Life is busy

We went to my Grandmas funeral on the 11th. It was nice and really made me remember what a good person she was. Her whole life was nothing but a sacrifice for her husband and children. When I look at pictures of her as a beautiful young woman, I think of the dreams she probably had for her life. But she was true to her family and sacrificed her life for them.

We've been watching American Idol faithfully- pretty much the whole family likes it. Our favorite is the funny weird audition weeks. We're rooting for the boy from Murray--David Archuleta. He is SOOOO good and very cute too.

Went to the "Maturation Program" with Bailey. She was funny as she looked at me with a weird look at embarrassing comments and pictures they showed. We went out to eat together afterwards at Wingers.

Valentines Day was nice. Brian bought a flowers for me, and for each of his daughters like he's done since they were little. I love that he does this. Our whole table was covered in flowers from all the flowers from Bri, plus ones from BOYS that gave them to my girls!!

On a sad note, the mother of one of Jessie's best friends, Stephanie Bigelow, passed away from cancer. I am really close to this friend of Jessie's, and it has been really hard for me to see this.
The funeral was really sad; each of her children had a part in it. When Bigelow said the closing prayer, it really made me cry. It's so hard to know what to say in these situations. It breaks my heart to know how sad this family is.

I went to lunch Wednesday with one of my very best friends Kim McDaniel. We have been buds since we moved to Riverton in 1994. I sure love her and think she is great. She has been through A LOT with her divorce and stuff, and I just think she is great person. She's always positive and happy.Our kids have been friends since they were so little---Micah and Jared since they were 2 years old! And Bethany and Shayn since they were 4. Jameson was perfect through the long lunch and chat we had.

The past few days have been BUSY! Food to a funeral, food to a lady who just had a baby, me in charge of Activity Days, Blue and Gold banquet with Brig, Brooke's orientation for Jr. High, dog groomed, basketball game,Brooke and Bay to that Hannah Montana concert movie and then today, Parent Teacher Conference for Brooke, Bailey and Brigham. They are all doing very well and I was so happy to hear this. All at the top of their class. All good readers. Brig has a little trouble being quiet and not being rowdy with friends, but that's a little boy for you.

Jameson is sleeping through the night basically every night now. It has been nice to get a full nights sleep and actually feeling like getting out of bed at 7:00 a.m. now. This is way earlier than my other babies---they were like one before they slept through the night!! (he's 5 months) And I'm learning more about him--like, he is content to sit in his bouncer IF he can see me. I just had him on the kitchen counter for an hour while I did dishes and cleaned and he was happy the whole time. So I know now he just doesn't like to be alone. I sang to him while I cleaned and he was good for that long. Also, the other day I cleaned with him in a Snugli baby carrier, and he was good then too. He just loves to be held, and with people. Can't blame him for that.

Jess is doing much better. She has done more with friends and that makes the time pass faster and helps her keep her mind off it. I'm glad because it was really hard for me to see her so sad.

It rained a lot today, which I loved. Rain is my very favorite weather. When I wake up and see it is a rainy day, I am in a GREAT mood. People think I am weird, but I have just always loved rain.

Chris leaves

Well it's been several days since I posted. On Feb 7, Jessie's boyfriend Chris left on his mission to Leeds England. She has had an extremely hard time, much worse than I expected. I feel SO BAD for her. It breaks my heart. I can say though, that I know EXACTLY how she feels. When I waited for Brian, it was one of the worst times of my life. I was so sad. It's almost a physical pain---it hurts so much. With prayer, I hope we get through it. I really hope she marries Chris and I think she will. He has an AWESOME family that I really like. His Mom is SOO good to Jess and that really helps her. They are really good people and I would love for her to marry into their family and to have Chris in ours. He is an exceptional young man.

The very day he left, she hurt her knee quite badly playing church basketball. Took her to the Dr and it was sprained. Things like this always seem so much worse when you are already sad. So that was a rough day. It is so hard to see your child in any kind of pain. As a mother, your instinct is to "fix" everything for your child. To make it all better. But I can't do anything to fix this. I got out all my stuff from when I waited for Brian: comforting quotes, scriptures, fun things to do for him. The next day she called me from school and said, "...Mom??..." and then just burst out crying so hard. So I let her come home and we went to Missionary Emporium and bought her lots of fun things---an England sweatshirt, a shirt that says "I love my missionary", keychains, magnets, England flag, chart to count down the days, and several other fun things. And we went to lunch.I think it helped her a little. She has also spent a few evenings with his family. Being at his house seems to help a lot. I remember it helped me too. It's as close as you can get to them so it feels good to be there. I hope as some time passes she will adjust. It's really hard for me to see her so sad.

My Grandma

Last night my Grandma Kathryn Smith passed away. She has had Alheimers Disease for the past ten years and it had gotten progressively worse. Then about a week or two ago she fell and broke her hip.She also had congestive heart failure, and also she was at the point where she was refusing to eat. All these things combined finally took her life. In a way I am sad, but even more I am happy; Her life has been a tough one, and I am glad she is now able to rest from all of it.Since my Grandpa died a year ago, she has been so sad and always asking "Where's Earl?" and then when told he has died, she cries and cries.So there are just so many reasons it is better for her to be with Jesus and Grandpa now.I have good memories of her--I stayed with them a lot when I was little, and I remember working in the garden together, playing dominoes, and coloring with her.I also remember her making a little "baby in the cradle" out of a handkerchief when I would go to church with them.
I know she can now be at peace and be happy. Love you Grandma.

Catching up

Friday night we went to Texas Road House for Brian's birthday dinner.I left Jameson home and missed him the whole time.:)But I know we need time alone--we don't get much anymore. Saturday was filled with basketball;Brooke and Bailey-Jr.Jazz, and Brian and Jared playing church ball. Jess didn't play because she hurt her knee, and Bethany wasn't feeling well so she didn't play either.We went to the Dr.and found out Bethany has a bladder infection, so she's on another antibiotic in addition to one for strep throat from last week! She is hoping to get better soon. Sunday was Brian's birthday and I made rice and gravy for dinner (his childhood favorite his Mom always made) and spice cake with cream cheese frosting, which he loves.The kids gave him gifts of his favorite goodies and we sang to him and did the usual.
Brooke went to the temple this morning at 4:30 a.m. to do baptisms for the dead with her friend! I was proud of her for wanting to do that bad enough to get up that early.It is SOOOOO cold and snowy right now. Snow is everywhere in huge piles. It's hard to remember last summer of record-breaking heat at this time!

Jameson and Porter

SO cute!

I picked up the pictures that Jamie and I got taken of the boys. (Jamie is my sis-in-law; my brother Dan's wife)Her baby Porter is only 3 months older than Jameson.We thought it would be cute to get their pictures taken together.They were SO cute--happy the whole time, smiling perfectly.
It's snowing again; man I am sick of winter. But I hate summer too.I get migraines from the heat.But we get Spring first, so thats good.
I started feeding Jameson rice cereal recently and he has done pretty well.Seems to like it a lot. I usually wait a little longer to feed solids, but I really feel like ALL I do is nurse this baby, so maybe he is ready sooner than most of the other kids were. I do remember Jared was the same way---never seemed satisfied even after nursing forever.And I started cereal with him at 4 months.The books say that if they express an interest when they see YOU eating, they could be ready.And he totally watches us eat and acts all eager.And of course the kids just HAVE to give him little licks of suckers and popcicles, and he loves them.