Deep Sea Fishing

Most of the kids spent time down below watching movies. Eden fell asleep on Kenji's lap. (Hi Leila!) Leila didn't sleep a wink....
My brother rented an entire boat to go deep sea fishing as a family. I love deep sea fishing. (Although several members of my family didn't share that same "love" as they spent half of the time throwing up overboard and the other half trying to sleep away the entire experience.)

It was much harder fishing with children. We went from 6 pm to 10 pm and lots of fish were caught. Not by ME particularly. I caught two that were deemed too small and had to be thrown back into the ocean. Eden tried to reel in one fish, but it got loose.

Birch Aquarium at Scripps

This was a fun activity for all the kids. Creating your own water way for boats to float down. I wish I had more pictures of the other activities they had going on. They had a teeter totter and stationary bikes and cranks that you could move and it would start a fountain of water. You could also go inside a diver's cage and take pictures inside the mouth of a (pretend) shark. There were also stations you could dress up and try to camouflage yourself to blend with the ocean. It was lots of fun and I would have taken more pictures...except my camera was running low on battery.

When Inside Your House is a Disastrous Mess....Go Outside

.....and play robots.

(Included: 1 Cereal Box made bodysuit, "Syndrome's Remote" wristband, and 2 Anklets)

(I even made buttons and button holes...proud moment)

Eden named it "the Di Vinci Robot"

(apparently she's been listening to her dad's excited raving of the new technology available to doctors)

Then build a city.

(Eden's house equipped with swing set and flying car, Mom's house equipped with a splash pad, a happy sun, several clouds, and a rain cloud with umbrellas. No, she didn't draw all of it, it was a dual effort.)

Have a picnic.

Go on a dragon hunt.

And no day seems complete to my kids unless there's time for rock collecting.

Then after procrastinating all I could, I went back inside to reality...and cleaned the house. *bleh*

Looking Up

This weekend was bitter sweet.

Tyson's sister lost her little baby boy, Johnny.

He spent almost his entire 7 1/2 months of life in the hospital. He survived through more than the doctors would have ever imagined showing his character built of strength, determination, and faith.

Johnny passed away on August 20th. His viewing was this past Friday followed by his funeral Saturday. I'm so glad to live so much closer to family where we could get up and drive down to show our love and support.

While tears fell down cheeks there were also smiles.

God's plan lets us know that families are forever. Macie and KJ will be able to raise their baby boy in Heaven one day. Death is not the end.

At the funeral they had 240 balloons, representing all 240 days that Baby Johnny was on this Earth. The balloons were let into the air and we watched in silence as each balloon disappeared into the sky.

We focused on looking up instead of looking down. Looking towards Heaven instead of underground. Feeling the Spirit confirm that death isn't the end, but the beginning. The ground only goes so far down, but the sky goes on forever.

This has been a lesson to me. Things happen, sometimes big things and sometimes little things, but whatever happens...God is there. His power is infinite and great. I don't think I understood the "Plan of Salvation" like I've understood it recently. (And there is much more for me to learn.) It always sounded simple, "Earth life", "gain a body", "learn lessons that couldn't have been learned in Heaven". But as you get older, trials get harder. Life gets harder. You start to realize what you're up against. I haven't experienced what Macie and KJ have experienced, far from it. But it did teach me a lesson on life. A lesson on trials, gratitude, love, faith, and strength.

And I know that a time will come when I'll have trials that are great and I'll need to re-learn all these lessons again...accept this time in a much harder way.

I continue to pray for Macie and KJ during this time of hardship...because even with the knowledge of the gospel, losing Johnny still isn't easy. Far from easy. But I pray that they will never give up on living life because life has shown so much misery. They don't need to take on "life" today or even tomorrow. But a day at a time. Because I know Johnny wouldn't want them to live life in fear of the future or sorrow from the past. I don't want that for them either. They deserve so much more.

Remember the balloons. Keep looking up.

Home Sweet Home

*Our New Family Room

After living in Grand Junction for a WHOLE two weeks....I took a trip to Utah.

I went back and forth a million times "Maybe I shouldn't go." "It'll be OK, just go."

Then one morning I just decided, "I'M GOING".

I packed the kids, and left.

I was able to visit some old friends at a wedding reception, play with family, visit a farm, go to a water park, go to IKEA, see some houses at Parade of Homes, swim, and just have a great time.

But now we're back in Grand Junction...and its nice to be back home. I do love it here.

Happy Sunday

While going through some old files, we ran across this video taken a year ago.

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Utah Pictures