truly grateful for their safe return it was nice not to feel the rush. PLUS the boys got to spread out Christmas and celebrate it twice. We got together with the Young family Saturday night (the 27th) and did the usual Christmas eve festivities and then came back Sunday afternoon and opened up all the Christmas presents that were exchanged there. It was nice to be able to enjoy each of the events un-rushed and at a more relaxing state.

I know that come next year when the rush of the season approaches i will be grateful that i have so many options to chose from. Cause that means that i have all my family around to spend the time and season with.

Dear Santa,

Dear St,

I wont Joekeymoe to have a

big tedy Bear. and I wont

charly to have a adoolt

boy dog and I wont Miss Leishman

to get married!!

from.

Sam.

p.s. I Love your work.

Merry Christmas!!

As you can see this is Sam's letter that he wrote in school. The kids were told to write a letter to santa asking for things for their family and friends. Jakey-Mo is the one who he wants to get a big teddy bear (hint, hint, Hailey). And Charly is one of Sam's friends in his class. Charly already has an adult girl dog that is about to have puppies so he wants her to have an adult boy dog (i'm not sure if it's to help with those puppies or what, but cute all the same). And Miss Leishman is Sam's teacher (she was also his teacher last year--she moved up a grade and Sam is the only one that got her again and he's very happy with that). He told her that she could have a elf for a husband. Many laughs were stiffled.

So today as i was reading Sam's letter i was struggleing to read parts, so he read it to me. He started to talk about this situation.

Sam: Miss Leishman isn't married and there are lots of boy teachers at the school that aren't married.

Ethan: Mr. Rino isn't married. (Mr. Rino is Ethan's teacher).

Sam: But he has a beard.

Ethan: He doesn't have a beard.

Me: Why does having a beard decided if you're married or not?

Sam: He has wiskers.

Dad: You get wiskers in high school sometimes.

Sam: oh.

I'm still not sure how that makes you married or not.

Look Ma!

I meant to post this last week when it happened, but as you all know life gets busy and you roll with it. Plus Ethan is home today sick and mentioned it and here we are. Most of the local family all got to hear about the accident over the last week, so this is for the distant family and friends that haven't heard the story.

On Friday's i go into the school to hand out treats to the kids that are wearing the school colors as they are going into the lunch room for lunch. (one of the fun things about being on PTA--I'm aka the candy lady, Sam's mom, Ethan's mom--no one really knows my name). Sam's class had come through and i had just finished telling Sam to sit down for the third or forth time to eat his lunch, when one of the aides for the school came up to me saying "they want you in the office." Immediately my mind went to Ethan just praying he wasn't in trouble or that he wasn't sick. I walked into the office and saw Ethan standing there with one of the secretaries holding an ice pack on his forehead. Whew, maybe it wasn't so bad, he wasn't in trouble after all. Then the secretary moved the ice pack. HOLY COW!! Ethan had a golf ball growing out of his head that was all kinds of purple and red. Seriously looked like a golf ball was shoved under his skin, sticking straight out at least an inch. At that point Ethan had only shed a few tears but as soon as he saw me and i had him in my arms he lost it. I told the secretary i was going to take him home and she gave me a paper about concussions that is required of them for every head injury. I brought him home and had him keep an ice pack on his forehead for an hour. Durring that time i got the story from Ethan.

His class was at p.e. and they were playing basketball out on the play ground. He was going down for a rebound when Dillon, one of his friends, was coming right behind him. Dillion is a big guy. Keep in mind that Ethan is the average kid in his 5th grade class. Dillon is my height and heavier than me. As Dillon was coming up behind Ethan he tripped over Ethan's feet causing Ethan to fall and Dillon fell right on top of Ethan. We figure that having a kid Dillons size kept Ethan from getting more road rash than what he had. But it also caused him to whack his head that much harder. It wasn't until we got home that Ethan even got to see how big the bump on his head was. That convinced him that he wanted to keep the ice on it. After a while Ethan was sitting at the kitchen table eating his sandwich saying, "well now I'm missing this, and I'm missing this and in a few more minutes we're going to be doing this." I knew he was good. So i took him back to the school. Most kids would be happy to call it a day and stay home, but Ethan loves school and didn't want to miss any of it. Even if his head did hurt. Plus i think he was happy to show off his shiner.

The picture doesn't even do it justice. I should have gotten a side shot just to show how far out it still was sticking out after the hour of ice.

MY BABY IS 5!!!!

Where does the time go?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!!!

reasons i love ryan:

-his smile

-his laugh

-the way he is sooo good to take all over the place.

-that he still will get comfy cozy with me

-the way he plays mario cart/wii/gameboy (it's funny, and he's pretty good)

-how he tells me he loves me to the aliens and back (since i told him i loved him to the moon/stars and back).

-the way he loves each of us in the family.

-and a million other reasons

Sam is Perfect, for today.

Sam was baptized this last weekend and for those that were able to come, thanks and for those that missed out I'll try and summarize the event.

First and foremost those that came in contact with Sam at all over the last few weeks all knew about the baptism since he was sooo excited about it. I think every employee at the school was fully aware that Sam was getting baptised. The Monday night before the baptism, as we were putting the boys to bed we told Sam that he was going to have his interview with the bishop Tuesday. He said OK and was again expressing his excitement. Tuesday morning i took the boys to school and then went in to help in the class rooms like i do each Tuesday. As i was leaving i went into the office and talked to the secretaries, and then headed out the door and on my way. Wednesday when i went back into the school one of the secretaries stopped me and said, "I just have to tell you what happened yesterday." With interest i sat and listened as she told me that Sam had come into the office just after he finished his lunch and said, "my mom is coming to check me out." the secretary said "uh, i don't know if she is, i talked to her earlier and she didn't say anything to me, she usually does." He persisted that i was going to come and check him out and she said well if you want to wait for a couple minutes you can, but i don't think she is. He said "she is, I have an appointment with the bishop. I'm getting baptised." At that point she knew i wasn't coming and so she told him he could wait and that if i came she promised she'd call him right into the office. he was satisfied with that and went back to class. I guess we didn't explain to him that he didn't have his appointment till that night.

Saturday was a special day. Mike and Kim (my brother) and his family came up from St. George for Sam's baptism. And my Uncle Brent (who lives in Arizona) was up for the weekend and was staying with Grandma Priday so they came from American Fork. And all the local family and some of our closest friends came which made the day even better. I will fully admit its on days and family times like that that i miss my parents just a little bit more, but i still am glad that they are doing what they are doing. Sam smiled all day long. While we were waiting for Sam and Blake in one of the other rooms with all the family visiting, it started to get a little loud. Ethan went and sat at the piano and started playing "teach me to walk in the Light" a primary song that he's learned how to play in the last few months and it set the tone, and quited the visiting. I was so proud (sorry, scratch that) pleased. After Ethan had played it through a few times Blake and Sam came in and we went ahead with the confirmation.

After the events at the church we had invited everyone to come to the house for some muffins, sweet rolls, doughnuts, juice and milk. Blake made some amazing orange cranberry sweet rolls and perfect cinnamon rolls. It was nice to sit and visit with everyone. After that we did a Priday family birthday lunch for Mike and Ryan since their birthdays were just days away. I kick myself over and over again, and may not be able to call myself a Priday anymore, because we didn't not once sing happy birthday to Mike or Ryan. I know I'm ashamed. Sorry Mike and Ryan. i am still shaking my head! Either way it was fun to visit and enjoy every ones company. Thanks to all that came for Sam and to support us. We really are blessed to have such great family and friends.

Sunday Sam got up and bore a sweet testimony of how he was so happy he knew the gospel and that he knew who he is and where he comes from and that there are kids out there that don't know these things and how that's why we have missionaries. He said how excited and happy he was to be a member of the church. It was a really sweet weekend. Perfect really!