Happy New Year!

It is my goal to keep this blog updated this year, so let's start off with a "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" shout. Ready? Got some pots and pans to bang on? ok. Let's go for it.
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
Whew! I feel better now. How about you? *grin*

So we said goodbye to 2009 with a dinner at Red Robin, a family favorite. The boys love the place!

At our house, New Year's Eve means one thing. Poppers! You can't do fireworks on New Year's but the boys feel like they are with these. Silly? Yes. Fun? YUP!

We don't drink, but love a good decaffeinated root beer - ah Barq's! Why are you only decaffeinated in Utah?
Thanks Mom and Dad for bringing us some from your trip! It was delightful! We also made monster ice cream sundaes. Yes, the calories flowed freely that night!

Our yard, with Dad's cool "2010" display!

Our oldest wasn't feeling well, so he went to bed around 10pm, and Squish (the 9 year old) stayed up and watched the ball drop with us. Then we went out, hollered "Happy New Year" to the world, and did some poppers. (Ya gotta do poppers!) The next day while we watched the Rose Parade we went outside and finished off the box of poppers and just recuperated. It was Pop's birthday, but he was sick so we stayed home rather than going to celebrate and making him more ill. :(

I'm sad to say that our friend Bill Williams passed this month. He would have been 99 next month in February. He was very active to the end, and had a great sense of humor. We'll miss you Bill. Hope you and your wife Bobbie are having fun catching up together. The following is taken from his obituary, in case someone in the future would like to read it, since the newspaper says they will delete it in a year. Love to all the family.

William Gordon Williams (Bill)

William (Bill) Gordon Williams 1911 - 2010 Bill Williams, age 98, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. He served in the Coast Guard during WWII. He married Barbara Wall in 1949. Bill was a painting contractor for many years. He and Bobbie raised their two children in Long Beach, CA. In his retirement years, Bill and Bobbie enjoyed traveling and participating at the YMCA with their friends. Bill was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was preceded in death by his wife. He is survived by his children and their spouses; 7 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

He's a Tenderfoot!

I just had to share how excited I was for our oldest to have reached Tenderfoot rank in Boy Scouts. Having autism makes it that much harder to get things done for his rank requirements, but he stuck with it and we are very grateful for leaders that were willing to be patient and help where needed at Scout Camp! Here's a few photos, he also earned several merit badges this summer that he was awarded that night. It is a reminder to me to never sell our kids short. With enough love and patience, miracles can happen.
*hugs to you all*

Trick or Treating at CA Adventure 2009

Last weekend we went trick or treating at Disney's CA Adventure, and so since it's been soooo long since I posted, I thought I'd start small and share a few pictures with you. Sorry the pictures are so blurry, I'm working on finding a new camera....
The photos are of my boys, 9 and 13 years old now, along with my Sister and her 2 kids, my folks, and our friend N.J. I hope you enjoy them.....

Special-needs students compete at Stanford Middle School

Today my oldest ran in a Track Meet at his school. The Press Telegram wrote about it! He is in 2 photos, he is next to JJ on the right in the cover photo and in the photo gallery he is shown a second time. It was a really neat day and I'll post more photos about it later, but I'm excited to share that he is in the online newspaper. I don't know it it'll be in print or not, but I'm still excited. *grin*

If you want to see the article, it's at http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_12522536
Sorry you have to cut and paste it, it seems to be encoded so I can't list it as a link or post the photo. *sigh*

Newest School Photo

I've been wanting to write and tell you about us, and yeesh, the days fly by. Today I found this in my son's backpack, so I wanted to share! He's 12 now, and just growing so fast. This is his newest school picture and for once I bought the picture cd so I can actually claim it as my own!

We're getting ready for the last days of school. It's funny, time refused to go by at the beginning of the year, and now it won't stay still for anything! It's hard to believe I will soon have a 3rd grader and a 8th grader. Wow, I remember 8th grade. I was on the drill team and was making choices that would affect my future. Fortunately, I think that overall I made good choices, if I do say so myself! *grin*

I think somehow my brain recognizes that more free time is coming, because I am finding the desire to be creative again. I want to sew, scrapbook, and craft stuff up! I can't wait for summer when we can do things based more on our itinerary rather than on how much time we have after homework.

I hope you are all doing well, and that you may be blessed with good health and loved ones nearby.