What a Year!

So, last year, we were waiting for this little
girl to arrive. Oakley will be a year old this
week, and here she is helping her mommy do laundry.

This was not the only change of the year. We definitely had our share of ups and downs! Oakley was born in January, then Lexi and Brock came in April. Brock was born with a bad heart valve, spent his first week of life in the cardio intensive care unit at Primary Children's Hospital, had two surgical procedures in three months, and is now doing well. He will continue to be monitored, and may have to have open heart surgery someday, but things are looking good for now.

Cheryl's dad died on September 1st and Brent's dad died seven weeks later. Also during that time, both of us were laid off work. Teaching jobs are not real plentiful right now, and the districts can hire new teachers for a lot less money than they can hire experienced teachers, so, yeah, we can do the math - no new teaching positions yet. To have some income in the meantime, Brent went to truck driving school and is now driving longhaul. He's gone for a few weeks at a time, then home for a few days, then off on the road again. Cheryl is still doing odd jobs and looking for full-time employment. Actually, she thinks it would be very nice to be independently wealthy so she could play with the grandkids, do family history, and work on scrapbooks all the time! But, that is not happening.

Pepper was born at the end of September (something good had to happen during that time!) Both Lexi and Pepper came early, and neither Natalie or Rachel had time to get an epidural.

To sum that up, we had four new babies, two deaths, and two job losses. But, we want to assure you that life goes on . . . and on . . . and on.

Tyson and Jett both like grampa's big truck!

Brock and Pepper at the swimming pool; notice the totally unexcited looks!

Jett loves being with his grampa; he
has a really hard time figuring out why
he can see gramma, but not grampa.

Jett has also learned how to climb out of his crib at home, and his playpen bed here. When we opened the door to get him up from his nap, this is the scene that greeted us. All the toys were off of the shelves, but we were not sure what he was trying to accomplish with the stool!

Rachel and I saw these lunch boxes
just after Pepper was born and resisted
buying one then. But Gramma couldn't
resist one for Christmas (and it was on
sale by then!).

This picture is mostly for Natalie. We have two little sleeping bags at our house for the grandkids, but Ady and Tyson have been the only two old enough to use them yet. When Ady saw the other little sleeping bag on the shelf, she said, "That's Tyson's! Where's Tyson?" It was really quite cute, so, Natalie not only do you miss being out here with us, you (or, at least Tyson) are also missed!