New look

So I thought that for Christmas I would get a new look. This is before my trip to the salon...

(Sorry for the funny look...Mike was in charge of the camera)

A look from the back

And the new look......

I think it looks better and feels A LOT better!!! I don't get headaches anymore, when it gets that long it is heavy and gives me headaches. I use to complain about my hair but I have had too many people bite my head off for complaining about my hair being too thick, so I try not to do that too much.

Snow pics

Here is the final tally for snow in our backyard...

That is right almost 6 inches of snow in Henderson NV (Mike's parents got about 10). It was a record snowfall for the month of December and the largest single snowfall EVER!!

This is something Mike never thought he would "get" to do again when we moved down here.

Here is a beautiful picture of the snow falling.

This is the tree in our back yard. Luckily after I took this picture I had Mike shake as much snow off it as he could. The snow was REALLY wet and heavy. There are several trees around the neighborhood that are broken and Mike's mom actually had a tree uproot and fall over. Luckily it didn't damage anything, but now she needs to get a tree company to come remove it from the backyard. I bet they are pretty busy the next couple days!!

Winter Wonderland!!!

So today in Henderson NV we got SNOW!! It started just before noon and snowed the rest of the day and I think it is supposed to snow all night so I will take more pictures in the morning.

We have had a lot of fun playing in it today. We have missed the snow since we have been here, but we are glad that it doesn't come often and it doesn't stick around too long when it does come.

This is a picture of a palm tree in our neighbors yard so we can prove that it IS Henderson.

This is us with the snowman that we built in our back yard.
We drove by the park near our home and there were a lot of kids there playing. They were building snowmen and forts and having snowball fights. There were also a couple firetrucks that stopped by to play with the kids. The firefighters got their body boards out and were using them as sleighs. I thought that was pretty cute so we took pictures.

This is them getting ready to go down the hill.
This is the firefighter with a little girl climbing the hill to go again.

This is the car and the truck out in front of the house enjoying the snow.

This is Mike enjoying the snow...Maybe a little too much!!

Ward talent show

We had our ward talent show recently. It was a lot of fun! I thought I would share the highlight of the evening with you all. This is the Elders Quorum showcasing their talents. They get together each Thursday night and play basketball but this particular night they worked on this instead. Mike was bummed that he skipped that week! I hope you enjoy! (Sorry I couldn't figure out how to put the video here so you will have to click on the link)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f86qKQJg3Z8

Bugs Bows

Hey everyone. My cousin is starting to sell bows/head bands for little girls hair. They are SUPER cute!! Here is her blog address if you are interested in checking them out.

http://bugsbows.blogspot.com/

Halloween

We had a really fun time this Halloween. We decided, mostly I decided, that we should be pirates. This is Tyler getting ready to go to the Halloween party at his school. They go all out at his school. They decorate the whole school, inside and out! They have all kinds of things for the kids to touch and smell and eat. They had brains, a heart, all kinds of goo for them to put their hands in. They also had their multipurpose room all decked out with all kinds of buttons and switches for the kids to push and then there are things that play music or laugh or blink lights etc. It was a lot of fun!!

At his school they had a pirate section so of course I had to take of picture of him with the other pirates!! They also had a ship that was pretty cool.
This is Tyler at our ward trunk-or-treat. He was a hit!! Everyone loved his ship and of course his costume. Everyone said that he won the costume contest for sure!! Although there was not a contest. We had fun hanging out with our friends though!
This is the whole pirate family. I think we looked pretty cute. One of my friends said we should get professional pictures done but Mike didn't think that was necessary.

We hope you all had a Happy Halloween!! We sure did.

Tyler's hospital stay

So I thought I would post some pictures from Tyler's hospital stay. We were there for TWELVE days. It was a long stay!! I am so thankful that we have family and a great ward near by that were all willing to help how ever they could!! I had several friends that came by each morning for a couple hours so I could go home and shower and family that brought by meals often so I didn't have to eat too much hospital food. Here is an example of the hospital food but the funny thing is this was for Tyler so it was ALL pureed!! They shaped it into "real food" after they pureed it all up. I thought it was funny so I had to take a picture.

He was there with pneumonia so they were doing breathing treatments every four hours at first then it went to every six hours after about a week. This is a vest that they would put on him and it fills up with air and then it shakes. They would do this with almost every breathing treatment. It was supposed to help break up the gook in his lungs and help him cough it out. Some days it worked better then others, but I think the idea is good. They also sent us home with one of these so hopefully we will not end up in the hospital in that condition again!! It was pretty scary the first three or four days!!

This is a bi-pap machine that they used for three nights. It is like a c-pap used for sleep apnea. It would force the air into Tyler's lungs when he took a breath. Luckily they only used it at night and it was torture on his poor little face as you will see in a minute. This REALLY helped Tyler heal!!! After the second night he was doing much better. He was able to come off the oxygen and we were able to leave the room for the first time in a week. It was nice.
This is Tyler getting his hair washed the day after the surgery to put in the g-tube. This fun little cap goes over the hair and then you just massage it around and like magic your hair is "washed". I am not sure how well it cleans but it probably felt good to have his head massaged!
This is him after the hair wash, but before the rest of his bath. All the red on his face is from the bipap machine and the tape that they had used to hold the ng-tube in place before the g-tube was placed. He looked really bad for a couple days, but we put lotion on it and it cleared up pretty fast. Notice his "kiss" mark and other red marks on his chest. They are from the pads that they use to monitor vital signs. So what we learned from this hospital stay is that Tyler has VERY sensitive skin and IF we ever have to do this again we will be more careful about how we care for him. We will make sure they move the pads often and put duoderm under tape!
We are very thankful to be home and Tyler is doing much better!! After almost a month out of school he will be going back on Wednesday. It will be nice to get back into a routine. It has been hard not having one to follow. I tend to do nothing if I have nothing to do!!

Chicken Salsa Verde Bake

Mike and I tried a new recipe last night that we thought was really good so I thought I would share. It is a Rachael Ray recipe. It is a little spicy so it may not be too good for little ones.

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 1/4 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 16 oz jars salsa verde
1 15oz can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup sour cream
3 cups crushed tortilla chips
1 8 oz bag shredded Mexican-style cheese

1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken and cook, turning once, until cooked through, 10-12 mins. Let stand until cook, then shred the meat into a large bowl. Stir in kidney beans, salsa, onion and sour cream.

2. Preheat oven to 375. Grease 9x13 in baking dish, scatter 1 cup tortilla chips on bottom and top with half of the chicken mixture and half of the cheese. Repeat the layers and cover with remaining 1 cup tortilla chips. Bake until the cheese is bubbly, about 30 minutes.

Can also be made with 3 cups of sautéed veggies, such as bell peppers, zucchini, corn and mushrooms, instead of chicken if you would like.

Servings: 6
Prep time: 25 minutes
Bake time: 30 minutes

Try it and let me know what you think!!

Weekend project

Mike and I are getting ready for Halloween next week. We spent Saturday getting Tyler's costume together. This is what his chair looks like...

We think it turned out pretty cute although not quite as cute as the race car a couple years ago!!

Tyler's home

Well we FINALLY made it home from the hospital Tuesday night!! Sunday afternoon/evening Tyler started having a lot of seizures so they kept us there an extra day to do an EEG and get the seizures under control. The dr said the seizures were probably caused by the stress of the pneumonia and the antibiotics that he was on. The seizures did come under control and are back to normal now. Tyler was SOOO happy to come home- so was I!!! He was so smiley and happy and laughing as soon as the dr said we could go home and was laughing quite a bit in the car on the way home. It was really cute!

Tyler update

Hi all, I thought I would write a little note so all my friends out there that don't know would know and could help with prayers... Tyler is in the hospital with pneumonia. He has been there for almost a week now. He is getting better slowly, but not as fast as I would like. I stay there with him most of the day. I get out for a couple hours in the morning to shower and get lunch and again in the evening for dinner. Mike's family, and friends that we have here in our ward have been GREAT to help out so Tyler is not there alone.

He is doing better today! He was out of bed and in his wheelchair and they even let me take him outside for a little while to get some fresh air-when we weren't around the smokers anyway! They will do a swallow study tomorrow to make sure it is safe for him to eat by mouth and then we will see what road we take to recovery, the one we are on or the one with a g-tube for feeding. Keep him in your prayers!! And I will keep you posted.

We finally started our Yard work!!!

So Mike and I finally decided to do something about the tree in our front yard!

Here is what it looked like before we started...

This is what our front yard looked like after Mike climbed up the tree and cut down all the branches. It was very messy but well worth it!!
This is Mike, standing on a ladder, putting every last branch in his truck. He only wanted to make one trip to the dump and he was determined that that is how it was going to be.
This is the truck as Mike got ready to head to the dump. There was a lot of tree in that truck!! Mike's sister called a little while after he left and said that she was a couple cars behind him and it was quite funny looking seeing the "tree" roll down the road. Luckily Mike made it the dump before they closed and they were not full for the day so he was able to dump.
This is how the front yard looks now. I think you would agree that it looks A LOT better. Now we just need to work on getting the huge bushes out of there and replaced with something nice.

It is nice to have this new tree because we can sit on the couch and look out the front window and actually see the sky and the road instead of that big, out of control, tree. This morning we do have some confused birds though. I think they will adjust to the new tree in no time!
Remember if you are ever in town, give us a call we would love to have you stop by and visit!!

I need ideas!!!

So here is the latest project I have been working on, a quilt. I need ideas on how I should quilt/finish it. I am not quite sure what would be the cutest and hopefully semi-easy. Please let me know if you have any fun ideas!! This will be the first project I have started in a while that I will finish!! I guess that runs in the family. I am open for any suggestion so please don't hold back the ideas!! And stay tuned for the finished project- hopefully soon.

Zion's & Grand Canyon

Mike and I went on our last trip of the summer (and hopefully until Christmas!) on the 13th thru the 17th of July. It was a family reunion with Mike's family. We went to Orderville Utah and stayed in a cabin. We had a good time. Tyler and I went up on Wednesday with Mike's sister and mom, and we met his younger sister and Sister in law there. We got to drive through Zion's National Park on the way there and I really liked that. I had not been through there for a long time!! We got to drive through the BIG tunnel and then out to Orderville. Wednesday we just got things put away and settled in. On Thursday we just relaxed and talked. Mike and his dad Ken came up Thursday night after work and got there just in time for dinner. Friday we got up and got ready and went into Zion's. We had great plans of getting there early so we could hike around a little before it got too hot-but we did not make it! We did do a short hike to Weeping Rock which was really cool and the kids loved it. After that we just rode the shuttle to the top of the road then back down to the bottom. It was fun and Beautiful, but I wish it would have been cooler so we could have hiked more of the trails. O-well hopefully next time!! Here are a few pictures from Zion's...

Kristy, Tyler and Mike at Weeping Rock
Looking up at Weeping rock
Alter at the Temple of Sinawava
The other side of the park is so different-I was surprised

*

Friday night the rest of the family showed up and Saturday we woke up and drove to the Grand Canyon. It was AMAZING!! I can no longer say that I am 30 years old, have lived in Utah or Nevada my whole life and have never seen the Grand Canyon. (I am glad that I can't say that anymore!) If you have never been I was absolutely suggest that you go!! We were only there for a couple hours which is a shame but it was still worth it! Next time we will spend a lot more time there though. We went to the North rim where the lodge is. There was a hike there that we did. It was short, but my one sister in law was right about it not being for the little kids. I helped Emily and Danny with their 2 year old because it was a narrow trail with Grand Canyon drop offs on each side, usually not at the same time though. Ken was unable to make it to the end of the hike because he is not very sure of his balance and was quite nervous! I don't blame him, but the view at the end was remarkable!

The Grand Canyon

I loved seeing how GRAND this Canyon is

Sunday we had to go home. We had a great time and were sad to leave but happy to get back home. We took our time going through Zion's again. We did a hike by the end of the tunnel out to a great view point although next time we will be better prepared! Mike's sister and nephew were in flip flops and we didn't bring any water. We thought it was an easy quick hike. Tyler and Ken stopped half way through because Ken was unsure of his footing again and it was nice to not have to carry Tyler so we left him with Ken. The view was amazing when we finally got there. After that we rode the shuttle again for one last look at the park before we headed home. Mike and I stopped in St George to visit Shirley and Oceia. It was Oceia's birthday so we went for her party. We had a great trip but are SOOO glad to be done traveling for the summer. We are looking forward to spending some time at home.

Preschool program

On August 7th, 2008 Tyler finished preschool. We were very lucky to have such great teachers for Tyler the past two years and I was very sad to tell them thank you and good bye. Can you believe that Tyler is going into Kindergarten!?!

This is Tyler and his teacher Ms Rhonnie. She loved Tyler and spoiled him. Tyler was asleep almost the whole program that they did, but Ms Rhonnie helped him hold the pictures for the other kids to see while they sang their songs.
She also helped him play the sticks for their favorite song.
This is Ms Rhonnie, Tyler and Mrs Turner.

I am so thankful for them and the time that they put into helping Tyler.
Tyler receiving his certificate from Mrs Turner. It's official! He is done with preschool.

Camping

On July 25th we went camping with my family. We go each year for mine and my brother Bill's birthdays. We had a great time. We went up Manti canyon near Duck Fork Reservoir. This is looking off of Wood Tick Point near where we camped- What a view we had!!

This is Bill and Mike doing dishes.
Mike and Tyler on Skyline drive. We had to take this trip alone because everyone else had to get home to work so we couldn't get a picture of the three of us, but we got one of Mike and Tyler and a separate one of me and Tyler.
This is a picture of Duck Fork where we were camped from Sky Line Drive. A major rain storm hit while we were on this trip. I guess we were glad not to be there because we didn't get rained on at all where we were, but I wish we would have covered our fire wood and put our chairs away so we had someplace dry to sit when we returned. We will remember that for next time!!
This is Mike playing in the mud. There were several mud hole near camp because it rained everyday we were there. But it felt SOOO good. Mike is driving with Tyler and my brother Kevin in the cab with him, my sister Shirley and her kids, Oceia and Tory are in the back holding on for dear life. I was excited to get away from Las Vegas where it was a cool 115-120 while we were gone. We DID NOT miss that!!

We can't wait to go back next year!!

LIVESTRONG!!

On July 13, 2008 we were in San Jose for the LIVESTRONG Challenge to help raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and Cancer research.

This is me, Mike, my mom Linda, my aunt Leslie, and my cousin Sariah

getting ready to start our adventure

Me and Mike with the SWEET bikes that we rented. When we returned them to the rental shop, Mike told the guy that his was a really nice bike and the guy said he could buy it for "only" $5500. Mine would have been $4300. We said no thanks but we would love to rent from them again next time we were in San Jose.
Mike, me and my mom. She is the reason we do this each year! She is an amazing woman and I am glad to have her in my life!! She is a four and half year SURVIVOR of breast cancer.
This is our entire team "The Sanpete Sprockets"

There is Mike, me, Linda, Jim Smith, Sam Smith, Lindsey Smith, Leslie, Sariah

Sequoia National Park

On our way to San Jose for our bike ride we stopped at the Sequoia National Park. It was AMAZING!! There are no words to describe those trees! I was amazed at there size. My neck got soar looking at them all day long. Also when you got close to them their smell was heavenly! We had a great time and hope to go back sometime and do some of the hikes.

This is Tunnel Rock. Mike and I are on top and my aunt Leslie and cousin Sariah are underneath.

This is my dad, me and Mike. We got a great view of this rock so we stopped, I can't remember the name of the rock-sorry. It was a little smokey because of the fires but not too bad.

This is one of the first trees that we stopped at. I was TOTALLY blown away by their size!!









This is a great picture because it shows the great size of the trees. That is me in front of the tree and the "little" trees that surround it were all very normal sized trees. It was so beautiful here! I would totally suggest going if you get the chance!!