May Your Soul Be Blessed...

A dear friend of our family passed away last night here in Utah. As one tribute to him read, "Another mighty oak has fallen." Very true. He was a great man and will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

Anyone reading this who knew Gary and the Raddons can get more information at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/garyraddon

I wanted to post this song on my blog but can't find any links to it so I'll just post the lyrics for now. It's called "Mark's Song" by EastMountainSouth.

May your soul be blessed
May your body rest
On the mountain where you were born
May your spirit soar
Where there's joy ever more
May you find your way in peace
And there's no more harm
In your saviors arms
See you fly away in the sky
Did you hear the call of angels one and all
May you find your way peace
May you know you're loved
May you shine above on the mountain where you were born
May your spirit soar
There's no pain anymore
May you find your way in peace
And there's no more harm
In your saviors arms
See you fly away in the sky
Did you hear the call of angels one and all
May you find your way in peace
May you find your way in peace
May you find your way in peace

The Party Train

The time has come...much to my chagrin and dismay...to potty train Hudson. I'll admit I haven't pursued it with the same enthusiasm and consistency that I did with Ellie. I've definitely let him take his own sweet time deciding that's something he wants to do. He's been anti-potty for a week or so, until today when he pulled out his Lightning McQueen underpants and wanted to wear them...on his behind instead of his head. Great! We put them on and not ten minutes go by before he's standing in a puddle in his bedroom. I've never been so glad not to have carpenting in there. On goes a pull-up and Hudson climbs up into my lap where he proceeds to tell me, "Mom, I'm not getting on the potty train."

Ok, buddy. Whatever you say.

God Bless America

We had a great 4th of July down at the cottage with Doug's parents and sister, Stephanie. The kids had a great time swimming in the river and also using the slip and slide while Nielson happily splashed away the afternoon in a little wading pool. Doug's mom, Judy put on a great lunch and we enjoyed the fireworks right from the backyard next to the river.

Enter Sandman

This is what happens when you find yourself married to a do-it-yourselfer:

He was crawling under our house running a water line for the ice-maker. A few days earlier he found a mummified cat. Gotta love those old country houses!

My kids think that mulch is something to be played with, and that watching their Daddy shovel it into the yard from the top of an old pickup is the best entertainment ever.

My kids also think that it's quite normal to go visit Daddy and PopPop at the boatyard as they work on their deadrise (workboat), The Ellie K. The only problem is getting them off the boat and back into the car...

Come to my window...

Or fence, for that matter. Just had to document one of Ellie's favorite new pastimes. She loves to talk to "the boys" next door (when she isn't over there or they aren't over here.) There are three of them (with another one on the way!) ages 9, 7, and 3. Oh sure, it's cute now...but what happens in 10 or 11 years???? Luckily they are a great family and great next door neighbors. But seriously...what happens in 10 or 11 years????

One (Not So ) Bad Apple

I finally downloaded a bunch of digital pictures to the computer so these are from last month. My friend Sonja and I had a Shabby Apple/Shabby Baby trunk Show at her store, Avolon, in Irvington. We had a great time and loved looking through all the adorable dresses! Here's Ellie and her best friend, Olivia in their Shabby Baby dresses.

You can check out Shabby Apple at shabbyapple.com and Avolon at www.shopavolon.com

You've Got A Friend

So I haven't posted for awhile because I've been waiting until I download some pictures, which I still have yet to do! Something happened this morning which I wanted to post about before it gets lost in the whirling dervish of caring for three small children on a daily basis.

I got a phone call from a Alysia, a woman I really admire and love dearly, this morning. The problem is, I never talk to her! She was one of my Young Women's (church for you non-Mormon folk out there...and Josh cause you probably forgot) leaders when I was a dumb teenager. Yes, I was very dumb. Now that I am adult, I have a ton of respect for good youth leaders. It's hard to tolerate and love the youth through their drama and silliness! I felt like she always loved and genuinely cared about me... that I mattered to her. I last saw her about three years ago at Kelly Raddon's (another lifelongfriendInevertalktobutlovetodeath's) wedding reception. Had a great time visiting at the reception, Alysia promised to come visit, like we all do when we see people we love and want to spend time with but life gets in the way.

So fast forward to today and the phone call. She tells me that she had a dream about me last night and wasn't even awake yet, but needed to call me before everything got too busy with the day. She asked me if I needed her to come and watch my kids. She was dead serious. Huh? Now I thought I might be dreaming! She went on to say that she dreamt that I needed her to come watch my kids so I could fly out to Utah and see the Raddon family(See reference to Kelly above.)

Gary Raddon, Kelly's dad, has just been diagnosed with Prions, a rare neurological disease which has a very bad prognosis. He has thousands of prayers behind him and we are all hoping for a miracle. (See http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/garyraddon) Anyone that knows the Raddon family loves them, and I am no different. They aren't like family to me, they are family to me. Again, at this stage in my life, not people that I speak to often, but that connection is still there.

Back to Alysia. At first I laughed and said, "Oh-thanks but we're going out there in July so we'll see them then." We managed to talk for another few seconds before two of my three lovely children started crying and I couldn't hear a thing. I hung up and then I started to tear up. What a tremendous gesture on her part. I have no doubt in my mind that if I had told her, yes, please come- she would have come. After all this time, after all these years, I still matter to her. These connections we have, invisible as they may be to us sometimes, are there. They are real. I needed that reminder today. Thanks, Alysia for being a great leader of my youth. Thanks for loving me still.

And Kellygirl, love and prayers to you and your family, as always.