Since I've been such a slacker, I'll sum up. Even so, be ready for a bit of a read.

In January, my hubby had a birthday and turned the big four ohh.

On February 8 Grandpa took all his sons and grandsons (and Keri) to see the Harlem Globetrotters. I saw the pictures. It looks like a good time was had by all.

For Valentine's Day I made pink applesauce pancakes shaped like hearts. Can we all say it together? Ready - aaawwwwww, how special. I don't make shaped pancakes very often because I stink at it. It just so happens that when I flipped these they landed like that. I couldn't resist taking a picture.


On February 19, Mike was the 8,000th facebook fan for a really neat lady - Becky Higgins. I have followed her and admired her and been inspired by her for a long time. She has written articles for Creating Keepsakes Magazine and she has written a few books. She has a blog about her family, scrapbooking ideas, and organizational tips that I have followed for a few years (http://www.beckyhiggins.com/). Anyway, Mike was her 8,000th fan. She had decided that she would call that person and interview them and highlight them on her blog. She called and interviewed me because Mike told her to. She wrote a very lovely article about me and said some really nice things. You can go here to see it if you didn't see it when it was done -

http://www.beckyhiggins.com/blog/2010/03/8000.html

Then on March 3 I had a knock on the door at about 2:20pm. I was getting some paper together to work on a project for my Mom and my aunt. You see, my grandpa was dying - could've been any minute - and I was making some cards for them that we could put a bit of his hair in. I had made them cards like that when my grandma died and they both expressed interest in having one for my grandpa also. Anyway, I had just picked the paper when the doorbell rang. I answered the door, and was shocked to see Becky Higgins standing there on my front porch.

She was on vacation, visiting some friends here and doing some skiing, and decided to come visit me. She brought me one of her kits - Project Life. It's a way to display your life for a year. A picture a day, a few lines of writing telling about what happened that day, slip it in the spot on the page, and there you have it. It was so great to meet her. She is so nice, and personable. I don't know how she has time to do all the things she does. She has three kids, a business she runs, and she is the Relief Society President in her ward. She amazes me.

On February 24 Andrew held a tea party for his bear. So cute!

My Grandpa finally died on March 6. He hung on for a lot longer than anyone thought he would. It was an excruciating time for all of us. We were all very sad at his passing, but we were relieved that he was done with his suffering. I was able to go to Oregon to help clean out his apartment and to attend his funeral.




While in Oregon I had some really good experiences with my family. All my brothers and sisters were able to come, most without spouses and none brought kids. We had so much fun, especially Jolene and I. We spent the most time together because both of us rode up and back with Dad.












When we helped clean out the apartment, we found quite a few of Grandma's things that Grandpa couldn't part with, like Grandma's lipsticks. Of course we had to try them on.

My Granddad was awesome. He could fix anything. He built things and invented things. He had tons of apple trees on his property and he made an apple press so he could make his own apple cider. My mom and my Aunt Julia picked out a casket for my grandpa that looked like he could've made it himself. It was so beautiful. The spray that they had made for the top of his casket had a bird nest and apples. Everything about it made us think about Grandpa and his life. He was a great man and all our lives are a bit empty because he is no longer with us. We all learned a lot from Grandpa and his example.

When I went to Oregon I was a little sad, and not just because I was going there to attend a funeral. I thought that I wouldn't get the chance to visit the Coast. The Oregon Coast is one of my favorite places on the face of this earth. I LOVE IT! I thought that we wouldn't have the time or a way to get there. Well, out of the seven days I was in Oregon I was at the coast on three of them. And two of the days were travel days. So really, it was three out of five. I was so blessed to be able to be there. It is so beautiful. I even got to see the ocean at night, which is something that I've never seen before. It looked like molten silver. So cool! I went out to dinner with all my brothers and sisters at about midnight Utah time. I can't say that I would recommend eating fish and chips that late, but it was a really fun time.

Here's a pretty good picture of my cute parents on the day of the funeral.

Back to normal life.

Josh had a band concert on March 18. He plays the trombone and he has a real talent for it. He would be a superb player if he cared more for practicing.





March 18 was also my baby's second birthday. We didn't really celebrate until the next day. We did go out to dinner at Winger's though.

And here's a picture of Aaron all gussied up for Church. What a handsome boy!

We spent most of the end of March trying to finish the basement. We had carpet installed on March 28, so we spent the week before that painting the living room five times (1 coat of primer, 2 coats of paint in a color that we decided that we couldn't live with, then 2 coats of paint of a color we love), and removing the existing carpet.

We really love the way it turned out. Feel free to come over and check it out. We would love to show it off!

Pictures of the girl's room and the living room.

Of course we had to dye eggs for Easter. Let me tell you, it's no small feat when you have six kids.

On April 5, Mike was in a little fender-bender. No one was hurt except for the Focus. Both air bags deployed and the windshield shattered. The accident happened at less than probably three miles per hour. The other guy got his taillight broken. The insurance company decided to trash the car rather than fix it, so we had to get a new one. Mike decided on a KIA Rio. It's pretty good.

And here are a couple of random photos from the last few days to round out this post.

I hope you have enjoyed this. Now go forth and actually get something done.

Oh, and have a fantastic day!

Here are some great quotes that I wanted to have, so I put them here so I wouldn't lose them.

"And while it takes courage to achieve greatness, it takes more courage to find fulfillment in being ordinary. For the joys that last have little relationship to achievement, to standing one step higher on the victory platform. What is the adventure in being ordinary? It is daring to love just for the pleasure of giving it away. It is venturing to give new life and to nurture it to maturity. It is working hard for the pure joy of being tired at the end of the day. It is caring and sharing and giving and loving…" - Marilyn Thomsen"

"..but the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three on them sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4, and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in a hurry to get on to the next things: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less." - Anna Quindlen

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." - Emerson

Over on Ali Edwards' blog (aliedwards.typepad.com) she just got done documenting a week in her life. She took over 100 pictures each day of everything she did that day. Cool idea. I will probably be doing this sometime in the future. She included these quotes because they inspired her to pay attention to the details of her life, the little ordinary things. Things that she wished she knew about her grandmother's daily schedule. I like this idea and I like these quotes.