A GOOD VISIT FOR A SAD REASON

I'm so happy for my Grandma. I miss her so much, and some days I still think that I should call her. But, I'm so happy for her. I know that she is so much happier and she is with my grandpa and her parents and so many other people who were waiting to see her again. In spite of the sad reason for our trip up to Calgary, it was a wonderful trip! Jason is such a good husband. He took the kids and disappeared so the rest of us could clean Gramie's room out. Neil went with them the second day. I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with my family. The day before the funeral, I went with 2 of my aunts (who really are my mom's cousins, not my aunts) to dress my grandma in her temple clothes for the funeral. I really didn't know what to expect, but it was truly one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was time that I will cherish forever and I'm so grateful that I was blessed with the privilege of perfoming that one last service for my grandma. Jason and the boys were pallbearers and they looked so handsome. About half way through the funeral I had such a calm feeling come over me that everything was really okay. When we were at the cemetary I almost forgot to be sad! All in all it was a very good week, not in spite of the reason that we were there, but because of the reason we were there. I miss you and love you Gramie, but I'm so happy for you.

The Evil Twin?

Have you ever wondered what would happen if someone twisted one of your children up REALLY, REALLY, REALLY tight in a tire swing? These pictures are the answer to that question. The kids twisted Carter in the tire swing, which is quite close to the ground, so that the botttom of the tire was about as tall as Thomas's head and then let it go. Carter's head was hanging over the back of the swing so all of the blood ran to the top half of his head and broke the blood vessels. When I first saw him he looked like he had the measels. His poor little face was so swollen and purple, but his eyes were still white. Multiple doctors later we were told that everything was fine, but he would look pretty funny for a while.

Enter the EVIL TWIN!
I can't help but laught now whenever I look at his little face. The whites of his eyes filled completely with blood. By the next morning he looked AWFUL! I don't have a picture to do him justice! He wore sunglasses everywhere he went for a little while to avoid the questions, and we get A LOT of questions and comments. Even today we were in the grocery store and a little boy walked by and said, "Mom! It's the boy with red eyes!" Now he loves to freak people out by staring at them with his eyes as wide as he can make them. It's too bad this didn't happen around Halloween, he'd have a built in costume! It's been about 10 days now and his eyes are changing to a kind of orangish yellow color but I think it will be quite some time before he looks like his cute little self. Oh, the joys of having children!

Vancouver Temple

I love the temple! I love to go there and feel peace. Temples are beautiful inside and out. When we went to Vancouver in February, we were able to go see the almost finished new temple. I wish we could go up to the Open House, but I think we've used our allotment of Canada trips in the last 8 weeks. Oh well, at least we got to see the outside of it. We've been able to take our kids to the open house's of the Sacramento and Oquirrh Mountain temples, we love it! I love knowing that our family is forever because of the temple. I also have come to have a deep love for family history work, and not just because of the temple work part of it. I can't begin to describe the feeling I get when I discover a new ancestor or a new fact about an ancestor I already knew about. Seeing a great grandparents handwriting on a census form or finding a birth certificate sends a thrill through my entire body. I love it. Two of the things that I inherited from my grandma were her journals and pictures. I haven't begun to explore them yet because I don't have the time to do it properly. Maybe when school gets out. People ask me all the time what I'm going to do with my time when Emma goes to school... this is one of my answers!

Dance 2010

The girls have had so much fun at dance this year. It's great to watch what they've learned and to see them having so much fun up on the stage. Emma was hilarious to watch at her lessons each week. She is definately her own person and likes to do her own thing. Fortunately, there weren't any distractions at the recital so she did pretty good. We really are done dancing now. I don't want to drive all the way to the dance studio after school or at night next year, so we're done. I know I'm a mean mom, but I think our time will be better spent at home.

I made a really cool movie to post on here, but it didn't want to upload, so sorry! I thought I had finally figured it out, but I guess I'm not as smart as I thought. I guess you can just enjoy their pictures instead.