Wow-Christmas to August

Well it obviously been a while since we have posted anything so we will try to do a quick recap on the last 8mos. of our lives.

Jan.-The big storm happened here in Flagstaff. We had 8ft. of snow in a three day period, LOTS of snow days, and a great year of boarding and snow shoveling. The mtn. had never been better and we had a blast. John broke his ribs on Dec. 31st and was really hating the fact that he couldn't go up. I on the other hand loved it because he stayed home with Brax while I enjoyed the snow. Leks finally got her toe side down and by the end of the yr. had greatly improved. Brax started to blink his eyes in order to answer yes or no.

Feb.-More snow, snowboarding, shoveling and shoveling and shoveling. Thankfully we have an amazing neighbor who took pity on us and snowblowed our house for us.

Mar.- Birthday time for me and spring break for all of us. Unfortunately I was sick on my day so I got a day to celebrate in Cali. We were there for spring break with Mary and Ferrel and Kathy and her kids. We had a great time playing on the beach, in the pool and going to Sea World. We got to see our friend Julia and had a blast just being with each other. Oh yeah, Brax started throwing up. K-that sounds gross but he had a surgery that was supposed to make it impossible. Obviously it stopped working.

Apr.- School and nothing to exciting happening. Aleksia was still doing gymnastics twice a week and improving everyday. Brax was just being him self and did end up giving the nurse at school a big surprise. He had a huge seizure and stopped breathing on her. Lets just say it was a major panic and we had to go through a lot in trying to figure out what to do if they called an ambulance on him. URGHHHH.
But after all the stress thanks to my in-laws, we got to go on an amazing trip to Hawaii. They went to Kauai by themselves and ended up with two condos and no way of getting there points back. They called John on Thursday and asked if we wanted to go. He called the airlines to check on flights and we ended up being able to get all 4tickets covered with flight miles so of course we had to go. We had a blast going zip lining, snorkeling, sight seeing, a luau, seeing George Cloney and hanging out on the beach with amazing people.
While in Hawaii I got a call asking if I would be in the Stake Primary as the Secretary. I think the air got to me because I happily agreed and now hold the calling for who knows how long.

May-Brax was evaluated for an og com device, it is a tiny box that will go off if he blinks. It will set off toys and let him awnser simple yes or no ?'s. We were very skeptical of it but were amazed at how well he used it. His speech therapist was there and started to cry and yelled "yes, I knew it, I just knew it." Needless to say she is amazing. School was supposed to end but had to make up snow days so we kept going and had to miss my sister Bri's graduation. Yep, my Mom and Dad managed to get us all graduated from High School :)

June- School finally got out and it was time to party. My Dad came down and brought Bri to live with us. We are excited to have her and hope school goes well for her. While Dad was here he built a cat house with Leks and had a lot of little projects to do, including helping move all the stuff for new carpet. We love Dad's more then anything.
For the big Birthday trip this yr.we went to a resort called Terranea in Rancho Palos Verde, Cali.
It was a beautiful resort and a great vacation. Leks turned 10 and wanted to go to Knott's Berry Farms for her birthday. We had a blast there and she had a very nice birthday. John turned 36 and choose to hang out at the beach and pool for his days. He also got to celebrate Fathers Day over there. Then we celebrated our 13Th anniversary and had a blast. I love leaving town this week, because we don't have to worry about anything else.

July- We had our big trip to Lake Powell with the Freers and had an amazing time. They were gracious enough to let Bri go with us for her first time. She was able to get up on the wake board, and skurf board and loved the tube. Leks improved so much on her wake boarding and learned how to skurf, which is now her favorite. As always it was a trip with little sleep, tuns of playtime, and a tun of fun. We left the lake and drove all the way to UT. to grab the Oberg family and head to Idaho.
We had a good time in Idaho with my family. There was a bug going on that slowed the trip down a little but everyone was there together and we had a great time. It was very relaxing with trips down the river, hikes, fishing, exploring, games and reading. We love getting together with each of our families and feel so blessed to have all of them.

August- Time for Jr. High, wait, what, yes my daughter is in Jr. High and she is loving it. Me on the other hand, not so sure. She is excited about sports and can't wait to play Volleyball. She is also excited about meeting new friends and getting to change classrooms. Her Dad is still not sure about her growing up. I think he would love to keep her little forever.
Well that pretty much sums up our lives, John loves golf and usually is out 2-3times a week. I love Hiking and try to get out twice a week for at least a 12mile hike. Leks is loving Gymnastics and has moved up to level 4. She has an amazing love and talent for it. Brax has learned how to show emotion and loves to let us know when he is grumpy. He is an amazing spirit. We are so happy for the family we have and we are all grateful for the friends and extended family we have. Thanks for all the support and hopefully we can post sooner.
*pictures coming soon
Love,
Amie

Christmas in Santa Barbra

Okay so I really didn't improve on the updating but at least I thought about it:). Since my last post, thanks to my amazing in-laws we had a wonderful Christmas. Instead of presents that just get missed placed or forgotten, they decided to take the whole family on a vacation. This year we got to go to Santa Barbra, CA. We got there on the Mon. before Christmas and stayed until the following Tues. Even Uncle Bill got to come down and visit us for a few days. Mary and Ferrel rented a house on the beach for us and we spent the week enjoying each others company, the beach, the pool, all the beach toys including sea kayaks, boogie boards, surf boards, the peer every night and of course the warmth.


Monday, we all got settled in and drove around the town. Me and Sheri ran for a "quick" trip to the grocery store which ended up being an hr. drive and finding probably the scariest store in town. I don't think we ended up going to the store together after that.

Tuesday, we hung out on the beach and pool and waited for Grammy and Paps to get there. The kids were having so much fun that we say them when they needed food or towels. The nights were filled with games and movies.

Wednesday, we went down town with Ferrel, Helen, Willow and Malcolm to tour the city. We also went to the peer where we got Ice Cream. Willow was throwing hers away when a seagull decided he wanted it and grabbed the spoon right out of her hand. After trying to swallow it for a few minutes he decided to drop it and flew away. Due to the excitement of the day, we went home to calm down at the beach. :)

Thursday, was Christmas Eve and we took our kids, Mary and Ferrel, Willow and Helen to Slovang. It's an amazing little Swedish village with some fun shops (the sock shop), food and fudge, did we mention the fudge. We took a tour of the city by a horse drawn, elf driving carriage. The kids enjoyed it and want to go back there again. I'm all in (more fudge). That night we got back and enjoyed and amazing Christmas Eve Dinner with all the trimmings. Then I got put in charge of arranging costumes and grand kids in the nativity. While Sheri played the piano and Ferrel read the story. It was amazing and a great reminder of the true reason of Christmas. Then it was off to bed so Santa could come.

Friday, Christmas Day!!! We were awakened by 4 girls coming into our room at 6am wanting to see their surprises. John and I had them all piled in bed with us for 2hrs. watching TV. until we finally let them go wake the other parents. The kids were happy with the stockings and looked everything over for um 20min. then to the beach it was. The Pool, beach and hot tub was where the rest of the day was spent. Even I braved the water (and fish) to do a little boogie boarding. The next day we found out that the cove we were on was called "Sharks Cove" because the used to dump the carcasses of cows that were loaded onto the train in the ocean right there. Let's just say that was the last time I got in the water. We also took the bikes and went down to the peer for a bike ride, or walk if you didn't have a bike. It was definitely an amazing day.

Saturday, was spent at Magic Mountain 6 Flags, where we went on some insane rides including X2!!! All I have to say about that is been there, done that, don't need to do it again (the ride that is). All the other rides were great and John and I ended up taking Leks, Willow, Mary and Malcolm on all the other rides. Lek's surprised us and ended up going on all the rides. This is my little one that I had to bribe like crazy to go on Splash Mt. 2yrs ago. (Mike was with us but ended up in the car after three rides. He was a little green :) Mary and Ferrel walked around with Brax, Cedric and Helen to see all the sites and ride a few of the smaller rides.

Sunday, Mike and Kathy's families went up to there friends in Pismo Beach while our family and Mary and Ferrel enjoyed a little down time. We did go on a sunset sail and enjoyed a beautiful sunset, sea lions fighting for a place on a booey and topped off with Dolphins following our boat and showing off for us.

Monday, we had a bright idea of renting the man powered golf carts. That would be carts that you had to peddle in order to make them go. One guy told us that they were really fun for the first 10min. I believe he lied to us because the fun lasted for maybe 5 minutes. Those things are hard work!! We did have fun racing the other group and would have won if Sheri's off roading skills were just a little better :) After the work out we hit the peer again for a little snack. Then back to the house to pack up. The next morning we took off for the ride back to Flag.

We had a wonderful time together and will remember it more then any gift they could have given us. Thanks Ferrel and Mary for the great memories.