We have been so blessed this year and continue to have so much to be grateful for. We love and miss you all and hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Remember to stop, take a breath and enjoy the day, everything doesn't have to be perfect.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had Tom and Michele over for our last Thanksgiving together. They will be moving to Savannah Georgia at the end of December. We have truly enjoyed having them be apart of our lives. Here are some fun pictures of dinner and the clean-up. I forgot to get pictures of the prep.

Making Noodles with Dad

Monday night Matt came home and dinner was in the making. When he learned I was making Chicken Noodle Soup, he told me he would love to make homemade noodles. WOW! Did I hear that correctly? Matt has always been a great helper when I need him, but rarely does he want to take on a task like this. He was enjoying himself so much, the next thing I knew he had involved all the boys in his project. As I was doing other prep for dinner, I thought I better capture this moment on camera.

The noodles were delicious. A lot better than store bought egg noodles!

Thanks honey for making dinner more enjoyable and involving the kids. I figure it must have been the trip that revived him since he was able to have some 'me' time. That is a reminder for me how important 'me' time is for everyone, Moms and Dads alike!

Krazy Kart Pack Meeting

Matt and the boys loved this pack meeting! When else are you able to push each other around on a cart and be crazy? Each cub scout/dad team takes turns pushing each other through the course. When they reach the end, they quickly switch places and trace back to the starting line. After every boy has had the chance to do this they get to do it again. This time the steering wheel is changed and when you turn right, the cart goes left and vice versa. It is a lot of fun to watch these boys drive the cart as well as pushing their dads around the course. Here are some pictures I took, trying to catch the craziness.

Family Fall Pictures

We tried so hard this year to get some good family pictures outside. It seemed like nature was against us. Either it was raining or we had the sun against us. We developed a couple of these, but they didn't turn out so well, but we thought we'd post them anyway. Maybe next year. =)

Ouch, Tears & Stitches

Basically as soon as Matt left for his fishing trip, I spent the evening in the ER with Clarissa.
About 6 p.m. Friday, November 14th, Clarissa fell and sliced her forehead open. I couldn't believe it. I was home with all the kids and within two hours of Matt being on an airplane I was panicking as I saw that Clarissa had just injured herself. I took Danny with me so he could hold the towel to her head in the car. I had Jake stay with the other kids. Thanks to Tom and Michele for coming over to stay with the kids while I sat in the ER with her.
When they numbed her at the hospital, they used a cotton ball with medicine and just taped it to her forehead. Yeah, no shots!! When they were stitching her up, they placed the blue sterile hospital towels around her. The one they placed on her face had a hole in it so they could see the wound. The doctor couldn't believe that Clarissa was watching her stitch it up. We calmed her down be asking what color of popsicle she wanted when she was finished.
Four hours, 2 stitches and $100 later, I brought Clarissa home, gave her some Tylenol and put her in my bed. I was told to watch her every 2-3 hours through the night so I figured since I was already dead on my feet, it would be best to have her in my room. She did really well through it all.
On Thursday, November 20th, Clarissa went back to the ER to have her stitches removed. Overall, she did fairly well. She was a little freaked out when she saw the nurse holding little scissors near her face. We reassured her that she wouldn't feel a thing and it would be just like when mommy trims her bangs. That seemed to calm her enough for the nurse to do the two little snips and all was done.
(The pictures were taken on Sunday evening and on Thursday at the ER.)

Matt's Steelhead Fishing Trip

Matt (I) had a wonderful time with his dad and brothers this past week. We were able to take some time to get together to fish, laugh, bond together and eat delicious food! The Rogers bunch had to show everyone else how to catch a fish the first day! After that everyone started catching up because the guide put us on the slow holes. It was a much needed break and a chance to clear my head. I am glad the kids were good for Angie while I was gone. I also got to stay with my brother, Colin, and enjoy seeing his home and family. I think I am the luckiest guy alive. I am surrounded by people who care about me and my family.

Here are some great pictures of Bighorn Sheep we saw along the way.

I also shot a quick movie of us in the jet boat. The first part is us traveling down to the lodge on the first day. The second part is when we traveled back up a small water fall. Notice the narrow space in between the two rocks we went up.

NICU Fashion Show & Silent Auction

We had a wonderful opportunity to help out with the Annual NICU Fashion Show and Silent Auction. This was our first year helping out, but it was the Fourth one for the Family Advisory Board (FAB). I was able to make some hair ribbons and Christmas cards to auction off.


Our family was able to wear clothes from Lands End and show Abby off at the event. It was a lot of work, but the outcome was great. During the show, there were 2 videos shown. The first one shows the babies while in the NICU and the second one shows them now. The videos were made by a FAB member. Thanks Billie for doing a wonderful job on these videos, they definitely are tear-jerkers. It is amazing to see what progress these little preemies have made. Enjoy the videos!

Please click pause on the media player at the bottom of my page so you don't have two songs playing at the same time.

Then . . .

Miracle 2008

and Now

So Amazing 2008