Lowell Ridd Grover (Grandpa)

My Grandpa Grover passed away this last week, I was able to attend the viewing and the funeral this weekend, both days were so spiritual and sweet. Thanks Eric for watching the boys Friday night so I could go to the viewing with no children and just enjoy family time and thanks Eric's mom and dad for watching the boys on Saturday so we could both go to the funeral. I learned my lesson the last time at Grandpa Smith's funeral kids and funerals are not a good mix. At least for me anyway...


Grandpa served in the Navy in WW2, I think this was perhaps one of the sweetest things I have ever seen when they folded the flag and gave it to my Grandma. There was not a dry eye in sight, it was wonderful.

It felt strange without my little guys all weekend long, I was missing them come Saturday afternoon. They had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Smiths on Friday night so we could be there bright and early for the funeral. It kind of felt like the early days when it was just the two of us, fun for a day but I was constantly holding out my hand waiting for a little one's hand to grab on......I missed those boys!

My Grandpa was so wonderful, my Grandparents served three missions together Hong Kong, the Philippines and England. Eric and I would like to tie them one day and serve as many as we can as well, they were such an example to us all.

One of my favorite memories of my Grandpa is being a little girl sitting on his lap playing with the United States puzzle they had. Not only would he find each and every state with me but he would tell me different little tidbits about each one, state birds, rivers that kind of thing. Such a simple memory but one that stands out vividly for me, I think just because he took the time to put a complex puzzle together with a five year old and teach me at the same time.


We love you Grandpa Grover, you will be so missed......

Have you seen this?

I love Twilight, every so often I get in a mood where I just can't possibly wait until November for New Moon to be released. I am in one of those moods right now when I saw this poster for it, and now it's on my mind again.

A few examples: when I first heard of the swine flu my first thought was "the Spanish influenza" and how Edward died from that in 1918.

Then the other day on Memorial Day we were in the car driving when I noticed my hands when in the sun were glittering. I was trying to figure out why and I remembered I had put on my "special occasion Bath and Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar Ultimate Silk Lotion", it made me shine just like Edward when in the sun.

Now of all posts I do I am really hoping somehow Eric just skips right by this one, my only hope that he will is he hates anything to do with Twilight. I am hoping when he sees that first picture he will roll his eyes at my craziness and not read on because I can guarantee he will hate what I have to say about this picture. Look at my Lance with his hair styled like that he is a little mini Edward! Now I admit his hair is kind of out of control in this picture, it was way overdo for a cut so it has some definite height to it, which by styling it only enhanced that height. But what was I supposed to do, if i just left it alone, it would have been an even huger mess than it is with a little gel in it. Now looking back at it, I think he has a perfect Edward bouffant going on, but don't be surprised if you never see it again. I have a feeling my hair gel will be getting tossed in the garbage tonight after Eric sees this, but I just couldn't resist, it makes me laugh....

Now tell me I am not crazy don't any of you Twilight lovers ever have moments in your life when you are reminded of good old "Edward", I am not the only one right?

Memorial Day

(busy day, lot's of pictures)


Village Inn

Every year since Eric and I have been married we start Memorial Day off with going to breakfast, it is one of the few traditions we started with just our own little family on holidays that doesn't include extended family. We love it, Memorial Day, Labor Day and New Years Day always start out the same for us. This last picture makes me laugh because Luke had already eaten his breakfast and has now climbed under the table over to Lance's food and is finishing his off as well. This kid never lets anything go to waste, that's perfectly good french toast just sitting there, he can't let that happen...

Visiting Eric's Grandpa Smith in Cornish

I thought this picture was so sweet that's Eric's dad, his aunt, grandma and other aunt. I love how his two aunts are holding Grandma Smith's hand as they walk to Grandpa's grave. Grandpa passed away last October, we miss him a great deal, he always kept us laughing.

Eric's aunt made the comment that cemeteries are so boring for kids and while I can see how a lot of children do get bored, mine certainly were not on their best behavior traipsing over graves and smashing flowers (I'm so sorry to all you Cornish folk who have family in that cemetery, I did stop the majority of their misbehavior's). However I don't have any memory of ever being bored visiting the graves of my great grandparents and such. I have wonderful memories of riding in Grandpa Williams back of the pickup with Zac and Jo eating all of our treats and playing silly kid games. or listening to Grandpa Woodyatt tell us year after year "this is where I will be buried right here" with his arms raised (my Woodyatt side of the family will know exactly what I am referring to). And some of the greatest stories from my ancestors have been told around the family plots, I still remember hearing of Great Grandma Liptrot coming across from England at two years old on the boat. I hope my kids will remember the stories of their ancestors perhaps they were listening yesterday as we laughed about Grandpa Smith, and walked through his garage with the many treasures in it. They are bound to take something away from all that and remember the man whom they have very little memory of, perhaps none at all. Even though I did get mighty sick of saying "get off that poor headstone, that is someones grandmother", I am glad we went and I am just sorry we were not able to get with any of my family to visit some of my ancestors, maybe next year.

Lou bird taking a break from all the fun, we stopped at our place for a bit to rejuvenate ourselves for the rest of the day. Luke sat in this position for 30 minutes watching Sesame Street, this never happens, you know he is tired when he will actually sit for longer than a minute.

Park

The boys think it's a special treat when daddy comes to the park with us, we had some time to kill so we made a stop there before heading to my sister's house for a BBQ. I laughed at Lance because as we were getting ready to leave our house Eric had the idea to bring their bubble wands. He started opening one of them in the house and Lance started shrieking at him "no daddy, we don't play with that inside, mommy will get mad, that is an outside toy". Lance way to make your mommy proud, that's right clue your father in on the house rules. Next I need you to remind him to take his shoes off he is terrible at that rule, you on the other hand are great!

BBQ at Cano's

My sister Teri had us all over for a BBQ that evening, we laughed our heads off at these two old men out here parked in their chairs. All of the other kids are running around playing on the swing set, riding bikes, here these two sit discussing with each other their days and admiring their car collections, weirdo's they are two of a kind!

Thanks Ter for hosting, we had a great time, nothing like the first BBQ of the season!!

Preschool?

Okay I am starting to panic, I want to get Lance into a preschool for this coming fall. However I am afraid I have waited to long, I have absolutely no idea where to even look for one. I hear most people find a good preschool by word of mouth. I keep meaning to ask some friends from my ward but I really don't know that many people yet, seeing as how I spend every week in the nursery with Luke so I just keep forgetting. Is it too late, do you think all of the good ones are filled already. Does anybody know of a good preschool in the Logan area, or know of anyone than lives in the Logan area that may have an idea? Please I am desperate, preschool would be so good for Lance, he is so smart but still so shy. Kindergarten is going to be a nightmare for him if he doesn't start out in a Preschool first, let me know if any of you have any idea at all......


Have a great LOOONG Memorial Day weekend!!!

Straight from the pages of Dr. Seuss....

Goofs.....apparently the only time they will willing wear their winter hats and mittens is indoors in the middle of May. They were threatened by my dejunking the closets and getting wardrobes ready for summer. How dare I put these in storage until next year, they are keeping them safe from my hands that love to toss. Does anyone else find this job so satisfying and delightful, I love love love going through closets and tossing out the junk, makes my little hands happy!

He's Home!!

I am finding it hard to find anything to not be happy about right now, this has been the most perfect weekend together as a family. The best part is it is not bittersweet like all of the weekends when he would come for a visit, it would be a wonderful weekend but we knew it wouldn't last and he would soon be leaving us again. It's almost hard to believe life can actually return to normal again in fact better than normal. It's a good feeling to be so perfectly content with life I can't imagine anything topping this happy feeling right now. I am so in love with this little family of mine.....life is good.

Lance oh I love this boy I don't think anyone even Eric and I are more excited than this boy right now. He had the hardest time sleeping Friday night, every few minutes he would come to my bedroom door and ask "mommy is daddy still coming tomorrow, is he driving right now?". It felt like Christmas Eve in our house between his thousand questions and my constant puttering around trying to make everything perfect in the house I think I got maybe two hours of sleep on Friday. Now that Eric is here Lance will not leave his side and now we are hearing the question "no more school, no more planes, right daddy?" Their relationship just brings me to tears he is so in love with his daddy, he thinks he hung the moon.

As stupid as this sounds one of my favorite parts of this weekend was unpacking all of Eric's belongings. I hated the fact that he had to wash his own clothes, scrub his bathroom (not that he ever did, I saw that bathroom it was anything but clean), do his own dishes, when he was in DC. Just like he hated the fact that he wasn't here to fill up my gas tank late at night for me, or take the car in to get repaired, or fix my electronic problems, take out the trash. It felt so good to know each and every shirt was taken care of by me, that his socks would smell like fabric softener, or that he could actually look forward to dinner time and what would be on the table that night and not just some sad frozen dinner.

I am also feeling like I have a brand new baby in the house as far as taking pictures go. You know that feeling like "oh their eyes are open, I have to get a picture", or "look at that cute little hand, picture worthy for sure". Well I am the same way "Wendy's as a family, get the camera", "helping daddy unload boxes, so cute", I find myself snapping pictures of everything, each and every moment is so precious right now.

This is so sweet to me here is my boys reading their nightly books before bedtime. I love Lance's little arm around Eric, it's like he just can't get close enough.

After church Eric set up Luke's train set that he got for his birthday it has been sitting in my closet unopened for the last four and a half months. It takes forever to set up, Eric has been promising every time he would come out to set it up but we ran out of time every weekend. This took up the majority of a lazy Sunday, nothing like a new toy and a daddy who sits on the floor for over two hours playing with you. The boys were in heaven.

A classic game of Ready Set Go: the objective back up as far as you can, yell "ready, set, go" at the top of your lungs and make a running dive toward daddy, it's extra special to dive at the same time as each other. This is the boys absolute favorite game with their daddy, for weeks when Lance and I would talk of Eric's return his little face would get so relieved and joyful and he would say " I love my daddy, we play ready set go, and he will never leave Lancey again".

It's been a wonderful weekend and the great thing is it will never end again...we are happy!!

Luke Update

I love these pictures of Luke I took them almost a month ago, it was a Sunday afternoon, his hair was in desperate need of a haircut, I loved his sweatshirt over a t-shirt and his rattiest jeans, he had been outside playing in the dirt. The whole look was just screaming little boy to me, I love these little boys even if for the life of me I can't figure out how their little minds work, the dirt, the mud, the cars, the wrestling, it's all so foreign to me growing up with only sisters. But boy am I enjoying learning the ins and outs of little boys. I hope our house is always filled with snails, pails and puppy dog tails as the saying goes!

I have finally gotten around to posting them because I have such a hard time doing a post without pictures and since this is featuring Luke then it was a perfect time to bring out my favorite snapshots of him.

He has had such an amazing week this week as far as his speech goes. A little background for you last semester I felt he was really doing great in school and therapy. I was seeing a huge improvement in his speech and how many new words he was learning. We had Christmas break and all of a sudden come January it's like he has been a different child. He clammed right up and would never speak if being prompted. He would still chatter to himself and use the words he already knew but I was seeing very little improvement as far as new words went. Every week I would get more and more discouraged not to mention from Jan-April he had one cold after another and Luke takes about a month to get over his colds sometimes up to two. Every time a cold would come he would get an ear infection along with it and he has tubes already, very frustrating. Well you give a child with severe hearing loss and then clog up his ears with fluid and infection and he has been hearing nothing out of his right ear for the last three months. Thankfully with the good weather his ears have cleared up and we had a booth test last week and they adjusted his hearing aids some. On average he was learning maybe one new word a week in just this last week alone he has said twelve new words and is using them consistently.

I love you

shoe

up

on

look

oh-no

ready set go

good job

milk

Last Sunday while eating dinner he looked right at me with an empty sippy and said "oh-no mommy look more" clear as day. My sister Teri looked at me and said "did he just say what I think he said". I couldn't answer because I was seriously this close to losing it my eyes were filled with tears. I know this isn't the hugest thing but to me I cherish every little word that comes out of his mouth because I know how hard he is working to hear them and learn them. Then the very next day I am getting him out of the bath tub, put his pajamas on as traditionally he gives me a kiss and I tell him I love him. Before I could say the words after the kiss he looks at me and says "momma I love you" which sounded more like "mama I uv yew" but I will take it. And they just keep coming and coming, I am amazed and am hoping my little heart out that this is not just a fluke week and he will continue on, boy do I love this kid!

Mother's Day 2009

Mother's Day was a little different for me this year, not in a bad way but just different. There was no breakfast in bed, a break from diaper duty, my kids were not on their best behavior there was still plenty of fights, tantrums, etc. I still had mommy duty full board on Sunday, but surprisingly I didn't mind it. I kind of just used it as a reminder of how grateful I am to be a mother and all of the duties that come along with it. Besides we are now 3 days away from being a complete family again and I have been promised that we will have a mock Mother's Day this Sunday when I get my break from cooking, kid duty and all that other good stuff, so I can't complain.

We spent the day with the Cano family, Thiago's mom is pretty much the best cook there is around, so lucky me I was invited to join in on their family fun. Which may sound weird spending the day with my sisters in laws but the Cano's are pretty much the nicest most welcoming family I have ever met. I think they would invite the whole town over if they could, it was a wonderful relaxing day.

"Lincoln Stinkin" we love this baby, however I think Lance might just be the president of the Lincoln fan club. He is right in the middle of the I want what my best friend has phase. He is obsessed with getting himself a baby brother and not just any baby brother he wants a Lincoln. The other day he was informing me he would like a baby brother like Lincoln and not a sister like baby Elle. (this is not an announcement, we are no where near adding on to our family, quite yet). When we saw Lincoln I said "look who it is Lance baby Lincoln". He looks up at him smiles and says "yep, that's the one I want". He kills me, I am afraid he is up for a big disappointment when he is blessed with another sibling and it's not a clone Lincoln.

See what I had for dinner, those Brazilians know how to cook their meat!!

We then went and visited Eric's mom and took her gift over, sadly my camera's batteries died so no pictures, isn't that always how it goes.

My mom was camping over Mother's Day and got back late Sunday night so on Monday night my sisters and I met up in Brigham to take her her gift and have some KFC at the park.

It was a great weekend and will be an even greater week, as I speak Eric is busy packing up and moving out he is on his way as of tomorrow and will either arrive Friday or Saturday depending on how fast him and his dad drive across the county. Come on sleep is over rated let's make it Friday, honey!