Uncle Alain

Being far away from family is so very hard at times like this. My Mom's brother Alain passed away in a motorcycle accident on February 4th. We have a close extended family & even more so since several families have all moved to Idaho in the last few years. I am so glad his family was one of them because it gave us time to spend with him. You just never know when your time is up, but this I do know, spiritually-speaking, he was ready to go. He is a gentle, truly kind, service-oriented person who rarely thought of himself. So many people were affected for the better by him. So many people relied on him. Now, it's his turn to have eternal peace and rest. We love him and he is so terribly missed.
*Thanks to those whose blogs I took these pictures off of :)

At the Rexburg stake center. He was honored for his 18 years in the police force & for his 5 years of security at BYU-Idaho.

The graveside

Hundreds of cards & letters poured in & this shows a few of his woodworking projects--always done for someone else.


He loved his motorcycle & being active in many different ways

His family always came first, aren't these grandkids so darling?

This is a picture I'd never seen until my cousin's blog...she pointed out that if you look closely he is singing to himself. He has a great voice & loves music so much.

This was at our Christmas celebration just recently at the church. God be with you 'till we meet again Uncle Alain!

Day of Love

Dates are a rarity nowadays, but thanks to a new deal I have worked out with one of my piano students--can't accept money anymore (policy of the 'new' place, grrr), but they'll let me 'trade' so baby-sitter/dates are on the agenda once again! So, I figured this holiday was the perfect time to start & I surprised Tony by taking him to see "Tron" (we loved it) & going to eat at Applebee's (compliments of a Christmas gift card--thanks Debby!). And when we came home, the dishes were done & the kids were snoozing. Yes, I could definitely get used to this...

Then Tony super-surprised me with some of my favorite goodies (Kashi cookies, um, they're gone & Lindt dark chocolate) and....a paper shredder!! Really, he has me figured me out! He told me, "You're hard to shop for, I kept thinking, no, not that, not that, too expensive...until I saw the shredder, I knew you wanted it & it was cheap enough you wouldn't take it back!" I am so happy with my paper shredder. No more ripping up papers into bazillions of teensy pieces. Honey, I love you, you're the best!

The meal of red: spaghetti (Tony's #1 favorite), beets (the boys #1 favorite veggie), garlic cheesy bread (w/pretend red undertones), cherry-pomegrante juice & Stonyfield yogurt (my favorite & a rare visitor in our home). And see Ari squinting? That's her new 'cheese' look. Pretty adorable, though a bit frustrating when my friend was trying to take pictures of her modeling hair accessories for her small business...

Me trying to figure out the V-day gift of origami (I was a little wary when I bought them at the dollar store, but you just can't beat a buck!)

Pictures of kid-ness

Jaydon & Jyson have shown an interest recently in photography...of all the world around him. Here are a few of their subjects...

A little modern artistic angle-ness with texture

Thanks, Jaydon for being willing to dress the squirmy worm in shirts that sometimes aren't so easy to figure out.

The best subject, and a lesson in 'the glare'

And this one "...because, Mom, this sandwich is so good!"

The move (playing catch-up with myself)

Moving around the corner sounds lovely, but my conclusion is that it's much harder than the 'traditional' move. I spent the week & half previous to the 'elder's quorum movers' coming over just taking load after load after load...you get the idea. My plan was to move one room at a time each day or two & it worked for the most part. So, the day arrives for the men to move the big stuff over (all the other boxes were completely out of the house) & then the pile in the garage to take to the storage unit. Around the corner, no boxes, an hour, right? Not so. 3 hours later we had a couple faithful dudes carrying the last load. So, I finally make a trip over to the 'new' place & this is what I see:

Lest you are unable to tell, the boys are on top of the kitchen table...that mess goes a few feet deep! You see, I didn't want to seal all the boxes just to unseal them almost immediately so once the furniture was shoved in we realized the problem with that--you can't stack open boxes very well, thus creating this lovely picture. Oh, baby, I was SO grateful for the two free meals offered to us for the next two nights (one of which was Sunday so we didn't do any unpacking, "Yeah, uh, where do we sit, Mom?)

Luckily, that mess provided great incentive to get unpacked & I'm ecstatic to (b)log that within two (working) days the majority of the house was under control. Ahhhh, order...Our favorite thing about this little townhouse is that it has a vaulted ceiling in the living room with a balcony/'playroom' making it seem like a bigger, more cohesive living space. Oh, yes, & the orange formica in the kitchen. That's my other fav'rite...

And this is those guys carrying that last load...hauling the trampoline through the field from one back yard to the other (too bad we found out later they wouldn't let us keep it up after all. Durn liability issues).

Let it be known that my new ceramic knife & I are team POWERHOUSE. Watch out!

Snow Love

My lil' snowman buried himself. It was cold.

No school for 3 days & we had ourselves a blissful holiday (Tony even missed a day of work)!

Fighting sleep in church is hard work!

My first black eye

Pretzel art

Jaydon's invention: pretzel w/ jam interior

She loves her brothers!

Tony dreams in blue

11:52 pm last night, out of a dead sleep:

Tony: "Cookie Monster is the best monster."

Me: "What?!"

Tony: "Which is your favorite smurf?"

Me: "Honey, I think you better go back to sleep..."

Tony: " I was just testing you, you passed."

Head hits pillow, and he's out once more. And this is no isolated occurrence. See here

When we got back we got some very special pictures taken...for those of you who didn't know already (I know, I took forever to mention it here), little boy Dayton is on the way & doing great! I'm due June 14th, so I'm somewhere in my 5th month, I think (seriously, somewhere between moving & my pregnancy brain I can't quite remember how many weeks I am, but that doesn't mean I love this little guy any less!)

All good things have to end, but why?!

This picture pretty much sums up how we felt about leaving Idaho...with so much love & fun. why would we want to go?!

At least Ari was ok with it :)

Last stop at a friend's before heading back to Utah to fly out (I personally like Sarin's face as she's holding a screaming Ari...take it quick!)

New Year's and more awesomeness

Ari's favorite Uncle Devin (sorry other family, we all know it's true!)

Working with Nana to make infant hats for babies in other countries!

Great-Grandma & Grandpa Budge (my Mom's parents) & my sissy-poo, Sarin

My sister, Sarin introduced me to "Raw Foods" awhile back (the idea that food is at its highest nutritional value if you don't cook it! Yes, it's true & it's still delicious!) & so she made several of her favorites for the fam whilst we ate all the other junk (pictured below). This is a raspberry chocoloate delish-dish & it was SO good. Completely good for you made out of nuts, cacao, raspberries, & agave (the secret is in the food processor). Amazing (though you can't tell by my dark picture)!

And here we have New Year's Eve...with the very NON-good-for-you items...cheesy artichoke dip, guacamole, 7 layer dip, etc...it was an awesome night because we started prep work for the goodies & the power went out, for like an hour! So, my Dad being the Daniel Boone that he is fired up the wood-burning stove--complete with an oven--and we kept right on a going, cutting artichokes by candlelight! When the lights finally come back on three boys were very sad: Jaydon, Jyson, and...my Dad! We continued the festivities well into the New Year, me pretending I didn't have any children that would wake me up in just a few short hours. It was good ol' fun!

Oh, yes, we have TALENT!

I love these Idaho guys (Tony's family)! Pictrured below are semi-traditional events: family talent show & white-elephant exchange!

Star #1: Dina doing her 'Dance-Work-Out-Routine' Can't be beat!

Star #2: Jaydon (good sports played their piano pieces at least 4 times while on vacation for various adoring fans!)

Stars #3 & 4: Ahem, us swing dancing (photo compliments of Jaydon :)

Other stars w/out pictured talents:

Mom Dayton: interpretive dance, Sarah: clogging & Andy: totally cool airplane model out of wire!

Star #5: Garett, trumpet solo

Star #6: Carson on violin

Star #7: Jaxon, beautiful water-color

Star #8: Jyson at the piano

Star #8: Kelsi, what-the-I'm-so-jealous...she is 5 & can hula with not just 1, 2, but THREE hula hoops! Seeing as my hips refuse to hold a hula, I was in absolute awe...

Wow, what a family I married into--score!!

Christmas Eve & "The Day"

Our Christmas Eve seemed to be about food preparations (above is us peeling 30 lbs of potatoes)...& basketball (which if you know my family, isn't the norm)...the family is so big now (extended & such) that this was the first year we decided to have it at the church 2 doors down. So, we trundled off w/ all the fixings & boy, what a feast! My favorite part of the evening was the live 'nativity' we threw together. We had it on the stage, which was the perfect touch I might add. Cousin Hannah played the angel behind the curtain (there was a set of stairs on the stage--perfect for the 'above' effect) ready to fling them open when her presence was needed, Jaydon was the innkeeper, Jyson & cousin Neal were 'wise men' indeed, cousin Rebekah & Savanah were shepherds, & Tony again played the beast -of-burden, though this year Joseph (Spencer) rode (sort of) the donkey because Mary (Meagan) had just given birth & really was in no shape to sit on a moving Tony-donkey across the stage. Nana Cobia was the off-stage assistance to give Baby "Jesus" (though the little boys made sure the bow was OFF her head before taking the stage, since Baby Jesus surely did not wear one!) to Mary when the time was right. It was totally awesome.

Jyson

Jaydon

Christmas Eve & the next morning were spent w/ my family & then we headed off for "Part 2" on Christmas day w/Tony's family.

Tradition: ALL siblings sleep in the same room (spouses were invited :)...luckily my parents' renters were thoughtful enough to move out of the apartment (attached to the house) in time for all of us to sleep there Christmas Eve. Meagan was a trooper...she slept husband-less in the other room with 1 week-old Sienna! This pic is the morning of, when we're wondering if it was such a good idea for all us old-adults to sleep on the floor all night...& the spouses were wondering what kind of family they married into

Tradition: wait-in-the-hall-lined-up-youngest-to-oldest-for-FOREVER-while-the-fire-is-being-built

Tradition: picture of cute boys

Not tradition, but may need to be based on her temperament: strap babe-Ari into her booster so she can enjoy the festivities w/out destroying the festivities!