Christmas Eve

WOW, I guess I am the BIG sister!! We had a great Christmas and I will blog more later!! This is me and my siblings on Christmas eve. Me on the left, then Merrill, Nakia, Blake, KaReena & Shelby.

Christmas Newsletter

Here is our family newsletter that we are either sending out or emailing or just posting on our blog. Enjoy.

Greetings from the Youngs
I am going to try to get this letter out before Christmas this year, but I guess we will see if that really happens. Anyway, I hope whenever it does reach you, it finds you all well. This year has definitely had its ups and downs, but once again, we lived through them all.
This time last year our house was still in complete upheaval, we didn’t even have a full size Christmas Tree. I can now that we are all done with our addition and we were able to put up our Christmas tree in our new family room. YEAH. We could not have finished the addition without the help of our good friends and family. You all know who you are and we REALLY appreciate all of the help and time you put into making our days go much smoother!!
Jerika is a teenager, need I say more. I guess I will though, she finished her last year of Tavaci this year in May, boy I am glad we are done with that. But, she enjoyed every minute of singing. We are still waiting to get her into some kind of private voice lessons, but are currently on waiting lists. She also started Jr. High this year, which has been quite the experience for sure!! It has been somewhat of a struggle for her and she is working harder every day to make her parents happy with her grades. Since we moved out of the master bedroom upstairs, she got to move in and make some major changes, and it really looks cute!! The biggest change for Jerika this year is that we found out in January that she has a thyroid disorder and insulin resistance. Both of which are regulated by mediation and diet. So, that has been a real struggle for her to change her eating habits, but she has lost weight and I don’t know if that is a good thing, considering how many boys she is talking about all the time.
Kinlee is taking dance again this year, it is a little of everything, tap, ballet and tumbling. She loves it and that is all that matters. She is doing really well in school and freaks out when she doesn't get a good grade on something. She really keeps things hopping at our house, and makes sure that we are all towing the line. A couple weeks ago when I got home from work, she told me she didn't do her chores because she got thinking and wants to know what it is I do around the house. That didn't go over very well. She got baptized in October, which proved to be interesting, just like everything else in our lives. Ray held up the wrong hand when he baptized her and nobody mentioned anything until after she was confirmed, so we had to do the whole thing over again. It was quite the experience. I was glad afterward that we had added onto our house, because we had about 40 people over for lunch afterward. Which was really fun!!
Tyler has had a year full of ups and downs. He turned 18 in May and was supposed to graduate in May also. After much effort on his mother's part (because he didn't really care) he was still not able to walk with his class at graduation. But, took a summer class and received his diploma in June, YEAH!! A few weeks after his class was over, he started a job with Dome Tech and traveled to a few different states to work. And that lasted until a few weeks ago when he got laid off because of lack of work. So, he is working for his cousin and as of this week, living full time at our house. Pray for me, I am not used to boys in the house all the time.
As for Ray and I, nothing really changes, he's running loads all over the U.S. and I am running kids all over town. He did have a week long "vacation" in the hospital this year, which he has completely recovered from, thank goodness. And my boring life consists of making interchangeable watch bands, which I am sure most of you already know, but if not you can go to my blog and look watchmebead.blogspot.com. Also, if you don't already know we have a blog that I try to update every now and then it is youngmom1220.blogspot.com.
We are just thankful at this time of year to have our health, family, friends and our jobs. We love you all and hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Oops - forgot the kids table.

Here's Kinlee (mine), Dax and Lydia (KaReena's kids).

Quiet Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was pretty quiet at mom and dad's this year!! KaReena and I were the only "kids" that came home. We of course had our kids and Ray's mom came also. Ray showed up in the middle of dinner, but at least he made it home! We had a really fun time!!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, hopefully I can post some pictures this weekend. We are all doing better this week. Thanks for all the kind thoughts, who would have ever imagined our dog dying would be so stressful. Thanks again!!

SAD DAY!!

Yesterday we lost our Chaz. For those of you who don't know who that is, it is our dog. He died yesterday morning while he was on a little trip with Ray. One of his favorite things to do is ride in the back of Ray's pickup. It is so funny, he would alway sit back there and howl. Anyway, Ray took him for a ride yesterday, they were going to a swim in the river, well Chaz was going to swim. We don't know for sure why or how, but he jumped out of the back of the pickup while Ray was driving and broke his back. So Ray had to put him down. And guess what, you never realize how much you love the dang animals until they are gone. They girls are really struggling, especially Kinlee. She cried herself to sleep tonight and it made Jerika so sad that she was crying also. Anyway, I have to stop now because I am crying also.

One More...

I was looking through what we had done and decided this one wasn't too bad after I cropped it a little. Aren't we just the happy little family?

Okay, here are a few more

I decided that since you are all my friends you won't be judgmental about our pictures. My sister did a pretty good job!!

The people I love!!

I really wanted to have my family pictures done, but it is really hard when you are the photographer. Anyway, Nakia helped us do it, and she was a good sport, but it was raining outside so we had to make due with what we had, hence the glare on everyone's glasses (which we should have all just taken off). Here is one of the pictures of my happy family. They were all pretty angry when I made them get their pictures taken, especially my husband!! He is not a very good sport sometimes when it comes to having his picture taken. Anyway, I may or may not post more photos later. I'm not sure I really love any of the ones of me, but isn't that the way it goes?

Crazy Brother!!

Things around our house sure liven up when Tyler is around. He came home this weekend, so we finally got to see him. He has been travelling around the U.S. working for Dome Tech. He has been in Colorado, Tennessee and Montana, I think. The girls sure love their brother and really missed him while he was gone. Isn't he precious!!

Kinlee's Baptism

What a cute family, minus the chubby looking mom. Anyway, it was a crazy day. We ended up baptizing and confirming Kinlee twice, Ray had the wrong hand up and nobody noticed until after everything was over. But, the day ended up really nice and I was thankful for our addition, since we fed about 50 people afterward.

Boise Weekend

Last weekend we went to Boise to see Ray's brother and his family. We left after work on Friday and stayed until Sunday. It was really fun!! Whil we were there, we got to go to one of Kaizik's soccer games and we did a lot of shopping, especially at bead stores. Thanks for being so patience uncle Torey!! Of course we had to go to the mall and then we went out for pizza. After that we went to a Glow in the Dark 3D minature golf course and the kids had a blast!! Sunday morning we left their house early and went to meet Aunt Verla and Uncle Bob for breakfast, we hadn't seen them since
Tiffany got married, which has been a few years ago. And it was really nice to see them also. Then we headed home. My friend Brooke and her daughter rode with us and then stayed at her mom's house for the weekend, so that made the long drive much nicer for me. Anyway, thanks Torey, Nichole, Kaizik and Naomi, we had a ton of fun!!

Kinlee's birthday

Kinlee & mom.
We took Kinlee and some Friends bowling for her birthday. Boy was it fun!!

Kinlee & dad (yes he was thrilled to be there)

Kinlee bowling.

Not my kids....

Which I am sure you all already know, but, my good friend Allisa let me take pictures of her
kids, which was so much fun!! One of these days I hope to be able to take really good pictures and learn how to pose people well.
I might actually need to get me a better camera, but don't tell Ray because he thinks he is going to buy me one for Christmas.

This is Mya, isn't she cute, and she was such a sport!!

Reece, look at his blue eyes. He kept saying cheese, it was so funny!!

And of course Peyton, Mr. Busy Body, but he cooperated like a sport, look at his cute dimples.

Thanks Allisa!! We had fun!!

Better Day

I always feel like I need pictures to post, so that is why I don't write anything unless there is a picture to go with it. I am however going to post a few pictures of the inside of my house for some of the girls at work. But, maybe tomorrow. Today we took Kinlee and 3 of her friends bowling for her birthday. I am just really glad I only have 2 1/2 kids and they are all 5 years apart. I'm sure Heavenly Father had a little hand in it, because he knew I couldn't handle it at all. After the party, the grandparents came over and had cake and ice cream with us. After that was over, mom and I went to the Womens conference at the stake center. IT WAS AMAZING!! I think when the Ensign comes out I am going to make several copies of President Ukdorf's (spelling?) talk and read it daily. If any of you didn't go tonight I would highly recommend going online and see if you can get if there and if not make sure you read it in the ensign. I am just gearing up for the next two days, they are going to be really sad, so wish me luck!! And I will poast pictures soon.

I'm Old!!!

I just realized that my baby will be 8 this week. Boy do I feel old!! I still remember all the trouble we went through getting her into this world. Boy we are thankful we have her. And I have to remind myself every day, because she is a joy and a "princess" or so she thinks. And she really gives us a run for our money, but we are all love her and her amazing spirit.

This is us!!

It was Jerika's birthday tonight, so I had Nakia take our family picture. For those of you who don't know, Ray was in the hospital for 8 days starting July 31. He lost about 30 pounds and guess what, I think I found at least 20 of those pounds. I cut my hair off hoping that would make me loose a little of the weight, but it didn't work and I believe it may have made things a little worse. Anyway, this is all of us, since we don't all get in the picture most of the time. And one more thing, my kids do have other clothes. I realized after the picture that the girls had on the same clothes as they did the first day of school. Have a great week!!

Way too old!!

For young womens last week we took Jerika's class to the college to take pictures. Guess who I thought was the most beautiful out of all of them? Tomorrow is her birthday and she will be 13, yes a teenager. I can't be that old, can I? I am just really thankful that she is such a good girl!! I don't know what I would do without her!! Anyway, I won't get all sappy, I just wanted to show you all how beautiful she is. I'm not sure where she gets it from, I guess it is that old saying my mom used to tell us all the time "ugly parents have cute kids". So, there you go!!

Back to School

Here are pictures of the girl's the first day of school. Jerika will be 13 on Friday and Kinlee will be 8 on the 24th. Boy they really grow fast!!

I'm back

Hello everyone, I am really going to try to keep up on this now that life is a little less crazy. We are done with our house for the most part. The kids are back in school and we are getting back to normal a little. I just got over 800 pictures back that I ordered and I am busy getting them scrapbooked. I took some recently, but can't find them on my computer, so I will try to download some of the other ones. I can't remember how to do all this crap.

Okay, I attached a picture of Ray and the girls watching tv in our new bedroom. More to follow soon, I hope!!

Jerika's Dare Graduation

Another thing we did this weekend was go to Jerika's Dare Graduation. It was really good, and Glen Beck was there to talk to the kids as a special guest. He is an amazing speaker!!

We're getting there!!

Last weekend, we were really busy!! Not only did Ray get the step buildt finally into the addition from the house, but I think we are finally ready to texture. Yeah!! And it is looking like there might actually some light in my house as soon we take the black plastic down. This picture is the addition and it is so bright.

The Dance

Welcome to our Dance. When Torey and Nichole were here, we had a dance in our basement. It was so much fun. At least I thought so, we had missed the sock hop at church because Ray was working, so we had our own.