Est. November 2005

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)

2010-06-17T11:51:00.000-07:00

This is a blog post from my brother Craig. PLEASE READ!!!

I'm gonna end up asking you for money.... so look forward to that!

My Dad, Denny Tovey (see the Awesome! gentleman to the left), was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) last Friday. Good news is he has been at the UC San Francisco hospital since then and is already undergoing chemotherapy. He is otherwise very healthy for his age and for his type of leukemia there's a 90% chance he will recover completely, which is really great news for us. He'll spend 30 days for his first round of treatment and return for several more stays over the following 6 months. This came to our family, like so many before us, as a huge shock. No family ever sits around going:

"You know, I have a feeling Dad's gonna get cancer."

"Weird! I thought the same thing! What type, do you think?"

"I'm not a betting man, but if I were, I'd put odds on Leukemia. It's a real sneaky cancer and that's the only way it would get to someone like Dad, cause he's always, like, really... aware! You know?"

"Yeah, like the time he just knew it was me that touched the thermostat! How could he possibly know that?! But he was right... I did. It was so damn cold in that house!"

Anyway, my Dad, Denny, that is, is an auto mechanic by trade. Last summer he closed down his shop after like 30 yrs of business, due to a recently increased economic influence. So he's unemployed and has no insurance. He should be eligible for medical, but that doesn't cover all his monthly living expenses (which luckily are fairly low since he's very frugal) or the ancillary expenses involved in being hospitalized. His wife Becky pays $24/day just to park at the hospital, for example. I'm sure ALL of you know or have known someone who has had a major illness and understand the financial stress that comes from being hospitalized. His Bishop asked him to reach out to friends and family for support and so I'm reaching out to you. So if anyone has a spare couple bucks and feels inclined.... please send a check to:

Denny Tovey
6433 Beechwood Dr.
Paradise, CA. 95969

I'm seriously thinking in the $10-$20 range... more if you're really, really rich. Needless to say, for ANY help I would be very grateful! A few years back my friend Brooke Barragan and I raised some money for a struggling single mother for Christmas. (That was Part I) My Dad was the single biggest contributor at $500. He is ALWAYS the one to offer time and money when someone's in need. I'm hoping that kind of karma will revisit him now that the roles are reversed.

And if you ever need someone to run, walk, or donate time or money to the cause of your choice, I'm totally on-board! Cause without cancer funds that research new treatments the outlook would NOT be as good as it is.

Thank you,

Deals to Meals

2010-05-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

You have to check out this site. It's awesome! They have such great food storage tips and tricks. They give you the grocery deals for your area. Check it out: http://dealstomeals.blogspot.com

Family Pictures by my brother Craig

2010-01-18T09:40:00.000-08:00

Aren't these so fantastic!!! We took these pictures the day after Halloween. They always turn out perfect! Thanks Craig :)

This boy LOVES snow!!

2010-01-18T09:35:00.000-08:00

Halloween

2009-11-06T18:02:00.001-08:00

We took Preston to the ward Truck or Treat. Then off to trick or treat the neighborhood. Of course Pete couldn't just walk :) He had to put his snowplow light on the hood of our driving lawn mower and drive Preston around the neighborhood. It was actually pretty smart....everyone saw them and it was really safe. Preston loved going on a "tractor ride" around to get candy. He loved it this year for the first time. He loved wearing his "puppy suit". He was too cute.

3rd Birthday Party

2009-11-06T17:46:00.000-08:00

What a goof

2009-10-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

"helping" dad fix the cars

2009-09-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

We love helping daddy at work!

2009-09-30T11:00:00.000-07:00

Thursday Fun

2009-08-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

Today I took Preston and the 3 girls I watch up Payson Canyon to the trail called the Grotto. It is an easy 1/4 mile hike to a beautiful waterfall. We hung out there and had lunch. Most of them loved to play in the ice cold water. Such a great time!

Bike Rides - Monday

2009-08-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

So Monday I took Preston and the 3 girls I watch on a couple of bike rides. We went in the morning to main street and got ice cream at the local drug store.
Then home for nap time. Then we hopped back on our bikes with our neighbor friend and her son and husband and rode to a park to play.The oldest girl, Ashley...her tire popped so she got a free ride back and I had to haul her bike on the bike trailer I was pulling!

After the 3 girls went home we headed over to a friends house to swim for a bit. Preston had so much fun and I loved cooling off after a sweaty bike ride.

Shaving Cream

2009-07-23T14:08:00.000-07:00

I was feeling like a bad mom/babysitter on Tuesday cause it was a beautiful day and I was depressed and wanted to sleep all day. So my friend gave me some motivation and a great idea that I HAD to try with the kids. We took shaving cream and food coloring and let them go nuts outside on newspaper. Here are the photos from that:

River Fun

2009-07-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

I took the kids today to Kelly's Grove up Hobble Creek Canyon. It was a perfect place to splash around in the river where it's not flowing so dang fast. I made all of the kids wear life jackets. Preston wore his arm floaties. Especially after all of the river accidents so far this summer. Even though it wasn't strong enough to take anyone down river or more than a foot deep in most places. Gotta play it safe! :)
We had a great time. Took us all a while to be brave enough to get into the ice cold water. But we all had fun. Preston even got in to about waist high. Ashley and Lexi were nuts and jumped into the deeper part, which was around 5' deep. After we were numb we couldn't stay out.
It was a really great day in the water! Can't wait to go back.

Hiking Stewart Falls

2009-07-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

So yesterday my friend Katy and I decided it was a good idea to take 11 kids hiking up Stewart Falls. 4 of which were 2 and under. I know, totally crazy and not so smart we found out.
It is a 2 mile hike each way. On the way there it wasn't so bad. Most of the kids did great including my star son :) Preston! Although it did take us 5 hrs from start to finish. A bit long for so many kids and only 2 adults!!
Here are a few photos of our hike in.

Not such a bad time! Next are a few photos at the falls.
Going under that ice cold waterfall was exactly what I needed. It not only cooled me off but gave me the bit of energy I needed. It was SO refreshing and worth the hike!And this is a picture of my VERY dirty boy before we dunked him in the ice cold river! How does one get SO dirty??? There aren't any pictures of the hike back for 2 reasons. 1- I was dealing with 2 two year olds that were tired and whining which made me whinny myself :) 2- I carried Preston on my back most of the way down the mountain. Some nice guy stopped and offered to carry Scout down. I had to say yes. I was desperate and the poor girl couldn't stay awake any longer. I wish I would have gotten a photo of her sleeping on this strangers shoulders.
I was out of water for me. I had saved a little gatorade for Scout and Preston to make it down. These nice guys stopped us on their way to the falls and asked if we needed anything....water? Once again feeling deperate and vulnerable I could not say no. He handed me a water bottle that was dripping of condensation it was so cold. I just stood there crying unable to open it I was so happy! Oh boy was that a pick me up I need so badly that really helped me have the energy I needed to carry a 35lb 2 yr old down the mountain. Heavenly Father really knows how to take care of me!! He couldn't carry me down the mountain, but found a way to make it a little easier for me and the kids I was caring for!
Over all it was such a great experience.
Someday I would love to take Pete there without any kids :)

Happy Easter to my boys!

2009-04-12T10:13:00.001-07:00

Day with daddy at Cabelas

2009-04-09T14:33:00.000-07:00

WE ARE MOVING!!

2009-03-18T12:20:00.000-07:00

At first I was a little mad, to say the least. But now I have come around and am quite excited for this move. We are leaving Springville that we love so much and moving south to Spanish Fork Wednesday the 24th. It is really on the border on Springville/Spanish Fork. It is quite a lovely little house. Here are the pictures of the outside. When I move in I'll take pictures of the inside.
Front Door
front of house by driveway
side of the house by driveway
back of the house. Nice property huh?? ;)

What a shiner!

2009-03-06T08:02:00.000-08:00

Poor baby got this awful goose egg on his forehead earlier this week. I was vacuuming and he loves to be chased and to play with the light on the front. Well I went to push the vacuum up right when he decided to jump in front of it and it tripped him and he hit his head on the vent that sticks out of the wall :( He cried like crazy.
In my house when you get a bad ouchy you get a treat...ice cream or a popsicle. It always seems to make it feel better. He didn't complain once after the popsicle.

my silly boy

2009-02-12T15:42:00.001-08:00

These pictures crack me up!this was at our hotel in Cedar City when we went for our nephews baby blessing. Preston LOVES to be just like daddy!What a silly boy! Time to go on another trip I guess :)This was at the Earth Science museum on BYU campus. For the most part he was bored but he did love walking through the dino bones

Circus!!

2009-02-12T15:34:00.000-08:00

So last week we took Preston to the Jordan's World Circus at UVU. He LOVED it. His favorites were the lions/tigers and the pony rides during half time. NO, we did not fork out that ridiculous amount just so he could then be scared and insist on getting off. But he did love all of the comotion! When Pete and I were first dating we went to the same circus. So this was fun to go back and take our boy!
Here are some pictures.

A little catch up

2008-12-28T19:25:00.001-08:00

I have been a little too busy to blog. So here is a little catch up over the last month
These are my cousin Laura's kids Jack and Noah. Every body loves a doggy kennel. At one point they were ALL in there! So funny:)
This was the first time Preston got to play in the snow. Up until then he would try and kick it or reach down and touch it to and from the house/car. So I bundled him up....he had a ball just falling over and over again and laughing. He had way too much fun.What kid doesn't love putting on daddy's boots??? Why do we even buy our kids toys, they just prefer boxes anyway?Preston LOVES to wake up and crawl into bed with daddy to snuggle. He's not so much into snuggling with mommy in our bed....just his daddy!!

Mommy Tag

2008-11-12T15:13:00.000-08:00

I’ve been tagged! Are you ready for this?

1. What time do you wake up? when I hear Preston crying in his bed for me to come and get him. Usually between 7 and 7:30am
2. On a good night, what time are your kids in bed? He always go to be by 8pm. If he's had a bad day, it's at 7:30
3. How long have you been a mommy? 2 whole years!
4. How old were you when you became a mom? 27
5. What is your favorite chore? Not really sure. If I had to pick one I guess it would be vacuuming. It means that the house is clean enough to vacuum it :)
6. What is your favorite meal to cook? A new dish. so exciting to try new things
7. What meal do you cook most often? Soup in the winter and Poppyseed chicken every other season
9. What are 5 things about being a mom that make you smile?
1-when daddy and little boy wrestle - it's quite often!
2-real big boy kisses. So glad to graduate from open mouth kisses
3-preston fresh outta the tub. So darn cute in his towel.
4-when he gets excited about something. he jumps around and has a HUGE smile
5-How excited he gets about tractors. He is such a BOY!!
10. If you could take your kids anywhere, where would it be? disneyland, lego land, grandmas in california, on a cruise.....to many places to choose from.
11. When was the last time you went out without your kids? Last Tuesday, we went out for our anniversary. And the saturday before that for date night :)
12. What is your most heartbreaking moment as a mom? When he was a newborn...he got poked on his heels every few days for his billiruben testing for his jaundice.
13. When was the last time you told one of your kids I love you? I tell him all the time. But I think it is most important when I tuck them in at night. It needs to be the last thing they hear before they go to sleep. - (I think so too!!)
14. When was the last time you were told I love you? Today. I told Preston I loved him and blew him a kiss. He said 'too' and blew me a kiss.

I tag Becky, Trisha and Tiffani

I love fall time!!

2008-11-07T06:53:00.001-08:00

Preston really enjoyed playing in the MANY piles of leaves this year. He couldn't help himself when I was raking them up. How does every kid have the instinct to just roll around in them? Nobody taught them this. They are just drawn to it. So funny!He was even a big help when daddy and I were stuffing the leaves into bags. He would grab big handfuls of leaves and put them in. He loves to help us do anything we are doing :)

Isn't fall time just the best time of the year. I finally realized this year that it is my favorite season. It's so pretty! And you get to wear sweaters and pants....but don't have to wear huge winter coats. I wish I lived in a place that it lasted longer. Winter just comes too soon. Happy fall!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Preston!!

2008-10-28T15:45:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was Prestons 2nd birthday! We had a great party starting at Jumpin Jacks and then had pizza and cake at our house. It was wonderful. And the best part was that I never really did stress about it. I actually enjoyed it myself. Here are some pictures.

Getting ready for the party

His lego cake (not exactly what I wanted for a final result, but it'll do)
This is what I walked into after hanging balloons on the front porch:
what a typical 2yr old. good thing it was his birthday - he got away scott free
Naughty naughty!! (it didn't even ruin my day :) )
Korbin and Dylan at Jumpin Jacks
Sara and Julie
Naughty little boy. He must have known it was his 2nd birthday.
Gage, Dylan, Ben and Jakzen
Trisha and Dax
Sara, Katy, Mandi, Bridger and Rachel chit-chatting while the kids played
Lighting his birthday cake. Can you tell how excited he was about it??? I mean why would he...he already got the best of it earlier. It's old news now.
trying to blow out a candle. No such luck. Then he tried to eat it. :)
Mandi, Gage, Rachel, Sylvia and Margaret
Enjoying cake
My niece Kate enjoying her yellow lego cake. She ate EVERY last crumb. And didn't even get it on the furniture
Preston opening his first gift. That's the only one he truly cared about....even now. He LOVES his new tractors....Thanks Gage!
his tractors
Froggy glasses from Katy and kids
playing with his tractor
Such a cute card. Had to show it off
Preston and Gage opening another tractor gift :) he loves every last one

Thanks to all who helped us celebrate my little boys 2nd birthday!! He had so much fun.

Later when daddy came home we went to chuck e cheese as a family. He loved that too!! We had to bribe him with a sucker to get him to leave. What a great (and exhausting) day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRESTON!!!!!!!

All about my boy!

2008-10-06T20:24:00.001-07:00

I know I don't talk about my son enough :) So here are a few pictures that make me laugh and love him so much more!!He LOVES to go with daddy to Ace Hardware....'cause daddy always gives him his own bag of popcorn!He sees mom cleaning her feet with wet wipes (I hate dirty feet). So he decided he needed to clean his own!! :)

This is his first time on a bus. We rode it to pick up our van that daddy needed to get to the Park'n'Ride. He LOVED it.He just thought it was the funnest thing ever waiting for the next bus!His newest toy! He is pretty good at building towers with his legos.He love, love, LOVES pancakes! He eats this about 5 days a week for breakfast. One of his favorite things to do is to ride in the wagon pulled by the tractor (riding lawn mower) We take this down to the grocery store and he holds all the groceries on the way back. (and moms purse)Who needs toys when you have a box??

Preston has been tagged

2008-09-25T19:23:00.001-07:00

Name and Meaning: Preston Allen Lisonbee
Preston: is English and means the Priests town.
Allen: is also English and means Little Rock
I wanted the name Preston since I was in 2nd grade. I use to chase around this kid on the playground named Preston Stinger. He was SO cute. He moved shortly after and I never heard from him again....but I have always loved that name.
Allen is Pete's middle name and Pete's grandpas middle name also. Love a name that means something.

Age: will be 1 year and 11 months in 2 days.

Birthday: October, 27th, 2006

Nicknames: Preston-Preston, little boy, munchkin, baby, little guy

Favorite Activities: wrestling with daddy, playing in the sandbox, playing with legos, playing with any tractor he can get his fat little hands on, watching curious george, helping daddy fix ANYTHING

Least Favorite Foods: everything. He only likes to eat pancakes, rice, cheese and grapes. Once in a while he will try something new. SO picky!!

Favorite Music: anything with a beat. He doesn't dance much, just moves his arms around and smiles

Favorite Toys: tractors of any kind and currently Legos

What Makes Me Happy: my sippy cup, my silky blanky, my fish, daddy and a ride in the tractor (riding lawn mower), and my doggy (they are best friends)

What Makes Me Sad: when mom tells me no...quite often :(... falling and cutting my lip....quite often also... waking up too early from a nap

I tag anyone who would like to take the time. Fun, fun!!!!

Spigot Licker

2008-09-08T19:05:00.000-07:00

We bought our dog Jessie a spigot cover thing so she can get fresh water anytime while she is outside. We use to have her water in a bucket but it was always too tempting for Preston, so we needed to find another solution so it would be safer for Preston.
We were trying to teach Jessie how to use it by putting peanut butter on it. She couldn't resist and licked it off making water come out. Hopefully this will teach her. Right now she still doesn't get it.
However, Preston learned how to use it!!

How freakin funny is that??? :)

Bad News

2008-09-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

Well at 8 weeks and 6 days pregnant I have miscarried. I went to the doctor today after bleeding pretty bad. The baby was just a spot on the ultrasound. Looks like it stopped growing weeks ago. I cried all the way to the doctors and didn't really stop until after I left the doctors office. I'm pretty sad, of course. However I am feeling pretty positive about it (right now at least). I am excited to try again next month. I am most sad that we tried for so long just to have been teased....not right!
Just wanted to let everyone know so I don't have to tell a million people a million times. Life carries on and we will try again. We want lots of kids....so onward we move.

Rock-a-bye Baby

2008-08-17T18:57:00.000-07:00

My mom stayed with us from Tuesday until Sunday this week for my brother Craigs wedding this past Friday! Preston got in so much Grandma time. He just soaked it up. He would sit with my mom in the recliner and rock while she sang Rock-a-bye baby to him. He would just stare at her while she sang. Then he would make singing sounds to cue her to sing again :) so cute.
He is getting old enough that he knows who she is and recognizes her when she comes into town!

Camping

2008-08-07T07:01:00.000-07:00

So we went camping last weekend for my 29th birthday. This was the first time we had ever gone dirt camping by ourselves. It was so much fun, we never wanted to leave.
Poor doggie had to be leashed/chained up the whole time. There were sightings of a lion in the campground. Yup, we packed our gun...just in case.

Preston LOVED playing in the dirt and getting covered in it. After an hour of being there he was more dirty than he got all weekend. He is boy through and through.
We camped right by the river. Preston loved to splash around with mom and dad in it. It was a lovely way to cool off.
It didn't feel much like camping when we cooked on our camp chef. The food was just too good!!
Typical boy playing with his truck in the dirt and firewood.
He was proud of his fire. And loves to ham it up for the camera
Nope, doesn't love his little boy at all.
Can't wait to to camping again. It is the best way to bond with our family and get some good family time in.

What? Really?

2008-08-04T07:14:00.000-07:00

That's right, after almost a year of trying we are finally pregnant!!
We went camping for my birthday this past weekend. On my birthday (saturday morning) I took a dollar store pregnancy test. The second line was VERY faint. Before we could get excited we loaded up and headed down the canyon to Wal-Mart to get a digital pregnancy test. Sure enough within 30 seconds it said "pregnant"!!!! So I am only 4 weeks along, but working on making another healthy Lisonbee baby!! :)
I am most excited to give Preston a sibling. He loves kids so much, he will be such a good big brother.
What a wonderful birthday gift that was!!!

New Hideout

2008-07-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

This just made me laugh!! He broke the child lock on it when it was open the other day and he took advantage of that today. So I moved the bowls out so he could fit better. He found it quite funny :)

Minutes Ago

2008-07-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

So Preston has been super fussy today. Doesn't seem happy and has been pulling on me and needing alot of attention. I knew he was tired and needed to go to nap early. So I was chatting with my mom on the phone and was laying on my bed...Preston wanted up. So he is up on the bed whining and pulling on my for attention. Next thing I know he lays his head down on my stomach. I start to rub his back and massage his neck. I look down cause he was a little too quiet and he was ASLEEP. How crazy is that? Anyone that knows him, knows he has NEVER fallen asleep on me since he was tiny (except right after surgery when he was still so dopey). I couldn't believe it. I wanted to lay there forever and soak it up. But I also know that he would sleep much better if I let him lay on my bed by himself. So I moved him over and let him sleep. That just really made my day!!!
UPDATE:
So Preston woke up an hour into his normal 3 hour nap. So I went in there and snuggled him (usually that does nothing) and rubbed his back and legs and he was out like a light....again. I couldn't believe it. So obviously he just needed his mommy. I got to snuggle him and take a nap for 2 hours! It was so awesome. I didn't get a single thing done around the house....but I got to take advantage of an opportunity that NEVER presents itself. What a great day!!!

Golfers??

2008-07-12T15:41:00.000-07:00

We went down to Delta for the 4th of July and the day after we went with Pete's parents and two siblings to the driving range. Preston loved it!!

RECIPES!!

2008-06-29T13:16:00.000-07:00

My friend Lisa and I decided we wanted a place we could post recipes we like and get new recipe ideas from all of you!!! We are by no means expert cooks, just a couple of people who like food and are always looking for new recipes to try. We wanted one place where we could go to try out new stuff and to share our recipes with you!

Visit our site at: www.recipechix.blogspot.com

So join us in the fun! If you have a recipe to share you can e-mail either of us and we'll post it there. If you have a picture you can include we would love that.

Let the recipe sharing begin!

I hope to see you at recipechix.blogspot.com

Pete's new baby

2008-06-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

Pete has really been wanting to have raspberry bushes. So we found a person in town that was getting rid of some of their raspberry starts. Last night he planted them and these are a few pictures. I'm excited to see how fast they grow and if it is worth the garden space.
Also, we decided to set up a little pool for Preston this summer. He is such a water baby it's ridiculous. The more access to water the better :)

Weekend fun

2008-06-18T19:18:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was so much fun for us as a family. What can be better than starting the weekend with seeing grandma??? He LOVES his grandma!
Saturday started out with the Springville City days parade. Preston loved the loud noise and chaos! He had so much fun running into the road to retrieve the candy.

Then after naptime we headed downtown to the carnival. It was so fun to see Preston enjoying the rides.

The next day was Fathers Day. We skipped out on church and headed up the canyon for a short hard hike up to a waterfall. When we got home we were all exhausted and all slept for 3 HOURS. Holy cow that felt great. Then we got up and went for a walk....we returned to the irrigation water running in our front yard ditch. Preston had a great time in the ditch and on the street with the water running down the road. He doesn't seem to mind that it is freezing cold. Pete and I couldn't stand in it long before we were complaining :)
It was one of those weekends that we never wanted to end. We had the best family time together!

Tractors, Tractors, Tractors!!

2008-06-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

Preston makes me laugh. We were driving home from the Lisonbee reunion this past weekend and every time Preston saw a tractor of any sort he would point his finger and try to say tractor. It comes out more like car, but whatever :) Then after we pass it he starts to whine. He LOVES tractors. So last night we went out to dinner. On the other side of the road was a few tractors, they were doing construction. So I told him after dinner we could go see them if he was good. So as Pete was paying the bill we took a walk over to them. He got up on the seat and I swear he must have thought it was Christmas. He was SO darn happy!! He just played with all the controls and stayed seated in the driver seat. And of course when we made him get out to go home he just cried. Oh how I wish we could have a tractor in the back yard for him to climb all over. It just makes him so happy!

Pantry Project

2008-05-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

So for Memorial Day we wanted to go camping...however Mother Nature did not agree with us. So instead we completed much needed projects around the house. My very favorite is the nook in the kitchen that use to be a pantry/office/crap room.

We took everything out and put in metal shelves (will be replaced with built in shelves if we decide to buy the place) and put curtains up so that you don't have too look at the pantry. I had been given a bunch of material a while back and used some of it to make the curtains. I am quite pleased with the way that they turned out.

Fun in the sun with Aunt Jenny and Cousin Bryce

2008-05-20T19:40:00.001-07:00

The first picture is of Bryce laughing at me as I smell his feet and tell him they are stinky. That was so freakin' cute! The second picture is of Preston giving loves to Jen's dog Gus. Preston just could not seem to get enough of him. He LOVES dogs! Look at those naked buns! Aren't they delicious?? No need to wear a swimsuit or a diaper in your own pool, right? Bryce seemed to love the holes in the concrete more than the pool. Cute picture of cousin Bryce with his Mommy! OMG, Preston just flipped out over the water. He had the best time ever. We didn't plan to jump in the pool but when I brought him outside to distract him from whining, he couldn't stay away from the water. So in we went. And he has a shirt on 'cause he didn't have sunscreen on and it was 104 degrees!! It was quite lovely. the 6th picture is of the two of us right after we got outta the pool. We had such a great time in Aunt Jenny's pool!! And the last picture.....Preston thought it was so dang funny to crawl under both Gus and Maggie and look at us through their legs. He went through Gus's back legs and stopped....just about the time Gus's junk landed on his head...GROSS!! But Preston just laughed!
We had the best time visiting his aunt and cousin for 5 days. Luckily it was great weather and we swam alot. Jen and I even went for a late night dip one night. We just couldn't resist the 74 degree pool (without any kids, they were down for the night). It was so nice to just hang out and spend time together in the sun. Gotta love the wonderful California rays!!

Grease Monky

2008-05-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

Preston loves nothing more than to be right there wherever dad is. Yesterday Preston and I went to bring Pete a starter for his truck (he broke down at lunch time). That little boy just had to crawl under there with him and help. So funny! He loves to take daddy's tools and fix the tires, bumpers...whatever it is he feels needs to be fixed. :) He got to get all greasy....just like daddy!

New SandBox

2008-04-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

So daddy decided he really wanted to make Preston a sandbox when he saw him having the time of his life playing in dirt. However we saw this one on sale and decided to give it a go. He loves to throw the sand around and smash anything fun I build with the sand.

Type Test

2008-04-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

69 words

Speedtest

This is not so bad considering it's been 8 years that I've been at any sort of desk job!

Tag!! Your it!

2008-04-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged

10 years ago:

Let's see....I had been outta high school for almost a year and lived in Half Moon Bay, CA in a basement apartment with my high school best friend Lisa Duncan. I worked for a life insurance company and loved it. I was dating Rommer Cabebe. Boy....was that quite the story in its self! I was having fun being 18 and doing whatever the heck I wanted to. I didn't have to listen to anyone or be home at any certain time. I really took advantage of that. I went a little over board! I drove a Chrysler Laser. Does anyone remember those? It was like KIT, it talked when your door was open, you needed gas or whatever. My sister Jen owned it first then I took it over. I lived right up the street from my best friend since junior high, Tracy Victorino. That was so fun!

5 places I have visited:
*Hawaii - Oahu and Maui
*Yosemite National Park. I only climbed half way to Half Dome :(
*New York City!!
*St. John - the U.S. Virgin Islands
*Tijuana, Mexico with my 12th grade teaching academy class- my mom came along!! :)

5 things on my to do list:
*start a diet and exercise program
*clear out the nook in my kitchen and make it into a pantry
*Print photos of Preston and get going on his scrapbook
*read a book - any book
*start purchasing food for our lisonbee family reunion

5 lifetime goals:
*have around 5 kids...maybe more???
*Raise children who are great and have a good relationship with them - i 2nd that Marie!
*serve a mission with Pete
*Be a fantastic grandma!
*Keep lifetime friends

3 bad habits:
*I don't know if it's a bad habit, but it's annoying to me. Everytime I go up a flight of stairs I count them. I have been doing it since I was a kid. I wish I could stop.
*Popping my neck and back. It's quite the addiction. I have tried to stop...I CAN'T!
*bad posture

5 things you might not know:
*my parents have been married and divorced from each other 4 times!! and never married anyone else to this day. weird....i know!!
*I never mowed a lawn until about 2 years ago when Pete showed me
*the longest I have ever owned a car is 4 1/2 years, my explorer
*I have always wanted to play the drums as a kid, now I want to learn to play the piano and to sing!
*I have changed an alternator, hoses and starter in my own car

TAG, You're it!

Finally a walker!

2008-04-13T18:19:00.000-07:00

Preston decided with he and I were in California the first weekend of March that he was going to take his first steps. After that, he has loved it and walks everywhere. Here is a video of him walking today.

I kept asking him to say "wiggle wiggle" because that is his new word of choice. Pete and I laugh every time he says it. It's too funny!

Sleepover with the cousins

2008-04-13T17:40:00.001-07:00

So last week I decided to have my two oldest nephews over for a sleepover on their springbreak.
We ordered pizza, had rootbeer and watched Chicken Run with a HUGE bowl of popcorn! Preston just loves to play with kids older than him, especially his cousin Corbin. Corbin can always make him laugh. Here are a few pictures of that night.

Crazy Kid!

2008-04-08T10:09:00.001-07:00

So this morning I was doing my house stuff as usual and I heard Preston laughing up a storm. I walk in the livingroom and found this:

I just laughed my butt off. He is pretty darn good at entertaining himself these days!

Tractor boy

2008-03-26T18:31:00.001-07:00

Preston absolutely LOVES tractors of any kind. His first birthday part was a tractor/construction party. Totally suits him! If there are any tractors in any house, airport or doctors office you can guarantee that Preston will find it. It's not something we have ever pushed or encouraged him to like. We have bought him a few after we notice his love for them and Pete had a nice John Deere metal one that Preston has played so much with one of the wheels has come off. It's so strange that he has chosen to love those out of any toy. Anyway, so the other day our neighbor came over to help Pete with his brakes and drove his tractor. Preston just lit up. He just wanted to touch it. You could tell he just didn't know what to do. It looked like Scoop from Bob the Builder. (grandma has bought him all the bob the builder books he owns. sucker!!! ) So we HAD to get pictures of him on it and playing with it. We went to Cal-Ranch today to buy him a John Deere tractor toy because he borrowed our neighbor Korbin's that he doesn't want to give back so we tried to find that one. Well we ended up getting him a dump truck. Korbin then wanted Prestons dump truck. So they did a little trade-sie. They are both happy now. And we'll end up buying Preston another dump truck. I just love seeing how he is developing into his own little person.

Climber, Not a walker

2008-03-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

So I've mentioned before, Preston CAN walk, he just doesn't want to. Anyhow, Preston and I were at my friends house today helping her start her garden. He was crawling all over the lawn. At the edge of the lawn is a rock wall down to where the garden was. It's anywhere from 4-6 feet tall depending on which side of the lawn you're on. I was so nervous watching him play because he was wanting to get down to where I was. All the sudden I look over and he is down the wall just sitting on the ground. NO idea how he got down without really hurting himself. Next thing I know he is crawling up this rock wall where it was about 6' tall. I couldn't believe it and I knew Pete wouldn't either without a picture. What a determined boy he is! I'm sure it's typical for his age to accomplish these things, I just didn't know he was able to. It blew me away. Obviously he is coordinated enough to walk if he can climb a 6 foot wall!!

Typical 1 year old!

2008-03-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

So this is my little one year old. I was feeding him some homemade baby food (yes, he WON'T eat big boy food - he's more stubborn than Pete and I combined) and left the saucer on the end of the table (you'd think I would have learned by now). It didn't take long for Preston to notice it and have quite a good time. He got it all over the carpet, himself and the table/dog kennel. I was laughing so hard when Pete caught him that I couldn't even scold him. Really, it's my fault for leaving the food out in the first place. You can't expect a 1 year old to resist the temptation. He LOVES to play in anything liquid like. Water, milk, food, juice. He'll dump it out just so he can rub it all over everything. His favorite is to crawl onto the dishwasher door when it's down, right after I've emptied it and splash in the water that has run off of the dishes. He is quite the little boy these days!

Naked Buns

2008-02-27T14:22:00.001-08:00

This was taken about a week ago. I got Preston ready to get in to the bathtub when daddy came racing around the house on his snowmobile. Preston LOVES daddy's snowmobile. He started jumping in my arms. So I took him to the window to see daddy. Then set him on the ledge to watch. It was too funny to me. I HAD to have a picture of those naked buns in the window!!

Prestons Surgery

2008-02-11T14:17:00.000-08:00

So Preston had to go into surgery on January 23rd for his undescended testical..... bleh! :(
We got up early and headed up to Primary Childrens. He couldn't eat or drink anything from midnight the night before since they would have to put him under for the surgery. He was such a trooper. So we checked him in and waited in the doctors office part (where we discovered how much he loves bubbles) until they were ready to take him back. He got to wear these cute little jammies (baby scrubs) and hospital socks w/ tread (which of course I took home!). All of the hospital staff was amazing. They are so good with all the kids.
When the anastesiologist came to get him, he put him in a cute red radio flyer wagon and hauled him down the hallway to surgery. He didn't even blink an eye when we had to kiss him goodbye. What a good baby! That is when mom decided she didn't need to be strong anymore and could shed just one tear. I pulled myself together (I just knew everything would be alright) and Pete and I went to get some breakfast at the hospital cafeteria. Surgery last about 45-1hr. The Urology surgeon came into the waiting room to tell us that Preston did great and everything went as planned. About 5 LONG minutes later mom was able to go and see Preston. When I go there he was naked with only a diaper on. I held him and gave him the 4oz of sugar water they allow. He sucked it down and fell asleep on me. Poor drugged baby :) When we moved to another part of recovery they allowed dad to come in. At this point Preston had been vomiting up all of his sugar water. So we had to stay a little longer to make sure he would be fine. Which of course he was. He just slept on us (which would NEVER happen at home-he loves his bed too much) and we loved him up. He was fantastic on the way home (dad sat in the back to assist in case of anymore vomiting). We put him down in his bed. When he awoke less than 3 hours later you would have never known he had been in surgery earlier that day. He started crawling around. I put him into the bath (which the doctor said was totally fine) to help distract him for how hungry he was. We were suppose to take it easy on the liquids since he has thrown them up earlier. That poor baby was SO hungry he buried his head in the tub and started drinking the bath water. I laughed so hard and felt so bad for him at the same time. We got him out and gave hime 2oz of apple juice. He was still hungry. We gave him 4oz of milk and that didn't quite seem to cut it. We then gave him a jar of baby food. THEN he seemed satisfied. He kept it all down and went on his merry way crawling all over the house. That kid is amazing. I can't believe how quickly kids bounce back from things. His incisions have healed up nicely and he hasn't even seem to notice them. We are so thankful for such great doctors and that it is all behind us now.

2007-11-27T14:09:00.001-08:00

So, we got a new doggie!!! A purebread boxer. This time we got one from a family that had 4 kids. Her name is Jessie. She grew up around 2 babies.....so we shouldn't have another incident! She is fantastic. We just love her to pieces. We have had her a little over a week and I have yet to hear her bark! It's great. She is so friendly. She loves to play and snuggle with us. She is really good with Preston! Mainly she just licks him to death.
She is going to be great for our family. She will run and play when we want but then she will lay on her bed and be content if I don't have time to walk her or play with her. We couldn't of asked for a better dog!

doggy bite

2007-11-13T13:37:00.001-08:00

So Saturday we went to the animal shelter to find a dog that would work good for our family. We recently gave away our chocolate lab Rory :( to a wonderful man with 12 acres. (that's a whole other blog). We decided on a beautiful 3 yr old brindle female boxer, Zoey. Soon after adopting her we dropped Preston off at Aunt Wendy's for the night and headed to Park City to celebrate our 2 year anniversary. Yup, Zoey came with us. She was great!! Obedient and lovey. We just couldn't believe someone had willingly turned her over to the animal shelter. She is great on a leash, listened to commands....and sweet!! Sunday we picked Preston up and headed home. That night Zoey was trying to tell Preston that she was top dog by humping him and standing over the top of him. I scolded her every time. Then I was in the kitchen making dinner. Preston was sitting next to Zoey playing with her mouth. Zoey took a step forward....I knew what that meant....she was showing dominance. I scolded her again. I tried to tell Preston to be gentle with Zoey's mouth. Then out of nowhere Zoey BIT Preston. I grabbed the baby and headed to the bathroom to clean up the blood running down his face all over me, the floor and into his mouth. I was totally freaked out. Preston was screaming and Pete came running over. He gave Zoey a good smack. I gave Preston to Pete while I called my sister Jen. I needed someone calm to tell me what to do. I was in total shock. We called the police and they sent the ambulance over as a precaution to make sure he didn't need to go to the emergency room. Moments later we had the police, ambulance and a few neighbors at our house. Luckily Preston was just fine. It seemed worse than it really was. He is such a tough kid. All we had to do was to clean up the puncture on his forehead and put some antibiotic ointment on it. We gave him some Motrin and put him to bed. This picture is from the next day. See, not so bad right?? It's mommy that needed medical attention after the event :) I was pretty shook up for a while. Seeing blood run down my sons face was the scariest thing.
When the police came we had them take Zoey back to the animal shelter. Monday I released her back into their custody. I was so afraid that they would put her to sleep, but they found a animal rescue that will take her and find her a home without children.
Pete and I believe that Zoey did not mean to harm the baby. If she did he would of definitely needed an emergency room and possibly reconstructive surgery. I don't think she grew up in a family with children. I think she was annoyed of Preston pulling on her and was trying to tell him to stop. We wouldn't risk her in our home...but I believe she deserves to live and be placed in a home without kids.