In Memory of Uncle Willie

Saturday, February 7, 2009 Uncle Willie passed onto a better place. This is the second loss in our extended family, my Dad being the first. It's never easy. My heart goes out to his family. I know they are missing him dearly.

We are blessed to have another visit from Aunt Louise from Florida...and of course it is suppose to snow all week. She is not looking forward to that since she said that she would only come visit again in the warm weather. (This is after slipping on ice in December and hurting her back).

I will be looking forward to seeing all the family at the funeral, just sad for the circumstances.

Picture Perfect!

Yesterday I traveled to Bear Lake...not for pleasure...but for work. I still got to enjoy the beautiful picture of the Lake. The clouds were sleeping so peacefully on top of the lake that I just had to take a picture. Of course I only had my phone to take the picture with, but it worked out ok. My Mom always tells me to carry my camera for those shots I might miss. Maybe I should start listening to her. Mom knows best...so she tells me :)

Happy Birthday Katie!

So my cute niece "Katie" turned 11 this past week. I seriously thought she was turning 10. I just can't get over how fast the years are flying by. The kids grow up too fast.

Katie is the sweetest thing. She is so kind and mature for her age. We are lucky to have her in our family!

We spent the day at her house yesterday enjoying the Wii...Dance Revolution, Baseball and Bowling and playing with their cute new puppy "Mazy". Oh is she a cuddly puppy! Then we decided to steal her and have her stay the night with us. We stayed up late watching "Another Cinderella Story". Good movie!

Happy Birthday Katie! We love you!

Friends! Treasure them while you can.

I love my friends! The stages of friends from childhood through adulthood. I truly treasure each of them. I have lost so many of them this past year and throughout my life to death. I hate death. I know it has to happen, but when life is cut too short and for unnecessary reasons it just makes me sad.

I lost a dear friend Joe this past week. We worked together at Albertsons in Phoenix for 13 years. My friends from Albertson's are so dear to me. They were my family for so many years. I grew to love each of them, their wives and kids. I miss them soooo....much! I had many emotions the past two days. I was so happy to see them that it made me cry and I was so sad at the reason I was seeing them it made me cry. I went to Phoenix for the funeral. Tuesday night I attended the viewing and was blessed to be there to support Lisa and the kids and to see so many of my dear friends. It was comforting and I am glad for the closure it brought me. Wednesday I attended the funeral service with full military honors. It was my first (with the military honors) and very touching. That afternoon was nice visiting with friends and Joe's family.

Rest in peace Joe and best of luck to Lisa and the kids. I love you!

Already January 10, 2009....

Didn't we just celebrate Christmas? How could it already be January 10th of the new year? The month is already flying by. I really wish life could slow down a bit. One of my friends in Arizona has the best new years resolution.

This is what she had to say: I truly love my life although I don't always allow myself to feel the joy of it..........My #1 resolution this year is to feel the joy of loving my life everyday!

I think I am going to try to do the same thing. I feel like our lives just fly by us and we don't take the time to fully enjoy what a wonderful lives we have. I am so very blessed with a great family, wonderful friends and pretty good health. I enjoy seeing my children smile. It brings me so much joy. I love that my son still loves to sit on my lap or cuddle me on the couch. My daughter is so special. She totally loves life and people. She is always happy and truly loves having friends and is so nice to people. (She just needs to work on being nicer to her immediate family :) ) I am so blessed to have them. I love it that my Mother calls me just to tell me she loves me. Ok, so it was because she thought she offended me by getting onto my kids today, but she didn't. I am glad she helps me remind them to behave. She could never offend me. I did enjoy hearing her call and tell me that.

So today I took the kids skiing for the second time this year. We brought along Haiden and Collin the kids cousins. It was Haiden's second time ever boarding and he is such a natural! When we arrived, the wind was blowing and it was so darn cold for being such a sunny day. We made a few runs and then went in for lunch. After lunch the wind quit and it was a beautiful day. Shaylee took off and skied with Collin. Kayson and Haiden stuck with me. They all had so much fun and that little stink Shaylee just gets too brave riding the lift by herself with Collin. It kinda scares me, but she did ok. I got to ride single and met some cute kids. I rode up with this cute little 5 year old and he just happen to be the son of Kirk Eck a guy I grew up with and went to school with my whole life. I skied back to the Patrol lodge with him and there was his Dad. It was good seeing him. I also ran into Jared Larson a good ole' friend. I love that I am blessed to go skiing whenever I want and it is a blast seeing old friends!

So this year is starting out great for us! It's all going to be ok...I just know it!

Merry Christmas!

We hope that each of you had a very Merry Christmas. We sure did. I didn't seem to get Christmas cards out this year, so here is the picture of our family I would have sent.

The kids had a great Christmas. They got new ski clothes, Guitar Hero for the Wii, movies and clothes that were surely needed. My brother and his family brought their Rock Band over and we spent the afternoon playing it. It was fun and those kids are really good. I can't seem to play that guitar worth a darn. I'll just keep to being a beginner. We had a really yummy dinner thanks to Mom and enjoyed all the family for the day!

We also received LOTS & LOTS of snow. My Aunt from Florida has surely had her fill of the snow. It actually rained Christmas afternoon but then turned into the biggest snow storm before my Sister and Brother left. As you can see in the picture this is how much snow we received last night. Brian had shoveled and scrapped off the snow from the railing Christmas morning and it is full again. I am sure the skiing is nice today and yes, we should be going but we're not. :(

Today we are going to make a snowman that Shaylee has been anxious to make. She has already made a cute little snow angel! The rest of the day I think we are going to lounge and enjoy some good movies.

Happy New Year to all and be safe!

It's snowing, and snowing, and snowing....and snowing!

Like I said in the previous post, it is snowing and has done so A LOT this past week. It is such a beautiful sight and "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas". I truly love this time of year. I just hate driving in it. I haven't had a crash yet this year...(knock on wood). Here is a video I took this morning. Enjoy the HUGE flakes. They are so pretty.