A year already

(Thanks for letting me borrow this picture, Megan)

Since I use my blog as a journal, I wanted to take a post and reflect on the anniversary cummemorating my dad's death. He died a year ago on Nov. 10th. I thought the day would be hard but I found an amazing amount of peace was with me. I took the girls to Logan so we could spend the day with my mom. I didn't want her to be alone. We ran some errands and then took a visit to the grave. Like a year ago, it was a beautiful and mild day. We pulled out a chair and spent quite a while sitting by the grave and enjoying the beauty that surrounded us. I then dropped off the girls with my brother-in-law, and a couple of my sisters and I took my mom to dinner at El Sol- one of my dad's favorite restaurants. My mom guessed what he would order and we sat and shared some memories of him. It was a nice evening followed by a run to Sam's Club.
I miss my Dad so much. I think about him when I wake up in the morning and when I go to bed at night. I'll pick up the phone to call him and ask him something or I expect him to walk throught the door on his lunch break. I remember his smiles and his goofiness (the pic above where he was making me laugh so hard). I am a silent mourner and find myself crying for him in the early hours of the morning and when I'm alone. My heart constantly aches for him but I find peace and solace in my firm testimony of eternal families. I will see him again. I did find out some interesting news that day. My dad never served a mission and was always sad about that. Someone posted on Megan's facebook that dad was instrumental in her family joining the church. He also made an impact on a new couple in his ward when he was placed as their home teachers. The couple lived in the retirement community and were inactive. My dad's quiet friendship and example helped activate them. What a gift for me of knowing he truly served a mission here on earth without even realizing it.
I love you, Dad and know that you are happy and free from the toils of this earth. I look forward to the day that I will see you again.

Family Pictures

We have an empty frame on our wall for our family picture and we keep talking about filling it but hadn't gotten around to it. We finally got our acts together and found some clothes that would match each other (I know, not a requirement but I think it looks good anyways). Since Scott is a poor student and this semester has been extremely tight financially, we couldn't afford to use any of our friends who do their own photography. Instead, we borrowed (sorry mom and Heather for causing a problem) my dad's camera. My brother-in-law, Trent, took the shots. It was a beautiful day with the only hitch being the runny noses both the girls had. Enjoy, they sure turned out great! Thanks Trent.

Halloween fun

The trick or treaters

Paige, the butterfly, flying at the trunk or treat




Halloween was spent in Logan this year so Paige could trick or treat with her cousins. Paige was a fairy princess butterfly (I know, you have to stretch your imagination a little bit) and Ashley was a clown. We trunk or treated at my mom's ward and then headed to her cousins neighborhood to trick or treat. Ashley helped her aunt Megan hand out candy while Scott and I took Paige around the block. Paige was so funny because she tried to help herself to all their candy. She had such a great time and now we have candy galore which we've been using as poopy treats.

Paige is "FREE" (or three)

Yesterday was Paige's birthday. She's been so excited about it and talking about if for almost a year. This year she actually learned what day her birthday is on so when you asked her she would tell you October 24th. It started out with her waking up to a princess baloon in the living room which she carried around with her all morning (including the bathroom when she took a bath). Then nothing special for breakfast just her normal "crunch" cereal which she'd eat all day long if possible. We then joined some of our family at J and J nursery for the hayride that takes you out to the pumpking patch to pick out a free pumpkin. Lots of fun. I think Scott's dad had more fun than anyone else. He couldn't stop talking about what a good idea it was and of course he was getting the specifics on the tractor that hauled us. Next it was home to our house for cake and ice cream. Scott's sister stuck around to carve pumpkins and then off to the olive garden for dinner. It was such a fun day and Paige's cold didn't even get in the way too much. (Paige weighs 25lbs 6oz. and is 36 inches tall.)






We love Paigers so much. We think she is such a smarty. My mom, the speech therapist, says Paige is exceptional in her speech. She is such a talker and understands things so well. I still have to remind myself that she is only three and so I can't expect all that I do of her. She knows her full name- Paige Kalea Roberts, and Ashley's full name. She loves to sing. One of my fellow nurses gave me some tapes with some "happy" songs as Paige calls them, such as "Farmer in the Dell", "Puff the magic Dragon", and "The Hokey Pokey". She wants them on everynight and we can hear her singing to them through the monitor. Since they are cassettes, she'll get a little mad when they turn off and they have to be turned over. She loves the "piano song" or John Scmidt's waterfall song and requests it to be played over and over. She loves princesses and thinks anyone wearing a dress is a princess and beautiful. She is definitly a girly girl. Unfortunately, she loves princess movies and wants to watch them 24/7. We've had temper tantrums over us not allowing her to watch more than one movie a day (yep, even that's probably excessive but oh well). she loves going to church and the nursery. The other day she gave her first prayer all by herself. Scott and I were so proud of her and she did so well. She has quite the humor and makes us laugh everyday. She loves to be held and snuggled with. She gives excellent kisses and is truly a gift for us.
On the other hand she is extremely independent and says, "I do it" for everything while not even accepting our help if she's doing it wrong. It can be very frustrating, especially when we're in a hurry. She can be a little stubborn and has taken to throwing things around the room when she gets mad. She doesn't understand "in a minute" and so she'll repeat things at length until it gets done. She is after all, THREE. We love her so much, even more now than when she was born.

Corn Maze

I absolutely love the fall. The color change of the leaves, the crisp cool weather, and all of the activities associated with it. One of those activities is the corn maze. We joined up with our good friends, the Stones', to attend a corn maze in North Ogden at the fish farm. The maze is designed for kids ages 4-6. Perfect for our kids.


Our first stop was the fish farm to feed the fish. There were millions of fish and it was a fish feeding frenzy. Ashley enjoyed her accomadations snuggled up with Scott.




Then it was off to the corn maze with our entourage (which in reality the maze was just a trail through the corn with a few scary things in the middle). Paige plowed right through it but got a little nervous around the big fake spiders. She even managed to hold hands with her sometimes mortal enemy/friend.




At the end was a visit to the pumpkin patch for a tiny little pumpkin. Paige is still excited about her tiny little pumpkin. Then it was off to the Stone's for some dinner. Always a good time when we're together.

BOOK Sale

To those of you who are interested, I am holding a BOOK Yard Sale Saturday, Oct. 17th (next saturday). My address is 3635 Gramercy Ave. in Ogden, UT and it will go from 9am-1pm. If the weather doesn't cooperate, we'll move the books into the garage. I have hundreds of books to choose from. Each hardback will be $3 and paperbacks are $1. Please stop by if you have a chance.

The circus

Last week we went to the circus. What a fun experience! Two of my sisters and their families went along as well as my mom. We had dinner at the Spaghetti Factory beforehand and then it was off to the circus. We didn't get there early enough to see alot of the pre-show entertainment and to see the animals and clowns but what we did see was fun. Scott and I found out that we aren't as fun to be around as uncle Eric and "cousins". Paige sat with them the first part of the show. She was almost overwhelmed with all that was going on. She had big round eyes and was trying to look at everything all at once. Ashley was so good. She slept for a short while but the noise was too much and she ended up staying awake and trying to watch most of the show. She sat with my mom for a while and was thoroughly entertained by everything around her. Finally for the second part with the elephants and tigers, we had Paige sit with us. The circus is much more fun when you get to share the excitement with a child.