Neeley Family Blog

About a week ago, my cousin (on my mom's side) made a trip up from his home in Redding, California (near Shasta) to help our uncle Jim with some concrete work. My cousin Ty does really nice concrete work (you can check it out @ meirowconcrete.com) and my uncle needed some help with a project. We don't really get to see my cousin very often, so we all took advantage of the time and had lunch together to catch up. It was a very nice time together and we took a few pictures. I told them I would put them on the blog so here they are! This is my sister Brittany, our cousin Ty and myself: Here is a rare family photo. My mom's side rarely gets together for anything so we took a picture to capture the moment. Here is my mom, my uncle (the Mayor of Aurora) Jim, my aunt Mary and Ty. Yes, my uncle just got elected as the Mayor of Aurora (a small town near Woodburn, Oregon where I lived until I was 13). It is kinda neat to say actually. Here are the sisters and brother once aga...

The first snow of the season!!!! HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But it is cold, highs in the 20's, but with the wind chill it feels like 8 degrees. Still, we bundled up to play in the snow. Brayden saw other kids outside and had to go out! Everything is covered in snow and a little bit of ice too. Brock was having fun feeling it all out and falling down some too... Brad and Brayden wanted to build a snowman, but the snow did not really want to work that well. It is a little too dry for that :( It started to look a little like a pyramid, but then they just gave up! Tinsley and Rogue had a blast too... they were so frisky and were biting the snow and romping around.

Okay, so people wonder what you do all day when you have little ones at home. Well, it is a little difficult to get anything done sometimes with these two. I love them dearly, but just getting some laundry done or making a simple lunch can become a bit of a challenge. :) So we decided to go outside for a little fresh air... I thought I would just share a normal trip to get the mail. Brayden gets his tractor out and rides it down the driveway through the cul-de-sac while Brock and I follow in line. Brock usually helps open the mailbox door and we load it all in the trailer of Brayden's tractor. Then Brayden hauls it back to the house. And every once in a while Brayden lets Brock sit on his tractor. And then we end the evening with 2 gorgeous smiling boys! As happy as can be. They are too cute! And a wonderful sunset to go along with it!

The day after Thanksgiving we headed back out to my parents house to pick out our Christmas tree. Brayden got to help grandpa drive the tractor (he has done this before) and he was so happy. We found the one! Brayden said he liked it cause it was a "BIIIIIIGG ONE!" He even got to help cut it down... just kidding we took this picture just before Grandpa cut it down (the saw was off). The boys hug out while Grandpa secured it to the back of the tractor. They are such hams and too cute for words! We hauled it back up to the house to tie it onto the car. Brock sat up here just long enough to get a good picture and then he started screaming when the tractor started moving and I had to carry him back. Oh well, maybe next time.

Well, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. We went to my mom's house where they cooked pretty much everything (I brought corn bread and bean dip). It was nice to visit with some family and just have a nice evening together. Brayden decided that he did not really want to eat anything except my corn bread:) He did eventually have some ham and pumpkin pie (OF COURSE). Here are my step-brothers Kyle and Bryant, and my brother-in-law Tony enjoying their meals. They decided to put their heads down like Brayden does in his pictures. Brockster is being entertained by Grandpa John while mommy and daddy eat their turkey dinners! Yay for Grandpa!!!! A lovely picture of Grammy and Isabella in her pretty pink dress. Isabella is only 4 months old, but she is getting bigger day by day. Finally, a good picture of the guys! Bryant and Kyle picked their heads up and I made them pose for this picture and told them I would put it on the blog- so here it is! Yes, this is my goofy husband. No...

I decided that I wanted to go bowling for my birthday. I have not played in a long time and thought it would be something the boys would enjoy as well. Brad decided to wear his tux shirt because he said it was going to be "that kinda party!" Dominic, Brittany, Isabella and my mom and John joined us for the festivities. Dominic and Brayden had the most fun. They were a crack up to watch roll the ball grannie style and then Brayden would yell, "go, go, go!!!!" They were out of bumpers so it was a bit of a challenge for them, but we all had a great time. Here is Brittany and Isabella smiling... how cute are they?! The boys are keeping score and their eye on the game! We had a few gutter balls that we had to knock out of the way :) I love this face!!!! Opening up my presents with a little help from the boys: This is my birthday cake and song from everyone. John looks like he is hollering, but I think we just caught him singing "DAAAAAY!" Too funny. Brayden is...

Here we are getting ready to go to Auntie Brittany & Uncle Tony's house to trick-or-treat with Dominic. Aren't they they cutest Pluto's ever! Here is the cute little pumpkin... Isabella (the boys cousin and my sister Brittany's daughter). A couple of pre-trick-or-treating photos that we made them take. Don't they look happy? Just kidding. They really were excited to go even they did not show it in the pictures. Buzz Lightyear and my two Pluto doggies... We had a great time wondering around the neighborhood. They boys were really good. Brayden kept saying, "time to go to the next one" after he got his treat from the current house. He would then start running for the next doorbell to ring. It was really cute. His Pluto head would bounce as he ran along. Brayden and Dominic walked the whole time. I carried Brock (my arms were burning by the end). And about half way through, Brock reached into his bag and grabbed a chocolate bar. He started c...

Well, we decided to take on the task of carving our pumpkins last week. What a task it turned out to be! I got a little too carried away with it and bought one of those books that you pick out a design and put it on the pumpkin to carve out. Well, lets just say that we picked out the hardest ones to do out of the entire book :) About 2 1/2 to 3 hours later we finished! So, needless to say we did not take any pictures during our project because we were so overwhelmed! The "after" pictures turned out well though. Enjoy! Here is Brayden's pumpkin- a bat! (Daddy had to do it for him after he finished his own pumpkin) Here is my pumpkin. It was suppose to be a spooky tree that said "Happy Halloween" on the top, but I gave up after about and hour and a half of carving little tiny branches and only getting the bottom of the tree done. So I improvised and made eyes up top instead of all the other branches and "Happy Halloween." And here is Brad's pu...