Cookie Exchange

My Grandpa Sus with Joel at Checkers for the adult Christmas dinner

Sister-in-law Victoria, my little brother Arturo, and my husband Dustin, who I might add is the hottest man alive!!

My step dad David, and step brother Jack

my dad Frank, step mom Loraine, and Grandpa Sus

My little brother Ricky, and his girlfriend Smithy

Outside of Raleys ringing the bell

A Little of This & That

The Ford family has been quite busy this past month. I'm sure everyone as well has been quite busy. We would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and safe and happy new year. Here is what we have been up to this month.

The kids and Dustin were "bell ringers" outside of Raley's as part of the Oroville Rotary Club Dutin belongs to. That was fun for them, but cold. So you could imagine how surprised I was to see them come home with ice creams!!! Dustin wanted to get them something for helping out those families in Oroville that need the extra help this time of year. Who can pass up two little children ringing bells and not drop in $100 bill....yea right.

We had an adult Christmas party. Every year my mom and David take just the couples out for a nice dinner. This year we went to Checkers. Afterwords we had a fun "white elephant" game and dessert. It is always nice to have all of the kids around so they can play with their cousins, but it's a nice break to have just the adults......and Ricky.

My sister has started an annual cookie exchange. It was fun and had amazing cookies. There was a rule that all of the cookies had to be homemade. You had to bring enough cookies for everyone to take home, with the recipe included. I will not say who, but someone brought some cookies, and on a bag of cookies the recipe read," go to costco, buy cookies", they were good anyway.

Joseph and Sophie also had their school Christmas programs, but I took the pictures with our camera that is on our video camera, and me being....me.... I have no idea how to get those onto our computer, so just picture Joseph with a green elf hat on singing songs, and Sophie standing next to her freind Zack giggling.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree.....Where Are You?

Our first family photo with little Joel

Joseph helping cut our tree down

Sophie tried too

Mommy Daughter Duo

Loading up the trees.

For the Ford family, the day after Thanksgiving means it's up to the woods to find the our Christmas Tree. This year it was us, Cami, Derek, along with Grandma and Grandpa Meyer. Now if you know me, you know that I have to be prepared for anything to happen. So when Dustin was cleaning out the bed of his truck, I packed water and extra food just in case something were to happen and we were stuck up in some mountain for a period of time. Dustin thought I was crazy, but hey, isn't he the boyscout...(does be prepared ring a bell!) I also called my dad to let him know that we were leaving and that if he didn't hear from us by evening, to come and find us. My dad asked me where abouts we would be and I told him," Hmmmm...I don't know." So dad told me he was just up near Bucks Lake and that right off the road was "The Disneyland" of Christmas Trees. So that is where we headed. We drove and drove, but never found Disneyland. Then it came to my attention....has my dad ever been to Disneyland??? Thanks Dad! We did find Christmas trees and had a wonderful time. In town you can find a Christmas Tree for between $30 to $100. Or you can get a $10 permit, and spend the day walking in the woods with your family making memories. It was a fun day even if we didn't find Disneyland!

Ps. My dad called us at 9:30 pm that night....I forgot to call him and let him know we were home. He asked if we found a tree and I told him yes, but we couldn't find his spot. Well Dad failed to mention that when we got to the very small dirt road, continue about another 5 miles. (Due to the windy road, it would have taken a half hour to drive 5 miles.) We only drove about 10 minutes on that windy road before we stopped the cars to hunt for the our tree. Who knew Disneyland was so close. Here are some pictures from our hunt. Hope you enjoy.

I'VE BEEN TAGGED!!

I have been tagged by on of my childhood friends Emily. I am so glad she did tag me because it is nice to reflect on something like this, and share it with others during this time of year.

Five things I am thankful for........

1). I am ever so thankful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!! The knowledge I have of why I am here, and where I came from. I wonder what life would be like without that understanding.

2). I am thankful for my Family. I am so in love with my husband and love my kids to death. I have been truly blessed to have so much extended family near by to help during the last 10 weeks of the pregnancy with Joel. Without the help of Family, and friends, life would of been so much harder.

3). I am thankful for the power of the Priesthood, and for a husband who honors it.

4). I am ever so thankful for the Atonement. When ever you feel down, upset, hurt, sad, and that nobody understands what you are going through, remember what YOUR SAVIOUR did for you, and know that He knows how you feel, and that he will never leave you, but will be there to comfort you when you feel all is lost. Believe me, Ive been there, and I felt His love for me, and I knew I wasn't alone.

5). I am thankful for Music. What would the world be like without music? Have you ever put in a CD, and just belted out your favorite song? I have, and believe me, you have to try it. just make sure your windows are closed and your neighbor isn't outside watering their lawn.

Thanks Emily, that was fun. I encourage everyone else to blog 5 things your thankful for. Keep it going!

Happy Thanksgiving

Joel is on the left and cousin Elijiah is on the right. These two little guys didn't get to sample the turkey this year, but had a lot of fun visiting with family for Thanksgiving at Grandma & Grandpa Meyer's Home for dinner. These two little guys were born a week apart, and I can tell already they will grow to be best buds!

Here is little Mr. Joel with his awesome Aunt Cami. When we got to Angie's for Thanksgiving dinner, I put Joel in his swing so I could help in the kitchen. He loves his swing, and slept for a good two hours....even with all of the other cousins running around. When he finally got up, Aunt Cami was there to give him a nice Thanksgiving greeting.

Here is Miss Sophia Marie just before dinner working up an appetite playing....what is this game called again???...well she is working hard at defeating Uncle Derek, so, she couldn't possibly look up and give me a smile. I believe she did win....with a little help from Uncle Spencer who stood close by to help defend our goal. We had such a nice time visiting with all of our family. Everyone did a wonderful job on the meal, and you couldn't ask for better company.

Look....I can say hi!

Just playing with Joel while the others were at school. I grabbed the camera for some quick pictures....i said "hi Joel", and he put his hand up! He's not even three months old yet, so it had to be just fluke.....or was it??????

Still working on getting a smile on camera....so I am counting this as a half smile

Where the heck did little Joel get that light hair...it's even got some red in it. Also, where did he get that little curl up top? It makes me sad when I remember he's our last little baby. So, I can't even begin to tell you how blessed I feel to be able to spend all day with him one on one, while the older kids are at school. But I'll tell you, it seems like time is just flying by!

Just in time for Christmas

All Sophie wants for Christmas is her two front teeth! Well, along with a few other things. What a little cutie. And to top it off, she lost the second of the two front teeth two days before picture day.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

HOLY COW! Anybody have an idea what in the heck this is???? Well I would be thrilled to tell you. Last week I left the house to take Joel for a check up. It was such a nice day outside, so I decided to press this tiny little black button. ( the one in the photo that is covered by tape) What does this tiny little back button do? It's ever so hard and taunting job is to make the drivers window go up and down. Pulling up to the doctors office, the darn little back button wouldn't do its job. I called Dustin and he said he would look at it when I got home, but to be sure to lock the doors so the alarm would set. When I got home I had the bright idea that maybe I would be able to fix this problem. After taking the door panel off Dustin came outside and to see what I was up to. He laughed when he saw me in the floorboard of my car with a little screwdriver trying to take my door apart and who knows what else. He asked me what my plan was once I removed ten screws, and if I new anything about working with electrical? I sadly put the door back together and called to see if anyone could look at my car downtown. Well guess what? This little black button.......the thing is a $300.00!!!!! little black thing, labor on top of that, it is going to cost $500.00 to fix. So.... I just had them put the window up, and that baby is gona have to have to stay up until Spring! and.....NOBODY TOUCH THE TAPE!

Ready For Church

Joel was the the first one to be totally ready for church today. I guess that is because he was the easiest. Mommy is usually running around the house making sure someone is either getting in the shower, or trying to get someone out of the shower, getting breakfast ready, looking for the lost church shoe.... and yes, that would be mommy's lost church shoe, looking for the crayons and coloring books, and making sure the diaper bag has enough diapers. This morning we were in a rush. That would seem a little strange since we gained an extra hour over night. However, if you stay up extra late knowing that you will have that extra hour, you will probably be in a rush to get to church on time.
As I was packing the diaper bag, I looked up and there was Joel sitting on the couch patiently waiting to go to church. cutie pie. I never like being rushed on Sunday's, but we had such a good time last night, I think it was worth it. Dustin and I haven't been able to go on a date for almost three months due to me being on bed rest for the last 1o weeks of the pregnancy, and then the time it took to recover from the surgery. We had such a good time going out with Kevin and Liz. We went to Chico for dinner, and then went to see a movie. Since we had some extra time to burn before the movie started, we went to the Mervyn's that is located right next door to the movie theater. Liz and I went to the children's department, while the guys went to see what was on sale in their department. When we headed to the movie, Liz and I noticed that the guys had bought something while we were not looking. When we were getting our tickets Dustin and Kevin ran to the restroom. All of the sudden two men approached us wearing these black "beanie" hats with black shirts that had gold and silver skulls on them. I stepped back and then realized these men were our husbands!!!!! Liz and I were laughing so hard, while our husbands were acting as though they had no idea what was so funny. We had a fun night!!

Happy Halloween!

The Ford Family had a nice, and luckley, a dry Halloween. Sophie was a princess again for the third year in a row. Joseph went as Stich. And my lil' pumpkin, went as a pumpkin. We had lots of fun going to grandma's & grandpa's houses, along with homes of our friends. The highlight of the night was a suprise visit from Brittney, Jason and the kids. We are so glad that they live a little bit closer to Oroville now. We are glad the rain held up yesterday for trick or treating, but it's nice today to have a soccer free day to sit in our warm house and watch movies. And even better, there is a pot of homemade chili cookin' in the kitchen.

Update on Dustin's Crash

Well, it has been just over two years since that horrible day. Dustin was on his way to Chico when he was involved in a horrific accident. We was at the stop light on Hwy. 99 just going into Chico when he was rear ended by a 18 wheeler going 60mph. The CHP said his truck rolled up to 5 times, then came to a stop upside down. The driver of the diesel said he failed to notice the traffic ahead that was at a stop. Anastacia, my sister, came to my home to pick me up, but didn't inform me of the accident. I was told to just get the kids and get in the car. She was talking to her husband, who is a sheriff, on her cell phone getting all of the info on the accident before she would tell me what had happened. I knew something was wrong when she was driving like a crazy woman downtown and onto the highway twards Chico. She said that Dustin has been in an accident. I asked if he was ok, and she said she didn't know yet. Her husband called again and she asked, " How many times did he roll?" That's when I decided it was ok to start flipping out. It took a half hour to go a half mile till we got to the site of the crash. I knew the traffic was so bad because of the crash, and that made it that much harder to just sit and wait. I decided I should call Dustin's mom Angie. I told her that Dustin was in an accident, but didn't know his condition. Right then we drove past his truck. I dropped the phone and started praying. I saw my husbands truck smashed and upside down. The officer on the road told us he went to Enloe. By the time we got to the hospital I was calming down, but when I saw him in the ER I lost it again. He blocked his face with his arm when he started rolling because of all of the glass. Six months later he was still getting glass out of his arm. He is STILL in alot of pain. His legs go numb at night and he can only write or type for ten min. at a time. But...he is still here with us. All of Dustin's grandpa's have passed on, and I told Dustin on Oct. 3rd, 2006 all of his grandpa's were in his truck with him all giving him the biggest hug protecting him. We have been blessed.

A Special Day For Joel

Our little Joel Diamond Ford was blessed during Sacrament Meeting in the Oroville 3rd Ward on September 28th 2008. What a special day for him! He had quite the turn out. Family members alone took up the first four rows. Joel would like to give a special thanks to those who helped his Daddy....Grandpa Frank, Grandpa Val, Uncle Jason, Uncle Spencer, Uncle Derek, Uncle Randy, Uncle Craig, and Uncle Jimmy. Joel was very content during the blessing, but thought that since he was up there, he might as well share his testimony with everyone. After church we had those four rows of family come over to our house for dinner in honor of Joel's day. Thank you to all of the family who traveled to make it to church that day! Doesn't he look so handsome!

They Finally Meet

Sophie and Joseph finally meet Joseph right after the birth. Joseph was really excited. When Sophie walked in the room to see Mommy holding a baby, so froze. Daddy said," Sophie come say hi to your little brother." She didn't move, but tried to hurry out of the room. She was aware that there was a little baby growing in my tummy, but to finally see him, we think it kind of caught her off guard. After a while we got her close enough to really see him, and she finally feld him. After that NOBODY could get him out of her hands.

And Here He Is....Joel Diamond Ford

Grandma Cliz took the liberty letting everyone know of "another" souvenir we brought back from our trip to Mexico.
Joel is getting a little tired of mom taking so many pictures. But he is too cute!
We think the three pounds Joel has gained went straight to his cheeks.

Are you tired? Me too....

We did it! What a wonderful feeling it was, to have Dustin hold Joel right next to me, and for the doctor who let me have as much time as I wanted to just lay there and take in the moment.What a nice day!