Hope everyone had a nice Christmas. Ours was pretty good except I've been sick again. Christmas Eve morning I woke early vomiting and such. It was bad. I had Cory give me a blessing around lunch time and I started to get better not long after. I still felt really weak and nautious for a couple of days but I'm much better now. Needless to say we didn't do much Christmas Eve other than read Luke 2 and sing a few songs. The kids went to bed and then woke up about 6am Christmas morning. They got lots of toys and are all very happy with what they got. They said it was the best Christmas ever. I think they say that every year though. At least they are greatful. They have been happy playing with their new toys and I have been busy helping Aiden build all his new lego sets. Cory and I just got stuff we needed like clothes and a couple little other things. We did both get some ski pants so now we can play in the snow with the kids. I also got snow gloves I needed. However it's been warmer lately and just raining. I'm sure we'll get plenty of snow later though. Avery even got excited this Christmas. He ran around squealing and playing. He likes his new chair. I do too. Very easy to keep the floor clean with it just hanging from the table. They have all enjoyed the bath toys he got for Christmas. Avery loves to play and makes a lot of funny faces and sounds now. This week I have been trying to get Lidia's baptism planned. It's on her birthday Monday Jan.2 at 2pm. She went with Cory to church tonight to hopefully get her interview done along with tithing settlement. Instead of a party we are taking the kids and my dad and sister and her kids up to the ski resort for sledding. It's only an hour drive. Should be fun. My sister's kids have never seen snow. Let's all pray for good health!

Happy Holidays! Sorry about the chins, Cory and Aiden. Too bad the timer on the camera couldn't tell us to move.


Tristan and Avery playing nicely with some Christmas toys.



mmm...spaghetti

Hey Avery

Cold Cheeks

Kayaboggan? Heavy for Dad fun for kids, scary for mom. The first time Cory put Lidia and Aiden in it he sent them towards the back of the yard and they went right through the trees and into the neighbor's yard and I was afraid into the street at the bottom of the neighbor's big hill for a front yard. Luckily they stopped in the neighbor's back yard and Cory drug them back. I was so worried until I saw them coming back in our yard. I was crying.


Bingo likes the snow just fine.


Snow Day! I've got to get Cory some snow pants-the ugly fireman pants need to go.


Pair of Posers

This is a little something in tribute to my wonderful mother. Lessie Pearl Fowler Hornsby was a loving and selfless person. She grew up pretty poor. Her awesome mother Lessie Pearl Chase Fowler fought hard to keep her family going throughout her tough life. My mom had an awesome mother too. Mom loved her mother and never rebelled. She married the only guy she ever dated and loved him with all her heart forever. She never did anything bad so to speak. She wasn't perfect, but there were no skeletons in her closet. When her mom had a brain tumor and the surgery left her in a coma for a couple of days and then a bit unstable on her left side, my mom took her in. She lived with us for years. The living room became my parents' bedroom and Melody slept with Granny so we could all fit in the small house we called home. When my mom was pregnant with my brother, the youngest of us five, my granny insisted mom find her somewhere else to live so we could have more room. Granny moved to a nice little retirement apartment, but mother went over everyday to care for her. We didn't have much money but Mom always tried to get us everything we needed and some of what we wanted. She wasn't a disciplinarian. She was more of a pushover. She spoiled my dad and brother particularly, waiting on them like their maid or something. But she was happy to do it. Mom was very funny though others thought she was shy. She didn't learn how to drive until she had to take Heather to school. She didn't work until we were all in school and then all the money went to us. She never wanted much for herself. We would play board games and she would like to help everyone else but not play to win herself. She was a smart lady and good with children. Most of her life she served in the Primary at church. Then when she went to work it was at an elementary school. Not long before she got sick she had started going to college. When she was diagnosed with anaplastic thyroid cancer in July 2004 it was a shock for sure. The statistics are awful, but that didn't shut out our hope. Mom fought it as much as humanly possible if not more. However, everytime things started looking good and there was a new glimmer of hope, it was soon shot down by bad news. Mom suffered a lot to have the time she did. She was on a feeding tube for most of the 16 months she survived. She had pain from the radiation on her neck. She dropped half her body weight. She lost feeling in her fingers and toes. Wearing oxygen grew increasingly necessary. There are many health problems associated with all she went through to fight this, but it was worth it to her to be here with her family. We found out what a strong and enduring mother we have. It was horrible to see her struggle for breath the last days of her life, but i cherish those memories b/c of the love that was felt between us. Even as I held her in the hospital and i was often crying, she would try to comfort me and ask if I was OK. I have always appreciated the atonement but never as fully and so real as I do now. If Christ loves us as much or more than my mother, that is truely amazing to me. I will miss my mom while we are apart but I have no doubt that she has been called to a higher mission and I am so thankful to have had her here with me while I did. Before passing away, she asked my dad to hold her and they embraced eachother and then she fell into a deep sleep and passed away shortly after. It means so much to my dad that she did that for him and that she was thinking of him even at her last moments. They truely loved each other and will forever.

These are more pictures from the church including my dear cousin Joely and her husband Rusty and her brother John and their kids. The crazy picture is of me, Mel, Amber and Micah wearing some of Mom's old glasses. She kept just about everything.

These are some photos we took at the church after the funeral. We ate there after going to the cemetary. The funeral went very well. The chapel and overflow at church were packed. Amber and Dad and Joe Hall spoke and all did a great job. Dad dedicated the grave at Memory Hill Cemetary. Lidia was sweet and hung out with my Dad a lot that day. I was looking for her before we left and found her with him and I asked why she wasn't coming and she said she just felt like she needed to spend some time with Papa. Aiden cried when he saw mom in the hospital before she died and then once she died he had a bad dream about what I think he was imagining dead people to look like. However, all the kids looked at Mom at the viewing and were not scared and saw that she looked nice, not scary. I didn't think Lidia would look but she did and she even took a picture but Mom would be mad if I showed it. Tristan kept staring at her and started walking up and trying to reach in and touch her. He was just curious about the whole thing. He can't comprehend it. The only concern he has is that I'm not sad anymore. He keeps asking me if I'm happy now and not sad anymore.

My mother Lessie Pearl Hornsby passed away on November 28th after fighting anaplastic thyroid cancer which had spread to her lungs for 16 months. She was a courageous fighter with great hope and faith and a dear mother, wife and granny. We'll miss you mom. These pictures are ones the kids took at the funeral home. They have fun no matter where they are or what the circumstance. Soo many people came out to the visitation. We stood there for 3 hrs greeting everyone who came to pay their respect. The line went through the funeral home chapel and the foyer and out the door. There were some who just signed the book b/c they couldn't wait in the line. Many people said they really enjoyed watching the slideshow while waiting in line. It was about 80 pictures of Mom throughout her life. We have a copy on DVD.