the one about the BEACH PARTY

Quayd's teacher let the class chose a theme for their end of school party. The voted and decided on a Beach Party. I am the official party planner mom, so Mrs. Murray asked me to come up with a plan. I bought leis and squirt guns for everyone. We played some water games, had a water baloon fight, snacks and tons of fun! Quayd and his teacher Mrs. Murray)




To finish it all off, Brett brought the fire truck and sprayed the kids. They LOVED it! Everyone thought it was pretty cool that Quayd's dad was a fireman and could bring the firetruck just for them! Quayd was pretty proud to have his dad there. (Dad was a just a little proud too!!!)

the one about the fire station

Brett has been a very busy boy the last few months. He is the assistant chief of the Jensen Fire Department. He has weekly meetings, monthly meetings, district meetings and recently, new fire station planning meetings. They broke ground on their new fire station this fall and it was completed this month. They had a big open house and celebration called, "Christmas at the Fire House" on December 12th. They had a flag raising ceremony, "hose" cutting, dedicatory prayer and they honored past fire chiefs and officers. They also had a really nice dinner and games for the kids. It was really awesome.







Sometimes Brett's constant meetings drive me CRAZY, but really, deep down, I am really proud of him. It was cool to see him in his element at the fire station. He organized, took charge and he made his wife very proud!

the one about Quayd and Santa

Wednesday night was the Fire District Christmas Party. It is a big party for all of the fire fighters and their families in all of the fire departments in our county. It is a pretty fun party. They had AMAZING food! It was all dutch oven food. SO GOOD! Anyway, Santa was able to stop by and Quayd was pretty stoked! We have been asking Quayd for weeks what he wanted for Christmas and he would never really give us a clear answer. It was always things like, "toys for my puppy," or "I don't care." So when we found out Santa was going to be there, we told him he better get thinking because this would probably be his only chance to tell him. Right before Santa showed up, Quayd told me he was going to tell him that he wanted an AirSoft gun. It is similar to a BB Gun, but it shoots little plastic pellets. YIKES! Brett and I were surprised that he even knew what it was. I didn't know, I had to ask Brett! Anyway, before we had time to tell him to rethink his wish list, Santa walked in the door and Quayd ran to get in line. We were kind of dumbfounded. When it was Quayd's turn, I took this very high quality picture with my cell phone, then we couln't wait to hear about the visit he had with Santa. Get ready..... this is FUNNY!

us: "Quayd, how was Santa?"

Quayd: "good."

us: "What did you tell him you wanted?"

Quayd: "An AirSoft gun."

us: "And what did Santa say?"

Quayd: (looking very defeated) "He said, 'You'll shoot your eye out.'"




BaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a GREAT and very funny Santa!!! Gotta love Santa, and you gotta love 'A Christmas Story'! We will have to see what Santa really comes up with.

the one about Brett's trip

So Brett finally made it home (a week ago.... sorry. I have been busy). Anyway, he and his buddy Todd were chosen to go to the National Fire Academy. It was a pretty big honor to be selected to go and they were super excited about it. The school part of it was 6 days, but they added a few days for sight seeing. They were supposed to be home last Sunday, but their flight was changed and they were not aware of it, so they missed it. They couldn't get another flight until the next day, so it was Monday night before they got home. I don't want to tell all about it because I will surely get details confused, so I just want to post a few pictures. If I can get Brett to sit down for a second and write all about it, I will post it. Because it was super interesting and cool. They went to a lot of the civil war battle fields and did the Washington D.C. thing. I teased him that he got to go with his BOY FRIEND on a big NERD tour. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE America and our awesome history, I just know I would have gotten very bored with all of that stuff. Especially the civil war stuff. Sorry. I don't love history. Don't judge me. Anyway, one of MY favorite parts of his trip was the memorial at the Pentagon. It had only been dedicated for a few days when they got there.
There were one of these bench-looking things for each person who was killed at the Pentagon on 9/11. the ones facing one direction were for the victims on the plane and the others for the victims killed in the Pentagon at the time of the attack. Kinda cool.

Their school was really cool too. They had this awesome memorial in remembrance of 9/11. It's HUGE!
The Fallen Firefighter Memorial
This is at the graduation ceremony. Doesn't Brett look so handsome?
They had a good time and I am glad Brett got to go. I am super proud of him and for all of his dedication to the Fire Department. He is so smart and I know he takes this stuff very serious. Good job Brett!!!! I am so proud of you!

Here are just a few more pictures of some fun stuff they did while on their NERD tour.


WHAT?!?!?! HOOTERS?!?!? I am sure they only went there for the amazing hot wings. ;)

the one about having some SERIOUS catching up to do

I am so happy to finally have my computer back. It has been visiting Dr. GJ for the past week and thank goodness, everything is back to normal. A big, fat shout out to GJ for all of his sweet computer skills. He is the best and he was so nice to hook me up and take such good care of my computer while it was away. Thank you GJ!!!

Because of my sick computer, I feel like my whole life has been in shambles. I had TONS of email to read and lots of blogs to catch up on. Quayd has been upset with no computer because he didn't even get a chance to play with the Webkinz Pet he got for his Birthday. By the way, have you heard of Webkinz? SO COOL! I thought it was so neat, actually, that I got one too! Maybe I'll tell you all about it later. But anyway, since GJ delivered my "LIFE" on Friday, Quayd and I have been fighting over who gets to play first.
Well, so much has been happening in our little world, I don't even know where to start. Not really anything BIG, just lots of stuff. School, of course is keeping Quayd busy. He LOVES first grade. He has said, though, that he gets very tired and that it sure makes for a long day. He is doing so great though and I am so proud of him. He loves his teacher, and he has made lots of cute little friends. He turned 6 last weekend, and I haven't even had a chance to blog about it. I will tell you all about his Birthday in another post. Hopefully later today.

Last Monday night, Holly and Kandice invited our family to come to Remember the Main for Family Home Evening/Labor Day fun. They had dinner all fixed and we just had to show up. Do I have great friends, or what??? It was awesome. They grilled hamburgers, and they were super yummy. We also had potato salad, chips, desserts and other goodies.

I've been working quite a bit. A lot more than I expected, but also unexpected, I kind of enjoy it. A Lot. I work days now and it is usually while Quayd is at school. I still worked a couple of evenings last week, but from now on... just days. Cool, huh. I love it! It is a FUN job. My boss is really cool and I have gotten to be pretty good friends with her. She has a 10 year old son and he and Quayd are buddies. He came with us yesterday to the Jensen Fire Safety and Preparedness Fair. The kids had a blast! Amelia came too. They had a lot of great displays and activities to teach families about fire escape plans, what to do in the event of a fire, proper use of a fire extinguisher, food storage and alternative cooking ideas, among many others. One of the most popular events was the Life Safety House. It simulated a house fire and taught the importance of having a escape plan. It filled up with smoke and you were able to see how quickly fire fills a room. Quayd did this with his friends once, but it sorta scared him, so he didn't want to go again. Although, Morgan and Amelia went several times.



Well, I guess that is all I have to talk about. Our lives have been so crazy the last week, but I can't really think of what has kept us so busy. We sure haven't accomplished anything. Oh well. I will try to catch up over the next few days.

the one about 2-Wheeled vehicles

Hip Hip Hooray!!! Brett FINALLY got his motorcycle back. Some of you know this story, and some of you don't, so I will tell it anyway. To those of you who know already, I am sorry.

K, here goes. Brett's dad passed away last August. The 29th to be exact. That was on a Wednesday. Quayd's Birthday is on the 30th. (Sad huh, and totally irrelevant to this story.) Mike's funeral was Monday, September 3rd. The very next Monday, the 10th, Brett was driving home from work on his motorcycle, and was hit by a truck. It is complicated to explain in words, but I will try my best. He was coming home and he was on a road with 5 lanes, the middle lane being a turning lane. He was on the outside lane heading North. A truck with a trailer was in the lane next to him, also heading north. A car or van or something was pulling out of a store and wanted to get in the same lane as the truck. I don't know if she didn't see the truck or what, but she nearly hit him. The truck swerved to miss the lady, and smacked Brett. The mirror on his truck hit Brett in the head giving him a MAJOR concussion, among other minor injuries. Of course, the impact knocked him down, he laid down his bike and totally messed it up. He was pretty banged up, knocked out for a few minutes and got to have a ride in the ambulance to the hospital which was only about a block away. He has still been having terrible headaches, memory loss, back aches, etc. It has been a total NIGHTMARE! I have decided that our insurance and the other people's insurance have done everything possible to make our lives a living hell over the last 7 1/2 months. The motorcycle was undriveable after the accident. I am not even sure what all had to be done, but it is finally ready. Now, I know what you are wondering, so lets just get it out there. No he was not wearing a helmet. Does he wear one now? ABSOLUTELY! He was actually pretty good about wearing it, but there was a reason he didn't have it on that day. When we found out that Mike has passed away, Brett was in SLC for a work training thing. He had taken the motorcycle. I was so worried for him to ride the bike home being so upset, so his little brother Cory and I met him halfway with a trailer. We loaded the bike and came the rest of the way home. Brett left his helmet in the truck and the truck disappeared. That is all I am going to say about the truck, so don't ask. But for the record, he was somehow able to get his stuff out of the truck after it was "taken," and we have recently received the helmet. Yes, he learned his lesson, so no lectures, PLEASE!

Anyway, Brett has been so happy to have his bike, and the weather has been perfect for riding. He loves his motorcycle so much. He had wanted one for years, and when we finally decided we could afford it and stuff, I was all for it. I knew it would be something he would love and use a lot. It is his primary means of transportation. It is such a great looking bike and he looks pretty good on it! Quayd LOVES it! When we first got the bike, Quayd was pretty little so he would ride in front of Brett, but now he is big enough he has to ride on back and hold on tight. It freaks me out to see him ride on the back. This picture was taken the first day Brett got his bike. He is pulling it off the lot in May of 2006.

So on Saturday, Brett was going to the local race track to watch the car races and to be on standby for the fire department. Quayd loves to go watch, so off they went. On the motorcycle. Aren't they cute?
They have matching leather jackets! Look how much Quayd has grown! Crazy. Brett said that when they were coming home, Quayd was SO sleepy! Brett was pretty sure Quayd was dozing off on the back of the bike, which is scary, cuz he could fall off! So Brett kept talking to him and making sure he was holding on tight. He just gets so comfortable! Cute huh!

Ok, now for the second part of my two wheeled vehicle story. Obviously there must be something else or else I would have called it "the one about the motorcycle."

So I have mentioned before that my friend Jamie has a scooter, and so does her daughter, Brandi. Well sweet little Brandi lets me ride her scooter from time to time and this Saturday was the perfect day! My boys were gone, Jamie's boys were gone so we hit the town. We are such losers, though and we didn't have any money between us. Jamie was hungry and I wanted a diet Pepsi, so we scrounged through our husbands change jars and gathered enough to cover a burger, large fries and 2 diet Pepsi's. We rode to Wendy's, then went "browsing," (not shopping, remember we had NO money!) at all of the scrapbook stores in town. We were just silly and crazy and I had more fun than I have had in a long time. On our way back to her house, we took the scenic route. We just drove through a few nice little neighborhoods. We would stop and visit, take pictures, laugh and then drive some more. By the way, it was still just a tiny bit cold. We really had to bundle up. Our hands were like ice. We were joking about scrounging up some more change and going to the dollar store to buy gloves!

We weren't on any kind of a time schedule, so we just lived in the moment. It was a blast. Thanks again Jamie for all of the fun! As we were cruising, we came to an intersection and saw this huge, scary, python-like, man-eating snake. (Ok, maybe I exaggerated on the size.) It was probably just a water snake, but equally scary. We were pretty sure it was dead, but it scared us so bad. Jamie told me to take a picture, but there was NO WAY I was getting close to it, so she did. She is so brave. As she was snapping the photo, I yelled, "EWWWWWWW! GET BACK!" I thought I was so funny. She called me some colorful names and then we laughed it off. Then we look back at the "dead" snake and it started to move. We were screaming like little babies. It was so funny! A little while later when we drove by there in the car, we looked and the snake had slithered away. EWWWWW!

The road up to Jamie's house is pretty steep. Well these little scooters are only like 50cc, so they really don't go much over 45 on a flat road. You really have to get a run at it and it is still tough to make it up there. Once you get about half way up the hill you really lose all of your speed, so we were taking pictures on the way up.

We were such dorks and it was so much fun. What a fun day, and a great memory. Thanks Jamie, Brandi, Brett, Casey, Honda, Weatherman, Wendy's and everyone else who contributed to out crazy fun day!