a picture says a thousand words

Sage right after surgery

she had this lovely road rash thing...she can't remember how she got it (she wasn't wearing a harness seat belt...only a lap belt)

this was pure joy--respiratory therapy...NOT!

Nazi nurses taking her on a walk...you have to appreciate nurses--tough love makes you get better faster!

time to go home and no clothes that fit! i had to scrounge for a top for her to wear home!

Families are forever!! this picture was taken the weekend she got home

group shot of all the girls two weeks after the accident--aren't they beautiful?

Nothing short of a miracle

We've experienced a miracle in our family. Pure and simple. God lives and has preserved the life of half of our family. The links below are two news articles that will enlighten you concerning our circumstances.

http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/article.php?art_id=7919

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/61662/Accident-victims-count-their-many-blessings.html

Sage came home from the hospital on 11-11-11. We are grateful and overwhelmed by everyone's kindness towards our family.

Sage turns 14!!!!!!!!!

It's SO unbelievable that Sage is now 14!!! She is my baby...she needs to stay tiny. (well, she is on the tiny side for her age!) We celebrated with friends and family. She wanted an ice cream cake...literally, no cake...just ice cream. So that's what she got-a block of ice cream that I frosted with some whipped cream! She was thrilled! (check out how the candle flames frame her eyes!)

Blowing out one more candle each year is starting to get a little bit harder.

Favorite gift...yeah, she's wearing it! Given to her by good friends Katherine and Mary Katherine.

I'm sure Sloane picked out this cute dress from her and Ty!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sagee, Yellow Hair, Tiny Baby, Schlage!!! We love you.

a little bit of this and that...

This post will be just that...a little bit of this and a little bit of that! During homecoming week, the girls were busy dressing up "according to the day"...this day was jocks and geeks. Guess I have a bunch of geeks in my house! (Maya and Mary Katherine)

Then there was pajama day and the onesies were in big demand. Here's Maya, Mary Katherine and Sky.

Sage runs cross country and loves it. She won this medal in the Wyoming Indian Invitational in Ethete, WY.

Mari asked Kirk to paint a picture for their apartment, so here he is getting his creative juices flowing.

Sunrise in Wyoming with Sleeping Indian in the background. I must tell you that I get some INCREDIBLE sunrises. It seems the longer you wait the more colorful it is. So beautiful!

In Memory of Simba 2007-2011

We've had a tragedy befall our "beloved" cat, Simba. He was eaten by something while he was outside. We don't know exactly what got him, but he definitely know that he is no longer. We found parts of him out in a corner of our croquet court. (if you're that interested, talk to Maya...she took a picture of what was left....I find it too graphic to post...sorry) Yes, we've had a bear in the yard, but I doubt it was a bear that did Simba in; I'm guessing a coyote or a pack of them. Simba loved to go outside exploring. We used to put him on a leash when we first began taking him outside. He had graduated into going out alone this past summer. He enjoyed his freedom to wonder around and take in the sights, sounds and smells. When he was ready to come inside, he would patiently wait by one of our many outside doors. That is, until that fateful day when Kirk went outside to call him to come inside. He came when Kirk called him but was not interested in coming inside at the time, so Kirk let him stay outside longer. That was the last time Kirk or anyone for that matter saw him alive.

Simba was REALLY a Christmas present for Sage. This is a photo of when she first got him. He was just a tiny thing.

Here's another "young" photo of him.

This is Simba's FAVORITE thing to do. He loves to be carried by Kirk over his shoulder around the house. Kirk loved this cat and this cat loved Kirk. He had a special spot in Kirk's office and many times just sat on his lap while he worked at his desk.

Sage is the only other person in the house that could snuggle with Simba.

This is probably the last photo of Simba that we took around 3 weeks before his demise.
Bye Simba....you will be missed....R.I.P.

Once upon a time....

there was a "little one" who celebrated her 24th birthday...

the decorations were all put up and just screaming "let's party!"

...all the fairys were invited...

...these 2 fairys were the masterminds of the event....

...the purple fairy spared no expense to come...

...the green and silver fairys flew all the way from Utah to surprise the "little one" on her big day !

...OK, I know you're all dying for a "close-up" of silver fairy!

...the fairys made a special cake for "little one"...(OK, I admit we ALL know she doesn't like cake...but "little one's" Mom does!)

"Little one" needed some help to blow out 24 candles! Good thing purple fairy and orange fairy were close by to lend some wind!

"Little one" got some sweet gifts---I think this was one of her most favorite ones!
...and everything happened happily ever after!!!

When the colors start to change

you know it's time to do some canning! I did some salsa a few weeks ago. Then I put up pears.

My parents came to visit this past week and brought me some grapes and we made 24 qts of grape juice...yum!

...just thought you'd like to see another member of my menagerie...this moose was relaxing in the shade!

Best Buddies

This is Lea and her good friend Zac. They went to the prom together several years ago when they were both still in high school. She hasn't seen a lot of him since high school, just around town here and there.

I was talking to Lea's case manager, who also happens to be Zac's as well and she mentioned that Zac wanted to see Lea more often. She suggested to Zac that he set up a weekly lunch date on Mondays. As you can see, it was a successful Monday! (I wonder if they talked and coordinated their shirts?)

what they do

Here are just some things that my kids are into "doing". Here's Ty after he finished the bike race LOTOJA. For those of you who don't know what LOTOJA is, it's a bike race from Logan, Utah to Jackson, Wyoming. Yep, 206 miles of a lot of fun? Ty raced with a relay team, so he didn't ride all 206 miles himself. (but a lot of people DO ride all of it!) His leg was from Alpine, Wy to the finish line, which was conveniently at the road to my house. I had someone snap this photo right after he'd gotten off is bike!

I only have one swimmer this year...Miss Sky. Here she is at the most recent swim meet doing the breast stroke. I apologize for the poor photo with parts of the diving platform in it....but I got Sky swimming!

they adore him

Little boys just ADORE Kirk! These two little guys were over at the house being "babysat" by one of the girls. James and Jackson are so into "Kirky" that they followed him up to our bedroom. Kirk was just coming up to watch TV and so the little guys made themselves at home....yeah, they fell sound asleep.

This little guy is Carson and he loves to follow Kirk around as well. I saw Kirk jumping on the trampoline with him and ran to get my camera. Turns out, he was teaching Carson how to do a drop sit. It was adorable watching Carson trying to do what Kirk was trying to teach him. I love this photo where Carson makes sure that he faces the same way that Kirk is facing.

more....visits

So, our friendly bear made a few more visits. After the first time seeing him, I just dismissed that fact that I would EVER see him again...oh no, I guess I have the best berries around! Visit #2 happened on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Kirk, Maya, Sage and I were sitting outside on the back patio....thank goodness Sage was facing the mountain...cuz Mr. Bear was coming up the walkway and was really close to Kirk's feet! She said "BEAR" and we knew what that meant! When we hustled to get back in the house, he hustled away as well. A bit later, I caught him eating berries on the grass outside of my office window.


Visit #3 unfortunately I do not have a picture of him. But we again "caught" him eating berries off the path to our big grassy field. Kirk and I were "sort of" watching him since there is so much brush in the area. We could definately hear him as he shuffled around gathering berries to eat. I was getting a bit impatient at Kirk...and so I raised my voice a bit and then all of a sudden I heard major movement that I thought was FOR SURE coming towards me. EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF! I ran like the able track star I am (NOT) to the house. All the hurried movement was the bear going UP a pine tree! I wished I could have gotten pictures of the bear in the tree, but Lea was waiting for me in the car to take her to work! You all have vivid imaginations, I'm sure you got the picture?

This visitor is welcome.....anytime!

"Beary Scary"

This brazen black bear decided to make a visit to the Roney household yesterday. When I first noticed him he was outside my office window on the back patio. I was FREAKED OUT because I had JUST read an article in our daily newspaper about a hiker who was killed by a grizzly bear in Yellowstone. So, after my initial scare, I grabbed my camera. He was constantly on the move, not too fast, but he never stayed in one place but a few seconds.

He decided to head up this aspen tree....there is a bird feeder out on it's limb, but he never even swatted at it or try to go out on the limb...guess he figured he was too big to try.

After coming down out of the tree, he was checking out the yard for more treats...we've got tons of berries in our bushes all over the area he was scouting around. I eventually lost track of the bear and hoped that he would find greener pastures elsewhere.

I'm back!!!!! The bear makes another appearance on the other side of the house several hours later. Here, Kirk is demonstrating WHAT NOT TO DO!

Salt Lake City

On our way home from Lake Tahoe, we decided to make a stop in Salt Lake City so I could investigate some shops for shoes for Miss Lea. We stayed in downtown Salt Lake where we could walk to Temple Square. The flowers were GORGEOUS!

I'm sure Kirk and I have this exact picture from 26 yrs ago!

Ok--so Kara wanted to pull Lea up the stairs and have her touching the doorknob of the temple....this is as far as we got! Lea is a good sport.

I checked out this shop in Bountiful and this shoe was displayed! Amazing yeah? It's a 32 DD!

And here we go playing around with Lea again...we just couldn't resist putting her in this sculpture in downtown Salt Lake!