Killer On the Loose!

...There's A First Time For Everything!

One day last week, my good friend, Jeni & I decided to have a day of 'Firsts' together! What started it all was the discovery that she had NEVER been to IKEA! That is a big deal, however, the fact that Sam is moving them clear across the country in two weeks (tear drop..tear drop...moment of silence~~~~~), well, that's a bigger deal ...on top of a big deal! With that being said, IKEA instantly became #1 priority on the "things to do before she leaves" list!! We decided Jeni should go first and so we spent the morning walking around IKEA for a few hours. She OOO'd......she AAAAuuhhhh'd....She loved it! Knew she would! Parker & Rissa loved it too:)

...then it was MY turn. Jeni about died when she found out that I'd never eaten Sushi. She wanted to be the one to talk me through the mental anguish and stress that goes along with eating the stuff (or is torment the word?), so that's what we had for lunch! These are some of my thoughts on the matter: Sushi has a way of mixing up your emotions. You get all stressed about "what it will taste like", then you taste it and it's, surprisingly, "...not too bad. Actually, it's pretty good!!" ...and you eat the whole thing. Then you go to blog about it two weeks later, and you look at the picture, and you think about it....you really think about it....and your stomach starts to get a little sick feeling! You then toss the idea around that you're "never gonna eat that stuff again!". THEN, you remember that you, "really did like it"...and so by this time your taste buds are all confused and your brain really doesn't know whether you want to try it again or not!! All-in-all, I will try it again! One day, I will press forward to the Sushi Man and place my order... but only under the conditions that I will only eat at that same restaurant, ordering the same dish! Eventually, given lots of time, I'm sure I will even venture to a different Sushi Man and try a different Sushi dish. I'm also sure that I can, at some point in my life, use this experience as some type of teaching tool / example in a lesson at church. ...and PERFECT! I've even got a handout to go with it!!!


Rissa & Parker shared some chicken and rice. Rissa & I are going to really, really, really miss spending time with my future son-in-law and his mommy!!! ( ...another tear, tear...moment of silence...............................................I just can't talk about it anymore right now...it's just too much)
sigh

In Honor Of Our Beloved Baby & Grandpa

May 23rd. Four years ago, today, I delivered our Premature, still-born baby. Brant was just barely 7 and Jacob was 5. Jacob was still not very verbal yet, and Brant, being extremely verbal, had already picked out a name for his little baby brother--Timothy James Joyner. He wanted to be able to call him "Timmy", for short,so that's what we named him! I'll never forget all the mixed feelings while holding him there in the hospital! So sad, but even more, we felt amazed! Amazed that such a tiny little baby could be so perfect! I still can't believe that it's been 4 years!!
May 23rd marks another loss in our family. Last year, on this day, we said goodbye to Marty's father. His burial service was on this day, which-a year ago-was Memorial Day. How perfectly fitting that was!! Lilburn (aka "Grandpa Joyner") served in and Retired from the Air Force. His funeral was an experience that was both, amazing and full of ...I really can't even find the words to describe the other side of it! It was an experience that totally brought all of us closer together, that's for sure! Long story short: A horrible, horrible virus wiped out AT LEAST half of us by the day of the funeral!! It was seriously like we were in war!...People dropping like flies left and right!! It landed my mother-in-law in the hospital to the point that she wasn't able to attend the service! There were a lot of hardships, but it was also such a testimony of what FAMILY is all about! He was Honored with the 21 Gun Salute, and that was Amazing! It was something that we all knew he would receive, but never imagined what an awesome thing it would be!! Each of the grand kids were able to keep a casing from the bullets and that was very memorable for them, to be able to go find them in the grass and take it home in memory of their grandpa.
The Lord has a way of Healing us. Time has a way of Healing us. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life! I'm grateful for the truths and understanding of the Plan of Salvation! I'm grateful that the Lord blessed me with the Courage to "try again"...twice (one was a miscarriage), b/c if I hadn't, we wouldn't have our daughter with us now.
Tonight, In Honor of Our Beloved Baby & Grandpa, we sat as Family and talked about the Plan of Salvation. We wrote down 'Things that we love about Grandpa' and 'Things that we want to do with Timmy' when we see him again, and then we all Kissed two Helium filled balloons and we sent them up to Heaven to our loved ones. We Cried and Prayed together as a Family and then we did a Family Bear Hug and laughed some! We know we'll be with them again.


One last thing that I want to note, for journaling purposes, is that while we were talking about the Plan of Salvation Jacob asked us if we remembered when he was young and almost drowned in a pool. (He was 4 yrs old). He said, "Well, the Angels saved me. They helped me. I'm still here b/c Heavenly Father sent me an Angel". I know that one of those Angels was my grandfather. And I think that talking about Jacob's experience also helped the kids realize as well as Marty and I to reflect upon the fact that we do have loved ones on the other side of the veil that are "helping" us! They are cheering us on to make right choices and to serve one another and to learn the things that we need to learn. I will just close this sermon (lol) by saying that I hope that, when it's all said and done, that I can look back at my life and know whole-heartedly that I have done the best that I could do! That I have done 'my part' here on Earth. I look forward to the day that we can be reunited with all of our loved ones that have passed on. And I know that if I live an Honest, Righteous life, that I will be given those blessings.

These Pockets are NEVER Empty!!

Jacob LOVES Nature!! Ever since he could walk, you could find him head out the front door and straight to the rose bush!! He loves to pick flowers, loves to climb trees and loves the beauty of green foliage! Even though he picks flowers, he never puts them in his pockets...b/c that would smoosh them, obviously. Well, another part of Nature that Jacob loves, is the Trash that can be found in Nature! On the playground, along the sidewalk, @ the greenbelts. Everywhere he goes, his eyes are scanning the ground for ...stuff! Let me show you what kind of "Stuff" I'm talking about.......
..... finger puppets...pine cones.... coins...rubber bands....a little sandpaper....
....metal stuff....pencils....buckles.....never know when you'll need someones lost eye glass lens..... sparkly rhinestones.....
....screws.....nails......hair clips.....plastic men.....wood cubes with numbers on them.....is that a TENT Stake?......
...."beautiful green glass"...BB's.....more plastic stuff......dirt.....
.......More pine cones.......lids........

....broken stuff......wood stuff.......metal stuff......

...I always look forward to LAUNDRY day!! -Never know what I'll find!! I do get a little grossed out with the hair clips and bands, but I do find comfort in knowing that I haven't seen any ABC gum!!! And as crazy and funny as it is to see what all he can find and fit into his bottomless pockets, I love and treasure these funny moments! It's part of his personality and who he is, and I love him!!

WE've been too busy to Post...here are just a few things that we've been up to...

Life has been super duper crazy, to say the least, lately!! End of the year school stuff, scouts, baseball, Girls camp stuff, lots of GNO's for friends b-day's and going away parties :(...and much much more. The same crazy busy stuff that everyone else is doing too!! Because I do intend on printing this into a scrapbook, I will update on just a few things and in time, will hopefully get caught up:)

~Honor Choir Concert~

As a family, we all went to support Brant in singing with the Honor Choir! A few weeks ago was their End-of-the-Year Concert! I lOved it!! They sang songs from tons of Musicals: Sound of Music, High School Musical, Mary Poppins and my all time favorite-The King and I!!! During one of the songs, all of the Choir kids received a rose from the Principle and came out into the crowd to give it to their moms...one of those proud moms would be ME:) So this was my beautiful yellow/red rose! It brought tears to my eyes! Brant also had a part that he and Emily did together he did an awesome job on it!! I love Brant so much and am so proud of his accomplishments. I didn't even get a picture of him in his Choir outfit b/c we had to make a mad dash out of there to get to his baseball game (busy kid--I'll post baseball in another post)!! He truly blesses my life!! Thanks Brant!

~Stranded Birdie~
One day we found a little baby birdie stranded on our waterfall and the boys wanted to be sure that I include him in this post! Brant & Jacob got him off and gave him lots of TLC! By the next morning, he was feeling much better and had flown away to be with his family:) The boys were excited that maybe they had helped him a little so he could fly again!

~Teacher Appreciation Week~
Two weeks ago was Teacher Appreciation Week at the kids school. Each day there were little things the kids could do and take to their teachers to show their appreciation. I totally and completely flopped on this one!! I'm usually lovin it and on top of things, but that same week was all prep work for our big Fundraiser for Girls Camp. This was the best I could do...Chocolate (& Reese's) Covered Apples. I crushed up tons of Reese's PB Cups & Peanuts then rolled them in it. I really do appreciate ALL of the kids teachers!!! I really do wish I could've done more for them!!! The kids love taking goodies to their teachers and I do know they appreciate them as well!

~Girls Camp Fundraiser~
cakes, cakes cakescakescakescakescakescakes!!
So this was what we did for our Girls Camp Fundraiser!! We sold Mother's Day Cakes...143 of them!!! I really have loved being Camp Director--- even with all of the work that is involved! The girls did an AMAZING job!! They sold 143 cakes, decorated them all and boxed them all up! We were only shy one of our girls, and we all got them cranked out and done in a matter of about three hours!! AMAZING!! I was most excited that I had 'guess-t-amated' almost exactly how much frosting we would need! I was worried about it, b/c we had Chocolate and Vanilla and I have never had to live up to such a huge order before:) It was really a great experience and I think the girls enjoyed it as well! My head is still on Camp stuff, but I am able to pay a little more attention to my family now:) Thanks to them for being so patient with me!! Also, thanks to everyone who bought, ate, helped or just donated!! Amie & Jeni thanks for the 'Make Frosting" Party! You helped me a ton and saved me a ton of time!! Rachel, You're an amazing cake decorator! Thanks for coming and teaching all of us some of your 'skilz'!! Allyson--thanks for taking my kids a couple of times that week!! You're a life saver...really, thanks to everyone!! Thanks also to my Tent Moms!! Love you!


~Student Of the Month~
Brant and Jacob were both Student Of The Month, last month, at school!!! It was perfect b/c Marty, Rissa & I were able to go and see them both recognized during the same assembly!! (It was also perfect, b/c Marty had totalled his car & we only had one car at the time...but I'll post more on that later, too!) I would totally post pictures, but Ed HAS NOT EMAILED THEM TO ME YET...ahhuuummmm!! I'll post them as soon as I get them --lol:)

There are several other things that I want to post about, but my eyes and fingers are hurting and in shock b/c all of the sudden, I'm at the computer again, after 2-3 weeks!! I'll let them rest and then catch up on the rest at a later date:)

Happy Birthday To My Rissa!!

Happy Happy (belated) Birthday, Rissa Dear! Happy things will come to YOU all Year!! If I had one Wish, then it would be...A Happy, Happy Birthday to YOU from ME!!! Rissa has been such a blessing in our family!! Her arrival was long awaited and we were all sooo excited to finally meet the little princess that had been kicking my belly for so long!! I cannot believe she's ALREADY Two!!! We LOVE you always,Rissa! ...Even through the tough times!!!! Rissa got slightly gypped this weekend! Due to my responsibilities with an "assignment", as Girls Camp Director, I was unable to accompany the family to her 'birthday dinner' at...holy cow! I don't even know where they ate!! Ok--so I was a little tied up all weekend...to my neck... in our Mother's Day Cake Fundraiser! I was so busy trying to prepare for the big event...and a little sick...and a lot stressed, that I didn't even bother to buy her a gift!! Not A SINGLE gift for her big 2nd b-day!! Honestly, I didn't even think to pull out a piece of candy from the cabinet and wrap that up for her!! For that matter, I probably could've gotten away (at her age) with wrapping up an old toy, just for the sake of having something for her to open!! Aw, Thank goodness my mom had sent her a birthday box or my little sweet cheeks wouldn't have had anything to open at all!! We did, however, introduce her to our family tradition...BREAKFAST IN BED! She didn't get her 'Num-nums' on our big birthday tray due to the small square footage of her crib, but her sippy cup and a plate of some of her favorites did just fine! As you'll see below, well, you can hear it anyway---not so good at this video thing, mine are always too dark,--she was not too fond of our traditional, Early Morning Birthday Wake-Up Call!! Our plans are to redeem ourselves and celebrate 'for real', tonight for FHE. Happy Birthday Rissy!!!

Organ Stop Pizza

Yesterday I went on the Honor Choir Fieldtrip with Brant! We went to Organ Stop Pizza and had a blast!! I couldn't get a great picture of the huge Organ, b/c it was dark most of the time, but the platform that the Organ & Mr. Organ Player :) are on rise up while he plays. This guy is amazing, I swear, I have no clue what this place will do when the man dies! Not only are there 6,000 organ pipes showing through glass walls behind the organ, but there are chimes, drums, all sorts of procussion, bells, grande pianos...and much more, hanging from the ceiling and along the walls of the resturaunt. This talented organist doesn't use a single sheet of paper, all from memory and he can play ANYTHING! We've taken our family there probably 6 times and I've never seen him not be able to play any request! Aw-- the kids had unlimited pizza and drink, and we listened to all kinds of Disney songs along with other requests from the kids. Brant & Tyler! They got out in front of everyone a few times and dazzled us all with their ultimate dance moves!! I did get a short video on my camera that I'll download at the end of this post. Love ya Brant!!! I had such a great time with you!! It means a lot to me that he always wants me on his fieldtrips with him! Brant and Hayden eating pizza pizza pizza! Another fun part of the trip, for me, was hanging out with Hayden's mom and all of my other 'mom friends' that are from church! Marty texted Brant a picture of what he was eating for lunch, so Brant wanted me to take a picture of him eating his pizza. Marty texted back and said, "Ok--YOU Win! Your lunch is better!". Brant and Hayden have birthday's just six days apart, and they were just celebrated a week ago, so the Organ Man played Happy Birthday and everyone sang to them. Again, it's dark. The Organ Man played several songs that the kids have sung this year, so they all jumped up and sang for us Adults:) It was so fun! The Fifth Graders who are leaving for Middle School next year. Several of the kids are also church friends and most of the group were in Honor Choir together last year as well. (Honor Choir is for fourth and fifth only) Silly Picture

A Little Girl & her Potty....And Her Weird-O Mom

So the past couple of days Rissa has wanted to pee-pee on her potty here and there. Yesterday, however, she wanted to Pee-pee on her potty pretty much all day long! She was soo excited to fill her little potty up with pee-pee and then dump it (with mommy's help :) in the big potty! I seriously couldn't help but laugh my head off the last two times that she went! She dumped her pee-pee in the big potty, leaned over the bowl and SPIT (she's just a young padi-won (need to get correct spelling for that from the Star Wars Dictionary!)...her aim will improve with a little practice)! The realization that she had totally caught me doing that a time or two, and learned from it was just too much!! I'm feeling a little torn with the matter. There is, of coarse, that little part inside of me that is feeling so proud that she wants to be just like mommy, but ..Hello!! On the one hand, I don't want her to grow up spitting in the toilet after she pees "...just b/c my mom did it". Would it truly have any meaning to her? What about when the day comes for her, that her good friend tags her and she admits that she spits in the toilet, to the entire blogging world? How will she explain that? She won't even know why she does it! Now one the other hand, How hypocritical is that, for me to tell her, "No, no, Rissa. No spit in potty" ...when my whole family knows that I do it. I've always done it. I always will. I have no idea know why I do it, I just do! It makes me happy. When it's all said and done, I think Rissa is going to be a lot like her mother.

.....I wonder if MY mother SPITS in the toilet.......do you?...Mom? ........Nana? ....do You?.....

"Joy"

Blessed are ye because of your faith. And now behold, my joy is full. 3 Nephi 17:20

"This is one of my favorite moments in the Book of Mormon. After stating this, Jesus simply spends some time blessing and interacting with the children, while angels descend out of heaven. In this piece, I wanted to depict our Savior in that moment of "full joy". I see Him smiling and laughing spontaneously, filled with so much love for those young people, to the point of weeping for joy (as it mentions in the record He did). If its human nature to manifest feelings of joy and love in that way... then I have to believe that would especially be the case for the One who is the embodiment of every good and righteous instinct of human nature."
~Dave Bowman~

I Love it!! www.bowman-art.com

Happy Birthday BRANT!!!!

11 years ago, our sweet. tiny little Pre Mature (by 8 weeks) baby boy was born!!!! He weighed in at 4lbs 1 oz, but had gotten down to 3lbs 6oz after birth. He spent exactly 1 month in the NICU and then had the joy of wearing an Apnea Monitor for about 10 months. We were extremely blessed! He never had to be on oxygen, just a feeding tube until he was big enough to learn how to eat.

...wearing his protective glasses
...enjoying a little snack via feeding tube
It was hard for me, at times, b/c I was recovering from Pre-Eclampsia and an Emergency C-Secton, but I remember sitting in the NICU with him for hours just about everyday! Marty would drop me off at the Hospital on his way to USC. My mom, with her wisdom, did put her foot down a few times, and make me stay home to get the rest that I needed. I just couldn't wait until we could bring him home with us!!
Peepa & Meema loved going to sit with him in the NICU!! Brant didn't facny the feeding tube too much!
Our new little family! So young...so nieve....so much thinner! I'll never forget the joy and emotions and love of our first baby!!

Yesterday we Brant wanted to eat at Golden Corral for his birthday feast! We had a great time being together for the day!!
This morning we started the day off with our traditional "Birthday Breakfast In BED!". His breakfast consisted of Cocoa Pebbles, Chocolate Milk, mini candy bars and Butterscotch Pudding that he's been wanting for a week!! Brant also got some gifts. Torpedo Battle Ship and a Portable Skateboarding Rail were the big presents he opened. He couldn't have been more excited...well, if it weren't Sunday he would have been more excited...but he's totally excited to wake up a little earlier in the morning to hit the rail before school!!
Brant, we love you so much!!! We are so proud of your accomplishments and are so thankful for your sweet, thoughtful, loving, fun personality!! We are so thankful and blessed to have you in our family!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!!!!

Easter 2009

Easter Egg Hunt At The Park~

A ton of families from our ward met at the park on Friday, after school, and had an Easter Egg Hunt!! It was half day for the kids, so many of us brought picnic lunches to eat as well. Marty was off work that day and the weather was windy and beautiful, so it made for the PERFECT day to hunt eggs!! And just for sake of journaling, We really did miss being at Myrtle Beach for the Giles Family Easter Egg...Money Egg Hunt!!! Let's just say that my Family EE Hunt's are the type that get the adrenaline running!! This really was, however, the next best thing to being with family!
Marty & Amy hiding eggs for the 'older kids'!! Marty probably would've climbed some tree's during this part of the event, but he was hurting from a car accident that he was in two days prior...(more about that later:).

This was the first Easter where Rissa really got the concept....of pick-up the egg, open the egg, eat all the candy inside!! She was loving it! For REAL...moms & dads just through eggs all over the ground with CANDY in them?!! ...and all I have to do is pick them up? ...and I can just EAT candy all day long?! WooHooo!!!

Jacob climbed up in a tree for this one!! He said, "There must be good stuff in that egg for it to be up so high!!".

We decided to picnic, so Marty & I drove around and got everyone their favorite lunch food before school let out. Brant had his favorite Chicken sandwich! Jacob-Cheeseburger Happy Meal w/no pickle and no mustard! Rissa-Chicken nuggets & fries. Marty & I hit Subway.

Brant & Tyler...two cool dudes! They spent a lot of time on the basketball court, playing hoops with Marty and riding skate boards. I think that everyone that went had a great time! Thanks, Brea, for instigating this fun afternoon!!!