Charley Hughes

This is my Father-in-law, Charley Hughes. He is a very sweet man who is loved by everyone who comes in contact with him. He is only 62. He suffered a major stroke the day before Thanksgiving and has been slowly recovering ever since. We are so proud of how hard he is working physically and mentally through all of this. He had just moved to Boise the beginning of October and we were so excited to have him close. The kids loved being able to go over to his house and visit with him whenever they wanted. Since the stroke happened we are even more glad that he is close. After about 7 weeks at the Elks Rehab center where he didn't progress all that much, he then moved to Sunbridge Nursing home where within a week he started improving tremendously. What an answer to prayer. Even though he has a long way to go in order to ever be on his own, he is trying so hard everyday to do one thing better than he did the day before. Inspiring! The kids are the best "therapy" as he would say. So we see him at least once a week if not more. Jay goes to see him 2-3 times a week and we have even been able to pay a van service to bring him to our house for a few hours so that he can get out and hang with the family. He will be leaving Sunbridge in about 2 weeks and will go back to the Elks for 2 weeks of intensive rehab to try and give him a boost. From there he will be settling down at a really nice assisted living home called Paramount here in Eagle. Its only about 7-10 minutes from our house and its right across the street from where his sister lives. He will have his own room which is very nice and big enough to put his bed, a couch, dresser and TV in. And it has a great view of a nice pond. We continue to pray for a a full recovery knowing that God is in control and that a full recovery may not be the outcome. But we also know that our God is all powerful and that he could heal Charley today if that is his will. So please pray with us. Once Charley is living at Paramount we are praying that he doesn't get discouraged because he wont be getting therapy everyday anymore...the insurance just wont cover it. He will be allowed a few different therapy's a week but we still don't know how much that will actually be. I'm sure there are still hard times ahead for him. He is starting to get some feeling back in his left side and we watched him almost pull him self up out of bed to a seated position so he is progressing. He is walking with the help of a walker and a spotter, but cant do that on his own. Because he is so young and because we had such great hopes for him moving to Boise and being more a part of our ,this has been difficult and heartbreaking to watch. We love him dearly and have been encouraged by his reliance on the Lord during this time. Yes there are some days that he is very down but over all we have been encouraged my his attitude to fight this. The picture above is from Tyson's 1st birthday which he was able to come to. Its a great picture of his legacy.

Here are Jaxon and Kenna in their school uniforms. For those of you who don't about their school and why they are there, let me fill you in. They go to Foundations Academy here in Boise. It is a private, Classical Christian School and we couldn't be more pleased. As you may know, when it came time for us to send Jaxon to school we didn't like our options so we opted to home school him for Kindergarten. It went great and he learned a ton! When 1st grade rolled around and I was pregnant AGAIN, we decided to send him to the public school down the road. He was there 5 weeks and we pulled him from the school. He was so bored and depressed to be there. We visited Foundations during those 5 weeks and knew this was the place for our kids. However they didn't have room for him in their 1st grade class so the wonderful teacher supplied me with the curriculum to keep him up for the year. So back to homeschooling I went...which was fine. In the Fall we applied both Jaxon and Kenna and they both got in! We have loved EVERYTHING about it. Kenna is in half day kindergarten and is reading like a champ. Jaxon is in the 2nd grade and we are amazed at his vocabulary and desire and responsibility! We love that the teachers at Foundations genuinely love our kids, pray for them in and out of class and they truly love their jobs. I'm so impressed by the "family" atmosphere...it feels like a church body. People are so kind...which leads me to a HUGE answer to prayer that is still blessing our lives and will until the school year is over. A lady named Cindy Williams offered to bring Jaxon home from school so that I wouldn't have to drive twice a day to the school and because I have 2 little boys who are napping during pick up time this has been such a HUGE help. I don't know how I could ever repay her, she is a blessing to me. Anyway, to say the least we feel so grateful to the Lord for leading us to Foundations. I personally had hang ups about Christian schools due to my past but this school has proved all of my impressions wrong and I am thankful for that! Jay and I were just saying last night that we are so thankful for God's leading in our lives especially in this area. Sending your kids to school was a way bigger deal than I thought it would be...so here we are and we are happy to be!

Walk like an Egyptian!

For the first 3 semesters of school, Jaxon 2nd grade class has been studying the Egyptians. So when they finished they had a big Egyptian party with all sorts of Egyptian foods, music, games and they even had do translate some Egyptian writings. Very Cool! Here is Jaxon in his costume.

Ty Brady is One!

My little Tyger is 1! Its hard to believe and very sad for this mommy who will never have another one year old birthday party to throw. Ty has been such a joy...such a happy baby this last year. For his birthday we had a party with family. My parents were in town and Chad, Bridgette, Emme & Levi were all in attendance. We were even able to get Grandpa Charley over for the party. We had a big lasagna dinner and then cake and ice cream. As I'm sure Ty had no idea what we were celebrating, he did like it when we all sang "Happy Birthday". Anyway, it was fun to celebrate my babies big day. I love you Tyger...you are my sweety heart.

-Mommy

There he is! My handsome little devil is 1 year old!

Don't be fooled...it looks like he's ready to dive in, but NO, he didn't like it one bit!

Ty had more fun opening his presents!

I think this was right after the cake incident. Poor Papa!

Huddy & Emme loved Tyson's cake...especially the frosting that they ate right off the top of the cake!

Valentines

This is our 11th Valentines Day together!

My sweet little Valentines!

I love seeing my kids laughing and playing together...nothing warms my heart more!

The shirt says it all! Its those blue eyes...they'll get you everytime!

My Kenna, doing what makes her happiest...baking a special cake (for her daddy & brothers) with her mommy.

Newport Beach. CA

This is my friend April and me in Newport Beach this February on our Mommies Weekend away. We had a great time talking, hanging out but the thing I love about our trips away is the time we spend away from each other and with the Lord. For one whole day we leave each other alone and spend that time praying with out interuption (that doesnt happen...EVER at home) and then we come back together and discuss what we've been working on spiritually. I know it sounds so spiritual, and it is, but we have a blast too! We shopped, ate and went to a movie while we were there. It is such a blessing to have such a wonderful girlfriend who loves me, encourages me, loves my kids, is always there for me and is so DANG fun to be with! I love you April!

Our Trip to Maui

The view from our room

Go, Jay, Go!

In the Heli risking our lives!

The awards banquet

Shake it sista!

ALOHA!

This was a little beach we found called "Secret Beach". It was really small but it had the best waves and crystle blue water.

This was our backdrop to an ok dinner at a way to expensive restuarnt with not so great food. If we payed for the view then it was worth it!

The Grand Wialea Hotel

This was on a walk one morning when there was sunshine!

Jay and I just got back from the lovely island of Maui where we were sent for Jay's accomplishments as a manager for First Horizon. Nothing like a FREE vacation! It was really relaxing. It rained about half the time but that was OK because the first sunny day we did get we managed to burn ourselves into a nice shad of HOT pink. The rain was welcomed after that. We took a helicopter ride that was pretty awesome. We were a little nervous since 2 helicopters went down in Kauai just a week before our ride...but we made it back to the ground safely! We also went whale watching and that was spectacular! At one point we had 5 whales with in 100 feet of our boat. 4 of the 5 were males trying to win over the one female. It was very interesting to watch. We did some body surfing which was super fun and painful. We both got ROCKED a couple of times! We attended the First Horizon banquet which was fun...Jay even slow danced with me! He got an award for one of the top Branch Managers in his region and at the Business session Jay went to he was awarded the "Rookie Coach of the Year" award from the company Building Champions. I was so proud of him...of course I wasn't there to see him get it cause spouses don't usually go to the business meeting so I was extremely bummed that I missed it. But that is such and honor! We had a great time, but we couldn't have gone without our more than wonderful friends the Moffatt's, Crocker's & York's. Thanks guys for all your help...we couldn't ask for better friends!

A girl after my own heart!

On March 17th (St. Patricks Day) Kenna learned to ride her bike without any training wheels.

On March 18th Kenna decided riding a bike wasn't thrilling enough so she learned to ride the mini dirt bike...on her first try! She's a mad women on this thing...weaving back and forth like she's in control of the road! She made her daddy mighty proud that day!