What the heck?

I totally suck at keeping up with this blog. It seems like now that Facebook has come into the picture, all my photos go on there...but then I am not writing, which is what I love to do! I am completely embarrassed at how long it has been since I blogged. So much has happened. The girls are getting big and I am finding out more now than ever, why everyone warned about teenage years. God help me! Ahhhh...but Katelyn is a beautiful young woman. And I am completely blessed. Meagan never ceases to give me a lack of laughs. Between Katelyn making the same air headed comments that her mom makes and Meagan just being goofy, they definitely put a smile on my face.

Vacation!
We have officially put a deposit down on our vacation...you know, the one I have been talking about planning for at least 5 years. Yay! We are going...no matter what. Our trip to Disney is planned for April of this year.! I did say the deposit is down. Don't know how to pay the rest of it yet, but I believe it will happen and it will! Hell or high water, we ARE going. Katelyn will be 14 and she isn't going to want to spend time with mom and dad here shortly. LOL

We were able to spend some much needed time with family through out the holidays but love it when we spend time outside of that together. I have a brand new niece! Jessica had her first baby on December 1st! Josey is absolutely beautiful and we are so thankful for a healthy baby and that Jessica did well and is doing well. I think we have enough nieces and nephews for a boys and girls softball team now.

Shawn and I are doing well. He is always busy at work and is thankfully done with the football season for right now. Unsure as to where football stands for him. Will he have time this next year? He worked really hard this last summer putting up a fence out back for horses this next summer. No horses until Vacation. Maybe that's why it finally got planned. LOL

I have a ton of pictures that I have taken over the last year. Just need to find time to upload some of them. We'll see. Maybe that will be incentive to post again! :)

Offically a teenager

I can't believe my first baby girl is officially a teenager. She turned 13 in Feb. and because that is such a special age, we allowed her to have something special. We took a bunch of girls up to the Double JJ Ranch and took them snow tubing. We then came home and had pizza, karaoke, and a sleepover. They had so much fun and I can't even tell you how much I smiled just watching them all have fun, but specially her. Below is a slide show of her party. I love you Katelyn.

I am so behind

Why is it, that I just can't keep up. And even then...I barely have been taking out my camera lately... Geesh. I need to kick my butt in gear.

The holidays have come and gone. Terribly busy but we have definitely had busier. I guess it just seems that with every family party, it kind of drags on. But that's one of the biggest points of Christmas (besides of course celebrating the most important birth!) is spending it with family. And the New Year was calm and relaxing. Spent it over at our friends, where we have for the last 5 years.

December was kind of emotional. Going into the New Year, I sat down and thought about this last year and what I hope for the New Year. Last year, we lost another important family member. Missed...never forgotten. My brother was in a REALLY bad car accident and I thank God that he was able to walk away. It also helped my sister, Angie, and I put things into perspective and sit down for a good talk. Something we desperately needed. Family ties are being rebound. Bridges are being mended. On my side.

Things for next year...

I want to spend some quality time with family members. Not just holiday dinners.

I want to of course pay off some debt. (This is always on my list)

I want to save more for our vacation next year.

I want to get more organized.

I haven't scrapbooked in FOREVER....gonna do this!

Spend more time with Shawn's family (pray extra hard for certain family members going through hard times)

Sit down and decide what Shawn and I foresee in our future this year. (Remodeling/ adding on, horses, property??) What do we really want to do and what can we do?

Celebrate my 10 year anniversary!!!

Spend more quality time together as a family. Playing games, going camping, just lots of quality time.

That's a lot....I better get started. Shawn and I did have 3 of our nephews on New Years Eve. We don't ever usually get them one on one and had a blast taking them sledding. So here are some pictures before my batteries went dead! LOL

Justice in his Spider Man gear. He had us cracking up the whole morning.

I love this picture of Meagan!

Meagan all bundled up!

I like this one of the two of them going down the snow hill together.

Katelyn and Joseph going down on a board together.

Katelyn will be turning 13 in 3 weeks! And I have some awesome pics of something new she tried this year. Will post soon!

Another year has almost gone.

It seems like I remember always hearing "old people" say that time just keeps going by faster. I had no clue what they were talking about and thought they were WEIRD. I am officially one of those people now. Time seems to be going by faster. And faster. Sometimes so much is going on, I wonder if I will remember it all. Will I remember the little things the girls do that make me giggle? Will I remember how it felt to hold their hand when they were so small? Will I remember how much grief the teenage years are bringing me so I make sure to warn my daughters "paybacks are a pain"? Will I remember that I wasn't always a perfect parent and tried to learn from my mistakes? I sure hope so. But along with being ADD (i have diagnosed myself because I know I am scatterbrained), I feel like we had a lot going on for a few years.

And know that Katelyn has officially linked us in the "old" category (we didn't even get to be middle-aged), I just keep thinking that time IS really going by faster. And when it goes by too fast, do we really enjoy it all? I would like to hope so but I wish I did more. Maybe that is something I will look forward to this next year. I have already slowed down, but now I need to enjoy it a little more. Take a deep breath.... and take lots of pictures for when the Memory Loss really kicks in more. Ha Ha

As a family, we have already had a Christmas party that went really well and starting over the next week, we will have many more. Hope to be posting some pics soon. Both the girls got their hair cut!

Where did time go?

Jessica and Geoff saying their vows!

And it's official! Mr. and Mrs. Jefferies The last time I blogged, my beautiful sister was getting ready to get married. My laptop is not working right now, which is a poor excuse to not keep this updated. So I will do my best over the next week to post some new blogs.

Jessica and Geoff's wedding was absolutely beautiful! She was the most beautiful bride, the weather was great and they were surrounded by a countless amount of family and friends that were so happy to share in their joy. What an amazing day! Unfortunately I didn't take too many photos. The photographer has much better ones, including ones with me and my very best friend...the one I get to call my sister, Jessica! Hopefully I can get a hold of some of the family pics to put on here someday. Until then, enjoy!

Katelyn with Grandpa Richard (Dick). He was grandma Hamel's best friend for 40 years! Always been a part of our family and always will be.

Three of us bridesmaids...and yes, I am crying! (tears of joy) =]

Katelyn adores her Aunt Jessica and thought she was a beautiful bride. They both look awesome standing next to each other.

Jessica and Geoff dancing to their first dance as husband and wife. She looks so happy! =]

Katelyn, Meagan, and Me (and my five chins!!) I hate how I was leaning back but love this pic. These two girls are my world! So precious.

Unfortunately, our Grandpa Tyler lost his battle to cancer three days after my sister's wedding. This was my mom's dad. He did make it to Jessica's wedding. We didn't know or expect that it would be our last photo opportunity or that it would be the last time my mom saw her dad. I went over to his house the day after the wedding. My girls always seemed to be a "pick me up" for him. He got a good laugh out of Meagan who was his "western" buddy. And he thought the world of Katelyn. If you scroll back to last summer's blogs, you can see a completely different man. Cancer took a toll on his body but he stayed strong until the end. This loss has been hard on his wife Sandy, hard on my mom because they were getting so close to making peace. And hard on me, because I have to be strong for other people, yet miss him too. Here are some pics at my sister's wedding.

My dad, Grandpa, and Uncle JT

Grandpa, Sandy, Jessica, Geoff, Mom

Sandy is his wife. They weren't married for very long. Less than a year actually. But they were together almost 5. He was pretty healthy when they met but little did she now the battle she would have to help him fight. And we only wish they had met a long time ago. She was a breath of fresh air for him. They went on trips, cruises, brought him to grandkids' games, family dinners. She encouraged him to be more involved with family and to do family things. And she was also trying to mend the bridge between grandpa and my mom. She put a smile on his face. God Bless her.

I will update more this week...I promise. But for now, I will leave you with this last photo taken of my mom and Grandpa at Jessica's wedding. I hope as he looks down, he realizes how much he was loved by a lot of people. May he rest in peace.

I'm so Proud

OK....my little sister is getting married in less than 2 months! And I am so stinken excited. Can you tell? And I am also so proud of her.

I know that technically I am only the sister, but if any of you knew about our childhood, you would know that she is also "my baby" sister. We didn't have the typical childhood and my role was always to take care of her. And I have always completely spoiled her!

Anyway, she has been dating Geoff for quite awhile now. Right around 6 years. At first I thought he was really young. He is two years younger than her. But as time has gone by, he has really matured, became a responsible young man, and has learned to love my girls which was a big thing for me. He reminds me of my dad sometimes, which is maybe why Jess loves him so much.

He loves sports and the outdoors and when we go over to their house, he has no problem initiating a game of ball with the family outside. He'll be pitching while my girls are hitting and all the rest of us are basemen, with the exception of mom who also hits.

He makes Jessica happy. And the most important thing...he loves her. I know this by watching the way he looks at her. He adores her. And she loves him so much too. The way she talks about him, it's like they just started dating. It's just....admirable.

And they made sure to get their feet on the ground. Good jobs. Bought their first new home. Now get married. Maybe in a year or two...have some kids. She is doing everything in the right order, which is so not what I did LOL.

This weekend is her bridal shower. And I am so excited! Even though she has ruined a couple of my surprises Ha Ha. But I know that this will be the only time I will be doing this for her and I once again, can't help but spoil her.

I am so grateful to have such an awesome relationship with someone so wonderful. We are completely different but she is my Rock! And I am hers! We know that no matter what, we have each other's back and we support each other probably more than anyone else does. I am so happy and so proud of her. I can't wait for her wedding...God I hope I don't cry!