4th Picture Tag!

This is it! The 4th picture of the 4th album I have on my computer right now was from last Halloween. There are 417 pictures in that album and I don't think I can stop! Yes, Brookly's eyes are closed and I haven't deleted the pics I don't like in that album yet, but here it is!

I now tag Shannan, Wendy (Both of you), Kristy and Joni!

I couldn't stop at the tag and had to put a few of the cuter pics in that album in. You know me by now to know I can't resist posting pictures!

Ben the Pooh Bear and Wes

My Little Engineer Jarom
The whole crew with Caillou before Trick or Treating! What can I say , they are just so cute!! Although Wes doesn't like Halloween one bit, I love the cute costumes and fun of pumpkin decorating, carmel apples and traditions that come with Fall!

Brennen loved doing his own pumpkin!

Sweet, Sticky moment for Jarom and Ben.

Dallin was the cleaner of the pumpkins and Brookly was glad!

SHEPPARD FAMILY REUNION-Nov. 2007

Wow, this is what happens when you get all of us together in one place! Greg and Lynnette planned this one and is turned our great!

The famous family football game was a riot!

Elise, Lynnette, Adrian, Nicole, Brookly, Camie, Greg, Garth and Dallin

Who was the winning team again?!
Dad, Julie, Jeff, Brennen, Andrew, Jordan, Ben, Wes, Bec, Lily and Kashi

Greg was the master carver and Lynnette the master chef for our Thanksgiving feast! Thank you, thank you to our gracious hosts!

What a talented family we have and that was apparent at the Family Talent Show! There were many wonderful numbers, some more serious than others!:)
Garth and Jeff were a hit!Kashi's song was so beautiful!

Grammy and Grampy

All because these two fell in love!

The Olympics were great fun. Becca vs. Garth.

Don't miss with that ice cream!Celebrations were had for winning teams!The train ride with all.

Andrew, Jarom and Ryan loved being together.

Ben's face says it all!

A rare but wonderful look at the entire Brian and Teri Sheppard Family!

A spirited Pictionary game and this turn was Mom vs. Dad! Don't we always play men vs. women? If Mom's on your team you win every time!Camie and Brookly enjoying the game.

Garth and Rebecca Gagnier and family at Mesa Temple lights.Here we are, the Gardner family at Temple lights.Julie enjoying the lights! Although this year will be more enjoyable with a certain Jared joining the pictures!The reunion had to come to a close and here's the final goodbye at the pizza parlor. Love this family! So grateful I'm a part!

What a wonderful time we had together and I must admit that seeing the over 400 pictures of all again was hard to choose from and made me miss our Utah family immensely! Oh, when is our next reunion? Those babies grow too fast! I feel so blessed to have such a strong heritage and such a close family. I love you all!

Dreams and Things

Time OutThe culprits and the victim!
The main culprit!
Oh, that Ben!!! I must have been too absorbed in my blogging world to notice that right next to me in the office Ben pulled out permanent black markers and doodled on the desk next to this computer! I told him no and he gave me his cute time out pout!

What funny kids I have! This morning we were exhausted and it was tough to get up. when I went to wake up Jarom, after Wes had already tried, Jar rolled over and said, "After this episode." It was hilarious! When I asked him a little later if he was dreaming about cartoons he said it was Scooby Doo. He is so funny!

How many times do we wish we could continue with life "After this episode", be it a good one or hard time? I loved this cute response from my sweet Jar!

Fall Break in Pinetop

Grandpa's Boy!Brennen's turn with the BB gun.
Hike to Billy Creek.

Brookly's acorns - watch out for the worms inside! Ben loves the old scaffolding and always scares me if I watch.

Jarom's acorns. Josh with airsoft gun.
Dallin with BB gun.

For Fall Break we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Gardner in Pinetop. It was wonderful! What a relaxing, fun weekend. It was so hard to come home! We left Wed. night and didn't return until Sun. evening. The kids were completely entertained between guns, trees and acorns, woodpeckers, hikes, picnic, birthday dinner, and cable TV!
We celebrated Wes and Brennen's birthdays by going to dinner at Mountain Thai and it was delicious! We went up past the old ski run by Greer to see the leaves and have a picnic under the beautiful fall leaves. It was so windy and cold! After Grandma and Grandpa left for home we ventured up farther and found a wonderful spot where the wind died down and the leaves were amazing! I of course took many pictures!

Ben loved this time with his Daddy!

The whole crew!

The kids on a huge old stump full of ants that later was destroyed by our boys! Jarom fell off and wasn't happy right after this.

Me and My Love!

The day after our picnic, Saturday, it turned freezing and hailed for a while. We stayed in all day! This was Wes's birthday and we opened presents and went to dinner with Mom and Dad Gardner.

Wes and Brennen enjoyed their presents.

Chocolate cake!

What a great weekend! It would have been perfect until Sunday.

Sunday we had a scary experience as we got a call that my uncle, James Stevens, had chest pain and was being rushed by ambulance to St. Lukes. I called Aunt Kim and told her I'd travel down to Phoenix with her since we were up there and going home after church anyway. Wes drove me to ShowLow to meet her and I helped her drive down to meet Julie and then we all went to the hospital. By the time we got there he was coming out of surgery and had 2 more stints put in. He had one put in last year for the same problem of artery thickening. 2 of his arteries this time were 70% blocked. Those are the ones that got the stints put in. One is still 40% blocked in a different place. It was scary and he has done everything his doctor recommended this last year like running every day, no cholesterol or red meat. He was pretty depressed and frustrated. They are in our prayers and he did get to go home the next day. Julie, Kim and I had some good, bonding time together. Love the support of family! Wow, what a reminder how fragile life is and how much I depend on Wes. He is my life and I'm grateful every day that he is with me. I feel incredibly blessed!

This left Wes to fend for himself with the 6 hooligans for a long trip home! He called me shortly before 5pm when they left. On the way he had Brookly insist she needed to use the restroom and when he tried to hold her up and told her he wouldn't look she was too embarrassed to go. She was crying for Mommy the whole time. Not long after this stop Jarom needed to go Number 2. While helping Jarom, Ben screamed nonstop for Wes. Finally he wrapped Ben in a blanket and had him lay on the ground screaming because he wanted Dad and it was so cold outside. He got them home and made dinner and then came to Phoenix where he met me with Julie and Kim at Mills parking lot to come home. We crawled into bed after 11pm. What an amazing man I married! He's the best!

Now we are home and adjusting back to life! There is a busy week ahead and nothing stops. We'll keep you posted:)

Brennen's Birthday Box

Before we left for Fall Break to Pinetop, Brennen's birthday box from Grammy and Grampy Sheppard came. We had him open it at home and he was so excited for all the goodies inside! The RC car was a hit with all and Ben keeps trying to claim it as his own. There was even a treat for Wes for his birthday and a treat for all the kids! Lots of fun! We love this tradition!

Birthday Surprise of Seattle

For Brennen's birthday,dear friends of ours, Alex and Caillou Pena took Brennen to Seattle, Washington. Dallin and Josh have had this opportunity in the past few years and Brennen had always dreamed it would someday be him.

Brennen and Caillou in cockpit of Alaska Airliner.

They don't let just anyone do this anymore.

Alex worked there many years and I'm not sure how he made this dream come true for Brennen but he is amazing!

Brennen has always loved planes and never had a ride in one until now.

His dream is to be a pilot of some sort.

View of SeattleSeattle Aquarium
Ferry to Bainbridge Island
They also went to Space Needle.
Metro
On Monday, Oct. 6th, Caillou Pena brought a card for Brennen's birthday that said he had a free ticket to Seattle.

He had no idea it meant he left the next day!



What an incredible birthday present and an amazing day full of memories! They left at 4:15am and returned after 11pm. Brennen was so exhausted he had to wait until the next day to talk about it.