Memorial Day

Today we left camping with my family and headed to the West Jefferson cemetery to visit my Mom's grave.  The camera was put away and we were all not looking too well after camping so we did not get a picture.  We came home and hurried to unload the trailer and get showered before having Janice, Keith, and Jonny and David and Julianna and family come to our home.  We hurried to the cemetery to meet my Dad and brother John, and my brother Scott and his wife Karen and family.  The cemetery is so full of flowers.  We have always driven by and commented about the decorated graves, but this year as well as years to come will have a whole different meaning for us.  Here are some pictures from this afternoon.

We are grateful to celebrate those that have given their lives to preserve our freedoms and also remember our loved ones who have passed on.  May we never forget them.



Spring Band Concert

Thursday Evening was the Snake River Band Concert.  Camille performed in the 5th grade band, Brandon performed in the SRJH Band, and Jeffrey performed in the SRHS jazz band and concert band.  Jeffrey has been going early to school this last trimester with our neighbor to practice.  Their teacher, Mr. Brady, lives in Rexburg and has been traveling early to get here at 7:00 a.m.  There were only 8 students who did this everyday, but they sounded really good.  Mr. Brady is starting a marching band this upcoming year and so Jeffrey and Brandon will be part of that.  Hopefully the band program will continue to grow.  It has suffered in the past and Mr. Brady is doing some great things.  My kids think he is great.  Here are some pictures from Thursday Night.

Camille in the 5th grade band.

Brandon and the junior high band.

Jeffrey and the high school concert band.

We were able to have my dad and my brother John, my sisters Janeen and Karen, and my neice Mandy and her husband Mike come to the concert.  For your information, Mike (in the picture above) is Mr. Brady's brother.  It is a small world. 

Alexa's Friday the 13th Birthday

Friday was Alexa's 10th birthday.  She was so excited that she did not even sleep in a little on Friday with no school.  She wanted breakfast burritos which were easy to fix. 

She opened her presents while we were eating

About 2 weeks ago she wanted to make a castle cake.  We looked at different kinds.  The one she wanted needed about 4 cake mixes.  Grandma Porter offered to make the cakes and so we had rainbow sprinkles, cherry chip, white, and yellow.  Grandma came up on Friday to help Alexa put together the cake.  It reminded be a  wedding cake because it was so heavy. 

Here is the finished product before we ate part of it.  Thank you Grandma Porter for all of your help.

We were happy to have Mike and Mandy Brady who are living in Blackfoot for a few months, come and visit us.  We plan on having them come as often as they will.

Alexa was able to pick out most of her presents.  If she does a blog, she can tell you about some of them.

We are grateful to have Alexa in our family.  She is fun loving and caring.  She enjoys making crafts and drawing.  We made a cabin for her Idaho history project (we forgot to take a picture before taking it to school).  She made curtains, a table, a fireplace, wood pile and ax, a bible, and a tree.  We will take some pictures and do a blog on it.  She had a fun day.

Mother's Day

This is our first Mother's Day without Katie and the second without my Mom.  It is interesting to think back to all of the years when I did not put much thought into being without Katie and my Mom.  You sure take things for granted when you have them in front of you.  I have been reading back through the most recent years of Katie's journals, and Mother's Day was always a hard day for her.  She felt like she was not being the best mother or wife that she could be.  I am sure most LDS women have those same thoughts.  I tried to assure Katie that she was doing the best she could at that moment in time.  While she was not perfect, she was trying to be.  That is what the Lord expects of each of us as we strive to endure to the end.

Today we decided to each write a note to Katie and attach it onto a helium ballon that we would let go at the cemetary.  I bought the ballons last night with the hope that they would still be good enough for today.  After shortening the strings and making smaller notes, we had more success.  We stopped at the cemetery on our way to church and let the ballons go.  It was raining and blowing at the time and so the ballons had a harder time getting into the air, but we were successful.  I hope it was a good memory for the kids to help them remember their Mom and what she did for them and continues to do for us in the spirit world.

As I close, I will include part of a letter that Katie wrote to our family before she passed away.  It has and continues to bring peace and comfort to us.

"I love you all so much.  You are my dear, dear family, my life.  You mean everything to me.  I would do anything for you.  I want so badly to be together as a family for all eternity, secure in the blessings promised by Heavenly Father and Jesus.  I know they love us.  I know they believe in us and who we are.  They have given us to each other to love and cherish.  They know life is very hard.  But we have been given a unique challenge that we do not fully understand.  Some day it will all make perfect sense and we will be grateful for what we are called to pass through.  Meanwhile it is our job to have faith, to rise to what is asked of us to do.  Please try to always do the Lord’s will.  It may seem difficult.  But it is my faith that who the Lord calls, He qualifies, meaning you can do hard things and do them well because of who you are.  The Lord will also make sure you can even find joy in the journey.  You will be grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow and become strong in special ways that only those who suffer so intensely can know.  Please strive to understand that Jesus Christ loves you.  He is aware of you.  He knows your names.  He knows what you need."

"Dad and I are amazed we were asked to speak on the atonement in Sacrament meeting last week.  It was a huge blessing to be able to prepare our talks.  I hope each of you will study the atonement of Jesus Christ.  It is amazing that He loves us so much.  It is deep and seems to be hard to grasp but if we try, we will come to know Him.  It is the quest of a lifetime.  Please read the scriptures every day.  Please say your prayers, night and morning and speak to the God of the universe who knows and loves you intimately.  You are special to him.  He yearns to show His love to you.  It is real.  It is true. It is my testimony."

                                                            I love you so much…each one.

                                                            Mom