Tis The Season

If you are from St. Johns you probably know that decorating for Christmas is a big part of the holidays for me. My parents house is ALWAYS decorated perfectly inside and out. I don't remember a Christmas where decorating wasn't a huge deal. Several years ago my parents made all new outside decorations and gave us a few of the old ones, which I love. So, Mark and the boys always put up the outside decorations just for me. Thanks guys.

Gotta start with the icicle lights.

They are all showing their best sides!

Our little blow ups!! Which will not stand up this year, we will be doing something different next year....stay tuned.

All lit up!

Kensie and I usually do the inside while the boys are working outside. This year Kensie had to work so I did it all by my lonesome. I really missed her.

The tree.

I love snowmen, they are my thing!


And last but not least we made tons of cookies and made goody bags to take around.

Kensie actually got to help with that!! I hope everyone has a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

20 YEARS

Today Mark and I have been married for 20 years!!! Time flies. I remember some people said we wouldn't last a year, I guess we fooled them!!

Honey, how very blessed I am that I get to be with you for all eternity. Thanks so much for being mine. I can't wait for the next 20, and the next 20 ... I love you with all my heart!

All Because Two People Fell In Love

One of my favorite things we did in Texas was take a ton of pictures. Everyone was a good sport about it. I received an email about the family picture that Mark put on his facebook from a friend who loved the picture but didn't know who they all were so I thought I would do a little explaining.

Lincoln and Linda

Us

Melissa's family

Vern's Family

Matt's Family

Brooke's Family

Chase's Family

The Great Grand Babies (Melissa's Grand Sons)

The whole lot of us and still counting...

Turkey in Texas

This thanksgiving all of Mark's family went to his parents house in Texas. They live on their ranch in the panhandle. It's about 2 hours northeast of Amarillo. It was the first time in a long time all the family has been together. I think I counted 41 of us! We left early Wednesday morning and 10 hours later we got there. The weather was beautiful!! So here are a few things we did beside eat.

The quads got a real workout! Mostly by the kids but Mark and I took our turn too!

This is where Kace spent all of his time. He would come in just covered with dirt and a great big smile.

Kensie and Whitney (Vern's oldest) are great friends and spent a lot of time on the red quad. They played a mean game of find the pumpkin with the boys on the other quad.

Kensie and Whit loved giving all the little ones rides. They were usually loaded down.

Vern kids brought their Wii and as you can see that was a big hit with all the kids. Kade plays a killer golf game!

Since the weather was so good the Dad's loaded up the guns and the trucks and went out to be prairie dog murderers. When I saw this picture I thought it was just a little bit scary. That is a lot of guns and a lot of Sherwoods!! When Lincoln saw it he was way scared because he thought they were aiming at his cows!! They weren't, they just aimed at the hundred prairie dogs running around.

I am proud to say that all of my family are accomplished prairie dog murderers. I am so proud!

Even Kensie shot one!

Kace got a couple!

I think Kade got the most!

Here is one of Kades victims. We really did consider taking this one home so Uncle Mike could stuff it. Too bad we didn't bring a bag to haul it in! After two days of shooting the Texas prairie dog population went down quite a bit!

The one thing Mark wanted was a picture of Lincoln and his boys on horses. He plotted and planned and thanks to Lane and Brenda he got it done! It really did turn out great.

We had to get one of Mark and his Dad! Mark just thought they would get on the horse for the picture. He should have known better. Since they were all there and on horseback Lincoln put them to work. Not very much work but they did de horn one of the heifers. They had a great time!

It really turned out to be a great trip!! The cousins just played and played. The adults just visited and we all just ate and ate. The other great thing was all the pictures that were taken! What great memories we have. Thanks Mom and Dad for putting up with all the craziness!

A Quick Trip

A few weeks ago Kensie had her worst week ever. ( 1st real boyfriend= 1st real heartache) It seemed like everyday that week something happened to make it worst. I decided it was time for a change of scenery so that Friday after work Kace and I (Mark and Kade stayed for football) gathered her up, drove to St. Johns and picked up my mom. We then drove to Gilbert to spend the day with my sister. We took Kensie over to my brothers house and my sister in law, Heatherlea, cut and colored her hair. Just spending anytime with Heatherlea lifts your spirits. She is just too much fun! One of Kensie's favorite cousin is Doug and Heatherlea's daughter Anslea. Of course she was there for the whole hair appointment so that also made Kensie smile. Her hair turned out adorable and that always makes everything better!

Kensie thought maybe a drink would make things better. They went for the hard stuff: Dr. Pepper and Figi Water!

The rest of the afternoon we just got to hang out at Liane's house and visit and play with her grand babies. Those cute little one's were great therapy for Kensie. She loves the little one's. One of the best things is that Liane's daughter Kesseli had her third little boy a week before so we got to love on the newest baby. As you can see Kensie loves him. They had a really good nap together. -a little side note- this sweet little new one is Tayce Carmichael Goit and is my sisters fifth grand baby. He is my parents thirteenth great grand baby.

Later that evening Liane's son Jace called some buddies and they all took Kensie out. She had a blast!

Sunday morning we headed back home. It really was just a fast trip but just getting away and spending time with family was really the best medicine. On the drive home Kensie told me it was all going to be OK because as she put it "I'm date able"!! Yes she is. Last week she had two dates in one night. Time really does help and Kensie's heart is mending nicely!!

Snow Witches Anyone?

This is what we woke up to the morning of our Trunk or Treat (which was on Wednesday night). Not only was it snowy all day it was dang cold!!! But we were troopers and still went and passed out our candy at the church. Surprisingly there really was a good turn out and I just love seeing all the little ones in their adorable costumes.

The weather was way better on Halloween. That made the kids happy because they all had things to do and places to be that night. Kace has been a very adorable nerd for the last two years but decided it was time for a change and for his party he dressed up as Officer Sherwood. Oh my!!!! He is such a hoot!!!

Kensie and Jonette had tons to do: institute dance, haunted houses, and a party. They had a blast! Jonette the cowgirl and Kensie the mobster.

Kade is my Halloween stick in the mud. He quit dressing up several years ago. Oh well. He just doesn't get his picture on this blog. He did go out with his friends and I think he even wore a mask!!! (he would probably deny that) Over all we had a fun Halloween. Now...bring on Thanksgiving!!

High School Football

My little secret is that I LOVE football. Especially High School football! Some of my favorite memories are of Redskin football games, cheering, Homecoming, and watching the games. Now Kade is playing and I get to go and watch him play and it is just so much fun!! There is just nothing like the atmosphere at a home high school football game. I love it!!!!


The boys at the homecoming parade. They are too cool!! Ok, they are really pretty goofy but they are having fun.

We made Kade pose so Mark could have a picture of them in his Man Room!

Kade is laughing because he told Kensie, right before I took this, do NOT kiss me!! She didn't , what a good sister.

Puppy Days Of Summer

Well Mark went and did it. He got a PUPPY!!! His parents have a Corgi named Porfie. Mark just loves that dog. For over a year he has been telling me he was going to get a Corgi and he finally did. Doesn't he look thrilled?

Here is Zoey! She really is a cutie.

She is very much a puppy. We forgot just how much work they can be and how much damage they can do. She chewed up one of Kensie's favorite high heel shoes after church today. That is just the latest casualty. Not to mention house training. The joys of puppies!

Aren't they cute!

Firsts for Kensie

August 1996: Kensie's first day of Kindergarten

August 2009: Kensie's first day of College

What's in a Name

Well for Kensie Shay a lot is in her name. You see, she is named after a very special person. My best friend, Shayla Anderson Taylor!



Here are my two favorite Shay's!!!

What Grandma's Love Best

During the 24th celebration all of my brothers and sister were home. After the parade we decided we would head up to Greer for a picnic. It was beautiful. Nice and cool with wild flowers blooming everywhere. When we were little we would always pick the wild flowers and give them to our Mom and Grandma.

This little cutie is Shayli, my sister Liane's granddaughter. As you can see she loved the wild flowers. We were sitting visiting and here she came and handed Liane a couple of stems. She said "Grandma I brought you some...........WEEDS!"

Sure enough she did!!!

The Tale of Trailer Trash

Introduction of main characters:

This is my oldest brother, Mark. He is the star of our tale. He is a very big tease, he lives in Taylor, and works at the Paper Mill. If you know about the Mill you know that it is shut down way more than it is running, which means very little, if any hours of work.


This is also a very important part of the tale. When Mark knew all of his siblings would be home for the weekend he realized how cramped the parents house would be so he brought his travel trailer and parked it right in front of the parents house. He had lots of room!

Last but not least, Anden. He is my sister Liane's grandson. He is three and so very, very, cute and very, very, smart.

*a little disclaimer: I only heard this story so if parts are not completely accurate please be understanding!

Anden wanted to know who this guy was who had this cool place in front of the house so he asked him what his name was. Now this guy explained to him that he was a guy who didn't have a job and lived in a trailer parked in front of his parents house so he should just call him Trailer Trash.

Anden loved Trailer Trash. You see Trailer Trash let Anden play in his trailer and even gave him rides on his quad. He always asked, "Where's Trailer Trash?" When his mom and grandma's were going to the store he did not want to go. He told his mom to go find Trailer Trash and see if he could stay with him. To Anden, Trailer Trash was just too cool.

All of the others who were around really did love to here Anden talk about Trailer Trash. They all thought it was just too funny and of course egged it on a little bit.

Well one afternoon walking home from playing at the park, Anden just couldn't wait to see Trailer Trash. He told several random people that he was going to find Trailer Trash. This is where our tale turns a little sad. His mom, hearing him tell strangers decided it was time to put an end to Trailer Trash and told Anden that his name really wasn't Trailer Trash but really Uncle Mark. From that point on Anden called him Uncle Mark.

The end of our tale really isn't a sad one because Mark, you will always be Trailer Trash to us!!