SANTA STOPPED HERE...THE ROBBINS MUST HAVE BEEN GOOD THIS YEAR!!

Parker and Aunt Angie playing in Grandma's Cricket boxes
Christmas at the Robbins house

Parker's new 'shotgun'

Thanks Uncle Matt!

Christmas morning after the madness

Santa's cookies and Parker's letter

Parker's Christmas PJ's

Christmas Eve before the madness

This Christmas was so great. John and I spent it together with our little Parky. It's so great being able to live so close to all of our family. The only one missing is my brother Mike, who has decided to live in Kansas, far far away :( We miss the heck out of him and his family.

On Christmas Eve we did our annual tradition of opening one present, which always happens to be PJ's. After we got in our Christmas PJ's we made cookies for Santa. We left them out with a super cute letter that Parker wrote to him.

Christmas morning we woke Parker up and told him that Santa had came. He was so excited! We went out to the living room and he had his very own brand new chair sitting by the tree...covered in dinosaurs and cars. He also got an ice fishing pole from santa and a big Megatron Transformer and a 4wheeler helmet and goggles from John and I, along with several other gifts like clothes. John got new seat covers for his truck, Guitar Hero for the Xbox and a couple other things. John got me a super cute new purse, a very sexy cast iron soup pot and some lia Sophia jewelry. Santa also brought me a new ice fishing pole, a pink Uglystick! Santa even remembered the dogs...Tank got a giant bone and Maisy got a new winter coat!

After we finished at our house we went to my Mom and Dads for the annual Christmas Morning Breakfast. As always, it was absolutely delicious! Then we opened more presents. After we got done there we went to John's Mom and Dads. We had a yummy lunch of roast beast aka ham and, yup you guessed it, we opened MORE presents. All in all we had a wonderful Christmas! Thanks to all of our family for making it one of the best Christmases ever! We love you all and wish everyone a Happy New Year!!!

COX FAMILY CHRISTMAS PARTY

Parker's white elephant gift....a talking Moses doll

You can tell hes excited right LOL
Everyone getting in to the gift wrapping for our Sub for Santa family

My little brother Matt


Parker with his Great Grandma and Grandpa Cox

My beautiful sister in law Darcy and handsome Quinn

Pretty princess Amarie

little sis Jen giving John a hard time

On Monday we had the Cox family Christmas party held at Lori's house. WOW!! That place was packed! It was so good to see everyone. It's been at least a year since I've seen all of them. Even family from Alaska and Montana made it down. Lori and Misty did a great job with dinner! We also did a Sub for Santa for a family that lives in the apartment above my cousin Amy and her husband. The family had 10 people living in a 2 bedroom apt. The parents slept on a twin bed and they didn't have a car. There were 6 kids, a grandmother, and an aunt that also lived there. Amy got the ward to donate a car to the family and we took tons of gifts to them. It's so awesome to be able to help a family that is less fortunate. And aside from all the 'abuse' we all endured from someone who will not be named, it turned out to be a pretty fun party.

ROBBINS FAMILY CHRISTMAS PARTY

Parker getting ready for his big debut
Taylor doing her oh so cute dance

The annual Robbins family Christmas party was so much fun! The food was delicious and the decorations were SO cute (thanks Ang and Liner)! There is always a talent show. Each family has to do something. Our family sang 'The 12 Pains of Christmas'. Even though we all griped and moaned about singing in front of everyone it turned out really funny. The kids all did cute little parts too. Aubrey played the piano, Taylor did a really cute dance and Parker sang his little heart out to Jingle Bells. We discovered that he really likes being in the spotlight...after 3 verses of Jingle Bells I had to pry the mic out of his hands. All the while he is yelling into the microphone "My name is Parker and I'm 3 years old!" Gotta love it!

Parker's Preschool Christmas Program

Parker's Christmas program was on Wednesday. It was seriously SO cute and he had so much fun. They sang a couple songs that they had learned throughout the year and then a few Christmas songs. They had little instruments and a costume change between each song. All the kids were so cute and did such a good job! There were alot of proud parents and grandparents there. Parker just loves Preschool and I am so glad I decided to get him started early. He is so smart! They did such a good job even Santa heard them singing and decided to stop by. The kids were so surprised! It was so funny to watch the looks on their faces as he walked in the door. Good job kids!

Bobbing for bath toys

The other night while Parker was taking his bath, Maisy decided to get in on the action. She got up on the side of the tub and started sticking her face in the water trying to get the toys. Every time she stuck her face in the water and the toy would get away she would look up at me, beard soaking wet, with this sad look on her face, Parker was laughing hysterically the entire time. Then he decided he would help her get a little more wet and he started dumping water on her with a cup. That's when she decided she'd had enough and went to warm up by the fire. Its amazing to me how much the two of them act like siblings. I guess I don't ever need to have any other kids since I have a little boy and a little girl ( sorry everyone!)

Thanksgiving

I know I'm a little late posting for Thanksgiving but I figured I better do it before I start doing any Christmas posts.

First of all I have to say that I have some of THE BEST co-workers anyone could ever ask for. A few of them teamed up to take my Thanksgiving shift so I could be with my family. I love you guys! Seriously, the friendships I have with all the girls (and guys) I work with are priceless and I am so thankful for you all!

Secondly, I am so thankful for my family. I would be nothing without the support they give me. I have an incredible husband. He is a wonderful father to our son and he works so hard to support us. He is my best friend and I am so eternally thankful for him. Parker is the light of my life. He keeps me going when I don't want to go anymore. He is my shooting star. I have the best family (immediate and extended) and I love you all!

I am also extremely greatful for this country and the freedoms that we enjoy. I'm thankful for the armed forces and the sacrifices that they and their family's make for our country.

I am thankful for a stable job in this failing economy. I feel so lucky that I have the ability to provide for myself and my family.

And last but not least, I am soooo thankful for Thanksgiving dinners. Its the one time of year that all of my family gets together. We always have so much fun and the food is always DELICIOUS!!!

There are so many more things that I am thankful for but I will leave the list at that.

Happy Thanksgiving (and soon Christmas) everyone!

To Keep In Your Prayers...

Officer Skinner with North Salt Lake City PD passed away this week as a result from injuries obtained during a high speed chase. He left behind a wife - And twins, born just four weeks ago. Please keep he and his family in your thoughts and prayers. The poem below was left as a comment on the KSL article. I included the link to the article as well.


The policeman stood and faced his God,which must always come to pass. He hopes his shoes were shining just as brightly as his brass.
"Step forward now, policeman. How shall I deal with you? Have you always turned the other cheek? To my church have you been true?"
The policeman squared his shoulders and said,"No Lord I guess I ain't. Because those who carry badges can't always be a saint.
I've had to work most Sundays, and at times my talk was rough...And sometimes I've been violent because the streets are awful tough.
But I never took a penny that wasn't mine to keep...Though I worked alot of overtime when the bills just got too steep.
And I never passed a cry for help,though at times I shook with fear.
And sometimes, God forgive me, I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place among the people here.
They never wanted me around except to calm there fear. If you've a place for me here, Lord, it needn't be so grand.
I never expected or had too much,but if you don't... I understand."
There was silence all around the thronewhere the saints had often trod, as the policeman waited quietly for his judgement of his God.
"Step forward now, policeman. You've borne your burdens well. Come walk a beat on heaven's streets. You've done your time in hell."
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4739391

RIP Black

I was just looking through my blog drafts and noticed that I never accepted this one. It's a couple months late getting up but that doesn't make it any less important

Sunday morning Nov 9th my dad went out to feed the horses. He found Black laying in the barn obviously very sick. He refused to get up and was breathing rapidly. He fought for his life all day and all night. When dad went out to feed this morning he was up walking around and looking better. When he went out about an hour later to check on him he had passed away.

Robins Spanish Bar-April 1979-Nov 2008. He was a racehorse in his younger years and after retirement he went on to be a great family horse. He had a ton of heart and could do anything from pony rides for little kids, riding lessons, queen contests, game packing and everything else in between. Black was loved deeply and will be missed by us all.

**RIP Black**

Parker's first day of Preschool

I can't believe I am writing this post because it seems like just yesterday we were bringing Parker home from the hospital but now he is in Preschool. He started on Friday at Active Learning Preschool with Miss Karen and Miss Amy (my aunt and cousin). He is going Mon, Wed, and Fri from 11:30-2:00...I haven't figured out exactly how I'm going to get him there since I work during those hours but lucky for me I have an awesome Dad that has a flexible schedule! Here are a few pictures of the big day...and yes, there were some private tears shed but at least I know he is in good hands and has cousins that he already knows in his class. Happy first day of Preschool bud! I love you!!!

Halloween slide show

Hey everyone, when you view the Halloween slide show make sure your volume is up.

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!

Election results

I have to admit that when I heard Obama had won the presidential election I wanted to pack my bags and move to Australia...but now that the results on Prop. 8 are in, some of my faith has been restored in the American people.

IMHO I do not have a problem with gays...that is the way they want to live their life, who am I to say they can't. But God has said marriage is between a man and a woman and I think that should be respected.
On a side note, I think I would have to beat the crap out of any teacher who took it upon him/herself to teach MY CHILD about homosexuality.

FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, LETS LET OUR KIDS BE INNOCENT FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE!


***end of vent session*** :)

Pheasant Hunt

As some of you probably know Saturday was the opening day of the Pheasant Hunt. John, Stan, Jason and Tank went out that morning for a few hours and despite the depleting pheasant flocks they still managed to get three. Tank was pretty dang proud!

Developmental Milestone

Parker has hit a HUGE milestone in his development. He can now recognize the first letter of his name..."P"! I got this great idea from a child literacy class I took that my Mom teaches. Its called Cradled In Literacy and its offered free throughout the district. It teaches you that YOU are your childs first and best teacher. In one of the sessions they talked about having a day that revolves around a letter of the alphabet. I decided to start with P. So one day we did all sorts of "P" things....we played with "P"laydough and ate "P"eanut butter sandwiches with "P"ineapple and "P"apaya and we talked about "P" all day long...and I am PROUD to say he knows what a P looks like! HURRAY PARKER!!!

And one more

One last post for today....Last night John was giving Parker a bath. John was filling the cup full of water and then quickly turning it upside down onto Parker's head. He would hold it there for a few seconds and then he would lift it up and the water would go cascading down Parker's face. He thought that was so funny. So, again we had to see exactly what this new camera could do. Here a few photos of the results....simply amazing.

Fall Photos

As I stated in my previous post, I got a new camera. FINALLY!!!! Its a Nikon D60 SLR. I also got the 55-200 zoom lens (which is how I got most of these great shots). This has been on of THE BEST investments ever. If you have kids and you don't have an SLR camera, I highly recommend getting one. The pictures are PHENOMENAL and you will never have to pay someone to take your childs pictures ever again. Added bonus, I am now calling myself an amateur photographer lol. Here are some pics of the "weeds" from our Sunday drive.