SURPRISE!!!!

On February 16th Grandma Lemon took Ty to Build a Bear to make his baptism doll and then out to eat. When he got home, Craig couldn't stand it any longer, and so he gave him our present to Tyler a few days early. What is inside the envelope???

NO WAY!! Is it really what I am seeing?

IT IS!!! Tickets to the Jazz Celtics game!!!
Tyler was a bit on the shocked side.
Especially since for the past month he has been asking Craig if he could go to this game, and of course I would but in and say NO WAY!! Tyler you will have to watch it from home. (I was afraid Craig would give in and tell him.) It was Tylers first Jazz game. They had 2nd row tickets in the upper deck.

Ben's new found joy- The telephone

Ben loves talking on the phone. He loves calling Grandpa, Christian, Sky, both Grandma's, Amy, Brigham, well basically everyone. He will talk and talk and talk. It is so funny to hear his conversations. He is getting to be so grownup. It is crazy to think my baby is not a baby any more.

Sara's Valentines box this year. She decided to make a piano. She even wrote her own music to put on it. She won the award for "The Most Magically thing." Way to go Sara!!!

Applebee's and Fun

After listening for a full month of Nicole whining she wanted to go to Applebee's and get her free meal she got from school, Craig decided to take them out. They had a blast eating, going to the mall, and of course getting Cold Stone on the way home. What a fun night with dad!!!

Ahoy! Matey!! Daddy Daughter Date for Activity Days

Craig and Sara arrive at the Daddy Daughter Pirate Date at the Church for activity days. As you can see the theme was Life as a Pirate. First things first, everyone had to get their pictures taken by the treasure chest and flag.
Then it was time to eat. Only those who attended were the Brethren of the Coast (Those who kept the pirate code). While eating the Cap'n came in and told them that it was time for all hands on be on deck! (Stop and look here) Well some of the pirates disobeyed, and were sent to walk the plank.

(Dinner was stew, salad, rolls, and raspberry cake.)

Craig and Sara walking the plank. It was actually like a three legged race, but their legs were strapped to a board, and they were racing other pirates to the other side of the gym. The pirates didn't like who won the race and so many cutlasses (pirate swords) were drawn.

Cutlass (Sword Fighting)

One of the match ups was between the Clayson's and the Massey's.

Claysons-Ye scurvy dogs! (Good for nothing punks) You have been hornswagglin' (cheating). You must be cat o' nine tails (whipped or punished).

Massey's- Blow me down (you don't say) you Bonny Lass (sweetheart girl). Weigh anchor (Let's go)

So the fight begins between the Clayson's and Massey's. Who will win?

Blimey! (Wow!) The Clayson's did it. They defeated the Massey's, but wait. . . .
The Clayson's turned on each other. The Bucko's (friends) will have a fight. Watch out Sara, he is aiming high!! Ho (there in the distance) the Cap'n entered the ship and and said, Me Hearties (shipmates) a Scourge of the seven seas (a real bad dude) just plundered (stole the loot). Scallywag (scoundrel)! The pirates yelled. It was time to go and find this lad and the booty (treasure). They were off!!!

A Pirate party wouldn't be a party unless there was sword fighting. We made swords for all the girls and their dads out of balloons. This was the best part of the evening. They fought for a good 10 to 15 minutes. Everyone was laughing so hard. The men really got into it. They weren't just going after there daughters, they were going after each other. It was the best!!

X marks the spot

The pirates formed different groups to go out to search for the booty. Sara, Craig, and the Horlachers got ready to start the treasure hunt. After a long night at sea, they at last came home with the booty, there was even some Doubloon (spanish gold pieces).

The treasure hunt was awesome. One of the leaders came up with clues that even the dads had to struggle a little to figure out. They were very cleaver and of course she use pirate talk.

Sara found the stolen treasure. Each girl received a letter from their dads along with some gold coins, and of course jewelry.
Sara reading her letter from Craig in front of the Cross bones. It was time to say Fair winds! (goodbye) to all of the pirates and head off to the Fiddlers Green (pirate heaven or home). But before The Clayson's could go, they mush have one last picture! Arrrr Savvy!! (understand)
Since I am an Achievement Days leader we had a family picture. It was a fun night!!
Yo Ho Yo Ho a Pirates Life for Me!!!!

Being welcomed to the Old Farts Club

On January 7th, Craig turned the Big 40!!!! He was not looking forward to this at all!! In fact he wanted everyone to forget that he even existed. So me being the sweet wife that I am decided to respect his wishes and throw only a "small" family party. So on January 10th we invited family over for cake and ice cream. My parents showed up dressed up as old farts, and welcomed him into their club. They were decked out with the toupe, glasses, saggy boobs, canes, basically the works. My parents as you can tell LOVE to dress up.

Craig is now officially apart of the "Club." He even inherited the toupe.
Ben patiently waited for cake time. On Craig's birthday Nicole ran to him and said, Happy Birthday Dad! I am glad you are 14 today. So that is why 14 is on the cake and not 40. Plus, I think it made Craig feel better.
Well, it was time to blow out the candles, so we took the cake from Ben. As you can tell he was very, very, very disappointed.

About a half hour into the party, there was a knock at the door. It was Gina who had come over to wish Craig a happy birthday. Craig had the strangest look on his face, because he figured she had come over to talk with me. It really threw him, when she went and sat down in the living room instead of coming in the kitchen with me where I was dishing out cake and ice cream. A few more minutes later the Schellhous's showed up and slowly more and more people came. Craig just looked at me laughing and said, small huh!!! He was shocked!!! It was a fun evening!!

The "Small" Party grew

Craig received Jell-o and straws from the Rich's. He will truly need this now!

Ryan Ortiz and Scott Clayson eating treats and talking.

Cheresa and Gina chatting in the kitchen.

Brandon and Mitch are sharing the Chocolate Macadamia cookies. These where the hit of the night. They are also our wonderful home teachers.

The proud mother of Craig. La Verde is the one who brought the delicious cookies!!!

Friends and Family at "The Party"

Amy and Venna Dee smiling big for the camera!!
Julie and Kailee came to wish Craig the big 40!!

Friends just talking and chillin out. The night turned out great!!! What a fun way to celebrate the dreaded day of turning 40!!!
Nicole and Ben chillin out after the party. They are so cute together. Best Buds!!

Friends and Los Hermanoes

Some friendships will last forever, and I can say that about these girls in this picture. I have been friends with Lisa and Lori (the two in the middle since 4th grade) and Laurie since I we were in Kindergarten. We also have one other friend who lives in Michigan, Melissa, who we miss dearly. It is always so fun to get together, chat, laugh, remineince with each other. After Christmas we got together with our husbands to do just this at Los Hermanoes. What a great time we all had.

I am finally updating- Craig got a job

My computer has been down for a while and so now it is catch up time. So Craig was feeling sick in December and so after much convincing he finally made a doctors appointment. Well the day of his appointment, I had 5 extra kids at my house and Sara had a Physical Therapy Appointment at the same time as his doctors appointment. So I had to have him reschedule. So the day of his 2nd appointment came around and he went down to the clinic. In the waiting room was a buddy of his who he runs with and they started talking. This friend of his owns his own business and was telling Craig that he was laying off a bunch of people and how hard things were right now. He asked how Craig was doing and he of course told him he was looking for work. This appointment was on the last day we had insurance, and Craig thought nothing of the conversation. Four or Five days later Craig got a phone call from him offering him a job, running part of a company that had been neglected for some time. The company was profitable at one time, but because of situations had turned sour. We were in shock. He was just laying off a bunch of people and now he was offering Craig a job. He told Craig to think about it and to get back with him next week.

For me it was like Yes!!!! Call him back right now and say you will start in 2 minutes. Not that I was wanting Craig to be out of the house, because truly at times it has been a huge blessing having him home. With all of Sara's doctor visits that past few months, I don't know how I would have done it if he was working. Yet at the same time I was ready for him to be out working, feeling confident in himself again and not so down. Finally, after a few weeks of playing phone tag they connected and he started working in the middle of January. Craig has a lot of work ahead of him, and at times it might not be the best job, but at least it is a pay check.

I guess through all of this I have to say I am truly grateful for Craig. Not that I wasn't before, but you see how people truly are during trials, and he is simply amazing. He has always provided for us so well, and has been an incredible father and husband. This trial has been very hard on him, because he felt like a loser not being able to provide for the family, and yet I would try to remind him that he has and is still so continuing to provide for us. With his past jobs we were able to save money, and therefore he was still providing. I can't imagine the pressures he was feeling during this time. But I guess it is like for us women when we are struggling with our responsibilities that we have as wives and mothers. Some days the weight of being the perfect wife and mother is very overwhelming. But I can truly say, Craig is simply amazing at how he kept his chin up and continued to press forward each day when he felt like there was a dark cloud over him. I love you so much!!!

We truly have been blessed

This past year has been a big roller coaster. The past ten years of our marriage for the most part has been very stable, but this year has not been that. In October Craig was laid off and when this happens your mind seems to leave your body and you feel like you are just going in circles. I tried really hard to stay solid, because it was very difficult for Craig to accept that he was unemployed, especially after a month of searching daily to find nothing. But it seems when things like this happen in your life, you are blessed beyond comprehension. First, Craig's past employer decided to leave us on health insurance until Dec. 31st. What a blessing! Sara completed her last physical therapy session on the 29th of Dec. The cost of her medical bills without insurance would have been outstanding. Second, one day I checked the mail and there were two gift cards in an envelope with nothing on the card. I thought how sweet. I figured the cards had 20.00 dollars on them. Well when I got to Macey's to use the cards, there was 500.00 dollars on them. I sat there speechless. I never in my life had to have anything like this ever done for me. Last year in fact, we were the ones giving to others, so to be on the recieving end was very humbling. I have truly been blessed with amazing friends and family who are always there for us, helping us through whatever comes our way. I have no idea who did this for us, but we are truly grateful. These gift cards, helped so we could pay other bills, and not worry about every day neccessities. Third as I just mentioned we have been blessed with amazing friends and family. People in our lives who have called on the phone at just the right moment, or who invited Craig to come over and watch a game. When you have such a big thing like not having a job come into your life you don't realize how hard it impacts you until you have it happen to you. I can honestly say I am grateful for this happening to us. My eyes were truly open to what others are struggling with and how amazing and giving others are to help those in need. We gave in the past, but when we get on our feet the giving will intensify much more. I truly am sorry that I was so blinded by my own life that I hadn't been giving and helping those who were struggling more. I had my own family members without a job and when I would talk to my sister, she would tell me they were doing fine. The bad thing is I believed her. When the fact is, there were days she had no bread, no milk and they weren't getting paid for 2 to 3 days. I asked her about why she didn't tell me the truth, and she said she felt dumb. I promise I will never let something like this happen ever again. I will definately be more caring and considerate of others.

Ben and his nails

Ben had to have his nails painted too! Tyler was so disappointed in his little brother, he was beside himself. But as you can see Ben is very proud! Look Ty, I pretty!

Nicole wanted to add some more color to Ben. She didn't think his toes looked just right. What a good big sis!

But when I came back into the kitchen, she decided to paint other parts of his body. Not just his hands and feet. Ben wasn't to sure about this, and he especially didn't like the rubbing of cotton balls with finger nail polish remover on him.

Sara's Foot Party

On December 30, 2008 we celebrated Sara's foot being all better. She invited friends over to eat pizza, dance, and do pedicures. They all had a great time! We are so excited that Sara is all finished with Physical Therapy and that she is whole again! Good job Sara!!

Playing the wii

Let the fun begin!! The day after Christmas is always the best!!! There is no where to go, so we hang out as a family and play with all the toys. This year we got a Wii. Man, I am in serious trouble. With all of my amazing abilities, I would think I could hold my own in the Wii Olympics. NOT!!! Nicole and Tyler kicked my trash in the javelin, swimming, and well basically in everything. When they go to bed, I know what I will be doing, Practicing!!!
Tyler wanted to jam some hoops!!! Look at the air!!

Ben was so excited when we set up his tool bench. How cute is he. How sweet is Sara to sit and play with him. They built a bird house, and lots of cool things. He is learning at a young age, then next thing he is going to build is a bedroom set. I think he can do it, don't you?