Our Little Destroyer

When Landon was a youngster they called him "annihilate". It was part of the threesome with his brother Ryan and sister Whitney, whom their parents deemed "Search", "Destroy", and "Annihilate", because Ryan would always find something new, Whitney would break it, and then they would run off while Landon destroyed it to smithereens...and he got in trouble.  Typical.  

Later in life Landon was called "Slayer", because apparently he knew how to foul someone properly in basketball. 

Now we just call our little guy "Destroyer". Apparently it runs in the genes. Any time he sees any kind of tower he gets really worked up and HAS to knock it over. He really is pretty upset until it's down. Even after making this video, we showed it to him, and he would get all excited watching himself destroy the towers. We used it as incentive to help him learn to crawl. Cracks me up.

Ferdinand the Bull

This is from a month ago or more, but I finally have access to a computer that can convert the file. We read "Ferdinand the Bull" to the little guy. Then he and Landon decided they could be bulls too!

Cherry Pickers

Here's our sibling volleyball team for intramurals. We made it to the semi finals this year, but we lost to an awesome team. It was a really fun season though. Mak's awesome roomies watched our little guy fr us most games so that we could both play.

We wore our cherry season shirts for some of the games so that we would all match. Poor Landon never had time this summer to finish his, so it only has stuff on the back.  Landon was even in a volleyball class at BYU this semester, so he has gotten really good!

Mykal was our official line judge. She was at almost all of our games, and cheered us on to keep us positive.  Good times!

Car Accident!

So, if you haven't heard, we were in a pretty major car accident on our way home for Christmas this year. I guess after driving a couple of times a year for 8 years over the mountains, the odds weren't in my favor. Ironically, this was our last drive to Washington in the winter.  

We were driving on some icy roads on our way into La Grande, OR. Semis were parked on the side putting on chains, and one of them came back onto the road going really slow, right in front of us. Landon tried to tap on the breaks, but it put us into a slide and the car spun 180 degrees right into another semi that was chaining up. As you can see, the car was totaled. What you may not know, is that our baby was sitting on the side with the crunched door. I was in the back trying to lean and cover him. At least that's what Landon tells me. I don't remember anything. God was definitely protecting us that night. Because somehow, aside from screaming with terror, little Ty wasn't hurt. The carseat was deep enough that despite the chair crunching over the end, his feet were still fine. And since we put pillows in the window to shade the sun earlier, it caught all the glass from falling on him. Landon was hit in the head by something, but other than a cut, he is doing fine. I hit my head somehow, and got a pretty bad concussion. They tell me that I couldn't think straight, or remember from one minute to the next. So I repeatedly asked what was going on, and if everyone was ok. I got some staples in my head for the cut, and the headaches and focus problems are subsiding. But other than that, we are miraculously all okay.  Landon's parents came in their big truck to pick us up from the hospital, and the truckers let us sit in their trucks and helped pick up our stuff from off the highway.

I'm amazed by the blessings involved with the whole thing. We were so lucky to have all come out ok. And the guy chaining up wasn't on that side of the truck, so he wasn't hit. Nor did his semi have much damage. Our stuff was all pretty good, aside from some dented luggage and one broken Christmas present. I almost think the loss of memory is even a blessing, because it all sounds pretty terrifying.  I'm not sure if God spared us for a specific purpose, or just to show that His hand is in our lives, but I'm pretty grateful.  Now we are on the lookout for a new car, so let us know if you have any recommendations!

Turkey Day

We have had a crazy month or so. Our laptop died. And since the computer we are using doesn't have an SD card reader, I haven't done much blogging. But I will try to catch up.  We got to go home for about 10 days at Thanksgiving, which was really fun. It gave Grandmas and Grandpas some bonding time with the little guy.

 At the Draney house everyone was home except Chris and Lisa (We missed you!).We had a swing dancing night. Landon says Tami has an awesome seductive look in that second picture, ha.

Grandma got some good dancing in--he didn't step on her toes once!

We also had our annual Turkey bowl, of course.  My favorite play was when our 7-year-old nephew caught a twenty yard touchdown pass! Our little guy watched from the sidelines, but he will be playing soon, I'm sure. Here are some pics of us "playing" on the playground. I have to say, I am disappointed with playground toys these days. All the safety precautions have ruined the fun.  

I just love his hat!

I always forget how much fun I have with my siblings until we can all get together again. It's a blast.  And we love Turkey day!  Dinner was awesome, and we all got to share what we are greatful for. This year I was thinking a lot about how nice it is to have great examples in my family and in Landon's. We are surrounded by good people, who really want to be a part of our lives and help when they can. It has especially been nice while figuring out parenting. Thanks everyone!

We also got to visit the cabin with the Rowley family. There wasn't really snow for snowmobiling, but we rode some 4-wheelers to cut down our Christmas tree!  I'm sad to say though, that for some reason our tree died in like two weeks this year. Good thing we came home after that--it definitely wouldn't have made it to Christmas.  We also had some fun volleyball with the family at the lodge. It was a great time, and really good to see so much family!