Christmas 2008!

Well Christmas has come and gone. And it left a wake of destruction at the Gleason home. We wouldn't have it any other way though. The kids had the best Christmas and Jon and I did too. Just watching them get so excited about it and really wanting and wishing for Santa to come made this the best Christmas ever!

Daddy and his lil buddy
The older kids making cookies for Santa

We got them the coolest Christmas Eve jammies that lit up and had robes, they were sooo cool!

Kids posing as nice as they could so mommy could get the pictue

The Christmas Tree before Santa made it to our house.

The Christmas Tree after Santa stopped by.

Mason and his new pet Spike, he is the coolest thing, completely remote control and he goes like crazy!

Brooklynn and her kitchen, she LOVES it!

Jaxson and his "talking ball" you put these bracelets on and it remembers what color you are and you play games like hot potato, it's pretty neat.

Brooklynn's Birthday!

Hello everyone! I just got around to posting some of Brooklynn's Birthday pictures! We had a great time! Grandparents on both sides were here and even Brooklynn's great grandparents were able to make it. She had some Aunts and Uncles, cousins and friends. She got tons of presents and now poor Santa is at a loss for Christmas :( But, all in all it was a wonderful time!
Brooklynn and her cheesy ice cream and cake smile!

When she opened that coat she had to have it on and no one could tell her otherwise!

Her grandma Keyes helping her with some of her gifts!

Her and her new baby in the stroller!

She was so tired and cranky by the end of the day that she wouldn't even look at us anymore. But it was a wonderful day and we loved spending it with family and friends!

Where does the time go?!?!

Jon and I were just talking about how fast life passes us by the other day and it really got me thinking about the last 6+ years. We have had so much go on it's almost hard to remember it all. When we got the pictures with Santa done the other day we laughed that Jaxson was just about the same age as Kayson is when he got his pictures done in that same outfit! I look back over the past year and it seems to have gone by faster than all the rest. When I was extremely pregnant with Kayson I just kept thinking everything would slow down after the baby (hah, wishful thinking)! Then it was things will slow down after the older kids start school, again, hah! Then it was after September birthdays, then Halloween, then Thanksgiving...WAIT! Is it seriously Christmas time. Where did the time go?! Anyway enough of the ranting and raving. I vowed that I would take the time to take more pictures and to make sure people get to share in our children's lives so...there will be many more pictures coming and I will continue to keep everyone posted on our lives! We love you all!
Here is Brooklynn being silly and hanging upside down behind daddy's back at Thanksgiving :)

I think this might be the biggest smile I have ever seen this kid give, he is a hard one to crack :D

Kayson just loves his big brother Jax, and Jax just loves the camera ;)

Oh my little girl, she looks like sugar and acts like spice and daddy thinks she is nothing but nice(she sure has him fooled) LOL!

And our Mason, if this doesn't fit him to a tee. We were at my brother's house and they were playing Rock Band. Mason decided he wanted to sing and picked up the mic and gave the ROCK sign!

It's that time of year...again!

Well, I can't believe it is that time of year again. It feels like everything has gone by so fast. I just couldn't believe that Thanksgiving was a couple of days ago and Christmas is right around the corner. On Friday we went up to the Uintas to cut down our tree (which was an experience with 4 kids to say the least). Needless to say our tree is pretty homely, but the kids love it and that's all that matters...right? Then today Santa was at Wal-Mart! The kids were so excited, everyone but Brooklynn got pictures:( And a lady with the local paper was there and asked if she could use Jaxson and Kayson's pictures for the paper! We thought that was exciting! If they actually get in there I will scan and post it in my blog!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We ate with my dad's side of the family in Evanston and it was great. While we had all of my family there we decided to do some pictures. I love this one! We actually had the kids looking at the camera, it was really funny, Jaxson was break dancing between takes and had everyone laughing! So, here is us!

Here is my dad and mom, us, my brother Chance, and Bo and his family. Notice Jaxson hamming it up!

Brook and the boys were so good today. It was a complete turn around from last year. They ate and listened and it made it a wonderful day!

Just a little footnote. I wanted to share with you some of the things I am thankful for. I am thankful for family. Not just my husband and kids, but everyone who I am lucky enough to be able to call family. I am thankful for the strength and guidance that I receive from the Gospel and my testimony of the church. I love you all and am thankful for this life I have been given and all the wonderful things in it!

Better late then never: Service!

So, we finally got around to doing our service project for Papa Gleason's birthday. We decided that since it was close to Christmas we would go through the kids' toys and give some away to the local charity. We don't have a DI, here we have a place called the Bargain Box. It is a pay if you can kind of store. We spent most of the morning on Saturday going through the kids' toys and finding ones that would be good to give away. Daddy suggested that each of the kids pick out one of their favorite toys and give them away also. Jaxson picked his gun, Mason his guitar and Brooklynn her star stacker.

When we were all done, Daddy and the boys packed it all into the van and drove it down to the Bargain Box. Jaxson was actually really excited to know that some "little Jaxson" would be getting his favorite gun possibly for Christmas. Mason on the other hand had some trouble with letting his guitar go. We just thought that this was a great way for the whole family to get involved with service and with the way the economy is right now Christmas may be a hard time for families and we thought this was a way we could help. It was a great morning and a wonderful feeling to think that this could make some little kids' Christmas!

Twilight, now what?!?!

So, I went and seen Twilight last night! Jon was the good hubby and stayed at home with the kids while me and my sister-in-law went to the late show. She hasn't read the books and didn't understand why I went over to the theater and stood in line for an hour to get tickets but she was a good sport and let me act like a silly teenager! I wore my Twilight sweater and everything! Now, I will not divulge scenes from the movie (most of you probably know how the movie went). I will tell you it does have some missing parts and it is somewhat different from the book. Books carry so much more details and you already have scenes and characters pictured in your mind, but it was a GOOD movie. I will tell you one thing, Eric was not how I pictured him or were some of Bella's other friends. But one thing is for sure, to me, they got Edward right! You should go see for yourselves!

Update on the Fam!

Hey everyone, I just wanted to drop in and give an update on us. My dad got released from the hospital Tuesday morning. Don't ask me why, I couldn't believe it when they told me either. He has not physically improved one bit, still tons of fluid in his lungs and has to be on constant oxygen. The doctors said there was nothing more for them to do but wait and see if the antibiotics started to work and that could be done from home. He has started to look better, maybe I'm under-estimating the healing effects of being in your own home, but I would have rather sent him to Salt Lake to get what I felt like would have been better care. None the less, he is still here and that is a blessing in and of itself. Thank you for your prayers and concern and love and support I can't tell you how much it means to us (especially me). Our kids have had this nagging cough for some time and with the paranoia setting in from my dad's incident I took them to the doctor the other day. Mason looked to have some lingering effects of an ear infection so the doctor put him on ammoxicillian which, believe it or not, is a real pain to get him to take (and yes, it still tastes like the best candy on earth) so why he fights it is still a mystery. Brooklynn was fine, I had gotten her developmental screening done a while ago and they were having a hard time getting her ears to get a reading on the machine that makes mountains (Annette would know what I mean) so the doctor wants me to get her re-screened to make sure she has full hearing. I will let you all know what I find out regarding this. Other than that she is great! Oh, poor Kayson :( He developed this horrible cough Monday so I was really worried about him considering it is RSV season so when the doctors checked him out and said he had some "gunk" in his chest my heart sank. She put him on ammoxicillian as well, and a nebulizer. It is so sad (and kinda cute) I must admit to see him sitting on his daddy's lap with a little oxygen mask over his little face. He is a trooper and just sits there and takes it. He has to do this for a month and again, I will let you all know how we are doing day by day. We love you all!

What a Weekend

Oh man, I don't think I have been this worn out (emotionally and physically) in a while. It has been quiet the weekend. It started Friday with us heading down to Salt Lake to help my mom get my dad taken care of after his shoulder surgery. He actually had it done Thursday and we thought he would come home Friday so we headed up there to help her get him home but...they decided to keep him over night so we got a hotel room at one of the Best Westerns over there. It was nice cause I get to stay at the Best Westerns for 39 bucks a night with the employee discount! So we just hung out there and Jon took the boys swimming (which they LOVED!) Then the next morning we got up and walked over to there continental breakfast and ate as we were walking back Jaxson jumped in front of me on a flight of cement stairs and I missed a step and down I went, Kayson in arms! I tried so hard to stop us but we just kept falling, I kept him tucked in one arm a when we hit the bottom he was just fine, not a scratch (just scared) I, on the other hand was slightly banged up, but ok. The kids and Jon were shocked to see me falling down with Kayson in tow but so grateful we were not hurt. So, we got back to the room and got ready and went to help my mom with my dad. When we got there they were about ready to go and said that my grandparents were going to be at my parent's house to help when they got home so we could head straight to Preston. We got on our way and everyone was good and healthy. We got to Preston about 12:30 or so and waited for everyone to get back from theirTemple session and when they did we visited and had a wonderful early Thanksgiving dinner. Then, to top my wonderful weekend off I received a call from my mom that she had taken my dad to the ER because he wasn't breathing well and he was coughing up blood. I was so scared that something was terribly wrong with my dad, my mom called me again and told me that the doctor confirmed that he had pneumonia in both his lungs and that they were both almost completely filled with fluid so, we jumped in the car and headed home. When we got here we had to help my brother fix a broken water line at my parent's house(as if they didn't have enough to worry about) and by the time we got that fixed it was late. We brought the kids home and got them in bed and went to see my dad this morning. I can't remember ever seeing him this sick in my entire life. He has always been so healthy and even when he was sick he never stopped moving. It just breaks my heart to see him laying there all tied up with tubes and just looking like he was in so much pain. The doctors haven't said much but they have him on oxygen and tons of antibiotics and I pray he gets better soon. Please keep him in your prayers.

Playin Catchup!

Just wanted to post a couple of pictures from Halloween so everyone could see the kids in thier costumes. Jax was a boxer, Mase was a dragon (although he kept calling it a crocodile), Brook was a fairy princess, and Kays was a lil monster! We had a good time! Enjoy!

Here I am...finally!

Well, it finally happened! I started blogging! This first one is just gonna b an fyi, since most of you that will be reading this are family I figured I could skip the whole getting to know me speech LOL! We are doing good, Jaxson loves Kindergarten and Mason is getting alot out of Pre-School (and honestly so am I...like housework!) Jon's job is going good, busy but good. When he started as Residentail Coordinator he had one apartment complex and one group home plus the business facilities he was taking care of and since April he has added one more group home and a Crisis Center that is inches away from being finished. Needless to say we haven't seen much of Dad the last month or so. I am still hostessing/bussing at the Legal Tender Resturant and it is not as bad as it sounds. It gets me out of the house 3 or so times and week and leaves me with some cash in my pocket (which feels oh so nice!) The kids are getting big, I will keep updated pictures on here so you can all see how fast they grow! Kayson is just about 6 months and Brooklynn will be 2 here in a few weeks. All in all we are good!