Labor Day Activity

For Labor Day we went hiking at Rockbridge State Park. Daisy and Lilly did very well. By Lilly's foot steps, we went close to 10 miles. In real foot steps, her and Daisy walked about a mile. Pretty good for such cute little girls. The boys and I kept going and walked about 3 miles. We even saw a wild, ferocious, man-eating turtle. I assume it was man-eating because Tim would not pick it up. We then had a nice picnic in the park to finish. What a great day!

Ya wanna' bet!

Tim made the brave statement that Lilly's bib would not fit around his head. Being the wise man that I am, I quickly called him on it. The deal was that if it did fit, then he had to wear the bib for dinner . . . I think the photo explains the rest. Also, he was really excited about the photo opportunity :)

First Day of School 09

The kids started school today. Ahhhh, the grind begins again.
The kids were kinda excited. Zach didn't really want to go to school that bad this year.
But Tim on the other hand was pretty stoked. After they came home we already
had to run errands for school the next day and its only the first day. If this
is what is to come I shutter to think.

Zach started middle school this year. (6th grade) I know don't say it. I'm OLD.
I guess in a few years I'll look back and think how young I am but
today I feel very old.
His bus never came today(well it came after school started)
so I took him to school. That was an ordeal. Lots of
parents dropping of kids and on a busy street.

Doesn't he just look like a middle school-er?
Zach is in band this year and he will be playing the trombone.

Tim is in 4th grade this year. This is Tim's first year at school by himself.
No big brother to bother him. However, Kelly's daughter started
kindergarten so she is there to keep him in line.

Random Lilly

Lilly loves her pasta

She also loves to play video games

She always wants your food whatever it is

She is way to fast when changing her diaper or clothes

Up?

Now don't freak out she didn't drink the mtn dew
she just loves to play with the bottles
However this day she was a little tired she
actually fell asleep eating

I just had to through this one in. This is a
doll play pen. This is for her dolls. But she thinks
that it is for her and she fell asleep in it this day

Sitting with Grandma at Zachs party

Mourning Grandpa

The little kids have been missing grandpa a lot lately so we came up with the
idea to write a note and tie it to a balloon and send it off to heaven.

Kelly's little girl Rachel did this with us. She the one in pink
Janah is the other one in the photo.

The kids let them go.
The 2 on the steps are neighbor kids.
They had to know what was going on.

Up, up, up and away

Almost to heaven



Dear Grandpa,

We love and miss you so much. We are glad that you get to be with Jesus.
We are glad that you are not in pain anymore. We wish you could
play with us. We are sad we can't have candy.

Love,
Daisy and Rachel

(these were some of the things they put in their note to grandpa. And the candy thing is that dad always gave the kids candy from his garage or at his house)

Zach's Birthday

I'm a little late in posting this one but like that is a surprise. Anyway, Zach turned 11, can you believe that? I can't believe how old he is. He has really grown up in the last two years.

This year we allowed Zach to have a party. He was so excited he was telling everyone about it. I had to tell him that he could only have 5-6 friends over max. If he had his way he would have invited the whole school. But I digress. Back to the fun stuff.

The kids have started wanting me to make their cakes so this is what Zach wanted this year.
If you don't know what this is it is a Pokemon cake.
It's not professional looking or anything, but all the kids liked it.

Zach helped me make pokemon cookies to give away.
They were sugar cookies that were frosted with vanilla icing
and then we piped on the red and black frosting.
Well, I should say Zach did the red and black parts. He had fun decorating them.

Here is an up close look at the Poke ball on top of the cake

We put a cookie on a plate and then
placed muddy buddies around them.

We got Zach a DSi. He was a little excited.

Grandma had brought over stuff for the goody
bags. They had woo pie cushions. They
were the hit of the party.

This game the kids had to pop balloons.
The prize was that some were filled with
candy. Some were not. But they had to
use their body parts to pop them.

This game was Pokemon Guess Who.
They had Pokemon Charters taped
to their back and they had
to guess who they were.

The last game was a scavenger hunt. They had to
go from place to place in the house, outside,
and then from my brother Kelly's house.
(he's about 3 blocks from us)

I think they had the most fun with this game because they got
to run around and get a prize for finding the clue.

Musical Nights

We had a long day but that hasn't slowed the kids down tonight. After we got done eating a late dinner the kids wanted to listen to music. What can you say but sure because they didn't want to watch tv. They wanted to listen to the love story song that we have on our ipod but it wasn't charged. So they asked if they could listen to it on the computer. I gave in and pulled it up on youtube so they could jam. Well as much as you could with that song.

Anyway, about half way through the song I look over and see three of my children hovered around the computer singing with the song. It was a sight to behold. No fighting, no arguing, no yelling. Just very quietly singing wishing they could sing as loud as they could but new better than to do that. (Ben was still sleeping and I had just got Lilly to sleep)

It was such a sweet moment. This is what makes summer enjoyable. Having the time for the kids to enjoy each other.

Big Surf/ Big Fun

Ben's work does a company picnic at Big Surf every year and this year we actually got to go as a family. We tried to go last year but I went into labor last year. So needless to say Ben and I didn't go. Janah ended up taking the kids.

Tim found a friend from school that was there. It was actually one of Zach's friends but Zach didn't was to go down this slide. It was the scariest slide they had.

(if you click on the photo you can see his face better)
It's like a 90 degree drop. The first time Zach rode he cried. Tim just about peed his pants.
But he wanted to go again so I guess it wasn't that bad.

Ben and I spent most of the time in the kiddie area.
(I wonder why?)

It was so hot that Lilly was drinking gatorade as fast as she could.
Poor thing didn't even want a bottle.

We got a table with an umbrella close to the kiddie area
so Daisy kept walking back and forth.
She had lots of fun being able to splash and jump around.

They had a wave pool but Daisy didn't want anything
to do with it. However, the boys spent almost all their time in it.

I did convince Daisy to go with me in it, or should I say dragged her
in it. Once she was there in the water with me it was "ok".

And this is what happens at the end of the day.
She walked so much and splashed so much
she just tired herself out.

It was a really fun time.

Utah Trip

Ben and Daisy left for Utah the first week of June. They rode out there with his brother Tom and his 8 kids. The other one stayed with me for the week.

They had lots of fun with all the family. Daisy finally got to know some of her Utah cousins. The boys were supposed to work on mom's house that week but things got a little harry so more visiting got done than anything.

Ben got to spend time with his little sis, Cassie, and her kids. They had a family night on Wednesday that week and all the sibling that were in Utah came over for dinner and hung out.

Ben was able to see his brother Darcy who he hasn't seen in about 5 years. It was a really neat experience. Rhett even came in from Ohio with his fiance.

During the week they went to see that new opening of a temple in Utah, went to the airplane museum, and just hung out. Overall it was a nice trip.

We are planing a family trip late this summer so we all can go. Zach and Tim were still in school when Ben and Daisy left. I think they felt a little left out. Oh well, we will make more memories when we hopefully make it out there later this summer.

Dad passed away.

Most of you have heard by now but for journaling sake i need to put this on here. My dad passed away on June 17, 2009. I was not a surprise, we knew it was coming. I spent the last few weeks he had on this earth with him pretty much 24/7.

The last few months have been extremely emotional but rewarding. He had been in and out of the hospital with his cancer. While he was going through his health issues he was able to have perspective on the spiritual side that he never allowed before. He reconnected with his children and wife. Well, really he connected the first time with his children. He saw us as adults who had meaning and could offer something. Not as children who just needed something. It was amazing being able to sit in his hospital room and talk of all things spiritual with him. It was good to see the softer side of my dad. Many people didn't know he had that side to him. He would answer the phone and scare the crap out of grown men. So it was nice to see his softness and love the last 4 months to a year.

I can say that I know that God has a plan for everyone because Ben and I tried so hard last year to move away and everything that we tried (and let me tell you we tried everything under the sun) got shot down. God knew that we needed to stay in Missouri this year. He knew that dad would only be with us this short time. He knew that dad needed us to stay here to help him through all his struggles and joys.

The last few days before he past were extremely had because he was in so much pain. We didn't know if this was going to go on for a long period of time or it is was going to be short lived. Janah and I scared the the crap out of dad the day after he came home from the hospital because we had both stayed the night to help mom. At that point it was taking 2-3 people to get him up to do anything. Even to just set him up in bed. So mom came to get us when he woke up to take him to the bathroom and as Janah and I walked in his bedroom he looked up and said "Oh hell, am I dead". He knew that if Janah and I were there that he must be pretty bad. That was on Saturday morning and he passed on Wednesday. So needless to say Janah and I were extremely grateful that we had the opportunity to spend all the time with him before he left us.

The man who runs the funeral home was a really good friend of dads and he did everything possible for mom to make sure that she didn't have to worry about anything. She never steped foot in the funeral home until the day of the viewing. He brought everything to her. He was truely a God send.

The funeral was held at the Fulton chapel. Our Stake President spoke at the funeral and we had a very nice musical number by members of the church in Fulton. Of course grandma cursed how long the "stupid Mormon funeral" was but that is just grandma. Jesse and I both spoke about dad. When I went to the stand all I could see in the back of the chapel was a sea of blue. There was about 25 highway patrol in uniform who attend. There was also about 30 towers in uniform. (my parents have had a garage and towing business for about 37years). Speaking of towers, they all came with their tow trucks and when we had the processional to the cemetery they lead the pack with the highway patrol with their lights a glowing. It was a sight to behold. If you want to see clips of it you can click HERE. If you would like to read the obit click HERE.

We love you dad and will miss you so much.