Gingerbread houses at Grandma Markoff's home

The construction pictures are shown in the posting below. We somehow missed a picture of Season's completed house. Maybe Grandma got a picture of it. She did a great job on her house and it was really creative and covered with plenty of candy!

Lauren's house had offered easy access for the birds.

Sariah used the pretzels to keep the birds out :-)

Lee is always trying to pile on plenty of candy. She even got the the idea from a friend that she should load the inside with a years supply of candy. She's always told us that we need to work on our food storage!

Grandpa and Sheridan were very proud of the job that they did in record time. Actually, they were the last done.

Grandma and Sariah took a moment to pose for a publicity shot to help promote this great work.

Gingerbread houses at Grandma Markoff's (Ken's Mom)

Every year close to Christmas day, the girls and I pack up for Grandma's house. Over the hills and thru the woods, to Grandmother's house we go... She makes the homes from scratch with a pattern borrowed from a friend. That friend passed away in November, so she was forced to find a new pattern. The girls and I concluded that they were actually birdhouses. They worked out great!

Lee and Sariah on a sugar high, try to finish the project under the deadline.

Season? Texting during this important tradition? Come on!

Sheridan and Grandpa Markoff were construction partners (this allowed Mommy to be the photographer this year). It was so cute, he just scootched in beside her when we were getting setup. Grandpa usually is working when we do the Gingerbread houses. It was fun to have him help!

We are Requesting Prayers for my Sister Cassie & her Family

On Thursday morning, Cassie went to a scheduled OB visit for her 39 week gestational age, baby boy. It was discovered that he had died prior to the visit. She was induced for the vaginal birth right away and brought his still body into this world a little after 8pm that night. The shock and sadness have touched many of their family and friends. Both Cassie, Bear and their children, Patrick 5 and Conner almost 3, has been understandably overwhelming. After his body was delivered, they chose the name of James Little Bear Holden. His features were very similar to that of little Conner. Bear was so overcome with grief that he was unable to hold Baby James. Cassie however, held him for an hour or so before he was taken for an autopsy. They chose to have this performed due to the obvious and severe deterioration of James' body. So many questions arise when a tragedy like this occurs. We hope that the procedure will answer a few of these questions. Cassie and Bear decided that Patrick and Conner should not see his body. I hope that this was a wise choice, but it is done. We are asking for the prayers of our family and friends to help them to be comforted during this time of heartache, loss and eventual mending of their broken hearts. Thank you in advance for your prayers and concern.

Life in the Toone Household

Update with our Family. Life with 5 daughters, 3 dogs and 1 saltwater aquarium is always busy and eventful. We enjoy the constant chaos and change that is thrown our way weekly.

Lauren & Lee always busy with life as high schoolers and young women growing into lovely adults. Lauren with morning classes at the high school and afternoon hairstyling at Boulder Tech, keeps her very busy and excited for her future. She is confident and outgoing. Strives to be a good leader in her role a Section Leader for the flutes during this year as a Junior. Lee is gaining momentum and strength after the initial phase of Mono. Exhaustion is still a threat, but school attendance is improving and she is able to stay on top of assignments much better. We decided that participating in school Basketball for the winter season would not be wise in her attempt to recoup and prepare for Soccer this spring.

Season being our only middle school kid, is a delightful and friendly 'tween'. She has felt so grown up since being able to join the Young Women program, being 12 has it's advantages. School is a struggle for her. Organization and focus have not been strengths for her, we work daily on improvement. She is making real effort and is beginning to enjoy success.

Sariah has really launched in 1st grade. Reading everything including her scriptures, is something she works on constantly. She is very bright and we have begun to call her a sponge. I have heard that she is very respectful and obeys the rules at school. I often wonder where that goes during the drive home everyday.

Sheridan and I are enjoying our time together. She has never had me to herself as all of the other girls have experienced at one time or another. Her health this year so far, has been outstanding! Everyone else in the house, other than Daddy, has been pretty sick or injured. It has been exciting to see her enjoy the Fall and now, Winter weather! I feel bad that I have been the one sick and we haven't been able to do the little things that I look forward to when they are little like this.

I am truly grateful for my Honey, Ken. He is a dedicated, hardworking man. He very seldom will 'veg' out. It really drives me nuts sometimes. Business is going well enough that he really needs an assistant to free up his time to work his leads and continue to service his clients like they have become accustomed.

We have been blessed with a delightful family! Our children are respectful and kind to others, (at home is often a little different though). We feel the Lord and his blessings in our lives. Baby steps have strengthen us and made us better people and a stronger family unit. We love the Lord and recognize His hand in this growth.

Couple of Snapshots from Thanksgiving

Sardakowski Family tradition for Thanksgiving always includes a trip to the Denver Zoo or Museum of Natural History. We all enjoyed the Museum this year. It was relatively cool outside this year, so we opted for the museum. Grandma & Grandpa always purchase a family pass which gets all of the grandbabies in for free. We then journey to the host house. This year Nathanael & Jessica hosted us in their new home in Littleton. Delicious food was enjoyed and relationships were strengthened. Serene, Kyle and baby Brigham drove in from Utah. We really missed Ammon who lives Glenwood Springs, Rebekah & her family in Washington state and George & his family in Alaska. Otherwise everyone else came from around the metro area. We all are truly thankful for the love and support that we share in the Sardakowski Family!

Cousins Sariah and Brigham, snuggle after the Sardakowski Thanksgiving meal. Brigham was born in July and already weighs 18 pounds. He is a big boy! Aunt Serene calls him her 'old man'. He is a sweet and happy baby!Mommy & Sheridan enjoy a break from food preparation. It was very loud with the game on the TV, babies crying and everyone talking. Loads of noise is a way of life with our large family. We always love getting together as a family!

This is Jessica & Nathanael's beautiful baby girl Leah. Mommy and Leah show very little sign of stress while hosting dinner. Leah did get upset that she could not sample Aunt Amber's Sweet Potato Casserole and Christmas Slush. Just wait until next year Leah :0)

Our Three Dogs

Joe is out Great Pyrenees/Golden Retriever mix. We figure that he is at least 13 years old. Our black dog is Colby, we call him our Heinz 57 dog. He is a mix of several different breeds. The prominent breed would be Border Collie. Colby is about 7 or 8 years old, (we can't quite pinpoint when my sister Bekah & I picked him up from a gas station in the corner of Arizona, between Vegas and St. George). Then there is Rufus our 9 month old Pug. He is the only purebred dog I have owned. Growing up, my family always adopted those mutts that became beloved members of our family. Now my brothers and sisters all have purebreds of different varieties. Even Mom & Dad own a couple of their own :0)

I wanted to post this picture of our dogs, in the garage, after Joe had a bath. We are faced with needing to put Joe down very soon. He has gotten so old that he only gets up when he eats, needs a drink and answer nature's call. As it gets colder, he gets 'stuck' and we need to lift him to get his feet below his body. His aspirin two times a day help quite a bit, but it just doesn't help him get on his feet. It is a hard decision to make, but we are holding on for our own comfort at this point. We would like to wait until after the Holidays, but we will see what Joe's health will dictate.

We have loved and cherished Joe Joe. As with any big dog, he was always in the way. What is it with big dogs? They always find the tightest, smallest and most inconvenient places to lie down. He has stolen his fair share of food from the dinner table or counters. Escaped many times from our yards to explore the nearby homes and parks. He is always gentle and doesn't mind when the 'Animal Warden' approaches him to return him home. His partner in crime has always been Colby. Colby is never quite ready to come home and tends to get aggressive with the 'Warden'. The two of them have been very close buddies since Colby joined our family. We expect that Colby will go thru some considerable grieving when Joe is gone. Rufus will also grieve a bit. At least they will have each other and the pain will pass.

Sheridan and I went swimming at Paul Derda Rec Center 2 weeks ago. Her favorite part is always the fountains! She really froze her little hiney though until she discovered the family hottub. We spent the majority of our time in it. Check out her little pose below...

Gotta enjoy the time that you have because when you blink it's gone! I really am loving her at this age, probably because she's it until grandchildren :0)

I got flowers!

Kyle, Serene and baby Brigham sent me 'Get Well Soon' flowers. (Strep throat hits me pretty hard everytime).Thanks you guys, there are so beautiful!

Where is Sheridan? We put her to bed...

We put Sheridan to bed fully dressed in a clean, uncluttered bed last night. I went in to check on her at 10:30pm and was really confused. Where is Sheridan?

With only a nitelite to guide me, I gently felt all over the pile until I found an arm.

At this point, I decided to grab the camera.
I lifted off the book that she fell asleep under.

With the mystery solved... I straightened up her bed. I put the pull-ups back into the basket, placed all of her books into a neat pile on her dresser, put all of her little puppies back into their bed, folded up her pajamas, repositioned her in her bed and made sure she was covered with a few of the blankets she had chosen. Then I kissed her goodnight and took a final picture. Goodnight my little Sheridan. Sleep tight!

Our Beautiful Afternoon at the Pumpkin Patch Part 2

Sariah & Sheridan pose as cute little scarecrow and jack-o-lantern. Sheridan will actually be a jack-o-lantern for Halloween this year.

Top left is Season, next is Lee. Below Lee on the right is Lauren. Sheridan is across from Lauren and finally Sariah is holding the whole pyramid up!

Season looks straight into the sun so that I don't get the 'shadow' effect. She had to hold down her hair, so it wouldn't fly into her face.

Lee was helping Sheridan find her pumpkin. She said that Sheridan just walked right up to the right one and told her that she wanted that one to be hers. Lee found her own not far from there.

There were acres and acres of pumpkins. They always have a corn maze and other attractions in addition to the pick your own pumpkin setup. It's northwest of Denver, but only 5 minutes from our house in Broomfield. It was a great day!

Pumpkin Hunting at the Pumpkin Patch Part 1

Family Time at the Pumpkin Patch in Lafayette, Colorado

We were able to pull the whole family together to go to the Rock Creek Farm Pumpkin Patch close by our house. The older ones really didn't want to go, but when we were there...we all enjoyed the pumpkin hunting, farm animals, weather and the really short drive home.

Sariah is always posing when she is alone in a picture.

Ahhh, Sheridan! Her first pumpkin patch experience. She went so far searching for "Sheridan's" pumpkin (she's always talking in 3rd person).

Ken is our fearless leader. He was busy taking all of the pictures, so I took the camera from him and I snapped the unwilling subject.

Lauren & Mommy. Lauren had a brand new, lovely, baby blue cast put on earlier today. She staked her claim just a few minutes after this shot. She discovered her perfect pumpkin and sat promptly down upon it, while everyone else searched a few acres or more.

Lauren hobbled around on crutches thru the patch.

Sheridan is 'Pluggo' Free

Our sweet little Sheridan misplaced her pacifier the other night. I looked, but not that hard. I told her that I could not find it. I asked her if she thought that she could sleep without it for the night. She said, "I think so". She did. I thought that maybe naps would no longer happen without a pluggo. Guess what? She did that too! So here we are on night #3 and have also had 2 successful naps without the pluggos. Yeah! Could it really be this easy? It was so hard with the other girls. I will post pictures later. Love to all of you and goodnight!

Serene & Kyle proud parents of Baby Brigham

Baby Brigham was born in July. They are such a cute little family. Serene & Kyle have been blessed with a happy and content baby boy. What luck!

Sheridan and the Potty

Sheridan has the 'pee in the potty' mastered. We cannot however, say the same about the 'poop in the potty'. Frustration for her and mommy. We ran up and down the stairs 5 times in 30 minutes yesterday (she needs to use the right potty). Prayers would be greatly appreciated. Good thing we didn't enroll her in preschool this year. :-)

The Newest Little Cousin Leah Kaye Sardakowski

Nathanael & Jessica have become the parents of beautiful Leah Kaye Sardakowski. She was born on September 24th or 25th. Forgive me, I just can't remember what day it was. I really think it was the 24th. I was thinking that it could become confusing with our daughter Lee and the new little Leah. I guess since they are 15 years apart, it shouldn't get too confusing. Welcome Leah.

Rufus now

He is so funny! He loves to pose for his picture.

Rufus sees the camera pointing at him and he sits down and waits patiently. He weighs about 15 pounds now and has slowed down in his growth. He is very loved. I feel bad because Joe & Colby don't get to come inside often, but Rufus is more or less an inside dog. He chills and shivers badly when it hits 45 degrees.

Chaos and the New School Year!

August 18th & 19th school began. On the 19th, the first day that Sheridan and Mommy had alone together, Amber stepped into a hole that Colby (the medium sized dog), dug for her. Thought it was a sprain, turned out to be a mild break. Tough luck. Week later she had her final wisdom tooth removed.

Ken continues to work his tail off to provide for his girls. He feels like his life is work, workout and fix things. He is amazed at how he can use less gas than Amber does, even when he drives to appointments throughout the week. He is in great health and nothing ever seems to affect him. His is still working the body of the Suburban. He did complete the 5 year long, project with the '67 Mustang. Yeah!

Everyday, we run the girls to early morning Seminary, then Season & Sariah to separate schools. On Wednesdays, Season has late start, so this works out to be an extra trip. Run errands between start and end of school. At 2:30pm, the running begins again. Since Lauren has a stress fracture in her foot, she gets picked up too. Pick up Sariah, come home for a few, pickup Season & Lauren. Mondays; Lee to and from soccer & Lauren to and from Marching band. Tuesdays; Lee to soccer in Boulder, stay with her for 1 1/2 hours. Wednesdays; Lauren to and from Marching Band, Season & Lee to YW. Thursdays; Lee to soccer in Boulder (another 1 1/2 hours hanging out). Fridays; my day off. Ha! Run girls to friends or Football games, Lauren plays with the band in these. Saturdays; soccer games all over the Denver area, then any other activities through the day (includes youth dances once a month). ALWAYS RUNNING!





Lee was recognized for making Honor Roll last spring with a 3.5 GPA. Great job Lee! Lauren was put into the position of Drum Major in Marching Band, this is because she cannot march with a cast. Season turned 12 and got her own cell phone. Sariah is thrilled to be in 1st grade. The homework has been surprisingly abundant. Sheridan enjoys time with Mommy but is always asking to go to her friends' house. She's so grown up.





We have had our bouts of illness. We are waiting for results on a Mono test for Lee. She's been a mess. Exhaustion is killing her. She has changed her schedule to accomodate release time Seminary in stead of early morning, hoping that the extra hour will help (this was before we suspected Mono). Season had strep a couple of weeks ago. She is much better now.

UPDATE: Lee's bloodwork came back positive for Mono. Yuck! She hopes to feel better soon!





Overall, we plug away everyday. This is the life of our 'larger' family by today's standards. We are truly blessed to have these sweet spirits.

"Our Pug Rufus"
This is going to be our new puppy. Rufus will be the newest member of the Toone clan. He is 6 weeks old and we will be getting him on the 18th when he turns 8 weeks. Everyone is very excited. A new baby in the house will be fun and hard work too! We hope to train him right from the start and teach him to be a good puppy. Doesn't he look so cute?!?!

Happy April Fool's Day or the Atheist Holiday!

This is probably one of the best emails this year! Have you heard about this case?

Great answer from the judge! In Florida, an atheist became incensed over the preparation of Easter and Passover holidays.

He decided to contact his lawyer about the discrimination inflicted on atheists by the constant celebrations afforded to Christians and Jews with all their holidays while atheists had no holiday to celebrate.

The case was brought before a judge.

After listening to the long passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel and declared, 'Case dismissed!'

The lawyer immediately stood and objected to the ruling and said, 'Your honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case?

The Christians have Christmas, Easter and many other observances. Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah..yet my client and all other atheists have no such holiday!'

The judge leaned forward in his chair and simply said, 'Obviously your client is too confused to even know about, much less celebrate, his own atheists' holiday!'

The lawyer pompously said, 'Your Honor, we are unaware of any such holiday for atheists. Just when might that holiday be, your Honor?'

The judge said, 'Well it comes every year on exactly the same date---April 1st!

Since our calendar sets April 1st as 'April Fools Day,' consider that Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' Thus, in my opinion, if your client says there is no God, then by scripture, he is a fool, and April 1st is his holiday! Now, have a good day and get out of my courtroom.

Favorite links listed below

I wanted to list my favorite website for free items and awesome internet deals. Just ask me about it and how to find the deals. We are not involved in business with this website, I just love it and find free things and deals on many things we need to buy. I will try to figure out how to post in a specific area for my best websites to visit. The address is http://www.dealtaker.com/ You'll love it too!

My next would have to be http://www.craigslist.com/ . Be careful when entering the address yourself not to put "craiglist.com" as we have discovered it is a porn site and very hard to exit when it has been opened. Just use my link above then enter it into your favorites. You will need to click on your metro area city.

Finally everyone knows how much I love to buy and sell on http://www.ebay.com/ ! Enjoy and check out these sites. Love to you all!

Todd, Tamara, Ellie and Kira after becoming a Forever Family

What a beautiful family! They became a Forever Family today, March 25th, 2008. The girls were so cute and angelic dressed in white for the sealing.

Jesse & Dara introduce Claire Marie Sardakowski

7 day old Claire Marie visits the Denver Temple after Todd & Tamara's family sealingElisabeth smiles by the fountain in front of the temple

Here are some recent pictures of our girls...

Family Picture to come...

We will have a new family picture to post in April. So for now, the picture shown is of flowers that Daddy got us girls for Valentine's Day. So beautiful and sweet!