UPDATE!!!!!!!

Wow I know it has been a really long time but, yes we are alive!! This post will update everything and then I promise to be better. On the 17th my sweet husband turned 28. The monday before his birthday I took him to a Jazz game. We had a blast. It was our second game of the year and maybe one day we can afford to be season ticket holders. On his real birthday we just ordered pizza and watched the Jazz game on tv at his request. Just a side note my dad has season tickets to the Flash games so we went one night and took Mike and Ronda. At half time Mike says hey theres Coach Sloan. He was sitting six rows in front of us. Jeremy went and got a sharpy and had him sign his Jazz hat and then later I had him sign one for my nephew Justin for his birthday. For new years eve Rod's Family, Sharon's Family and the Marshall's came over and played games and ate yummy treats all night. At midnight the kids went out with Jeremy and threw pops on the road and had fun making a mess.
Stetler loves his jumperoo but this is usually what happens to him after jumping his little heart out for awhile. He ends up sound alseep!

I put him in his crib with his bottle for a nap. Well he drank his bottle and then kept talking and talking. I left him in there anyways and when I went to check on him once it had been silent for about five minutes this is how I found him hunched over sound asleep!

CHRISTMAS 2008

Christmas morning we woke up at 6:30 and opened presents. Grandma and Grandpa Ekins came up and so did Grandma Faunda. Stetler was alot of fun for being a baby. He crawled around and played with everything wether it was his present or not (he kept stealing Rylee's laptop) and when we would help him get his open he would freak out until you got it out of the box so he could play with it!

Rylee was not happy at first because we woke her up but as soon as she realized that there was toys inside the wrapping paper she was all about it and was way fun to watch. I think her favorite toy was the digital camera and new babies she got.

Stetler and one of his favorite people, Grandma!

Jeremy enjoying watching the excitement in his kids.

Grandpa got stuck opening the boxes and getting the toys out of them.

Chyanne was awesome in the words of her dad! She was tearing those presents up. I tried to make her slow down so we could see what everyone was getting but Jeremy told me to let her be because he was loving watching her excitement everytime she opened a present. It is true that the older they get the funner they are. I can't wait until next year. Her favorite presents were her camera and leapster.

ARE YOU READY WALK STET WALK

OH WAIT YOU CAN'T! He sure tried and hung on for a few face plants but then decided he liked the front of the toy better. Jeremy's got an Ipod and clothes and I got a dyson, pillows and a new outfit for church. The day after Christmas we went out and bought us a WII. We just couldn't stand it anymore and we have had so much fun playing it.
Christmas day I cooked my first turkey dinner for everyone. I was so nervous that it wouldn't all turn out but it was yummy. After we ate we played a bunch of games and just hung out. What a holiday.

Stetler loving the choclate pudding his naughty Grandpa decided to feed him without his mommy knowing!

K Grandpa thats enough!
CHRISTMAS EVE 2008

Chyanne and Kaysha
Christmas eve we went down to my mom and dads and went tubing in the fields. It was so much fun. I couldn't ride the tube but I sure had a blast pulling the tube behind the 4 wheeler and dumping my brothers and husband in the snow!

Chad thinking he was a pretty good tube rider which he was with Jeremy driving him but, once me and Rod pulled him he wasn't so good anymore!

Jeremy showing off two seconds before he eats it.

Jes and Kaysha came and played in the snow with us. It was really fun because we haven't hung out forever.

Yes that tube is riding on top of the person and that person is my niece Jessie. She just hung on and rode it out. What a TROOPER!
This is the after math of that ride.

Wow it is sure cold out here!

Gentry and wade were having fun until they got thrown off then Wade was crying and not to happy anymore.
Rod having a blast pulling everyone around.

I was pretty shocked that Chyanne liked riding the tube but only with Jessie. She didn't want to get off.

Me and Jeremy

Gentry, Chyanne, Jessie, Chance, Austin & Christy

Opening Christmas eve jammies together.

Chad and Josh. My brother and his family came up for Christmas this year and had their baby blessed. It was so nice to have them here because they live so far away that we don't see them much. I loved getting to spend some girl time with Rita and getting to know her personality. She is so much fun to be around and is a really good mom to Josh. Chad and Jeremy played video games and just hung out. They got along really well and I think had fun getting to know each other better. Josh is such a sweet little boy. His personality is alot like Stetler's just happy
to be here.

CHYANNE'S PRESCHOOL PROGRAM 2008

Stetler was sitting on my lap and kept looking around to see Santa so I put him on his and he did not like him one bit as you can see!

Chyanne talking his leg off. Notice there is no picture of Rylee. That is because she wanted nothing to do with him but, he was sitting there holding a candy cane in his hand waiting for
the next child to come sit on his lap and next thing I knew Rylee ran up there took the candy
cane out of his hand and came running back to me. We were all cracking up but I sure wish
I would have got it on video.

Tayler and Chyanne singing the reindeer song

SCRAPBOOKING GIRLS WEEKEND!

Saedi called me and said they had room for me to go scrapbooking with them over night if I
wanted to go. Of course I was so excited so I called Jeremy and he said go have fun!! We had
A blast scrapbooking and just talking and joking all night. Thanks girls for such a fun weekend.

As we were loading the cars Saedi came in the cabin and said Brandee go get your gun there is a
buck standing right outside. I was like ya right and she says no I am not kidding it is standing
right outside. We went outside and sure enough a buck just standing there. I walked up to him
until I was about ten feet from him before he started to walk off. It was pretty cool.
HALLOWEEN 2008

Casey aka Don't remember, Tayler aka Cinderella, Sharon (hunter) and Robert (jockey)

Jeremy dressed up as a home owner who tried to wire his own house and yes those are potatoes
in the bowl. For those who know Jeremy know that he can't just hand out candy he has to tease
kids first. He made the kids really think thats what he was giving them and some kids actually took them before he grabbed the candy bowl and gave them their real treat!

Stetler as a pumpkin. I really wanted to dress him up as Jack Jack on the Incredibles but thought of it to late to come up with a costume.

Rylee as a dragon. Billy and robin gave us this costume last year and Rylee always wears it

around the house all the time so it was easy figuring out her costume.

Chyanne always wants to be a princess of course. The debate is always which one she wants to
be. Sleeping Beauty won this year. That is what we have been up to lately. I know it is in the
wrong order but I wanted everything to be in order so when I print my posts it is this way.
Thanks to all the friends and neighbors who brought us goodies during the holiday season. We
love you all. A little update on the knee. It is still not getting full extention so they are thinking
about putting me in a brace that you crank tighter and tighter everyday until it is finally
straight. So hopefully when I go back in a coulpe of weeks I will have made some progress and
we won't have to do that. Softball and Disneyland are coming up quick so it better be fixed by
then. Love you all!!

Going Private...

So I am going to make our blog private. After they talked about people stealing pictures from other peoples blogs and putting nazi symbols on their childrens faces last night on channel 5 news I decided it was time to protect my family. If you want to be invited just leave me your email. I would love to still be in contact with you all. Thanks and have a good day!

Tagged!

4th picture in the 4th folder!
This picture was taken two years ago on the grass in our old apartment. Oh my have they grown or what! I tag Saedi, Val, Jackie, Ashley, Jessica R, Jesica M & Ashlyn.

Deer Hunt

Last Thursday Jeremy was going out hunting so I decided I would go and try to fill my tag. Well the bumpy ride wasn't to great on my knee but I just dealt with it. We rode around and saw nothing. On the way back it was getting dark and you could see a deer on the skyline so Jeremy got out his spotting scope to see if it was a buck. In the mean time me and Garth spotted three deer running and were trying to tell Jeremy where they were. We jumped on the 4 wheelers and headed the direction they were running but couldn't see them. So Jeremy told me that the one on the skyline was a little spike and asked if I wanted to shoot it. At first I said no but then soon realized that my knee could not take another adventure and if I wanted to fill my tag I better just shoot the stupid spike. We drove the 4 wheeler closer to where I could get a better shot. K I am laying on the 4 wheeler looking through the scope and not realizing how close I am to it. I pull the trigger and the gun kicked back and I got scoped. I was so mad because I had a huge swollen eye and a pretty good cut that was bleeding and I was being a big baby and Jeremy told me to buckle down and just shoot the deer. Lets just say the next shoot dropped the stupid deer. Garth took a couple pictures with his camera while laughing his butt off telling me that I am to funny and always make it fun for him when he comes with us. On the way back to the trucks we got lost and drove down three wrong rodes in the dark before we found the right one. I am so glad I got out and went with them because we always make the best memories hunting together. On the way home we stopped and Taco Bell and got some food. As we were standing there ordering the lady helping us kept staring at my eye. Of course my husband saw this as an oppurtunity to make a joke. He looks at me and says get mouthy again and I will cut your other eye. The lady looks at him like are you serious and then he looks at her and says ya I'm abusive. I had to walk away because I was laughing. I can't take him anywhere!!

tAg 8 tHiNgS!

*8 t.v. shows I like to watch:
1. Survivor
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Amazing Race
4. News
5. Desperate Housewives
6. Scrubs
7. What not to wear
8. Clifford

*8 things that happened yesterday:
1. Fed the kids breakfast
2. Cleaned my car
3. Bathed kids
4. Went to physical therapy
5. Went to Walmart with Ronda
6. Did dishes
7. Watched the news
8. Drove the 4 wheeler so Jeremy could load it

*8 favorite places to eat:
1. Cafe Rio
2. Wingers
3. Brick Oven
4. Olive Garden
5. Barrys
6. Ruby Tuesday
7. Jenny's house
8. Tucano's

*8 things I'm looking forward to:
1. Full rotation of my knee
2. walking normal
3. Paying off my car
4. Day after Thanksgiving shopping!
5. School all day (a long ways away but I can't wait)
6. Christmas
7. Meeting my nephew Josh
8. Disneyland in March!

*8 things on my wish list
1. New truck
2. get a new calling (mine stinks!)
3. Stetler crawling
4. Jeremy getting a work truck and gas card
5. Clothes
6. Mixer
7. Dyson
8. Underwear for Rylee!!!

*8 people I tag
1. Jessica R
2. Jesica M
3. Val
4. Saedi
5. Aunt Terrie
6. Jackie
7. Chelsey H
8. Ashley

Dance

Chyanne loves to dance and my good friend Val teaches a class at the high school so I decided to put her in it to see what she thought about it. Well it didn't surprise me that she loved it! They learned a really cute dance to lollipop lollipop and some basic dance steps.

This is all the girls lined up ready to leap over a stuffed animal on the floor!

Chyanne dancing away.

Chyanne and her teacher Val. She was so excited when she found out who her teacher was. She said Val is my teacher mom I know her and I like her she is my friend. On the way to my moms after dance the first night this is how our conversation went
Chyanne: Mom can you dance?

Me: Ya but not very well

Chyanne: Well I will show you sometime because I am a good dancer

Me: Ok thanks so much that would be great.
I was rolling inside. It was so cute because she is always trying to teach me new things. If only we could teach like a little child the world would be a happy place!

CORDOVA, ALASKA 9/6/08-9/14/08

Eyak River

Day One 9/6/08
We drove to Vegas Friday night and flew out Saturday morning. When we got there Gary my dad's cousin met us at the airport and helped us get all of our luggage and coolers to the apartment we were staying at. As we were gathering all of our coolers because we had 14 there were some guys from California kind of making fun of us because we had so many. One of them ask what was in them and we told them that we had made all of our food and froze it to bring with us so we wouldn't have to buy groceries there and they laughed and said what a pain and they were just going to go buy theirs here and we said good luck! The first night we played cards and went to the grocery store to get our fishing liscenses. Can I just tell you that I could not believe the prices of their groceries. Milk was $5 a gallon, a bag of chocolate minature candy bars was $18.15, a twelve pack of pop was $7.35 etc. low and behold we ran into those guys who were just going to do their shopping there and all I have to say is whos laughing now! It is crazy! We decided to leave Stetler at home with grandma and it was a good thing because it rained every day.

Jeremy, Me, Robert & Sharon in front of the boat harbor

I love this picture because it reminds me of the show Deadliest Catch!

Day Two 9/7/08

Christy at the ocean.
The second day we got up and hit the river first thing in the morning. The first spot we were in we were not catching anything so we moved up river and everyone caught one except Robert. I have to say he was a pretty good sport about it. Next we headed to the ocean because it was high tide and the fish are all right there in front of you. Well they don't like to bite. Everyone was fed up except dad and he just kept casting and not catching a thing. So I decided if he was going to keep fishing then I was to. I went down there and after awhile I caught one but dad never did!!

Robert trying but no sucess.

Sharon didn't have alot of patience when it came to fishing!

Dad casting away.
Me and Jeremy in front of the Ocean.

They have the prettiest mountains. There are tons of waterfalls because it rains all the time and there is moss all over the trees.


Day Three 9/8/08

Day three we got up at five thirty thinking that we might have better luck but we didn't and when I say we didn't have good luck it just means usually when they go to Alsksa they catch a fish at least every five cast. We were lucky to ctach one or two a piece all day! We went to the sporting goods store and bought some lures and the guy that owns it told us about this other river called the Alganic. So we headed there to see if we could catch something. No luck there either but it sure was a pretty ride.

This is the end of day three. Ya I caught the most fish but Christy's fish was huge!!

Day Four 9/9/08

This is the only picture I got on day four because it rained so much that you couldn't take your camera on the boat. Once again I caught the most fish. They were so heavy that my dad had to help me hold them up! Notice Jeremy has been Skunky for two days now, no fish for him!!

Day Five 9/10/08

This is a thirty pound salmon that I caught on day five. Rod helped me reel it in beacuse I had already lost two fish because the river was so high that we didn't have a beach to drag the up on.

Jeremy finally made it in a picture! I have to tease him but he was always helping everyone when they had snags, broken lines and anything else you can think of!

Day Six 9/11/08

This is Jeremy standing in bear country!
Today we did some sight seeing. We decided to take a three mile hike to Saddlebag Glacier. During our hike we ate lots of blue berries, raspberries and then there was this berry that nobody knew what it was. Well nobody ate one except Jeremy and after our hike we saw a sign that had a picture of the berries and said "Don't eat six could be fatal." It's a good thing he only ate one!

Rod, Robert and Jeremy standing on the other side of the river half way to the glacier.

We found this tree that had split so boys being boys they had to climb it!

Finally Saddlebag Glacier. On our hike back to the van we were feeling very blessed that we had not encountered a bear. Well me, Jeremy, Sharon and Robert were walking along talking and all of the sudden we heard this big crash in the trees and it was a bear. We immediatley got all together and I took a mad dash towards Rod, Christy and my dad who were behind us to tell them that there was a bear in the trees. At first I think they thought I was pulling their leg but then they realized how scared I was because all week everyone teased me that I was the slowest and would get eaten first. Anyways we all got together and of course I am scared out of my wits and the next thing I know all the men are looking for this bear. Hello I think they had a death wish. They didn't end up finding it again but we found alot more scat which is bear poop on the trail back.

Me and Jeremy in front of Saddlebag Glacier

Bald Eagles are everywhere in Alaska so I had to take picture but it turned out a little dark.

The Million Dollar Bridge at Childs Glacier.

Us in front of Childs Glacier.
As we were walking to van to drive up closer to the glacier we heard a huge crash. The glacier started calving while we were there and we were lucky enough to get it on video. Jeremy has been here three times and never seen it calve so it was pretty cool. It made some really big waves and it sure was cold!

Jeremy in front of Childs Glacier!

On the way back we saw these swans swimming on a pond. They looked so pretty.

Day Seven 9/12/08

Rod and Jeremy filleting fish.
Rain rain and more rain. The water was so high that river was fast and muddy which made for soaking wet people every day and tough fishing.

Rod and dad are the only ones who caught a fish today. After we left the river tonight we were mad so Jeremy went and bought a huge snagging hook and thay were off to the ocean to get some fish. Lets just say as quick as they got out of the van they got back in!

Day Eight 9/13/08

This was our last day of fishing. We went to the ocean at low tide and dad, Jeremy and Robert were trying to snag some fish because just over this fall there are alot of fish just sitting in the current, while the rest of us were fishing at the pond on the opposite side of the street. Jeremy gave up and came and sat in the van. Dad and Robert stayed and were having no luck. Up walks these to kids probably eight or nine and one was on crutches. Their first and second try those little buggers snagged a fish. You can image how mad Robert and dad were!
Later that night at the second low tide me, dad and Jeremy decided to go give it a try again, after all it was our last day. I kept telling them to just net them even though you are not supose to but they wouldn't. So they both snagged a few but I was getting really sick of watching those stupid fish swim at my feet so I grabbed the net and my first try I got one. The look on dad and
Jeremy's faces was priceless! Jeremy netted a couple and we ended up getting our limit and heading home with smiles on our faces and memories we will never forget!

These are sea otters just swimming on there backs. We saw alot of these and Robert would always name them Howard. It was pretty funny!

Day Nine 9/14/08

We took a drive around Eyak Lake before we had to catch our flight.

This is one of the many waterfalls.

These are the famous berries Jeremy ate! They sure look like you could eat them!

The airport. It is so tiny and they even have a little security check point in there that I thought was pretty funny! All in all we had a blast and really enjoyed each other. Thanks so much Dad for taking all of us. We have so many memories that I will never forget! Also Thanks mom for watching our kids we love so much and Ronda and Saedi for the day she had to work we appreciate your great friendship!