Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday 2008



"Happy Birthday to you"..... Recognizing a birthday, some one's very existence, is done all the time. There are so many different ways that people celebrate but the theme that resonates is that of GIVING and RECEIVING. These two things are a perfect pair. Today is the paramount birthday. Happy Birthday Jesus Christ, my Savior. As I was sitting in church last week a 3 week old precious little baby boy was right in front of me sleeping. He was so tiny, so peaceful and the parents on each side of him were glowing with pride and hope. Can you really take in the fullness of the miracle of Jesus' birth? He is perfection that came to US just like that precious baby boy in church. We celebrate Christmas in so many different ways but this year, a year that has been so rich with adventures and relationships, Christmas is more simplified in my heart as a day of "good tidings of great joy". Why? There is so much uncertainty really, but not with the life and love of Christ in my heart. It's not always easy but when I live with my heart, the life of Christ which all began today removes my fears, improves my hope, and reminds me that the greatest gift of all is love. There really is no greater love than that of our Heavenly Father shown to us through His son, Jesus Christ. Our Father gave to all of us the greatest gift of all and receiving this gift is life.


So....Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!!! Celebrate life today and have peace for tomorrow because the One we celebrate today is the very person who holds our tomorrows.


*MG*

Thursday, December 18, 2008

SNOW DAYS IN LAS VEGAS!!!

The beginning of the snow
about 2 hours later


The snow is sticking to the palm trees....what a rare sight.


Now, the snow is sticking to the road.....CRAZY



About 4 hours after the snow began. The palm is pretty weighted down. I was really worried about our big tree in the front yard falling but fortunately it stood strong.



Our new neighbors coming over to play int he snow for a little bit before we headed out into the craziness of snowfall in Vegas to head to the Rebel basketball game. We ended up making it to and from safely. The game was really fun. During the game the girls heard from friends that school would be cancelled due to the snow. Really, can you believe it? We got to stay for the entire game since school was cancelled and enjoy and really nice Rebel victory.






Ahhhh, Tryce kissing his very own snowman.






Yes, snowmen in Vegas get palm branched for arms.







Gentry helped out. Aubrey is sleeping in until lunchtime....seriously.








Thanksgiving and Halloween 2008

Mylee and Tryce playing with their booster seats while eating pizza after a Rebel game Thanksgiving weekend.
These little ones were trying to take a nap on Thanksgiving day. Guess what....none of them stayed put.

Gathering up some full plates of wonderful food contributed by everyone.


Kevin digging into the potatoes




As Doug was carving the turkey he came across this little silver thing. He stops and tells everyone to come look. He claims it is the bullet that killed the Turkey. It really did look like it but actually it was the tip of the thermometer from checking the temperature of meat. We all got a good laugh.




These were just the appetizers....Yummy




Tryce and Mylee having fun Halloween weekend in Utah







These two got the hang of getting candy really quickly. They did a good job and had a lot of fun together.






Tryce with Kyle Briggs









Megan and Gentry








Spencer and Aubrey
Dallon had a spook alley that was really fun and Kevin and Holly had hot dogs and hot chocolate and games. They had a lot of friends come. I didn't get pictures of Dallon and Ally...bummer












Mommy and Tryce before a Halloween party in Vegas










Greg and the Girls before the party.
Thank you to Stan and family for inviting us to a really fun party and to the Briggs and Yeager's for taking care of us in Utah for the weekend. We really had a great time.












Thursday, December 4, 2008

Happy "12th" Birthday Gentry!!


Wow, it really gets me that you are 12 years old. You are really growing up. Gentry is such an amazing BIG sister to Tryce. She is so so helpful and Tryce really enjoys all of Gentry's attention. She has become a little OCD lately. She got some new necklaces over Thanksgiving so she got every outfit ready for every day of school this week. She hung each separately in a row on her wall with Jewelry and everything. It looked like the doors of a dressing room where they display clothing on the outside of the doors. She loves to play school, still. She will be getting all kinds of new school supplies today for her birthday. I strongly encourage any preschoolers or grade-school children to drop by. They will definitely learn something. Gentry you really are a sweetie. You have a tender heart and a strong mind. I love that you are able to make independent decisions and aren't easily swayed by the popular train of thought. I'm excited to see what you become in the new year. I love you with all my heart. Mom

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Universal "Self" Care

Okay, so many of you know I have been involved with Juice Plus for almost a year now. It has been the catalyst for me to learn volumes over the past months about nutrition's role in disease. My mom was ill my whole life up until her passing when I was just 14 years old so maybe I'm a little more open to doing whatever possible to prevent living another 14 years or even 1 day with a friend or loved one battling disease in and out of hospitals and taking handfuls of prescriptions daily. The world health organization stated at their last gathering that 70% of our common diseases can be prevented by simple changes in our lifestyles such as improved nutrition, regular exercise and decreasing stress. If you think you are doing okay then take at look at some of the current statistics.
*1 in 3 children are overweight.
*1 in 11 women in the world will get breast cancer by age 75 and 9 out of 10 have no family history of breast cancer.
* Our nation has had a 6.9% increase in spending for health care which is 2 times the rate of inflation.
*1 in 4 deaths are due to cancer.
* Someone dies every 2 minutes from heart disease.
*Children have surpassed the elderly in prescription drug use.
*80 million people have some form of heart disease.
*1 in 3 women and 1 in 2 men will have cancer in his or her lifetime.
*By the age of 12, an estimated 70% of our children have developed the beginning stages of hardening of the arteries.
*1 in 3 Americans born in 2000 will develop diabetes.
(sources: American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Cancer Institute)
Type II diabetes is on the rise so much that doctors have stopped calling it adult onset diabetes. If a patient is diagnosed with diabetes, a doctor is taught to automatically treat for heart disease. A 17 year old has been documented having a triple bypass and with so many children being diagnosed with diabetes, bypass surgery in children and teens will be common. All of this is so scary to me!!! Sooooo....I say all this to get back to Juice Plus. Juice Plus is 15 different fruits and vegetables that have been organically grown, picked fresh and juiced. The juice is then dehydrated at a low temperature to retain natural enzymes and the powder which is left is encapsulated along with a couple of grains. You say not possible, well if you were dehydrated and all the liquid was removed you would fit into a capsule. Juice Plus has been around for 15 years and is the most researched nutraceutical product in the world today. Numerous clinical studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals have demonstrated the following benefits of Juice Plus:
*It helps to support the immune system by delivering key antioxidants into the bloodstream.
*It helps to repair DNA damage to our cells.
*It helps to reduce damage to our cells from oxidative stress (free radical damage).
*It positively affects several key indicators of cardiovascular wellness.
I just heard at a conference in Memphis several world renowned doctors speak about the state of health in our nation. Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale Center for Disease and Prevention (him and his family take JP everyday) stated that many things need to be done to change the trends. Improved nutrition is essential along with daily exercise, drinking more water and finding ways to alleviate stress. Only 10% of the population eat the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables (7-13 servings per day). I know that no matter how hard I try, I do not eat enough fresh fruits and vegetables everyday. Juice Plus bridges the gap with a consistent variety of fruits and vegetables working in synergy everyday. I have customers say well I've been taking it and I just don't feel any different. I urge them to remember prevention is not felt immediately nor is disease felt immediately. The research is sound. The increase of key antioxidants are documented in the research and the decrease of toxic substances are equally documented in many different cultural populations. The research institutions also really impressed me. Some of them are the University of Arizona, University of Florida, King's College in London, University of North Carolina, BYU, Yale University, University of Sydney, University of Maryland, and UCLA.
I can't in good conscience not tell people about Juice Plus now that I know what I know. Taking it does not mean that you will never get sick, or be cured of all disease but it will make a positive impact in your health compared to doing nothing at all. Here are some resources:
It costs $1.38 a day to put into your body the nutrition from 17 fruits vegetables and grains. (Kids can get it free and there are free products offered for exercise participation) I believe if you decide to spend that amount by removing $1.38 a day of bad stuff in your diet, all the better.
All this to say, I'm dedicated to making a positive impact on peoples health and wellness...pure and simple. I care, I really do!!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Family trip back to Oklahoma and Kansas 2008

Okay there are a ton of pics posted mostly for my memory of a great 12 days with family and friends in the Midwest. Above is Helen, Greg's mom and her dog Sadie. She lives alone in the country on a farm. She still watches out for her cows each Spring and Fall and overseas some harvesting. I think she is an amazingly strong well-grounded lady. We are glad to call her mom and Grandma.
On her porch. We had been running around and watching some very unusual looking hummingbirds.
These are some very close friends in Topeka, Doug, Torrey, Jennifer and Lori. Thanks for Dinner, Doug.
The Kids. It all started with Matt who is 14 then Aubrey who is 13, then Gentry who is 11 and Morgan who is 10. Crazy us, each of our families had one more to add. The Hutchinson's have Jack and we got Tryce. It is always so fun to get together with them. We really miss them and love them all tons.
Jack was getting ready to go to school. He is in Kindergarten this year and was struggling when we were there but I have heard he is now doing much better. We are proud of you, Jack!
We got creative and took several pics of Tryce as a little cowboy on the farm. The farm has always been a very special place for the girls and I think with these pics, you can see it is for Tryce as well. He's wearing and old hat that Grandma found and daddy's old boots.


Had to add a sunflower...after all it is Kansas


Here is Grandma with all her grand kids. Blain is the girls only true blood cousin.
The whole Grensing family at Nancy and Larry's house. They live in Mulvane, KS now. It is a really nice neighborhood. They have a pond nearby where we were able to take Tryce and feed the geese. Nancy is always so fun with the kids. She played some mean badmitten.
Tryce really loves Blain and Blain was really great with him. I just wish we were closer so we could see him more.
A few more farm pics
The girls just love to get to the farm and run and jump on the hay. I think they could do it for hours. Love the simplicity of it all. Beautiful sunsets out in the country.



Time with my grandparents is truly priceless. They are both in their 80's and are doing so so well. They both still drive. My grandma has always had a servants heart and does a lot through her church. My grandpa still goes fishing whenever he can and can still fix just about anything. They take really good care of themselves obviously and are two people who exemplify the benefits of a simple life, love of family and friends and proper nutrition.
Tryce really got connected with his great-grandparents. PaPa has always had a knack with young kids.
Such sweet kisses
My grandpa pulled out this toy that he probably made in the 50's for his own children. He made everything by hand. It has a cowboy riding on a horse. It is electric and still works. I should have gotten a better picture to show off the craftsmanship of his carvings of horse and cowboy. Toys R Us has nothing on this craftsman.



So much love.
Gentry went fishing and these are the fish they caught that day. They were delicious. There is nothing better than eating PaPa's fresh caught fish prepared by MeeMee and eating it at their house.
Looking great!!
If only Tryce really could learn to enjoy fishing with PaPa. Such a precious photo.
They really had a time playing with the fake bunny in the front yard.




This is very special. This is my mom and brother's tombstone. Tryce is named after my brother. We just changed the spelling a bit.

These are my grandparents with their kids. Uncle Gary, Aunt Kay and Aunt Diane
This is my cousin Ricky with his three kids.
Here is my Aunt Diane with her two grandsons, Jacob and Tyler. I appreciate them all so much for taking time whenever we come into town to see us. It really means a lot. Love you all.





The girls always look forward to going up to Edmond to see my cousin Nicole and her kids. They have such a great time together and seem to really know each other which is amazing due to the little amount of time they have actually spent together. Nicole is my youngest cousin and we really have a lot in common. I respect her a great deal. She had a wonderful dinner for us, too. Ava is with Gentry and Cole is with Aubrey.

Houston is chasing the ball.
They had a motor scooter that the girls could ride. No no that is not Ava, that is Tryce wearing Ava's pink coat. He makes a pretty cute little girl, too.
Here is the whole family with us. We love you guys.






We began our trip in Guthrie at my dad's house. Alina and family were there, too. I really can't explain how much fun we had. Alina has 4 girls and they just love each other to death.
Sleep-over in the living room.
Sophie is one year older than Tryce. She made the trip for him. He followed her everywhere and they got along really really well. Wish I would have gotten more pics in Guthrie. Thank you so much to the Silvey's for making the drive to spend some time together. It was very special.
My Aunt Pat and Uncle Paul and cousin Tony and his son Seth drove over to see us. It was unexpected and so great to see them. As a young girl I used to spend a lot of time with this Aunt and Uncle and they still to this day love telling some pretty embarrassing stories about me.
Here we are with My dad and Pat. They are just incredible. They own their own health-food store in Guthrie. It takes a lot of work, dedication and faith to own a small business in a small town and make a go of it these days. I am so proud of them. I just can't wait until they retire so they can travel and see us more. We miss them so much and love them dearly.
It was obviously a very special trip. It started with a rain delay in Vegas while stuck on the airplane for 3 hours with no air conditioning for part of the time. Of course we made it and packed up and moved 6 times in 12 nights to make the most of every minute with as many loved ones as possible. I know this is a very long post but I just wanted to be able to document some of the memories from a wonderful trip. Love to you all!!!