Church Folk

When we made the decision to go to Boston I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I knew that I would have a support system A) because I had family there and B) because I knew I would have a church family. That is one of the things I love about being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I could move ANYWHERE in the world and show up at an LDS church building and I would have an instant family.

These are some of the members of my Boston church family...

Elder Udy...we met him our first Sunday. He was teaching my friend Jerrica about our church. It was her first Sunday too. We had him and his companion over to eat many times. He went home the week after we left. The crazy thing is that this guy grew up in the same town in Utah that we moved to!

Jerrica and Julian, we met then on our first Sunday in Boston. They became instant family. Jerrica is an amazing person that has gone through so much in her life and continues to thrive in the midst of trial. We got to be a part of her journey as she embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ and it was such a neat experience that our whole family will cherish.

Camden and Julian were two peas in a pod. They loved like brothers and fought like brothers...but mostly loved :)

Mary Ann and Sue Olsen...Camden's Sunbeam teachers. Oh. My. Gosh! I cannot say enough about these two sweet sisters who loved and adored my son from the first time they met him. A few nights before we moved they drove 30 miles one way during Hurricane Sandy to give him his good bye package because they were going on a trip and didn't want to miss saying goodbye to him.

Me and one of my faithful visiting teachers. Sadly, I didn't get a picture of my other one, but these ladies saw me every single month I was in Boston. They checked up on me, brought me cookies and gave me a little lesson, LOVE them. 

Eden and her sweet Activity Day leader Erin Johnson. I was so worried about my girls making friends and feeling comfortable and I was so grateful that the Lord sent Erin to my Eden. She made Eden feel like a million bucks. We found out that only weeks after we moved, Erin and her husband moved to Utah...just like 30 minutes away! 

Camden and Vaughan Larsen...Vaughan was the most amazing Primary chorister I have ever seen in my life! Camden fell for him the first Sunday we were at church and poor Vaughan was attacked every Sunday. I had to remind C that Brother Larsen was not a jungle gym but a person!

Eden and Emmy...these two hit if off right away and Eden loved having an instant buddy.

Maya and Nikki Dallin, her YW leader. Nikki is a Jr. High art teacher. She offered to give Maya free art lessons every week. She was so wonderful for Maya. Nikki was an answer to my prayers, she had a profound impact on Maya and I will always be grateful for the love she gave to my girl.

One of the things Nikki taught Maya how to make were sock monsters. So when Nikki had her baby shower Maya wanted to make some sock monsters for Nikki's baby girl. They turned out so adorable!

I made these headbands. It was fun to get creative and do something crafty...made me wish I had known how to make these when my girls were babies. I would have made hundreds of them!

Kailah and Kruz, these are my friend Kristen's little ones that my kids ADORED! The girls loved babysitting them and Camden still insists he is marrying Kailah someday.

And last but not least...

Jerrica Pompulous, Kristen Raleigh, Me and Cherise Hadley

These girls were my sunshine. They each brought something so special to my life. They were my everyday texts, my Sunday hugs and even my emergency contacts. I love them and miss them so much! 

There were many others that I just didn't get pictures of but they are equally as special to us. Each one is a blessing in our lives. They have become a part of our family history. These relationships will be a part of us forever. I cannot imagine my life without them in it. Heavenly Father led us to Boston for many reasons and one of those reasons are so that we could be blessed to have these wonderful people in our lives forever.

My Girl Can Run!

As soon as we found out that there was a cross country team at Maya's school, we knew she would be on it. This was something she had been wanting to do but they didn't offer it at her previous school. She was thrilled because she had been beating even the boys in her PE class during their timed runs, she could wait to run a real race.

Maya's first meet was a little intimidating. We had no idea what to expect. This is what it looked like when the gun was fired...

That is 150+ girls running from five different schools...it was insane. But the water behind them was pretty...

It didn't seem to phase Maya, she just ran like the wind. I had so much fun cheering her on...

I had to include this next picture because that little girl behind Maya was fierce and it seemed like they were always racing near each other.

Maya's placed 23rd out of 154 in her very first race...

We had no expectation of where she would place because we had no idea what the competition would be like. I was so proud of my girl!

After that my little Speedy Gonzalez just kept getting faster and faster. Every week she placed higher and higher. She was the 2nd fastest kid in her school! Her friend Olivia was the only one ahead of her.

She ended up placing well enough to go to State!! So I spent my 37th birthday watching Maya run in her first State competition.

Look at this line up!!!!

I was a ball of nerves. I was so excited and nervous for her. The gun fired and off she went. We ran over to the next spectators spot and we were surprised when she wasn't close to Olivia. After a few minutes we finally saw her. She was crying, but still running hard. It was killing me not knowing what the heck was going on. (I have to stop at this point in the story to make sure you notice crazy little friend with giant earmuffs jumping up and down in the background, she was one of the slowest girls on the team but wanted to come to state just so she could cheer. She was hilarious!)

Speaking of hilarious...I had to include this picture of the "C sandwich". Everywhere this kid goes he gains a fan club. It's so ridiculous.

Back to story...so when we got to the next spectator spot I was surprised to see that she had made some ground and was fighting her way back into the front of the pack. By the final stretch of the race we were screaming like crazy and she was running like a champ. She finished in the top 40 from what we could tell. It was so frustrating trying to find her in the crowd to find out what the heck had happened. When we finally found her she ran to me and the minute she landed in my arms the tears and emotions came gushing out. It took a couple of minutes to figure out what happened. Her teammates and coach explained that Maya was tripped during the first leg of the race and she fell pretty hard, but my amazing girl got right up and kept going.

By the time she got herself together she was ready to go home. She didn't want to stay to hear the results, she just wanted to get her medal and get out of there. We honored her wishes.

By the end of the day I think we finally were able to get her to recognize her accomplishment. It wasn't the way she wanted to end her first season but we couldn't have been any more proud of her.

Maya can now look back and see all the good memories she made and I know she will never forget her first season of Cross Country. These are some of the reasons that made it so wonderful for her...

Her Buddies...

Her Coach...

Her Young Women's leader from church (Nicky Dallin) who came to watch...

The beautiful course she got run every week...

And Her Family...

I have been a cheerleader my whole life, officially and unofficially. I have always loved being on the side lines screaming my guts out for the team/person I loved, but cheering for my own child was the best kind of cheering I have ever done. It is one of the reasons I am embracing this stage in my life, even though it's hard to watch my babies grow up, I love that I am the mom of big kids who do things that allow me to cheer so loud I lose my voice. 

GO MAYA GO!

Celebrating GK

October 3rd 2012

The first year after you lose a loved one is the hardest. Every first his painful...first birthdays, first anniversaries, first Mother's Day, first football season, first Christmas...every holiday stings a little. I was anticipating her birthday and we had been talking for months about what we would do. We really wanted it to feel like we were celebrating her instead of mourning her loss. So we came up with these traditions that we are going to do every year...

GK was cremated and her ashes have been spread in Florida, Nashville, Minnesota, and North Dakota so we don't have any place to go and honor her. It's okay though because we believe that her spirit is with us wherever we are. We have felt her in Washington, Boston and now here in Utah. Since there is no head stone to visit I came up with an idea that we would find a cemetery and do a scavenger hunt of sorts. We would spread out and find the first head stone that had "Kathryn" on it, spelled the way her name is.

We lived right across the street from Pine Hill cemetery. It became a place very dear to us because that is where Aric and I would go every Sunday after church to talk. So off we went into Pine Hills looking for "Kathryn".

It took some looking but we found our "Kathryn". We brought a dozen red roses, GK's favorite.

We sang Happy Birthday to her...

...and made sure to wave our jazz hands at the end just like she used to do.

We also wore red in honor of her since red was her favorite color. It made it easy to keep track of Camden as he was running all over the place and you couldn't miss him climbing in the trees. I was trying to teach him to be a little more reverent to show some respect but then I realized that these spirits didn't care. I'm sure they were enjoying all of his energy.

This was my red...

Once at home I made all of our favorite GK dishes...

...her taco flaked chicken, parmesan potatoes, lettuce only salad, fruit/cookie salad and chocolate cake for dessert. It was yummy.

I am so glad this year of "firsts" is over. We still miss her so much and our lives are not the same without her but we have gotten used to our new normal without her. We don't like it but we are doing our best to live our lives in a way that would make her proud. It's been neat to watch the girls find their own creative ways to remember her and honor her. She is always in our hearts and never far from us...

We Love You Grandma Kathy! 

xoxo

The Praying Mantis and Other Kid Stuff

My girls are so freaked out by bugs it is ridiculous. One night Aric and I found a praying mantis right outside our apartment complex, so we couldn't help ourselves and we trapped it to show the kids in the morning.

We told them to close their eyes and when they opened them we held out the container. 

This was their reaction...

 After a few funny minutes we let it go but it wouldn't leave our deck.

Camden thought it was the coolest thing he has ever seen...

David and Goliath

For a Family Night lesson the kids, on their own, decided to surprise Aric and I with their version of "David and Goliath"...

After School Activities

We tried to get out of the apartment as much as possible after school. Camden couldn't wait until the girls got home from school so we could go find something to do. We found a little beach/park nearby in Braintree and the kids had fun playing in the sand and water. Camden, of course, made a friend who gave him some beach toys to take home.

When we couldn't go outside the kids looked forward to their TV time.. Their favorite thing to watch...The Cosby Show

Maya and Eden's Cafe

The girls also got into the spirit of the Food Network, but thankfully they weren't as destructive in the kitchen as Camden. This is one of the restaurants they set up for us...

Since we had only packed the necessities there was very slim pickin's when it came to decor and place settings. They got creative and they did a great job with what we had...