In Loving Memory of Grandma Longmore

Wow, have we been busy! So much has happened in the past couple of months. Between lots of birthdays, a funeral, the 4th of July, and family visiting... I am going to break the updates into a few posts so it is not so long... so there will be a couple more in the next few days.

I will post where we left off last:

*For those of you who do not like to read long posts, I am sorry, well not that sorry;).

This is my journal... so this is where I record my feelings. And this will definitely be a LONG post :)

May 31st was my birthday. And I thought that I would be spending it alone. Scott was scheduled to work on that day and my family lives about 4 1/2 hours away. So needless to say I didn't think that I would be having a very eventful birthday this year. To my surprise, I was in the kitchen making some hot cocoa mix when there was a knock at our front door. I went to answer it and there was someone standing there with a bouquet of Happy Birthday balloons. It was my niece Madison!!! I couldn't believe it, I was so excited! I asked her how she got there and then my parents came around the corner, she had ridden down from Blackfoot with them. I wasn't going to celebrate my birthday alone after all! And it was wonderful to see my family. Scott needed to go to work at 2pm so we were discussing where we would be able to go to lunch so that we could get home in time for him to leave. Then he informed me that he had switched shifts with someone so that he could surprise me. SURPRISE!!! So we decided since we didn't have to be back at any certain time we could go to Tuscanos... Mmm... have I mentioned how much I love that place ;) Anyway, after we ate we came home and Scott had another surprise for me. He had purchased a cake and we had a little party! It was great. Unfortunately, my parents had to go home early that evening so that they could get back home. But it was a wonderful surprise! I had a great birthday! Thanks everybody for making it such a great one!!!!

The following weekend, June 11th-12th, my Dad drove back up to Boise because his brother, Rusty, had a truck show that he was involved in. It was nice to spend time with just me and my Dad while he was here. Scott was working most of the time, so my Dad and I and Paige went to see the trucks and we rented a movie to watch. My mother was planning on coming up but she had called me a few days before and wasn't sure whether she would be coming or not because her mom wasn't doing very well. She decided to stay home so that she could spend time with my grandmother and be there in case she passed away. I was going to drive back with my Dad but decided to stay in Boise. Later I regretted not going. I would have liked to have spent some time with my Mother and seen my Grandma. I kept calling my Mom all week to find out how my Grandma was doing. She called me on Wednesday morning, June 16th, telling me that my Grandma Longmore had passed away early that morning. She said that the funeral would be on Saturday, June 19th. I have included her obituary at the end of this post.

It was definitely a relief for her and our family. My Grandma Longmore hadn't been doing well for quite some time. For about the past 10 or so years my mother and her sisters had taken turns caring for her and for the past couple of years my cousin, RaeLyn, had been taking care of her. They just couldn't bear to put her in a nursing home. My Grandma Longmore is one of the sweetest, kind and most Christ-like people I have ever known. She just radiated with the spirit. She was about as close to perfect as a person can get. She loved her family with all her being. I always knew how much she loved me! There was never any question in my mind about that. She always treated each of her grandchildren like they were the most important thing to her. And they all were! Nothing was more important.

During the process of the funeral and viewing it was mentioned multiple times about how happy Grandma probably was that her family was just loving being with each other and the kids were just running around having fun.

Before my Grandma's health got to the point where she needed to be cared for, one of my sweetest memories of her was a time when she was babysitting for my parents. She taught me how to make a milkshake by hand without a blender, I will always remember that moment. And every time I make a milkshake by hand I think of her. :) I remember many trips to go visit Grandma, She loved chocolate and she always loved to share! Every year at Christmas Grandma always made sure that she gave each of her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren a gift. I remember the socks that she so painstakingly chose for each and everyone of her many grandchildren. Oh, how I looked forward to those socks every year. I loved to open them Christmas Eve, they were my Christmas socks and I always wore them to bed and woke with brand new socks to wear for Christmas morning. I even remember one year in particular that she gave all of the girls a baby doll, the kind that have soft bodies and the eyes that open and close. As her health deteriorated she was unable to continue this wonderful tradition, but I know that she would have loved to continue if she had been able. She gave so much more than just socks and presents... She taught us all what it means to be Christ-like. Through her example she taught my mother who in turn taught me how important the gospel is and how important family is. Next to my mother she is the greatest example of the woman that I hope I can become someday. We will miss you Grandma and WE LOVE YOU SOOOO MUCH!

Here's a pic of Grandma with Paige... this was the very first time that they meet, shortly after Paige was born. The 4 generation Picture. Love this one!!!!!

It was such a beautiful service. It was the best funeral I have ever been to. My Mom gave a talk and some of her brothers also spoke along with a cousin. Every talk that was given was incredible and the spirit was so strong. There were two special musical numbers: one by the grandchildren and the other by the great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren. It was a wonderful moment to stand up there and sing for my Grandmother. And what a neat experience to be sitting in that audience looking up at all of my extended family when the greats and great-greats standing up to sing. They filled the entire stage... Honestly, I had a hard time holding back tears during the entire service but that moment was WOW! What an impact my Grandma had on all of her children and grandchildren. My mom and I put together a map of all the places that her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have served LDS Missions. She truly has impacted the world through her example!

Since the funeral landed on the same weekend of Father's Day we were able to spend the day with my Dad and Scott was able to celebrate his very first Father's Day. Here's a pic of Daddy and his little girl on Father's Day morning. She is wearing "I love Daddy" jammies by the way, planned it perfectly so that she could wear them on Father's Day :)

Scott had to return to Boise for work on Monday so I decided that I would stay behind and spend some time with my family. We had a lot of fun! Here's a picture that we took while we were there. Paige with her cute piggie tails... she had just woken up from a nap so they are kinda crasy. We just started being able to put these in in the past month. SO CUTE!

We went bowling and just spent some needed family time together.

Paige has discovered the piano that sits in my parents front room. Here is a picture of her trying to play... so cute :)

Before we left for Blackfoot for the funeral, we had a short visit from Scott's brother, Chad, and his family. They were on their way up to Washington to visit family and stopped by our house and stayed the night to break-up their trip a little bit. It was Cooper's birthday on the day that they arrived so we had a little birthday party for him. It was so fun to see them. Although we were sad to see them go so fast, we knew that we would be seeing them in a few weeks for the 4th of July weekend, so that made it easier to say bye.

Over the past couple of months through the funerals of both of my Grandmothers I have grown a greater testimony of the Gospel and what a blessing it is in my life. I am so grateful for the plan of salvation and the opportunity that each of us have to be with our families forever! I have been truly blessed to have the wonderful family that I have and can't wait to be together with them again someday :)

The following is the obituary that appeared in the Friday, June 18th, 2010 Blackfoot Newspaper:

Estella May Longmore, 99

Estella May Anderson Longmore, 99, of Blackfoot, died at the home of a granddaughter in Pocatello on Wednesday, June 16, 2010, of causes incident to age. She was born Oct. 8, 1910 in Moreland, the only daughter of Ernest and Millie May Neel Anderson. When she was just two years old, her mother died in childbirth. She was raised in Moreland where she attended Moreland High School until 1928, and on her 18th birthday, Oct. 8, 1928, she married Lester George Longmore in Coltman, Idaho. She was sealed to him and their eight children in the Idaho Falls LDS Temople on June 24, 1947. Estella was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout her life, and served faithfully for many years as a teacher in the Sunday School, Primary, the Relief Society, and as a visiting teacher. She also was a long-time member of the choir in her ward. She enjoyed attending the temple. She was a lifelong homemaker, and her greatest love and concern was for her family and friends. Her entire life was spent showing that love to all of us. She was a wonderful mother, grandmother and example to all. For many years, an annual Christmas tradition was for her to purchase, wrap and give gifts and cookies to each of her numerous posterity and their spouses. Following the death of her husband on April 30, 1973, she resided for most of the remainder of her life with her children. As her health began to fail, she was lovingly cared for by them, and for the past year and a half, she has lived in the home of a granddaughter, RaeLyn and her husband, Rdale Price and family in Pocatello. Estella is survived by her children, Mardene Gough, Vonda (John) Fisher, Melba (Donald) Nilsson, Diane (Robert) Parkinson, and Carolyn (Don) Scott, all of Blackfoot; and by Gary (LaRae) Longmore of Pocatello; Dean (Connie) Longmore of Mapelton, Utah, currently serving an LDS church mission in the New Hampshire Manchester Mission; and Ronald (Jean) Longmore of Idaho Falls. Also surviving are 4o grandchildren, 138 great-grandchildren, and 28 great-great grandchildren. She has a total of 273 descendants, including spouses. Besides her husband, parents and stepmother, Iretta Anderson, she was preceded in death by her brothers Lloyd, Raymond, Arthur, Golden, Joseph, and Lawrence Anderson; a sister, Madlyn Lodefink; a son-in-low, Don Gough; a grandson-in-law, Gary DeGiulio; granddaughter-in-law, Winnie Fisher, and a great-grandson, Jeremy Stocking. Funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 19, 2010, at the Blackfoot 4th Ward LDS Chapel, 520 N. Shilling Ave., with Bishop Paul Yancey conducting. The family will meet with friends and relatives from 7-9 p.m. Friday, June 18, 2010, at Hawker Funeral Home, 132 S. Shilling Ave. and from 9:45-10:45 a.m. at the church prior to services. Interment will be in the Riverside-Thomas Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at: condolences@hawkerfuneralhome.com

Moving In and Birthday Time!

(*Pictures now added- July 22, 2010*)

OK SO WE PACKED OUR CAMERA CABLE... AND CAN'T FIND IT SO NO PICTURES! SORRY, I HAVE BEEN TAKING THEM AND I CAN'T EVEN POST THEM :( Oh well... as soon as we find it I will add the pictures.

Man, has the past week been full of stress and excitement... We moved all of our stuff from our apartment to our home these past couple of weeks. Man, we have a lot of stuff! Once again my wonderful father helped us move for the 7th time. We've been married 5 years and we have moved 7 times WOW! Hopefully it will be a while before we move again. ;) Since Scott works such long hours and consecutive days in a row we had to time our move in-between his scheduled work days. So it all started Tuesday May 18th. Scott had one of his buddies, Cameron, help us move almost all of our boxes (I thought... then came Thursday and Friday... think again!) on Tuesday. We loaded up his truck and trailer full and headed to the house to unload. We just put them all in the garage and headed back to the house to finish packing some more boxes.

Scott had to work on Wednesday, the 19th, and so I tried to do as much packing as possible with Paige trying to be right in the middle of it. It's a good thing that I didn't pack her in a box with as much as she got into :) My parents came up Wednesday night to come and help us move, they stayed until Sunday. It was wonderful to spend time with them. I swear, without them we wouldn't have been able to move! My mom watched Paige for us while we moved more boxes, furniture and cleaned our apartment which was a huge help! And my Dad helped carry box after box after box up and down a flight of stairs and cleaned most of our apartment with us. THANKS MOM AND DAD!!!!

Thursday, the 20th, we had a few of our friends help with the big stuff,

Thanks Cameron, Zach and Mike!

(Our kitchen packed to the hilt with boxes)

Then on Friday, the 21st, we cleaned the apartment and officially moved everything out. That night we went out to dinner with my Uncle Rusty and his wife and daughter and a few of his grand kids. They live about 15 minutes from us in Caldwell.

On Saturday, the 22nd, my parents took Scott and I out for our birthdays. My parents have a tradition of taking out each of their kids and their families out to dinner for their birthdays (and even the spouses on theirs). Where Scott and my birthdays are just a few days apart, Scott's being on May 28th and mine on the 31st, we get a joint birthday dinner! We went to this super yummy restaurant here in Boise called Tucanos. It's an all you can eat Brazilian Grill. YUMMY!!! My favorite place to eat. They even brought us out ice cream Sundays and sang to us in Portuguese. And of course with all the moving I forgot to take the camera for pictures. I didn't really get any of the past couple of weeks with all the business and just slipped my mind. Other things to think about I guess, huh? :)

And speaking of birthdays... I can't believe in just a few weeks my baby girl is going to be 1 year old!!!! Where did the time go?

Sunday, the 23rd, we went to church and I swear my parents always know someone wherever they go. They knew at least 3 people that were in our ward either through someone else or they had a previous relationship of some kind with them in Blackfoot or Snake River. I guess that's what happens when you live somewhere your whole life and so did your parents. Anyway, fun to see connections with people, it really is a small world. After church we had dinner and they left for Blackfoot. I always feel like anytime we visit with family or friends it is never long enough. :)

Since Scott had to work on his birthday... we weren't able to do a party or anything. Here's a pic of Scott on his birthday enjoying his birthday cake (he loves fruit, so we had a lemon pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream)!!

Here's a pic of Paige being so good walkin around in her walker while we unpacked!

And this past week all we have done is unpack, unpack, unpack. So far we have the kitchen completely done, Paige's bedroom, our bedroom and the living room unpacked... No decorations up anywhere yet, so even though those rooms are unpacked they still aren't done :( I have a feeling that it's going to be a while yet before we are completely settled. Anyway, and Scott is going on his 4th day of 10 hour shifts in a row, really it turns out to be more like 12 hour shifts, cause he leaves the house 30 minutes before his shift starts and then when he leaves the hospital he has to discharge his patients so he always goes about a half hour over and then 30 minutes until home again... tomorrow will be his last consecutive day in a row for the a few days. YAY!! These 5 days in a row are the hardest cause we barely see him. When he gets home he sleeps and is up for about an hour or so, eats, gets dressed and goes again. Anyway, we are excited to have a couple of days to spend with him until he goes back to work!

Today, Scott was able to go to part of church with us. He left after sacrament meeting and Paige was not her most pleasant self to deal with at church today, trying to crawl everywhere and screaming if she doesn't get her way... man, I am hoping that she grows out of this stage pretty soon. She does have her moments though, she has quite the personality!

Something fun she has been doing... she loves to climb stairs. We have a small step down from our kitchen into our family room and she loves to climb up and down them. She's got the up figured out but the down is face first. We are working on that one but it usually turns into a some type of summer-sault face plant thing. Doesn't even face her. She just keeps going and going. We have to sit right there if she is going down to slow her down and help her cause it is just "GO FAST and NO TURNING BACK" for her. She has started crawling a little bit on her hands and knees. She just needs a little more practice and I think she will be crawling like a pro in no time. She has gotten so good at her army crawl I never thought that she would even normal crawl. She pulls herself up on anything and everything that she possibly can and even walks around while holding onto an object. Paige loves being outside. We go for walks in our neighborhood a few times a week and go to the park. After our walk today we sat outside on our front lawn this afternoon while I was talking to my mom on the phone and she just crawled around picking up everything and showing it to me... didn't even try to eat anything which was great! She is starting to be more choosy about what she eats, if she doesn't want it right then she throws it on the floor, we are working with this one but OH is it frustrating! She is also pretty much weaning herself off milk, she just is not interested past a few sips of her bottle. The rest of the bottle is like pulling teeth. I'm sure it's because she eats more now and it doesn't taste as good as everything else. I bought her her first toothbrush (I've been using one of those finger brushes up until now) and she loves it, so cute!

Anyway, that's what's been going on with us lately... :)

We are officially Home Owners!

We closed on our house this past Thursday... Wow, what a feeling of excitement, total relief and fear all at the same time. I didn't think that I would be that scared at purchasing a home. Scott keeps telling me jokingly that there is nothing that we can do about it now, we bought it already. Scott's just excited. He's not stressed at all but what can I say, look who I married- he's not a stresser. Me on the other hand... think again!

And I know, I know, I AM very excited... it's just all the extra stuff that goes with owning your own home. The stress part... you know what if something breaks? We can't just call the landlords, WE ARE THE LANDLORDS!!! Is this the point that I can finally officially exclaim "I AM AN ADULT"? I am pretty sure that that came with being a parent, but in case I have forgotten and gotten too comfortable with that, now I am positive that I am an adult. :) The pros definitely outweigh the cons though.

Back to the we are very excited part! I am excited about learning how to garden and take care of the plants and flowers (that I will be planting very soon, yay! The yard definitely needs a little TLC), painting, decorating, the lawn, and the extra space!!! Wow, can I just say I am excited about the space! To be completely moved in somewhere finally. We have been in boxes the past 5 months, so it will be exciting to open them up and see what we have forgotten about that we don't really need since we forgot about it and everything. HaHa! :)

Right after we got the call on Thursday that everything was good to go and the house was ours we went right over. It was really fun to walk through OUR house and see dream about all the fun things that we can do to it. Paige loves all the extra space too. Every time we are over there to work on the house all she wants to do is crawl around. She sees all the room and just wants us to put her down. And I don't mean that in a subtle way, she is practically jumping out of our arms we can barely hold on to her. And she loves the grass! Didn't think she would care for it much cause we have never put her down on grass but it's just another new discovery for her and she loves to touch and feel it.

Here's a picture of Paige playing in her playpen while I have been busy with the house. She has been so good!

Friday we had the carpets cleaned in the new house. Scott worked on Friday so Paige and I headed over to the house to "work" on the flower bed out front. Can I just say I totally underestimated the amount of TLC it needed. It is so overgrown and I can't tell what are weeds and what are plants. So I called the most savvy gardener I know... my Dad and asked for some suggestions of what to do. His answer: "Ash, your just going to have to start over from scratch. Just tear everything out." Not the answer I was hoping for, so it looks like I have got some work to do. In addition I still need to paint all the base boards and a few rooms before we move in on Thursday. Fun projects coming my way!! :) I was able to weed the bed out by the driveway though... it is not overgrown so I will be keeping what is in there. YAY! Some good news!

Here's a couple of pics of the flower garden that I will be ripping out, this really doesn't do it justice... it is in way worse shape than this picture looks!

Saturday there was a huge garage sale here in Boise. It is called Idaho's Largest Garage Sale. It was at the Expo Center and there were hundreds of vendors there. Unfortunately we weren't able to find anything to promising. Just a few wrenches and a caulking gun. It was a fun morning though. That afternoon I went over to Sears to purchase a fridge. The previous owners took theirs with them. I got a sweet deal on a Maytag fridge that was being clearanced because it was a discontinued model, it was about $800 less than it's regular price. They will be delivering that to our house on Monday so that we have a cold fridge to move things into on Wednesday and Thursday. So excited!!!

Today we went to our new ward. Scott had to work so he was going to leave right after sacrament meeting. While Paige and I went to the rest of the meetings. Well, Paige had other plans, or should I say Paige's digestive system had other plans... She blew out all over her dress and mine so we went home early with Scott and got her all bathed and cleaned up. Wow, I really look up to all you multiple children moms. I don't know how you do it! I am sure that when I get there I will be more of a pro. But today one was all that I could handle. :) LOVE HER THOUGH!

Anyway, Paige is learning more and more everyday. She pulls herself up on things now. Her favorite toy at the moment is a little toy piano that she can pull herself up to standing and play it. She loves to turn the "music pages" back and forth. Too cute!

Here's a couple pics:

Check this one out! She tries so hard to stay standing. Her little legs just slide out from under her and pretty soon she is standing like this. Funny huh?!?

She has become such a good eater. She will eat anything. She especially loves to eat anything that she can pick up with her fingers. Her favorites are pineapple, kiwi, grapes, cheese, goldfish crackers, and avocado. And she just had Lasagna for the first time today and she loved it! Each day is so much fun and I am loving every new stage, just wish it would go by a little slower!

My plan tomorrow is to go over to the house and paint the base boards and trim and hopefully a few of the rooms... wish me luck! :)

EXCITED!!

YAY!!! Tomorrow is "The Day"... can't wait :)

Fun Stories and Mother's Day!

Last week Paige and I were driving to the store and I had the primary songs playing in the car. The song "If You're Happy and You Know It" came on and I could hear her clapping in the back seat. Then I realized that she was clapping because it was saying: "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands..." Wow, little did I know that she was paying such close attention to what was going on! Now every time I play it or even sing the song she gets really excited and starts clapping with the music. So fun!!!

I forgot to share another fun story... a few weeks ago on Easter Sunday, Some of our friends, Mike and Barb, invited Paige and I over for dinner because Scott was working. We had Easter lunch with Daddy and dinner with the Hermies! Anyway, Barb had made some yummy steamed veggies and I gave Paige some of the veggies to see if she would like any of them. She loved the cauliflower! Or so I thought :) She just kept shoveling it in. So I just kept giving her more and more. Much to my surprise, I went to give her a bite of something else and out poured a bunch of small pieces of cauliflower. Little girl hadn't swallowed any of it! She was just storing it in there like a chipmunk! :) I put my finger in her mouth to empty out the load of cauliflower and out came about half a dozen little pieces. Then while we were cleaning up I put her on the floor and saw a peek into her mouth, and there were even more she still had in there!!! All in all there were about a dozen pieces that I emptied out.... mmmm... doesn't this mean I am on road to all sorts of "funny" kid stories!

Here's some cute pictures that I have taken of Paige lately:

Paige was being so funny in this picture. She had just gotten done with her bath and I was getting her ready for bed and she was being so silly! She was just laughing like crazy.

She is into everything!!! Some of my exercise equipment that she loves to play with.

Anyway, on to the events of the past week. This last week Paige and I worked on the gifts that we were making for Scott's mom and my Mom for Mother's Day. I was able to get Scott's Mom's gift in the mail just in time for it to arrive there on Friday. And we decided that we would deliver my Mother's in person since they live within 4 hours of us. So, down we drove to Blackfoot to surprise my Mom for Mother's Day. We had so much fun!! It was so wonderful to see my Mom and celebrate the wonderful woman she truly is! I hope that someday I can be as good of a mother to my kids as she was to her children. Saturday night my Dad picked up take-out Chinese so that my mom and I wouldn't have to cook on Mother's Day. It was so nice to be able to relax and not have to make dinner. We were only able to stay overnight. We left on Saturday morning and came back late on Sunday night. It was a quick trip but a fun one! On Saturday, before we left Boise to go to Blackfoot, Scott and I went to this discount LDS store and bought a book on CD that we could listen to on the way down. Usually I read while he drives but we had (and still have) both been pretty under the weather and I didn't want to over strain my voice and make it worse. We bought the next book in the series that we have been reading The Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites, we have really enjoyed them! I also saw some large beautiful clocks with a quote about family that were 50% off and so Scott got me one for my first Mother's Day. He also wrote me a very sweet letter that he hid in the glove compartment for me to read on the way home on Sunday night :)

We signed our closing paperwork for our house today. Which totally freaked me out. Are we really mature enough to own our own home? It's incredible the amount of things that you never think about. On a good note though, we get to close on our house a day earlier than we thought!!! We are so excited. We thought we could stay away from driving past the house until we closed. Think again! We are just too excited. It was kind of a surreal experience when we drove past our house today. They were moving out and the garage was completely empty! Wow, is it really going to be ours in 3 days?!? 3 days, and I haven't even started packing yet. Good thing we have our apartment until the 21st. Anyway, lots of fun things happening here. I will definitely post some pictures of our house when we get moved in. Here is a picture of the outside...

Tooth #2 and Clapping!

Paige is growing like a weed! She just got her second tooth, and has now learned to wave at people and clap her hands. She also tries to sing along with me when I sing to her. And to top it all off she just turned 10 months old yesterday!!! I can't believe it! My baby is almost 1 year old, time just goes by too fast!! She is almost crawling... she army crawls everywhere! She moves so fast. She uses her forearms and toes to push herself forward. Here are a few pictures of me trying to take a picture of her and the second she saw the camera she was off! Moving too fast for me to take a good picture of her. Just thought that it was fun, I didn't really have any pictures of her crawling yet :)

Finally the picture I was trying to take!

Since Paige is army crawling and getting into things that she is not supposed to... Like all of the exciting cords we have plugged into the walls, breakable window blinds and dangerous stuff that homes come with that are not child safe we broke out the play pen. When I am doing the dishes, cooking or cleaning and I have stuff in and on my hands it has become too difficult to try and chase after her. So we have put all of her toys into her play pen so that I can contain her and she can safely play while I am busy and unable to closely watch her. We were worried that she would hate it and think it is a prison, but she loves it. She loves to press her face against the mesh sides and make funny faces at us. It is hilarious!!! Man, it is incredible how hard you can laugh at a 10 month old! Here's a few pictures of this funny event:

Here's a video of Paige clapping. I was feeding her the other day and saying "yay!" and clapping after she took bites... and then to my surprise she just did it on her own and just kept doing it over and over! So I video taped her. Plus Scott was at work when she did it so I wanted to show him, and the next day I showed it to him and had her do it for him. He said it is one of the cutest things that he has ever seen and I have to agree with him. I think it might possibly be the cutest thing that she has done so far! I have to tell you... I was so happy when she first did it my cheeks where hurting cause I was smiling so much. What joy children bring into our lives! She definitely has brought a joy that I never thought possible into my life. She is so cute :)

Love her!!!

Did some fun stuff this past week... Dreaming mostly!

This past Saturday we went to the Farmers' Market here in Boise. Wow, this is the biggest Farmers' Market that I have ever been to! We went last summer with our friends Zach and Kimberly and it was so fun, so we decided that we would go since they just opened it up last week. We will definitely go back a couple of times this summer, especially since the summer veggies and fruits haven't even come into season yet!

Drove past our house about a dozen times... can't wait! We are getting so excited. I am sure that the people in the neighborhood think that we are some kind of stockers!!!! We just can't help ourselves. We decided that we just might wait until we get those keys before we drive past again, so it makes it a little more fun and the neighborhood doesn't think we are freaks! haha! :) It just doesn't seem to be coming soon enough, only 2 weeks left to go! We let the sellers have an additional 15 days before closing... so 45 instead of 30 days like usual. They needed a little extra time so that they could find a house, so this is dragging a little for us... Oh, well I guess we will be that more excited when it gets here!

We did get a phone call on Friday from our realtor stating that the appraisal came back and it was appraised at $5 thousand less than what we offered. So, we were kinda freaking out about whether this was going to be a bad thing for us, since a bank won't give you a loan for more than a home has been appraised for. We were afraid that the sellers would come back with an offer that we couldn't do, but we received a phone call Monday morning saying that they had lowered the purchase price to the appraisal value, nothing else changed. Needless to say it was a little bit of a stressful weekend but it ended up being a great thing for us. We get to pay $5 thousand less than we thought! Yay!

We also went to quite a few garden centers on Monday and dreamed about all the fun plants that we can have in our flower beds We also went and looked at all the "exciting and fun" (essential) equipment that we have to have to have to go along with our house... Lawn mower, weed eater, power tools, gardening tools, fridge, hose and etc. Unfortunately, we can't spend all of our extra money we have set aside for furniture, dang it!!! We have to be responsible!?!? Oh, to be an adult! We will be able to get some furniture which will be fun, but all the other things that we need outweigh furnishing the entire house. So, we will have to wait for some of our more expensive furniture dreams. Although, I guess Scott is kinda excited about the power tools and lawn mower :)

Anyway, fun, exciting things happening! Hope it goes by fast! :)

In Loving Memory of Grandma Scott

I try to journal every Sunday, well as you can see I haven't posted for about 2 weeks!!!! We have been extremely busy here lately. The past couple of weeks have been some pretty emotional ones, of both excitement and sadness...

At the end of March after waiting and searching again, we found a home located in Meridian that we really liked. This one was a regular sale, thank goodness! That other house was a mess. We put an offer on it and they accepted! We will be closing on it on May 14th. We are pretty excited.

Then sadly, I received a phone call from my parents on Easter Sunday, April 4th, that my Grandma Scott was not doing very well. I then received a phone call a few days later on the morning of April 7th from my Dad, telling me that she had past away around 7:30 that morning. She suffered from Alzheimer's Disease, and had been sick for the past couple of years. She didn't really know who any of us were anymore, so our family saw it as a blessing of relief for her. We will miss her and we love her very much.

Memories of Grandma: learning to crochet, playing Chutes and Ladders, drawing at grandma's kitchen table, listening to her toy Mother Goose tell us stories, playing with her wooden Noah's Ark, frying donuts for the boys early in the morning when they were over working at her house, one of the 2 hardest working people I have ever known (the other being my father), gardening in her flower beds, picking lots and lots of raspberries, walking through the fields and crossing canals with my brothers to visit her and grandpa, waking us extra early (like 4:30 am) when she watched us when mom and dad where out of town so that we could make it to school by 8am ;), watching "Saturday's Warrior" with grandma, watching her spend hours and hours quilting and crocheting, her beautiful graduation quilt she made me, and a rolling pin that she told me that I just couldn't live without (Because she told me that every wife needs a good rolling pin. I still have that rolling pin and it has helped make many rolls and pies! mmm...) her homemade bread, rolls, noodles, canned everything and anything!!! And can't forget my dad's favorite... raisin filled cookies! Oh... so many wonderful memories! Love you Grandma!

The following is the obituary that appeared in the April 8th Blackfoot newspaper:

Frances Ruth Scott, 88

Thursday, 08 April 2010

Frances Ruth Scott, 88, of Riverside returned to her Heavenly Father on Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at her daughter's home.

She was born January 5, 1922 in Thomas, the first daughter of Francis and Genevieve Hawkes.

Ruth grew up in the Pingree area and attended her first few years of school there. She later graduated from Moreland High School. She also attended a couple of years of her high schooling in Idaho Falls. Ruth met her husband, Lamond, in 1938, shortly after he moved to Pingree with his family. Ruth and Lamond dated for about a year and were married on April 19, 1940, in the Logan Utah LDS Temple. Ruth and Lamond started their lives together farming in the Pingree area. They purchased a farm in the Riverside area in the late 40's. In 1965, they bought a small country store, "Scotties Market", in Riverside and ran it for about 30 years.

Ruth worked as a cook at the Wagon Wheel Cafe and The Thomas Merc, assisting with the finances to raise her growing family of eight children. She raised a large vegetable, strawberry and raspberry garden in addition. Her gardening skills taught her children how to work. It was difficult for the kids to keep up with her as they worked alongside of her with the harvesting and canning.

Ruth was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving faithfully as a Primary president, Relief Society president, Primary and Sunday School teacher and visiting teacher. She served a Family History Mission for the church in Salt Lake City, Utah. Survivors include four sons, Donald (Carolyn) Scott of Riverside, Rusty (Peggy) Scott of Caldwell, Alec (Joslyn) Scott of Riverside and Barry (Raela) Scott of Riverside; son-in-law, Charles Hieb of Pocatello; daughters, Patricia Pugmire of Riverside, Jeri (Dennis) McBride of Pingree and Sharla Mickelsen of Riverside; brothers and sisters, Virginia Charlesworth, Afton Shawver, Orva Nelson, Vernial (Doris) Hawkes, Jay (Joyce) Hawkes, Brent Hawkes; brother-in-law, Rayo (Doris) Scott; sister-in-law, Phillis Scott; 37 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.

Ruth was preceded in death by husband, Lamond; daughter, Sandra Hieb; son-in-law, David Pugmire; brothers, Mertin and Rowland Hawkes.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, April 12, 2010, at the Riverside 2nd Ward LDS Church, with Bishop Williams conducting. Family will meet with friends and relatives from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday, April 11, 2010 at Hawker Funeral Home, 132 South Shilling Avenue in Blackfoot, and for one hour prior to services at the church. Interment will follow at the Riverside-Thomas Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at condolences@hawkerfuneralhome.com

Here's a picture of Grandma with Paige shortly after she was born last summer. She loved holding her even though she didn't know that Paige was her Great-grandchild. I can still remember the day and moment this picture was taken, such a cute picture. I wasn't able to make it to see her before she passed away, Scott had to work and by the time he had a day off she was already gone. So when we went to visit with the family this past week my Dad asked me if I would like to go in to the funeral home to see her before the viewing, he needed to make some last changes to the program that would be printed for the funeral. When we got there one of the workers took me up into a room so that I could have a moment with her. What a wonderful opportunity this was for me! I had felt so bad that I wasn't able to make it to say goodbye and having that moment to be there, I was able to have closure. I got her all to myself for a brief time. What a testimony building experience. Standing in that room looking at my beautiful grandmother, what a beautiful and strong spirit filled that room. I knew that I would see her again and I knew that she loved me. What a sweet moment! And oh, how thankful I am for the Plan of Salvation, for the blessing of eternal families and to know that I will continue to live on after this life. I just thank God everyday for the wonderful blessing of my own amazing family and what a privilege I have to be in their presence every single day!

The weekend before my Grandmother's funeral my niece, Makenna, was in "Oliver" at the Mystique Theater in Pocatello. We had already planned on going down to watch the play and had tickets to see the show. So we stayed in town for about a week so that we could go to the funeral. Here's some of the cousins: Mason, Skyler, and Caitlyn, Scott, Paige and Grandpa waiting to go in to watch the play.

Our seats at the show. Unfortunately, Paige didn't do so good, so Scott spent most of the show out in the car trying to get her to go to sleep. And in the process of waiting, he also fell asleep :)

Makenna did such a good job! She was one of the orphans. Doesn't she look soooo cute!?!?!

My brother, Kyle, flew up from Texas for my Grandma's funeral. It was so great to see him!

~

Here's a few Easter pictures...

Paige got a book about Jesus and a Children's Primary Songs CD from the Easter Bunny. Sad, NO candy! Maybe next year Paige, when you can have candy!

Paige reading her book about Jesus. It's actually a really neat book. It came from Deseret Book. It talks about the pre-earth life, the creation, Christ's life, and his Resurrection and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ visiting Joseph Smith.

I made this really fun bread for Easter Dinner. (In our case Lunch, cause Scott had to go to work at 2pm.) I think it turned out really neat. And I think that I will make it every year. I think next year I will do lamb too... it's fun to start our own little family traditions :)