spooktacular......

.....Is what my kiddos are.

Hope everyone has success trick or treating this year.

Happy Halloween!

Evans update

A little taste of the past few months

Our sunsets mukin stalls
Kohan's new horse-Lewis

They just did their 1st barrel race together.Riding SheepTeaching Paige how its done. (Paige uses a roll or wrapping paper lol)Best babysitter ever.Kohan just being the cutest cowboy.

My Paige.

Her official name for me - "MOP".

Said capitalized always. Learning her ways around the Sierra Vista mall.

Just being as cute as can be!

Challenges

We were faced with a family crisis on April 13th, On his way home from work, Brandon was involved in a car accident on Hwy 191 outside of Douglas @ 3:45pm. I tried calling him at 4pm to see where he was and could not reach him. I later found out around 4:30 from the DPS officer picking up Brandons Cell phone out of the dirt on the side of the road and finally answering it, that "the owner of this phone was in an accident and was air lifted to Tucson." 30 minutes of panic stricken phone calls to ER's and Fire departments to find out if he was even alive, I can honestly say were the most horrific minutes of my life. I will never forget that day.
Here is a little recap for those who haven't heard:

The speed limit was 65 MPH and the car in front of him pulled into the turn lane to turn right, and decided at the last minute to pull back out in front of Brandon. He rear ended them @ 65mph causing the air bags to deploy and then shot him into oncoming traffic where he then was hit, head on by a Ford F150 after the airbags deflated. He was airlifted from the scene of the accident to UMC in Tucson and spent 3 days in ICU recovering from 2 major brain hemmorages, a tear in his spleen, all the ribs on his left side broken, and we just recently found out that on his air flight to Tucson his left lung collapsed and the flight crew had to stick him in the side to reinflate it. Initially he had intestinal damage from his seat belt and was on standby to have a portion of his small intestine removed if the swelling didn't go down. He had some scary moments in ICU and had over 6 CTs throughout the process to watch his bleeding. He had some scares with his blood sugar levels and had to have insulin and his potassium levels kept dropping. He had an allergic reaction to Morphine and it put him in a coma like state.

But... with the help of family and friends and The WONDERFUL staff at UMC, including Breann Tedford (Haynes) who is a trama nurse at UMC, who actually recieved Brandon from the airvac crew, he recovered well enough on day 4 to go to an inpatient rehab facility at TMC for 7 days.

He doesn't remember any of it except the last day in rehab. He said some of the most funniest things and some of the saddest things. He lost his vision but as the blood absorbs in his brain, it gets better and better everyday. And his 24 hour migranes have gone away! YAY!

All in all he was most excited to see his family and Kohan and Paige and talk with friends. Thanks to everyone who came or called of had any part in helping us during this process. thank you for all the support and prayers. Also thank you to the medics, and EMTs who made the right decision to fly Brandon, because they saved his life. I believe it would have been a different story if he had stayed @ the Douglas hospital.

I honestly think he had a guardian angel with him, and is so lucky to be alive. I was too close to finding out what my life might be like without Brandon, and I hope that day does not come that close again. Thank goodnes Everyone involved in the accident, including the 5 month pregnant lady and her 7 year old who pulled out in front of him, and a 65 year old lady in the pickup, were treated and released with no serious injuries.

P.S. on a happier note, during all of this, our family and friends helped move our stuff to our new home in Hereford (suburb of sierra Vista). So thanks to all of you who helped. We are LOVING it down here and are enjoying the weather and our 10 acres to roam. We have been busy planting grass and fruit trees all of which is helping Brandon slowly but surely, get back on his feet and "feel useful" like he says and off the coach and feeling better. He even promised a garden! He loves having his horses here and is living up every minute with his kids.

Happy Easter 2010.

We had a great time at the lake with family and friends. Happy Easter.

Spring showing its Face?Maybe.

Things I heart.
Big hats.

Siblings playing nicely with each other.

Chubby babies.

Funny Faces.

Finally Figuring out how to make shoes.

Finally just having time to sew.

Thank you spring for finally arriving. My kids can now terrorize the back yard, leaving mommy to be able to have... mommy time.

Paige Turns 1!

My little girl is now a toddler! She had her very first birthday party and loved it!
Here are some facts about this little girl who came into the world on 3.6.09 and stole our hearts the moment we met her:
She loves her brother. He can do no wrong.
but not as much as she loves food.
Any kind of food.
She loves to dance.
She started walking three weeks before her 1st birthday.
Her first words were Dada followed by Momma.
She answers "ya ya" to every question you ask her.
And yells "Tug" at every dog she meets.
Paige hates animals. What you Say I know. Especially coming from our family.
Hates em. Doesn't like them at all.
But she loves her family and is always happy.
She has filled our life with joy and has her daddys heart.
We love you Paigee the Pooh!
Happy Birthday!

Recent Pictures

Paige and Wyatt Chirp having breakfast together.
Our new female puppy Dally. Now we have two aussies. uh oh.
Kohan's newest best friend.
Paige and her birthday tutu. Will post birthday pics soon!

Acceptable child Abuse

Since the weather has been so nice this week in Snowflake I wanted to go for a bicycle ride. I got Paige put in the little seat attached to my bike and got ready to go. I look over at Kohan and he has his stick horse.
I say "dude get on your bike so we can go for a ride around the block".

Kohan replies, "nope I'm gonna ride my horse cause he needs the exercise."

"Alright" I say. "I hope you can keep up."

"Mom, my horse is super fast, I hope you can keep up."

So off we go around the block me on my bike with Paige on tote, and Kohan and his stick horse, Black trotting along side.

The whole way.

Out of curiousity on how far the kid could go trotting along side I pushed it to one, two, three, four blocks. We had passerbyers double take Kohan, a few honks and waves and chuckles from neighbors and screeches of joy from one admiring sister. We rounded the corner to our street and Kohan slows down to a walk.

"Mom my horse is super tired, he just can't go anymore. I need to park him and get my bike."

So we put the horse back in the barn and set off for yet another journey around the block.

Rod FREE

Brandon had his three rods taken out of his arm yesterday. He is so excited. This means he is a week away from going back to work, at APS. He has been very busy being Mr. Mom while I have been working at the hospital but he is thrilled to go back to lineman duties. It was like a kid in the candy store when I walked in to his recovery room yesterday. Best feeling ever, when I rounded the corner with Paige in tote, and Kohan holding on to my leg, Brandon's face lit up and had the biggest smile and was so happy to see us. Or maybe because his arm is out of a cast? Not sure which but we will pretend it was seeing his family. He was happy Brandon again, talking a mile a minute and up getting dressed, eating and drinking his liquids all before the nurse told him to so he could go. It was so funny.
So one more CT scan to confirm its healed, Physical therapy 2 times a week, and Brandon is done with his wrist ordeal.
Thank goodness.
Kohan on the other hand was crying yesterday...
He asked Brandon, "if you get your cast off you go to work huh dad."
He is very bummed Dad won't be at home anymore.
Now back to Douglas he goes.

Cuddle Up...

To a good book.
I am starting to accept that I did move back to the white mountains, and that my blood will, eventually, get "thickened" to the cold once more.
With the snow, I have now become a little obsessed with this place:The public library.
Well the Snowflake library to be exact.. Show Low's has more of an eye appeal for purpose of this blog. Anyways,

I have spent many hours browsing the shelves for a good read. I have found a few. So has Kohan. Who knew that the library and a book could be used for bribery? Take note moms because a new book for nap or bed time gets the little ones eyes a' twinklin.

My new read that I can't put down, is this:

It has been made into a major motion movie, that comes out very soon. It caught my attention right away. I read the first one in two days. The good news, it is a five book series. If you like adventure, greek mythology, and a good easy read try this series out. The public libraries
carry them. I am on the wait list for book 2 and 3.
Who knows,
they could be the new Twilight.

COLD

I am over this kind of weather.
Just as you see the hope of warmer temperatures and clear skies, it gets cloudy and cold with a chance of snow again... and your reminded that its only January.

Its because I was jazzed about getting an opportunity to go ride my horse today.
She too is sick of the cold.
My poor kids are sick of the cold.
Where did we move too?
We are vacating our house this weekend and head down south to the ranch where i am hoping for higher temperatures and clear skies. With lots of outdoor activities.
Spring, I hope your beautiful face is ready to shine soon.

A very happy Birthday to you!

This guy is a whopping 4 years old today.

He has informed me he grew over night and feels older and knows how to be 4 now.

He has chosen spiderman as his birthday theme with an Iron man birthday cake, and has a special day planned to go see Alvin and the Chipmunks. " You know mom the one with the girl chipmunks that sing all the single ladies", as he shakes his butt to demonstrate how they sing.

Happy Birthday Ko Bear we love you! I hope that being 4, you still have time to come get in bed with us every morning still, story time every night and there is still time for hugs and loves at bedtime. And as Kohan would say lately , "I'm Pretty sure" your an amazing big brother with such a sweet, kind heart.

I can not believe he is one year away from starting kindergarten.. oh how time flies.

Special note: (Thanks to uncle "B" for the super cool cardinals jersey he wore proudly all day yesterday! This is him posing in true Kohan fashion.)