Turkey Day 2010

This year we had the pleasure of going to my sister-in-laws home for Thanksgiving dinner! It was amazing. Thanks Mickell for hosting such a wonderful dinner! 

It was an emotional weekend due to the previous post but still one to remember! The food was great the and the company even better! I didn't take any pictures so these are pictures I took of Mickell's blog.

Below is Bentley with his cousins and the kid table. To his left is Halle, then Addison and JT. 

Here we are preparing... Left to right... Kristen, Me, Cindy, Mickell and lil Halle.

All of us girls minus Cindy.

Getting ready..

The whole Westbrook family sitting down to eat! It was so nice to have Nick's Grandma's sister join us as well from back east. 

After eating, Grandma Westbrook gave each of the kiddos a present to open and here they all are wearing their new Christmas pajama's! Thanks Grandma!

Below are the pictures of the table setting! It was so gorgeous!

I just wanted to add that it has been a family tradition on both sides of our family to go around the table before eating and mention something that we are thankful for. It always helps us remember why we have this great Holiday! 

Bentley said: his cousins

Abby said: God's tender mercies

Nick said: Eternal Families

All in all it was a great day!

November 20th, 2010

This was a day that I want to blog about for my own family journal purposes. I can get long winded at time ;)

This day takes us back to the weekend before Thanksgiving. My mother-in-law had planned an early Thanksgiving for all of us kids due to the fact that our schedules wouldn't cooperate for the actually holiday weekend. Nick and I drove up and got to his parents house first and no one happened to be there. We called his parents and they said they would be there shortly. Soon his younger sister Stefanie arrives and tells us that her Dad had asked her to come over to the house to tell her something so she knew something was up, but us....we were totally oblivious. It went something like this..

I am in the bathroom and I hear Doug (Nick's dad) come in and ask where I was? Nick told him I would be right out. I come out to his mom and dad sitting around the kitchen table with Nick and Stef. At this point nothing had crossed my mind  because it isn't unusual for us to sit around and talk. I just casually joined them. The conversation went on and then Doug spoke up and asked, "How much faith do you each of you have?" We all gave answers that were alike..."a lot" we said. At this point my mother-in-law starts getting emotional. I am thinking to myself..uh oh. Doug proceeds to tell us that are Faith is going to be tested. He kind of leaves it at that and goes on to ask us what his major trials have been through out his life. Nick answered, "mostly with your health dad." Doug agreed and then said, "so what better way for the Lord to test me than by giving me trials that have to do with my personal health?" My stomach was in my throat at this point or it felt as if so. 

I was starting to catch on little by little, but still couldn't pin point exactly where he was headed. I turned to Nick and he had a stone cold look on his face. Doug proceeded to tell us that early that week he had been diagnosed with Nonhodgkin's Lymphoma a type of cancer. Our emotions were everywhere from denial to tears. He calmly goes on to tell us that he has 7-10 golf ball to softball size tumors in his abdominal region and one under his left breast and another in his neck. He gives us all the information that the doctors have given his such as life expectancy if the chemo works and the life expectancy if the chemo doesn't work, his prognosis, his treatment plan the list goes on. Somewhere in all of that he mentioned that he the doctor had given him 6 months to live if he was to do nothing about this and let the cancer run its course. He said, "But I have never been a selfish person nor am I going to start now." My thoughts immediately turned to my selfless husband with tears streaming off his cheeks. I thought to myself things like, "There is no way my husband can live with out his father, how will I comfort him? Will he be okay?" Just as I was starting to feel alone and scared of the unknown I was quickly grounded again with my thoughts as I thought of Doug's perspective. 

He never gave us any doubt in him overcoming this. He kept referring to this as just another trial in his life. Not even wondering to himself, "Why me?" I found my testimony become stronger as I tried sorting out all of what we had just heard. I found strength in the words of my father-in-law as he told me that this was just another bump in the road and that he was going to overcome this. Many questions were asked, but there weren't many answers being given. There was still so many unknowns. I of course thought of the worst and how things would be. I found myself being selfish in my thoughts. I thought about the fact that my kids might never remember there Grandpa. Doug and Cindy summed things up by saying, "we will get through this!" And that is just what will happen. My father-in-law has the strength and and will-power and has a testimony that could move mountains. The Lord will be on his side helping him battle this cancer. 

We each embraced him with a hug as tears wet our shoulders. Some of the hugs were longer than others. I cherish the moment as I watched Nick hold his dad in such a delicate, but firm way. I will never forget those sweet words I heard them exchange. God does give us trials to make us stronger and that is just what happened in the 30 minutes we sat talking. I know that God has a plan for each of us and that if we just have faith and trust in him he will comfort us when needed, humble us, and guide us. One last thing for journaling purposes...I crawled into bed that night with Nick and he was quiet so quiet that all I could hear was the slightest sniffle. I knew that there would be times when he would need comforted and this was one of them. He said, "I am just not ready to lose my father.." I remember holding him and telling him that everything was going to be okay. He agreed. 

That day turned out to be one we won't forget but also a very exhausting one. The next morning we were to wake up early and head to Vegas for the day as a family to shop and see the Lion King play. More on that to come!

Bring on the Blogging!

As you can see it has been a year since I have blogged.  This is just to let all of you who have been checking my blog for this whole year that I will be updating hopefully at least weekly! I also got a new camera so that will make things easier! Stay tuned...

Also I must add that Hillary and Summer are my inspiration and push to start doing better at this! 

Happy New Year!

We want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! On New Year's Eve we had some friends over and had Cafe Rio Burrito's and had great intentions of playing games at some friends house, but as usual we went to bed early! It was still great fun and Nick and I have yet to sit down and set some goals for the year, but as everyone says "better late than never!"

Christmas in Utah!

I snapped this picture the day after Christmas aren't they so handsome?
This was the cutest...Mickell (my sis-in-law) made this awesome calendar

for my in-laws form Heritage Maker and after Cindy

opened it he just sat there thumbing through it month by month looking

at all the pictures naming all the family one by one.

Later he actually laid down on his belly and just starred at it for

quite some time...obviously didn't get a pic, but it was darling!

From Left to right Bryson, Doug, Nick and his oldest brother Josh all playing a boys game. Also all in there matching PJ's (they are greats sports)!

We have been trying so hard for the last 2 years to make sure we have all our food storage and other emergency preparedness items and so we were so greatful to receive one more item on our list! Now we can run our freezer full of meat if the power goes out! Which here in Kingman it surprisingly has gone out on us several different times! Thanks again!

Nixon got a Peek-a-Boo Choo-Choo and he loves all the noise

it can make! I am not so sure how much mommy likes it,

but the boys sure have a lot of fun!

This was a funny picture because Nick THOUGHT he had

pressed record and was holding the camera up like that for

at least 10 minutes before realizing he was even recording!

This little boy can NOT get enough of his Grandpa's!

They both are so dear to him and give him there

undivided attention when they are around!

We couldn't ask for anything more! This is Bentley and

Nick's dad playing with this copper bowl.

These magnets were a marvelous idea! Makes church so nice!





Bentley had so much fun handing gifts out and of course opening all that he could.






Bentley is obsessed with TRAINS...and now motorcycles!






Nixon wasn't sure what to think?





From left to right, JT, Bentley, Addison, Nixon, and Halle.
Missing Ryker though. They all loved there "Sho-mann" jammies.






Happy Family!

We had so much fun at the Westbrook's this year and Cindy

always makes it special. It was a funfilled
weekend with gifts, games and even

SUSHI! We hope that everyone had a wonderful

holiday season and enjoyed celebrating Christ's Birth!

Christmas in Kingman

Pictures are not in an order, but this is a pic of Bentley Christmas morning on his new swing set that his grandparents got him. He loves it! Thanks again because I love it too! :)


Sorry babe, but your eyes are ALWAYS closed so this will have to do! This is our little family Christmas morning minus Nixon. He slept in til everything was opened!

My sweet parents didn't want me to have to spend Christmas alone so they drove down Wednesday and spent until Christmas afternoon with us. My parents love my kids so much and they are always doing things to help me out. On Christmas day we had planned on leaving when Nick got off at 4 pm, kids and all, but my sweet mom said she wanted to take them up to Utah for me so that Nick and I could enjoy our drive up there later that night! Thanks mom your the greatest!

Of course Rugar had to get in on all the Christmas happenings!

We were all so fortunate on Christmas day! Bentley loved his train set and trains and his motorcycles, but we never forgot the whole reason we were even celebrating! On Christmas Eve we watched Christs Reflections ( my Mark) I think that is what it was called...you would think I would remember because we have seen it many times. We also read this neat book for Bentley that related Santa, and the gifts etc etc to Jesus and the symbolism that is behind all the presents, color red, trees, wreaths, candles etc. It was all followed by a great spiritual discussion that just put the perfect touch on the night! It was so great having my parents here! Thanks again Mom and Dad for creating more wonderful memories with us!

Happy 24th Birthday Babe!

This is so sad, but this is the only picture taken on Nicks Birthday.

Although I wasn't taking a lot of pics we still had a ton of fun.

I invited some friends over and we had El Palacio (mexican) for dinner.

He ended up getting 3 pairs of pants, some Burberry summer cologne,

some blueray DVD's, money, a hat and some gift cards! Thanks to everyone

that helped make his birthday a hit this year!