Christmas Vacation!

The past few days of our Christmas vacation has been a blast! After the Boyz were in bed and Santa had visited, we decided to take Robbie for a peaceful walk around our nearby church. It was so beautiful. Christmas morning was full of excitement and fun. Jake got his first BB gun from Grandma and Grandpa. Mandi also surprised me with one. We spent much of the day in the garage shooting at cans and Christmas ornaments. The next day we went tubing at MV High School. As you can see, the Boyz had fun catching air! As for me, if you were to ask what day would I consider the worst to have furnace problems, I would tell you . . . Christmas Eve, of coarse! Well, can you guess what day it decided to have problems? Thank goodness to good friends with skills in that department. Ken, our good friend, gave up a good amount of his time to make sure we were warm over the holiday. Thanks Ken! We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas!

LET IT SNOW!

Mandi is celebrating her 10th winter here in Utah. So far they have been rather mild. That has changed! Snow, snow, and more snow! It makes for a fun Christmas, but has been a pain to drive in. Mandi is becoming a pro. at driving her 4x4 sleigh in the winter muck. We're expecting another 6-9" tonight! A very WHITE CHRISTMAS! We hope you all have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The neighbor girls came over to help dig us out.

Kolby eating a SNOW SANDWICH!

The BOYZ in heaven playing in the SNOW! Brrrrrrr!

DO YOU LIKE SHOTS?

It's been a full month since Jake got diagnosed with Diabetes. We pulled out his used syringe bottle to see how full it was. Utah requires used syringes to be discarded in a plastic container. We were amazed to see that it was almost full. We figured that he has easily had over 100 shots this month. I get freaked out when I get my flu shot once a year. Jake is such a strong boy and we're so proud of him!

Lightsabers!

Jake came to me with a fun idea the other night. He wanted me to make him and Kolby look like they had real lightsabers. We had fun taking pictures and picking out what colors each of their lightsabers would be. I love the imaginations they have and how watching them play takes me back to my childhood days. 

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!

It has been several years since we have gone up to Salt Lake City to see the lights at Temple Square. Everyone else in Utah had the same idea as us, SOOOooo many people! The Boyz were so excited to ride the train and had a blast looking at all the beautiful lights. We love this time of year and hope all of you are enjoying this CHRISTMAS SEASON!

Special Visitor

Jacob had a special visitor come and speak to his class today. Coleby Clawson, from the BYU football team, came and explained what Diabetes was to Jake's classmates. Coleby has Diabetes as well and has become a HUGE help to our family. We are very thankful to know him and appreciate all that he and his sweet family has done for us. Thanks Coleby!

Stress Relief!

After a very stressful week, we decided to go and blow off some steam by shooting things (not animals). So, the Mackey and Keller families headed out to West Desert for a day of fun.

The BOYZ getting in on the action.

Mandi loves to shoot! I think it makes her feel powerful.

Josh's "Noisy Cricket." It may look small, but it packs a punch!

Grandpa and 1 of his many guns. He organized this little trip for us. Thanks Grandpa!

Jake brought a bunch of his guns for us to try out. Below is Mandi and I shooting his "BIG" gun. I recommend everyone trying this one out.  

Primary Children's Hospital

On our way home!!!

His special diabetes bear "Rufus"!

I have no idea what this toy is, but Jake LOVED it! Thanks Melanie and Bill!

Daddy giving Jake his insulin shot. They are both so brave!

Our nurse Jen, teaching Jake how to give a shot.

This was Jake's first nigh in the hospital. I think for the first time in months, he finally slept peacefully.

One of the MANY blood sugar tests in the hospital.

Even though he was stuck in the hospital, he had plenty of stuff to do to keep him busy!

Well! A lot has been happening here at the Mackey home. As you probably know, our sweet Jake was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last Friday. We spent the weekend at the hospital with him learning everything we could about how to take care of him. Life is 100 percent different now. He has to get his blood sugar checked (a finger prick) at least 5 times a day and about as many insulin shots. He is being such a trooper. He truly is amazing us. He takes it all in his stride. He doesn't complain or make a big deal out of his new life. He just knows that this is how he is going to be healthy now. It is taking a lot out of Josh and me as far as worrying constantly and wondering if we are doing all the right things to keep him safe. We had a bit of a scare on Monday night where his blood sugar dropped so low that we had to call the paramedics because he was passing out. Thankfully, Josh was able to keep him talking until the paramedics arrived and they just checked him out and made sure he was ok. It was one of the scariest moments of our lives for sure. But, now we are more aware of the symptoms and are more prepared. Its a balancing act right now as far as his blood sugars are concerned and will hopefully level out in the next couple of weeks. Until then, keep your prayers coming strong to help us keep our little boy happy and healthy!

WHAT A DAY!

Mandi and I had a feeling that something was wrong with Jake, he just wasn't being his sweet self.  We were worried that he may have Diabetes.  We hated to find out that we were right.  I can't begin to describe today, sensory overload!  We'll be spending the next 2 days at Primary Children's Hospital learning how to take care of our little guy.  We are so grateful to our Heavenly Father that we have modern medicines to help keep our Jake healthy.  Thank you to all of our family and friends for your concern and prayers.  Jake, your mom and dad love you and look forward to bringing you back home.  Be strong!

Grass

So, tonight was just like any other night really. Josh got home from work, played on the computer for a bit, and the kids began their usual  playtime on the PlayStation with Lego Star Wars. I was up in the kitchen preparing dinner and getting things organized from that sense. We were going for an easy dinner tonight. Our menu consisted of sloppy joe's, chips, and salad. Well, I called the boys up from their game and Kolby happened to come up first. He is our VERY picky eater!  He took one look at his plate, touches his lettuce,  and says, "Hey! Mom! I don't wanna eat grass!" Ahhhhhhhh......kids!!!

Haunted Provo River

How stupid can a group of people be? Here is your answer . . . float the Provo River in your Halloween costume in 50 degree weather, as it's raining. Brenda has been talking about doing this for several years. Before I knew it, we were all on our way to torture ourselves in the coldest water I have ever been in. After we became numb from the piercing cold water, we began to laugh and have a good time as we passed confused fishermen and tossed river grass at each other. Brenda is already talking about a Thanksgiving river run, I think I'll pass. I will never forget this Halloween! Pictures compliments of Larry and Brenda. 

Capitol Reef anniversary trip!

This is what we got to look at while we were there. Absolutely beautiful.

Our magnificent feast!!! My mouth is still watering.

We had so much fun just sitting outside playing games. ( I lost every stinking one of them!)

My super "smart" Joshy chopping wood with his FLIP FLOPS!!!

Hmmmmm.....

We love to stop off and see this tiny little school house.

Camping with comfort!! Nothing beats a double sized queen air mattress!!

This year my sweet Josh and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary. We look forward to this time together every year. There is nothing like a peaceful drive, and just hanging out together to remind us of how lucky we are to have each other. For the past 4 years we have gone to Capitol Reef and camped for a night then drive over to Bryce Canyon and spend a night there. And this year was no different. We headed out to Capitol Reef on Friday morning and made a couple of stops at some antique stores on the way. (small town antique stores are so stinking cute!) Anyway, we got there and to our happiness, there was only like 5 other people in our camp site and WE were the only ones in a tent! So we set up out stuff and went for a walk to this cute little old house that they have turned into a museum of sorts and a little market. We got some fresh made jam and some home made ice cream and went outside in the sunshine by the horsies and ate. The weather could not have been more perfect for our weekend. When we got back to our campsite, we jumped in the car and went for a drive through the canyon to a waterfall coming through the red rock cliffs. It is all so beautiful there. After our ride, we sat down and played some awesome games of Skip-Bo (which I sadly lost terribly) and Josh began to cook us dinner. We had the yummiest steaks known to man, corn on the cob, beans, and rolls. Josh is the best cook when it comes to steak and we ate until we had to roll ourselves off the picnic table so we could clean up. As soon as it got a little darker, we started our fire, and sat outside until we couldn't keep our eyes open and finally decided to hit the sack. What a fun and much needed time we got to have together. Thanks to the family and friends who helped with the kids so we could go. I love you Josh and look forward to many more years of fun with you!!! You ARE my biggest fan!! (Inside Joke)

Mmmmm Waaaa!!

Fall decorations!!!

They were so proud of their pumpkins.

Cheese!!!

Pretending they were witches flying around on a broom. So cute!

They were so excited to put spiders on the webs.

Ooohhh spooky huh?

It's that time of year again to put up our fall/Halloween decorations. We have a few little scare crows in the yard and one big one in front of the door. Every year, we like to get the cute little bales of hay to put our pumpkins on next to the big scarecrow. We don't usually put up the spider webs around the yard but, our neighbors went NUTS this year with Halloween decorations so we had to kind of at least TRY to keep up with them! And the boys had a great time deciding where the icky spiders should go. Jake was very particular about his spider placement and Kolby just thought they looked so scary. But we are so excited that this time of year is finally here!! We love you Autumn!!

CRAZY PROTESTER

Crazy video footage of Sarah Palin being attacked by a protester. We hope and pray that she will pull through.

The Pumpkin Patch!!!

Every year we all look forward to getting together with all the cousins and going to play for a few hours at  Pumpkin Land. This year, we actually went all through the corn maze and stopped and read and giggled at all the silly little jokes they have posted along the way. The kids all searched and searched for the "secret word" because if they found it, they all get to have a special treat. And what is the secret word you ask? PUMPKIN!!! How original huh? Anyway, it was kind of cold the day before we went, so I think people were not wanting out be out in the weather so we practically had the whole place to ourselves! The kids had a blast playing on all the blow up slides and in the bouncer thing. They probably could have stayed there all night. But, we dragged them away, and they played on the big playground and on the cute pumpkin shaped slide. While we were out side, we even got to see 2 trains go by! A real treat for MY boys especially. Then off we went through the "spook alley", full of light up Christmas decorations just made to look kind of Halloween-ish. Every now and then, Josh would hide around a corner and jump out and try to scare someone. Sometimes it would work, but most of the time, they just gave him a "whatever" look and kept on going. Good try though Joshy! On our way out, we all got our individual pumpkins, (and tulips for me) and piled back in the car and headed to Grandmas house for some yummy soup and sandwiches followed by some super awesome apples dipped in home made carmel sauce. Thanks Melanie!!! The cousins had such a fun time playing together and it is always fun to get together as adults and talk and laugh and play some games. We love this time of year when the family can plan fun things to do and just enjoy being together. We love you family!!!