Not the normal stuff

Not much of a happy note, but couldn't not

A whirlwind of emotions this past week. We somewhat spontaneously decided as a family and with my sisters and their families to go to the beach for the weekend. We were all very excited about it as it's not something we commonly do even year to year. My mom called last Wed. morning to say that my cousin, Joseph who's fifteen had taken the car in the middle of the night and was in a single-car accident and was pretty banged up and would have a long recovery but the doctors said he would be fine. The next morning my mom called to tell me he died during the night of well we're not completely sure yet, at least I'm not, but heart trauma, heart attack, something like that, that didn't matter as much as the fact that he was gone. He was the baby of all of the cousins in my family and way too young and sweet to be gone. It is still so hard to accept.
So we postponed our plans as soon as we heard, we visited with my uncle and learned the funeral wouldn't be until today because of the autopsy and I'm not sure what else. Anyway we decided later that we would go ahead on to the beach, as we'd already paid and didn't feel like we could do too much here. Uncle David had a lot of family and support around him. Being at the beach with everyone was wonderful. The kids loved it. Laura loved "swimming" with her floaties in the pool (in Carm's condo), Cole loved being chased by the waves and Hannah loved chasing the birds. Brandon was a trooper (still recovering from hernia surgery) even though this wasn't his dream vacation he hung in there with us. All of the cousins got along fairly well. We lounged, played, got sunny and sandy.

Unfortunately Monday came and we had to come back and I think it hit me on Sunday how much I did not want to come home and back to reality. I wished so much I could take the hurt away for Uncle David and my cousin Patrick and that I could see Joseph again. My mom said that even while he was in so much pain he was polite with the nurses, saying thank you, yes ma'am and no ma'am. He was a good kid, just not sure about life. His viewing was last night and they had a collage and video of pics of him and it was all so surreal. The funeral was today and again just so surreal, I still can not believe this has happened. He was so young. I know there's a plan, I know that he is being loved and cared for. I know that I will have a chance to see him again. It really puts a perspective on what's important in life. Things fade away, people live on forever and they're what means the most.

Home Primary

Due to Brandon's hernia surgery and his partying last night, we decided to just go to Sacrament today, that ended up not happening either :(, for a number of reasons. Anyways...we had a mini primary at home. I got to play the part of Primary President, Brandon the teacher. Laura wanted to go to real primary because she wanted to see her teacher (props to Shelley Wonsch for being so good for my super shy Laura). We welcomed Daddy and Hannah with a welcome song, sang a birthday song in honor of Grandma Porter's, cousin Paxton's and Uncle Ryan's birthdays. Cole did a scripture, under serious duress..he was not fond of this idea at all, there might of been a couple of threats given that aren't usually doled out in regular Primary. Laura ate the whole thing up and enjoyed it. Brandon gave the lesson and I learned a few things, well was reminded of some things I'd forgotten, from Cole (so good and bad at the same time). We finished off with a closing song and prayer.

The rest of the day was a series of trying to get everyone to do one fun activity and one spiritual activity and trying to get the kids to pick up after themselves. At dinner though, Brandon always ask what was the best and worst of the day and the kids both said home church :). Could've been worse..I look forward to next Sunday with church at church.

On another note..yesterday at dinner Cole said there's a game truth or dare... have you guys heard of it? We said yes, he asked how long it had been around and we said infinity because we had just been discussing how there's not end to numbers. Then he said well it's hit our school, the kids are playing. He said he hadn't played it yet.... that's about all there is to that and Hannah wants to color so hope you had a good Sunday:)

Tick tock

Hannah and I learned this song at the library's story time and tonight it became a family favorite. Cole especially likes it because he loves to be tickled. Hannah requests it more than any other song and Laura leads them along. I'd vote for this trio too.

I know she's my baby and I'm supposed to adore her, but how cute is this? No titles were received via this performance, but I'd vote for her :).

Prayers, Payoffs and Post-op

So this week, with the help of the IRS' stimulus payment (which I disagree with but didn't want to go to waste) we paid our last payment on our van...yea!! no more car payments. I think that means one of the vehicles has to break down now. Ironically it came just in time to pay for more expensive insurance in order for Brandon to have hernia surgery, well he thinks it probably could of come sooner. He waited a month walking with a limp in order to get the good insurance. Anyways we did that yesterday and Brandon was a hoot in post-op. He didn't say anything so notable it was just his mood, hard to put a finger on but memorable. He's a great patient and doing remarkably well. He helps out so much when well though, that having him down is hard, but I sure am appreciating him.

So this morning's breakfast prayer was given by Laura and she asked that daddy feel better and help the rest of us not to catch what he has :)

In Cole's dinner prayer he was thankful for all the planets that we haven't discovered yet.

A side note... Hannah can say Cole clearer that most of us (well at least good for a 1 year old) and runs around saying Cole, Cole, Cole, Cole). Her vocabulary is growing like crazy, such a fun age!

I love my family!!!

Cole Date and Template

So in reverse order from the title. Jennifer I tried the websites you recommend and couldn't get it to take so I've reverted back to pyzam for the summer at least (hopefully I'll be able to stand it that long:) ). I came upon "Alaska" and immediately felt a couple degrees cooler so I think it'll be good through December or so and then as it cools down here I'll be looking for something more tropical.

So I wanted to take note of mine and Cole's date. Cole wanted at first to go to Chuck E. Cheese or Fun Station to play the roll the ball game, but we found Monopoly on the computer and he wanted to do that, then when our free trial timed out we went outside to his fort and cleaned it up and made it safe again. Then we went to Sonic his all time favorite place, well maybe second behind Hungry Howie's. While we waited for our food we played finger tag on the table. The kids has a serious imagination. He wants to home school because he says he's bored at school, so we're going to institute the summer home school program and see how it goes, although I don't see us doing that. I'm not open to the idea very much but I'm not completely closed to it either.

So things I'm jotting down to blog about so I'll remember is the bedroom renovations and our garden. May get to that tonight but just in case....

A Great Date!

So Brandon and I aren't very good at going on dates alone with our kids, but we try. Last weekend was his turn and this weekend was mine. So this afternoon Laura and I went to Walmart to buy gifts for the two birthday parties she has coming up. While in there we ran into someone who's face I clearly remembered, but couldn't recall the person's name and we in passing said hello, not too far from this mystery friend, Laura asks me who that was and I'm slowly letting out that words as I wheel quickly to get out of ear shot..that...was...a...friend.. of mine... What was her name? I whispered in her ear "I don't remember", she asks out loud, her name was don't remember? I'm fairly certain the lady didn't hear but I was still embarrassed. And I still can't place her and it's bugging the heck ouf of me!!!

So the rest of our date consisted of trying to go rollerskating, but it was closed. We then went to the library and then spontaneously stopped in at a couple of ballet schools, Laura's dying to go. She got to see a jazz performance at one place and a one on one training of a real ballerina at another. Laura's question about the ballerina was why is she holding on to the pole? We finished up at Wendy's. We really had a good time. No rushing to get anywhere, no share with your sibling, we just enjoyed each other. I'm so glad to have hear as my daughter!

Oh funny side note. We have a Honda Odyssey (to me a cadiallac) and a 91 Toyota Corolla that we paid $500 for . The "white car" is always the preference for the kids. They like to roll the windows down manually and open the doors themselves. Laura said tonight that when we get rid of the van I want to get a car, cause you can open the door yourself. In the van we have to press the button and wait for the door to open. The rough times of the kids these days! :)