Parker's School Program - November 16, 2012

Friday - November 16, 2012
Parker was so excited about his school program.  For a little while, we were afraid that Roger wasn't going to be able to make it to see the program, but since the funeral was scheduled for Monday, Roger was able to be here.



Another Sad Day - November 13, 2012

Tuesday - November 13, 2012
I survived Laurie's funeral and was feeling like I could be okay.  I sat down at the computer to do my homework today, but decided to check facebook before I got started.  The first thing I saw when I got on was a post from Stephanie Moser (posted 6 minutes ago when I read it) that said, "Today is a sad day I know we had our diffrences but you were my brother and I loved you very much. We are going to miss you deeply ♥".  My heart started racing as soon as I saw that.  I hoped that maybe she was talking about a friend of hers who she thought of as a brother, but in my heart I knew that it was her brother Cris.  The first thing I did after reading that post was check Cris' page.  He hadn't commented in a while.  The last post on his page was from his mom, Teresa.  She posted, "Cris. Are you alive?"  My heart just sank when I read that.  I sat here at the computer just feeling shaky and debating about waking Roger up.  Roger ended up walking up 10 minutes later.  I gave him a hug, asked him how he slept, then told him what stephanie had posted and asked him to call someone from his family and find out what's going on.  I was shaking and feeling really sick to my stomach.  I really don't handle this stuff well.

Roger called his mom and found out that it was his nephew, Cris, that had died.  Even more shocking- Cris had been murdered!  He had been shot in the head.  Cris was only 21 years old.

Here's a really cute picture of Cris and Brinley taken on Thanksgiving in 2006

You know how when I posted about Laurie, I told about a plan we had made and how I couldn't imagine it happening.... Well.. I was talking to Caroline (Roger's sister) about it and she said that Grant (Roger's brother and Cris' dad) had told her that he could imagine his other two children's futures, but he was never able to imagine Cris' future.  I just thought that was interesting.

Laurie's Funeral and Parker's Hat - November 10 - 11, 2012

Saturday - November 10, 2012
Laurie's funeral was on November 10th, her birthday.  Her funeral was so hard to be at.  I cried so much.  I ended up riding there with the Deakin's and Cathy Crump.  It was good to go with friends.  That makes it a little easier.  When we got there, I was doing okay.  I thought I had my emotions under control.  The viewing was first.  I was impressed by how well her husband, Thom, and her mom were doing.  I was glad that they weren't crying because I thought that that would make it easier for me not to cry.  As soon as I opened my mouth to talk to Thom, I burst into tears.  And then, of course, he started to cry.  I got my crying under control just in time to talk to her mom.  I did the same thing with her mom.  I just burst into tears.  We just hugged and cried.  I felt bad for losing it like that.  I could hardly talk, I was crying so much.  Laurie's mom started comforting me.  She said, "I'm so sorry that you have to go through this, Jenny."  I felt bad that she felt like she needed to comfort me when I should have been the one there comforting her.

The talks given at her funeral were really good.  It was fun to get to meet and hear from Laurie's family and friends that I didn't know.

I do not like funerals.  I just don't handle them well.  I just cannot get my crying under control.

I'm glad that it is over with and I can focus on feeling normal again.

I forgot to write about an experience that happened a few days after she passed away.  I was having a really hard time dealing with her death.  I was sick to my stomach every time I thought about it and I couldn't stop thinking about it.  I couldn't sleep at night and just couldn't feel happy at all during the day.  Well.... One morning after she had passed away, Alissa woke me up.  she was in her room and started yelling for me.  She said that she was scared and needed me to come talk to her.  I got out of bed and went to talk to her.  She said she was scared because she saw a ghost walk into my bedroom and go towards me.  She said it was a white figure.  I hadn't seen anything, but after she told me that, I realized that I actually felt normal.  I wasn't sick to my stomach anymore and I felt happier.  I know this might sound silly, but I think that Laurie came to visit me and somehow let my spirit know that she was okay and that everything would be okay.  I still felt sad when I thought about it and I cried my eyes out at her funeral, but I was able to be happy again and my thoughts weren't consumed by it anymore.

Sunday - November 11, 2012
Parker had a brilliant idea for a hat and he insisted that I take a picture of him wearing it.

New Table - November 7th

Roger and I volunteered our house for the Moser family Thanksgiving.  Then we remembered that we don't have a table.  It's funny that we hadn't thought about that when we agreed to have Thanksgiving here.  So, we bought a table.  This is the second piece of furniture that Roger and I have bought since we got married.  We bought a bed a few years ago.  All the rest of the furniture in our house is hand-me-downs.

We love our new table.  It's not the color I had wanted, but as soon as we got it home, I realized how much I love it.  The chairs are super-duper comfortable.
Here I am posing with the new table at the store.  Then Parker posed with it once we had it at home.



Playing in the leaves - November 5th

Monday - November 5, 2012
When Roger and I walked to pick the kids up from school today, there were a ton of leaves. The kids came out of the school and were so excited to play in all of the leaves.  We let them play for a little while, then we went home to get the camera.  We needed to go grocery shopping and the kids wanted to stop at the dollar store and spend their allowance.  On the way, we stopped at the school to take pictures.  Roger took all the pictures while I finished making my grocery list and clipping coupons.  It's a good thing we went back and took those pictures when we did.  The next day all the leaves had been cleaned up.

A Sad Day - November 2, 2012

Friday - November 2, 2012
Today started out as a pretty good day.  The kids all got off to school without any problems.  I got some homework done, then went upstairs to clean the house and wash the dishes.  While I was rinsing the dishes, I had to run the disposal.  When I flipped the switch, I got electrocuted.  It took my brain a little bit to figure out what was happening.  I realized and pulled my hand away.  It was really scary.  I had a headache afterward so I quit doing the dishes and sat down for a little bit.  I was sitting there thinking about how if I had gotten electrocuted worse and had fallen to the ground, nobody would find me until the kids got home and that would be a horrifying experience for them.

I finally started feeling better and was able to finish washing the dishes.   When the kids got home from school, Alissa told me about the program the 5th graders are doing.  She was really excited because she has a big part.  She wanted me to practice with her.  We had a lot of fun practicing her part.  We tried it with a bunch of different accents.  We laughed a lot.  It was a good time.

Alissa and I quit practising and I went downstairs to watch TV with Roger and spend some time with him before he left to work.

While we were watching TV, I got a phone call from my friend, Tammy Beverly.  She told me that there was an ambulance at Laurie Fife's house and she saw Laurie on the stretcher.  Tammy's son, Ben, had an allergic reaction to a bee sting, so Ben and her husband, Lee, were at the emergency room.  Tammy had called over there to tell them that Laurie was on her way.  They said they over heard that they were bringing in a female trauma patient and they were giving her CPR.  Tammy called me as soon as she got off the phone with them to let me know what was happening.  She said she would call me as soon as she found out more.  A few minutes later, she called me back and told me that they told Lee that it wasn't looking like she was going to make it.  A few minutes after that, her daughter, Erin, called to tell me that Laurie had died.  I could not believe it.  I was devastated.  Laurie was my across the street neighbor for 3 years before we moved.  We were hanging out more now than we did when she lived across the street.  She was my walking buddy.  She is also the friend that stood up for me when there was a big mean bully trying to start a fight with me at the safety fair.  She was a very caring person and a great friend to have.  I'm going to miss her soooo... much!

This is her obituary.

There is one crazy thing I have to tell you.  For the past two weeks, Laurie and I have been talking about this great idea that she had and how we were going to start doing this soon.  Her idea was that we would include housekeeping with our walking.  One day we would clean her house and the next day we would clean mine.  We would just take turns helping each other out and it would make our house cleaning a lot more fun since we would be doing it together.  I thought that it was a great idea and I couldn't wait for us to start.  When I make plans, I think about it and imagine what it is going to be like.  I always do that.  So, I was really bothered by the fact that I could not imagine what it was going to be like cleaning houses with Laurie.  It really bothered me that I couldn't imagine it.  Every time she'd talk about it, I'd look forward to it, because I thought it was a great idea, but I was really bothered that I wasn't able to imagine it.  She passed away before we ever got to do it and that is why I couldn't imagine it.

I took some pictures of my beautiful children.

Candy, Candy, Candy!! - November 1, 2012

Thursday - November 1, 2012

Parker, Alissa, and Brinley have been pigging out on Halloween candy all day.  All the sugar has made them goofy.  Brinley and Parker insisted that I take some pictures of them.  They kept trying to come up with different ways to pose.



Halloween 2012

Wednesday - October 31, 2012
The kids got to wear their Halloween costumes to school this year.

We went trick-or-treating with Brinley's friend, Bethany.  She lives in Fridal Heights.  The kids had fun, but they didn't seem as excited as they normally are when we go trick-or-treating.  There was somebody dressed up like a creepy clown, carrying a knife and waundering around the neighbor hood staring at everybody.  It was really freaky.  I was very scared, but I played it cool so the kids wouldn't freak out.  I really didn't like it. 

After trick-or-treating there, we decided to go to our old neighborhood.  The kids were so excited!  They had a lot more energy and were as excited as they normally are on Halloween.  This was our first Halloween since we moved.  The kids really miss our old house.  They talk about it all the time.  Our first stop when we got there was at the Beverly's house to see if we could find Erin and go trick-or-treating with her.  We've gone trick-or-treating with them every year since they moved in.  Erin had already left, but I knew their usual route, so it didn't take us long to find them.  Trick-or-treating was so much better after we found them and everything was how we were used to it.  Change is really hard.  I wonder what we'll do next year.  I wonder if we'll head over to the old neighborhood again.

Here's a few pictures of the kids after we got home from our trick-or-treating fun.

The Bet - October 30, 2012

Tuesday - October 30, 2012
Roger bet Alissa that she couldn't fall asleep before Parker every night for a week.  Alissa was sure that she could.  The deal was that if Roger won, Alissa had to give him all of her Halloween candy, but if Alissa won, Roger would give her $10.00.  I thought she was absolutely crazy to take this bet, because she always stays up really late, but she was positive that she could win and $10.00 was more money than she's ever had before.  She was very determined to win.  Parker almost always falls asleep right around 8:00 pm.  Alissa did an amazing job at going to bed and falling asleep before him.  She went to bed at 7:30 each night.  She was so close to winning.  The neighbors invited her to stay up and play night games.  She didn't want to lose the bet, but she really wanted to stay out and play.  She decided that she would come in at 8:00 (when I normally put Parker to bed), instead of 7:30.  Parker was super tired and fell right asleep that night.  Alissa was still winding down from the night games she had just finished playing.  She didn't fall asleep in time.  She was so tempted to fake sleep, so she could still win, but she decided to be honest.  Roger was never really planning to take all of her Halloween candy.  He chose a few of his favorites from her Halloween candy and that was it.  She was very relieved to not have to give him all her candy.  Here's a picture of Alissa asleep.  I took a picture of her in her room and then took a few steps over to take a picture of Parker and Brinley.  They were both still awake.  It is a rare thing for Alissa to be the first one asleep.

A Hockey Game, Bone Family Halloween Party, and a Haunted House - October 27- 29, 2012

Saturday - October 27, 2012

We were planning to go to Salt Lake tomorrow to attend the Bone Family Halloween party, but we decided to go a night early because........ Rebecca VanBibber got us free tickets to a Grizzlies game!  Roger's mom watched the kids while Roger and I went to the game.  It was so much fun!  We had the best seats!  I loved it!  We were on the front row very close to a lot of the action.  It was too much fun!  We took a picture of us while we were waiting for the game to start.  We are super cool!

Sunday - October 28, 2012

We spent the night at Roger's mom's house then went to church with her in the morning.  After church, it was time to get ready and go to my family Halloween party.  I realized that I forgot to bring our costumes.....  So we decided to be creative.  We decided that Roger could go as a hockey fan and wear his shirt and hat that he bought at the game the night before and the kids and I would go as dorks.  We just made our clothes look funny and we wore funny makeup.  The costumes weren't great but I knew that we would get a laugh out of everybody when we got there.

Here we are getting ready to leave Grandma Moser's and head to Aunt Linda's house.

 The party was lots of fun.  There was lots of yummy food, we played Bunco, there was a costume contest and prizes for the winners of Bunco.  I came close to winning a few times, but managed not to win anything.  I tied 3 times and had to roll the dice to see who won.  I lost each time.  Roger won at Bunco.  He won a pet ghost.  Alex also won a pet ghost, but he didn't like it, so he gave it to Brinley.  Brinley was so excited.

 Brinley and Mathew had a lot of fun playing inside Missy's Halloween costume.

Monday - October 29, 2012

Jenny Springman (my good friend from High School) came to visit for a week.  While she was in town, we planned a get together.  We invited our other High School friends to meet us at Ice Burg then go to a Haunted House.  Ice Burg was a place we went to regularly when we were in high school.  It was so fun to see everybody again.  I didn't take any picture while we were at Ice Burg.  I forgot to bring my camera.  They took our picture at the haunted house.  Everybody didn't come to the haunted house with us.  The haunted house was so fun and so scary.  I hadn't been to a haunted house in over 10 years.  The haunted house wasn't like they used to be.  They had a lot more things that messed with your mind.  There was a part that looked like you were on a cliff.  when you started to go past it, the wall starts to move and push you toward the edge.  The other craziest part was when you come to a dead end where it looks like two bounce houses are smooshed together.  You're not sure if you should push your way through or not.  It was pretty scary not knowing where we were going and if we would make it out.