Happy Anniversary

Chuck and Fay!

We hope that you had a wonderful day and have an eternity of happy years together!!

I cut my hair off

On Saterday I finaly gut up the neavers and got my hair cut. I have been growing it for over two year to donate it for lock of love. So on Saterday the lady cut 10 1/2 in off. My hair has not been this short scence 9th grade. It is a lot less weight and I use a lot less shampoo lol. I just wanted to show my new look.

Shelby's Special Day

December 27, 2009

Shelby and Grandpa Hicks on the way to the baptismal font.

Les, Grandpa Brother Duckworth, Charlie

Shelby, Brother Preston

Do you know this bunch?
Wish that all of the family could have been here.

It was a wonderful day for Shelby. We were not sure if it was going to happen for our Bishop fell and broke his ankle in 3 places two days before the baptism. Shelby had not had her interview yet but he was able to do part of it over the phone on Sunday and then gave permission for the 1st counselor to finish. (He is still really drug because they have not been able to do surgery yet because of some medication he was on.) She was so excited she kept asking me when it was going to happen during sacrament. When primary was over she ran out of primary because she thought it was going to happen right then. Talk about being exicited.

From Us to You

Merry Christmas

We wish you the Happiest of New Year's!

Mt. Charleston

A view from the restaraunt parking lot.

Dave, Lisa and girls.

Beth and girls.

Brian and I.

Dad and I.

There is a mountain to the west of the city called Mt. Charleston that is just beautiful. They got about 3 feet of snow 10 days ago, so we drove up today to enjoy it for awhile. It is nice to get away from the brown, rocky, dull city and see some real beauty. Dave, Lisa and family and Beth and girls went up with us. We had a great afternoon!

I DID IT!!!!

My title of college student ended today at 3:15 pm. I have successfully completed my college education and am now certified to be an elementary school teacher! I look forward to moving back to Michigan and starting a new part of my life.

A Peek into the House (for those who haven't seen it)

Ok, these pictures aren't the greatest because they are from my phone. My camera had a run in with some sand and I feel as though the sand has won. I only have a few pictures because everything isn't exactly done yet. I have only put a few things on the walls so far. I actually have a pretty good idea about what I want to do decorating wise, but my money tree in the backyard isn't cooperating so I have to do it a little at a time :) So anyways, here is a little taste of our house.

The Living Room

The previous owners left their couches for us and so I had to immediately buy some slipcovers for them. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy that we have them otherwise, you would be looking at a very empty room.

The eat in part of the Kitchen

Sorry about the bright light. I tried to take the picture with the light off, but it was just way to dark. See that clock there? I was so excited to get it because that is what I had envisioned for that wall. Both the clock and the mirror in the Living Room are from Home Goods. Man I love that store.

Fireplace in Family Room

Not much to tell here. Although I was pretty excited to get the candle holder for super Clearance at Kohl's. Also, I made the Families Are Forever plaque like 3 or 4 years ago at a Super Saturday and this is the first time that we have actually hung it up. There were already a couple of screw in the brick so, we thought it was the perfect place for it.

Side view of Family Room
Again, sorry about the bright light. We are borrowing the lamp (because we have none of our own) and we don't have a shade for it. We bought these couches with some of our rebate money. Let me just tell you, I love them!!!! They are so comfortable. Maybe some day I will take a better picture of them. Either that or you will just have to come visit to see them :)

Beautiful Lady

I added this picture because the little girl in it is just so cute.

Las Vegas Marathon

Today, Brian ran the Las Vegas Marathon. 26.2 grueling miles! Starting temps were 31 degrees, windchill of 21 degrees. He had to start at 6:15 am, which meant being there at 5:30am. He did it in 4 hours 40 minutes and 57 seconds. Much slower than he had hoped. He didn't think he would be able to finish, but he did it!! We are very proud of him.

With almost 30,000 runners, it was impossible to see him at the start.

At the 15 mile mark, over half way there!

At the 23 mile mark, almost finished!

The cheering section.

Getting his "Good job", "Keep going Papa!" from the girls.

After 26.2 miles, tired and sore, but a winner in my book! Great job, Brian!

Hello everyone...

We brought some goats back to our house. We have the goat Lexi had for fair and two other ones. They are all female and we are hoping to use them to breed and have babies for our kids to take to fairs in the future. We'll see how that goes. We only have a lean-to for them for shelter. We're hoping to build them a shed, but I don't know when that will happen. So far they have adjusted pretty well. Even the baby is doing well. She hardly bellered at all like we were expecting her too since she hadn't been weened yet, but she hasn't really.

We had a great time for Thanksgiving. It was such a blast to be able to hang out with family for as long as we were able to. I wish we could do it more often. Now we're back to the old grind and trying to hang in there until Christmas break. We put up our Christmas tree and other decorations on Monday. Ever since then Jaxson has been bothering me about his presents. I don't know if I can stand hearing about it (and hearing all the whining) for 20 more days. Man is he ever persistent.

Today I finished my final paper for my chemistry lab and the exam paper questions for my chemistry lecture. I did my chemistry lecture on Tuesday. I'm so glad things are winding down. Most of the work I have left are for my math and accounting classes. I can't wait to be finished. Next semester I have four classes again, but only two days worth. It will be so nice to not have to be at campus every day of the week. I have two online classes. I think it should be a schedule I can handle (although I thought that of this semester too, and ended up feeling overwhelmed, so we'll see).

Wrestling is in full swing with last night being the first meet and Saturday being the first tournament. I don't know that the pay Charlie gets is really worth all the time he puts into it, but I know it's something he really loves, and that is the only reason I put up with it. I'm going to be so glad to have it over. Although his pay from it this year will help us put braces on Lexi's teeth. Yep, that's right, she's getting braces. They go on in a little over a week. She isn't excited, not that I can blame her, but she will appreciate it in the long run. At least, I do.

That's about it for right now. Hope everyone else is getting back to normal lives since break and gearing up for Christmas. I think we are finished buying presents. I love that feeling.

ED HAS AN INTERVIEW

Ed has and intervew tomorrow at mcdonald in fowlerville i just wanted to let every one know ans ask to keep us in your prayer thanks a lot for a great weekend I love seeing you all.

SAD/HAPPY/EXCITED all in one.

Not enough time in MI this last weekend or to much work to do. It seemed like we were rushed all of the time. It was nice that Charlie helped Chuck put in a new water heater in the Flint house. Now Sabrina can have hot water from the faucet and Hannah will have when she gets there. The biggest surprise for me was how much Jaxson had grown and looks more like Merrit all of the time. I wasn't feeling the best when we up there so I didn't get to play with the grandchild as much as I would have liked to.

The grandchild that are with me are all praying hard that their mom gets to be in WV by Shelby's birthday on the 17th of this month. If everyone could help with more prayers on this matter is would be great.

I'm so glad that Beth, Jenny, and Hannah could get together over Thanksgiving. It's wonderful to know that friendship can be eternal to. Also want to thank Brian and Jean for feeding Hannah and letting her come.

I'm looking forward to flying out to Salt Lake to be able to drive back to WV with Hannah! I can't believe that it will happen next week. I have never flown before so I'm a little nervous and I am sad that I won't have time to do some sight seeing and meet some of the people in the area where Hannah served her mission. Maybe when I'm old and gray I can do that : -) I'm also not looking forward to the 33 hour drive back. That's a long time in a full packed car. But it will be nice to have Hannah with me I just can't wait. I'm ready to go now!!

We shipped all of our goats yesterday ;-( (How do you like my tear?) I will miss seeing them when I visit but I just needed to get rid of the feed bill. I can't be there to worm them and trim the hoofs when needed and then I would need to buy another buck and it just wasn't worth it to me any more. So the animals on the farm now are chickens, dogs, and cats. Maybe when we get back in 6 to 10 years we will get a steer or 2. Oh that is to far away to think about right now.

Christmas tree is up and the sister missionaries will be over on Thursday to help set up all my nativities. It's wonderful that I have the room to put them all out. (I think I do.) This is also the first year that I have been able to put up all of my Christmas tree. In the past I would have to leave the back side off so I could push it up against the wall so we would have some room in the living room to move. I have a wonderful house. Maybe for Christmas I will get a digital camera so I can post some pictures.

Would all of you please email me your mailing address because I'm thing about trying to get some Christmas cards out this year. cmh2@hotmail.com Thanks

Thanksgiving

So this year for Thanksgiving I was able to get out of Provo. I went to North Las Vegas with Jen to spend time with Beth and I had a great time! If you want more details you are going to have to check out my blog. I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I can't wait to see you all in a couple more weeks!!!!!

Who Knew

So I thought that I would be a lower grade teacher, but I'm not so sure anymore. For the second block of student teaching I have been in 5th grade and I am absolutely loving it. I didn't think that I would like it this much because I wasn't all that excited while teaching 4th grade, but it has been the best! Here are just a few of the reasons I am loving 5th grade: 1) the content is fun 2) good conversations/discussions 3) the books that are read are more fun 4) the kids get my jokes. Anyway, I am just really loving my experience in 5th grade. So as of right now I do want to teach 5th grade come the fall. The Provo City Library had a book sale today and I was able to get 13 used books (most of which are hard cover) for only $6 that are perfect for older grades. December 11 is my last day of school so there are only 12 more school days and then I am done! I know that my first year of teaching will be very busy and stressful but I can hardly wait until I have my own classroom!!!!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Hicks

Temple time.

Grandpa's professionally made cake.

It's worth a million! (haha)

After blowing out the candles.

Yummy cake!

We started out the day by taking Dad/Grandpa out to breakfast. We then went to the temple and did a session and some sealings. Dave, Lisa and girls came over for pizza, and ice cream and cake. It was a good day.

the party

hello everyone we were just woundering who all was comeing to the party on the 28 please give us a e-mail or post it on here if you are comeing and how many people are comeing so we know the head cout. thanks jocelyn and ed

F.Y.I.

Just thought I'd update you with the newest happening in our family. I was just called to serve as the young women's first counselor. I've served in young women before, but never really felt comfortable there. I still am not totally comfortable with it yet, but know that it will be good for me. I'm looking forward to it and hope to do a good job. I'm just glad that Lexi and I get along pretty well so that by me being in young women won't cause too much conflict for her.

Charlie finished his class last week. He got an A. Wrestling starts tomorrow. I'm going to be a single mom again for the next few months. I'm glad he gets to do something he loves, but not glad for me and all the alone time I'll have:(.

Everyone else is doing well. We all enjoyed Halloween and trick-or-treating. Although we didn't last very long because it was cold. My kids started to complain and wanted to go home, so we did after only about an hour. I wasn't too upset, but couldn't believe that my kids gave up so easily, especially Jaxson and his stomach.

Halloween party

We hosted a Halloween party last weekend. It was lots of fun. Here are the things I made to eat for the party....

These are eyeballs.

This is a brain and some fingers.

This is everyone who came. We had quite an assortment of costumes. I think it's fun when adults can act childish.

Yeah Jack-o-lanterns!

We carved pumpkins last night and this is what we got...




All but Chelsea's pumpkin came from our garden. Notice the green ones. The frost came too early to allow those ones to ripen. My kids had lots of fun though. The pumpkin with the glasses is Charlie's creation. The side had rotted, so he cut it off and made it look like a wide-open mouth.

October is almost over...and there's another birthday

Happy Birthday Jocelyn!!

We hope that you have a great day.

Don't STOP!!

I check this blog VERY often. I also check on my other family members blogs to see how they are doing and how their children are growing. I know so now I need to write something. OK I did some more mudding upstairs today. Tomorrow I will sand and be done with that no matter how it looks. Michael (He's sick today) and I went to Lowes and bought our paint, already have the primer. So my plans are to prime on Friday but wait I can't well maybe I can in the afternoon. The children only have a half-day so I will have to meet their bus about 11:30 what a pain. Anyway I want to have some friends come over and help paint on Monday/Tuesday. I bought the carpeting today to so now I'm waiting for a call to set up a time to have the carpet installed. I would like all of this done by the 30th. Shelby and Michael will be going to their dads for the weekend and that way I can have all the stuff moved with less confusion :-) I also can clean and throw stuff out without any problem to.
Hopefully we will get a digital camera for Christmas and that way I can post picture. Pictures are more fun than me writing a bunch.
So please everyone please keep posting.

Happy Birthday

CHUCKLES!!

Have a great day.

Baby Stevenson's first picture

We went to the doc. today and found out just how far along we are (thursday the 22) will be 10 weeks. We heard and saw the heart beat it was cool. Jocelyn started to cry. We told the boys this past weekend about the baby they are excited about it also. It was funny Edward said it was cool but he is not going to share his room with it.

Posting is so hard these days...

I look on the blog and see that only Hannah is posting. I'm so thankful for her updates. I have my own, but am too lazy to get them on the blog (well, that's not totally true, I am busy and lazy). Once Hannah moves back to Michigan though, this blog will probably never be posted on. Come on gang, we need to rally together and post more.

Now, on with the updates. The kids are doing well in school. We just went to their Fall Festivals celebration that the PTO sponsors. It was lots of fun and it was good to see the kids hanging out with friends. I'm glad that they've been able to pretty easily make new friends. Lexi and I volunteered our time face painting. She loves art and especially drawing so I was glad that she said she would help. She is the only one of my kids that doesn't really like her new school. She seems to be doing O.K., she would just really prefer to go back to the charter school. I can understand where she is coming from. The kids at the charter school were more like her than they are now. But in the long run, it will be better for her to stay in school in this area so she can make friends to go into high school with rather than having to make new ones while starting high school. We've started piano again too. Lexi is doing so well. Makayla and Chelsea are taking lessons too. It's Chelsea's first time and Makayla started in Wisconsin, but hasn't had lessons since. They are all happy to play. Merrit was going to have lessons but has since changed his mind. I'm a little disappointed, but I'm not going to make him play if he doesn't want to.

Charlie is doing well in his class. He is almost finished for this semester. He's going to take at least the next one off, maybe the next two so he can focus on wrestling. There really is no way that he'll be able to do both. I'm doing pretty well in my classes even though I'm feeling swamped. My computers class will be finished in a week. That makes me happy. Then I'll only have three classes to worry about. I'm already looking forward to the end of this semester. Too bad it's so far away.

Church is still church. We are going to be having some major changes soon with callings. The young women's leader is moving next weekend. With that move, that calling will need to be filled and in our ward when you fill a calling like that it means shuffling every other auxillary around, perhaps even some of the priesthood calling, to accomplish that calling-filling. So I'm waiting to see what the bishopbric decides, since Charlie isn't at liberty to tell me anything.

The house work is on hold for the time being. We probably won't do anything else, major, until next summer. I'm happy with how it is for now. I'm happy to be finished working on it for now too.

Hope everyone is doing well. Hope to hear from you soon!

A Good Story

Today I had 2 girls eat lunch with me and this commercial jingle came to mind so I sang it: "Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don't. Almond Joys got nuts. Mounds don't." The girls thought that this was absolutely hilarious and wanted me to sing it again for them and sing it to other members of the class when they got in from recess. One boy by the name of Nate asked me to sing the song for the class and I told him that I wasn't in the mood and I have to be in the mood to sing, and then he said the funniest things. "What do I have to do to get you in the mood? How do you get in the mood? Does chocolate get in the mood?" My mentor teacher turns around and looks at me and asks what type of mood we are talking about. I laughed sooooo hard!!!! It was so cute because Nate was so earnest in finding out what he had to do to get me "in the mood" so that I would sing for them. I haven't had such a good laugh in some time. I did end up singing the jingle for the class at the end of the day.

My Birthday

I just thought I would jot a little bit down about my birthday so that I can remember in years to come. Well, I watched Conference because it often falls on my birthday. I also worked on lesson plans, but I didn't work on them too hard because it was my birthday and I didn't want to spend the whole day working on them. I went to dinner at Goodwood (where Jamie paid for my meal) with my roommates and my real good friend Lexi. I chose to go to Goodwood because their food is very good and they don't sing happy birthday to you there. While at dinner Kat stopped by to bring me my birthday gift; a birthday balloon, a treat, and earrings (which I wore for the first time today to church). I also got many birthday wishes from friends and family, so thank you everyone! Overall, it was very low key and a good day.

Teaching in Utah

Teaching in Utah has been quite the experience so far. What cracks me up the most is some of the things the kids say in relation to the gospel. So I will share some of what has happened while teaching.

While teaching about the Native Americans I asked who were the first people to live in Utah. I told them that the answer was the Native Americans and one boy asked, "What about Adam and Eve?" Needless to say I had to tell them that it was the Indians and that we were not going to talk about Adam and Eve.

Another experience was when we were reading an article about how boys and girls don't have equal rights at school in some countries. I then went on to explain that it is important for there to be equal rights. Tanner raised his hand and said, :But girls can't do everything that boys can do in the church." I chuckled a little bit and this and once again said it was something we weren't going to talk about in class.

I also had one girl come up to me and tell me that she didn't have any envelopes at home. So, she turned her book order money in to me in a tithing envelope. My mentor teacher and I got a real good laugh at this. At least the student relates the tithing envelope with money.

And the best so far is a conversation I had with two of my boys on my birthday.
Andrew: Are you married?
Me: No.
Kayson: Do you have a fiance?
Me: No.
Kayson: Well do you have a boyfriend?
Me: Nope.
Kayson: A puzzled look. "Well why not?!?!"
I laughed so hard because Kayson was just so confused, the poor boy. They have a hard time understanding why I don't have a boyfriend at the age of 26. That is Utah for you. Andrew has brought up the fact that I don't have a boyfriend at least twice now. Good times.

Ed and Jocelyn party

Make a Smilebox greeting

cant wait to have fun

happy! happy! joy! joy!

Just wanted to let everyone know that we found out today that we are pregnant. They think we are between 6 and 9 weeks.

Happy, Happy Birthday

HANNAH!!

Have a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Fay!

We hope that you have a great day!

Back from Great Britain

Well, we got back from Scotland and England last week. It was a wonderful trip, but I can honestly say, I never would want to live there. It has taken us this long to get back on schedule. It was great visiting with Olivia and Stephen and being there for their wedding and little Evan's blessing. We were able to do a lot of sight-seeing and Brian was able to do some family history. He found where his great-great grandparents and great uncles died and were buried. We went cemetery searching, something we never dreamed we would be able to do!

The fights were long and the time change was very difficult...but we survived. The currency exchange was enough to make a grown person cry! Brian did great driving on the wrong side of the road. I would never have tried it! We found ourselves on some very interesting roads, enough to scare the devil out of you! The weather started out true to the island rainy and chilly, but turned out beautiful! It only rained the first couple of days there, then they ended up having their own mini heat wave. Not the 105 we left in Vegas, but in the 70's!!

The wedding and reception were very nice. Stephen's parents did a wonderful job! They did so much for us while we were there, making us feel so welcome. They had a little luncheon before the wedding and then had a buffet dinner after Evan's blessing, as well as did all the wedding and reception. We are grateful to them.

We took advantage of every opportunity to go out and enjoy ourselves, since who knows if we will ever be able to go back again. Unfortunately, our computer crashed while we were there. HP believes the motherboard is fried. So, it is now sent back to the company to find out what happened. It was only 5 months old! Hopefully, it can be fixed or replaced.

It was a great trip and we are grateful we were able to go. But, it sure is nice being back in the USA!

Us getting ready to land in London after 12 hours of flying. By this time we had been on the go for over 18 hours! We were a little weary.

On one of Scotland's little jaunts in the pouring rain.

Here we are at Loch Lomond. It was beautiful!

Dinner out on our 32nd anniversary. We went to a fantastic Italian restaurant...GREAT food.

We are the tiny people in front of the William Wallace Monument in Stirling, Scotland. The hike up was difficult. It was so windy that they had to close down the top, first time in over 6 months. But, we did climb 260 of the 267 steps to the top!

Olivia and Stephen on their wedding day, 9 September, 2009.

Brian and I with Olivia. Doesn't Brian look quite Scottish in his kilt? That is his family tartan, the Lamont's. Little Evan wore one to match his Papa's, that I made for him.

Olivia, Evan in his little kilt, and Stephen Gillespie.

Us visiting Edinburgh, Scotland. That is the Edinburgh Castle behind us. We took a bus tour of Edinburgh and hopped off to walk up to the castle. We didn't go in, as it cost too much, so we had ice cream instead. It was a very interesting city to visit.

Little Evan in his blessing outfit.

Evan's blessing day, 13 September 2009. All of Stephen's family came as well as most of his aunts and uncles and his grandmother's It was so nice to have little Evan's family represented. I think that we doubled the size of the ward with our attendance! Also, Olivia has a fantastic bishop. We loved him instantly.

Us at the luncheon Stephen's parents gave after Evan's blessing. Great food and great company.

Stephen, Olivia and Evan on the morning we left Paisley. We had a great time visiting with them!

Us with little Evan the morning we left Paisley.

We did two sessions in the Preston, England temple. We were the witness couple in both sessions. Afterwards, we stayed in the Patron Accommodations Center for the night. (Saved us big bucks on hotel accommodations!)

Us at Stonehenge. What a neat place to visit. I have always been fascinated with it, I never thought I would be able to visit.

Us sight-seeing in London the day before we left for home. We are in front of the London Tower Bridge. We paid for an 8 hour tour, which stunk, but we did see some great sights. (Like the cruise ship coming under the bridge. Maybe our next vacation?)

Us on the London Eye. It is a HUGE ferris wheel with pods on it that hold 20 people each. It takes half an hour to go around, giving you a sight of the entire city of London at the top. This is us almost at the top. Our last big sight before we left.

So, there you have a pictorial of our visit. I hope that I didn't bore you! Just wanted to share it with all of you.