PAIGE's BIRTHDAY- I'll start with the first event which was Paige's birthday. She turned two at the end of October and almost instantly had a little bit of the two-year-old attitude. She is as cute as ever and talking constantly. She is into princesses, helicopters, and putting her shoes on and taking them off. She seems so smart to Scott and I and has quite the vocabulary. For her birthday we took her to the pumpkin patch and she got a new coat which she sometimes refuses to take off. She shared a cake and ice cream with her second cousin due to our moving mess. She wouldn't blow out the candles and didn't like the cake. Oh well! Next year we're hoping to celebrate more properly and maybe she'll get into it.
HALLOWEEN- Next was HALLOWEEN. She thought this was especially fun. She dressed as a flower and they had a little party at the babysitter's. She got really mad at me when I attempted to remove her petals off her head. I know, I'm bigger but she won that showdown. Later, we trick-or-treated in Logan so she could go with all of her cousins. She loved running after them from door to door. At the end of the night, she did not want to take off her costume. We had to create a diversion so the flower would come off. Scott also celebrated with his school buddies. He wore the infamous tight police officer outfit. He was a little nervous to bend over or sit down but doesn't he look so sexy in it. OW,OW!!
FUNERAL- Just after that, Dad went downhill pretty quick. He wanted to stick around until Christmas so he wanted to try a pretty powerful Chemo in the hopes it would help give him a little more time. His body wasn't healthy enough to take it and that night his mind seemed to slip away from us. Scott and I were able to be there the whole weekend to help him and take care of him through the nights. Christmas wasn't meant to be. It was very difficult to watch him leave us like that but it was such a gift to have been with him when he passed. It is truly a testimony to me of spirit and body and knowing that although his body is buried, his spirit is living. He was an amazing father and person and I miss him more than I can say. I am doing pretty good. I feel such a peace wash over me when I think of him and where he is. Prayers from everyone have helped so much. My family kept saying that we could feel everyone's prayers and knew that it was helping us through it. I also have an amazing husband (or as my dad told me, "You have yourself a great guy") who was there to help me take care of my dad's personal needs. Not many men could have done that and all of my dad's sons-in-law were very hands on in helping him with it.
The family the night before he died.
TURKEY BOWL- Scott's old work holds a bowling game and last year Paige wasn't real happy with the noise of the pins being knocked down. This year was dramatically different. She loved pushing the ball down the lane and loved watching mom and dad play as well. She was such a happy little thing that night and we were glad that she didn't show any signs of being traumatized from the year before. No, we didn't win.
THANKSGIVING- We thought this holliday would be very difficult for us but once again and surprisingly there was a great amount of peace within our family. We celebrated at my mom's house and everyone pitched in to make it a great success. My mom cooked a yummy turkey and we ate our stomach's out. My mom did really well until it was time to pray and she had to choose someone else to pray when my dad is the usual one to pray. After dinner, it was such a gorgeous day outside, we went outside and hung up my mom's Christmas lights. It was fun to have the nice weather so the kids could run around. We kept cursing our dad and wishing he was putting up the lights instead of us. When that was all done, we all headed to the movie theater to watch Madagascar 2. We laughed so hard that my weak pregnant bladder was leaking a little (I know, TMI). Then back to the house for pie. YUMMY! It was truly a fun day spent celebrating family and the joy of a special holliday that reminds us of all the gifts and blessings the Lord has given to us.
MOVING- Next was our big move. We are so excited about our very own home. We had so many helpers that day and it went so fast. We are finally starting to feel settled and pretty much unpacked. You'll be hearing more about our fun house later on when we can take some pictures. Stay tuned
Now that I've caught up, I just wanted to thank all of you great friends out there for your kind words, letters, cards, emails, prayers, and most of all, friendships. Scott and I are very lucky people to have so many people watching out for us. Heavenly father provides us with Angels in so many ways. Thanks a bunch.
