I need your help

Fellow blogger friends. I am seeking your assistance with a fundraiser that I am a part of. Let me give you some background. Clint and Kelli Anderson moved to pinedale just a little over a year ago. They have 3 kids, the youngest being Toree. When Toree was about 1 they found a suspicious spot on an MRI that they wanted to keep an eye on with yearly MRI exams. Since then, Clint has changed jobs an the new insurance company would not accept Toree because of this "pre-existing condition" that she has. This last week Toree went in for her annual MRI. The test results did not come back as expected and they sent Toree to Primary Childrens Hospital. The mass had not only grown, but was causing enough pressure on Toree's brain tissue that it was Hemorrhaging (bleeding). There was no choice for Kelli and Clint to have this taken care of. As we all know medical treatment of this kind IS NOT cheap, but worth it for 4 year old Toree. We have come together as the small community of Pinedale to try to help this family pay for this VERY EXPENSIVE surgery. I am reaching out to you as my friends to help us out with whatever you can. We are going to raffle off a 2008 Arctic Cat 700 EFI Camo 4Wheeler with a 3000 lb Warn Winch. (Brand New) Tickets will be $50 each or 3 for $100. Also Colton Taylor (who is 9) has donated his 2004 Yamaha PW50 Motorcycle to be raffled. Tickets will be $5 each or 3 for $10. All proceeds will go to the Toree Anderson Medical Fund. If you are interested in buying some tickets or just donating, please mail them to me at the address below or get them to me in person. I am willing to hand deliver if you win ether of these :)So you are not only buying for a chance to win a great prize and help a family, but to see me in person, how can you resist! At times it may seem like a few dollars won't change anything, but it can. I have figured if each of my regular blog readers bought a $5 ticket we could give them over $150! Think of what we could do if we gave even more?
Mindy Stubbs
P.O. Box 687
Pinedale, Wy 82941

I sincerely hope that I hear from some of you. I know that if the situation were in reverse and you needed help, Kelli would be the first person to step forward. I can honestly say that these people are some of the most wonderful people that I know.

Happy Birthday Hailey!!

Yesterday was Hailey's 5th Birthday! We threw her a surprise party and it was a blast. She had NO idea what we were planning... I am not sure how we kept it from her, but she was oblivious!! She had told me in the early summer what she wanted for decorations and where she wanted it and I planned it all without her knowing. Her friends showed up early and we hid behind the tables in the party room at the Aquatic center just waiting for her to come in. When she did we all jumped out and yelled "surprise" It took her a minute to register that it was for her, but when she did, she was excited. I could tell that it kind of made her nervous because she periodically started chewing on her tongue.. it's a nervous habit of hers, but it was cute. We had cake and ice cream, she opened her gifts and we headed out to the swimming pool. We were the only ones there and the kids LOVED it. I think I took kids down the big slide over 25 times because my legs were burning by the end. After we were showered and dressed we went to the rock wall for some fun. Most of the kids tried, but most of them were scared to climb very far up. After we were done there, the fam headed to Trendy's for a burger and frips (Hailey's favorite). We went home and watched the new movie Ethan picked out for her "Coraline". What a great day!

Adalyn is 3 months!

Adalyn is 3 months old now!! Time is really flying with this little munchkin. She smiles all of the time (especially at mom). She is starting to coo and talk back to us when she gets really excited. Her hands are constantly at her mouth held together. It is sooo cute. She loves to play with our light up toy and sit in her swing. I am really having fun with these 3 kiddos together!

Starvation

It has been almost a week since we went to Starvation, but I thought that I should still post the great pics that we got. To start telling this story, I have to tell you that a normal driving time to Starvation resivior for us SHOULD be 5 hours max. So you think that we took 5 hours to get there NO It took 8 hours for us to get there. You are probably thinking that our kids were horrible NO, we went the WRONG WAY 2 TIMES! We have driven through that area MANY times, so I think that we were just not paying enough attention. We first ended up on the east side of flaming gorge instead of the west. Which costs us at least an hour. Then, we turned about 30 miles early to head tward duschene and ended up in the indian reservation. That cost us at least 1.5 hours. Good thing we left Pinedale at1 p.m. because we did not get there until 9 p.m. It was a great laugh, but we still had fun as you can see from the pics. We went out first thing in the morning while the water was still glassy and each got a turn out on the water before the WIND started to blow and blow and blow. Needless to say, this is the last time we got on the boat for the trip. We spent the rest of the day building sand casstles and visitng with each other. When we left at 4 we headed back to Roosevelt to Ryan's new place for Pizza and a to watch elf. It was a really fun weekend with the fam!

Ethan thinking that he can drink cashews from the can..you can imagine the outcome.
Andy on the wakeboard
Grandma Leigh and Ady by the fire.
Tawnie on the wakeboard
Ethan chilling on the boat
Hailey and Karlee on the boat
Dan and I (Hailey took this picture I thought that she did pretty good)
Me on the kneeboard
Ethan attempting to kneeboard with Dan in the water with him.
Tawn and Karlee on the boat
Ethan admiring Dan on the slolam. He thought Dan was SOOOO Goood.
Dan getting ready in the water

Hailey wearing her new helmet (Thanks grandma and grandpa!)
Grandpa holding Brooklyn
Andy and Ryan opening their b-day gifts
Jason showing his guns

Lake Powell

During our extended stay in Moab, we took a day trip to Lake Powell for some fun in the sun. We left early Wednesday morning for the 2 hour drive down. Once we got there, we wasted no time getting in a playing. The kids were a tad hesitant at first, but soon got aquainted with the water. Hailey and I decided on the way down that she would try and kneeboard by herself. WE took some time when we first got there trying to teach her how to get up on the board. She was scared to death of sitting up on her knees on the board because it kept tipping over. So, she ended up just lying on the board getting pulled behind the boat. I was shocked to see her do that because she did not like to be in the water by herself. She did great though and loved it. Ethan talked about doing until it was his turn and he chickened out. We sepnt most of the time swimming, jumping off of the boat and tubing. Hailey and Ethan LOVED tubing!! Josh, Jason and Travis spent a part of the day wrestling over the knee board... I am not sure who won but they were entertaining to watch. Ethan also learned that he could pee of the back of the boat if he stood on the platform. Watch out if you are in the water! Josh had my camara for a while and we ended up with a million picture which is great becuase we have so many that we love! Ady wasn't so fond of the heat, so I stuck her little feeties in the water off of the back of the boat. I think I about gave Leigh (my mother in law) a hear attack by doing it, but it cooled little Ady off and made the rest of her day much better. We loaded up the boat right at dark and headed back. The next morning Hailey woke up and asked "Can we go to Lake Powell again today?" I think that she and Ethan both had a great time! Thanks for the great trip!

Visiting Great Grandparents

Hailey and Dan together at the airport right before he lifet for Alaska.






We went to Utah last week to drop Dan off at the airport for his wonderful trip to Alaska. The kids and I spent a couple of days in Salt Lake and while we were there we went and saw Dan's Grandma and Grandpa Racine. They had not seen Adalyn yet so I though that it would be fun to hit their house Sunday afternoon. I think that it is so much for our kids to form relationships with our grandparents. Hailey is always excited to see Grandma Janet because she always spends special time with her. This time she read books, went out in the garden to pick flowers, painted finger nails and let Hailey play with all of her necklaces. What a great day!! Hailey LOVED every minute of her special time with Grandma Janet. Lucky for her, Ethan was napping a large part of the time that we were there. Grandpa Don enjoyed most of the afternoon holding Adalyn and talking to her. He loved to make her smile and coo. It was really cute to see them. He also pulled out his bag of mini candy bars to share with the kids. Them and Grandma Janet munched down on them all day and grandpa filled some bags for them to take on the road.