Church Activity, House View, No School Day, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Jamin sliding down the hill made by a snow plow.

 Sleigh rides.

 Weee! Neil sliding down the hill.

 Grandma helping Tegan with a smore.  This was so cute.

 Tegan and her bestie.

 More sleigh rides.

 The view from the inside of our new house.  It still looks pretty bare in there, and cold outside.

The kids had a day off school, so my SIL and I took the kids to a fast food place and Kid City.  The kids were being so cute smiling and peeking through the windows.  After we sat down, a guy came and sat right next to the kids peeking through.  Then a little later he said, "You know this isn't a playplace, right?"  I totally thought he was joking until he said, "I want to eat in peace."  I was dumbfounded.  They were being so cute and weren't hurting anything or anyone.  My blood boiled inside, but I was good and didn't say anything.  The kids needed a cheer up day and I wasn't going to ruin it for them.  Maybe he was having a rough day.  Note to self, if want a quiet meal, don't go to fast food restaurant and sit next to table with seven small children.  Just saying.  

 Peeking through the windows.

 The kids really enjoyed Kid City.

 Happy St. Patrick's Day!  We had our usual green eggs, but went with green smoothie pops instead of biscuits.  I mixed spinach into the eggs to make the eggs green(Thanks Kristi D).  They were super tasty.  Jamin wasn't in a picture taking mood this morning.

Every holiday so far has been hard for me.  I miss my Gordon every day.  Although, Easter coming up will hopefully be a happy day.  It is the day that gives me hope.  I gave the sharing time lesson in primary today.  It was on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In the lesson it said to ask someone to come in that has lost someone close to them and finish the sentence, "I am thankful Jesus Christ was resurrected because..."  First I asked the children what Easter was about.  The little kids were cute.  The first one said we celebrate bunnies hiding eggs.  Then we talked what Easter was really about, the resurrection and what it was.  Then I finished the sentence.  I am thankful Jesus Christ was resurrected because it will make it possible for me to be with my sweet Gordon again one day.  There were a few tears in there.

Grandma and Grandpa Came to Town

My Mom and Daddy Ray came for a visit.  They came to help us out and that's what they did.  They boosted our spirits and worked.  We have been getting our house ready to put up for sale.  We have been building a house for a long time and it is going to be finished soon... hopefully.  When they came, our home was upside down.  It was almost unliveable.  After a whole crazy amount of work, it is almost done.  Just a few more things.  I don't miss all the painting, but I do miss these guys.  It was so nice to have them here.  I cried all day the day they left.  I miss our games that we played every night with the chocolate covered almonds... mmm.

 Jamin had his Kub Kar Rally while my parents were here.  Jamin did a scout truck this year since he is eleven.  That's what they do up here.  Daddy Ray helped Jamin design and build it.  

 Everyone kept asking if it was really baby food in the jars.  Yes it is. =)

 It was so nice to be able to run errands without packing up all the kids.  All the kids had a great opportunity to bond with Grandma and Grandpa.

 Nap time

Thanks for coming to visit and do my laundry.  =)  Love you guys!

Jamin Pictures 2013

Tegan Pictures 2013

 Tegan's pictures are finally here!  I finally got all her pictures on a cd.  Just took a few tries.  =)

A School Visit

I wrote this Anderson Mario Story around Halloween last year for my kids with the help of my sister in-law.  It was some work, but fun too.  I am so glad we did this.  It is my kids favorite story for me to read to them.  I read it to Neil's kindergarten class and they loved it, so I decided to ask if Gordon's class would like me to read it to them.  They said they would and the other grade 2 classes would too.  So today I went and read it to them as well.  I was a little nervous about reading to all those kids, but they were so good, and asked really good questions at the end.  I really enjoyed the experience.  I ordered a copy for the school, so they are going to keep one in the library.  The kids all cheered when I told them that.  It was so cute.

Before I started reading, a little boy asked me if I was sad.  I said sometimes I am, but at the moment I was happy to be there.

Happy Valentine's Day 2013

 Here are my kids valentines this year!  We had so much fun making them!  I was going to do something different for Jamin's valentines, but saw these little lights and had to use them.

Pictures and Temple Trip

This weekend we took our family to the temple.  It is about 6 1/2 hours away.  It was a very nice trip.  It is always a peaceful place to be.  We usually go a few times a year.  This is the first time we have gone since the accident.  We were at the hotel pool and sitting in the hot tub with our four kids when a lady started talking to us.  First she asked if Neil and Tegan were twins.  She was shocked when I said no.  Tegan is catching up to Neil in height and they were playing so cute together.  She asked if all the kids were mine and how many there were.  I said I had five kids.  Then she started counting.  She kept counting 1-2-3-4 until Neil saved me from explaining and said that Gordon was in Heaven.  She said "Oh" and didn't ask anymore questions.  I am never quite sure how much to tell people, but if someone asks how many kids I have, I am going to tell them I have five.  If they keep asking questions maybe I will tell them or maybe I won't.  I guess it will depend on the day.
I am trying out a new dentist and so they don't know me.  So when I went in January for an appointment, the first question was, "How were your holidays?"  So maybe I made a mistake, but I said something like they were hard.  Then she wanted to know why and I told her.  Then she said she was having a rough time too and her Dad was in the hospital in a coma.  Anyway, it was kind of an emotional visit.  It made me understand why my husband was having a hard time at work with all of his patients coming in and asking how his holidays went.  At least people are not asking that now.
Anyway, here are some recent photos.

Happy Baby

 A cute moment picking up Dallin from babysitting.

We are doing lots of work renovating our current home getting it ready to sell since our home that is being built will be finished in a few months.  Jamin wanted to help.  The orange carpet is no longer.

Gordon's table. Since this picture, I have moved to fake flowers, but still have been having a hard time keeping the cat off the table.

 More happy baby.

 Hot tub at the hotel

 Coloring at breakfast.

 Yes, I was there too.

 Getting ready to go swimming

 These two were being so cute together.  Neil was helping Tegan to the steps.