Washington...there and back again

**WARNING** the layout of this post got completely messed up when I published it. So beware when reading, pictures and descriptions do not match up. I'm sick of trying to fix it. This first picture is just completely out of place.



My decision to leave for Washington happened pretty fast. I decided Monday night, after hearing of my grandma's passing Sunday night, that I would leave the next day, and Brad would come later...somehow. I called up my sister-in-law, Mandy, and asked if she and Ivan, Daylen's cousin, wanted to ride with us. After a whirlwind of getting ready Tuesday morning we took off and picked up Mandy and Ivan in Pocatello and headed for Cauldwell to stay with Jamie and break up the trip. We all caravaned Wednesday morning and made it there by the afternoon. Our first stop was Grandma Murray's house in Waitsburg where we dropped of Mandy and Ivan. Let me just say we were all ready to get out of the truck by the time we got there, actually before we got there. (I took Brad's truck so we coud fit 3 carseats in the back, and I had a bunch of buckets to take Jamie and my mom.) Daylen and Ivan were so excited to be able to run around outside. After visiting with Grandma Murray for a bit Daylen, Kate, and I got back in the car and drove the last 25 minutes to my parents house. Daylen had so much fun playing with his cousins. Grandma gave them fun things to do like picking up all the pods dropped by our huge locust tree in the front yard. :) The kids thought it was fun.

Jamie and I got to go with my mom to Othello Thursday to be there when they dressed my grandma. She has always had her hair dyed brown, never in my life have I seen her with gray hair, well, they let her hair go gray these last few months in the nursing home because it was just too hard to dye it anymore. I admit when I first went in to see her, I did not even recognize her. It was her hands that told me this was my grandma, she had very distinct hands, long fingers. After my Aunt Reva and cousin, Krystal, fixed her hair and did her makeup she looked really good and I began to recognize her. After finishing at the funeral home and eating lunch at my Aunt Maxine's house we went to visit grandpa. Above is a 4 generation picture. Grandpa is my last living grandparent and I hope he lasts a little longer even though he's 90 years old. While we were there, grandpa's brother, Garn, and his wife showed up and it was fun to watch them chat. Don't they look like brothers?

Jamie and I, plus all our kids piled in the suburban with my dad to head to Othello for the viewing and then the funeral. The first picture is just before leaving, all the kids were happy, content. The second picture was taken as were just getting to Othello. Kayla was screaming, Lily was covering her ears and singing really loud to drown out Kayla, Daylen had just barely woken up, and Nathan looks bored out of his mind. Brad ended up flying the Spokane Friday with my uncle and 2 cousins, then they drove to Othello.

Saturday night when we got home Lori booked it to get ready for Sadie Hawkins, girl ask guy, dance. She asked Tom Rowley, a boy she has grown up with. In fact, they sang a song together at Jamie's wedding reception when they were like 10. Aren't they cute?? It was fun to be there when Tom came to pick her up. The poor boy was bombarded with the whole family there. By the way, Lori got accepted to BYU and will be here in the Fall. I'm so excited for her and can't believe she is old enough to be going to college!

We had fun playing games Sunday afternoon, don't get to do that very often anymore.

This cute girl, Kayla, carried a cereal bag around with her wherever she went. I rarely saw her without it.

Chillin' with mom Sunday afternoon.

Chillin' with Uncle Tyler Sunday afternoon.

Kara and Kate

Kayla, grandma, and Kate. The 2 mama's girls actually content with grandma before we all have to take off on our long drive home. We did it all in one day on the way back and the kids did awesome, aside from Kate having a poopy diaper EVERY time we stopped. We left with 3 diapers remaining for Kate, ended with none and Kate wearing a Daylen diaper. It was a fun trip and great to see family and friends!

We love you grandma!

Can I be done with funerals for awhile? I have been to 3 funerals within the last year all for dear family members and I'm ready for a break. My sweet Grandma Gilbert (mom's mom) passed away Sunday, March 15. We knew it was coming, she hadn't been doing very well, in fact, we held a family fast the first Sunday in March for this very purpose. As always, it is sad to say goodbye, but it is also such a blessing to know she is in a much better place and state of mind now. She leaves quite a legacy behind, 10 children, 46 grandchildren, 83 great-grandchildren, and 1 great- great- grandchild, and they just keep coming!

The oldest grandson from each family were the pall bearers.

Here is my family!

I think my sisters and I inherited our love of dance from grandma. She loved to talk about how every Friday night she would go dancing at the open air dances when she was growing up in the Uintah Basin. She would tell us about all her boyfriends, and how she used to date grandpa's cousin, however I just learned at her funeral that she was dating them at the SAME time! Luckily grandpa won out. It was always fun going to grandma's house cause that usually meant there would be cousins there to play with. Right outside their backyard was a huge park where we spent hours playing, I loved the family softball or kickball games. Grandma loved to play softball, she played in tournaments until she was 52! I only heard about her playing days, by the time I was old enough to join grandma was getting up there in years seeing as my mom is number 8 of the 10.
Toward the end as her alzheimers got worse every time she saw me she would comment on my red hair. She would say, "My mother had red hair, but it was a little darker than yours." Then she would see Rachel and say, "It was exactly like yours!" Out of all her very large posterity Rachel and I were the only lucky ones to inherit the red hair.
Thank you! Love you grandma!

Big Shot

So this is the best I could get the picture of Brad, Rachel, and I riding the Big Shot in Vegas. I love the look on Brad's face, he looks terrified!

Truck, Trip, Work, Vegas, Fun...and NO KIDS

Last week was our annual trip to Las Vegas with Namifiers for the ARA Trade Show. I was nervous and excited to go all at the same time. Nervous because my 8 1/2 month old stubborn girl was still not taking a bottle, but excited to get away with Brad and have a break from my darling children, whom I love dearly. Can I just say my mom is the best mother EVER and I owe her BIG TIME. I'm so glad she is willing to come and babysit for us so I can have peace of mind while I am away for 4 days. I never have to worry about my kids when they are with grandma, she is so good with them and they love her so much! In fact, Daylen was practically kicking me out the door as soon as she got here. Kate on the other hand...I was sure that the first day would be hard for her, but when she realized that the bottle was all she was going to get, she'd give in, right? WRONG! She is a stubborn little girl. She fought it the first day, and the second day, and the third day, and FINALLY on the day I was coming home, she took it without a fight. She would drink it the second and third day, but not without a fight. Luckily she eats lots of other food so she wasn't starving, but she was not happy in the early morning when she wanted to nurse. But now, thanks to my mom's hard work, she will take a bottle from me without a fight! THANK YOU MOM!!!

We-Brad, myself, and Kevin (one of the sales guys) left for Vegas last Tuesday so we could set up the show. Bryan, the CEO, and his wife, Jenny, were there cause Bryan was giving a seminar, so after the show was set up we all went to Jonny Rockets for dinner, yummy hamburger place, and then went to see "Phantom of the Opera!" It was an absolutely amazing show with it's own Vegas flare. The talent was awesome, the staging and props incredible, and the music...aahhh the music...pretty much right up there with "Wicked" for me. Shows like this are what it means to experience Vegas. You can find the good in everything if you just look for it!

Wednesday was the first day of the show and it was also my birthday! Which I totally forgot until I called my mom mid-morning and she wished me a happy birthday. This was most of our booth, we didn't get super great pictures...

I nominated myself as the designated "put orders in to the computer" person so there woudn't be a huge pile for the account executives to do when the show was over. I used to be there...and it made the time go by faster. I was a little slow with the first one trying to remember how the use the software, but it all came back to me. It was fun this year to have my sister at the show, she has been working at Namifiers for almost a year now and is one of their top sales people. It was also kinda strange being the only "wife," besides Jenny, but they left early from the show. Usually everyone brings their wife, but I'm afraid that tradition is ending due to that darned IRS.

Wednesday night for dinner we went to Behni Hanah's, (not sure on the spelling) a Japanese tepanyaki style restaurant. I had been there once before, but I enjoyed the food so much better this time! I think my taste buds have matured in the last 2 years, it was delicious! Expect the shrimp, I still can't manage to make myself like seafood.

Thursday night after the show we went to CozyMel's for some yummy mexican. We saw this while driving out and about...only in Vegas do you see a taxi taking someone through fast food drive thru...and then see someone taking a picture of it! I don't know why we found this so funny.




After stuffing ourselves with mexican we headed to the Stratosphere for some thrill rides! This was the first year I could actually go on them. In past years when we've gone I've been pregnant so I couldn't actually ride. But not this year, we all rode the Big Shot which is like the Rocket at Lagoon if you've ever been, except that it's on top of the Stratosphere. Then Kevin, Rachel, and I also rode Insanity, we couldn't convince Brad and Nick to join us. Insanity is the mechanical hand swing thing you see here that circles around 60 feet off the side of the Stratosphere. I was a little nervous about it, more because I was afraid of getting sick from spinning, which I didn't, it was so much FUN! I actually liked it better than Big Shot. We got pictures from the Big Shot, if I can find a scanner I'll put it on my blog, Brad's face is hilarious!



Here is Rachel and I getting ready! I admit the thought crossed my mind briefly as soon as we were over the edge waiting to start spinning, "if this thing broke right now, that is a LONG drop..." but I cut it off there, pushed it away quicky, and enjoyed the ride!

Friday after the show we packed up and headed home! I was very anxious to get home to my kiddos again, even if they would already be asleep by the time I got there. It was an awesome show overall with great food and entertainment. I think I went out with a bang, since this was most likely the last show for me. It was my funnest trip to Vegas overall. Although my pump broke the second day I was there, which was not good, so we had to find a Walmart so I could buy a new one. I bought an electric one this time, not the one I would have wanted if I had my choice and time to find it, but it still works good. I'm glad to be home again.

Happy Birthdays!

My wonderful friend, Janell, put on an awesome birthday party for the February birthdays on the 21st. She invited all of the girls in her ward with birthdays in February, and me. Hey, I used to be in their ward at some time or another over the last few years. It was so much fun! We had yummy Cafe Rio style salads, played Apples to Apples, visited, and ate a delicious chocolate chip cake made by Jessica. There were 9 of us altogether, funny thing, 6 of the 9 are nursing mothers. I love girls nights, and I had so much fun catching up with old friends I don't see much anymore even though we all live in the same neighborhood. Thanks for an awesome night Janell! I totally agree this needs to become a tradition!

Bean Museum

I'm pretty behind on my blogging, but we went to the Bean Museum at BYU a couple of Saturday's ago. We wanted to do something fun with him before we left him and Kate with my mom for 4 days while we went to Las Vegas. The museum has a reptile show at 1:00PM on Saturdays and we thought it would be a fun activity to take Daylen to. He wasn't so sure about the touching part at first...

...still not so sure...

...oh ok...it took a few times to actually get a picture because he would touch the snake for only a second at a time.

He had a fun time looking at all the animals and bugs and Kate enjoyed getting out and going for a ride in the stroller. It was a fun, free activity that got us out of the house, I recommend it!

The other day we were eating lunch, which included an orange, and as we were eating Daylen looked at the peel and said, "Look! A Temple!"

Another day we were eating lunch, again-imagine that, we had been gone in the morning and got home a little late for lunch and naptime. Daylen was eating his lunch and talking, I started doing the dishes while he ate, I looked over at him to ask him a question and I saw this...literally seconds after finishing his lunch he was OUT.

Daylen has gotten very good at calling people on my cell phone, if I happen to leave it lying around he will find it and call someone. So don't be surprised if you get a call from him one day. He calls my mom all the time, here he is talking to grandma.

My little vampire

Kate has become my little vampire the way her teeth are coming in. If you look closely you can see her left lateral incisor on top coming in. Her right lateral incisor on top is coming in as well and with the top front still MIA...

I've been wanting to get a picture of this face Kate makes. She started making it when I would feed her and now she makes it quite often. It always makes me laugh!

A Light!

Daylen's imagination and creativity in play is so fun to see. He came to me the other day and said. "Look, a light!" Who knew a broken golf flag and a yellow funnel could be a light?



I absolutely LOVE that Kate is getting old enough too kind of play with Daylen. Ok, more like sit with him and chew on all of his toys. But hey, if they're happy, I'm happy!

"Hi Kate!"

"Say Cheese!" Says Daylen as he helps himself to mom's and dad's new camera to take a picture of Kate after she woke up from her nap.

He was supposed to be playing in his room, by the time I'd found him he had taken a huge number of pictures of his room, toys, then moved on to Kate when he heard her wake up from her nap.

can you fit in your stocking?

My mom made everyone in the family new stockings last year, then as our family grows she makes new ones for the additions. They are pretty big, big enough for Kate to fit right inside!

Christmas!

My little girl is growing up! I've never seen anyone get so excited to eat carrots. She has never liked rice cereal, but she loves her vegetables!

Merry Christmas Kate! Kate's present actually came early cause we both needed it. It's the Fisher Price Rainforest jumperoo, she is becoming quite the jumper.

We've had a very full week of Christmas, including our house. We were very lucky this year to not have to travel. My family came to us instead. Due to weather conditions and storms they left a couple of days earlier than originally planned to eat the storms. Their presence brought the number of people in our house to 17 the Sunday before Christmas. Aside from my own little family we had Brad's sister and her family (We took them to the airport Tuesday morning), my oldest sister and her family (they were just staying the night on their way to Mesquite, NV to spend Christmas with her husband's family), and then my parents and 2 youngest sisters. We had to move our table into the kitchen so we could use the nook area for sleeping quarters. It was insane, but fun to have so many people here. Needless to say my parents went and stayed at a motel that night, the only floor space left was on our bedroom floor.

Christmas Eve we held a little devotional, sang Christmas carols accompanied by my mom on piano, and Daylen and Kate got to open 1 present, which of course were Christmas PJ's from Grandma. Kate actually opened hers by herself and beat Daylen to it.

Grandpa giving Daylen a horsie ride.

Daylen and Kate in their Christmas PJs


I realized at the very end of opening presents Christmas morning that I hadn't been taking pictures! Ahh! However I did get a couple of Brad opening his present from me which he didn't know he was getting. He said on more than 1 occasion that this was the first year he knew EVERYTHING he was getting for Christmas. Hehehe, little did he know I had gotten something he has been wanting for a LONG time, but I kept putting it off saying we didn't need one, it was too expensive, bla bla bla. Well, I decided it was probably time that Brad get his wish granted, I gave in and got him a 120 gig ipod classic. It holds more memory than we will ever need stored, at least it sure seems that way now. He was in shock and loved it of course, though the picture doesn't really show his excitement, he's holding it all inside. Merry Christmas Brad!