Doggie Tales and Wash-outs!

This is "Brucie"... a female stray that we saved!

This is "Hoss", an older full bred Bull Mastiff that our neighbor gave us after our German Shepard died. We ended up LOVING him (except all his slobber). It's a crazy tale.... but one night, a yellow lab, dug into our yard and "convinced" all of our dogs to go out for the night. (Brucie was in heat, but our other dogs are fixed....so we weren't concerned about her getting pregnant). They went swimming in the Aqua duct and ran wild! The only problem was that the two girl dogs came back......but no Hoss! Our fears were confirmed when we found him on the side of Main St.....passed away! Even worse, our neighbor saw him there before we got to him! UUgghhh !!! Now we have suffered a double whammy! Our German Shepard, now our Bull Mastiff! After fixing the hole, we found that dang yellow lab in our yard two more times the next day! Finally, Animal Control picked him up. Problem solved and an appt for Brucie to get fixed! But before we knew it.... we had an unexpected surprise! We were outside in the backyard and I heard DJay yell, "Ewwwe.... Why is there milk coming out of Brucie's nipples?" as he played with her. I thought, "that stupid yellow lab!!!! Not only did he get Hoss killed, he raped Brucie!!!! And NO, it wasn't consensual!" I was not happy! January 14th.... Brucie became the single mother of 4 baby puppies! They sure are cute, though! ;)

Puppy #1, (a keeper)

She is brindle and we are going to name her "Brindly". She reminds us of Hoss....too bad he wasn't the daddy! :(

Puppy #2- cute boy. The "fuzziest and biggest one".

Puppy #3- another cute boy.

And puppy #4- a sweet girl.

Looking toward Hesperia Lakes and Silverwood! This river is usually bone dry!

We got hit with another storm that brought tons of rain! This is Rock Springs Rd.....it was shut down for like a year while they "rebuilt and improved the road" to fix the "wash-out problems! Hummmm..... do you think it would have been wise to raise the road to what might be known as a "bridge"? Duhh... So how's it workin' for ya?

It was so cool! Can you say "wash-out" ! :)

Rain, Wind & Snow, Oh My!

This past week was full of suprises! First it rained and it rained. The winds blew with incredible power! As you can see, our trampoline (400 lbs) did a few flips of it's own and then we were blessed with the beautiful, white powder! Wow, what fun! ;)

Little Bit O' Christmas

Christmas was full of food, family and fun! I hosted Christmas Eve at our house this year, relieving my mom of her 25+ year tradition. We had dinner, a program, dessert & gift exchange! Since I was all "wrapped up", I don't have any photos of that evening, but I will "steal" some from others & post them soon! :)

All's quiet and clean....before the madness!

Scott with his favorite gift! He made several comments on how much he "Loves Santa" because he gave him the "best train ever!"

D.Jay with his best gift. A RipStick which is pretty cool!
And he already rides it like a pro!

Kyla with one of her favorites. The Police Station Lego City. It was actually a gift for Scotty, but she loves Legos and just had to put it all together!

Our family's BIG gift this year! We all put it together as a family with only a few squabbles! Finally something for them to do outside besides digging holes!

Feasts and Footballs!

~Thanksgiving Feast 2009~
All the family together (except Janelle's family....they will be here for Christmas)

Good food, family and fun! ;)

Darryl is healing nicely and doing much better!

Darryl went to his first NFL game with my brother, Ryan!

It was against the Chargers and Eagles. Ryan (Charger fan) and

Darryl (Eagles fan) had a blast! Darryl said it was totally awesome

except the Eagles loosing! Look Darryl....they want YOU!

This was DJay's (#22) last year with the Hesperia Trojans! He will be moving up to High School next year! Now if he can just gain the size of #72! :)

We had another successful season (despite some parent-coach drama)and made it to the Semi-Final Playoff game......but we lost! San Bernardino is the only team we have lost to in the last two years!

Our home games were at the new Oak Hills High School Stadium.....so nice!

My motto is, that in football "your either freezin' or fryin'!" In this picture, it's hailing! One game we played was 108 degrees! Crazy!

Next year we will be starting all over with Scott! He is soooo excited to play! Go Trojans...... Scotty too Hottie is comin'!

Baby Doll's 15th Birthday!

On November 22, 1994 ...... Kyla Nicole was born!

7lbs 11oz and 21 inches long.

She was such a content, mellow baby with the biggest blue eyes!

She definitely developed an independent attitude and gave looks that could kill..... but luckily, we don't see that much anymore! She was also shy, reserved and didn't talk much at all.

All of that has changed!

Kyla has broken out of her thick, hard shell and has really become an awesome young lady!

She keeps us laughing (and sometimes confused) with her unique silliness and who would have known what a non-stop talker she would be?

We are so grateful to have such an intelligent, beautiful daughter!

HAPPY 15TH BIRTHDAY!!!!!

We love you!

My "Clumsy Concrete Kisser".....

As many of you already know.... on Friday, Oct. 23rd, Darryl had an accident at work. This 15 ft(faulty) ladder decided to fall over... sending Darryl plummeting about 20 ft to the concrete below!

(The smaller ladder in this picture is the average
6 ft ladder)





He tried to grab on for dear life, tearing through the hatch opening.

He landed elbow first, then his face hit the concrete. He said that everything went "white" and that he thought he was dead.....but as soon as he "bounced" on his back, he realized that he was alive and in excruciating pain!






He endured the 50 mile ambulance ride (which included an "almost" car accident with an oblivious geriatric lady, who's car ended up on a curb) to Desert Regional Medical Center, a Trauma Center. It was actually quite lovely there! Thank goodness, 'cause he was there for 3 days... granted, he had his own room on the "Sinatra" floor! ;)


After hours of running tests, it was

determined that Darryl's most

serious and obvious injury was his

left elbow which sustained

compound "open" fractures.

Not lookin' too hot!

He was in surgery for 5 hours! They repaired his 80% torn tricep muscle and the major fractures and crushed bones.

Darryl's new hardware! 18 screws, a few plates and some other parts that Darryl swears they took from his tool box!

30 staple swollen trail (3 days post-op)

Just a few days after surgery, he had to "move" his arm/elbow so that his tricep muscle won't turn into "cement". He wasn't excited to do it...... mucho pain!

Some ummm.... massive bruising! And we are only talking about his arm/elbow!

He did suffer a concussion, bruised ribs, knees, face....and the list goes on~ poor thing!

Started therapy within the first week!

Here he is on his 2nd week of therapy. Doing much better and the swelling has gone down tremendously!

Having staples removed! "Oops, sorry... did that one pinch?"






Considering this being the month of "Thanksgiving".... let me express how grateful we are that it turned out the way it did!

We have imagined a million different "could haves"..... like, could have been:

lying in a casket

lying on life support
lying in a coma
lying as a quadriplegic
lying as a paraplegic

lying with crushed legs

lying with a crushed pelvis.....and so on!

We are so thankful that he was being watched over that day and like we keep reminding

ourselves..... it could have been worse!

Happy Birthday Halloween Baby!

It was 7 years ago today..... I went to visit my cousin's newborn twins at the hospital when I started having contractions! When all said and done......

Scott Ryan Cookson was born!
7lbs 11oz 21 inches long




Ready to "pop" (3 days before delivery)

Sorry..... my blog wouldn't let me comment on the pictures!

"Scotty Too Hottie"