Home from Utah

We are finally home from Utah.  This trip was a ton of fun but yesterday ended up being very emotional as I said goodbye to my big brother.  It is always hard leaving him and not knowing if or when I will see him again.  It seems he has gotten so much weaker since the last time I saw him in February.  He had a feeding tube put in a few weeks ago and he has lost so much weight.  I hate living so far away from family.  I hate living so far away from him.

On a brighter note, Torri's bridal shower was a success, I think we had 35 people there.  My niece Ashlie and my sister-in-law Kellie did a FABULOUS job!!  I will post pictures later since I am back to work tonight and I'm supposed to be sleeping right this minute.  This week will be my last three nights of work before I am laid off.  There are so many changes going on in my life.  I'm trying to ride the wave through them all...some days it is easier than others.  My kids still need a mom so that is my #1 priority.  Weston is home sick today from school since he decided to throw up the whole way home from Utah last night.  One day at a time...just keep swimming!

To be continued...

Organized Wedding Room

Ok, everyone keeps asking me to post pictures of the "wedding room." Torri bought pink and green bins and came over and organized the room last night. I was thrilled! Yes, believe it or not...this is organized. Here are some pictures...

This next set of pictures is stuff just for the mad hatter tea party we are having next weekend. It has been hard planning a shower and a wedding at the same time...don't ask me what I was thinking because I will tell you I'VE LOST MY MIND!

Next on the Agenda...Bridal Showers

I was talking to my brother yesterday and we were wondering why Bridal showers (well, Baby showers too) can sometimes be so stressful when they are supposed to just be fun. I don't know the answer, but we are hoping we have more fun than stress the next two weekends. The Las Vegas Shower will be May 1st and we are having a Mad Hatter Tea Party.  We have found some of the cutest decorations and favors. 




















For all of our family and friends in Utah, my sister in-law Kellie is giving TorriLyn a Bridal shower in Sandy on April 24. She had a problem with the invitations, so if you are reading this and you didn't get an invite yet and you would like to come to either shower...just drop me a comment and we'll make it happen! Our motto is "The more the Merrier."  So come and have some fun! 

Wedding invitations

The wedding invitations arrived last Monday, April 12th. My goal was originally to have them in the mail exactly a week later (which will be tomorrow).  I hoped that people would receive them this weekend.  However, this has been a hard thing to accomplish considering we have ran into a few obstacles. First, there is a 5 step process in putting these invitations together.  We knew this was gonna be quite an undertaking so we called in some help and had an "invitation party" on Thursday night.  My Aunt Jane and cousin Jan came and helped assemble invitations. Bryce also came to help but I think he was more of a distraction for Torri rather than a help. Anyway, after a little drama with printing the labels, we got them all addressed and they are finally DONE and ready to be mailed in the morning. Wahoo! This has been a major job and I am thankful to all those who have helped!

April 14th Russ celebrates

Wednesday we ordered Russell's favorite pizza and had a fun night at home to celebrate Russell's b-day. He was showered with tons of new clothes including new shoes, socks, dress shirts, Polo's, new jeans, etc. Friday night Russ and I went on a dinner-date to The Cheesecake Factory to finish celebrating his big day! Happy b-day Russ!

Torri's Engagements Pictures

Wedding update: We have been working like crazy to get the invitations ready to go out on Monday. I think we might make it even sooner since we stayed up all night last night to finish up. Thanks to my Aunt Jane & my cousin Jan for coming to help glue, stuff envelopes and make us laugh. We ate yummy Cafe Rio and made it into a party. Also, thanks to Jan & Chris for helping with the location map. It's little things like this that I appreciate so much because frankly, making a map was almost pushing me over the edge! Thankfully, everything turned out just perfect after all.

Torri & Bryce got their engagement pictures back. They turned out so cute and Jeanna Hayes @ http://www.jeannahayes.com/ did a great job! Torri will gradually be posting most of them on her blog over the next few weeks.


We are counting down the days (just over a week now) and we will head into Salt Lake City for Torri's Utah Bridal shower. All our Utah peeps should have received an invitation in the mail by now. If you are reading this and you have not, please call or e-mail me since we have had a few mishaps with shower invitations. Going into Utah is going to be a blast! We are so excited that Wyatt, Tasha & Rowdy will be spending the weekend with us too.

Braydon gets his Eagle

Braydon and Jordan had a contest to see who could get their Eagle Scout award first. Braydon won! Good job, we are so proud you you Braydon!  Here are some pictures we took at the Court-of-honor on Saturday night.  It was fun being back in our old ward and seeing old friends.

Burried Treasure

Here are a few pictures that we thought were unfixable. As you can tell in this photo...the coloring has a dull blue haze. These were taken last June with Torri's camera. She didn't realize her settings had been tweaked. All her pictures look like this that she took around that same time. She let me download them onto my computer and I have been trying to fix them and make them look better.

We have similar pictures like this taken with my camera...but I wanted to post these. This was a trip into Manti, Utah for Russell's parents 50th wedding anniversary. Because my kids haven't grown up around their cousins, they don't feel close to them. It makes for interesting reunions because none of the teenagers talk to each other. However, my kids have used the past three reunions to bond with each other. I have seen a marked transformation and they have had some great bonding experiences. While I think this is a good thing, I try to remind them that we live four doors down from my cousin Jan because we are not only cousins but great friends.

While we were in Sanpete county we stopped to see my High School friend Kimmy. She went to lunch with us at a cute little diner in town. While we were there, Russell's high school friend Charlie and his wife stopped into the diner. It was a spur of the moment mini high school reunion for both of us...GOOD TIMES!

10 years is a long time!

It was ten years ago today that my best friend passed away. It is hard to believe it has been TEN years. We've had so many changes in ten years. My little Weston was just 3 months old, KateLyn was a little toddler...just 3, My Jordan was getting ready to be babtized and was almost 8. Tyler had just turned 11 and TorriLyn had just turned 14. Ten years my children have lived without their precious Grammy in their lives. Back then we were living in Elko and so happy to be living just 2 miles away from Grammy & Bampa. It seemed like we held the whole world in our hands...and we did. It just doesn't seem fair we have had to live the past ten years without her...how our hearts and arms still ache for her. I'm a little emotional today, but I want everyone to know that although it's been ten years...it seems like yesterday. This picture is my favorite of my mom and dad. It was taken in April (Easter weekend) in my Grandma Thacker's backyard under the cherry tree. It was such a happy time in our life. I was pregnant with a baby girl that would soon be named KateLyn.

Life is so short...hold your babies and your loved ones close to you. Squeeze them tight and never let them go.

Easter Dinner

Russ made a yummy Easter dinner including enough potato salad to feed an army. Torri brought cookie salad (the kids favorite) and we had all the trimmings. I forgot to take a picture of the yummy yams...but we cannot forget those. We have so much to be thankful for.  We have been spiritually fed today and now our tummy's are full too. Now, I'm off to work...not a good day to work but what better day to give birth than Easter? It's a time of new beginning.

Easter Sunday

Today has been an awesome day! I always love it when General Conference falls on Easter weekend. We are able to be spiritually fed in our homes with our families around us. During the break between sessions, the kids enjoyed getting their Easter baskets. We made them wait until after the first session was over...it helped them be a little more patient. Along with candy, each of the kids got a movie and new church clothes. Torri & Kate got two skirts/shirts and Weston & Jordan got pants and white shirts. We are missing Tyler today...our family is not complete without him.  Later today we are having a yummy ham dinner.  Russ has made enough potato salad to feed an army.  More pictures to come later...

Torri's new Blog

Here is a link to Torri & Bryce's blog: http://torriandbrycelovinit.blogspot.com/
There is information on the side bar of her blog about the hotel we have reserved for wedding guests.  It is a super nice hotel that is only a year old.  It is The Comfort Inn.  Click on the picture to find out more information about the hotel.  The price is $65.00 a night if 10 or more people book a room.  $55.00 a night for 20 or more people.  We will also be sending information in the wedding invitations for out of town guests.  

More flowers

I am not joking when I say my hubby is wonderful. He has kept me supplied with spring flowers since February. When they die, he buys me fresh ones. This small gesture has meant more to me than he will ever know. He out-did himself with this bouquet because it has all my favorite flowers in it!  I once said that if I could, I would always have fresh flowers in my house...I never thought it would be a possibility. 

Green

This was the view from my front porch today...there is green on our dead hill they call a mountain.  It is hard to find green in the desert but it's official...spring has sprung!

Easter Egg hunt and Block Party

Today was our neighborhood block party and Easter egg hunt. The kids had a great time hunting for eggs that were hid throughout the entire neighborhood. My kids wanted to help the little ones more than hunt for eggs themselves. We all managed to get sunburned because the weather was in the high 70's...blue skies and gorgeous.  We couldn't have asked for a better day. 

April Fool's Day

We had a "silly-mixed-up" day including dinner for breakfast and breakfast for dinner.  We went to The Original Pancake House because they have the yummiest french toast & waffles ever! We even had a Very Merry Unbirthday with yummy PB&J cupcakes. It was a silly day!