Merry Christmas

Christmas is 2 days away. My mom is in Arizona for Christmas this year to spend it with my sister Cheryl and her family. This is my first Christmas away from mom since I was 14 and spent in Las Vegas with my aunt, pining over some guy 9 years older than me, who probably doesn't remember my name! WOW how times and priorities have changed.

Since Cheryl's oldest is being baptized on the 27th, Diane, Janet and I thought we would send her to Arizona for the baptism. We soon discovered that Cheryl would like to have mom spend Christmas with their family since they have 4 young kids. We found an inexpensive ticket and Mom left on Monday and will be gone until January 6th. What a nice time away for her.

Tyler and I, along with Janet, will be spending Christmas with Diane, Dan, Ty and Blake (aka Mugs). Oh what fun we will have seeing the sparkle in Ty's eyes with each gift he unwraps. He will most likely unwrap for Mugs as he is only 3 months old and would rather be eating or sleeping. What a life - want to trade, Mugs?

May the spirit of Christmas be with you and your families at this wonderful time of year!

Big Foot

Big Foot is real.... he lives in my house. Shoes for my Tyler are hard to come by. Size 15 shoes cannot be found in most stores. You have to look on line and the styles are not stylish, especially for a 15 year boy. A couple of months ago, Tyler and I were in The Gap, one of my favorite stores. I was trying to find some clothes for my fashionista boy and low and behold he called me over. Not for some clothes mind you, but for SHOES! Tyler loves shoes... he has more shoes than I do. Who would have thought my 15 year old BOY would love shoes. He found a pair of Converse All Stars - size 13 that fit him. MOM, he says with delight. May I please have these shoes. I love them. The best thing is they fit and they were on sale for cheap! We got them home and Tyler goes to wear them and they are both right foot shoes... AARRGGH! I took them back to The Gap and lo and behold no more size 13. I explained to the clerk what happened and she called around and found the same shoe in Cherry Creek Mall. HOORAY!

My sister Janet works part time at Target, my other favorite store. She found these shoes on clearance for Big Foot. HAPPY FEET are here again!

For The Love of BOYS!

Ty Salda - 3 years old
Blake Salda and Tyler Asay

Blake Salda and Tyler Asay

Babies....3 year olds....15 year olds.... I love my boys... only 2 of them are my sister Diane's boys. Growing up in a family of five girls, I thought boys were creepy. They were dirty, liked bugs, frogs, snakes and everything a girly girl did not like. Once my sisters and I started having kids, we had boys first. Lynette was first with Justin. Then she had 3 girls. I had Tyler. Cheryl started with Jacob and Jared and 2 girls and Diane has two boys. Boys are great. I would trade all the girls in the world for a boy. There is something about a sweet boy, whether they be 3 months, 3 years or 15 years old. I am grateful to have had a son to teach, raise and love. Tyler has given me the opportunity learn many things, to laugh at him, to cry over him, to fret over, to worry about but mostly to love.


I think about my favorite dessert - white molten lava cake with raspberry sauce, which I discovered at Chili's. I love this dessert... it is delectable. There is something about warm raspberry sauce... I love it. I would love to drizzle warm raspberry sauce over my boy and gobble them up. Is being a cannabal OK... probably not, but loving and oogling over my son is OK. What a delight these boys in my life bring to me.

Blessings

The Family

Terry Packer, Colleen Asay, Lynette Packer, Janet Asay, Melanie Packer, Tyler Asay, Diane & Blake Salda, Justin Packer, Nicole Packer, Dan Salda, Stephanie Packer, Marilyn Asay

Left to Right: Justin Packer, Dan Salda, Tyler Asay, Terry Packer

Front: Brad Packer and Blake Salda

Diane, Blake, Dan and Ty Salda

This past month has been a crazy busy month. Year end is coming at work and there have been several deadlines that have come and gone and are yet to come for get work completed. I have been coming in early and leaving late, hence little time with Tyler. He is a good sport, but there is also a work/life balance that needs to happen. Since I am the sole support of my little family, sometimes I don't have a choice.

Blake was blessed on November 2nd. It was a great day. Here are some pictures I took off Diane's blog (thanks sister!). If you read her blog, these will be a duplicate, but hopefully you will enjoy them anyway.

There are some exciting in the pipeline for 2009 at work. I work for TIAA-CREF in the wealth management area. I support some spectacular financial advisors and they are both gearing up for some large goals in 2009. I will be a part of both of their teams and am excited to ramp up for a year of great work.

I have so many things to be thankful for... a home, a good son, an extended family, a good job and some sweet friends, especially Jean, Bill & Grandma Welch!

Happy Thanksgiving and love to you all!

8 is Great Tag!

I was tagged by my sister Cheryl...

8 TV shows I love to watch:

1. What Not To Wear

2. Dog the Bounty Hunter

3. Ghost Hunters

4. The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

5. 9News

6. Little People, Big World

7. American Idol

8. Mythbusters

8 things that happened to me yesterday:

1. Took Sadee for a walk

2. Played the piano for the Primary Program at Church

3. Fixed dinner for my mom and Tyler

4. Did 5 loads of laundry

5. Crocheted a baby blanket - not complete

6. Thought about what I needed to do at work this week

7. Packed some old clothes to give away

8. Thought about Thanksgiving

8 Favorite places to eat:

1. At home with Tyler

2. Quiznos

3. Qdoba

4. Chick Fil A

5. Old Santa Fe

6. Chili's

7. Trinity Grille

8. Texas Roadhouse

8 things I am looking forward to:

1. The Holidays and time off of work

2. Quiet weeks at work

3. Snow

4. Time with Tyler

5. Tyler learning to drive

6. Losing weight

7. Staying healthy

8. 2009 at work

8 people I tag!

1. Lisa Rich

2. Diane Salda

3. Jean Burns

4. Lisa Crane

5. Kristiina Burns

6. Cassie Weber

7. Karin Mikawa

8. Whoever wants to play!

Unhappy Tyler :(

Tyler is a social butterfly. He loves to hang out with friends and especially girls. He had a girl that he really liked. She is a nice girl, but about Halloween, Tyler found out that this girl had a boyfriend. He was devastated. It was very hard for him to accept, but she is of dating age, and Tyler won't be able to date until July 2009. This was a tough hard knock life lesson for him, but I am confident that he will be able to work through it and feel better about life. It's tough when you're a single mom and you have a 15 year old boy who doesn't always feel like spilling his emotional guts to his mom. I try my best to not impose, but let him know the communication lines need to remain open. I love my Tyler Scott!

Sweet Baby Blake

Wake up sleepy boy!

Don't bother me... I was happy sleeping.

Tyler and Blake

I love my nephew Blake. He reminds me so much of my Tyler when he was a baby. He is sweet natured, healthy (14.5 pounds - 95% percentile and 24" long - 75% percentile). He is so funny because he has a hard time keeping his eyes open. Maybe he thinks he won't have to face the world if he keeps his eyes open! HA HA. We all went shopping on the 15th of November and these pictures were taken when Tyler was holding him.

Thankful!

Too many times we go through our lives taking things for granted. I have a very good friend who is a convert to our church. I played the piano at his baptism. He and his family were sealed in the temple. A few years ago, their family stopped going to church. I feel so sad inside for them. He told me that he still believes in God, but just chooses not to go to church. None of their kids go to church. He is the only member in his family and her family is very active.

I was inactive in my 20's. All of my friends went to college. I stayed in Colorado to work. The only young single ward was in Boulder. My sister and I attended, but since we didn't go to CU, they asked us not to come back. My friends became those I worked with and they didn't have the same values as I did. I found many excuses to not attend church. It was no fun to go to a family ward when you are young and single.

I knew what I should be doing, but I did my best to justify my poor choices and continuing on the dark path farther and farther away from the truth - all the time knowing in the back of my head the truths I had been taught in my early youth. Satan had the biggest grasp on me and I was headed for the biggest downturn in my life.

To make a long, long story short, I was sent an angel. His name is Tyler. He rescued me from the depths of hell. My life has not been easy, partly because of bad choices, but I know that we are all here to be tested. The results of our test are ultimately what we are striving for. I have a daily reminder of where I want my end results to be. He is 15 and is my angel. I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for my special angel!

Come Listen To a Prophet's Voice

In our church, we have the privilege to hear from our church leaders twice a year. We have pajama church at home. October 4th & 5th we listened to our semi-annual conference. I was impressed by a talk by our prophet, Thomas S. Monson and it is perfect for what I have been dealing with.

"Throughout our lives, we must deal with change. Some changes are welcome; some are not. There are changes in our lives which are sudden, such as the unexpected passing of a loved one, an unforeseen illness, the loss of a possession we treasure. But most of the changes take place subtly and slowly. Day by day, minute by minute, second by second we went from where we were to where we are now. The lives of all of us, of course, go through similar alterations and changes. The difference between the changes in my life and the changes in yours is only in the details. Time never stands still; it must steadily march on, and with the marching come the changes." Excerpt from Thomas S. Monson's talk "Finding Joy in the Journey" on Sunday, October 5th, 2008

Changes have come by the handfuls as of late...work has been the most stressful. Our office moved from one building to the other and I had to leave the awesome people I was working with to go with the wealth management advisors I support. I moved to a floor with over 100 people. It reminded me of a prairie dog village - all you can ever see is the top of people's heads popping up over the cubicles. The only thing that is constant is change, but for whatever reason, this change has been extremely hard to adjust to for me.

If we are faithful and "COME LISTEN TO A PROPHET'S VOICE", we will be blessed. This has been a better week. I feel blessed to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am thankful to a mother, who, despite so many obstacles in her life, took us five girls to church every week - faith never waivering, even when the faith of her daughters did. What an amazing woman!

Nicknames

Nicknames are funny. I think we all have nicknames at one point or another in our life. I have been NEE NEE since 1987 or so. My oldest nephew, Justin McKay Packer, learned to talk and couldn't say Colleen, so his mom told him to call me NEE NEE. It was easy for Justin to say and so for 21+ years, I have been NEE NEE.

My sister Diane is the mom of two adorable boys, Ty and new baby Blake. When Ty was a few days old, he would nurse with one eye open and one eye closed. He looked like a pirate. Ty was 6 weeks old on his first Halloween. My sister Cheryl found him the cutest pirate outfit, Diane made him a pirate eye patch and he was a pirate for Halloween in 2005. Ty is our little PIRATE.

On Tuesday, when Blake was born, we were all surprised at his weight of 8 lbs. and 12 oz. Even the doctors who delivered Blake were surprised. For those of you who know Diane, she is not a big person. Blake really had no where to grow, except out. Diane gets extremely sick when she is pregnant. When she was finally able to keep some food/drink down, she drank lots of root beer. The doctors told Diane that Blake was a root beer baby, thus I have nick named Blake "MUGZ". Welcome to the family - CHEERS TO YOU "MUGZ!"

Our Family is GROWING again!

Tyler and Blake Aaron Salda

SEPTEMBER 17TH UPDATE: Blake Aaron Salda arrived on Tuesday, September 16th at 4:29 p.m. via c-section birth. He weighed in at a whopping 8 pounds and 12 ounces and was 20 inches long. He had some special angels watching over him as there was a huge knot in his umbilical cord. He has light brown hair, has some features of his big brother Ty Daniel, but definately has his very own look. He has a great set of lungs, loves to eat and is very sweet. The veil is very thin as the spirit was strong in the room. His dad was very emotional at the time of his birth and overcome by his sweet spirit. Diane is doing very well. More pictures to come soon!

We are patiently waiting for the arrival of my youngest sister, Diane and her husband Dan's 2nd baby boy - Blake Aaron Salda. Diane was scheduled for a c-section delivery at 11:30 a.m. today, September 16th; however, a few other babies pushed ahead, so baby Blake's arrival has been delayed slightly. We will have pictures to post later today or tomorrow.

School Pictures

School Pictures - I don't like pictures taken at the school. They never present the real picture. I have never been a real fan of them, thus when he was little, I would spend just a bit more than the school charged and take him to Kiddie Kandids. Tyler, being the typical 15 year old, has convinced me that Kiddie Kandids are for babies and not cool 15 year old young men. Thus, we are settling once again for school pictures. This is Tyler's school picture for the 2008-2009 school year. Since we weren't thrilled with the pictures, maybe next year he will let me pursue other photo ops for his annual pictures. SMILE :)

Angels Among Us!

Camille Waite - April 19, 2007 - June 15, 2008

Lucy Jackson - June 11, 2006-May 22, 2008

Daxton Kunz - May 31, 2007 - June 9, 2008

Sidney Lee Weber - November 12, 1995 - May 23, 2008

Oh I believe there are angels among us. Sent down to us from somewhere up above. They come to you and me in our darkest hours. To show us how to live, to teach us how to give. To guide us with a light of love.

I have been wanting to post about special angels for a few months. It all started with the untimely passing of our dear friend, Sidney Weber. In the blogging world, you become connected to others who lose their children. I don't know the other children or their families personally, but you come to know them through their family blogs. You mourn with them, you pray for them and you know their angels are watching over their families.

I am the oldest of 7 girls. I have two angel sisters. My mom lost two babies - Suzanne (baby girl #3) June 19, 1968 - December 7, 1968 and Deann (baby girl #6) (February 24, 1979 - stillborn twin of Diane). As of late, I just accepted that this was something that happened, even though I have been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints my entire life. Did Heavenly Father know that my mom would be a single parent of 7 girls so he made it less of a burden to her by taking two special angels home? No, I believe these little angels needed a body, but didn't need to live in this world.

Tyler's pseudo grandparents and our DEAR, SWEET, SPECIAL friends, Bill and Jean, are also the parents of two angels girls. It takes very special people to be the parents of angels. The void is big, the time without them is long, but there are special angels watching over us.

My heart goes out to the families of these special spirits. Thank you for sharing your special spirits with us! I have learned something special from each of these families. You have strengthened my testimony of the Plan of Happiness and made me a better person and I am truly grateful to each of you.

Labor Day Reunion!

My Aunt Susan & Uncle Harvey with their

grandkids - Abby & Jack

Jared & Holly with their kids Jack & Abby

Cousins & Brothers - The Mathis Boys

L to R: Jared, Jeff, Jordan & James

4 Generations of Mathis'

James, Jeff, Harvey, Andrew, Grandpa Mathis, Jared, Jack and Jordan

Jack, Abby, Audrey and Andrew Mathis (my cousin's kids)
Kiera, Audrey, Andrew and James Mathis
James is my cousin.


My Aunt Elna and my cousin James' son Andrew.

Just a shout out to the Asay Family for having a reunion in Utah over the Labor Day Weekend! Tyler, my mom and I drove to Perry, Utah on Friday, August 29th. We stayed with my Aunt Julie and Uncle Lynn at their home. I hadn't seen them for 4 years. We were able to see some of my cousins that I hadn't seen for 5 years. Even though my dad has been MIA for about 25 years, I am grateful for the brothers and sisters he has that keep in touch with us and care about us. Here are a few pictures I got from my cousin's blog (thanks Kiera).

I saw my Aunt Kathleen, Uncle Henry, their kids Lyndy and Alan. Lyndy just moved back to Montana after living in Utah for 9 years. Alan was in the process of moving to the Salt Lake area to begin a new job the day after labor day. My Aunt Adell and my cousin Scott came from California. My Uncle Ron passed away from cancer last November. I miss him. My cousin Brandon, Adell's other son and his family live in Perry, UT as well. My cousin Kevin and his two adorable kids came from Idaho. His dad is another MIA Asay brother. My Aunt Julie raised him and his brother after their mother Elnie passed away in the mid 1980's from cancer. My Aunt Susan and Uncle Harvey have 4 boys, Jared, James, Jeff and Jordan. We were able to attend the blessing of Jared and Holly's son Jack on Sunday, August 31st in Sandy. We had a brunch at Holly's mom's house, which is right behind their church building.
Being at my Aunt Julie and Uncle Lynn's house reminded me of my Grandma Asay's house. We lived on their property in a trailer when I was little and I always remember the yummy food at their house. Thanks for such good food, royal treatment and great memories. I hope next trip we can stay longer.

Take me out to the Ball Game!

The Crowd at Dusk
Tyler and his crazy sunglasses!

Tyler, Melanie and mom (Grandma)

Beautiful Coors Field!

Saturday night, Tyler, Melanie (cousin), Janet, my mom and I went to the Rockies game. It was a gorgeous night at Coors Field. Rod Smith (retired Bronco) threw out the first pitch and even though the Rockies were beat by Houston (2-0), it was a great night at the park!

Movie Star?

So who doesn't want to be famous? Well the Democratic National Convention (DNC) is in Denver this week. My coworker, Eunice, and I went walking around on the 16th Street Mall at lunch today and lo and behold, the Verizon Wireless guy was here and people were posing for pictures. This was taken with my Verizon cell phone. I could spend all afternoon just sitting out there people watching. If I get more crazy people pictures, I will post them.

Six Foot Two, Eyes of Blue

After Tyler and I finished registering for school last Tuesday, we went to the Flatirons Mall. We went into Banana Republic and he fell in love with this blazer. Unfortunately because of all the medical expenses we have had for Sadee, I wasn't able to get it for him. I hope it is still there when I get more money. Tyler absolutely fell in love with this look!

Where has the Summer Gone?

It is already August 4th and 16 days until Tyler goes back to school. I believe he is excited to get back to a routine...not so much to go back to school. He actually wishes high school was in the past... I wish he would just enjoy his teen years and quit wishing his life away. It goes by way too fast as it is... but I think all teens do the same thing. We register for 10th grade on Tuesday, August 5th and school officially starts on Wednesday, August 20th. 3 years and counting until graduation. It's hard to believe he is so grown up! I look at my sisters' young kids and part of me wishes Tyler was still little. They grow up way too fast.

Tyler had a great time at Scout Camp last week. Monday - Wednesday was a backpacking trip and Thursday and Friday was staying at the camp with all the other campers. He was able to connect with Brian and Brandon Andrews, some boys he knows from school/church.

A Quiet Week

Tyler is off to scout camp for the week at Camp Tahosa. I dropped him off at the church at 5:30 a.m. this morning. He was very excited to go as he got out of bed at 4:50 a.m. today, which never happens. There was only Tyler and Michael Jensen from our ward going and another kid from the Malley Ward was going with them. Javan Houser is their scout master and he is so awesome. Tyler is very close to being able to work on his Eagle Scout project. His goal is to be finished by the time he is 16. This will be a great accomplishment for him. I know Tyler will have a great time, but it will be very quiet at home and Sadee and I will miss him so much!

Poor Sadee :(

Our poor Princess Sadee was attacked for the 2nd time in 5 months on Sunday, July 20th by the same mean and ugly neighbor dog. The owners of this dog feel the need to let their 90+ pound nasty, vicious dog out and randomly and attack my 13 pound dog. She had a very deep puncture wound and the emergency vet couldn't tell what damage had been done by x-rays. Since this injury was right above her kidney, he opened her up put a drain shunt in to hopefully avoid an absess and stitched her up. She has 14 stitches that will remain in for 2 weeks. She almost didn't make it this time, but thanks to Dr. Coleman and 11 hours at the ER vet, she will pull through. I don't understand why people are so mean and cruel.

Rock Star or Movie Star!?

Tyler loves fashion. It took being in high school to discover he likes to dress like a model. He just got contacts - I miss him in glasses, but I can understand because I got contacts at 14 as well. I hate wearing glasses, but Tyler looks great in his.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

September 11, 2005
Tyler and Skyler - September 11, 2005

It has been one year since we have heard from our dear friend Skyler Watson. The last we heard from him was on July 13, 2007, when he called Tyler for his 14th birthday. I don't know why he decided not to ever call either one of us back. I sent him a text message on his birthday this year and once again, we didn't get a response. I guess he has moved on... he was my one hope for marriage. I have lost all confidence in the male human race... I loved him so very much and wish I knew if he was OK. He just couldn't commit, which was especially sad for my Tyler. He grew to love him so very much and thought he would some day be the dad he has never had! Oh how I long to just talk to him one more time!

You can't always get what you want, you can't always get what you want, you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need! - The Rolling Stones

HAPPY 15TH BIRTHDAY TYLER!

July 13th was Tyler's 15th birthday. It was on Sunday this year and so it wasn't that exciting for him! We are going to have a party for him and his friends in a couple of weeks. We went to his favorite restaurant Heaven Dragon and then Janet got him an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen! He got some gift cards to Target and an I-Tunes card. He got a shirt and WII Play for his WII game system.

Monday, July 14th - Tyler and I spent the entire day together. We spent the first couple hours of the day at the eye doctor so Tyler could get contacts. Next we went shopping at Best Buy, Staples, American Eagle and had lunch at Mexican Cantina at the Orchards. We went home and relaxed. Tyler went to get his football equipment from the high school. We headed to Dick's Sporting Goods for some football equipment - sliding shorts and an athletic supporter. One more stop for a drink at our favorite Chick-Fil-A and off to Grandma's house to pick up our Sadee girl. I wish I could do this everyday!

I Love You Buddy!!

4th of July Fun!

Back row L to R: Janet, Colleen
Front Row L to R: Diane, Ty, and Tyler

4th of July was fun this year. We went to my youngest sister's (Diane) house and had a BBQ with her family. They consist of Dan, Diane and Ty, who will be 3 in September, with a 2nd brother, Blake, joining their family on September 16th. My mom was in Utah with her sisters enjoying some R&R, so Tyler and I, along with my sister Janet went to Diane's house. After dinner, we headed to Estes Park to enjoy the fireworks, which were beautiful. After a slow start, the display was gorgeous and was worth the wait. Ty kept asking where his "pireworks" were!