Random August

We went to Lagoon with the Haymonds. 

Mike and I went to attend the Draper temple, because we'd never done a session there, but it was closed. Since we live in Utah we quickly drove to the Jordan River Temple and made it just in time. :)

"There's a monster in my room!"

I'm going to invite Mike to write about something cute Adam did yesterday while I was running.

Adam came to me and said, "Dad, there's a monster sneaking around my room.  You need to come help me look for him."  I asked him how he knew there was a monster in his room and he said, "I haven't seen it or heard it, but I know he's there.  Come help me find him and get him out!"  I again asked what made him think there was a monster lurking in his room if he hadn't seen it.  He told me, "I know there's a monster in there because he scratched my wall."  I proceded to follow Adam into his room to help him look for this monster and to see the "scratches" on the wall.  I did not expect to actually see scratches on his wall, especially since I had been in there 10 minutes earlier and everything in his room was in order.  To my surprise, there were in fact, scratches on his wall.

I asked Adam how the scratches got there and he told me the monster had done it with its big claws.  I asked him how it had actually happened and he confessed he had done it with a key to trick me into thinking there was a monster in his room.

This is Liz again. When I got home from my run Mike told me Adam scratched his wall. My immediate question was, "Did you put him on time-out?". Mike said that he didn't and then told me the story. He said he used it as a teaching tool of what not to do, but thanked him for his honesty. I think he handled it perfectly. :) Hopefully there aren't any more monsters lurking through our house. :)

I love to see the temple! Ogden Temple open house

It is now 2015 and as I'm writing about our trip to the Payson Temple open house I realized I never blogged the Ogden Temple open house. I posted it to Facebook, but forgot to write about it here for posterity purposes. :)

The Ogden Temple used to look like this. It was built in the 70's and there are a couple that have this facad.

They closed it for a while and did a complete remodel. I'm sure the old one was beautiful inside and out as is the new one. Mike's cousin Stephanie lives in Ogden so we all went together and afterwards got lunch.

Cousin time in Utah and Colorado

I love my family! Having four sisters means having four friends. Although getting us all together at the same time can be a bit hectic, I'm grateful we're once again within driving distance from my side of the family.

In July my sister Ashley and her family came out to spend a few days with us. Ashley was seven months pregnant, so I was very thankful she was willing to make the drive. (which she probably regretted afterwards) There is a lot to do around here but we mostly just hung out.

Sarah played dress-up with my adorable niece. Sarah took the picture on the left and Isabelle's dad took the one on the right. Isn't she adorable?!

We had fun at the Sierra Newbold park in West Jordan. I somehow failed to get any pictures of Isabelle's little sister Alyson.

I did have the grand idea to take them up to the top of Kennecott to look into the mine but I underestimated the drive time. Thirty to forty minutes each way up a dirt road while pregnant may not have been the best idea. :) It's a good thing my sister loves me and pretended to have fun. :)

In August the kids and I drove to Colorado to spend a week with my family before school started. I always forget how long the 7 1/2 hour drive is, which is why I keep making it every few months. The highlights of the trip were meeting my adorable new nephew Keaton, going to the fair and going boating.

First up was the fair. Three of my sisters and parents were there for the fun. I'm adding some pictures my sister Ashley took. Hers can always be distinguished by the better quality. :)

Adam and Isable were ride buddies and yes, she is the
"cutest niece ever". :)

The kids had a blast boating. My sister took my parents small boat and the rest of us were on the bigger boat. Steven loved hanging out with his big cousins Braiden and Connor.

I always wanted a cool pregnancy T but never got one :)

Mike was on a trip over the weekend and had a layover in Cheyenne. We drove up to meet him and have lunch with him and his crew.

The boys crossing the danger line

When Mike and my brother-in-law Dave put the kids up in front of the engine my sister and I were a little nervous because we could see the engine blades spinning. The men didn't seem to care. I asked Mike about it later, wondering why he'd put our children in harms way for a photo op and he told me the engines were off and the blades were spinning with the wind. He said he could have stopped it with his hand. 

Happy 1st Brthday Erik

Yesterday was Erik's first birthday. Even though a lot has happened this past year it seems like it has really flown by. The weeks leading up to his birthday were sad. I found myself thinking about him more than usual and I was more weepy than usual. We have reminders of him around our house, but we all miss him very much.

We decided to start a tradition of writing letters to Erik and then attaching them to balloons and letting them go at his cemetery. Sarah wrote her own letter and Steven dictated to me what he wanted written. Adam insisted on writing his own letter and took at least half an hour on it. He insisted on writing on every line of the paper before it was finished.

 Mike and I took turns dictating some of the things he was writing because they were so cute. Here is a sampling of what he wrote:
- I'm going to teach you how to drink out of a sippy cup when you're resurrected.
- I am also going to teach you how to walk and talk.
- I'm going to play with you and you're going to be so cute I will almost cry.
- I'm also going to teach you to punch and kick and play with chalk. I'll also teach you how to play laser tag and clean your room.
- I'm also going to teach you to go fishing, sit on a boat, buckle your top and bottom, and to be a life guard when you grow up. You will have to look for sea monsters. You will also learn to pick up and eat mushrooms but you won't eat mushrooms because they are gross.
- I'm going to teach you not to drink beer. (Turning to us, "What's beer?")
- I'm also going to teach you to play with toys.
- I'm also going to teach you to look in the basement and look in boxes without being scared.
- I'm also going to teach you how to drink apple juice.
- I'm also going to teach you how to play basketball, play baseball, play soccer, play tennis.
- I'm also going to teach you to love me and that I'm going to live in Hawaii some day.

Two of our balloons with letters escaped before we got there so Steven and Sarah rewrote theirs.

Mike pointed this marker out to me after we let the balloons go. This little guy passed away a few months after Erik. They used the same quote we used on his funeral handout which the cemetery used as his temporary marker. I think it was sweet this family chose that same saying.

After Erik's passing some friends of ours bought us a tree we could plant to remember his with. We didn't own our home yet, so I planted that one at my parents. In our backyard we have a little garden that will be dedicated to Erik. We found a Scarlet Paul Hawthorn to plant to be our new "Erik Tree." It was kind of sickly, but we're hoping it will come back with some good TLC. We're going to add a bench, flowers and bushes so it can be a nice place for us to sit and think. 

I don't know how long it will be until we get to see Erik again, but knowing that day will come gives me a lot of comfort. His birth and death were pretty traumatic, so it took me a while to find the peace I have now. Going to the temple has helped a lot, because I always feel closer to him there. It's easier to shut out the world and think about higher things. I know that when the time comes for his resurrection he's going to have parents and siblings that can't wait to raise him. For now we just love him and wait.

Aviary and Liberty Park with Amelia, Kristal and kids

Coming to you live from 2018. I wonder sometimes why I missed blogging certain events. Maybe we did them so much they seemed routine. Maybe the kids were bugging me that day and I didn't want to remember. ;) When I go back and rearrange the pictures  I realize that I want ALL the memories. I love all the little things we did. Here's a little day fun with Lynette, Kristal/fam and Amelia.