Thomas got a job!

Hurray! Thomas was offered a job yesterday. He is starting work on Tuesday for CBIZ and will be working at Edward Jones. We are so excited. He is not sure on his hours yet, but is just thrilled to have a job again. And, best part about it, is it is not contract, it is a permanent position with insurance benefits. We couldn't be happier. Congratulations, Thomas!

Disneyland!!!

We had such an amazing week! We went to Disneyland, California Adventure, the beach, Universal Studios and on an amazing whale & dolpin excursion. We had so many great moments. Spending an entire week with just me, Thomas and Hayden was so much fun. Hayden is so much fun to talk to and we spent the whole time laughing at his expressions. Since our last trip to Disneyland, Hayden is not as much in to roller costers. After space mountain, he told us he didn't want to go on that again until he was 8 years old. Then, Thomas took him on Tower of Terror. His response was, "Don't even think about taking me on that again until I have a wife and kids." What a crack up.

We had so many fabulous moments. One of Hayden's favorites was seeing Goofy at California Adventure. Hardly anyone was around and Hayden ran up and hugged him. After Goofy posed for a picture, he took Hayden's hand and skipped off down the street. Hayden loved that.


We did so many fun things at Disneyland this year that we have never done before. We got into the park an hour early one day and instead of standing in line for Finding Nemo with everyone else, we experienced Fantasy Land, all by ourselves. Yes, we were the ONLY ones on the rides in Fantasy Land. It was really weird to be on Dumbo, Peter Pan and the Matterhorn with no one else around. It was a lot of fun! And, great to be able to ride all the rides in less than an hour.


Hayden loved being chosen to learn how to be a Jedi. And he loved being able to defeat Darth Vader.



Another day we opened up Toon Town. Hayden was made an honorary citizen of Toon Town and had all of the characters to play with. Pluto and Hayden explored Toon Town together and we even got family picture with Mickey and Minnie. It was a lot of fun to have Hayden be able to really interact with the characters. They are still so magical to him.


The best thing we did at Disneyland was each breakfast with the characters. I had never experienced it before and it was amazing. I don't know whether Hayden enjoyed it more or I did. It was so much fun to be able to have such incredible experiences with the characters. Hayden's favorite was Captain Hook. He let Hayden play with his sword and he pretended to cut off Hook's hand. Hayden thought it was hilarious to tell Captain Hook he saw Peter Pan and also pretended to be the crocodile and freak Hook out. All of the characters were fantastic and really playful.





Thomas' favorite was the whale & dolphin excursion we went on. We came upon this pod of dolphins all swimming. I thought there had to be hundreds of dolphins swimming by our boat. The captain informed me there were thousands. Thomas was in heaven, there was a professional marine life photographer on board and Thomas took pictures with him. It was incredible seeing so many dolphins and them jumping and playing everywhere. We even saw a few baby dolphins. It was so much fun to be out on the water relaxing and enjoying the ride and scenery. I loved spending a day at the beach and Hayden loved playing in the sand. It was freezing cold out and he went out into the ocean almost to his waist and then proceeded to roll in the sand. He had a great time!


We had a fabulous trip where we made a ton of family memories. We are very thankful to Dad and Bonnie for their wonderful Christmas gift. We loved it!!!!

Hayden's Toy Drive

What a successful toy drive! Thanks to all of our wonderful family, friends and generous supporters, Hayden helped to raise 2,049 toys for Phoenix Childrens Hospital! 2,049 toys is alot of toys!!! We could not have done it with out everyone's generosity and help! We weren't even sure how to get them all to the hospital... it took a truck, trailer and a couple of SUV's. What a success! I was so proud of Hayden and all of his hard work in helping us collect the toys.

Dropping off the toys was an incredible experience that I will never forget. PCH set up a Santa's Workshop type room. There were piles of toys, separated by type and age group. It was a sight to see and in my mind, I felt like I was at Santa's Workshop. Everyone was so cheerful and appreciative of the donations. And, everyone was trying their hardest to help these really sick children, have the best Christmas possible. I was deeply touched by the workers gratitude for what we had accomplished.

While at Phoenix Children's Hospital, one of the ladies from Child Life told Hayden that he had done a good thing and would help many children feel better and have a great Christmas. He said, "Yeh, I know, Jesus told me, Hayden you did a good thing and my heart feels all warm and good inside". For a mom, there is no better reward than to hear your child identify the sweet spirit of our Heavenly Father.

Again, a big thank you to all of you who so generously gave of your time and donated so many toys! Please know that you helped to make a child's Christmas much brighter!

2007 in Review

Well, 2008 is here and I am going to post some of my favorites of 2007.

Hayden's Toy Drive - in our 2nd year, we collected 2049 toys. We were very proud of Hayden and how much he helped this year. He talked to his entire elementary school about the toy drive. He also helped with garage sales and went to local offices to ask them to help with toys. Hayden's toy drive was the biggest non-corporate donation this year. We are so thankful to everyone who donated and helped us with the toy drive. We couldn't have done it without everyone's help and generosity!!!





Of course, the Disney Cruise was fantastic! We had such a great time. Hayden loved swimming with the stingrays and being on the boat with all of the characters. I loved the Golden Mickeys and all of the entertainment. No one does plays like Disney. We were thrilled to get to go on our dream vacation. We were thinking it was a once in a lifetime vacation, but now that we have gone, all we know for sure is that we will definitely go back. Out of all of the places we have visited, this definitely ranks as our number one!




We of course, loved the beach, polar express and just spending time together as a family and with dear friends. 2007 definitely had its challenges, but we are thankful for a new year with new opportunities. And, we will always cherish the wonderful memories we made in 2007.

Here we go

Okay the blog is up, but I still have to figure this out. I have been inspired by Jodi and Cassie's blogs and decided that this is a good way to catch up on what people are doing. Plus, I love pictures, so this could be fun... so Jodi tells me.

This is good as the blog gets for now, we are headed out to Disneyland on Friday. I will post pictures when I get back. We are so excited to go as a family and spend time at the "happiest place on earth". I do believe that Disneyland is magical.

Happy New Year! We hope 2008 is a good year filled with new opportunities, new friendships, and new fun experiences.