Christmas Preperations...

Well we all know that this time of year really is not so fun. Shopping (I HATE IT) and doing decorations (BEN HATES). But with kids you somehow have to find the umph to do it all. This picture cracks me up. Since Ben wasn't there I threw (Literally, had to do it with my dad) my parents in with my kids. Cash is so funny because he is always smiling. And my mom says she looks like a Santa helper. I told her she looks like the "Newsies!" It was an adventure that evening. With all the snow and family cheer (NOT)!
We had the opportunity to have some family in town that we rarely see. It was really nice to see them. But I am sure they are glad to go because staying with our grandpa, is not all that fun. I want to say a huge thank you to you two people who took care of grandma. It was a huge break. Thanks!
It will be a real quiet Christmas day for us because my parents are up north with my sister and her family. I am so sad because I was suppose to go up but I did not want to drive by myself with my kids in the snow. And let me tell you it is snowing. Not just up there but here in sunny St. George (not really the last 2 weeks have been snowy and cold and wet).
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE FROM US SYPHUS'S!

Cash says byebye to the binky

The last couple weeks have been a rough one for us because we took the binky away from Cash a week and half ago. And he has been a monster. Even though you may not see it in these pics he has been a very naughty boy. We love him and are very proud of him. The doctor told me to get rid of it. So after bath time one morning we threw the binky in the tub and said "Bye Bye" to the bubbles (he says bye to them every morning) and the binky. It has been rough because it takes for ever for him to go to sleep and when he starts screaming, we can't just cork him anymore. NOT A FUN ADVENTURE!
Ben and I had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas overnight on Saturday and we invited our friends Travis and Ivette and their 3 kids. We had such fun time with them. It has been a long time since Ben and I enjoyed ourselves and the kids. I want to let them know that they are inspirations to Ben and I. They make their lives about and around their children. And the simple things are what are most important. It was so fun and we didn't do a thing. It was funny when we first got there Trav's oldest son said, "This is the nicest and coolest place he had ever been." Tavis had agreed. It was nice to go places with people who appreciate stuff. Travis and his wife were impressed with it all. So I must give props to WorldMark and my family for being part of it.
We went to Macy's to get food so we could cook instead of going out and eating and it was so funny because Travis was shocked to see how cheap liquor was. Then we headed to Bass Pro Shop. It was fun to show Cash the big fish aquariums. They had a mermaid in one and she scared Cash.
Then that night somehow, we ended up watching Ben and Travis laugh, until they cried, about Ben's shirt Chuck Norris Extreme Hunting.
And most of these pics were of the next morning of the dad's and kids in the kiddie pool because it was the warmest place to swim. It was so cold outside. People thought they were crazy. It was fun to see Cash dump everyone's clothes in the pool. So when they got out the had nothing warm to put on.
I love my son and he is a joy to watch grow up!

Dance

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Gabby is...

I thought I would put these pics up from last night to show off the joy we get from Gabby. She now has learn to growl (the video will show it. Be careful there is spit up at the end). And she loves to be a character with a huge cheesy smile. For the first 5 months of her life she was not so much fun. She cried all the time and it was really sad. Now she is a whole new baby. It is nice to end our evenings with this instead of crying and whining. She is our little piece of joy with so much personality. We love her!!!

Giving Thanks to Thanksgiving...

Well, it was a great Thanksgiving for our little family. We did Thanksgiving dinner with Ben's family on Thanksgiving day. We had the opportunity to have Nana & Papa Great Syphus to join us. Our little Gabby was so tired all weekend. She missed most of her naps every day. Then on Friday we did Thanksgiving dinner with my extended family on my mother's side. We had it at a church. It was a good time. I will post video on how our family is. It is a real treat. As you can see everyone is doing happy faces even though we are all full. We had lots of laughs. On Saturday Ben took my whole family to the Little Black Mountain Petroglyphs. It was very fun. We found one of the GeoCache boxes. It was cool to see how far back it went. We found a log and it was 2002.
I just want to say that I am very thankful for one thing...family. Life is not entertaining without them. I love my family so very much. Even though it has been a rough year for us. I am very grateful for each and everyone of you. I love you all. It was kind of sad because my sister and her little family didn't come down. But they were there in our hearts. I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was a good as mine was. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Just another day and some bad news...

It has been a rather uneventful couple weeks. Just hanging out and so forth. On the other hand we have had another dose of sad news this last week. My sisters baby, Syd the Squid (3 yrs. old), was diagnosed with a birth defect called Chiari Malformation I. It is a serious neurological disorder where the bottom part of the brain, the cerebellum, descends out of the skull and crowds the spinal cord, putting pressure on both the brain and spine and causing many symptoms. They did a MRI on her because she was having a series of headaches. We will find out what the neurologist will want to do on Monday. So please for all of you out there can you remember her in your prayers.
These are just some pics of the kids doing every day activities. They love to be outdoors. I must say that my son will be in construction some day. He loves digger and any kind of construction equipment there is. He also loves the dirt and loves to move it (as you can see).
Gabby is still not crawling. We put her on her tummy alot. She is getting better. She loves this bouncer that my sister lent us when I had Cash. He was a crazy man in it. Gabby is not so much. She likes it though. Especially in the door way to the back yard. She watches the dogs and Cash. We are also working on her being in Cash's room. I finally get my room back. Yea me! The kids also dig bath time. Gabby is a nut job. She splashes the whole time. And what is funny is it makes Cash crazy. Can you believe it Cash, the water dog, gets nuts about being splashed! She loves her brother and he loves her. They are starting to play with each other. And they both love our dogs. It is fun to watch them all interact. I am very glad we have the to monkey dogs. When you sit and watch TV Squirt likes to snuggle up with you.

Friends and sick kids

Well the last few days have been a fun one. My kids have had little colds for the last week. And now I have come down with it. Not FUN but what do you do? Gabby is now sitting but refuses to get on her tummy. I think it hurts her collar bone. But I still put her on her belly at least twice a day for few minutes. I hope she gets it so she can crawl.

We had the opportunity to go up and be with our very good friends in Cedar. The boys had a little to much fun but I must say every time we go up there we have great time. Ben and I want them to know how much we appreciate them. Our very dear friends Gary and Linda, and Trav and Yevette. Love them with all our hearts.

Halloween!

So the last couple weeks have been centered around Halloween. Last weekend Ben and I went to our friends bday party/Halloween party. I went as a vampire and Ben was a fat plumber with his butt crack showing. It was a fun time to see people I have not seen for a year or more. But it got kind of boring just hanging out. So I was glad to go when we did. Plus, when you got kids you seem to get tired earlier.

So then this weekend was Halloween! We went to Ben's mom's. We had homemade chicken noodle soup and rolls. And then my parents came over just in time to take Cash trick or treatin'. He was hilarious. He was a crazy man. He was running as fast as he could. He was a dragon and the suite was so round in the belly when he ran it was so funny. When we got to the doors he would just walk into people's homes. Gabby was a lady bug.

We were at the Gibson's home, Cash went in and started playing with toys and Ben went in after him. Then the rest of Cash's cousins went in too. Ben was freaking out to get the kids out. It was funny because there was a big window by the door and you could see what was going on. It was so hilarious! I am glad though we knew the Gibsons.

We also had my aunt Karen come with her kids. MickeyD had her baby, Jazlyn, only a couple weeks old. She is cute as can be. It was fun to have them here.

On Saturday we went over to my uncle Josh's house to help put in a sprinkling system. It was hard work for some but we definately got in some good laughs. I also finally got see their new baby, Aiden. He looks just like his daddy. I want to give a special thanks to Ben. He was on the trencher for 4 hours. Bless his back!

Before I end I just am so happy the leaves here are FINALLY changing. Fall is my favorite time of the year. Here it doesn't last long because it starts sooo late. But I am in heaven with the crisp, cool air. It really makes me smile. Along with my mom on the last leg of chemo. Yea for her. She is an inspiration to me. I love her dearly.

Continue with pics from the week...

Impetigo & Family

On Monday of last week I had to take Cash into the doctor because he had red bumps on his chest under his arms that turned into what I thought was ringworm but it just got way worse. So we took him in and found out it was impetigo. A skin infection! It got so sore for him. So we just did antibiotics and some cream. It is doing so much better.

Well I had my sister and the two kids, Sydney (Squid) and Nat. We also had my aunt Shannon and Larry and their two kids, Jack and Carson, come to see grandma and grandpa. It was nice to have them here. They helped out a ton. We all went to grandma's to clean. It is always a adventure to do that. Shannon and I cleaned out some of the kitchen. It was rather funny that she found a bag of pine nuts that I am sure is at least 3 yrs. old. She had to smell it and about passed out. It was funny. Then we started to go through boxes of papers and the stuff we found was interesting. We found all kinds of stuff. We found this paper that was about cleaning your clutter up. It was funny because that is all my grandma's house is.

Kandiss was cleaning grandma's room and was freaking out. It is so dirty. The next I knew she was scrubbing the walls and base boards and the crate over the air filter. NASTY GROSS!

All and all it was a fun weekend. It was Squid's b-day. She is now 3. Happy birthday my munchkin! We had a little party for her. Babby had her first cake and Cash and Kandiss made a mess with it. Kandiss also cut Cash's hair. Now nobody freak, she didn't cut the curls off, just trimmed it up. It is now really curly. It was really nice to have her here. I miss her a ton and love her and her "Goldeness" ways. She is a great example to me. And her to girls. Well, they are my sunshine. I love them dearly.

My mother is doing her last chemo on Wed.. I hope it is better than the last. She did not do well this last one.

Very sick and so forth...

So last week our very cute Babby was very sick. It started the week before when her and Cash had colds. I thought she was over it it and last Monday she started getting a very bad fever. So I took her in and she had an infection in both ears. So that night until Friday morning she had a fever of 102 or greater. It sucked. We went to the doctors 3 times. Changed her prescription and found that she also had strept at the same time. So last week was not a week of sleep or fun.
But now she is better and doing very well. Happy as can be. Here are pics of her and her first pony. She is so much fun when she is not sick.
We also helped Papa with his little project as much as we could. He redid Whitney's bathroom. It is so nice. Cash was in the bathroom for a while just chatting his ears of. It was rather cute. Cash loves his Papa.
Ben and I also had a chance to go out together without are children. We don't do it very often. Maybe 4 times a month. So we had the opportunity to go and just do us and we went to DI and ate dinner and went to a movie. It was nice.
I have decided that I am a happier person when it is cloudy, rainy, and cold. It was like that on Saturday and I was so happy and everyone asked why. That is the only thing I could think of. Just kidding. We don't get days like that very often. IT WAS NICE!!!
In these pictures of Cash it looks like he has a black eye but he doesn't. He loves to color himself. That is because Ben has taught him how to draw on himself. It is amusing some days but others not so much. But we love our Cashman. Cash and I went for a walk the other day and we went past our old neighbors house and he kept asking for Ashley. I actually started crying because they moved 2 months ago and they are the only ones who we really knew in our neigboorhood. We don't have a very freindly neighboorhood at all. I really envy my sisters. She has one were all the kids are out and about all day long and everyone knows and trust each other. I really wish we did. So we miss the Frisbey's. I do ecspecially. So I hope things are well and good for the Frisbey's and let them know we still love and miss you.

Grandma...

This week was kind of eventful. Not in a way of happiness. I clean my grandmothers house for her once a week or twice a week. I also mow their lawns now. I went to go clean her house for her on Tuesday and ended up going to Costco to get cleaning supplies for her. She came because my mother told her to get out of the house. So we went and I parked fairly close to the entrance. Now I had my kids with me. I grabbed a cart and put the kids in and had my grandma hold on to help her walk because she is having a hard time keeping balance and she gets dizzy and falls. We started for the for the entrance, and I am not kidding when I say it took us 10 minutes to get to the entrance. She was holding on and using her cane. All I could do was think to myself "This is going to take for ever".

So we finally get in and she says that she needs to sit down and for me to go and do the shopping. So I took my two monkeys and we went shopping and left her sitting there. So we got finished and went for grandma so we could pay. It took us another 10 minutes to get to check out. We payed and she sat down at the food place and says she is going to pass out. So I asked her if she was hungry. I bought her a hot dog and she had 2 bites. Then we got up to go out and there was another 10 minutes to the car. I shopped for 10 min. and the rest of the time was waiting for her. I love her but as you can tell she is not doing well at all.

So the following day I went to clean her house and my mother took Cash to her house to put him down for a nap. So my grandma was holding Babby and fell alseep rocking her. By that time Gabby was hungry and my grandma said she needed to lay down. Let me remind you that she had only been up for 2 hrs. So I took Gabby and feed her and finished cleaning. I went to say goodbye to my grandma and she was sound asleep with the TV blarring. I realized then that she was at the end of her long road. I sat down on the folding chair and watched her sleep for a few minutes and weeped. At that moment I knew that I did not have much time with her left. She is not well. She is slowing at a rapid pace. I also realized that she has out lived what they told her from the beginning of her lung cancer battle. They gave her six months and this Novememeber it will be 3 yrs. She has lived a long strong life. She is a great woman and will be a great assest to God's army. She ia kind, generious, gentle woman. It will be a very sad day when she leaves us but she has fought long and hard to live to see a dozen great grand children (including mine) to come into this world. She is a hero of mine. I love her with all my heart. She is wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother, and friend to all. She has tried to do all that God has commanded her to do. She is a great example of what God has asked us woman to to do. Be wife and a mother. She is my constant reminder that all woman can survive, sainly, motherhood. I will miss her greatly when she is gone.

Now back to this week...

So anyways my husband and I agreed to clean out storage units and take pictures for my grandpa. Let me tell you how sickly dirty some of them are. I was caked with dirt when we were done. We had 48 of them to do. It took us about 4 hours. It was fun to work with my husband even though he whinned a lot. I should of smacked him but I just let it go and finished the job. I love my husband. It takes a lot to get him going but once he does he is a machine. He is a hard worker. I love him and I love my two children.