Grandpa's Funeral

A little over a week ago my Grandpa West passed away at age 82. We will all miss him dearly. Towards the end there he had a very poor quality of life so I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we are glad that he is no longer in pain and is able to get around again. I know that he is now in a beautiful place surrounded by many loved ones!

It has been I think around eight years since all of my Dad's siblings have ALL been together at one time. The back row are the six brothers and the front row are my Dad's seven sisters. I don't know how my Grandma was able to have 13 kids. She is definitely a very strong giving lady! I sure look up to her.

That weekend was the first time My Dad was able to meet my son Michael. It was also the first time my sister Laurie (who also lives in Alaska) got to meet Michael. That was the high light of the whole trip for me. I sure love my family!

This is a picture taken of some of my first cousins. It was towards the end of the lunch-in so there are a number of them that were there that are missing from this picture. My sister Laurie is two people to the left of me trying to get Michael to stop crying (he had his feel of pictures taking!) and my oldest sister Amy is the third girl from my right. My Mom, my sister Katie, and my brothers Mike and Luke couldn't be there. I sure did miss them but was so.... glad to see the rest of my family even if it was for a funeral.

Michael's New Favorite Things!

I have to apologize for all of the pictures but I am kind of camera happy these days. Every new little thing that Michael does I think is so ... cute that I HAVE to take a picture of it. His new latest things are to play with his feet and to eat plastic. I just can't help but love this little boy!

I thought Michael looked so cute in his little overalls that I took a picture of him. He has been growing out of things so quickly these days that if I don't take advantage of the moment he doesn't fit into it by the next time I remember that I wanted to take a picture.

Look at how happy he is!!! All you have to do is look at him and he will smile. He definitely loves people.

A Day at the Park

A couple of weeks ago we went down to the park as a family to play around a little bit. The weather has been so nice lately that we wanted to take advantage of it before it gets really cold. I am afraid to say that we still have not seen snow yet! We are going to Ashton Idaho for Christmas so at least we have a better chance of having a white Christmas.

Vlad's off

Last weekend we went to Ashton Idaho to spend a little more time with Vlad (Al's brother) before he left for his mission. While we were there Alan bought a chain saw and convinced everyone to go cut some lumber for his parents wood burning stove. Alan loved every minute of it!

Michael slept in a suitcase until my sister-in-law brought her other pack and play up there with her. Thanks Tiff!

Well the trip was a lot of fun but really quick. It was hard with Michael. He has slept through the night ever since he was 2 months old. When we got there he woke up between 2 to 5 times a night! Ucky! I think the long drive, the time change, and sleeping in a unfamiliar place with Me and Al in the same room could of had a lot to do with it. Now that we are home he has been waking up once during the night. He will cry for a couple of minutes and then fall right back to sleep. All I can say is weird!

Halloween Party

A little over a week ago I threw a Halloween Dinner/Party. It was a lot of work but it turned out really good. We had some gross looking food, games and a ghost story! Everyone had a great time. Here are just a couple pictures of the food we ate.

Here were our two waitresses for the evening, Iona Ax & Mira Mains.

I've been tagged!

Okay, I was supposed to post the picture from my sixth folder, sixth picture. This so happened to be the picture that it landed on. Last summer we went camping near the snake river for Al's Birthday. One of my friends from work let me barrow her raft so that we could go down the snake the next day. We broke two paddles in the process! Oh the memories!

Idaho Trip

A little over a month ago Me and Alan went to Idaho to visit family and such. While we were there Katie had her baby boy, Payton. He is such a cute little guy! This was a new experience for me to see one of my "own" sisters having a child. I definitely had a love for that baby the moment I laid eyes on him. Katie will make such a good Mom! I am glad that I got to see her and Troy one last time before they moved up to Alaska. I am going to really miss them.

While we were there lots of events took place. We had Rachael's farewell and Michael's baby blessing the day after we arrived. Alan's sister Rachael left for her mission and we got to take her to the MTC that Wednesday. While in Provo I got to see Amy and Brandon for a couple of hours and we got to see Alan's Grandma. The next morning Katie had her baby. The whole trip was a blast! It was so great to see everyone exspecially the ones who traveled a distance to be there. Hopefully the next time we go we will get to see the people that we missed.

Michael got enough attention to last him a life time! His cousins found a new favorite doll to play with. I thought it was pretty cute, and he didn't mind for the most part.