I love this time of year. It is so wonderful, everyone is filled with joy. Except for people in the return line at Walmart. Besides that people are pretty great. I have to ad though that I miss Laurie and Dennis even more this time of year. I have chocked up quite a few times thinking about them. I miss going over to there house, going to see Christmas light with them, Dennis handing us our Christmas money down the sacrament bench, right in the middle of the sacrament. He did this the past couple of years and had a big grin on his face both times. I guess I just miss spending the holidays with them in general. I went to visit aunt Fay yesterday, her comment was does it get any easier. She shared some stories of Laurie's younger years with Brianna and I and of course showered my Children with gifts. It only makes you miss Laurie more because aunt Fay is so wonderful just like Laurie was to everyone. Kyle called her grandma. It was extra special this month when all of the Brown boys got together. We miss Mark and Suzy's family so much so it was so fun to have Mark here at least. The boys really had a great time and I think it should be a tradition. I really appreciated all of the wives giving up there weekend so the boys could be together. On to the kids
Naomi- still runs around without clothes. She is not concerned about the snow outside. She can get her own coat and boots on when it is time to go; so who needs clothes. Tonight I was wrapping presents with the kids in the back and she decided to start unwrapping a couple under the tree. She unwrapped a dolly that grandma Brown and I bought 3 years ago. She loves it. I told her it was for her on Christmas we wrapped it back up together and then she set on the package for a better part of the night and said Na's baby. She loves to pester Kam. She sings with me when I play the piano. Every morning when she wakes up she wants her blankie aunt Farrah made when she was born, her sippy, and a cartoon on. She usually has a hope in her step and says happy a lot. Love it. Naomi also wants to participate in anything we are doing.
Kameron- Has not been feeling really well this week so he has watched a lot of diego. Today we were watching it together and he sang every song. At preschool he got to see Santa. He loved that. The other day I went to the grocery store and only had enough cash in my wallet to get the things on my list. Well he wanted popscicles because we were out and the kids eat them in the bath tub. I told him next time we go to the store he can get popscicles. So a couple of days latter we go to Broulims and the first thing he said when we pull up is yeah popscicles. He has a mind like a hawk. He loves to work on his preschool book and does a great job at it. I was having him do it while I was getting ready the other. I was very impressed. He is not the greatest eater but we are trying to work on it. He pretty much only likes toast, bannanas, peanut butter, bacon, corn dog skin. Such a fun little boy. He brings me joy.
Kyle- has been extra excited this month, because there is an elf at our house, her name is Mrs. Peeps. She hides at night and every morning when Kyle wakes up he goes to find her. She reports back to Santa. I have to say Kyle has been so good this month. He works so hard at his reading and is doing great. I love his desire to keep practicing. Whenever we go out to the house, he wants to get out of the car immediately. He is so excited. But the thing he wants the most with the house is a laundry chute in his room. We are seeing if we can get that to work. A couple of weeks ago he built an awesome book holder with grandpa Carlson for Brianna. I have to say he has a huge heart and loves to share. After Halloween I would ask the kids for a treat, Kam would say no, Brianna would say maybe one, Kyle would say take a handful mom. This is definately one of his gifts. He really does have a huge heart.
Brianna- loves to play the old school nintendo and WII with dad. I am not great at the games so it is really a dad and Brianna thing. She is getting old enough to watch the kids for a little bit. She is really responsible for her age. She always has been. She is growing up to fast. In fact today she was playing with the kids in toys r us and riding lets just say a little kids bike. I told her I was glad to see her on it because I don't want her to grow up so fast. She has an incredible singing voice. I love to hear her sing her pitch is so perfect. Her and I get to sing in Primary in a couple of weeks. She continues to be extra creative playing spy games with the kids and creating awesome houses for all of the kids to play in. She is so smart in school and continues to excel there. I just love having her around, she is my friend.
Dave- I love the man a ton. What can I say. His biggest accomplishment of the month was getting the fish tank and air hockey table lowered into our basement. I think it was a burden off his shoulder. He was very smart about doing it to. He got the hockey table up on two jacks and then tried to drive the yellow trailer under it. I love him tons. His work continues to grow and the people that hire him always have great things to say about him. I love reading the reviews on google. The other day he came home with a fish themed gift basket. It was from one his clients thanking him. It said that they were so glad they hired him' and they appreciated how personable and proffesional he was and that he gave them 100%. I love that Dave takes his work so serious. This kind of stuff always makes a wife feel good. Anyways all is well in our family. Merry Christmas
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Life is going great!
Just time to drop another blog. I have to say that we are feeling so blessed lately. We live in a wonderful ward, great neighborhood, good school for the kids and are have great family. The Lord is definately blessing us. The house has the footings poured and they are suppose to be building the cement walls today, crazy. It has been intresting how it has all started to come together the last couple of weeks. So I will start to write about the kids
Naomi- Still hates her clothes, will wear them if we are going somewhere she would not want to miss the party. But the second we step into the house she expresses her independance by ripping them off. She is so funny. Last week they were watching Calliou and I decided to go take a bath since that doesn't happen very often during the day. I got in the bath and I heard something break. She had thrown the remote control on her bowl of cereal and shattered the bowl. So I cleaned it up and went back to the bath. She followed me ripped off her diaper and jumped in with me. I thought wait I did not invite you, less then two seconds later she peed on me. We both got right out of the bath. It is bueatiful being a mother it makes me laugh. Bath time for me will have to be after the kids go to bed. She is talking a lot. She says bye daddy, and night night mommy, and all sorts of words. Sometimes she just starts saying a whole bunch of sounds I just smile nod my head and say yes.
Kameron- is my big helper. He does whatever I do during the day. If I make cookies he is right there on the counter pouring the ingredients in, he has to put the milk in the shopping cart and he just helps a lot. So the other day him and I were folding laundry and he told me he was going to get the hangers out of his closet so I could hang up the kid's clothes. I went to check on him and to my suprise he had gotten the hangers. He would take down the hangers that allready had clothes on them and pull the clothes off. It was kind of funny, but created a little more work. He was so excited for Halloween he could not stand it. He got this big old pumpkin bucket at a garage sale and he put it under his bed. He kept asking when we were going to go fill it with lots of candy. He loved halloween and can't wait for next year when we go trick or treating and fill our pumpkins again.
Kyle- got a huge pumpkin this year it was 28 lbs. He was way excited. When it came time to carve it, he did it all by himself. He loved it, he gutted it and cut out the face. We were proud of him. Last week Brianna and him helped me paint a chested drawers for her room. Kyle was in charge of sanding the old stuff off. He loved that job and rocked at it. I was so fun to watch him with tools. He and Kameron spent lots of time outside in the snow. They filled up the swimming pool and made a snow box and then built a snowman. Kyle is creative and so fun to watch. He is also one handsome man and he has lots of friends.
Brianna-had a great time with Halloween. She found a movie star costume and looked so bueatiful. She did her hair curly and really dressed the outfit up with jewelry. We had such an awesome time trick or treating. First we went to Farrah and Dougs neighborhood which was awesome. Then Dave went home with the two little ones and Kyle Brianna and I went out in the country. It rocked. At the first house they got a big candy bar. We were all so excited. The other houses were fun to most of them gave out 2-3 little candy bars and one gave a pop. They came home and sorted out there candy. It was so fun to watch there excitement. I got to go to Brianna and Kyles classroom for there parties, they helped me create the games. Brianna has lots of friends. She can read from 4-6 grade books. She got the love of reading from Grandma Brown. She reads her scriptures every night we continue to be so proud of her. She still loves to play barbies and creates these awesome rooms, it really impresses me. Dave and I have been called to be her primary teacher, I love teaching my kids primary classes it is the best calling in the world.
Dave has implemented a great routine before bed. They have 5-7 minutes to get ready for bed and then we sparkle the living room and do dishes together, then read scriptures and go to bed. Love it.
Naomi- Still hates her clothes, will wear them if we are going somewhere she would not want to miss the party. But the second we step into the house she expresses her independance by ripping them off. She is so funny. Last week they were watching Calliou and I decided to go take a bath since that doesn't happen very often during the day. I got in the bath and I heard something break. She had thrown the remote control on her bowl of cereal and shattered the bowl. So I cleaned it up and went back to the bath. She followed me ripped off her diaper and jumped in with me. I thought wait I did not invite you, less then two seconds later she peed on me. We both got right out of the bath. It is bueatiful being a mother it makes me laugh. Bath time for me will have to be after the kids go to bed. She is talking a lot. She says bye daddy, and night night mommy, and all sorts of words. Sometimes she just starts saying a whole bunch of sounds I just smile nod my head and say yes.
Kameron- is my big helper. He does whatever I do during the day. If I make cookies he is right there on the counter pouring the ingredients in, he has to put the milk in the shopping cart and he just helps a lot. So the other day him and I were folding laundry and he told me he was going to get the hangers out of his closet so I could hang up the kid's clothes. I went to check on him and to my suprise he had gotten the hangers. He would take down the hangers that allready had clothes on them and pull the clothes off. It was kind of funny, but created a little more work. He was so excited for Halloween he could not stand it. He got this big old pumpkin bucket at a garage sale and he put it under his bed. He kept asking when we were going to go fill it with lots of candy. He loved halloween and can't wait for next year when we go trick or treating and fill our pumpkins again.
Kyle- got a huge pumpkin this year it was 28 lbs. He was way excited. When it came time to carve it, he did it all by himself. He loved it, he gutted it and cut out the face. We were proud of him. Last week Brianna and him helped me paint a chested drawers for her room. Kyle was in charge of sanding the old stuff off. He loved that job and rocked at it. I was so fun to watch him with tools. He and Kameron spent lots of time outside in the snow. They filled up the swimming pool and made a snow box and then built a snowman. Kyle is creative and so fun to watch. He is also one handsome man and he has lots of friends.
Brianna-had a great time with Halloween. She found a movie star costume and looked so bueatiful. She did her hair curly and really dressed the outfit up with jewelry. We had such an awesome time trick or treating. First we went to Farrah and Dougs neighborhood which was awesome. Then Dave went home with the two little ones and Kyle Brianna and I went out in the country. It rocked. At the first house they got a big candy bar. We were all so excited. The other houses were fun to most of them gave out 2-3 little candy bars and one gave a pop. They came home and sorted out there candy. It was so fun to watch there excitement. I got to go to Brianna and Kyles classroom for there parties, they helped me create the games. Brianna has lots of friends. She can read from 4-6 grade books. She got the love of reading from Grandma Brown. She reads her scriptures every night we continue to be so proud of her. She still loves to play barbies and creates these awesome rooms, it really impresses me. Dave and I have been called to be her primary teacher, I love teaching my kids primary classes it is the best calling in the world.
Dave has implemented a great routine before bed. They have 5-7 minutes to get ready for bed and then we sparkle the living room and do dishes together, then read scriptures and go to bed. Love it.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Tuesday October 17
I think I will start with things the kids have done and then sum it up.
Naomi- Hates clothes, hating is an understatement. She runs around with a diaper on only almost all day. I do not know what she is going to do when winter comes. Sunday we put her dress on for church and she threw a 30-40 minute tantrum trying to get her dress off the whole time. She took off her shoes and put white ones on. I decided it was not worth forcing the black shoes, so she wore white shoes with a purple dress and black socks. Dave called them Na quakes. (Earthquakes) She even had after shock tantrums. AMAZING. This week we took the kids to the temple visitor center for family home evening. Naomie loved the large statue of Christ. She kept going over to it and touching it and saying Jesus. She was reverant and could not get enough. We watched while we were there. It was called Gordon B. Hinckley lessons learned. It is about two boys that see some boots in a field. They were going to steal them and see what the owner would do. One boy suggested they put a silver dollar in instead. When the man came from the field he found the dollars and was overjoyed. He kneeled and thanked the lord because his family did not have bread. When we got home Naomi found some rocks and put some in each one of dads shoes, she borught them to him. I can't believe that she learned that from the movie.
Kameron- loves his preschool, he is so done potty training. He loved it. He walks around in his underwear all of the time. He is so witty and always says the funniest little things. Our daily routine is snuggle and watch a show, then he insists on unloading the dishwasher, then Naomi and him take a bath with a popsicle and then we do an activity. After lunch he watches a movie and if I get a chance I lay down for a minute, he makes me lay on the couch right by him. He also loves hide and seek, he is pretty good at it to. He hid in Brianna's barbie house on the second floor today. I could not find him. He is a joy.
Kyle- is starting to love school and is really coming along in his reading. Everynight we get to read for 20 minutes. It is so fun to see his progress. He is pretty funny and thinks it is him job to make sure everybody is doing what they are suppose to. If Brianna isn't hurrying to the bus for example he keeps telling her to hurry. He has built lots of ramps for his bicycles lately and is pretty creative at it. The other day he made one using Daves old fish tank stand and rocks to make it higher. Dave put a paint can under it to stableize it a little more. He is a builder.
Brianna- is way into fashion right now. It is so fun to watch, every morning she goes into her room and comes out looking like a super model. She really is creative and has a real fashion sense. In fact I may take tips from her. She went on a daddy daughter date with Dave last Wednesday her costume is a super model, Dave came up with the perfect outfit to go with it, he was a security guard for her. He made a tag and wore a white shirt. They had tons of fun, there was a spook alley and dinner, it was awesome. She is doing excellent in school and continues to love to read. We found a new website I think it is called cutegirlhair.com anyways we have had fun doing her hair many new ways.
Our family has had an awesome week. On Saturday the kids and dave spoiled me rotten on my birthday. Kyle gave me a gold Christmas tree, Brianna a musketeer bar and junior mints, Kameron a green tree (he wanted a blue one for me so him and I went and got the blue one, he carried it around the next 2 days), Naomi gave me a snowman. I went out to lunch with my family and Brianna way fun. Shalee brought over an awesome necklace way excited. Then that evening we went to the pumpkin patch. It was sooooooo much fun. Kyle choose a 28 lb pumpkin, the other kids got fantastic pumpkins to. That night we came home and Dave made popcorn in his awesome popcorn machine. We had $5 pizza and watched a movie. Thanks everyone for making it an awesome birthday. Life has been pretty great lately. I am thankful everyday for the church in my life and I know that the Savior loves me and each one of my family members very much.
Naomi- Hates clothes, hating is an understatement. She runs around with a diaper on only almost all day. I do not know what she is going to do when winter comes. Sunday we put her dress on for church and she threw a 30-40 minute tantrum trying to get her dress off the whole time. She took off her shoes and put white ones on. I decided it was not worth forcing the black shoes, so she wore white shoes with a purple dress and black socks. Dave called them Na quakes. (Earthquakes) She even had after shock tantrums. AMAZING. This week we took the kids to the temple visitor center for family home evening. Naomie loved the large statue of Christ. She kept going over to it and touching it and saying Jesus. She was reverant and could not get enough. We watched while we were there. It was called Gordon B. Hinckley lessons learned. It is about two boys that see some boots in a field. They were going to steal them and see what the owner would do. One boy suggested they put a silver dollar in instead. When the man came from the field he found the dollars and was overjoyed. He kneeled and thanked the lord because his family did not have bread. When we got home Naomi found some rocks and put some in each one of dads shoes, she borught them to him. I can't believe that she learned that from the movie.
Kameron- loves his preschool, he is so done potty training. He loved it. He walks around in his underwear all of the time. He is so witty and always says the funniest little things. Our daily routine is snuggle and watch a show, then he insists on unloading the dishwasher, then Naomi and him take a bath with a popsicle and then we do an activity. After lunch he watches a movie and if I get a chance I lay down for a minute, he makes me lay on the couch right by him. He also loves hide and seek, he is pretty good at it to. He hid in Brianna's barbie house on the second floor today. I could not find him. He is a joy.
Kyle- is starting to love school and is really coming along in his reading. Everynight we get to read for 20 minutes. It is so fun to see his progress. He is pretty funny and thinks it is him job to make sure everybody is doing what they are suppose to. If Brianna isn't hurrying to the bus for example he keeps telling her to hurry. He has built lots of ramps for his bicycles lately and is pretty creative at it. The other day he made one using Daves old fish tank stand and rocks to make it higher. Dave put a paint can under it to stableize it a little more. He is a builder.
Brianna- is way into fashion right now. It is so fun to watch, every morning she goes into her room and comes out looking like a super model. She really is creative and has a real fashion sense. In fact I may take tips from her. She went on a daddy daughter date with Dave last Wednesday her costume is a super model, Dave came up with the perfect outfit to go with it, he was a security guard for her. He made a tag and wore a white shirt. They had tons of fun, there was a spook alley and dinner, it was awesome. She is doing excellent in school and continues to love to read. We found a new website I think it is called cutegirlhair.com anyways we have had fun doing her hair many new ways.
Our family has had an awesome week. On Saturday the kids and dave spoiled me rotten on my birthday. Kyle gave me a gold Christmas tree, Brianna a musketeer bar and junior mints, Kameron a green tree (he wanted a blue one for me so him and I went and got the blue one, he carried it around the next 2 days), Naomi gave me a snowman. I went out to lunch with my family and Brianna way fun. Shalee brought over an awesome necklace way excited. Then that evening we went to the pumpkin patch. It was sooooooo much fun. Kyle choose a 28 lb pumpkin, the other kids got fantastic pumpkins to. That night we came home and Dave made popcorn in his awesome popcorn machine. We had $5 pizza and watched a movie. Thanks everyone for making it an awesome birthday. Life has been pretty great lately. I am thankful everyday for the church in my life and I know that the Savior loves me and each one of my family members very much.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE!!
I was going to write dave a personal letter, but I felt that I would put it on the blog, because if I put it on a simple piece of paper it gets lost and I want my kids to remember why I love ther daddy so much.
Dear Dave,
Happy 34th Birthday according to Brianna. I wasn't sure how old you were. Seriously though I know you have to work all day today, but I want you to know how much I love you and why. There are many reasons why but I this last year the word strong comes into my head. You are strong in many ways. You are a strong in the gospel. I love that you have a testimony and love of the savior. I love that you honor your priesthood and give our children and myself blessings. I love that you always fufill your church callings. You are physically strong. You definately can do all the man work around here and I love it. You are always fixing things, lifting things, taking care of things and etc. Love it. I disagree with my dad I know you can lift the snow blower into the attic. J/K you know he was kidding and loves you tons. While these Strengths are awesome, there is a different Strength that I have seen from you this year. Dave the kids are throwing your birthday balloons at my head, maybe to make me laugh because as I write this I am tearing up a little. I have to say that I always knew you were amazing and that you could do anything you put your mind to, but this last year I learned so much more about the qualities, abilities and strength you really have been blessed with. Dave at a very young age you were faced with things that most do not have to face in a lifetime. You loved your mom and dad so much and have endless memories with them. But when your dad passed away it was no question in your mind that you would care for your mother. Dave I know you have heard this many times but again I want the kids to know this. You were so selfless and mature during this time. While it was hard you still balanced work, church, your mom and each one of us. You tried to take care of all of these things and gave all you had to these categories. Your concerns were towards making sure we all were ok and that your dad would know that we loved your mom and would do anything we could for them. I think you thought little of yourself during that time. You were suffering from losing your father, but put all of your energy into what needed to be done. Dave those few months taught me so much about you. You are a selfless giant. Thank you for your example. You have an incredible amount of inner strength and abilities. My love for you is deep and I am grateful that I have the privelage of calling you my husband and father of my children, besides you make me laugh almost everyday. Love you tons hun. Happy Birthday Love always Melanie
Dear Dave,
Happy 34th Birthday according to Brianna. I wasn't sure how old you were. Seriously though I know you have to work all day today, but I want you to know how much I love you and why. There are many reasons why but I this last year the word strong comes into my head. You are strong in many ways. You are a strong in the gospel. I love that you have a testimony and love of the savior. I love that you honor your priesthood and give our children and myself blessings. I love that you always fufill your church callings. You are physically strong. You definately can do all the man work around here and I love it. You are always fixing things, lifting things, taking care of things and etc. Love it. I disagree with my dad I know you can lift the snow blower into the attic. J/K you know he was kidding and loves you tons. While these Strengths are awesome, there is a different Strength that I have seen from you this year. Dave the kids are throwing your birthday balloons at my head, maybe to make me laugh because as I write this I am tearing up a little. I have to say that I always knew you were amazing and that you could do anything you put your mind to, but this last year I learned so much more about the qualities, abilities and strength you really have been blessed with. Dave at a very young age you were faced with things that most do not have to face in a lifetime. You loved your mom and dad so much and have endless memories with them. But when your dad passed away it was no question in your mind that you would care for your mother. Dave I know you have heard this many times but again I want the kids to know this. You were so selfless and mature during this time. While it was hard you still balanced work, church, your mom and each one of us. You tried to take care of all of these things and gave all you had to these categories. Your concerns were towards making sure we all were ok and that your dad would know that we loved your mom and would do anything we could for them. I think you thought little of yourself during that time. You were suffering from losing your father, but put all of your energy into what needed to be done. Dave those few months taught me so much about you. You are a selfless giant. Thank you for your example. You have an incredible amount of inner strength and abilities. My love for you is deep and I am grateful that I have the privelage of calling you my husband and father of my children, besides you make me laugh almost everyday. Love you tons hun. Happy Birthday Love always Melanie
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Kam trying to hit a baseball hilarious
This is pretty good. He's a little delayed on the reaction, but after each swing he yells "Dangit". Sorry you might have to turn your computer screen sideways, this was taken from my phone
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Doing well I think? after a year
I wasn't going to post anything on the year mark of Dad's passing, but it was really good and fun to read Mark and Dan's, and Shalee's blogs today-and it made me happy-thanks guys
I do miss mom and dad terribly but in a happy way. Dad was my hero and one of my best friends, I am sured we all feel that way. He was the awesomest awesome guy I know. Dan and Shalee had a great idea to get together tonight and have some of dad's favorite foods-I am looking forward to it and what a great way to remember him-to get together and hang out!!
Most of the severe, deep hurt for me has left. It comes from time to time but it is more mild and less frequently. I think I am transitioning into remembering and memories as Shalee mentioned. It is so fun to think about all the fun things associated with dad and it makes me laugh. Just last night Jason and I were talking about the hell-o-mighty box and dad's scrabble playing and trying to count tum as a word. Jason said that dad's argument was that if you have a bottle of tums that is plural. But if you just need one tum, you call it a tum because there is only one, not a tums. Anyway it was hilarious.
I think I drive my brothers crazy cause I want to hang out and spend time with them. I think it makes me feel comforted because I get to see more of dad's qualities in them, so I guess I like to try and hold on to that as much as possible-and I just like hanging out with them in general. (and Mark I have enjoyed our long distance texting relationship). Just know that I love you guys and I appreciate your brotherhood more than you will ever know-it gives me strenght. I know we are brother's but I also believe and hope we can be good/best friends-that is very important to me.
I have appreciated Melanie's strenght, love, and support over the past year. Over the past year she did some incredible things that I can't even believe sometimes. This year was defnitely the most trying year of our marriage and that is my issue. I was kind of a mess there for a few months and Melanie supported me in everyway possible even when she was having a hard time too. I love you. Our kids and my wife's needs were put a little low on the priority list due to the situation and I do wish I could have handled things better. I certainly wouldn't change anything related to the experience with mom because we had some very neat experiences and grew a lot, other than I wish I could have been a little stronger. I think we are getting back to a good place now. At any rate, back to dad.
Today hasn't been that bad for me. Joe (my father in law) invited me to lunch and when I got there my other two brother in laws were there too. That was cool, they asked how everything is and all that. I am glad to remember dad. I listen to the funerals often and for some wierd reason they give me strenght. What a guy. I run into people who will say how good of a person he was. I am glad they are together-that makes me happy. I know at times they are able to check in on us, I just wish I could feel it more, or just be able to chat with them or something. Anyway, dad is the man, I can't think of a time where he wasn't able to support, help, fix, or whatever, he was always there!! I just want him to know that I love him and miss him and think about him daily.
I do miss mom and dad terribly but in a happy way. Dad was my hero and one of my best friends, I am sured we all feel that way. He was the awesomest awesome guy I know. Dan and Shalee had a great idea to get together tonight and have some of dad's favorite foods-I am looking forward to it and what a great way to remember him-to get together and hang out!!
Most of the severe, deep hurt for me has left. It comes from time to time but it is more mild and less frequently. I think I am transitioning into remembering and memories as Shalee mentioned. It is so fun to think about all the fun things associated with dad and it makes me laugh. Just last night Jason and I were talking about the hell-o-mighty box and dad's scrabble playing and trying to count tum as a word. Jason said that dad's argument was that if you have a bottle of tums that is plural. But if you just need one tum, you call it a tum because there is only one, not a tums. Anyway it was hilarious.
I think I drive my brothers crazy cause I want to hang out and spend time with them. I think it makes me feel comforted because I get to see more of dad's qualities in them, so I guess I like to try and hold on to that as much as possible-and I just like hanging out with them in general. (and Mark I have enjoyed our long distance texting relationship). Just know that I love you guys and I appreciate your brotherhood more than you will ever know-it gives me strenght. I know we are brother's but I also believe and hope we can be good/best friends-that is very important to me.
I have appreciated Melanie's strenght, love, and support over the past year. Over the past year she did some incredible things that I can't even believe sometimes. This year was defnitely the most trying year of our marriage and that is my issue. I was kind of a mess there for a few months and Melanie supported me in everyway possible even when she was having a hard time too. I love you. Our kids and my wife's needs were put a little low on the priority list due to the situation and I do wish I could have handled things better. I certainly wouldn't change anything related to the experience with mom because we had some very neat experiences and grew a lot, other than I wish I could have been a little stronger. I think we are getting back to a good place now. At any rate, back to dad.
Today hasn't been that bad for me. Joe (my father in law) invited me to lunch and when I got there my other two brother in laws were there too. That was cool, they asked how everything is and all that. I am glad to remember dad. I listen to the funerals often and for some wierd reason they give me strenght. What a guy. I run into people who will say how good of a person he was. I am glad they are together-that makes me happy. I know at times they are able to check in on us, I just wish I could feel it more, or just be able to chat with them or something. Anyway, dad is the man, I can't think of a time where he wasn't able to support, help, fix, or whatever, he was always there!! I just want him to know that I love him and miss him and think about him daily.
Friday, September 2, 2011
What happened to Memory Hoard Monday?
Holy cow time is flying. But I have to say that our life feels peaceful. It is such an amazing feeling. We moved August 22nd into a rental since our home sold in 2 days. We needed some temporary housing. The ward we moved into is incredible. Within the first week neighbors stopped by to say hello, and invite us to the ward party. We went to the party and there was tons of kids. My kids found friends immediatly. Sunday a couple stopped by and invited us to dinner. It has just been awesome to be so welcomed. I know the stay here is temporary but we feel so blessed to have it be good. It was so hard to say goodbye to the house on Circle Drive. There was a lot of memory in those walls. The hell-o-mighty box was created there. Dennis stopping in with a bag of chips while I am still in my garments, or a half eaten pizza after Chemo, or Lauries left over steak because I love steak. Moving the wall a foot back and forth. Having Dennis drop by almost nightly to see the kids. The playhouse and many upgrades. When we look at the house on circle drive we see so much of Dennis and Laurie. We also see my parents involvement and so much more, but like Brianna said about the playhouse it is hard to leave it because grandpa can never build us another one. So leaving the house felt that way. We all cried some the Friday before we had to leave. Like Brianna said it was hard to leave because Dennis & Laurie won't be able to be a part of our next home in an earthly way, but I told Dave that I
Kam- Flush it away captatin, somebody stole our house, preschool slept throw sunbeams
Naomi- beats up kameron, plays in sink, rips out hair, loves babies
Kyle- idea sled behind 4 wheeler, flag football, trailer with bike
Brianna- memorized church part Mistress mom, making friends
Kam- Flush it away captatin, somebody stole our house, preschool slept throw sunbeams
Naomi- beats up kameron, plays in sink, rips out hair, loves babies
Kyle- idea sled behind 4 wheeler, flag football, trailer with bike
Brianna- memorized church part Mistress mom, making friends
Monday, August 8, 2011
Memory Hoard Monday July- August 8
Has it already been 2 weeks? I can't believe it. Well I guess I will give a brief run down. It has been a busy and exciting two weeks.
*But first off I must write about my grandpa Hendricks. Grandpa passed away Thursday July 28th. He was in his 90's and quite an incredible man. He stayed positive to the end. He was ready to go to the other side. But at his funeral it was so fun to hear about him. He loved the ham radio and was a master at it. He talked to kings, and his grandson, people in disasters and so much more. He was a farmer and loved working the land. He was a great patriarch, father, husband and grandfather. He loved chocolate. I inherited this from him. He was one of the most knowledgeable people. He loved to learn. He will be greatly missed, but he has left a bueatiful legacy. I have been proud and grateful for my mothers example, for the past 3 years she has faithfully gone down about weekly to care for her parents. She showed true compassion and love towards them. I had the oppurtunity to go to Utah to pick her up on Friday. It was so neat to be with Grandma, dad and her that day. I sang while grandma played the piano and will cherish listening to them explain the events that occurred the day before. It is always so sacred when someone passes to the other side.
*Friday or I should say Saturday around 2 a.m. it was early Christmas at our house when the Brown clan from Moscow arrived. I can't even tell you how excited and anxious our family has been to see all of them. We love them so much. I haven't seen them since the funeral. We loved the few days we got to spend with them. On Sunday we had family dinner with everyone. It felt good. We missed Mark & Suzy's family. But I was glad to have those that were here. Jason and Mindy's family was so easy and such a delight to have around. We put all of the kids in the camp trailer except Naomi and just had fun everyday. Monday we went to my grandpa's funeral and when I arrived home the house was very clean and Mindy was doing my laundry. Quite a woman. Tuesday we went bowling, minature golfing, balldardash and to Rigby Lake. Again we are so glad to have some more family close.
*We found a house to rent for the next few months. After searching and searching and no luck. 3 homes became avaliable. Nobody wanted to rent to us for 6 months. But one house said they would. After that all 3 said they would. They were all in the same ward in a country so I guess we are headed to that ward. We just feel blessed to find a place since we will be moving in 2 weeks. Crazy I will miss our home on circle drive. It has a lot of special memories. Not only ones living here, but also of the house being built.
*Dave and I went to a much needed night out. Friday we went to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrals at the Play Mill. It was hillarious. When I married Dave, Dennis informed me that ruprickt lived in there basement in Rexburg. It made me laugh and think of him while we watched the show.
*Dave had so much fun Friday that he decided to take Kyle and Brianna to High School Musical at the playmill. They loved it they came home way hyped up. I was so glad they got to go on a special date with dad. I had the oppurtunity to go out with my dad while they were gone. It was so fun. We shared an alfredo at olive garden, then went to get an ice cream at Reeds dairy and walk the green belt. It is always so fun to be with dad.
*Naomi said the word chocite. I was a proud mom. She also took the Sunday paper and waded it up and threw it on Dave. It was cute. Today she found a big mud puddle in our front yard and went and plopped down right in the center of it. She was quite messy. She is a climber, she climbs the sink in the bathroom. Climbs metal bars at the playground and so much more.
*Kam Bam love to learn from Kyle. He plays trucks at the dirt hill almost daily. He has moved from Calliou to Word World. He loves to read books on trains and cook with me. Today he played playdoh for hours. We played computer this week a game called star fall and he wanted to play the same game it was a pumpkin where you choose the faces. He would choose the same face over and over and over.
*Kyle. Tonight while we were at the store to get a family home evening treat, Kyle looked at the guy in line that was teasing him and said you have lots of sugar bugs because your teeth are yellow. While I was a tiny embarrassed I had to agree with him. The guy was obviously a chain smoker and was missing some teeth because of it. But when we got to the car I explained that we need to say those things to mommy in private. He is so loveable. I love to snuggle and watch T.V with him. He is such an amazing brother to Kameron. I love how patient he is with Kam. They play all day long together. It is usually trucks at our neighbor Bud's dirt hill.
*Brianna- sand with me and all the grandkids at grandpa's funeral. She really has a great voice. She can listen to a tune and sing it. Her pitch is great. She accomplished her backbend kickover in gymnastics. She has been working on it for a while. She loves Naomi and tucks her in for nap a lot of days. She is really tender with her and I love it. Kyle and her play polly pockets, legos, barbies and all sorts of things when they get playing them, they can play for hours. They really have impressive imaginations.
They are all excited to see there cousins again soon. Kameron keeps asking for Jonah.
*Tonight for family home evening we buried the lizard. The kids wanted her buried out on our lot in Terrace Hills. So we put her in a toothpaste box and buried him. The kids put some flowers from our garden on her grave. I was proud of the kids. They were really sensitive and thoughtful. Dave gave the family home evening lesson on what happens to animals after they die. I guess they are no longer dumb.
*Another wonderful couple of weeks.
*But first off I must write about my grandpa Hendricks. Grandpa passed away Thursday July 28th. He was in his 90's and quite an incredible man. He stayed positive to the end. He was ready to go to the other side. But at his funeral it was so fun to hear about him. He loved the ham radio and was a master at it. He talked to kings, and his grandson, people in disasters and so much more. He was a farmer and loved working the land. He was a great patriarch, father, husband and grandfather. He loved chocolate. I inherited this from him. He was one of the most knowledgeable people. He loved to learn. He will be greatly missed, but he has left a bueatiful legacy. I have been proud and grateful for my mothers example, for the past 3 years she has faithfully gone down about weekly to care for her parents. She showed true compassion and love towards them. I had the oppurtunity to go to Utah to pick her up on Friday. It was so neat to be with Grandma, dad and her that day. I sang while grandma played the piano and will cherish listening to them explain the events that occurred the day before. It is always so sacred when someone passes to the other side.
*Friday or I should say Saturday around 2 a.m. it was early Christmas at our house when the Brown clan from Moscow arrived. I can't even tell you how excited and anxious our family has been to see all of them. We love them so much. I haven't seen them since the funeral. We loved the few days we got to spend with them. On Sunday we had family dinner with everyone. It felt good. We missed Mark & Suzy's family. But I was glad to have those that were here. Jason and Mindy's family was so easy and such a delight to have around. We put all of the kids in the camp trailer except Naomi and just had fun everyday. Monday we went to my grandpa's funeral and when I arrived home the house was very clean and Mindy was doing my laundry. Quite a woman. Tuesday we went bowling, minature golfing, balldardash and to Rigby Lake. Again we are so glad to have some more family close.
*We found a house to rent for the next few months. After searching and searching and no luck. 3 homes became avaliable. Nobody wanted to rent to us for 6 months. But one house said they would. After that all 3 said they would. They were all in the same ward in a country so I guess we are headed to that ward. We just feel blessed to find a place since we will be moving in 2 weeks. Crazy I will miss our home on circle drive. It has a lot of special memories. Not only ones living here, but also of the house being built.
*Dave and I went to a much needed night out. Friday we went to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrals at the Play Mill. It was hillarious. When I married Dave, Dennis informed me that ruprickt lived in there basement in Rexburg. It made me laugh and think of him while we watched the show.
*Dave had so much fun Friday that he decided to take Kyle and Brianna to High School Musical at the playmill. They loved it they came home way hyped up. I was so glad they got to go on a special date with dad. I had the oppurtunity to go out with my dad while they were gone. It was so fun. We shared an alfredo at olive garden, then went to get an ice cream at Reeds dairy and walk the green belt. It is always so fun to be with dad.
*Naomi said the word chocite. I was a proud mom. She also took the Sunday paper and waded it up and threw it on Dave. It was cute. Today she found a big mud puddle in our front yard and went and plopped down right in the center of it. She was quite messy. She is a climber, she climbs the sink in the bathroom. Climbs metal bars at the playground and so much more.
*Kam Bam love to learn from Kyle. He plays trucks at the dirt hill almost daily. He has moved from Calliou to Word World. He loves to read books on trains and cook with me. Today he played playdoh for hours. We played computer this week a game called star fall and he wanted to play the same game it was a pumpkin where you choose the faces. He would choose the same face over and over and over.
*Kyle. Tonight while we were at the store to get a family home evening treat, Kyle looked at the guy in line that was teasing him and said you have lots of sugar bugs because your teeth are yellow. While I was a tiny embarrassed I had to agree with him. The guy was obviously a chain smoker and was missing some teeth because of it. But when we got to the car I explained that we need to say those things to mommy in private. He is so loveable. I love to snuggle and watch T.V with him. He is such an amazing brother to Kameron. I love how patient he is with Kam. They play all day long together. It is usually trucks at our neighbor Bud's dirt hill.
*Brianna- sand with me and all the grandkids at grandpa's funeral. She really has a great voice. She can listen to a tune and sing it. Her pitch is great. She accomplished her backbend kickover in gymnastics. She has been working on it for a while. She loves Naomi and tucks her in for nap a lot of days. She is really tender with her and I love it. Kyle and her play polly pockets, legos, barbies and all sorts of things when they get playing them, they can play for hours. They really have impressive imaginations.
They are all excited to see there cousins again soon. Kameron keeps asking for Jonah.
*Tonight for family home evening we buried the lizard. The kids wanted her buried out on our lot in Terrace Hills. So we put her in a toothpaste box and buried him. The kids put some flowers from our garden on her grave. I was proud of the kids. They were really sensitive and thoughtful. Dave gave the family home evening lesson on what happens to animals after they die. I guess they are no longer dumb.
*Another wonderful couple of weeks.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Mircale Memory Monday 20-25
MIRICALS
On Thursday night before boating Brianna told me she was a little scared to go boating Friday. She was afraid the boat would run over her. I told her that if she wanted to stay home that would be no problem. On Friday I was driving down to drop the kids off, and I felt like I needed to tell the kids how much I loved them. So I said kids do you know how much I love you. They said yeah lots your letting us go boating with grandma. I laughed and said no really I love you so much I hope you know this. After what Brianna said I was a little worried, but not worried enough to not let them go. I know that there are angels watching out for us, but I felt it again t on Friday. Dave and I had to meet with a financial planner, so my mom offered to take Kyle and Brianna boating. They had a blast. Farrah was bringing them home in her car. She had just called to tell me she was on her way and that they had the best time ever. I recived another call shortly after that and I could hear all of the children crying and screaming. She said Melanie we have been in an accident can you come. She said she thought everyone was ok and that it was on the rire highway. Time stopped I could not get out of the house fast enough. My babies were in an accident along with Farrah, her kids and Emily Dodd. We got down there to see both cars totaled. Farrah waited at the stop sign and proceded to pull out, she did not see the car coming and got hit right by her door. The other car was going 55-65 miles an hour. Farrahs car must have spun in circles and the impact of the crash turned the front passengar seat to the side, and made the car buckle at least 2 inches. The kids were all ok. Farrah was 20 weeks pregannt and on blood thinner, but she was so concerned about everyone else that she did not tell the officer about her pregancy. She is always thinking about others. She had a towel on her arm and I pulled it back to see cuts all up her arm she was hiding them so the kids would not be concerned. After all was said and done dad took her to the hospital to get her and the baby checked out. She did have glass fragments in her arm, her ear was cut about and inch, she had 4 ribs out of place and a concussion. One side of her body kept going numb, they do not know if this is from her medicine or concussion. She has headaches sometimes where her body goes numb. But she came home from the hospital about 2 a.m. Saturday. She is healing and we are so grateful and feel blessed she is ok. Brianna woke up that night dizzy and proceeded to be a little disoriented. She threw up about 7-9 times. (Some of it could have been from the boat ride and hot taquis.) But I am pretty sure she had a concussion also. Her eyes were glassy a little and she kept saying she was tired. On the way home from the accident Kyle and Ethan were talking and she could not stand the noise. She could not explain what was going on with her in the middle of the night and she just felt dizzy. The next day she was doing a lot better. But could not handle things like jumping on the tramp, swinging etc. It made her dizzy. So the miricale is that all in all they are ok. The lady that hit them was drunk and went to prison with her 4th DUI and 2 counts of child endangerment. While the accident was not her fault. I have to wonder if it could have been avoided had she not been drinking. It also made me sad to find out that she was drinking, because she had 2 little kids in her car. One of the children stopped breathing when the accident occured, they got the child breathing again. Enough about the accident. I felt like Dennis and Laurie were watching over my little family. I especially felt it when we were driving to the scene of the accident. The guy that witnessed the accident said it is a miricale that people were not more hurt. I know that we were extra blessed. I feel so grateful that the kids were ok. I am especially glad today to know that Brianna is doing better and so is Farrah. I love my family and extended family so much.
Potty Training Kameron- I know Kam is almost 4 but this last year has been so crazy that I have not gotten to the potty training. So this week we decided to take it on. He did pretty good. He was proud to wear his underwears especially Wally and decided that every piece of clothing had to come off every time he tried to go. So we let him cruise the house in just his undies. All of the kids were great cheerleaders and after he filled the first sticker chart we went out for a doughnut party. When he gets excited he says ha ha. Love it.
Naomi- Was pretty entertaining to this week. We were minutes from having someone come and look at our house. I had everything perfect. The front door was open while I finished the last touches. Naomi appears at the front door happy as a lark. She had found a mud puddle and was covered from head to toe. We quickly cleaned her and was able to leave before the showing. Brianna and I decided to make cookie dough on Sunday, when Naomi convenitally woke up from her nap at the same time, she set down on the couch took my bowl and spoon away from me and with the biggest smile you have ever seen proceeded to eat the cookies dough. It was the best day ever for her.
Kyle- had a great week, he brought mom in flowers, Bud our neighbor and him brought me red potatoes, carrots and onions. It was so good. He went boating with mom and dad and played on the dock the whole time. I guess he loved it. Trucks are his favorite thing, on Monday he got to buy a new Cars the movie truck with his own money. He is such an example for Kameron. He is also very good at figuring things out. We had to rent a car since mine is in the shop from the accident, it was a brand new 2011 Dodge Caravan. Kyle new every button to push and how to get the doors open and every gadget on the car in minutes.
Brianna- I look at her and am at awe how bueatiful she is and how quickly she is growing up. She loves to be Na's mom and if Na's cries and I do not get there fast enough she is there in a heart beat. She really gave us a scare after the accident, with her head but she seems to be bouncing out of it and getting back to normal. Grandma said she loved riding the tube behind the boat and that on a scale from 1 to 5. Five being the hardest ride she was riding at a five. Little dare devil. She loves board games and is just fun to be with.
OUR HOUSE SOLD!! Ok so we have to officially wait for the inspection and a couple of other things, but we put it on the market last Tuesday and by Friday we had an offer. I have not meet the people interested, but she is a teacher and he works at walmart and they have a baby. They weren't planning on buying a house quite yet, but they walked through our home and made an offer a couple of hours later. We are so excited to have someone love it. But we are starting to think we are crazy for saleing the house before we know were we are going next exactly. I guess we like to do things all backwards. Honestly Dave and I just felt peacful about the whole decision, so I know that things will work out. For now we will pursue building and look for a temporary apartment.
On Thursday night before boating Brianna told me she was a little scared to go boating Friday. She was afraid the boat would run over her. I told her that if she wanted to stay home that would be no problem. On Friday I was driving down to drop the kids off, and I felt like I needed to tell the kids how much I loved them. So I said kids do you know how much I love you. They said yeah lots your letting us go boating with grandma. I laughed and said no really I love you so much I hope you know this. After what Brianna said I was a little worried, but not worried enough to not let them go. I know that there are angels watching out for us, but I felt it again t on Friday. Dave and I had to meet with a financial planner, so my mom offered to take Kyle and Brianna boating. They had a blast. Farrah was bringing them home in her car. She had just called to tell me she was on her way and that they had the best time ever. I recived another call shortly after that and I could hear all of the children crying and screaming. She said Melanie we have been in an accident can you come. She said she thought everyone was ok and that it was on the rire highway. Time stopped I could not get out of the house fast enough. My babies were in an accident along with Farrah, her kids and Emily Dodd. We got down there to see both cars totaled. Farrah waited at the stop sign and proceded to pull out, she did not see the car coming and got hit right by her door. The other car was going 55-65 miles an hour. Farrahs car must have spun in circles and the impact of the crash turned the front passengar seat to the side, and made the car buckle at least 2 inches. The kids were all ok. Farrah was 20 weeks pregannt and on blood thinner, but she was so concerned about everyone else that she did not tell the officer about her pregancy. She is always thinking about others. She had a towel on her arm and I pulled it back to see cuts all up her arm she was hiding them so the kids would not be concerned. After all was said and done dad took her to the hospital to get her and the baby checked out. She did have glass fragments in her arm, her ear was cut about and inch, she had 4 ribs out of place and a concussion. One side of her body kept going numb, they do not know if this is from her medicine or concussion. She has headaches sometimes where her body goes numb. But she came home from the hospital about 2 a.m. Saturday. She is healing and we are so grateful and feel blessed she is ok. Brianna woke up that night dizzy and proceeded to be a little disoriented. She threw up about 7-9 times. (Some of it could have been from the boat ride and hot taquis.) But I am pretty sure she had a concussion also. Her eyes were glassy a little and she kept saying she was tired. On the way home from the accident Kyle and Ethan were talking and she could not stand the noise. She could not explain what was going on with her in the middle of the night and she just felt dizzy. The next day she was doing a lot better. But could not handle things like jumping on the tramp, swinging etc. It made her dizzy. So the miricale is that all in all they are ok. The lady that hit them was drunk and went to prison with her 4th DUI and 2 counts of child endangerment. While the accident was not her fault. I have to wonder if it could have been avoided had she not been drinking. It also made me sad to find out that she was drinking, because she had 2 little kids in her car. One of the children stopped breathing when the accident occured, they got the child breathing again. Enough about the accident. I felt like Dennis and Laurie were watching over my little family. I especially felt it when we were driving to the scene of the accident. The guy that witnessed the accident said it is a miricale that people were not more hurt. I know that we were extra blessed. I feel so grateful that the kids were ok. I am especially glad today to know that Brianna is doing better and so is Farrah. I love my family and extended family so much.
Potty Training Kameron- I know Kam is almost 4 but this last year has been so crazy that I have not gotten to the potty training. So this week we decided to take it on. He did pretty good. He was proud to wear his underwears especially Wally and decided that every piece of clothing had to come off every time he tried to go. So we let him cruise the house in just his undies. All of the kids were great cheerleaders and after he filled the first sticker chart we went out for a doughnut party. When he gets excited he says ha ha. Love it.
Naomi- Was pretty entertaining to this week. We were minutes from having someone come and look at our house. I had everything perfect. The front door was open while I finished the last touches. Naomi appears at the front door happy as a lark. She had found a mud puddle and was covered from head to toe. We quickly cleaned her and was able to leave before the showing. Brianna and I decided to make cookie dough on Sunday, when Naomi convenitally woke up from her nap at the same time, she set down on the couch took my bowl and spoon away from me and with the biggest smile you have ever seen proceeded to eat the cookies dough. It was the best day ever for her.
Kyle- had a great week, he brought mom in flowers, Bud our neighbor and him brought me red potatoes, carrots and onions. It was so good. He went boating with mom and dad and played on the dock the whole time. I guess he loved it. Trucks are his favorite thing, on Monday he got to buy a new Cars the movie truck with his own money. He is such an example for Kameron. He is also very good at figuring things out. We had to rent a car since mine is in the shop from the accident, it was a brand new 2011 Dodge Caravan. Kyle new every button to push and how to get the doors open and every gadget on the car in minutes.
Brianna- I look at her and am at awe how bueatiful she is and how quickly she is growing up. She loves to be Na's mom and if Na's cries and I do not get there fast enough she is there in a heart beat. She really gave us a scare after the accident, with her head but she seems to be bouncing out of it and getting back to normal. Grandma said she loved riding the tube behind the boat and that on a scale from 1 to 5. Five being the hardest ride she was riding at a five. Little dare devil. She loves board games and is just fun to be with.
OUR HOUSE SOLD!! Ok so we have to officially wait for the inspection and a couple of other things, but we put it on the market last Tuesday and by Friday we had an offer. I have not meet the people interested, but she is a teacher and he works at walmart and they have a baby. They weren't planning on buying a house quite yet, but they walked through our home and made an offer a couple of hours later. We are so excited to have someone love it. But we are starting to think we are crazy for saleing the house before we know were we are going next exactly. I guess we like to do things all backwards. Honestly Dave and I just felt peacful about the whole decision, so I know that things will work out. For now we will pursue building and look for a temporary apartment.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Memory Hoard Wednesday Jully 11-19
Another Awesome summer week.
Wednesday- triedd to take Brianna to a make up class for gymnastics, but Laurie and Dennis's neighbor Raini was backing out of her driveway and hit our car. It damaged both doors. Kameron has been hit on that side of the car before. He got out of the car and said mom look what you did to Raini's light. I laughed thinking this is not my fault. We will go to the local junk yard and get some new doors. There insurance is sending a check. Nobody was hurt and I just laughed at Kam's comment.
We went miniature golfing this week. The kids loved it. All of them are independant and love it. It is so cute to watch. Ribgy Lake was also an adventure this week. I love it we went over for an hour or so. Kyle spent a long time building and awesome sand castle with a lake over it. Brianna loved to swim and go over to the slide, she also loves to be dunked. Kameron likes to build swimming pools and dig the dirt. He throws shovel fulls in the air. Naomi likes to sit right on my lap and play. We were all pretty gritty when we got done but we had some fun. On Friday we headed over to Boise. The kids were so good on the ride. I love draminie nobody got car sick. We spent the night at Michelles. On Saturday they went swimming to the hotel pool with Abby and Caleb and on Sunday my nephew Josh had his missionary farwell. Josh had a lot of non-memeber friends there and the stake president spoke also. The spirit was very strong as he shared what made him decided to go on a mission. He talked about Dougs cancer and how doug was in a good place and even with Dougs trial he knew the lord would make everything ok. He talked about seeing Dave after Laurie passed away and that Dave knew that there was a hereafter. Dave had peace in his eyes even with a huge trial. He went on about other things but it was just such a great farewell. The kids loved playing with cousins.
I guess the biggest event for the week was putting our house up for sale. We finally listed it with a realtor so I hope all goes well.
Brianna loved to play her ds, watch my babysitter's a vampire and eat mummy dogs, she did awesome in gymnastics this week, and looked bueatiful in her new gymnastics outsfit..
Kyle loved to play with Devon on the dirt hill with all of his trucks. Kameron follows him everywhere. He also makes sure to take care of his strawberry patch. He is a good helper and friend.
Kameron loves to do homework. I ghenive him a color to practice coloring when I am doing homework with the other kids. He has to make sure every corner of the picture is colored. He also took up cutting with scissors. Loves it.
Naomi is our princess. At Michelles house she refused to sleep. Dave finally ended up sleeping in the car with her. We joked that there was a pea under her mattress. She loves grandma Carlson. When Grandma is around I become the mom that is only good for food. She wants to be with her the whole time and calls her mama. I love the bond those two have.
Kameron also loved the
Wednesday- triedd to take Brianna to a make up class for gymnastics, but Laurie and Dennis's neighbor Raini was backing out of her driveway and hit our car. It damaged both doors. Kameron has been hit on that side of the car before. He got out of the car and said mom look what you did to Raini's light. I laughed thinking this is not my fault. We will go to the local junk yard and get some new doors. There insurance is sending a check. Nobody was hurt and I just laughed at Kam's comment.
We went miniature golfing this week. The kids loved it. All of them are independant and love it. It is so cute to watch. Ribgy Lake was also an adventure this week. I love it we went over for an hour or so. Kyle spent a long time building and awesome sand castle with a lake over it. Brianna loved to swim and go over to the slide, she also loves to be dunked. Kameron likes to build swimming pools and dig the dirt. He throws shovel fulls in the air. Naomi likes to sit right on my lap and play. We were all pretty gritty when we got done but we had some fun. On Friday we headed over to Boise. The kids were so good on the ride. I love draminie nobody got car sick. We spent the night at Michelles. On Saturday they went swimming to the hotel pool with Abby and Caleb and on Sunday my nephew Josh had his missionary farwell. Josh had a lot of non-memeber friends there and the stake president spoke also. The spirit was very strong as he shared what made him decided to go on a mission. He talked about Dougs cancer and how doug was in a good place and even with Dougs trial he knew the lord would make everything ok. He talked about seeing Dave after Laurie passed away and that Dave knew that there was a hereafter. Dave had peace in his eyes even with a huge trial. He went on about other things but it was just such a great farewell. The kids loved playing with cousins.
I guess the biggest event for the week was putting our house up for sale. We finally listed it with a realtor so I hope all goes well.
Brianna loved to play her ds, watch my babysitter's a vampire and eat mummy dogs, she did awesome in gymnastics this week, and looked bueatiful in her new gymnastics outsfit..
Kyle loved to play with Devon on the dirt hill with all of his trucks. Kameron follows him everywhere. He also makes sure to take care of his strawberry patch. He is a good helper and friend.
Kameron loves to do homework. I ghenive him a color to practice coloring when I am doing homework with the other kids. He has to make sure every corner of the picture is colored. He also took up cutting with scissors. Loves it.
Naomi is our princess. At Michelles house she refused to sleep. Dave finally ended up sleeping in the car with her. We joked that there was a pea under her mattress. She loves grandma Carlson. When Grandma is around I become the mom that is only good for food. She wants to be with her the whole time and calls her mama. I love the bond those two have.
Kameron also loved the
Monday, July 11, 2011
Memory Hoard Monday
My sister-in-laws blog every Monday and they call it memory hoard Monday. I think that for a non blogger like me it is such a fantastic idea. It is a great way to keep a journal and not be to overwhelmed by it. It was another great summer week. I love summer we play hard and work hard. We finished helping my dad side his house so there was a lot of extra time last week.
Monday- Dave wrote about the 4th and it rocked. We love camping on the fourth. Kyle and Brianna took swimming lessons earlier this summer and they did awesome at the pool. Kameron likes to just set on the edge. Grandma and Brianna made awesome rice krispie stars with M&M's on them, the food was delicious and the company even better. Dad and Dave played horse shoes and the kids played on the playground. I am with Dave it was impossible to not think about Laurie and Dennis the whole time we were down there. The fireworks were so beautiful and every purple one. Brianna and I thought of Grandma. Kyle and Kameron are Dave's main little man when it comes to hooking up the trailer. They are better at it than I am. I love it.
Tuesday- Came home forgot about gymnastics and just relaxed.
Wednesday- Farrah and I wen out to Rigby lake. I love that place, there is a slide in the middle of the lake now. Kyle, Brianna and Ethan swam out to it a few times and loved it. All of the kids had such a great time. This is usually a weekly tradition. Kyle is begging to go camping there since he was sick last year.
Thursday- This day was a special day to us. It was Lauries Birthday and we wanted to do something to remember her. Brianna prayed the night before that we she would feel Laurie with us on her birthday. When we woke up in the morning. Brianna and Kyle went outside and there were two purple flowers in our garden, by night they bloomed. It was a little crazy because we did not plant flowers in our garden. Last year we did, I thought they were annuals. But we received a couple of special purple flowers for that day. Brianna felt she received an answer to her prayers. That night we got purple balloons and wrote notes on them and sent them up to heaven. Then we went out for a snow cone, Dave and I got Red Raspberry, since this was Lauries favorite and he got Dave a snow cone machine for his birthday and tons of red raspberry flavoring. We also ate salmon patties. Brianna has been begging for them and thought it was fitting to eat them on Lauries Birthday since she was one of the only people who would make them for Brianna. I was going to make Ghiridilla Brownies and take some to Dan and Shalee, but I can't find the mix for them. I guess I will have to go to Costco next time I go to Boise. Sorry you didn't get any Shalee but we were sure thinking about it.
Friday- Was Grandma Carlson's birthday. Another great day. We went to breakfast, then down to Shelley for a great party. The kids played outside in the backyard with all the cousins. Mom is such an amazing person. I am really blessed to have had the influence of two great moms. My mom and Dave have a great relationship. I love it but mom always says your sweet husband. So that night Dave did a couple of dishes and mom gave him the credit for doing all the dishes. It kills me. She seriously adores and appreciates him so much. I corrected her and told her Dave did not do all of the dishes. Seriously though I love that they have a great understanding and love for each other. I guess Dan brought over some slim jims from Rex's and Dave wanted to know were they were the second we got home. Thanks Dan and Shalee. He wanted me to hide them but Na had a game where she would bring them to him on the bed and he would throw them on the floor and then she would fetch them and bring them back to him. It was a great game it gave me some time to get things done.
Saturday- Was another Carlson get together. Mom and Michelle found tadpoles while they were out on the motor scooters in the morning. So we all got nets and went out to catch them. The kids loved it. Kameron would wait so patiently and then scoop one up. He would catch it without getting any dirt in the net. Then he would run around laughing and saying ha ha I got one. I think he had the most fun. Kyle wanted to bring some home and put it the fish tank. But Dave said it would pollute the tank. Dave and my nephews play basketball almost every time they come down. In the past they have had a potato head trophy that they passed to the winner. Dave always comes home sore but it is an awesome tradition. We then just played in the backyard until evening. Dave took the kids home and I got my nephews to play aquire with me. I even stayed home from the shopping trip to play aquire. It was so fun. The boys loved it and we laughed for about an hour and a half. It took me back to many games with Dennis. We would put the kids in bed and then he would come over and play a game with Dave and us. There was usually popcorn, crunching of ice and a lot of sarcasm. We had so much fun with this game. Dennis won the very last game we played.
Sunday- This was an extra special day. I had the privilege of going back to a BYU-Idaho ward and watching my dad get put in as a bishop of the 88th ward. I know my dad will be amazing. I love that every time I go down there he gets excited to see us and greets us with a hi Mel how are you doing and a great big hug. Then when we leave it is the same big hug and a wave goodbye. I know that the kids at College will feel his love and fun personality. He is such a wonderful dad and with a mom that it so much fun and full of life. Those two will be a great asset to BYU- Idaho. I know they will love the kids and the kids will love them back.
Monday- Dave wrote about the 4th and it rocked. We love camping on the fourth. Kyle and Brianna took swimming lessons earlier this summer and they did awesome at the pool. Kameron likes to just set on the edge. Grandma and Brianna made awesome rice krispie stars with M&M's on them, the food was delicious and the company even better. Dad and Dave played horse shoes and the kids played on the playground. I am with Dave it was impossible to not think about Laurie and Dennis the whole time we were down there. The fireworks were so beautiful and every purple one. Brianna and I thought of Grandma. Kyle and Kameron are Dave's main little man when it comes to hooking up the trailer. They are better at it than I am. I love it.
Tuesday- Came home forgot about gymnastics and just relaxed.
Wednesday- Farrah and I wen out to Rigby lake. I love that place, there is a slide in the middle of the lake now. Kyle, Brianna and Ethan swam out to it a few times and loved it. All of the kids had such a great time. This is usually a weekly tradition. Kyle is begging to go camping there since he was sick last year.
Thursday- This day was a special day to us. It was Lauries Birthday and we wanted to do something to remember her. Brianna prayed the night before that we she would feel Laurie with us on her birthday. When we woke up in the morning. Brianna and Kyle went outside and there were two purple flowers in our garden, by night they bloomed. It was a little crazy because we did not plant flowers in our garden. Last year we did, I thought they were annuals. But we received a couple of special purple flowers for that day. Brianna felt she received an answer to her prayers. That night we got purple balloons and wrote notes on them and sent them up to heaven. Then we went out for a snow cone, Dave and I got Red Raspberry, since this was Lauries favorite and he got Dave a snow cone machine for his birthday and tons of red raspberry flavoring. We also ate salmon patties. Brianna has been begging for them and thought it was fitting to eat them on Lauries Birthday since she was one of the only people who would make them for Brianna. I was going to make Ghiridilla Brownies and take some to Dan and Shalee, but I can't find the mix for them. I guess I will have to go to Costco next time I go to Boise. Sorry you didn't get any Shalee but we were sure thinking about it.
Friday- Was Grandma Carlson's birthday. Another great day. We went to breakfast, then down to Shelley for a great party. The kids played outside in the backyard with all the cousins. Mom is such an amazing person. I am really blessed to have had the influence of two great moms. My mom and Dave have a great relationship. I love it but mom always says your sweet husband. So that night Dave did a couple of dishes and mom gave him the credit for doing all the dishes. It kills me. She seriously adores and appreciates him so much. I corrected her and told her Dave did not do all of the dishes. Seriously though I love that they have a great understanding and love for each other. I guess Dan brought over some slim jims from Rex's and Dave wanted to know were they were the second we got home. Thanks Dan and Shalee. He wanted me to hide them but Na had a game where she would bring them to him on the bed and he would throw them on the floor and then she would fetch them and bring them back to him. It was a great game it gave me some time to get things done.
Saturday- Was another Carlson get together. Mom and Michelle found tadpoles while they were out on the motor scooters in the morning. So we all got nets and went out to catch them. The kids loved it. Kameron would wait so patiently and then scoop one up. He would catch it without getting any dirt in the net. Then he would run around laughing and saying ha ha I got one. I think he had the most fun. Kyle wanted to bring some home and put it the fish tank. But Dave said it would pollute the tank. Dave and my nephews play basketball almost every time they come down. In the past they have had a potato head trophy that they passed to the winner. Dave always comes home sore but it is an awesome tradition. We then just played in the backyard until evening. Dave took the kids home and I got my nephews to play aquire with me. I even stayed home from the shopping trip to play aquire. It was so fun. The boys loved it and we laughed for about an hour and a half. It took me back to many games with Dennis. We would put the kids in bed and then he would come over and play a game with Dave and us. There was usually popcorn, crunching of ice and a lot of sarcasm. We had so much fun with this game. Dennis won the very last game we played.
Sunday- This was an extra special day. I had the privilege of going back to a BYU-Idaho ward and watching my dad get put in as a bishop of the 88th ward. I know my dad will be amazing. I love that every time I go down there he gets excited to see us and greets us with a hi Mel how are you doing and a great big hug. Then when we leave it is the same big hug and a wave goodbye. I know that the kids at College will feel his love and fun personality. He is such a wonderful dad and with a mom that it so much fun and full of life. Those two will be a great asset to BYU- Idaho. I know they will love the kids and the kids will love them back.
Memory Hoard Monday July 4-11
Ok I just wrote a huge blog for the last week and Naomi posted it when I went to help Kam. When I came back I realized that I accidentally put it in Dave's blog instead of our brown blurbs blog. Does anyone know how to fix this problem. I need to finish the post by writing about each of my kids.
Dave- Got the camp trailer ready for the 4th and did a great job. He wrestled the kids on the trampoline which is Kyles favorite thing to do. Watched his garden grow. Continued being successful at his work and had a great week. I am lucky to have a guy that does it all for us. I really am amazed by him and feel blessed to have him as my husband.
Brianna- It loving the Tennis shoes among the Nephite series. We have been getting the CD's at the Library and this week got a book instead. She is truly amazing and I love to hear her prayers. She is still into style. I loved to watch her swim out to the slide at Rigby lake and she continues to help around the house.
Kyle- Is a big help. He is so thoughtful and compassionate. For my mom's birthday this week he wanted to get her a flower with his own money. He helped dad hook up the trailers. He is so smart at figuring these things out. He has this dog he got at a neighbors garage sale named clifford. He is red and has 7 holes. Kyle takes clifford everywhere. Sometimes I wonder why we spend money on toys. This one is his favorite right now and it was free. It is fun to watch. His favorite weekly activity is wrestling with Dave.
Kameron- Loves life. He doesn't like to eat a lot of things but when he eats something he likes. He says that is delicious mom, it makes me smile. He loves to fill up the swimming pole in the back, and really loves catching tadpoles this week. We got so excited and did his little ha ha after each catch.
Naomi- is our little princess. Everyone does whatever she wants them to. She loves the song Sunbeam and jumps whenever it is sung. She is my moms little girl. Whenever we go down there, she calls my mom.... mom. She loved her corn on the cob on the 4th. She just cracks us up. When she does not get here way we all know about it.
Me- Well I am just maintaing my weight watchers diet this summer, not trying to loose because there is to many fun things to do and to much delicious food. I love playing with the kids and I have been getting the house ready to sale.
Dave- Got the camp trailer ready for the 4th and did a great job. He wrestled the kids on the trampoline which is Kyles favorite thing to do. Watched his garden grow. Continued being successful at his work and had a great week. I am lucky to have a guy that does it all for us. I really am amazed by him and feel blessed to have him as my husband.
Brianna- It loving the Tennis shoes among the Nephite series. We have been getting the CD's at the Library and this week got a book instead. She is truly amazing and I love to hear her prayers. She is still into style. I loved to watch her swim out to the slide at Rigby lake and she continues to help around the house.
Kyle- Is a big help. He is so thoughtful and compassionate. For my mom's birthday this week he wanted to get her a flower with his own money. He helped dad hook up the trailers. He is so smart at figuring these things out. He has this dog he got at a neighbors garage sale named clifford. He is red and has 7 holes. Kyle takes clifford everywhere. Sometimes I wonder why we spend money on toys. This one is his favorite right now and it was free. It is fun to watch. His favorite weekly activity is wrestling with Dave.
Kameron- Loves life. He doesn't like to eat a lot of things but when he eats something he likes. He says that is delicious mom, it makes me smile. He loves to fill up the swimming pole in the back, and really loves catching tadpoles this week. We got so excited and did his little ha ha after each catch.
Naomi- is our little princess. Everyone does whatever she wants them to. She loves the song Sunbeam and jumps whenever it is sung. She is my moms little girl. Whenever we go down there, she calls my mom.... mom. She loved her corn on the cob on the 4th. She just cracks us up. When she does not get here way we all know about it.
Me- Well I am just maintaing my weight watchers diet this summer, not trying to loose because there is to many fun things to do and to much delicious food. I love playing with the kids and I have been getting the house ready to sale.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
4th Party
It was a very fun 4th of July. We went down to the campground in Idaho Falls and spent two nights there. Melanie's parents came the 2nd night and we had a blast-swimming, playground, smores, movies, A/C, it was great and the kids loved the fireworks as well.
Mark's post reminded me of our trip last year with mom and dad. It was so fun. Dad was on an rv kick at the time. He had his motorhome at that time. Then after that he proceeded to switch to rv trailers instead. He sold his motorhome and got a little trailer. He decided that one was a little too heavy so he sold that one and got another one. He did these transfers all within about a month or so-so hilarious and reminds me of dad to a tee-always trying to improve things till he gets it just where he wants it. Mom and dad had a fun time on the camp trip, as did we. Of course our kids wanted to sleep in Grandma and Grandpa's outfit and not ours. Mom was doing pretty good and Dad was escorting her around the campground to the pool and playground, and eventually the fireworks. The fireworks were great and after I remember her saying she thought this would be a fun family tradition, which is kind of why we did it again this year. We also had a great time this year as well. Melanie's parents came and we had a blast. As the fireworks started I all of the sudden got a little emotional and teary. I couldn't help but think mom would have loved the show, but I also felt like she was watching them somewhere and that she had talked dad into going with her. Sometimes I feel they are a lot closer than we think and that makes me happy. Last night just made me miss them and love them more at the same time. Dave
Mark's post reminded me of our trip last year with mom and dad. It was so fun. Dad was on an rv kick at the time. He had his motorhome at that time. Then after that he proceeded to switch to rv trailers instead. He sold his motorhome and got a little trailer. He decided that one was a little too heavy so he sold that one and got another one. He did these transfers all within about a month or so-so hilarious and reminds me of dad to a tee-always trying to improve things till he gets it just where he wants it. Mom and dad had a fun time on the camp trip, as did we. Of course our kids wanted to sleep in Grandma and Grandpa's outfit and not ours. Mom was doing pretty good and Dad was escorting her around the campground to the pool and playground, and eventually the fireworks. The fireworks were great and after I remember her saying she thought this would be a fun family tradition, which is kind of why we did it again this year. We also had a great time this year as well. Melanie's parents came and we had a blast. As the fireworks started I all of the sudden got a little emotional and teary. I couldn't help but think mom would have loved the show, but I also felt like she was watching them somewhere and that she had talked dad into going with her. Sometimes I feel they are a lot closer than we think and that makes me happy. Last night just made me miss them and love them more at the same time. Dave
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Laurie
I wrote this post mothers day, but for some reason it didn't post. Today is Mother's day and a lot of my thoughts have been on Laurie. Happy Mothers Day Laurie. My emotions have been close to the surface. Dave was turning off the light tonight so we could go to bed and I looked up and saw a picture where Kameron was hugging Laurie and it reminded me of a small tender mercy that I wanted to write down before the memory escapes me again. All of my kids were especially close to grandma, but Naomi and grandma grew a really close bond when we lived there the last few months. Naomi spent a lot of time at the edge of grandma's bed. She would go there for a hug or a bite of licorice, lunch, dinner, hot chocolate or to spill grandma's water all over the floor. Laurie would interact so cute with her. They just loved each other so much. There were plenty of hugs and kisses that went on at the edge of the bed, and Naomi thought grandma was the best. She just loved to be right by her. I beleive it was the Sunday before we went to doctor Dixon's to find out that Laurie would not be with us for long. I was very tired and emotional and I had this feeling that Laurie was going to pass. This flood of tenderness filled my soul. I was blessed that day to remember everything that Laurie had done for me and so many others. I felt this compassion and love for her that I cannot express, it was such a wonderful blessing. I knew then that we did not have long. This was conformed to me later when I was in the room with Laurie and Naomi. Laurie was in pain from her ear ache. I remeber wanting to help and not knowing what to do. We had been to the doctor a twice to try to help with the ear ache and gotten medicine. Anyways Laurie was in pain. I remember Naomi tucking under grandma's arm and giving her the most compassionate loving hug. It wasn't like her quick I love you hugs, it was much bigger than that. When I looked at them I thought take a picture of this moment you will not want to forget it. It felt like Naomi's spirit was telling grandma it's ok your going to be ok, heaven is bueatiful. Again this was before we even talked to Doctor Dixon. It was a powerful moment.
Happy Mother's Day
Even though mom is gone, I still want to wish her a happy mother's day and say thanks for everything she did. I can't physically give her anything since she passed, but I think there are a few gifts she is receiving. I think the best gift for her right now is that she is with dad and not in pain! As we now in the spirit world our spirits are in a perfected form, how exciting for mom! I don't know how all that spirit world stuff works, but I would hope they get to check in on all of us from time to time to see that we still miss them a lot. I hope she knows that I love her, miss her, and am thankful she's my mom. I love you mom, happy mother's day. Dave
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Dennis & Laurie
Last night Dave officially mowed the lawn with the Dixon. Just the other day out of the blue Kyle said I am so glad we got the lawn mower. It reminds me of grandpa. It really does but so do so many other things. I can't quite thinking about Dennis and Laurie and how amazing they are. I miss them so much. This last few months has been the hardest of my life. But I told Dave last night how blessed I have felt to be able to be here. Since day one I adored Dennis and Laurie. One of the first times I meet Dennis I was answering Dave back to go to the dance with him. I gave him a huge stuffed pumpkin man. He say hu that's creative or something like that. When we were cleaning out under the house pumpkin man was still there. His head was missing, but his whole body was there. It made me laugh. I am sure almost everything they had in there house was sentimental or just a good deal at a yard sale. After cleaning out a whole ton of stuff and this is not an exageration, I was talking to a friend about there house. I said they had a lot of stuff, because they loved people and wanted to serve. I said if I told Laurie I liked stamping, she would go out and buy a case of them. Or if our dishwasher broke, Dennis would get a new one and then decide to have a back up on hand just incase we ever needed another one. This last 4 almost 5 years has particularly blessed our lives. Living so close gave us an oppurtunity to see them on almost a daily basis. I loved going on a walk to Lauries to visit in the afternoon. It was always so good and you walked away feeling filled up with life. I so miss Dennis's suprise visits in the morning before I had jammies on, or at lunch or when it was suppose to be time to put the kids to bed. He often would just come in when I was gone and I would find chips or the leftover pizza from goinf out after Chemo. He spoiled us rotten. He wore his personality on his sleeve and I loved him for this. I feel like it was so easy to love Dennis, because he reminds me so much of my own husband. What a man. Laurie was always there with a listening ear. She didn't quite listening and helping with encouragement. She was one of the most charitable people I know. I will continue to write more, because I have a ton to write about this. But for today I just miss them. I know all of my family does a ton. But we are trying to work through it. There has been many little blessings along the way, but I have to say that I am grateful for Dave's family. They are amazing. I was so glad to have Dan and Shalee here they are a strong and serviceful couple. There is no way we would have survived this last few months without there help. I also have to say that I love my family. I echo the same thing without all of my families help, my little family could have not made it. I am grateful for the little miricales and people who are helping through this trial.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Moving on....Mostly
We have finished cleaning mom and dad's house along with Dan and Shalee and the renter's will move in this weekend. The last 7 months have been crazy. Finishing the cleaning is somewhat closing a chapter-it was sad to see the house empty for the last time. I think going over there gave me peace, because I was still close to mom and dad's stuff-and frustration because of all their junk, but at least it was their junk and cleaning the house helped me still feel close to them. Our lives have been centered around mom and dad the last seven months in one way or another-and I wouldn't have it any other way. I miss mom and dad terribly, and I think they will always be present in my mind, not in a drag me down way, but in a loving help me to always remember them way (don't know how to explain it-I know it sounds weird),but am also mostly excited and ready for a fun summer, to give us all some other things to focus on. We need to do a little relationship building within our little unit. Melanie and I are going on a little get away next weekend and are excited. My kids who have been the best little kids I could ask for are in for a great summer. We have an awesome list planned and I just want to see them be little kids and have fun. Many times we were cleaning at the house and they had to fend for themselves, not to mention they miss grandma and grandpa too and have had some struggles dealing with them being gone. It's time to bond and build our little family unit again. We are planning a party hard summer with lots of great things and I am really looking forward to going and playing on the weekends rather than cleaning and I think mom and dad would want it to be that way too. Bring it on summer 2011!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Dad
Mark and Dan's posts regarding dad were excellent and inspired me to write as well. Yesterday, which was dad's birthday was rough for me-a couple of my brothers mentioned I should go to the Thorton Merc in his honor to eat lunch. I had a really hard time keeping it together at work, but reading those posts made me feel a lot better. I also had some family bring me some jerky just cause they wanted to help support.
Mark commented on Dad not liking people chewing ice. One of my favorite things to do would be to get a jolly rancher or ice and sit down next to him and see how long he could go without getting on my case. It was usually under two minuets. He would tilt his head toward me and say something like "you know I hate that right" I would reply yes and keep chewing until he told me to knock it off. He also really hated the sound of people walking on snow and the crunching noise it makes. He would tell me to stop walking or say "Do you really have to walk right now" Good times.
One of my favorite things is that I had to assist in pulling dad out of snow. I enjoyed this on a number of levels. First it was usually always the other way around. I would be stuck or need some sort of car assistance. This time it was dad calling me because I had a dodge durango. He called and said, "I need you to come pull me out." I said sure no problem where you at? He replied, "I'm at my house in the driveway." I said, "Let me get this straight, you're stuck in your own driveway, how did you do that?" "Nevermind, just come pull me out." I drove over to dad's house and it was pretty funny. He was not even backing out of the driveway, he had already backed in so he could pull out forward, however when he pulled out forward he turned to sharp right into a snow drift and could not get out. I started laughing and he looked at me "Very funny isn't it chuckles." Anyway it brought me great joy to 1-have a vehicle capable of pulling him out and 2-that he was stuck in his own driveway, a fact I reminded him of often.
One of the things I miss the most is his random drop bys at our house. This was more so when mom was homebound, I think he just needed some companionship. He was literally stopping by almost daily to see the kids or drop off random things to us. The kids would come running up the stairs and give him a big hug. He would visit with each one of them for a few min. then take off. He loved each one of our kids and knew them personally. Sometimes he would show up just after we had put the kids down for bed, but it didn't matter we would let them out of bed to come see their Grandpa-after all he was making the effort to come see them and we knew he just needed to hang out sometimes. It was so fun and I miss it. It's funny cause after we gave checkers to him he stopped coming over.
One time we were eating Sunday dinner at mom and dad's. After eating a good meal, I noticed that there was some ham on the serving plate that had been cut in pieces. I asked Brianna if she had eaten all her dinner she replied that she had and she went outside to play. After she was outside dad said, "I hate to rat your daughter out but she didn't eat her ham, I saw her put it back on the plate." He really felt bad because he knew we would punish Brianna for lying which we did. Anyway, he thought correcting her lying was more important than keeping it to himself.
I told Melanie I wouldn't go camping unless we had a camp trailer. So we found a nice 1980's beater and went a number of times last summer. Not long after we got our trailer dad got a motorhome. He and mom came camping with us on the 4th of July when they down the fireworks in IF. He decided he didn't like the motorhome and when we went camping at Rigby lake a few weeks later, he had a camp trailer. After that campout he decided he wanted a different camp trailer so he got a different one. It was so funny-but just like a lot of other things in his life-he wanted to makes things just a little better if he could.
As mentioned by others there are some things I have learned since his passing that make me admire, love, and respect him even more. What a great Dad, happy bday!
Mark commented on Dad not liking people chewing ice. One of my favorite things to do would be to get a jolly rancher or ice and sit down next to him and see how long he could go without getting on my case. It was usually under two minuets. He would tilt his head toward me and say something like "you know I hate that right" I would reply yes and keep chewing until he told me to knock it off. He also really hated the sound of people walking on snow and the crunching noise it makes. He would tell me to stop walking or say "Do you really have to walk right now" Good times.
One of my favorite things is that I had to assist in pulling dad out of snow. I enjoyed this on a number of levels. First it was usually always the other way around. I would be stuck or need some sort of car assistance. This time it was dad calling me because I had a dodge durango. He called and said, "I need you to come pull me out." I said sure no problem where you at? He replied, "I'm at my house in the driveway." I said, "Let me get this straight, you're stuck in your own driveway, how did you do that?" "Nevermind, just come pull me out." I drove over to dad's house and it was pretty funny. He was not even backing out of the driveway, he had already backed in so he could pull out forward, however when he pulled out forward he turned to sharp right into a snow drift and could not get out. I started laughing and he looked at me "Very funny isn't it chuckles." Anyway it brought me great joy to 1-have a vehicle capable of pulling him out and 2-that he was stuck in his own driveway, a fact I reminded him of often.
One of the things I miss the most is his random drop bys at our house. This was more so when mom was homebound, I think he just needed some companionship. He was literally stopping by almost daily to see the kids or drop off random things to us. The kids would come running up the stairs and give him a big hug. He would visit with each one of them for a few min. then take off. He loved each one of our kids and knew them personally. Sometimes he would show up just after we had put the kids down for bed, but it didn't matter we would let them out of bed to come see their Grandpa-after all he was making the effort to come see them and we knew he just needed to hang out sometimes. It was so fun and I miss it. It's funny cause after we gave checkers to him he stopped coming over.
One time we were eating Sunday dinner at mom and dad's. After eating a good meal, I noticed that there was some ham on the serving plate that had been cut in pieces. I asked Brianna if she had eaten all her dinner she replied that she had and she went outside to play. After she was outside dad said, "I hate to rat your daughter out but she didn't eat her ham, I saw her put it back on the plate." He really felt bad because he knew we would punish Brianna for lying which we did. Anyway, he thought correcting her lying was more important than keeping it to himself.
I told Melanie I wouldn't go camping unless we had a camp trailer. So we found a nice 1980's beater and went a number of times last summer. Not long after we got our trailer dad got a motorhome. He and mom came camping with us on the 4th of July when they down the fireworks in IF. He decided he didn't like the motorhome and when we went camping at Rigby lake a few weeks later, he had a camp trailer. After that campout he decided he wanted a different camp trailer so he got a different one. It was so funny-but just like a lot of other things in his life-he wanted to makes things just a little better if he could.
As mentioned by others there are some things I have learned since his passing that make me admire, love, and respect him even more. What a great Dad, happy bday!
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