My brother Paul

On Sunday, April 13 my brother, Paul, passed away at his home in Idaho Falls, ID. He was 39 years old and severely autistic. I was able to spend the week with my mom and dad and my siblings to say goodbye and spend some time talking about our memories of him that we will cherish. Because of the limitations of his disabled body, his life was a challenge and I'm grateful that he is able to be free of those limitations and live with our Heavenly Father again. He is at peace and he is whole again. I will, however, really miss seeing him. Although he didn't say much, I always loved how he greeted me. He usually just said my name and shook my hand. In the last few years, he would allow me to give him a hug. It was always very interesting to see what he had written on the papers that he always carried around. He would write down the things that he wanted or the places that he wanted to go and show it to all of us. Some of his favorite places were West Yellowstone, Jackson, Tri-Cities. He loved rootbeer and candy bars. A lot of times, we didn't see much emotion from Paul, but when we saw him truly happy, it was really beautiful. He had his certain things that he would say to certain people and we knew that there were some people he truly connected with. I love him very much and look forward to the time when I can see him again and talk with him. He is truly a very special son of God.

I was especially touched by the people who cared for Paul while he was in the group home. They were so loving and had so many wonderful things to say about him. It was amazing to see their outpouring of love for him. I'm so grateful for those amazing people that were willing to be Paul's second family.

To my wonderful and amazing parents--There are no two people who could have been better parents to Paul than you have been. He loved you so much and he knew that you loved him. You showed him in everything that you sacrificed and did for him. You have an amazing strength that is such an example to me. Our entire family has been blessed by that strength. I love you both very much.

Carmichael Spirit Week, 80's Day

It's Spirit Week this week at Carmichael Middle School where Kenedy is in 6th grade. Today is 80's day. So, we had fun last night putting together a great 80's costume and this morning doing her hair up 80's style. The only thing that would have made her hair better would have been if she had a perm like all of us did in the 80's! :-) She looked great when she walked out the door this morning. We were looking through one of my High School year books last night and wow, there was some big hair back then! It's fun to look back! I thought I'd post a picture of myself when I was 15 in 1989, just for fun. I couldn't find the one I really wanted to show, but this will do. My bangs were famous back then. They didn't ever move! ;-)

Easter and Kenedy's first Choir Concert

We had a wonderful Easter this year. We colored eggs on Saturday night to set out for the Easter Bunny to hide Sunday morning and then had the hunt after breakfast on Sunday. It's always fun for the kids to hunt for eggs. I think we even found all of them this year so we won't come upon some rotten egg in the yard a month from now. We go to church at 1pm this year, so it was nice not to have to rush to get ready. Primary, however, was a little bit wild. The kids in Junior Primary were totally wired. I wish I had a picture of Alexis that day. She was squirming in her seat like I have never seen her before. Wow!

Kenedy had her first Choir Concert on Thursday night. She did a really good job and there were some fun songs presented. I think she was reluctant to sing in the choir at the beginning of the year, but she said she would be in the choir next year, so that's a step in the right direction. I loved singing in the choir and I hope she will continue on. She has a beautiful voice and I hope she continues to share it.

Time out for Women and my funny kids

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend Time out for Women with my good friend Donna, her sister-in-law Rebecca and my mother. This was my second time attending a conference like this and we had a wonderful time. All of the speakers and musical performers were so wonderful and their messages truly uplifted me. I came away feeling refreshed and ready to be a better mother, wife and friend. Here is a picture of us at the conference.

I will move the the second part of this post--my funny kids. I want to post a picture of all of them, but the "funny" stories come from my youngest 3. They are quite the characters.

Kenedy, who is going to turn 12 in July, finished her first semester of Middle School in February. She got a 4.0 and made the Superintendent's list of the Honor Roll! Needless to say, Jim and I are so proud of her! It's hard to believe she is almost 12. She's growing up way too fast!

Hallie continues to do well in school and I got a great report from her teacher for this last trimester. Great job Hallie. We are so proud of you. I found Hallie, Haden and Lexie playing with some glass beads in the entry way last Sunday. Hallie laid them all out in the shape of a horse. It was pretty impressive as you can see. She is definitely my animal lover and just started back into riding this last week.

Alexis is just totally cute. Her hair has gotten long again and I'm able to put it in pony tails and pig tails when she lets me. She is quite a fire ball and loves to roll her eyes and say "No" as loud as she can when you ask her to do something she doesn't want to. It's a lot of fun. Well, the other day, she had her friend Emma over to play. They were playing really well together and then Lexie came in crying about something. Here's how the conversation went:

Lexie: Mom, Emma hit me in the face with her pony she was holding. She was twirling and twirling around and she hit me in the face.

Me: I'm so sorry, Lexie, but it sounds like it was an accident. Did she say she was sorry?

Lexie: Yes(with a huge roll of the eyes), but Mom, she wasn't even looking at where she was going.

Me: Well, sometimes that happens when you are playing and she said she was sorry, so you need to forgive her.

Lexie: But, mom, she didn't even look where she was going.

Me: Lexie, you need to forgive Emma because she wasn't trying to hit you.

Lexie: (It was like a light bulb finally went off) I know what will make her like me again. I will go get the princess movies and we can play the games together on it. I'm sure she will like me again!

The drama of a 4-year-old girl just never ends! :-)

Okay, so now to the boys. Haden, my 6-year-old, is quite skinny and getting him to eat anything but breakfast food is like pulling teeth. Quite often he doesn't even eat dinner. I'm starting to wonder if he even eats the lunch I pack him every day for school. Anyway, the other night I made stir fry for dinner. It was fantastic! I was sure that he was going to like it. So, I dished him some rice, some chicken and 1 piece of broccoli. I decided to start small to see if he would eat it. Pretty soon he was done with the rice and chicken, but had that one piece of broccoli left. I turned toward him to find him sliding ever so silently off the stool with the piece of broccoli in his hand. I said, "Haden, what are you doing?" He said, "I need to go to the bathroom." I said, "With a piece of broccoli in your hand?" He said, "Well, I just want to eat my broccoli in the bathroom." I said, "Haden, I didn't just fall off the turnip truck." He said, "What?" So, I said, "I mean, I wasn't born yesterday." He said again, "What?" I said, "That means that I'm not dumb. You are either going to throw that piece of broccoli away or flush it down the toilet." He said, "No, really. I just want to eat my broccoli in the bathroom." This picture represents how he feels about most food I give him. I wish I had a picture of him trying to sneak off with the broccoli.

This is even hot chocolate and he looks like he will die if he has to drink it. ;-)

One other funny thing before I end this post. Haden is going to be 7 this year and he is a skinny kid. He weighs about 45 lbs. Now, in comparison, Cooper, who is not quite 2 1/2, weighs 40 lbs. Haden is all skin and bones and Cooper is just a solid tank. One morning after scriptures, we were just sitting there and talking about whatever and Haden randomly says in a matter-of-fact tone, "Me and Cooper wrestle all the time. He always wins." It's exciting around our house!

Snowman In Bend

We went to Bend, Oregon this President's Day weekend.

There was very little snow so Kenedy, Hallie, and Kamree learned a valuable lesson.

Take a short cut!

(Mr. Potato Head)

Winter Wonderland!

It has been an interesting couple of days in the Tri-Cities. On Saturday night we had the worst freezing rain I have ever seen here and the entire Tri-Cities was a sheet of ice. I wish I had taken a picture of the lawn. It was completely covered in ice, the trampoline was frozen solid and the net around it was ice. It was actually pretty cool to walk on the grass and feel it crunch underneath your feet. We got a call from a member of our Bishopric telling us that the 9 am block meetings had been cancelled for Sunday and they would decide later on Sunday if our 1 pm meetings would be cancelled.

Well, we woke up Sunday morning and it was snowing and had been for quite some time. There was probably 1-2 inches of snow on top of all that ice. Needless to say, church was cancelled and it continued to snow until around 7 pm Sunday night. We racked up 6 or 7 inches! Amazing!! We haven't had this much snow for about 4 or 5 years and certainly not at the end of January. But, the kids are having fun and the sun is out today, so it will probably be gone by the end of the week.

We had a good time shoveling snow yesterday for a little while and the kids played a little bit outside. I think we'll try to go sledding tonight for Family Home Evening.

Christmas 2007

We had a great Christmas. We headed to Idaho Falls to spend the holiday with my parents. It was a great time to go since my sister, Natalie, had her little girl, Madeleine, on December 19 and was feeling good enough to come up for the holidays. It was a longer trip than usual because of the weather and the worst of it we hit when we got about 30 miles out of Idaho Falls. However, the kids were excited to see all the snow and we were glad to get everything unloaded and know that we didn't have to go anywhere for a four days.

The kids just loved playing in the snow. Kenedy and Hallie, especially, spent most of their time outside in the snow. The day after Christmas, my dad bought a sled for the kids. He has a 4-wheeler and spent a little bit of time making a trail all around their yard so he could pull them on the sled behind it Besides Christmas presents, that was the highlight of their trip.

My favorite part of the trip was just being with family and talking, laughing and having fun. I was especially thrilled to meet my new niece. She is adorable and it's always fun to hold a newborn baby in your arms. Thanks so much for coming Natalie and Taylor.

My mom always makes good food for us to eat and it's fun for the kids to be able to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks so much for letting us come, Mom and Dad. We sure love you!

Lexie is holding Natalie's little girl, Madeleine. The kids were so excited to meet their new cousin. Lexie told Madeleine what her name was and then said, "Now, Madeleine can be my cousin because she knows my name."

In Jim's house growing up, they had a hallway that could be closed off from the living room and they all had to line up oldest to youngest before they could come out and see what Santa had brought. We have adopted this as a tradition on Christmas morning.

Haden's gift from Santa--model planes. He and Jim were able to put one of them together on Christmas day.

Santa brought Hallie all of the Harry Potter movies. By the look on her face, I think she was excited.

All Lexie wanted was an Ariel doll, since the one she got for her birthday broke.