Hello again, its Friday the 14th of December, and I have tomorrow off!!! Wooohooo! I just got done making one of the gifts for christmas, and in case Jazzy decides to read this, it isn't a good idea to say what it is! LOL

Brittany is my youngest stepdaughter, she just turned 9 in November. Anyone who gets to know her realizes quickly she is a very special little girl! Brittany has never been much on sports, but her love and compassion for people make up for it! She enjoys helping ANYone with just about anything! Loves to help feed and RIDE the horses. She loves to help take care of the dogs, and helps Hope get the dogs out for walks in the evening when it has cooled off. She also loves to help me cook and bake. Brittany and Katlyn come to visit with us every summer for almost 8 weeks! This last summer the two of them traveled to North Dakota with my sister Kristen and I. Wow!!! Anyone who has ever traveled with kids will appreciate it when I say, it was like traveling with adults! They never faught on the two day trip, never complained about being hungry, uncomfortable, bored ect...They were complete angels on the trip. For the four short days that we were there Brittany spent most of her time with "grandma Rily", while Kristen and I worked on the farm. Every evening Brittany and grandma had lunch and dinner waiting for us and even made the most delicious rubarb cake on our last night there. Grandma Rily couldn't get over at what a good little helper she was and commented over and over about how willing she was to do anything she was asked. Now I come to our youngest!! Little Hopers..Hope is 3 years old, and seems to be the light of everyones eyes! Hope loves her brother and sisters, but seems especially attached to Brittany when they are here in the summers. For the time that Britts is not here, she really enjoys being just like Jazmine ie...yelling at her brother every chance she gets, and trying to convince everyone in the house that she knows best! haha Hopes favorite time of day is in the evenings after our crazy day is over, the kids are home from practice, homework is done, baths are done, and its finally time to "snuggle" on the bed with her mommy. She gets the book of her choice, and climbs up in bed with me and listens while I read! She loves her books. Hope also enjoys learning spanish! She already knows more than I do. She knows her colors, shapes including 'octogon', and already knows the entire alphabet including recognizing the letters as well as saying them. Hope has no fear when it comes to the horses,,,,remind you of someone else????yeah little Jazzy poo!! In October of 2006 on Halloween night, Jaz got one of the horses out that she had been working with for several weeks prior and had her tied up to the horse trailer. Hope walked up behind the horse and grabbed its back leg and scared the DAYLIGHTS out of her (the horse)!!! The horse pulled back so hard that she lost her footing and fell over, while still tied up to the trailer. And guess who was right behind her and couldn't get out of the way in time??? Yep lil Hopers! Hope was trapped under a 1500lb horse that was thrashing around on the ground and could get out! Steve was trying to get the horse off of her, but Arian (horse) was just going nuts, Arian was stuck too...she was on the ground while the rope was too tight from her halter to the trailer for her to gain her footing!!! After several minutes of repeated failed attempts, Steve was able to move the horse enough to get Hope out from under her! I got the call as I was on my way home from work. Steve was in complete shock and called me in a panic! He said that he was laying there on the ground with Hope, not sure if she was breathing or not, and he didn't know who else to call!!!!!!HELLLLLOOO 911!!! I told him to get off the ground immediately and get her to the hospital!! I told him I would meet him there as soon as I could! I drove almost 100mph, contacted Bridget, my sis, told her what happened, told her to call NHP and let them know that I would be coming fast!! When I got to the hospital, I completely lost it! There was my little girl laying on the bed in a little gown, scratches, and bruises all over her face, and the nurse sticking needles in her arms! After several hours of being at the hospital here in Pahrump, the doctors gave her a semi 'clean bill of health'...the problem was they LIED!!!! They told me they had done a catscan on her stomach and everything seemed ok, no internal bleeding...??? I asked them if they were going to put a cathader in her to make sure she didn't have blood in her urine, they said that they felt it would be to traumitizing for her and suggested I try to get her to pee on the toilet!!! Unbeleivable I thought!! I could have sworn I was dreaming what the doctors were telling me. I went with my better judgement and called Sunrise Hospital in Vegas. The doctor that I spoke with suggested having her flighted to Vegas, I explained to her that the helicoptor would take too long to get ALL the way out to Pahrump, and I could have her there before that! So as I was leaving, telling the doctors EXACTLY what I thought of them,,,I told them I needed the catscan report so I could show it to the doctors at Sunrise. To my disbeleif, they said they couldn't give them to me because the scan machine was BROKEN!!!! Those S.O.Bs!!! They were willing to send Hope home with me knowing dam well that she could be bleeding internally and I could wake up to a dead baby in the morning!!! I started yelling and crying and pannicing all at the same time.! It seemed more urgent that I not waste another minute there with the 'morons' they call doctors out here, and get her to somewhere where I knew she would be taken care of! As I was picking Hope up to take her out of there, she started screaming and grabbing her stomach saying to me that her tummy hurt. I looked down to SEE the physical signs of a distended stomach. It was the grace of God that got us to the hospital as fast and as safe as we did! The very first thing they did (something the hospital in Pahrump had tried FIVE different times unsuccessfully) was put an iv in her arm. Within 5 minutes they had her slightly sedated and had the cathader put in her. As soon as the results from the urine sample came in, it was confirmed that Hope indeed had blood in her urine!! We spent the entire night in the hospital with her, and after several catscans on the stomach, head, and pretty much the entire body, the pediatrician that was on call that night said some of Hopes vital organs had been severely bruised and jepordized. They also thought after seeing a scan of her right hip, she may have a slight facture. Hope had not been able to walk since the horse had fallen on her the night before. After leaving the hospital we were given specific instructions not to let Hope walk even if she wanted to for the first week, they said that she had a very good chance of falling from the pain in her hip, and pushing one of her bruised organs to the point of bleeding her out!! Not that it mattered anyway, it was 2 and 1/2 weeks before Hope took her first step after the accident. We are sooo lucky to have her here with us and know that God has been with us every step of the way! Two days after the accident, I went over to feed the horses, with Hope waiting in her carseat in the truck, and the only thing she kept saying was how much she wanted to get out and go ride the HORSE!!! Yeah that wasn't happening! So as you think of our little 'miricale', just remeber all of our lives were affected so much by what happened to her at such a young age, there is a reason why she walks around the house telling everyone that 'she' is the boss! LOL She is definately spoiled, but not from just me and Steve, its her brother and sisters too! We all got so used to giving her everything she wanted and needed that we all pay the price a little bit. Its definately a price worth paying, but she can definately be honory, and has her 'moments'. Of course I think me, Ryan, Jazmine, Britts, and Katlyn are bigger suckers than her daddy, but its because she knows we will give in to her!ugggg

The summer before last I took a week off of work (Steve stayed behind with Hope), and me, Ryan, Jazmine, Katlyn, and Britts headed to California for a week!! I booked the hotel and tickets well in advance and was ready for the vacation when the time came! We spent the first day we arrived there at the beach! The kids really enjoyed that, as Katlyn and Britts had never seen a 'west coast' beach before. They live in Texas and have only ever been to the gulf!! YUK!! If you have ever been there, or seen pics of it, its not a pretty sight! All brown water, and litterally BROWN waves coming at you as you run into the water!! We spent the next week going to Sea World, San Diego Zoo, and the Wildlife World Zoo and then bAck to the beach every evening! I was a lot of fun! By the end of the 7 days, we were ALL ready to come home, and in fact made a 'group' decision to leave a day early!!! My life with five children, 6 horses, and 5 dogs is anything but quite! I recently took a trip to North Dakota (3 wks ago) and it was then that I realized every day I was gone, how much I missed the 'every day' life with the family! We all enjoyed the time that we got to spend with Tiffany, her children, Kathy, and Dewayne this past summer! Again thank you all for allowing us to all continue to be a part of your lives!!