6 Months

Six months ago yesterday was the last time I talked to Mom. Six months ago tomorrow she completed her journey here on earth. A lot can happen in six months. Kids get older, do more things. Life has a tendency to continue on even when you wish it would stay still.
There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about Mom, but time has a way of healing things. I still miss her, I will always miss her. But the memories are more sweet than sad. I still get sad, my kids still get sad, I am sure my siblings and Dad still get sad. And to tell you the truth, I hope that we will always have a small part of that sadness with us. Because to me that shows how much we love and miss her. I also hope we can be happy when when think of her. Remember all the fun times, the wild and crazy adventures, and yes even the bad times. Because all those memories are what shaped me into who I am today- the good and the bad.
Life moves on, and so, I too move on with it. Taking what I have learned and adding it in to the person I want to become.
I am so glad that my very last words to her, when I spoke on the phone August 23, 2013, were "I love you." I am glad that her very last words to me that same phone call were "I love you." I always make it a point when my kids are leaving, when I am leaving, when they go to bed, that the very last words I say to them is "I love you."

A Story Written

I just realized that I have not written down an experience that Abby and I had a few months back.
It wasn't too very long after Mom passed away. Probably mid fall sometime. Abby was having a hard night. She hadn't had a hard night like that for awhile. She was sad and crying. She missed her Grandma Cindy terribly! She didn't understand why she had to die. Why did Heavenly Father need her to go back to heaven to help Him? She wished that she could have said good bye to her, could have seen her, talked to her on the phone, anything. My mom had an amazing relationship with each of her grandchildren, so Abby was no exception. I told her my testimony of the Plan of Salvation. I told her what I thought Grandma was doing. It was hard, and I got teary eyed. How do you explain to a child what really doesn't make sense to you? I felt the Spirit strong there that night in her bedroom. We talked of the many good memories that we had of Grandma. Then, every night before she goes to sleep I "program" in a dream for her (Mom used to do this to me at night time too!). When I asked her what she wanted to dream about she pondered it for a few moments. Then she looked at me and said, "Could I dream about Grandma?" I have "programed" in Grandma before so I told her I would. She went to bed, and I went to my room as well.
The next morning I had pretty much forgotten about Abby's issues the night before. Abby came bounding into my room bright and all too early. I was already awake, but not wanting to get out of bed yet I was looking on Facebook. Abby crawled into bed with me to snuggle for a little. As I was scrolling down I passed a comment my brother B.J. had made. His profile picture had a picture of Mom. Abby looked at that and sat straight up and said, "Mom! Guess what?!" I had no idea what had her so excited so early in the morning. So I asked her what. "Grandma spent the whole night with me!" Tears brimmed my eyes as she told me about the things she and Grandma did. They talked a lot (I don't know what they talked about). She said that they played a game together too. Then, just before morning she told Abby that she needed to go and be with Grandpa Bob for a while, but that she would always be with her when she needed her.
Even now, as I write this I get emotional and can feel the Spirit bearing witness to me that Mom is not gone. She will be with me whenever I need her. I had a thought the other day as I was driving home from the grocery store. I thought that it was so sad that Mom is going to miss all these important days for my children- baptism, priesthood ordination, graduation, missions, weddings, birth of children, etc. Then a voice came to me- it was the voice of my mother. She said, " I will not miss a single thing. The only thing you will miss is seeing me there. But I will be there!" I am so grateful to know that my Mom is still there. She may be separated from her body right now, but her spirit is as alive as ever. I am reminded of the temple sealer that Heather, BJ, Jenni and I talked to the Tuesday after Mom's death. He said that Mom will be able to help us more from the other side of the veil than she would have been able to when she was alive. I have felt that. I have felt my Mom's influence in my life and the life of my kids. So, THANK YOU MOM! Thank you for always being with me when I need you most.

Bear Lake Sledding

We had a great time going up to the cabin in Bear Lake. Cameron really wanted to go sledding, so I did a little research and found out about a place called the Sinks where people so sledding and snowmobiling. We had such a great time- and we even convinced Grandma and Grandpa to go down a time or two!!

After we finished sledding the kids really wanted to go walk on the frozen lake. It is been a mild winter, so there was quite a bit that was not froze. But we were able to find a spot that was frozen enough for us to go just a few feet. It was really fun! The kids had a blast saying they were "walking on water!"

President's Cup

ON January 17 and 18 Cameron's team was able to compete in the President's Cup down in Mesquite, NV. It was fun to be able to play outside again. Even though it was FREEZING!!! As you can tell from the pictures of Abby and McKenzie!

Friday after the first game we had a few hours to kill before their next game (which by the way they won their first game!) Our original thought was to go see a movie, but that didn't open until 1:00, so that didn't work. So we decided to go bowling! Here are a few pictures of bowling (sorry these are bad pictures, I left my good camera home, and my other camera that I keep in my purse battery died, so all I had was my phone- not a good camera!)

After our second win of the day we headed back to St. George where we were staying with our friends the Johnson's and the Robinson's. It was wild and crazy and packed to the ceiling with people. But we had a great time! Here are a bunch of them watching a movie.

Saturday we headed back to Mesquite for another game. And guess what?! We won that one too!! So that meant we were going to play in the championship game!! Now we had been there before twice during the summer, but ended up taking silver (still a great achievement!). They really wanted to win the gold! They played their little hearts out and came out the victors!!

Here is Cameron with the winners trophy!

Coaches Jeff and Ryan

The Champions!

Way to go Surf!! You boys deserved it!

Science Fair Projects

This year I had two of my kids that had to do a science fair project. That meant a lot of work for each of the kids and a lot of work for the Momma! They came up with their ideas (I tried to get them to do the same project so it would be a little less work for me, but they wanted to do different projects), they had to do their own hypothesis, research (although I did help them with what to search- what questions to ask)Then came the day of the experiments themselves. Cameron did his on paper airplanes- more specifically which design would fly best and would different paper change the way it flies, and what would happen if weight was added. We were able to go to the church to test it at the gym. That way the conditions were always the same. Here he is testing out the planes and measuring out their distance.

McKenzie chose to do hers on chromatography with Skittles. Basically she separated the colors that were used in each of the Skittles. Had I thought about it I would have bought a bag that had all different types of Skittles (the newer crazier colors) instead of the bag that had red, yellow, green, purple, and orange. But Oh well… it still worked! Here are some pictures of Kenzie working on her project.

Both kids received A's on their project so that made them and me very happy. Cameron was excited that he got an honorable mention certificate for his project, and I was happy that he didn't move on the district (is that bad?!) McKenzie chose to only do her project for a grade, and not enter it into the judging (totally fine by me!) Now that those two major projects are done I can breathe a little easier… maybe.

Here is Cameron's board...

And this one is McKenzie's...

Christmas Day!

Christmas Day came bright and early! Actually it wasn't too bad. We told the kids we weren't going to do Christmas until 7:00. So at exactly 7:00 I had three little ones jump into my bed!
Here are the kids with their stocking "surprises!" They always get socks and under ware, and toothbrush and gum.

Our Christmas Tree!

Oh my GOODNESS! Santa Came!

Abby asked for an American Girl Doll Horse (My Generation Doll Horse works just as well too!)

Cameron got an "Official Red Ryder BB Gun…" No he has not shot his eye out… yet!

McKenzie wanted an iHome.

Our Christmas- though small and meager to some people- was just perfect. They all got exactly what they had asked for. They were beyond happy to get what they got. And to make it all worth it- they really remembered the meaning of the holiday. The birth, the life, the death and the resurrection of our Savior!