Family Party

Birthday boy blowing out candles! Happy Birthday Brian!!!

It has been a long time since we have had everyone up to our house for dinner so Troy planned a ham dinner today for everyone.  It was a lot of fun to see everyone (we missed Trent & Becky and Rena & kids and Eric).  We heard the story about Brian’s basketball injury,(hee, hee, hee) ate lots of ham, salad, deviled eggs, potato salad, dip and chips and cake to top it all off. Yesterday was Brian's birthday and we heard through a little bunny that he liked carrot cake. Thanks to Costco, we had a very yummy cakd in honor of Brian. 

With just Travis and Kendra left, everyone tried to hit everyone else as hard as they could with these soft balls I have.  Oh such good times, only two thoughts; 1- I wish we could get together more often, if nothing else but for the kids to play and get to know each other better and 2- I definitely missed Matt.  He had a way of always bringing any gathering to life.

This is a ball thrown by Tyler that went right past Kendra and hit Brie smack in the face.

Travis and Troy hanging out

Kynleigh and Kendra finally started playing and running around together

Kynleigh eating ice cream, oh so good!

Grandpa and Willa

Emma and Troy

St Patricks Day

 St. Patricks Day is not necessarily the funnest holiday for me, really all I have ever done is wear green to keep from being pinched non stop. Having a daycare has changed that somewhat. Last year, I put a little drop of food coloring in the toilet and announced to the kids that a Leprechaun had peed in Mrs Caryn's toilet.  They all went crazy and spent the next 2 hours looking for this Leprechaun all over my house.  This is all I heard from this one little guy all year who is now in kindergarten so of course we had to do it again this year. Yes, we found some green in the toilet and I had magnifying glasses for all of them to use to "hunt" for this poor little Leprechaun (who by the way, heaven help him if this bunch ever did catch him) Needless to say, they never found him, however we did find some little footprints in the hall leading to the kitchen..... so until next year, this little Leprechaun is safe once again.

Yard Work

It never fails, every fall when it is time to do all the fall clean up in the yard, between soccer and I think the attitude of "do I really have to do more yard work" only a part of the yard gets ready for spring to come the next year.  This last year was no exception and then all the parts of the yard that were left undone are just ugly and dried up and brown and did I say ugly. I can only take so much of seeing all the ugly. Spring is so sporadic with a few nice days laced in between a lot of cold wet days. (unlike where my dad is and he is getting suntanned on his deck every week) This last Friday however I did not plan on doing yard work, but as my daycare kids were leaving I noticed how nice it was out and thought I better take advantage of this.  I announced to a kitchen full of teen agers that I was heading outside and if anyone wanted to help me. I have never seen a kitchen clear out with excuses so fast in my life. So it was left up to me and Kynleigh (she can't really leave the house ..... yet) I enjoyed my self so much and what a difference it makes to be OUTSIDE after a long winter for ones spirit. Now let me clarify something now.... I say that I love to be outside now, it is in the 50's. I may not be quite so enthusiastic in a few months when the weeds won't stop and it is in the 100's and I have to work in the heat, so ..... everyone...... enjoy this positive attitude now from me.

My new blog

I have been away for way too long.  I am really trying to make time for what REALLY matters in life and I know this is my way of keeping a journal of some sort. So my new goal is to at least write once a week if not more.... there my goal is in writing for all to see (all of about 2 people). Some postings will be funner than others and who knows, maybe I will learn to write and express myself a little better (there are so many areas in my life that needs improving).

Something else I am now learning more about is digital scrapbooking or just creations using digital files.  I have done several little invitations and hand-outs lately and am loving all the possibilities. Here is a picture of an invitation I did.

Well, I have 9:00 church... that I love.... cause I get a nap right after, however I do hate waking up in the mornings even with that nap, so good night!

Winter Snow

This is the first winter that Kynleigh has wanted to go outside to play in the snow. I bought her a princes snow shovel, yes she is spoiled rotten. The next snow fall after that, she wanted to be out in the driveway with her dad. She would not wear gloves and her hands got VERY cold and she definitely did not like that part. A few days later we got another little storm and Brieanna wanted to go and make a snowman with Kynleigh… Out went two bundled-up girls. The snow was too powdery and would not stick to make balls but they had a blast walking around, kicking snow and throwing it at each other and chasing each other. (it was a wonderful sister bonding moment) Brieanna made a beautiful snow angel but Kynleigh was a little unsure about laying in it.

The next day, Kynleigh, who runs around the house in only her panties all the time, comes to her dad with boots on and panties and ants to go outside. Too bad I don’t have a picture of that one, it was hilarious.

King Size Bed

Have you ever wondered if getting a king size bed would solve some of your sleeping problems??? Well, sometime during the night….….probably one of the times that I brought Kynleigh into our bed and then took her back to her bed due to the fact that I was pushed almost off MY bed and it was IMPOSSIBLE to actually sleep in MY OWN bed, I pondered this actual thought. So........here are a few of those thoughts………….


• It would actually have the room to sleep me, Troy, and any of the 3 visitors we frequently have and probably still be somewhat comfortable. (But then why do I WANT to make room for those 3 visitors when they have THEIR OWN beds???)

• I would still get enough of the bed to sleep comfortably even when Troy feels he needs more than half the bed (Oh and he will deny this fact but I am right)

• The problem of size also comes into the equation because our room is not actually made to fit that big of a bed. It would leave no room for the sleeping bags that the 2 big kids feel they need to sleep in on occasion…..Oh darn-it!!! (But then I do not want to give them any excuse to actually feel like they can SLEEP in my bed.)

• The thought also came to me that I would not be close enough to Troy to put my cold feet on his legs and drive him crazy :-)

So I guess after thinking about my sleeping thoughts, (if I even remembered them all) I think we should stick with our squeaky queen bed that we have……

Caryn (yes, the Caryn that disappeared about a year ago)

Egg Nog and Pizza

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and is looking forward to an exciting 2011. Christmas at my place was absolutely spectacular. We held on to the long tradition of eating pizza and drinking egg nog on Christmas eve. I love egg nog! That stuff is pure heaven and I look forward to it all year long. I have a 14 year old son, 12 year old daughter and a 2 year old daughter. We covered everything from new snowboards to a battery powered Tinkerbell ATV. It was loads of fun. We got up super early and opened all the gifts, ate a delicious breakfast casserole and then loaded up the Van and went to Idaho Falls and visited family. It was great times. My Aunt Kathy cooked a wonderful dinner for us that night and we ate like kings and queens. The holidays are a great time of year and I wish the feeling lasted longer. 

I lost one of my brothers(Matt) just over a month ago and there isn't a day that doesn't go by that I don't think about him. Sometimes there isn't even a moment that goes by. I find myself hearing something funny or just today I heard an ad for a snowmobiling get-away being advertised on the radio and I grab my phone to call Matt. I get kinda mad when that happens and I wonder things like "do they have phones in heaven?" I think I am going crazy at times.  I know I need to let life continue and people tell me all the time that as time goes by things get easier. Well that will be nice but I also don't want to forget Matt and take him for granted. I couldn't live with myself if I taught myself to just forget about him and move on. That seems like the ultimate crime anyone could commit on a family member. So what do you do? How do you cope? I have no answer and wonder that a lot. I do know that I have wonderful parents and a wonderful 2 brothers and 1 sister. We all love each other tremendously and it makes me happy when we get together for all sorts of occasions. We had a great family christmas party on Dec. 19th and I really enjoyed it. It also provided me with an opportunity to go visit Matts grave site. We had a good chat. I told him about the BYU bowl game and spewed off as many stats as I could remember. I told him that I missed him a lot. His grave had the greenest grass. I'm sure that is from all the tears that have landed there over the last month. Then I walked away and what seemed like a million miles I got into my van and looked at my wife and 3 kids. I am a very blessed man and I know the Lord knows my pain and longing for my brother. He provides me with the strength needed get through the tough times and helps me keep my sense of humor. 

My son was ordained a Teacher in our faith the Sunday after Matt passed away. The bishop asked him to bear his testimony and Tyler started off by saying that " He knows life is good and that good things are going to happen in our lives" That was really all he said but that was his testimony and I will never forget it. Life is good and good things will happen in our lives. Sometimes before we know what is "good" in our lives we have to know and feel what is bad. That part is the hardest but it provides the sweetest nectar to ours souls because it is then that we are able to sit up in the morning and welcome it with open arms and say out loud......Life is good and good things are going to happen today.