This week, our family was reminded how precious and short life is. Silas's cousin's husband died Monday, April 6, 2010 in a work related accident. Silas's cousin (who is basically my age and who I've known since I was 15 or so) is left with 4 kids under 7 and, of course, no husband. When Silas called me with the news, I almost lost it. I cried and cried and wondered what my sweet cousin was going to do. I prayed, "Why?" over and over again.
Then I started to think of Silas and I. Would I be happy with the way I acted the last time I saw him? What would I do? I realized again that life is so short and I cannot continue to dream of the future. I can't spend my time planning when I should be savoring the present.
The knowledge of the Plan of Salvation is a blessing in my life at times like this. Although this was an unexpected death, making it more tragic and hurtful, I feel the same peace that I did three years ago when my brother Ryan passed away from complications of MS and when my Grandma died of cancer. I KNOW I will see them again, if I do what's right. I KNOW that we came to Earth to gain bodies so we could become more like our Father in Heaven and that after we die, our spirits return to Him who gave us life. I KNOW this because I have felt the impressions from the Holy Spirit over and over again.
I am more thankful for that knowledge than anything else in my life. I know that I will be with Silas, my boys and all of my family forever, if we try our hardest to follow the example of our Savior.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Catching up
The last month or so has been fun and long. If you haven't figured it out yet, Silas is FINALLY graduating and the more I anticipate it, the longer the days seem.
These are some things that we've been doing to pass the time:
1. Reading. Cleod is a reading maniac and most days I read a book or two to the boys. Our new favorites are the Mo Willems books. If you've never read one, you need to...especially the Gerald and Piggie ones. They are hilarious and Cleod reads with such expression when he's reading these.
Silas's birthday was March 28th and we tried to make a big deal out of it. It was on a Sunday so Saturday we did some shopping for him, got pizza for dinner and just enjoyed being together. It was a great day. Sunday we had some friends over for cake and ice cream which was lovely as well.
I like to try new recipes although sometimes they don't turn out as planned. For St. Patrick's Day I made green eggs and ham. The green eggs had spinach in them and I thought they were delicious, but I was the only one. Oh well. I made some granola bars last week and they were really good and easy. Ryan especially loved them.
We've been doing pretty good at having Family Night lately. With Silas's crazy schedule we knew that it needed to be a priority. Speaking of priorities, last week we talked about the idea of things being good, better and best for us and that we need to focus on the best things first. This idea came from a conference talk a few years ago by Elder Oaks titled: Good, Better, Best. It was fun to have the boys tell us where each activity should be.
Friday before Easter, we hung out with the Warby clan. The kids dyed eggs, frosted cookies and had an indoor egg hunt due to the snow on the ground.
Grant's first egg hunting was so cute. He really enjoyed it. This is Grant after showing Ryan his eggs. Too cute!
Saturday, my brother Dane and his wife Ang who were visiting family in Vegas for Easter came to St. George to see our grandpa who lives there. We went down for a few hours to see them. My mom came too which was nice and Dane's one year old, Parker (who we really went to see) is adorable! After visiting with Pop (grandpa) and Grandma Jane for an hour or so, we got lunch and headed to the park for a little while.
We got back to Cedar just in time for Silas to go to the Priesthood Session of conference and for me and the boys to go to Deruchette's for our traditional s'more fiesta. It's the third conference we've done it and the kids love roasting the marshmallows, but they don't really eat them, or the s'mores, so we may start a new tradition in October.
Sunday we got to relax and enjoy watching conference. (We got a new comfy sectional about a month ago that made it extra relaxing!)
The Easter baskets came out late this year, but were happily excepted none the less. We got the boys the Toy Story DVDs (I had a $10 off coupon for each and they have codes for free Toy Story 3 movie tickets. Woot!) and these funny toys called Bakugans. They discovered these from some friends of our and I thought they'd like them. They LOVE them, even Grant. Oh course, one got broken that night. One word: Ryan. He's such a good boy, but sometimes a little crazy. He did tell Cleod that he would save up and buy a new one for him. (By the way, Ryan has had a cold. His nose looks awful, I know.) Oh, and they got underwear. Don't you love how excited they are?
Brett and Deruchette came over for dinner that night. We were playing a game after dinner and Der's baby Taejen was whining on the floor for several minutes. Then suddenly he stopped crying. Ryan had gotten his bear (which was his Uncle Ryan's) and put it next to Taej and he immediately fell asleep. It was the cutest thing ever and Ryan was so proud of himself.
These are some things that we've been doing to pass the time:
1. Reading. Cleod is a reading maniac and most days I read a book or two to the boys. Our new favorites are the Mo Willems books. If you've never read one, you need to...especially the Gerald and Piggie ones. They are hilarious and Cleod reads with such expression when he's reading these.
Silas's birthday was March 28th and we tried to make a big deal out of it. It was on a Sunday so Saturday we did some shopping for him, got pizza for dinner and just enjoyed being together. It was a great day. Sunday we had some friends over for cake and ice cream which was lovely as well.
I like to try new recipes although sometimes they don't turn out as planned. For St. Patrick's Day I made green eggs and ham. The green eggs had spinach in them and I thought they were delicious, but I was the only one. Oh well. I made some granola bars last week and they were really good and easy. Ryan especially loved them.
We've been doing pretty good at having Family Night lately. With Silas's crazy schedule we knew that it needed to be a priority. Speaking of priorities, last week we talked about the idea of things being good, better and best for us and that we need to focus on the best things first. This idea came from a conference talk a few years ago by Elder Oaks titled: Good, Better, Best. It was fun to have the boys tell us where each activity should be.
Friday before Easter, we hung out with the Warby clan. The kids dyed eggs, frosted cookies and had an indoor egg hunt due to the snow on the ground.
Grant's first egg hunting was so cute. He really enjoyed it. This is Grant after showing Ryan his eggs. Too cute!
Saturday, my brother Dane and his wife Ang who were visiting family in Vegas for Easter came to St. George to see our grandpa who lives there. We went down for a few hours to see them. My mom came too which was nice and Dane's one year old, Parker (who we really went to see) is adorable! After visiting with Pop (grandpa) and Grandma Jane for an hour or so, we got lunch and headed to the park for a little while.
We got back to Cedar just in time for Silas to go to the Priesthood Session of conference and for me and the boys to go to Deruchette's for our traditional s'more fiesta. It's the third conference we've done it and the kids love roasting the marshmallows, but they don't really eat them, or the s'mores, so we may start a new tradition in October.
Sunday we got to relax and enjoy watching conference. (We got a new comfy sectional about a month ago that made it extra relaxing!)
The Easter baskets came out late this year, but were happily excepted none the less. We got the boys the Toy Story DVDs (I had a $10 off coupon for each and they have codes for free Toy Story 3 movie tickets. Woot!) and these funny toys called Bakugans. They discovered these from some friends of our and I thought they'd like them. They LOVE them, even Grant. Oh course, one got broken that night. One word: Ryan. He's such a good boy, but sometimes a little crazy. He did tell Cleod that he would save up and buy a new one for him. (By the way, Ryan has had a cold. His nose looks awful, I know.) Oh, and they got underwear. Don't you love how excited they are?
Brett and Deruchette came over for dinner that night. We were playing a game after dinner and Der's baby Taejen was whining on the floor for several minutes. Then suddenly he stopped crying. Ryan had gotten his bear (which was his Uncle Ryan's) and put it next to Taej and he immediately fell asleep. It was the cutest thing ever and Ryan was so proud of himself.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Just me and the dentist...
We love the Little Critter books, especially the one about going to the denist. It totally helped Cleod be more comfortable when we went last week to the dentist. I took Ryan and Cleod for the first time to a super awesome dentist, Dr. Albrecht. His staff is SO nice. They have fun things in the waiting room too!
Here are the boys playing with the cute wooden stove. There was also a big train set and video games. I loved that Cleod tried to play the video game but then decided to play with the kitchen stuff instead!
Cleod was a little nervous. This is just before getting a few x-rays.
Ryan, on the other hand, was so comfortable.
Here they are watching their movies on screens in the ceiling.
So they let them pick out their own toothbrushes (Cleod picked a Woody one and Ryan picked Buzz) and then they got a token for a prize.
As we walked out they asked if we could go back and play. I told them we'd come back in 6 months and they were EXCITED! And I was afraid of taking them to the dentist. Silly me.
Here are the boys playing with the cute wooden stove. There was also a big train set and video games. I loved that Cleod tried to play the video game but then decided to play with the kitchen stuff instead!
Cleod was a little nervous. This is just before getting a few x-rays.
Ryan, on the other hand, was so comfortable.
Here they are watching their movies on screens in the ceiling.
So they let them pick out their own toothbrushes (Cleod picked a Woody one and Ryan picked Buzz) and then they got a token for a prize.
As we walked out they asked if we could go back and play. I told them we'd come back in 6 months and they were EXCITED! And I was afraid of taking them to the dentist. Silly me.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Visiting Teaching Blog
Thanks to my cute sister, I found this awesome blog that has a craft that goes along with every month's Visiting Teaching Message. This is a little paper purse to go with February's message of avoiding debt.
Check it out: http://visitingteachingblog.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Aria Eliana Grove
I have another niece. Silas's sister Sasha had her 8th child yesterday. I think she's beautiful and I am excited that we will be able to meet her sooner than some of the babies in Silas's family. We are planning a trip to Missouri in May, which I am getting more and more excited about all the time. We haven't been to Missouri for over 3 years now and so in addition to meeting Aria, we haven't met Gideon (Aria's older brother), Joshua (Jonah & Laura's 1 year old), Alexandria (Josiah & Kris's 1 year old), Franklin (Sis & Phil's baby...we saw them just a little before he was born), and Rachel (Sarah & Kevin's 1 year old).
WOW! We need to get out there more often!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
72 hour kit...STEP 2: Food
As I have said in a few previous posts, the Southwest Utah Public Health Department has a pamphlet that I picked up from the health department that's called PLAN 9. (Click HERE to see the pamplet.)
Plan 9 is a simple guide to nine essential items to help you shelter-in-place in the event of an emergency.
STEP 1 is WATER. (Click HERE to see my water post.)
STEP 2 is FOOD. I have looked at A LOT of 72 hour kit food lists. The one I like the most is from foodstoragemadeeasy.net.
Here is the list for ONE kit:
Tang, 2- 1/4 cup servings
Instant Oatmeal, 2 packets
Granola bars, 2
Cocoa mix, 2- 1/4 cup servings
Stew or pasta with "pop top" lid, 1 can
Gum, 10 sticks
Jolley ranchers, 9 pieces
Beanie Weenies with "pop top" lid, 1 can
Fruit roll-ups, 3
Lipton Noodles, 2 packets
Raisins, 1 small box
Beef Jerky, 2- 1 oz packages
Plastic spoons, 3
Matches, 1 small package
Zip locks for tang and cocoa
It also calls for some kind of small stove. We have a one burner, propane stove that is small and is in the other part of our 72 hr kit.
Here's what I have today:
It's not everything, I have to admit, but it's more than half and I am working on the rest.
STEP 3 is CLOTHING. (Click HERE to see my post on step 3.)
Remember, it's better to have SOMETHING prepared than nothing. I love this program because it is really simple. Happy preparing!
Plan 9 is a simple guide to nine essential items to help you shelter-in-place in the event of an emergency.
STEP 1 is WATER. (Click HERE to see my water post.)
STEP 2 is FOOD. I have looked at A LOT of 72 hour kit food lists. The one I like the most is from foodstoragemadeeasy.net.
Here is the list for ONE kit:
Tang, 2- 1/4 cup servings
Instant Oatmeal, 2 packets
Granola bars, 2
Cocoa mix, 2- 1/4 cup servings
Stew or pasta with "pop top" lid, 1 can
Gum, 10 sticks
Jolley ranchers, 9 pieces
Beanie Weenies with "pop top" lid, 1 can
Fruit roll-ups, 3
Lipton Noodles, 2 packets
Raisins, 1 small box
Beef Jerky, 2- 1 oz packages
Plastic spoons, 3
Matches, 1 small package
Zip locks for tang and cocoa
It also calls for some kind of small stove. We have a one burner, propane stove that is small and is in the other part of our 72 hr kit.
Here's what I have today:
It's not everything, I have to admit, but it's more than half and I am working on the rest.
STEP 3 is CLOTHING. (Click HERE to see my post on step 3.)
Remember, it's better to have SOMETHING prepared than nothing. I love this program because it is really simple. Happy preparing!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Month in review...
So, besides our trip to Provo over the MLK holiday weekend (which I blogged about previously) this is our January...
Cleod came down the other day with 8 shirts on. It was hilarious. We even went to the bank to show Silas and his co-workers. Cleod thought he was the funniest kid ever!
My mom came to Cedar last week for a funernal and we got to hang out for a few hours, which is always nice. Ryan and Grandma Rowley have a cute bond. She thinks (and I agree) that it is because she spent a lot of time with him when he was tiny. (She stayed with us when I had my gall bladder removed just two weeks after Ryan was born.) He still asks her to sing a lullabye to him when we see her.
Grant is 15 months and has offically refused to let me feed him. It. Is. Messy.
Cute boys, just getting bigger and cuter.
Sometimes money can buy happiness. Actually, DI=happiness. I found a bag of pirate legos at DI (thirft store) for $2. It has already given hours of entertainment to the boys. Cleod and Ryan have been really creative with them too.
Grant got his hands on a lego while the babysitter was over. She said she went to the bathroom and when she came back out, all the boys were ON the table and Grant had a pirate sword up his nose.
For my birthday (which was at the end of December) my mom gave me a wheat grinder. YEA! The first thing I did was grind beans, yes beans. You can use small amounts of bean flour in baked goods or as a thickener in soups and sauces.
After two years in our house, we finally got covers for our window wells. They are so nice. Grant is a little climber and I have been afraid of him falling into the holes, but now I don't have to worry. (And of course he got on right away, little crazy boy!)
Cleod came down the other day with 8 shirts on. It was hilarious. We even went to the bank to show Silas and his co-workers. Cleod thought he was the funniest kid ever!
My mom came to Cedar last week for a funernal and we got to hang out for a few hours, which is always nice. Ryan and Grandma Rowley have a cute bond. She thinks (and I agree) that it is because she spent a lot of time with him when he was tiny. (She stayed with us when I had my gall bladder removed just two weeks after Ryan was born.) He still asks her to sing a lullabye to him when we see her.
Grant is 15 months and has offically refused to let me feed him. It. Is. Messy.
Cute boys, just getting bigger and cuter.
Sometimes money can buy happiness. Actually, DI=happiness. I found a bag of pirate legos at DI (thirft store) for $2. It has already given hours of entertainment to the boys. Cleod and Ryan have been really creative with them too.
Grant got his hands on a lego while the babysitter was over. She said she went to the bathroom and when she came back out, all the boys were ON the table and Grant had a pirate sword up his nose.
For my birthday (which was at the end of December) my mom gave me a wheat grinder. YEA! The first thing I did was grind beans, yes beans. You can use small amounts of bean flour in baked goods or as a thickener in soups and sauces.
After two years in our house, we finally got covers for our window wells. They are so nice. Grant is a little climber and I have been afraid of him falling into the holes, but now I don't have to worry. (And of course he got on right away, little crazy boy!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)