SNOW, SNOW, AND MORE SNOW!

It all started on Tues. we had to leave for Snowflake at 5am and it was snowing a little in Eagar, but by the time we got over the mountain we were going 30 mph and ended up being late for our meeting. By the time we got done at noon, there was no snow anywhere on the roads. Wed. morning we woke up to about 3-4 inches of snow, but then it cleared up and was sunny and nice and most of the snow melted. So much for this MAJOR storm that was supposed to hit. Thurs it started raining and rained most the day and into the night. We just thought the storm and gone around us like it usually does! However, we woke up to this today!! A winter wonderland!

We measured about 14 inches of snow and that's not counting all the rain we got! Mesa is getting lots of rain and our friend said that Roosevelt Lake has risen 8-9 feet since last night! My friend in Nutrioso has been without power since 8:30pm last night, at least we are not dealing with that. We are staying nice and warm by the fire and just enjoying watching it snow! School has been cancelled for the second time this year! We are going to venture out on the 4-wheeler to get the mail, just for fun! This is a record breaking snowfall in the mountains and one to remember!

Is It Possible?? 33 years??

Yep, its been 33 years we've been married! On Jan 21'st we were married in the Mesa AZ temple! I remember it was quite the ordeal. We were supposed to fly from Salt Lake City the day before, but because of fog, our plane didn't even land! We now had to drive all night, about 16 hours to get there in time for our wedding the next morning. Luckily our good friends, Mike & Sigrid Jones, offered to help us drive, so we could get a little sleep on the way. I remember getting to Sonja & Randy's house that morning, getting ready, heading to the court house to get our marriage license, then to the temple by 9am. It was pretty wild, but a good, funny memory. It was a rainy day in Mesa. We took pictures, then we went to visit his grandparents who weren't able to attend. LaVerl had planned a great honeymoon in Mexico, we went to Alcapulco, where we stayed in the most beautiful motel, the Alcapulco Princess, -Mexico City, where we saw the piramids, -Puerto Vallarta, on the beach where I took a parachute ride out over the ocean, then we took a ferry ride across to Cabo San Lucas, after that, a short flight to Lapaz and by then we were feeling a little sick, so we skipped Mazatlan and flew home to Phoenix. I tell you all this because after we went to visit family, met everyone at St. George's for dinner, we realized we didn't have a place to stay in Mesa before we left for Yuma and the reception there the next day! We drove around and everything was full, then we finally found this little dump of a motel and they only had one room left because the carpet was wet from cleaning. We took it!

Another interesting note, we drove back to fly out of Phoenix the next day and met Dave & Mary there who had just gotten married a month before us, and they also went on their honeymoon with us!! Fun Times! Its been a great 33 years, lot of wonderful memories! Thanks honey!

Tagged, too....

Tami's & Lisa's posts were so cute and well done, with alot of thought put into them, with pictures, etc, that mine is almost embarrassing. I wrote these last Sunday and put them in my journal and wasn't going to post them, but here goes....

10 Things that make me happy--

1-My husband! He is so good to me! For our whole married life, I've been able to be a 'stay at home mom' and have gotten very spoiled because of it, hence the reason I'm still not working and have no more kids at home! He also will eat about anything I put on his plate and not complain, how can a wife beat that!
2-My Children! What joy and happiness they bring into my life. Now I have 6 more to love and best of all---I get grand babies!!! I will never understand how they all turned out to be so wonderful and good!
3-My testimony! It brings me such comfort and peace knowing that I have a Heavenly Father that knows me, loves me and has a plan for me to return to Him. He has restored his gospel back to the earth and I can't imagine how my life would've turned out without being raised knowing this to be true!
4- My home! I love living in Eagar, in a house my husband built for our family. Best of all, its paid for and LaVerl is making us more self-sufficient with our cow, chickens, well, and now solar and wind power!
5- My health! I've always taken for granted that I never get sick and that I just seem to always wake up feeling good!
6- A rainy or snowy day makes me happy. Rain reminds me of Tillamook, my home town, where it rained almost everyday! It also means I can stay home and relax!
7- A clean house! I don't like clutter or dust or dirty dishes left undone. However, I'm not a fanatic or a 'germaphobe', and what I can't see doesn't bother me to much.
8-Cooking for others! I love to feed my family and have people enjoy good home cooked meals.
9- My parents! I'm so happy to still have them and for them teaching me my good values.
I thank them for a wonderful childhood and for all they did and still do for me!
10- Chocolate! Its last on my list, but it did make the top 10! Any kind makes me happy--dark, milk, bars, chips, candy, hot fudge, hot chocolate, chocolate ice cream, Lenna's truffles, Extreme chocolate blizzards at DQ, etc. etc.

Now- 10 Honest things about myself-- This was harder because sometimes we don't want others to know our secrets!

1- I'm going deaf! Its true. I can't hear alot of what people say to me. I like to watch all my movies with the subtitles! Drives my kids crazy, except Chad, he likes them too!
2- I'm always on a diet! My cookbook has all kinds of diets in the back and I've tried them all.
Refer back to #10 on happy list!
3- I'm cheap! I can't stand to pay full price for anything. Name brand doesn't mean a whole lot to me.
4- I'm a hoarder and hider! (Tami must get this from me!) I stash away stuff for later and them most of the time, can't find it. For instance, our neighbors gave us 2 1lb chocolate bars for Christmas. I've eaten most of them because I've hidden them and LaVerl doesn't know where! I bottle jars of pears, peaches, applesauce, etc. and then they stay on my pantry shelves looking pretty! Saving them, of course!
5- I'm basically very lazy and a time waster! I can 'piddle' away a whole day and wonder what I did!
6- I love to read fiction and romance novels! It's a curse, I've had to stop! Refer back to #5
7- I love to eat! I love fast food, I love nice restaurants, I love junk, I love ice cream, etc.
Refer back to #2
8- I'm hooked on Sci-fi shows! I like fantasy and superman and vampires! I love my new DVR, now I don't have to miss to many of them!
9- I've always been self-conscious of my big, ugly false tooth and my short, fat, cut off finger! I try not to be vain and let it bother me to much, but sometimes it does.
10- I cry easily. It can be while I'm singing in the choir, hearing someone else sing, saying my prayers, reading a touching story, or watching TV, or if I get my feelings hurt, etc. It doesn't take much and the tears start to flow!

Now that that's done, I tag Kari and Dad!

Hey, we started a blog!

So Kirk and I always said that when we started our family that we would also start a blog. So shout hooray, we have indeed done just that. Here is our site http://kirkandkari.blogspot.com/ Hope you enjoy!

Christmas in Texas

Here's our 6 month old Bubba Baby Zauwen (what Milea calls Zallen). Here's Kaemon on his fast, new Lightning McQueen bike - he loves it!

Our excited kids before opening presents

Santa and Mrs. Claus...shhhhh, don't tell the kids!

A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!

HAPPY DAY, WONDEROUS SURPRIZE, JOYFUL NEWS!! KARI IS PREGNANT!!
She is actually a little farther along than her baby sister, Tami!! (see Tami's blog!)
This is how they tried to break the news to all of us, while we were all together, with T-shirts that spelled out "Daddy" & "Mommy"! However, it took awhile for us to notice what they said!
We have all been praying and fasting for this for awhile now, and consider this a miracle and an answer to prayers!! I'm posting this picture because Kari was actually pregnant at Thanksgiving, but didn't know it yet, but the pose just seemed natural, like they already knew!!

WE'RE ALL SO HAPPY FOR YOU BOTH! AND FOR TAMI AND RYNE TOO.

Their babies will be born weeks apart, won't that be fun!!

Two Birthday Boys!

Chad turned the big "3-0" on Dec 29th! We all went to the Snowflake Temple that morning and then headed as far as Roosevelt later that day. As you can see, the beautiful water fountain was almost frozen over! Instead of baking a cake, Chad got a giant cookie to eat! Good thing he's easy to please!

On Bret's birthday, all the kids came over to play games, eat pizza and enjoy some good desserts! Later we all went to see 'Blind Side' at 10:30pm! We had the theater to ourselves!

These boys have almost always had to share their birthday parties! Good thing they like each other!
This was what Bret wanted for his birthday! His backyard patio poured. He and his dad worked long and hard, building the forms, leveling everything, hauling 80lb. bags of concrete, mixing it all in a wheelbarrow, working the concrete, etc. It was a long day and he still has one large form to pour! They can't wait to get grass growing in their backyard!

Christmas 2009

Christmas at the Crosby's was fun only because Bret's family was able to come. We would've been pretty lonesome without them and Chad. We missed all our other kids, but now that they are married, we have to share! It was sad that we couldn't dance the 'Christmas Polka' because our old record player stopped working, imagine that, its only 30 yrs old! We managed to keep a few of our other Christmas traditions- Mexican food on Christmas Eve, homemade PJ's, lots of games and food to eat. This year those that came got snowman pajama bottoms, to go with all the snow we had!!

We got Kingston all bundled up in my kids' old stuff, yep I still had the snowsuit, the snow boots, hats, gloves and the jacket that fit! It was really cold, the snow didn't melt for days!

Chad and London dancing to some of the Kingston and the Train!

old music LaVerl got for Christmas!