Making Sense of Senseless Things

I found out yesterday that one of my nursing teachers, who is now in my ward, was killed in a horrible accident in front of her husband and students in another country. As I heard the news, I was in shock. This was completely unexpected and devastating and it was hard to know why this wonderful woman had been taken in such a tragic way. But the Gospel lends us the support we need when we feel we are about to fall over from the weight of it all and for that I am grateful. If you wouldn't mind adding an extra family to your prayers this week as they grieve the loss of a wife, mother, and grandmother and continue to search for her body so they can have closure, it would mean alot to them and to me.

Kaylie's anniversary was actually not as devastating as I thought it might be. My older sister drove up to spend the afternoon with me, which made the day go by much better and much quicker and Sam loved being doted upon. The top picture is of the balloons we released, which was very......comforting, if that is the right word to use?

After the balloons, we went to dinner all together and just enjoyed being together with family. Thanks to Candace for taking pictures to help us remember the day and for being there to support us in our day of remembrance.

Remembering Kaylie

When discussing what we wanted to do for our baby today, Robert said "I like remembering the other day better" and I would have to agree. No one wants to remember the most horrific day of their life, but we do. It's part of the healing process that never quite ends. So today we remember our angel in heaven and the blessings of the Gospel that help us in knowing that we will be with our daughter again. This picture is one of many favorites of Kaylie. This was the day before she died, her blessing day. I remember getting her ready and the nurse who had been through alot with us did everything he could to help us cover the many wires and tubes with white burp cloths. When the time came to bless her, Kaylie shone just like you would imagine an angel would because of the sun coming in through the window reflecting off the white of her dress.
We haven't planned alot because Robert is extremely busy at work, but my sister is coming up today and after she gets here, I think we will go to her headstone and release 28 balloons for the 28 days she was with us, thanks to a dear friend for the suggestion. I feel that that is a special and very appropriate way to recognize the passing of our daughter as the actual experience felt very simliar; when we were ready, we allowed her to be released from her pain and suffering and she floated peacefully from this world to the next.

We want to thank all of you who have been with us through everything and hope that you also are blessed with peace and comfort in reassuring your testimony of eternal families.

What We've Been Up To...

First, we have to start off with a picture of Sam because what would a post from me be without mentioning him? He truly is getting so big, I cannot believe it!

This is a picture of my first square foot gardening box. This one will be filled with all sorts of yummy stuff from carrots and onions (which are planted right now) to broccoli, cucumbers and bush beans. For those of you haven't heard of it, square foot gardening is what it sounds like; gardening in squares of one square foot each. The concept is to grow more in less space by planting each square foot with a different crop and plant each based on how much space each plant needs. For example, onions require 3 inches of space, so you can plant 16 onions in one square foot, giving each plant 3 inches on all sides. When taking my gardening class, I realized I wanted to grow alot more and a few new things, but to expand the garden space would have required either removing trees or expanding out into the lawn, so I decided to give this method a try. Robert has been awesome in supporting me in my new gardening ventures and we are excited to see how this year fares compared to last year!

These other two boxes are for my pepper plants (each plant needs 2 feet of space). The white is plastic bags cut up to warm the soil before I transplant my starts since peppers love warm soil. I also have two tarps on the garden for the same reason only for the tomatoes.

And lastly, we have been spending the bulk of our outside time working on pruning all the bushes and trees that are on the property. My biggest focus has been on the fruit trees, but the shrubs in front of the house and the large wind break trees in the backyard have also had a good thinning.

My next venture once the fruit trees are completely finished (I just have the large plum tree left) I am considering attacking the shrubs and lilac tree that are on the line between our house and the neighbors, but we will have to see! Hope you all are enjoying the wonderful weather and getting excited for your gardens as well!

A New Perspective

So last night was an activity organized by the RS for a panel of social workers to come and speak to us about mental health. Those in my family understand when I say I was NOT INTERESTED in attending this event, but, being on the RS activity committee, I felt I was obligated to go. After arriving and feeling entirely un-needed, I was contemplating how I might manage to get out of staying, but decided it would just be easier to sit through the darn thing. I don't know if I would go as far as to say I was glad I stayed, but I did learn alot and I thought I would share a new perspective I found on parenting.
I guess I had never really sat down and thought about what parenting really was. I mean, I just feel like I am barely treading water and thank goodness Sam is still so little and doesn't understand half of what is going on because we are still really trying to figure out our parenting approach. A key point that was brought up among the discussion last night was that as long as what you are doing, whether it is teaching or discipline, is actionary parenting versus reactionary parenting will most likely be effective, no matter what the method. This was a bright light going on in my head. If I choose to take action before I am required to react, then 99% of the time things will go better!
Let me give you an example that really hit this home to me; a young mom in our ward said her daughter had gotten into the scissors and she had gotten angry and was telling her mother about the incident later and her mom simply replied with asking where the scissors were before? In thinking about it, the young mom realized she had left the scissors out on the counter where the little girl could get to them and then cause trouble. And also the biggest example of this is getting angry when your child misbehaves. No matter what the punishment, if it is a reaction to the anger, it isn't going to be as effective as you want it to be.
Anyways, there was alot discussed and it was a good thing for me to attend, even if it was grudgingly (I think the biggest reason was because I was missing out on a girl's night with some friends outside the ward getting manicures and pedicures) Just some food for thought for those of you parents that feel like me sometimes!

So Excited!

Sorry we haven't posted for a bit, we have been dealing with our first real sickness with Sam and it has been a VERY LONG week! We came home from Easter weekend with the flu and dealt with that last week, but this weekend, things changed. Sam was up all night Friday night and we couldn't figure out what was wrong. Then Saturday morning he was feverish and just sick. So we began the Tylenol/Motrin routine and kept at it all day Saturday, all through the night, all day Sunday and all through Sunday night. Monday morning I decided to take him to the Community Care because he had begun to say his ear hurt and he had a chesty cough. He tested negative for RSV (thank goodness!) and we got some ear drops for the pain, an antibiotic for the ear infection and bronchitis and I was also given a perscription because he had given me his bronchitis. So now we are on the mend and will be back to our old selves soon!

My post today is more about last night, though. Robert called around 6:30 asking if Sam wanted to come drive the tractor with Daddy. Upon hearing me repeat this, Sam ran as fast as he could to our basket of winter clothes, grabbed his coat and put it on all by himself (the first time ever) and as you can see, he was so excited, he didn't care how it was on! :) We did go out and ride the tractor with Daddy for about an hour as our "FHE" and Sam loved every minute of it! It was fun for me as well because it gives me a chance to not only see what Robert does, but to ask questions and really learn about his field. And, as you can see in the pictures, Sam's latest naughty trick is to spit at Mommy, but hopefully we are quenching this little rebellion just like all the others! :)

Easter Weekend

So of course I wasn't on top of things and have hardly any pictures to show for our Easter weekend with my family, but I'll tell you all about it and you can just imagine how fun it was! :)
We drove down Friday night after work through rain, sleet, and snow and finally arrived sometime around midnight. The next morning we decided to head to Kanosh (almost two hours south) to go four-wheeling and swimming at some hot springs there. It was a little chilly, but I think everyone had a good time and the kids absolutely loved swimming in a warm pool! Sam learned how to jump off the edge to Robert and won't stop asking to "jump a water"

These pictures are from the four-wheeling part of the trip. The above picture is of my oldest sister, Corinne and her youngest, Camilla. Corinne is expecting baby #5 and it's a boy! We are all going to have a blast spoiling little Caleb when he arrives! The mommies watched as the kiddos and guys went swimming in the hot springs for a while and then we decided to head back.

Sam loved "Baby Blue" and four-wheeling in general

While the guys attended Priesthoo session, us gals threw a surprise late birthday party for little sis, April since it is the first time we have all been together in who knows how long (probably since April's wedding?) That evening we watched "The Blind Side" and I must say, it was the best movie I have seen in quite a while, one definitely to own someday!

Sunday was pretty laid back watching conference and enjoying being together. We had some yummy Shepherd's Pie and rolls for lunch and soon after the last session of conference we had to head back. The drive back was much nicer weather, but the truck was having issues, so we ended up getting home late, which is always a pain. But it as a great weekend and we are so happy we were able to make it! Thanks fam!

FHE

First time in years that I have dyed eggs and we all had fun - hope you do, too!

New Piano!!

Ok, so it isn't new....and it isn't even ours, but it's still fun to have something so nice in our front room to distinguish it as something more than just the room to store all the toys! Robert's aunt and uncle who live in Idaho Falls bought a baby grand piano a while back and promised their old piano to their oldest daughter, but she is going to be starting graduate school next fall and doesn't have a place for it until she either graduates or gets married. It was taking up needed space in their dining room and jokingly Robert said we could take it off their hands and they jumped at the suggestion!! So, one week later this beauty is in our front room waiting to be used again (if I can remember how to play) (And yes, I realize that our hymnal is in Spanish, but that is all I had for now) It also gives us the chance to formalize this room further by completing our family wall I mentioned a while back. We are still working on Kaylie's frame and what to do with the large lettering to top it all, but it soon will come together and we will be sure to show you the final look. I am hoping to have enough room above for all the pictures and then to have my Willow Tree figurines and the molds of Kaylie's hand and foot on top of the piano.

You Feel Like A Better Mom When....

You notice all is quiet, so you go sneaking around the house to catch them in the act of being naughty, and you find him on your bed, flipping through your scriptures.

And the cutest part of all of this is when you ask him what he is doing, he says "Looking for pictures" :) Hope it brightens your day like it did mine!

Nice Weather

With all this nice weather we have been having, it has been too much to stay inside.

So the other night Robert and Sam went out to visit the good old combine and the cows, even though they come to visit us in our backyard often enough!

As you can tell, they both love each other so much!

Sam getting to drive the combine. The other day Robert got off "early" at 5:30, so we hurried over to the farm to try out Robert's new clay pidgeon thrower he got for Valentines/Father's Day and we had so much fun! Sorry no pictures to show, but it was fun to shoot again and to now have an activity that we can go do outside together! After a little bit of shooting, we walked around to all the tractors to let Sam drive them and Robert told me all about the farm and the things they are working on for this year. It was good family time.