Caliente! Suave!

I have really not excersized much in the last year. I'm not excited about it and I would rather sleep in the mornings than get up early to do something I dread. But this week I decided to try a few classes at the gym. I left the girls in the gym day care on Monday and went to a circuit training class. Half of it was cycling. Hated the cycling, but will definately go back for all the other stuff. And then last night. Oh my gosh. I went to a ZUMBA class. Have you ever been to one? So. Much. Fun. I felt a little stupid for the first 5 minutes but then realized that no one cared how I looked. It is like dancing/aerobics to high energy latin music. Much shimmying and shaking and jiggling and gyrating went on, but it was a blast. The teacher was fabulous and I can't wait to go back! GO ZUMBA!

Another Angel

Our dear friend, Phil Kesler passed away last night after a brave struggle with cancer. We were so blessed to have had him as a friend and our hearts ache for his sweet wife, Heidi and their 3 year old little girl, Eden. Words are hardly adequate to express this loss. Richard sang with Phil for so many years, and last night we listened to Phils beautiful voice as he sang on the Kid Stuff CD. "Sing, sing a song, sing out loud, sing out strong. Sing of good things, not bad. Sing of happy, not sad." There are many happy times with Phil that we can sing of, but our hearts are indeed sad and we will miss him so much.

There was a time in my life, up until about 10 years ago, where I still believed that my Mom and Dad were super heroes and that they would never grow old, or sick. They could never die. I had never experienced "death" and it was such a far removed concept to me. This last year has been filled with many experiences with death and seeing people who are close to us leave this world prematurely. I now realize how truly mortal we all are and it scares me. Sometimes I wish I could go back to that naive self of mine before I understood how much death is a part of life. I am truly grateful for the knowledge I have of the Plan of Salvation and that I know that someday it will "all be OK", as my Mom put it. Right now it hurts, and we don't understand it, but someday we will and our reunions with loved ones will be so glorious. Our hearts and prayers and love go out to Heidi and Eden and we know that Phil will be watching over them.

I Love....

I love having kids that are old enough that we can leave for a while and go on a date! (Close to home and with Kate already asleep.) Like to the Stake Valentines Dance last night! :)

I love having a husband who is a fabulous dancer and who makes all the other wives wish their husband could dance like that!

I love how Richards fabulous dancing makes me look like a better dancer than I actually am!

I love dancing with my best friend and having a great time!

I love that Richard is so patient and loving with me and my weaknesses and emotional ups and downs.

I love YOU, Richard!

I'm hanging on to this

I came across one of Landon's projects from last year. I'm pretty sure it was a Valentines Day assignment. It's much cuter when you can see it in his nice, cursive handwriting with all the misspellings, but I am holding on to this and reading it at his wedding breakfast. I love it.

My future wife is pretty and beautiful.

My future wife is beautiful because she will have blue eyes and blond hair.

My future wife.

My future wife will be gorgeous.

My future wife will have a beautiful smile.

My future wife will be very, very cute.

My future wife will be an amazing person.

My future wife will be nice and kind.

My future wife will be good with kids.

My future wife will be a good singer and dancer.

My future wife will be smart, gentle and funny.

My future wife will be more gentle than the fur on a bear skin rug.

THE END

Beautifully shared memories

This is a post from my sister, Heather. Her blog is private, but I love this post that she did and love the pictures and thought you might too. And since this is my journal/scrapbook, I wanted it to be a part of my blog as well. This was only 8 days before my Mom died. January has been hard for all of us. We miss her so much. I hope you don't mind me sharing this, Heather. My Last Memory

This has been a really hard week for me. On Monday I was looking through some pictures on the computer and came across these pictures of me and my Mom. This was the last time I saw my Mom. I had forgotten that I even took the pictures. On our last day together my Mom and I played rumikub, our favorite game. We took a nap together and I played with her hair. She loved it when I would play with her hair and I was always happy to do it. We really just hung out. I remember that night when I said goodbye to her I told her that I was sorry I had to leave her. Her response was this,"Oh honey, I'm the one leaving you." I didn't realize how very soon that would come. Those words are ingrained in memory. I keep hearing her say them. This was our last conversation where she made any sense at all and the last time I saw her. I'm glad that I thought to take these pictures, but still they are hard to look at. I miss her so much. I really hate that she is gone.
I was talking to my sister Jenny and we were remembering three years ago when my Mom told us she was dying. She told Jenny and I that we needed to take care of my Dad. Lucky for us we have the most amazing Dad on the planet. He is holding all of us together and is being so strong. He is so full of faith and understands the plan of salvation so beautifully. I am so glad to have him as my Dad.
I wish that I would have been able to see her one more time before she died but my siblings and my Dad keep telling me that I should be grateful that these are my last memories of her. When she still could laugh and play with me. So for that I am grateful.
Here are the pictures of our last time together. Something that I will cherish forever!!!



Rumikub time! Our favorite!

Her new wheelchair. She was so cute in it.

Snow day

Snow days are always fun days, even if it is a lot of work! Actually, our older three do fantastic and can get all their gear together and have an absolute blast! But snow and babies are sometimes not the best combination. That being said, Kate still did quite well. We just love to sled at the cabin. Most of my pictures are of Kate because Richard and the other kids were mostly off with cousins having a great time! Kate and I went down together a few runs and she loved it and kept making the sign for "more". Daniel is my favorite in the snow because he loves to snowboard and he does so well at it! I didn't get any pictures of him though. We definately had a fun day!

Dad and Kate

Little snow bunny

Chillin' at the cabin

So cute!

All bundled up!

Completely tuckered out- the only nap of the day- a whopping 15 minutes!

Our awesome, adorable kids

My compliments to the chef

Last night was Daniels first basketball game and Richard was at Young Mens, so I took Daniel, Emma and Kate with me. Landon opted to stay home and called me about 15 minutes later to say he was bored and wondered if I had ingredients to make a smoothie. Well, I didn't, and he asked what he could do, so I told him to make brownies! When we came home an hour later, the house smelled divine (that's a Judy word) and there was a beautiful pan of brownies fresh out of the oven! I was so impressed...they were perfect! I love it when kids can do things on their own, and do them well. Daniel can also make a ham and cheese omelet from start to finish without help! Now if I could just get them to do their laundry! Oh, and Kate loved the basketball game. I spent the entire time chasing her and yanking her off the court. She knew it was naughty and she thought it was the funniest thing ever! Stinker!