It was a Graveyard Smash!

See this girl?  SHE is the reason behind the madness of the Monster Bash.  Clear back in early September she started in on me about decorating for Halloween.  We hit the stores and had a lot of fun gathering supplies and home decor items and slowly over the last 6 weeks we transformed our house.

 I am a Halloween hater, so this really was a labor of love for me to indulge her passion for all things All Hallow's Eve.  The culmination of our efforts?  A huge family party!

We had funny treats (Eadible eyeballs, mummy face pizza's, taratula legs, pumpkin rolls, bubbling cidar...you get the point), howling games (Mummy Wrap, Donut Eating, Red Light/Green Light), pumpkin painting and costume contest.  Oh yeah, costumes were required entry into the festivities.

Whew, it was a lot of work, but FUN work...and so worth it!

Boo!

It is T-minus 2 hours until the 1st Annual Monster Bash.  Thrown by our little family, for BOTH sides of the family.  I'm talking 40 people.  Eek.

I Love....

It's a given that I love, with great passion and loyalty, my husband and children.  I have to state that at the very beginning of this thought.  But, as I was driving home from work the other day, it hit me how much I LOVE where I am working.  It is hard, physical work but very fulfilling.  I love the residents that I care for.

I also love my dog.  She gives pure, uncomplicated and unconditional love.  She let's me hold her and pet her and snuggle her like a baby.  I'm practicing for future babies in my life.

I LOVE the mountains of Utah.  I love the greening up in the spring, the golden browns of summer, the brilliant fire display of color in the fall and the crisp, snow-capped layers in the winter.  The mountains are majestic and bold and fill me with awe.

These things touch my soul and make me feel contentment, tenderness, and gratitude.

And greatly loved.

There's an App for that!

I am a beverage ice snob.  I love a good diet Coke, but for it to be really satisfying, it HAS to have the right kind of ice.  And a squeeze from a lime wedge is always nice.  The right kind of ice can be a deal breaker for me.  If I NEED a diet Coke (as opposed to, "eh, sure, why not") than it just has to have the right ice. Otherwise, it's just not worth it. What kind of ice would that be, you ask?  Nugget (or Pellet) Ice.  The little compact pieces of ice that "soak up the beverage."  Ahhhhhhhh!  A Coke and a smile just hit my face.

  I know most of the places around town (and within 5 miles of my home) that have the good kind of ice:  Pace's Dairy Ann, Barbacoa, Costa Vida, Common Cents, FireHouse Car Wash and Detail, Kneaders, Pizza Factory.  I read in the paper today that there are enough of us Nugget Ice fans that there is now an app (luvthenug.com) for your phone that lists all the restaurants that have Nugget Ice.  Cool!  Oh, wait.  I am already the app for that!

(I also noticed that this article mentioned a home ice machine that makes Nugget Ice...up to 80 pounds at a time!  It's only $2,849!)

Cowboy Nic

Little did I know that when I took my nephew, Nicholas, home from preschool I would be spending the afternoon with "Cowboy Nic."  When we walked through the front door of Nicholas's home, he immediately ran upstairs to change.  Meanwhile, I got out all the ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies for his borthers (there's nothing better than coming home from school to freshly baked cookies, right?)  I started wondering what was taking Nico so long, so I called up to him to ask if he was still going to help me with the cookies.  He quickly responded that he just had to finish buttoning up his shirt.  A few minutes later, he came clomping down the stairs in full "Cowboy Nic" attire:  plaid button-down shirt, sheriff badge pinned to the chest, leather hat, belt, jeans, and--most importantly-heavy heeled cowboy boots (which where actually a pair of Kim's cast off fashionable low-heeled boots, but that did not bother Nic AT ALL).  He clomped into the kitchen, hopped up on a chair and proceeded to help me make the cookies.  After the dough was mixed up and plopped onto a cookie sheet (and after taste-testing, of course), Nic jumped back off the chair and continued to clomp around the kitchen, outside deck, garage, front side walk, and back in on the kitchen wood floor.  I decided that there must be something very satisfying about the  sound of clomping boots to a 6 year-old boy.  Nic told me all about cowboy boots and why they are so good for walking in dirt and and desert sand.  He then decided he needed to make a cowboy house (which he did on the deck) and then he asked if I would go on a walk with  him.  Heck yes, I would LOVE to walk the neighborhood with Cowboy Nic.  As we headed down the street, we found piles of tree branches and cardboard boxes to clomp and stomp over.

Clomp, clomp, stomp, clomp, clomp.

Into the Sunset.

A Masterpiece

"But trailing clouds of glory we come,

from God, who is our home"

Last March, we commissioned this painting from a very talented artist, Annie Henrie.  I wanted something depicting our daughters, OUR masterpieces, looking down upon the earth from their pre-mortal home, and contemplating the beauties and soon-to-be experiences of their earthly existence.  More importantly, every time they look at this painting I want my daughters to remember that they were sisters then and that they chose to be sisters now. Families ARE forever.  We ARE sons and daughters of loving heavenly parents.  We have a divine nature and we have the inner strength, abilities and capabilities to accomplish great and marvelous things.

Y be fit

Today was Kelsey's day off from school and her internship (at YbeFit) and so Markelle and I drove down to Provo to hang out with her for the day.  I've been wanting to hike the Y for some time now, so when we arrived I told Kelsey to get her gear on and off we went to the trail head.  We took Jesse along with us, and it was a good hard, steep climb that set our hearts beating. The temperature was perfect for this type of hike, the jagged mountains majestic in their autumnal colors and the view was fantastic.  When we reached the snowy colored Y, we sat and talked about life, family and friends, marriage...all the good, girly kind of talk.  I love my Utah mountains, and it was fun to hike a trail that I haven't hiked since my childhood days of living in Orem.

Afterwards, we showered and changed, then enjoyed a day of shopping at Cherry Lane, Deseret Industries (Halloween Costumes!) and JoAnn's and eating yummy pizza from SLAB.  What a fun day with two of my favorite girls!

"To mourn with those that mourn..."

And comfort those who stand in need of comfort."

Beautiful words,

Part of the covenant we make at Baptism.

How do we "mourn for those that mourn, comfort those who stand in need of comfort?"

I witnessed many examples of people who did this very thing for Spencer and Kim and their family this past week.  All of us who love this family, and grieve with them for the loss of their little girl, have been compelled to offer comfort in our own individual ways:

* Buying/wearing pink ties
* Rushing to Spencer and Kim's side from North Salt Lake, Bountiful, California, Italy, Arizona, the Book Cliffs, and the Divorce court

* Catching up and keeping up the laundry of a grieving family

* Bleach, wash, and press the white shirts of four brothers who just lost their sister
* Clean and vacuum Lily's room, put away her clean clothes, put sheets on her bed

* Sewing a dress for Lily

* Making bead bracelets with Lily's name to give to family members to wear

* Dinners

* Coolers full of drinks

* Flowers, letters, notes

* Framed pencil sketch of Lily

* Framed photos of Lily

* Lovely display tables 

* Video of Lily's life

* Singing for Lily

* Prepared luncheon for the family, which included a lot of Kim's favorite dishes

* White Balloons and sidewalk chalk

* Silver Lily flower tie tacks for the boys, pendant for Kim

* Handmade pink bows for all the girl cousins, matching ones for Lily and Gemma

* A potted Lily plant delivered to the house in the early morning hours

* Donated money

* Lots of hugs, whispers of love, support, prayers

* Attendance at viewing and funeral
* Careful explanations to the children, beautiful presentation of God's Plan of Salvation
* Powerful testimony of God's love and knowledge of each of His children

* Cleaning the kitchen, vacuuming the floors

* Floral spray for Lily's casket

* Floral arrangements for the family dinner

* Cute table cloths and beautiful arrangement of food at family dinner
* Beautifully prepared program for the funeral service
* Recording the funeral program and documenting with pictures
* Cards, letters, emails, facebook posts
* Handmade cards from classmates
* Handling of business affairs/insurance
* Rolling down the hill with the little cousins during the viewing
* Pink ribbons tied to the front yard trees

These are just a small sample of comfort I saw being offered.  Everything was done with love and with hearts turned to the Spencer Mordue family.

I discovered a very interesting fact:  we all have talents and abilities that we have been blessed with that we in turn can use to bless others.

Which in turn comes right back to bless us and help bring us peace.

As quoted from Yogi Berra at Lily's funeral:

"The main thing is to keep the MAIN thing the main thing."

Lily Ann

Gemma and Lily Ann

Our Little Princesses

My heart is full, even while it is hurting.  Our family has experienced many mercies from a loving Father in Heaven in the days following the passing of our darling niece, Lily Ann.  I feel an urgency and desire to record some of the little miracles, while acknowledging that many surrounding this event are very sacred and private.  Over the course of the past few days, our family and Lily's family have felt the outpouring of love, compassion, and comfort of many who are on the errand of angels.  This morning, while watching the morning session of General Conference, we as a family once again knew that our Father in Heaven is watching over us as we listened to the beautiful Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing "Consider the Lilies," the song that Soni will sing tomorrow for Lily.  It didn't escape our notice, either, that the women of the choir were dressed in pink...the color that all of us are going to wear in honor of Lily at her funeral service.