We Love You Grandpa!

My Grandpa passed away this morning after a long battle with cancer. I have found out that it is not always fun to be all grown up. When you were a kid you did not have to worry about your Grandparents dying. As an adult you have to learn to pray for things that deep down you really don't want. I prayed that my Grandpa would have comfort and that his suffering would end soon. But my heart hurts today now that he is gone. This was one amazing man. He was an incredible piano player and wrote the song "When Joseph Went To Bethlehem" He could just play by ear. I was so pleased that he was able to play at both of my kids baptisms. My Grandpa has so much patients and love for us you could not help but feel it. My Grandma loves and adores him and it shows. They raised an incredible family that loves each other so much. They helped to make my Dad the man that he is today. My kids asked why I was sad this morning and I told them that he had passed and that he is the reason my Dad is the awesome Grandpa that he is to them. I Love him greatly and will miss him everyday.
I Love You Grandpa!!!

Random Post

So I am trying to catch up on life so much has happened in this last few months. Most of all my heart was broken and I am trying to recover from that. I will hopefully return to normal in the next little while. People tell me that time will heal but the only thing so far that has really healed it is to not talk about it at all. I had one of the parents come up to me today and say thanks and the tears formed again. I really am good if no one talks about it. Also putting me in as a Gospel Doctrine teacher does not help the healing process. I will now stop complaining and move on with the post. ***My brother just called, he had a friend of ours call to see if maybe Matt had left me I guess I should explain myself better. I was released as YW President after 4 years and I had to say goodbye to 15 of what I consider my kids. I know you all won't understand that but it was a very hard thing for me to do. Trust me when you have a call in the YW you will understand.***




Here we are at my mother in laws for Thanksgiving. It is the first time that the whole family has been together in years so that called for a photo. This is the best one that they got on my camera I am hoping that my sister in law got a better one.

Here is Natalee with her award for Reflections at her school. It won an award at the school level and now moves onto the region level. When we get her art work back I will post a picture she really did do a good job.

So the boys headed out to hunt again. They got out just before the first snow fall. No luck this time. I might have to buy the boys some guns so they will bring one home.

The truth is that I really don't want a dead deer hanging in my garage but my little son so badly wants to get one. He is willing to be hauled across mountains at the break of dawn in the freezing cold on only hours of sleep. I really do hope they succeed soon.

Here are the kids on Halloween. Carson had to sneak up behind the girls for this picture because Addie did not love his mask. Grandma and Grandpa had all kinds of fun things for the kids. I remind my kids how lucky they are to have GREAT Grandparents.

Natalee was a Old Time Detective and Carson was a Zombie like the ones on the Michael Jackson Thriller video.

Here are the pumpkin crew. They each carved these cute pumpkins. The scooping out of the seeds is not Carson's favorite thing. Natalee is always game for anything.

My Mom and Dad took me and the kids to a Lego Display. The artist was amazing and we had a great time.

Carson LOVES Legos and he was amazed with all the pieces of art. He came home after and tried to build some of them. He told me that those were harder than they looked.

We went up to a Park City museum to see these pieces and we were blown away. It was really cool. My Dad is the king of finding crazy and fun things to do. We really appreciate the fact that he has that adventurous side in him. Thanks Dad!

Disney World 2009

We spent a wonderful 10 days in Disney World a little over a week ago. We love to leave life behind and spend some time together. Sorry about the extreme amount of pictures to follow.
This is a scary picture because Natalee looks so ready in this truck. Wait a minute she is not even a teen yet.
We went to the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Carson saw it on TV the first day that we got there and I gave in on day 8. It is not like me to drop the extra hundreds to do something like that but the look on his face when we walked in with the tickets was worth every penny. They loaded up on the candy and the Halloween fun.

Ok so stay with me on this one. We met up with my Sister in laws, brothers family while we were there. My kids LOVE their kids. My sister in law has done a good job at getting these kids together when she is in town. Now my kids call them their cousins. It was so much fun to go around with other kids.

Thanks to Erinne and Brian for meeting up with us. The kids loved running around and we loved talking and sharing all our Disney secrets. There family loves Disney just as much as we do.

Here we are in front of the castle. The weather looks scary but it was great for us. We had the cloud cover and we seemed to miss the 3 times that it rained while we were there.

We also rented a car and drove down to Tampa to meet up with my Uncle, his wife and her daughter. We has a great time. My uncle brought all kinds of toys and noodles for the ocean. We sat in the water talking and having a good time. The kids built a castle in the sand and we enjoyed the relaxing day. Thanks Uncle Brian for driving down to see us.

Here is Natalee with her Crab dinner. She was in heaven with the Disney Dinning Plan. She was considered an adult so she got to order from the adult menu and she has $expensive$ taste.

Here is Carson in the Animal Kingdom I told him to look like the skulls. He did an awesome job. We has a lot of fun joking around all the time.

Here are the kids in front of Expedition Everest. This is one of there favorite rides. We went on it 4 times in one day.

Here is Carson with his Bacon Double Cheeseburger. He enjoyed the food also. But his favorites were the Chicken Nuggets, Burgers and Mac and Cheese.

This is at Epcot in front of the lake. The sunset was pretty so I made the kids stop for a picture.

I love this picture. The kids did their best impression of the statue. We were in the countries and saw many cool things.

Matt hates that I made him take this picture. But it is kind of funny.

We met the stars of the movie UP and got this great picture. Our kids are too old for the characters but we made them wait in line for this one.

Here are the kids after we rode the Rockin Roller Coaster. That is also one of their favorite rides. I am not even sure if they know who Aero Smith is but they loved the ride.

Kids First Day of School

So the kids had their first day of school on Monday. It was a sad day for me. We did not have enough summer this year. I was not ready for them to go back. They are having a great time and love to see all their friends each day. Here they are in front of the school. They are in 5th and 3rd grade. They are getting soooo old.

Here is Natalee in her classroom. She is in the portable this year. The kids think that is great. She has a new teacher her name is Miss Eggertsen. So far so good.

Carson has a teacher named Mrs Shoemake. He has about 5 of his best friends in his class this year. This is a very dangerous thing. He like to talk and be social. We have warned him to be good. So far so good.

One last post for now

So our summer group called "Adventure Days" went on a field trip to the State Capitol last week. The kids did a scavenger hunt all over, answering questions and taking picture. Here is one of the pictures.

Use your imagination on this one. The kids had to spell out UTAH with their bodies. They had a great time doing this.

Here are all the kids on the steps with their representative Tim Cosgrove.

He took us on the House of Representatives floor and told us how new laws are made.

The marble work was amazing and the kids had a good time running around checking everything out.

Another Family Reunion

We go to a family reunion in Fair View every year. There are usually about 50 of us in my Uncle's cabin. We always have a great time. Here are the kids in the new Rhino. They love to ride the Rhino and the 4 wheelers.

Here is a little hidden spot that we like to hike to. It is a beautiful spot for pictures.

Here is Carson with my Grandpa. We are so lucky to still have him around, he is recovering from cancer. My kids just love all of their Grandparents. They love having so many of them around.

Here is the Human Bubble machine. We do this every year also. The kids love to do it. Can you see my little nieces face? It is fun.

The girls spent hours out back cutting up plants to look like food. They actually did a great job. We had to get a picture of it.

Here is the Fair View Museum. The kids are standing next to a Mammoth. They also love the pioneer museum that is next door. They have some old phones you know the ones with rotary dialer the kids are amazed with them.

Here are the kids at the parade. They get a crazy amount of loot. Kids have been known to thrown candy back at the floats towards the end of the parade.

Trying to catch up on the blog

Carson and I went to Scout Camp this summer up at Camp Tracy. We had a great time. I could not believe how dirty these kids could get in one day.



I love it that Carson still wants me to go to things with him. I am taking advantage of that while I can. He is a sweet boy and I love him very much.

Here is Carson going through the donuts of doom.

Here he is going through the obstacle course.

This is the gear that the boys had to wear to shoot the sling shots.

Look at that form. The practice with Dad has paid off. He hit all his arrows in the target, but the arrows were missing it's point so they did not stick. Carson was not thrilled with the broken arrows.

Family Reunion In Colorado

So I am trying to catch up now that I am home from Trek. Here is one of the first July trips that we took. My Mom and Dad and all the siblings with family in tow went to the Triple B Ranch near Colorado Springs for our family reunion. We had a BLAST as the kids would say. Thanks Dad and Mom for making sure that we always have a great time.


Here is Krystal and Addie waiting for the fire to be built. We roasted marshmallows, hot dogs, bread sticks and star burst who could ask for more than that?

Here are the kids at the Garden of the Gods. It was amazing. My wonderful sister in law took some family portraits there we can't wait to see how they turned out.

The kids had a great time climbing all over things. Yes we are all in jeans and YES it was very HOT. But we only get a family picture every couple of years.

Here is my Mom with Maddie. I can't remember what she was laughing at but it sure makes for a cute picture.

This picture was just taken from our old crummy camera. The ones that Becky took will turn out a lot better I am sure.

The kids were not amused with me when I told them to go in the meadow and act like they like each other. But the wind in the weeds made for a good picture.

Here is my Dad, Brother, Maddie, Sara and Ellie. We were ready to head out at this point.

The cousins loved the pool at the Ranch. A lot of the time we had it all to ourselves.

Here are my cute kids at the roasting pit. The kids shared their talents with the Grandparents. Natalee even won the Paper Rock Scissors tournament. I am sooo proud.

Here we are after the hay ride. We were still missing 5 others that were taking a nap.