Last Friday we finally put my dad's ashes in the ground. He was buried at the Dallas-Ft Worth National Cemetary in Dallas at 3:00.
The director first took us to a covered are for the service. My dad served in the US Army so there was a military honors ceremony with the folding of the flag & presented it to my step-mom, followed by the playing of Taps. I was tearful but when I looked over & saw my 6-yr old Kalli crying then I really cried. She was much more affected by it all than my older two who were bored. My step-mom then played a couple of special songs, their song (which I'm blanking on the name right now) & the song my dad always wanted played "Colour My World" by Chicago. At the front was a display of my dad's army photo - he was so handsome!, his Dallas Cowboys sweatshirt & a nice bouquet of fall flowers. It was a very nice ceremony.
We were then taken to the burial plot where my step-mom placed his box of ashes wrapped in his Cowboys sweatshirt & the bouquet placed on top once it was filled in. My great uncle who is a priest said a lovely prayer. His plaque will be ready in about 4-6 weeks.
There was a good turnout of my dad's family & friends, some of which I had not met before (or maybe I just don't remember) so it was good to meet them. My kids even actually acted pretty decent which I was worried about.
So, on to subjects of less depth.....................
My house is a sick house!! So far Sophie, Theo, & I have gotten a nasty stomach virus, so you know the other 3 will not be far behind!
I worked 60 hours last week & survived - except for my depleted immune system so I can pick up every bug that comes near me, so not only am I emotionally spent, but physically also. Oh & my house is messier than usual which is REALLY bad so I will be accepting no visitors this week! HAHA!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
the October 2008 update
I have been employed at Trinity Mother Frances mother/baby for over a month now & I think I'm gonna like it! It's much busier than ETMC was but it's not as stressful. One thing that is different is the large amount of Spanish-speaking patients. I have one almost every night I work, where at ETMC I had one a year! Dolor - mucho o pequito? Que hora comida su bebe, cuantos minutos - ahhhhhhhhh! I think my brain is in overload! It's like a Dora the Explorer marathon for the rest of my life! The people I work with totally rock! But I do miss my ETMC buddies, but I'm still on there PRN - can't seem to cut the cord to the people that raised me!
The kids are liking school & are doing really good. I took Zoe, Tad, & Kalli to the Whitehouse Homecoming Game last Friday (which we won by the way - yeah!) & had a good time. They love playing with all their friends in the neighborhood.
Sophie is rotten as ever! When she is hungry she runs around screaming "weenie" until you finally give in & get the poor child a hot dog. When she wants juice she chunks her juice cup at my face if I'm not fast enough! But darn it she is so cute, so I guess I'll keep her. She goes to Mother's Day Out once or twice a week & is doing good there. She & I like to go on outings while the big kids are in school. We went to the park, zoo, Target, the mall, etc.
That's all for now!
The kids are liking school & are doing really good. I took Zoe, Tad, & Kalli to the Whitehouse Homecoming Game last Friday (which we won by the way - yeah!) & had a good time. They love playing with all their friends in the neighborhood.
Sophie is rotten as ever! When she is hungry she runs around screaming "weenie" until you finally give in & get the poor child a hot dog. When she wants juice she chunks her juice cup at my face if I'm not fast enough! But darn it she is so cute, so I guess I'll keep her. She goes to Mother's Day Out once or twice a week & is doing good there. She & I like to go on outings while the big kids are in school. We went to the park, zoo, Target, the mall, etc.
That's all for now!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
the loving memory......
Memorial visitation for Stephen Murray Cooney, 58, Ft. Worth, is scheduled for 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. Monday, September 1, 2008 at Burks Walker Tippit Funeral Home, Tyler.
Inurnment will be at a later date in the Dallas-Ft. Worth National Cemetery.
Mr. Cooney died August 29, 2008 in Dallas.
He was born July 12, 1950 in Tyler to the late Charles T. Cooney and Bettye Doyle Turner. He was a route manager in the dairy industry and a Catholic.
He was preceded in death by his younger brother, Jeff Cooney.Survivors include his wife of 19 years, Lynne Carrington of Ft. Worth; son, Stephen Wayne Cooney of Whitehouse; daughter, Vicki Nackos and husband Theo of Whitehouse; sisters, Patty Emmons, Gail Hannah, Janice Phaup and husband Charles, all of Tyler; four grandchildren, Zoe, Tad, Kalli and Sophie Nackos; and sister-in-law, Kay Cook and husband Joe of Quitman.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to a charity of choice.
Inurnment will be at a later date in the Dallas-Ft. Worth National Cemetery.
Mr. Cooney died August 29, 2008 in Dallas.
He was born July 12, 1950 in Tyler to the late Charles T. Cooney and Bettye Doyle Turner. He was a route manager in the dairy industry and a Catholic.
He was preceded in death by his younger brother, Jeff Cooney.Survivors include his wife of 19 years, Lynne Carrington of Ft. Worth; son, Stephen Wayne Cooney of Whitehouse; daughter, Vicki Nackos and husband Theo of Whitehouse; sisters, Patty Emmons, Gail Hannah, Janice Phaup and husband Charles, all of Tyler; four grandchildren, Zoe, Tad, Kalli and Sophie Nackos; and sister-in-law, Kay Cook and husband Joe of Quitman.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to a charity of choice.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
the father, husband, veteran, grandfather - Stephen Murray Cooney
July 12, 1950 - August 29, 2008
My dad passed away yesterday at age 58. My step-mom Lynne was with him when he passed at the VA Hospital in Dallas.
One of his favorite songs was Colour My World by Chicago:
As time goes on
I realize
Just what you mean
To me
And now
Now that you're near
Promise your love
That Ive waited to share
And dreams
Of our moments together
Color my world with hope of loving you
I love you dad!
My dad passed away yesterday at age 58. My step-mom Lynne was with him when he passed at the VA Hospital in Dallas.
One of his favorite songs was Colour My World by Chicago:
As time goes on
I realize
Just what you mean
To me
And now
Now that you're near
Promise your love
That Ive waited to share
And dreams
Of our moments together
Color my world with hope of loving you
I love you dad!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
the prayer works!
Today after work Theo drove my brother & I to Dallas to visit my dad. I cannot believe the change in him since Monday! He was talking & recognized us and his breathing was so much better. His ammonia level came down from 6 times normal to just twice normal. The doctors said he may even get moved out of ICU tomorrow. I am just so amazed & grateful to God!
Thank you to everyone who kept him in their prayers. Praise the Lord!
Thank you to everyone who kept him in their prayers. Praise the Lord!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
the prayer request
My dad has been in the hospital since Saturday morning. I got a call from my step-mom that the doctor was suggesting all the family come to the hospital ASAP. I was @ work so I clocked out & hitched a ride to Dallas with my aunts to the VA Hospital.
My dad has multiple problems, the worst being cirrhosis which is causing his body to be unable to get rid of ammonia. By the time he arrived his ammonia was 6 times the normal amount which mostly affects his brain causing him to be very out of it & couldn't talk (just murmur a little) or look at any of us. He has developed an infection that they cannot isolate where so they are just treating him with antibiotics. He is having trouble breathing, he is working hard to breathe. He has been very sick before where the doctors thought he wouldn't make it, & he ended up doing well. So it's possible with his stubborness & fight that he will come out of this, but not probable.
The nurse told us that my dad didn't know what was going on or that we were there which is good because that means he's not suffering at all, but bad because I wanted him to know that I was there & hear me say that I love them. When I was saying good-bye to head back home, I told him I loved him & it sounded like he said it back. Realistically I know he probably didn't, but it makes me feel better to think we had this special moment.
I found out from his sisters last night during the drive that he has been smoking & drinking since he was 13 years old, he is 58 now. That is 45 years - can you imagine what that does to a body? It is amazing to me that he has lived as long as he has - he is quite a fighter!
My dad's name is Steve Cooney, if you could say a quick prayer for him it would be greatly appreciated!
My dad has multiple problems, the worst being cirrhosis which is causing his body to be unable to get rid of ammonia. By the time he arrived his ammonia was 6 times the normal amount which mostly affects his brain causing him to be very out of it & couldn't talk (just murmur a little) or look at any of us. He has developed an infection that they cannot isolate where so they are just treating him with antibiotics. He is having trouble breathing, he is working hard to breathe. He has been very sick before where the doctors thought he wouldn't make it, & he ended up doing well. So it's possible with his stubborness & fight that he will come out of this, but not probable.
The nurse told us that my dad didn't know what was going on or that we were there which is good because that means he's not suffering at all, but bad because I wanted him to know that I was there & hear me say that I love them. When I was saying good-bye to head back home, I told him I loved him & it sounded like he said it back. Realistically I know he probably didn't, but it makes me feel better to think we had this special moment.
I found out from his sisters last night during the drive that he has been smoking & drinking since he was 13 years old, he is 58 now. That is 45 years - can you imagine what that does to a body? It is amazing to me that he has lived as long as he has - he is quite a fighter!
My dad's name is Steve Cooney, if you could say a quick prayer for him it would be greatly appreciated!
Monday, August 25, 2008
the first day of school
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Today was Whitehouse ISD first day of school. So we all got up at 6:30 a.m. (yikes that's early even though Theo has still had to get up early all summer to go to work). We left the house before 7:30 and the traffic was absolutely horrendous! It takes about 5 minutes to get to the school from our house, but we didn't get there until 8:10! By the time I walked everyone to their classes the last child (Miss Zoe) didn't get to her class until 8:20. Thankfully they restructured the schools this year so all my kids are in the same school - YEA! (unlike last year when they were in 3 different schools)
So I am now the proud mom of a:
1st grader Kalli - she has Mrs. Webb who seems very nice & will hopefully be tolerable of her talkativeness & drama!
3rd grader Tad - he has Mrs. Fulgham who hopefully will be very tolerant of Tad's occasional antics & wild behavior, and they switch classes halfway though the day for different subjects which is new for Tad this year.
4th grader Zoe - she has Mrs. Alexander & 3 other teachers for different subjects, but she is very responsible & I think she will do great!
Tad hasn't been feeling too good this weekend, a little queasy, but we made him go to school hoping it was a case of nerves. At around 12:30 I got called to come pick him up so we'll see how he's feeling tomorrow.
My latest project is couponing! I have a binder all organized with coupon categories & have been doing pretty good, a little lapse this summer having all 4 kids at home, but now I'm back full force. So this morning Sophie & I went to CVS & here are my deals of the week.....
CVS weekly deals:
-Children or Infant's Advil on sale for $5.79 with $5.79 ECB (Extra Care Bucks = money off your next purchase) so that's FREE! Plus I went to http://www.advil.com/ & printed a $1 off coupon.
-Hunt's Snack Pack pudding (4-pk) on sale for $1 with a $.30/2 coupon = $.85 each
I find my deals on http://www.thegrocerygame.com/, but there is a subcription fee which I have found to be worth it!
Gotta go get a nap before work tonight!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Utah Vacation 2008
Monday – It all started early morning when Theo & the kiddos picked me up from work. I had worked Friday, Saturday, & Sunday nights which meant Theo did most of the packing so we just prayed that we had everything! I was pretty tired after working all night so I slept on & off, mostly when the kids were sleeping, in between the “how much longer?”s & the “she’s touching me!”s. They did have their Nintendo DS’s, but unfortunately we forgot their headphones to watch the DVD player. We got lost a couple of times, once took us on a little detour through the corner of Oklahoma, but no big deal. In Santa Rosa, New Mexico, about one mile from the gas station & two miles from our hotel we ran out of gas! Theo got to hike to the gas station to get gas while I got to stay in the van with the 4 kiddos & try not to lose my mind! Kalli our little drama queen was very upset thinking we were going to have to sleep in our van on the side of the interstate or daddy would never make it back & then when a police car pulled up behind us with its lights on, she thought we were all going to jail for sure!! But they just wanted to know if they could help & I said we were fine thanks & they went on their way. While we were sitting there I was able to get on the internet using our lovely borrowed air card & make hotel reservations, which if you have 6 people you have to stay in 2 rooms so we always have to tell a white lie that we only have 5 which I personally think is completely ridiculous but oh well. Theo was lucky enough to catch a ride back to the van for a small fee (he gave them the gas can he had to buy at the gas station), & we were able to make it to the gas station & finish filling up. Then we were off to the hotel The La Quinta (Theo gets a discount there), sneaking in the back door so they wouldn’t know we had 4 kids instead of 3! Now we had to figure out what to have for dinner, so Theo drove down the road & unfortunately most of the restaurants were closed down in this town(what’s up with that!), but luckily within walking distance there was a nice restaurant I think it was called Route 66. This restaurant served Italian, Mexican, & American food & there was only 1 employee in the whole place (that we could see at least) who had to take our orders, work the cash register, answer the phones, & maybe even cook the food too for how long it took to get served. The food was OK but very overpriced & they charged for refills which is not a good thing with thirsty little kids so we HAD to get refills. Needless to say dinner cost us a small fortune, but we all had full bellies to go to bed!
Tuesday – We got up early to have complementary breakfast in the hotel & be on our way. I don’t think we got lost once this day, but the “how much longer?”s came much more frequently as we were all anxious to get there! Sophie was very fussy today from having to be strapped in her car seat for so long. It was a very pretty drive through New Mexico, Colorado, & into Utah. We finally arrived to our destination of Moab, UT to stay with Theo’s sister Alina, her husband Brian & their 4 rambunctious boys, & Theo’s parents met us there too. The kids were so happy to be out of the car & play with their cousins. Moab is a big tourist town, so you could see people from all over the world speaking many different languages everywhere you go.
Later that evening the kids scootered to the park & we followed behind on foot. This park was really cool – it had musical instruments, a tree house, 2 playsets, & right behind it was a pond were the kids could catch all kinds of bugs & creatures. They had a blast! 
They even borrowed someone’s ramp & tried to jump it on their scooters scaring me to death! Since there was not enough room for everyone to sleep comfortably at their house & Theo’s parent’s camper named the “Casita”, Theo, Sophie & I (the other kids wanted to spend the night with their cousins) stayed at The Apache motel which is where John Wayne stayed when he was filming in southern Utah. Bet you’re jealous!
Wednesday – We went to Arches National Park & hiked to the Sand Dune Arch. Luckily it wasn’t a very long hike since I’m fat, out of shape, & the altitude is like a million feet! The sand was in the shade so it was nice & cool but it felt like you were walking on quicksand. When we got to the arch we sat in the sand & watched the kids play in the sand, climb, & squeeze between rocks. Lots of fun! 
In the afternoon, the kids decorated visors with their names on them. That evening we went for a swim @ Mill creek, but I didn’t wear my swimsuit because I just wanted to be an observer. It was a short hike, some of it through water, so my plan to stay dry was already shot as the bottom of my Capri’s & flip-flops were soaked. 
We got to a dry spot where we could sit on the rocks & watch the kids. They jumped & swam, slid down the small waterfall, & played in the dirt. I finally was able to convince Sophie to put her feet in the water (she didn’t have her swimsuit on either) & splash a little bit. She has taken a liking to Ryder the youngest cousin closest to her size & began to follow him a little further in the water. The next thing I know she slips down the waterfall & goes under the water. I tried to grab her leg & missed. I jumped in (in my clothes) along with Uncle Brian, luckily she floated right to Tad who saved the day! She didn’t even cry & I think she held her breath the whole time so she didn’t breathe in any water. I think it took me a lot longer than Sophie to recover! Grandpa got the whole thing on video, so I may post it someday when I get over my trauma. Afterwards we went back to the famous motel where Kalli decided to join us this time.
Thursday – That morning we went back for another fun time at Arches. We hiked around Balancing Rock which is a huge rock balanced a pillar that could fall at any time. Then we hiked to Double Arch which unlike our hike the day before was completely in the hot dry sun! When we finally made it to the arches I was so tired that I just sat on a rock near the bottom in the shade & watched the kids climb up to the top. Somehow I managed to make it 
back to the van without collapsing, and it hardly fazed the kids a bit other than being a little thirsty. That evening we drove up the Lasal Mountains (I think) into the Manti-Lasal National Forest to camp at an old forest service cabin at Warner Lake. This elevation seriously was like 9400 feet so it didn’t feel like there is any oxygen here! The cabin was small with a kitchen, a bedroom with 2 twin bunk beds & another twin bed, no electricity & NO BATHROOMS! Are you kidding me! So I got to walk a little ways to an outhouse to go potty, which I am not an outdoors girl at all so this is quite a different change of pace for me. 
The outhouses were kept up very clean so I guess it could have been a lot worse. Alina, Brian, & the kids slept out in the tent, Grandpa & Grandma slept in the Casita, so we got the bedroom all to ourselves. We had a lot of fun, we roasted hot dogs & marshmallows on the fire & played card games. The view from the front porch was amazing – huge mountains like a painting & the lake.
Friday – Theo took the kids on a canoe ride on the lake today, I decided Sophie & I would opt out of this considering our water adventure earlier in the week. They did some fishing, made mud pies, played with playdoh, just lots of fun things. 
Theo, his parents, and I went on a short hike that could have been longer if it weren’t for the lack of oxygen & Kaylene’s bad knee, but we did get to see some nature – pretty flowers, trees, & bugs. We saw many dear at the cabin, some would come very close to the cabin. At one time there were four of them grazing nearby, what a lovely sight! It was very cool so high in the mountains, so I didn’t miss the air conditioning so much. When the sun started to go down it got cool enough to need pants & light jackets.
Saturday – Everyone went on one more short hike before leaving our mountain cabin & drove back to civilization. That afternoon we left Moab & drove to Theo’s parents’ house in the metropolis of Payson, UT.
Sunday – The kids went to church with Grandma and Grandpa, their teacher said they were so polite, Zoe’s teacher even wrote a nice note about her. We didn’t really do anything exciting this day, just kinda relaxed.
Monday – The cousins Athena & Alexis came over to play, & Zoe went to her cousin Olivia’s house to play. Tad was feeling a little left out with all the girls around! They played outside & had lots of fun. They made puppets to perform a puppet show later in the week – Zoe, Tad, & Kalli made rabbits, Athena made a bear, & Alexis made a unicorn.
Grandpa took them on a walk by the train tracks close by. Kalli got something in her shoe & bent down in the middle of the tracks to remove it just as a train was coming. Luckily it was Tad to the rescue again and he got her off the tracks in time & before Grandpa had a heart attack. The conductor saw the kids & tooted his horn at them, hooray! Sophie didn’t like the sound of the train one bit since it is so close to their house & very loud, she would cry & run to us every time it came by.
Tuesday – Theo took the older three kids to play at his sister Lisa’s house. She has a park close by so they got to ride their scooters along with Olivia.
Grandpa blew up a little pool in the front yard for the kids, which was nice because it was 100 degrees. That night Theo & I took the older three to see Wall-E which we all absolutely loved! Sophie got to stay with Grandma and Grandpa, who she hasn’t completely warmed up to yet, but she did just fine.
Wednesday – The kids played in the pool some today. That night we all took all the kids & cousins to Jumping Jacks in Springville where they had tons of fun. Some old friends of Theo’s met us there with their kids so it was nice to catch up.
Thursday – Theo & I took the kids to the Payson Pool. It is really cool like a mini water park. It has a lazy river, two big water slides, & a kiddie area for smaller kids. It took awhile for Sophie warm up to the water, but ended up enjoying herself & so did the other kids. We were only there two hours & even though I slathered sunscreen on my pale self still got sunburned.
Friday – We got up bright & early to go to Salt Lake City which is about an hour away to take some things to Theo’s brother Reno & his wife Starlyn for their new house. They had to move because they’re having their 1st baby, yea! This baby will make the #20 grandchild for Theo’s parents. Theo & I took the kids to the Clark Planetarium to the IMAX theater to see Deep Sea 3D. It was so awesome! Sophie wouldn’t wear her 3D glasses though. After the movie we walked around the planetarium for a little bit, had lunch with Reno & Starlyn, & headed back to Payson. On the way home we saw a fire truck & noticed some smoke in the mountains over Payson. We decided to drive over for a closer look & discovered that it was a huge wildfire burning on the mountain. We went to Lisa’s house where we had a good view from her backyard. We began to see tanker planes & helicopters dropping chemicals & water trying to contain the fire. Theo took like a thousand pictures & videos. They were not sure how the fire started, probably a spark from an electrical wire.
By that night, the fire was moving farther down the mountain & they had to evacuate some homes. Theo & I took a break from the excitement to go eat just the two of us. The first restaurant we tried to go to was closed since it after 9pm (everything closes down really early here), but were able to find somewhere that was open called Mi Rancherita, a nice little Mexican restaurant. The food was pretty good except they didn’t serve any mixed alcoholic beverages (boohoo) only beer – apparently this is quite common in Utah – so no margarita for me! Afterwards I had Theo take me & Sophie back to his parents house far away from the fire & he went back to Lisa’s to watch the fire some more.
Saturday – By this morning, the firefighters had the fire pretty much under control without any damage to houses. We had a pretty boring day until the puppet show! The play was called The Two Little Rabbits, One Little Bear, & the Big Bad Bear (or something like that) a take on The Three Little Pigs. They added their own cute lines like “not by the whiskers of my nosy-nosy-nose” – so cute!
Sunday – We all went to church with Theo’s parents. Sophie wasn’t very cooperative, so we sat out in the lobby. We had a relaxing day until we had to start packing to leave the next day.
Monday – We got up early to start out long trek home. We went a different route this time into Colorado – which I LOVE driving through the Rocky Mountains. We bought some speakers, so we had the DVD player to help distract the kiddos – 
YEA! We drove through a storm in eastern Colorado, but at least we got to see a beautiful double rainbow! We stopped in Hays, Kansas for the night at the lovely Days Inn since they had no La Quinta for us to use our discount – BOO!
Tuesday – Theo turned the alarm off, so we actually slept in until 9am. I actually read a whole book & half of another (last book I read was on vacation a year ago). So I tried to ignore the “how much longer?”s & sibling rivalries. Sophie was extra fussy. But finally we made it back to glorious Whitehouse, TX to sadly put an end to our fun Utah Vacation 2008!
Tuesday – We got up early to have complementary breakfast in the hotel & be on our way. I don’t think we got lost once this day, but the “how much longer?”s came much more frequently as we were all anxious to get there! Sophie was very fussy today from having to be strapped in her car seat for so long. It was a very pretty drive through New Mexico, Colorado, & into Utah. We finally arrived to our destination of Moab, UT to stay with Theo’s sister Alina, her husband Brian & their 4 rambunctious boys, & Theo’s parents met us there too. The kids were so happy to be out of the car & play with their cousins. Moab is a big tourist town, so you could see people from all over the world speaking many different languages everywhere you go.
Later that evening the kids scootered to the park & we followed behind on foot. This park was really cool – it had musical instruments, a tree house, 2 playsets, & right behind it was a pond were the kids could catch all kinds of bugs & creatures. They had a blast! 
They even borrowed someone’s ramp & tried to jump it on their scooters scaring me to death! Since there was not enough room for everyone to sleep comfortably at their house & Theo’s parent’s camper named the “Casita”, Theo, Sophie & I (the other kids wanted to spend the night with their cousins) stayed at The Apache motel which is where John Wayne stayed when he was filming in southern Utah. Bet you’re jealous! 
Wednesday – We went to Arches National Park & hiked to the Sand Dune Arch. Luckily it wasn’t a very long hike since I’m fat, out of shape, & the altitude is like a million feet! The sand was in the shade so it was nice & cool but it felt like you were walking on quicksand. When we got to the arch we sat in the sand & watched the kids play in the sand, climb, & squeeze between rocks. Lots of fun! 
In the afternoon, the kids decorated visors with their names on them. That evening we went for a swim @ Mill creek, but I didn’t wear my swimsuit because I just wanted to be an observer. It was a short hike, some of it through water, so my plan to stay dry was already shot as the bottom of my Capri’s & flip-flops were soaked. 
We got to a dry spot where we could sit on the rocks & watch the kids. They jumped & swam, slid down the small waterfall, & played in the dirt. I finally was able to convince Sophie to put her feet in the water (she didn’t have her swimsuit on either) & splash a little bit. She has taken a liking to Ryder the youngest cousin closest to her size & began to follow him a little further in the water. The next thing I know she slips down the waterfall & goes under the water. I tried to grab her leg & missed. I jumped in (in my clothes) along with Uncle Brian, luckily she floated right to Tad who saved the day! She didn’t even cry & I think she held her breath the whole time so she didn’t breathe in any water. I think it took me a lot longer than Sophie to recover! Grandpa got the whole thing on video, so I may post it someday when I get over my trauma. Afterwards we went back to the famous motel where Kalli decided to join us this time.
Thursday – That morning we went back for another fun time at Arches. We hiked around Balancing Rock which is a huge rock balanced a pillar that could fall at any time. Then we hiked to Double Arch which unlike our hike the day before was completely in the hot dry sun! When we finally made it to the arches I was so tired that I just sat on a rock near the bottom in the shade & watched the kids climb up to the top. Somehow I managed to make it 
back to the van without collapsing, and it hardly fazed the kids a bit other than being a little thirsty. That evening we drove up the Lasal Mountains (I think) into the Manti-Lasal National Forest to camp at an old forest service cabin at Warner Lake. This elevation seriously was like 9400 feet so it didn’t feel like there is any oxygen here! The cabin was small with a kitchen, a bedroom with 2 twin bunk beds & another twin bed, no electricity & NO BATHROOMS! Are you kidding me! So I got to walk a little ways to an outhouse to go potty, which I am not an outdoors girl at all so this is quite a different change of pace for me. 
The outhouses were kept up very clean so I guess it could have been a lot worse. Alina, Brian, & the kids slept out in the tent, Grandpa & Grandma slept in the Casita, so we got the bedroom all to ourselves. We had a lot of fun, we roasted hot dogs & marshmallows on the fire & played card games. The view from the front porch was amazing – huge mountains like a painting & the lake.
Friday – Theo took the kids on a canoe ride on the lake today, I decided Sophie & I would opt out of this considering our water adventure earlier in the week. They did some fishing, made mud pies, played with playdoh, just lots of fun things. 
Theo, his parents, and I went on a short hike that could have been longer if it weren’t for the lack of oxygen & Kaylene’s bad knee, but we did get to see some nature – pretty flowers, trees, & bugs. We saw many dear at the cabin, some would come very close to the cabin. At one time there were four of them grazing nearby, what a lovely sight! It was very cool so high in the mountains, so I didn’t miss the air conditioning so much. When the sun started to go down it got cool enough to need pants & light jackets. 
Saturday – Everyone went on one more short hike before leaving our mountain cabin & drove back to civilization. That afternoon we left Moab & drove to Theo’s parents’ house in the metropolis of Payson, UT. Sunday – The kids went to church with Grandma and Grandpa, their teacher said they were so polite, Zoe’s teacher even wrote a nice note about her. We didn’t really do anything exciting this day, just kinda relaxed.
Monday – The cousins Athena & Alexis came over to play, & Zoe went to her cousin Olivia’s house to play. Tad was feeling a little left out with all the girls around! They played outside & had lots of fun. They made puppets to perform a puppet show later in the week – Zoe, Tad, & Kalli made rabbits, Athena made a bear, & Alexis made a unicorn.
Grandpa took them on a walk by the train tracks close by. Kalli got something in her shoe & bent down in the middle of the tracks to remove it just as a train was coming. Luckily it was Tad to the rescue again and he got her off the tracks in time & before Grandpa had a heart attack. The conductor saw the kids & tooted his horn at them, hooray! Sophie didn’t like the sound of the train one bit since it is so close to their house & very loud, she would cry & run to us every time it came by. Tuesday – Theo took the older three kids to play at his sister Lisa’s house. She has a park close by so they got to ride their scooters along with Olivia.
Grandpa blew up a little pool in the front yard for the kids, which was nice because it was 100 degrees. That night Theo & I took the older three to see Wall-E which we all absolutely loved! Sophie got to stay with Grandma and Grandpa, who she hasn’t completely warmed up to yet, but she did just fine. 
Wednesday – The kids played in the pool some today. That night we all took all the kids & cousins to Jumping Jacks in Springville where they had tons of fun. Some old friends of Theo’s met us there with their kids so it was nice to catch up. 
Thursday – Theo & I took the kids to the Payson Pool. It is really cool like a mini water park. It has a lazy river, two big water slides, & a kiddie area for smaller kids. It took awhile for Sophie warm up to the water, but ended up enjoying herself & so did the other kids. We were only there two hours & even though I slathered sunscreen on my pale self still got sunburned. Friday – We got up bright & early to go to Salt Lake City which is about an hour away to take some things to Theo’s brother Reno & his wife Starlyn for their new house. They had to move because they’re having their 1st baby, yea! This baby will make the #20 grandchild for Theo’s parents. Theo & I took the kids to the Clark Planetarium to the IMAX theater to see Deep Sea 3D. It was so awesome! Sophie wouldn’t wear her 3D glasses though. After the movie we walked around the planetarium for a little bit, had lunch with Reno & Starlyn, & headed back to Payson. On the way home we saw a fire truck & noticed some smoke in the mountains over Payson. We decided to drive over for a closer look & discovered that it was a huge wildfire burning on the mountain. We went to Lisa’s house where we had a good view from her backyard. We began to see tanker planes & helicopters dropping chemicals & water trying to contain the fire. Theo took like a thousand pictures & videos. They were not sure how the fire started, probably a spark from an electrical wire.
By that night, the fire was moving farther down the mountain & they had to evacuate some homes. Theo & I took a break from the excitement to go eat just the two of us. The first restaurant we tried to go to was closed since it after 9pm (everything closes down really early here), but were able to find somewhere that was open called Mi Rancherita, a nice little Mexican restaurant. The food was pretty good except they didn’t serve any mixed alcoholic beverages (boohoo) only beer – apparently this is quite common in Utah – so no margarita for me! Afterwards I had Theo take me & Sophie back to his parents house far away from the fire & he went back to Lisa’s to watch the fire some more. 
Saturday – By this morning, the firefighters had the fire pretty much under control without any damage to houses. We had a pretty boring day until the puppet show! The play was called The Two Little Rabbits, One Little Bear, & the Big Bad Bear (or something like that) a take on The Three Little Pigs. They added their own cute lines like “not by the whiskers of my nosy-nosy-nose” – so cute! 
Sunday – We all went to church with Theo’s parents. Sophie wasn’t very cooperative, so we sat out in the lobby. We had a relaxing day until we had to start packing to leave the next day.
Monday – We got up early to start out long trek home. We went a different route this time into Colorado – which I LOVE driving through the Rocky Mountains. We bought some speakers, so we had the DVD player to help distract the kiddos – 
YEA! We drove through a storm in eastern Colorado, but at least we got to see a beautiful double rainbow! We stopped in Hays, Kansas for the night at the lovely Days Inn since they had no La Quinta for us to use our discount – BOO! Tuesday – Theo turned the alarm off, so we actually slept in until 9am. I actually read a whole book & half of another (last book I read was on vacation a year ago). So I tried to ignore the “how much longer?”s & sibling rivalries. Sophie was extra fussy. But finally we made it back to glorious Whitehouse, TX to sadly put an end to our fun Utah Vacation 2008!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
2007 Christmas Letter
A doctor I work with and his wife just had their 11th child and each year she sends out a 12-14 page Christmas letter detailing their family’s year. She has inspired me to do the same, though I doubt mine will be as interesting or eloquently written.
January - Our family is getting used to having a new addition - our sweet Sophie, who is now a week old. Vicki is a little tired from frequent night waking, but Theo helps out to keep her from losing her sanity. Vicki is very happy to be on maternity leave this month and had planned to do detailed cleaning of each room while off - she only got to maybe 1/2 a room, forgetting about how much time a new baby takes up and is eagerly following the "sleep when the baby sleeps" rule. The kids go back to school after the winter break on Jan 9th. Zoe is in the 2nd grade and we just adore her teacher Mrs. Craft. One weekend Zoe comes running into the house screaming "Mrs. Craft is moving across the street!" It turns out it was her parents which is still great because Mrs. Craft visits often and one of her children is Kalli's age - that is nice because our neighborhood is lacking in kids her age and they became fast friends. Tad is in 1st grade with Mrs. T. Walker who is an excellent teacher, but doesn't have kids of her own so she is quick to discipline Tad's normal boy behavior. He gets notes sent home for everything from throwing a ball over the fence to spitting on a girl for calling him "Tad Tacos". His class does Readers Theater every month where they read a script in front of the class and parents can come - being on maternity leave Vicki was able to attend this month, Tad is quite a reader! This month was Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday and the class had to write a paper completing the phrase "I have a dream"....... which we found out Tad's dream is to be a garbage man when he grows up! Kalli goes to Parents Day Out at Colonial Hills Baptist Church every Tues and Thurs - she is in a Pre-K class there where they learn skills necessary for kindergarten. She loves it!
February - Vicki had to go back to work at ETMC Feb 3rd and was so sad to leave her baby! It's good for Theo to have her to himself though and did great. Vicki was a guest lecturer at Tyler Junior College in her Aunt Jeanne's Human Growth and Development class which affirmed her decision to go back to school for her Masters in Nursing to be a Labor and Delivery Nursing teacher.
March - Zoe has her 2nd grade musical called "Kids Rock" and open house. The kids enjoyed their Spring Break. Theo had his vasectomy this month and recovered nicely so there will be no more Nackos children from our clan. Zoe had her 8th birthday on the 30th where she got her favorite present - a Nintendo DS.
Tad had a presentation at school that day, they were studying Texas History. He dressed up as, and talked about Erastus "Deaf" Smith (who we had never heard of before we helped him with this project, and now know far too much about him!)
April - It snowed! On the Saturday of Easter weekend a few snow flurries fell and did not stick of course, the kids loved it though! We spent Easter at Big Mama and Papa's house with some of our cousins and had what was, I think the kid's 3rd or 4th egg hunt between school parties, birthday parties, and Theo's work. Theo was trying to fill up other kids baskets with candy so we would have less for our kids to take home (we've had some high dentist bills in the past). On the 21st Zoe and Tad had their birthday parties at the Whitehouse City Park. Zoe's was a Barbie theme and she had strawberry shortcake per her request. Tad's was SpongeBob Squarepants, whom he is rather obsessed with right now. He even has a collection of every SpongeBob thing he can find around the house or can beg off of other people. This day Sophie also turned 4 months old which meant she got to try solid foods! We fed her (or attempted to at least) some rice cereal - yummy! She is rolling over and only very occasionally laughs - guess we're not as funny as we thought we were?! Vicki celebrated her 32nd birthday with a dinner and a couple of daiquiris at Outback Steakhouse. She was also very excited when the girls at work chipped in to get her a pedicure and had a small party for her with a yummy cake, since she had to work on her birthday.
May - Tad turned 7 on the 8th and was excited to get a Nintendo DS also (which I think he suspected since Zoe received one on her birthday). Tad had his 1st grade musical on the 9th where he dressed up and sang "It's great to be a plumber". Kalli graduated from preschool this month. Vicki finally went to get her birthday pedicure which was her 1st one ever and it was wonderful, she'll maybe make it a birthday tradition. The kids last day of school was the 31st.
June - Theo and Vicki celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary on the 10th. The girls got their hair cut short for the summer (girls meaning Zoe and Kalli because sadly Sophie has little hair). The kids enjoyed being out of school and playing with their neighborhood friends riding their bikes and scooters, going from backyard to backyard as Vicki freaked out when they've been gone too long and Theo reassured her they'll come home eventually!
July - Vacation! We went on a fast and furious 8 day vacation to Utah (which equals 4 days of driving and 4 days of fun in Utah). We had a family reunion with all of Theo's family and the kids enjoyed playing with their many cousins.
August - Theo started a different job at Brookshire's Warehouse when we got back from vacation where he is in charge of reclamation. He now works Mon-Fri 8am-5pm which works out well for our family since one parent is always home. Kalli's 5th birthday was the 19th; she had a care bear’s themed party at Kids Depot and had quite a turnout. Vicki's stepdad Randy and grandfather Papa both had surgery on the 21st - Randy's went off without a hitch but Papa ended up with aspiration pneumonia and ended up in ICU. Vicki took the kids to the zoo before school started.
The kids started back to school on the 27th. Zoe is in 3rd grade at Higgins with Mrs. Dove who thinks Zoe hung the moon and Zoe feels the same way about her. Tad is in 2nd grade and has the same teacher that Zoe had (yea!) Mrs. Craft. Kalli started Kindergarten at Cain and has Mrs. Dawkins - did anyone catch the fact that they are in 3 different schools! Needless to say they ride the bus and thankfully they love it. Vicki has picked them up on a couple of occasions and it took about an hour! Sophie also started daycare this month since her babysitters (Zoe, Tad, and Kalli) had to go back to school. She is going to Mother's Day Out at First Christian Church. Luckily she only has to go once a week so Vicki can sleep since Theo works during the day now. She doesn't like it very much though since she is very attached to her mommy and fusses a lot. She also got her 1st tooth this month and started crawling.
September - Zoe and Kalli joined Girl Scouts where Zoe is a Brownie and Kalli is a Daisy. Tad also joined the Cub Scouts. Now our Mon and Tues nights are filled with meetings, luckily the Girl Scout leader is our neighbor so the girls don't have to go far. We took the kids to the East Texas Fair where they had a blast, but Theo, Vicki, and Sophie not so much!
October - Zoe was chosen to be a tunnel cat with her BFF Shelby where she got to run through the players' field entrance tunnel at a Whitehouse Wildcats varsity football game - that was super fun! We took a weekend trip to San Antonio where we went to Sea World, The Alamo, The Riverwalk, and The San Antonio Zoo. The whole family had so much fun and we even got to meet Theo's brother and his wife Reno and Starlyn at Sea World. For Halloween Zoe was a spider princess, Tad was a muscle commando, Kalli was an angel, and Sophie was a butterfly. We went trick or treating the night before Halloween at the high school and on Halloween through our neighborhood where the kids made out like bandits! Papa was still in the hospital though out of ICU now.
November - Kalli had her kindergarten fall musical this month where she sang "The Woodpecker Song". The kids got out of school for the Thanksgiving holiday. We enjoyed a feast at Big Mama's (Papa has now been moved to Rehab and is doing much better), and then went to Vicki's Aunt Janice's to visit with Vicki's dad and stepmom. Sophie is walking holding on to stuff now. Zoe was awarded the Kid with Character Award for respect. Theo turned 33 on the 24th and is really enjoying his new job.
December - Ahhhh winter!! If you call 70-80 degree temperatures at times winter! (Though it has been 30-40 a couple of times). Zoe had her 3rd grade musical called "40 winks until Christmas" where she played a dual role of a nice cousin in which she wore pjs, robe, and slippers, and an elf - which thanks to Theo's creativity had a cute elf costume. Sophie is walking now so it's about to get busy up in here at the Nackos house! She now has a whopping 8 teeth! Someone had to get stitches this month and it wasn't one of the children - Theo slit his wrist (he says Vicki drove him to it). Seriously he stabbed his wrist at work and had to have 2 stitches in the muscle and 3 on the skin (OUCH!). That night we had already planned to go to the Christmas tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree, but we had to have the owners help due to Theo's injury and Vicki's lack of ability (or desire) to do anything physical. We chose a beautiful 9 foot tree which turns out is the exact height of our ceiling, so our angel is leaning a bit! 
Sophie turned 1 on the 21st and we had a princess birthday party for her the week before with a few friends and family. The week before Christmas was very busy for Vicki, 3 school Christmas parties, 2 kids with ear infections, and a partridge in a pear tree (HAHA funny). It also included Vicki's work Christmas party and Christmas shopping. Theo and Vicki left the kids at Vicki's parents Nana and Papa for a sleepover and knocked out all the kids Christmas shopping in a mere 6 hours and 4 stores! The kids got out of school 4 days before Christmas for their winter break. Christmas Eve was spent at Big Mama and Papa's (yes he's finally out of the hospital - yea!), and then the kids opened presents at Nana and Papa's. 
Christmas morning the kids were delighted to see what Santa brought, and Theo and Vicki were tickled to see their house looking like an ad from Toys R Us! Sophie has started to climb now, so we're waiting for more bumps and bruises! It is now New Year's Eve and the girls are having a Girl Scouts sleepover and we are at home having a rockin' party of snacks, games, and TV - bet you wish you were here!
January - Our family is getting used to having a new addition - our sweet Sophie, who is now a week old. Vicki is a little tired from frequent night waking, but Theo helps out to keep her from losing her sanity. Vicki is very happy to be on maternity leave this month and had planned to do detailed cleaning of each room while off - she only got to maybe 1/2 a room, forgetting about how much time a new baby takes up and is eagerly following the "sleep when the baby sleeps" rule. The kids go back to school after the winter break on Jan 9th. Zoe is in the 2nd grade and we just adore her teacher Mrs. Craft. One weekend Zoe comes running into the house screaming "Mrs. Craft is moving across the street!" It turns out it was her parents which is still great because Mrs. Craft visits often and one of her children is Kalli's age - that is nice because our neighborhood is lacking in kids her age and they became fast friends. Tad is in 1st grade with Mrs. T. Walker who is an excellent teacher, but doesn't have kids of her own so she is quick to discipline Tad's normal boy behavior. He gets notes sent home for everything from throwing a ball over the fence to spitting on a girl for calling him "Tad Tacos". His class does Readers Theater every month where they read a script in front of the class and parents can come - being on maternity leave Vicki was able to attend this month, Tad is quite a reader! This month was Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday and the class had to write a paper completing the phrase "I have a dream"....... which we found out Tad's dream is to be a garbage man when he grows up! Kalli goes to Parents Day Out at Colonial Hills Baptist Church every Tues and Thurs - she is in a Pre-K class there where they learn skills necessary for kindergarten. She loves it!
February - Vicki had to go back to work at ETMC Feb 3rd and was so sad to leave her baby! It's good for Theo to have her to himself though and did great. Vicki was a guest lecturer at Tyler Junior College in her Aunt Jeanne's Human Growth and Development class which affirmed her decision to go back to school for her Masters in Nursing to be a Labor and Delivery Nursing teacher.
March - Zoe has her 2nd grade musical called "Kids Rock" and open house. The kids enjoyed their Spring Break. Theo had his vasectomy this month and recovered nicely so there will be no more Nackos children from our clan. Zoe had her 8th birthday on the 30th where she got her favorite present - a Nintendo DS.
Tad had a presentation at school that day, they were studying Texas History. He dressed up as, and talked about Erastus "Deaf" Smith (who we had never heard of before we helped him with this project, and now know far too much about him!)
April - It snowed! On the Saturday of Easter weekend a few snow flurries fell and did not stick of course, the kids loved it though! We spent Easter at Big Mama and Papa's house with some of our cousins and had what was, I think the kid's 3rd or 4th egg hunt between school parties, birthday parties, and Theo's work. Theo was trying to fill up other kids baskets with candy so we would have less for our kids to take home (we've had some high dentist bills in the past). On the 21st Zoe and Tad had their birthday parties at the Whitehouse City Park. Zoe's was a Barbie theme and she had strawberry shortcake per her request. Tad's was SpongeBob Squarepants, whom he is rather obsessed with right now. He even has a collection of every SpongeBob thing he can find around the house or can beg off of other people. This day Sophie also turned 4 months old which meant she got to try solid foods! We fed her (or attempted to at least) some rice cereal - yummy! She is rolling over and only very occasionally laughs - guess we're not as funny as we thought we were?! Vicki celebrated her 32nd birthday with a dinner and a couple of daiquiris at Outback Steakhouse. She was also very excited when the girls at work chipped in to get her a pedicure and had a small party for her with a yummy cake, since she had to work on her birthday.
May - Tad turned 7 on the 8th and was excited to get a Nintendo DS also (which I think he suspected since Zoe received one on her birthday). Tad had his 1st grade musical on the 9th where he dressed up and sang "It's great to be a plumber". Kalli graduated from preschool this month. Vicki finally went to get her birthday pedicure which was her 1st one ever and it was wonderful, she'll maybe make it a birthday tradition. The kids last day of school was the 31st.June - Theo and Vicki celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary on the 10th. The girls got their hair cut short for the summer (girls meaning Zoe and Kalli because sadly Sophie has little hair). The kids enjoyed being out of school and playing with their neighborhood friends riding their bikes and scooters, going from backyard to backyard as Vicki freaked out when they've been gone too long and Theo reassured her they'll come home eventually!
July - Vacation! We went on a fast and furious 8 day vacation to Utah (which equals 4 days of driving and 4 days of fun in Utah). We had a family reunion with all of Theo's family and the kids enjoyed playing with their many cousins.
August - Theo started a different job at Brookshire's Warehouse when we got back from vacation where he is in charge of reclamation. He now works Mon-Fri 8am-5pm which works out well for our family since one parent is always home. Kalli's 5th birthday was the 19th; she had a care bear’s themed party at Kids Depot and had quite a turnout. Vicki's stepdad Randy and grandfather Papa both had surgery on the 21st - Randy's went off without a hitch but Papa ended up with aspiration pneumonia and ended up in ICU. Vicki took the kids to the zoo before school started.
The kids started back to school on the 27th. Zoe is in 3rd grade at Higgins with Mrs. Dove who thinks Zoe hung the moon and Zoe feels the same way about her. Tad is in 2nd grade and has the same teacher that Zoe had (yea!) Mrs. Craft. Kalli started Kindergarten at Cain and has Mrs. Dawkins - did anyone catch the fact that they are in 3 different schools! Needless to say they ride the bus and thankfully they love it. Vicki has picked them up on a couple of occasions and it took about an hour! Sophie also started daycare this month since her babysitters (Zoe, Tad, and Kalli) had to go back to school. She is going to Mother's Day Out at First Christian Church. Luckily she only has to go once a week so Vicki can sleep since Theo works during the day now. She doesn't like it very much though since she is very attached to her mommy and fusses a lot. She also got her 1st tooth this month and started crawling.
September - Zoe and Kalli joined Girl Scouts where Zoe is a Brownie and Kalli is a Daisy. Tad also joined the Cub Scouts. Now our Mon and Tues nights are filled with meetings, luckily the Girl Scout leader is our neighbor so the girls don't have to go far. We took the kids to the East Texas Fair where they had a blast, but Theo, Vicki, and Sophie not so much!
October - Zoe was chosen to be a tunnel cat with her BFF Shelby where she got to run through the players' field entrance tunnel at a Whitehouse Wildcats varsity football game - that was super fun! We took a weekend trip to San Antonio where we went to Sea World, The Alamo, The Riverwalk, and The San Antonio Zoo. The whole family had so much fun and we even got to meet Theo's brother and his wife Reno and Starlyn at Sea World. For Halloween Zoe was a spider princess, Tad was a muscle commando, Kalli was an angel, and Sophie was a butterfly. We went trick or treating the night before Halloween at the high school and on Halloween through our neighborhood where the kids made out like bandits! Papa was still in the hospital though out of ICU now.
November - Kalli had her kindergarten fall musical this month where she sang "The Woodpecker Song". The kids got out of school for the Thanksgiving holiday. We enjoyed a feast at Big Mama's (Papa has now been moved to Rehab and is doing much better), and then went to Vicki's Aunt Janice's to visit with Vicki's dad and stepmom. Sophie is walking holding on to stuff now. Zoe was awarded the Kid with Character Award for respect. Theo turned 33 on the 24th and is really enjoying his new job.
December - Ahhhh winter!! If you call 70-80 degree temperatures at times winter! (Though it has been 30-40 a couple of times). Zoe had her 3rd grade musical called "40 winks until Christmas" where she played a dual role of a nice cousin in which she wore pjs, robe, and slippers, and an elf - which thanks to Theo's creativity had a cute elf costume. Sophie is walking now so it's about to get busy up in here at the Nackos house! She now has a whopping 8 teeth! Someone had to get stitches this month and it wasn't one of the children - Theo slit his wrist (he says Vicki drove him to it). Seriously he stabbed his wrist at work and had to have 2 stitches in the muscle and 3 on the skin (OUCH!). That night we had already planned to go to the Christmas tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree, but we had to have the owners help due to Theo's injury and Vicki's lack of ability (or desire) to do anything physical. We chose a beautiful 9 foot tree which turns out is the exact height of our ceiling, so our angel is leaning a bit! 
Sophie turned 1 on the 21st and we had a princess birthday party for her the week before with a few friends and family. The week before Christmas was very busy for Vicki, 3 school Christmas parties, 2 kids with ear infections, and a partridge in a pear tree (HAHA funny). It also included Vicki's work Christmas party and Christmas shopping. Theo and Vicki left the kids at Vicki's parents Nana and Papa for a sleepover and knocked out all the kids Christmas shopping in a mere 6 hours and 4 stores! The kids got out of school 4 days before Christmas for their winter break. Christmas Eve was spent at Big Mama and Papa's (yes he's finally out of the hospital - yea!), and then the kids opened presents at Nana and Papa's. 
Christmas morning the kids were delighted to see what Santa brought, and Theo and Vicki were tickled to see their house looking like an ad from Toys R Us! Sophie has started to climb now, so we're waiting for more bumps and bruises! It is now New Year's Eve and the girls are having a Girl Scouts sleepover and we are at home having a rockin' party of snacks, games, and TV - bet you wish you were here!
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