President Monson

What a wonderful experience me and the boys had this evening. My parents have been here staying at my cousin Renae's cabin for the past few days. Tonight me and the boys decided that for Family Home Evening we should go up for dinner and maybe do some fishing and biking. The girls left for girls camp this morning so it was just me and the boys home and also Daxton who had spent the night. At the cabin we ate dinner and played around the creek in the backyard for awhile, then I told the boys to load up the fishing gear and we would go find a good fishing hole down the road. We started walking and after a little way we came upon a very nice luxury car with a nicely dressed man who looked like I thought a Secret Service Agent - very important looking.....why would such a nice car with a man dressed in a suit be up in the mountains??? I noticed that this important looking man was walking into the yard of an older gentleman and helping him with something in his yard. As I walked by I glanced over out of curiosity and noticed that the older gentleman's side profile looked like someone I knew. YES! I did know him from years of watching General Conference and more recently watching him being sustained as the newest prophet for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I called out for the boys who had walked on ahead of me a little bit to hold up and told them that President Monson was behind the trees in this yard. I don't think they believed me but came over anyway. By this time my mom had caught up with us and she verified that it was indeed President Monson and his wife and a body guard. Now I'm not known for keeping quiet or unseen, and on occasion verbalizing my thoughts, BUT this time I actually STOPPED and THOUGHT before I spoke. I was afraid to say anything, out of respect for his privacy and he probably gets people left and right approaching him. I wanted him to be able to relax at this cabin, since he obviously had left work behind and headed for the great outdoors. BUT.....I also didn't want my boys to miss out on an opportunity to meet a prophet and perhaps shake his hand. I very politely called out his name and got his attention. I asked if it would be alright if 3 little boys got to shake his hand. He accepted and we stood there in awe and watched as he approached us. He not only shook their hands as he called them future missionaries, I got to take a picture of everybody with him. But it didn't stop there. This kind man took the time to ask us questions like he really wanted to get to know us and try to remember us. Then the neatest thing, he invited us into his cabin. WOW!! As we followed him up to his back porch, he introduced us to Sister Monson and we got to shake her hand as well. Then he took us into his cabin and gave us the GRAND tour. I say GRAND because he showed us every room, went into detail about pictures, mementos and childhood memories of growing up in that cabin. It has been in his family for 88 years and he had actually grown up in this cabin/house. We were inside President Monson's childhood home!! At least 4 differen't times we graciously thanked him for his hospitality and told him we better be on our way and leave him and his wife to their relaxing, BUT he had more stories to tell!! What a wonderful, kind and friedly man our prophet is!! He acted as if he had nothing better to do and wanted to tell us about his childhood home. He showed the boys his first fish he caught that he had stuffed and mounted on the wall, he got them out a fish puppet and wanted them to scare me with it, he showed the boys how he makes his ears move up and down, he showed us an electronic fish that sang and moved his head and tail around, he showed us various pictures on the walls and explained about them, he showed us the home improvements he had made over the years, and told us about other family members and stories about them over the years. We also were told about a practical joke he played on his sister and her friends while they were in the river. We learned he had saved a little girls life in the river when he was 11-years old. He tried to tell each of the boys a story that related to his life at the age my boys were now. He shared SO much and I wish I had a memory that could recall everything because I didn't and don't want to forget a thing he shared with us. One thing he told me as he put his arm around me was, "TO STRENGTHEN YOUR MEMORY YOU HAVE TO RELY UPON IT". We had made a comment to him about how great a memory he had - he had been telling us so many stories and recalling peoples names throughout these stories....it was so amazing at the detail he gave each story, that is why he decided to share how he keeps his memory so good. I have the worst memory and wanted to remember this special bit of advice he gave. As I was trying to recite it over and over in my head, he kept going on with other stories and it became a battle in my own head with trying to remember this phrase on memory and to also try to record every other word he was saying. I had to ask him a second time to recite that phrase. When our final "thankyous" were given to him and the boys exchanged "high fives" with him, we were on our way. We noticed that as we walked past the body guard/secret service guy, the car was STILL running. Come to find out, they were only making a short stop there at the cabin before they were to head out to check on another home they have further up the canyon. He was so kind to sit and talk to us like he had nowhere else to be or any agenda. I'm sure his body guard was getting a little impatient but maybe he's use to his friendliness by now. What a kind man! All we wanted was a handshake but got first class treatment like we were long lost friends!! We figure we were with him at least 45-minutes. This is one evening I hope the boys will never forget. I told them to journal it before they forgot all the details. President Monson has always had a special place in my heart and now he has made that place even more special. I will never forget this experience!!

Elyse's Baby Shower June 26, 2008

This is Brandt, our oldest son and his wife Elyse. They live in Orem and are now expecting their first baby next month. Little Will will make us official grandparents.....yikes!! We're not old enough to be grandparents yet. We're still thinking of names other than Grandma and Grandpa to be called.....still haven't come up with anything. Those who came were me, Kris, Grammy, Jean, Kortney, Tavyn, Kylie, Taylir, Dawna, Jenni, Tara, Emma, Marja Damon, Elyse's mom Sandi and sisters Tara and Kerri. We all had a great time and loved watching Elyse open her gifts. I think she's set and just waiting now for Will to arrive. We are all excited to have a baby around to love!!!

Daxton, 4

This is Daxton, the most intelligent 4-year old out there. He never ceases to amaze me. Currently he is playing t-ball and batting both right and left handed. Doug is training him early. He can hit the ball over all the kids' heads. He calls me "Elwa" and likes to have sleep-overs at our house.

Jett (Jetters), 5 months

This is little "Jetters". Isn't he just about the cutest little thing you ever did see? We all fight over who gets to hold him. He is just beginning to "talk", well coo, and smiles all the time. He had his first sleep-over with us last week and was such a good baby. He slept all night and hardly ever cried. He loves to watch the dogs and is fascinated by them.

Tank and Gunner

These are our two spoiled rotten dogs, Tank the chocolate lab and Gunner the jack russell terrier. They are the most pampered dogs ever!! Tank loves to dress up in HIS pink tutu and tiara. He hates to be dirty or get his feet wet. Most of the time he just wants to cuddle with you.....all 85 pounds of him!! Gunner has little "dog" syndrome and thinks he is the BIG dog, but doesn't like to be away from his mommy (Lezlie) and cries and whines when she is gone. They both love to watch tv and go for rides in the truck.

TOES

Sometimes you get discouraged

Because we are not so small

And always leave our toe prints

On furniture and walls.

But every day we are growing-

We will be grown some day

And all those tiny toes

Will surely fade away.

So here's a set of toes

Just so you can recall

Exactly how our toes looked

When we were not so small.

I have this strange fascination with toes and feet and am always looking at them. Kristi knew this and came up with this awesome picture and poem for me from the kids for Mothers Day this year. She also had a ton of pictures taken of all the kids and had them put into a frame. I appreciate her so much and am blessed to have her as a part of my family!!

"All" our kids

Along with our 4 kids at home, we like to include Daxton 4 and Jett 5 months with our family. They are the brothers of Kylie and Carson - (Doug and Kristi's boys). Our two families are really like one big happy family and we enjoy being with each other. We feel our kids are blessed to have more than one set of parents.

Our Family

Our 4 Kids Living At Home

For Spring Break this year we took the kids to Oregon and stayed at our beloved Cannon Beach. The kids love Haystack Rock and had a blast playing around on the beach. Even though the weather was a bit chilly, they were outside most of the day collecting shells and sea creatures, well.....parts of sea creatures. Oregon is a beautiful state and we are happy to call it our "Home Away From Home".