Unexpected visit to Idaho

I received an unexpected call from my dad around 8:15 Sunday morning.  My dad doesn't call often and he never calls at that time of day especially since it is an hour earlier where he lives and he is busy with meetings and what not on Sunday morning.  I saw who it was before I answered and instantly thought, "Oh no, my grandpa died."  Well, I was wrong.  My grandpa is well over 90 now and I'm glad he is still alive, however, sadly my dad did call to tell me that one of my cousins, Ian, had died.  Ian was just a couple of months younger than my brother, Eric- not yet 30 years old.  He had a beautiful wife and two adorable girls.  Sad and tragic.  After I got off the phone with my dad I sat on my bed and cried.  I wish he had called before I had put my make up on for church.  I was not close to Ian.  Most of my memories of him, he was a young boy.  I remember him and Eric hanging out plenty in their younger years, but when we moved to Washington we didn't get down to Idaho to see my cousins nearly so often and therefore I am not close to any of them.  However, I still have a great love for all of them.  My heart also ached and continues to ache for his family, those who knew him so well and loved him so much.  My heart goes out to his wife and little girls who are so young, my heart is sad for his mother especially, but also his father, and siblings.  I can't imagine having to go through the death of a spouse, a child, a sibling.  It seems like too much to bear.  I made arrangements to go to Ian's funeral in Preston, Idaho with Holly and Glen.  That's what family does, right?  Support one another in happy and sad times.  I took pictures with my family members.  The thought of losing someone I love so close to my heart.  It was a hard funeral to attend.  That evening we had dinner at Big J's in Preston in memory of Ian (he had worked there for years)  It is a good reminder that life is fragile.  I don't know the whys of Ian's death, but it does help me remember that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us and that he loves us.  I hope everyone remembers how much they are loved even when they feel alone and helpless.


My immediate family members that were able to attend the funeral (Ian's picture is in the background).  I am glad my dad was able to come down.  He and Ian's dad, Dauntes were really close growing up.

Eric and I.

Holly and I.  Crying eyes...

Rose and I.

Glen and I.

Sisters.

Brothers

Rose and Holly at Big J's.

Mom and Dad at Big J's.

Glen and I at Big J's.

 

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  We are all ready to go to church here!  Vance was the only one not sporting red today.  Haha.

 Stephen and I.  He is the love of my life. 

 My handsome boys!

 Just goofing off with my love. 

 Smooch!

Jillian's Baptism

We were able to attend Jillian's baptism!  Rosemary actually took Holly's wedding dress and made a baptism dress for Jillian out of it.  How cool is that?!  We were happy to be able to share this special day with her.

 Tanner and Jillian are little buddies.  Being in the same class at school they have gotten to know each other real well the past couple of years.

Some January pictures

We started taking Sunday selfie's back in October.  I share them on facebook with an inspiring quote.  It's been a fun to tradition to start.  Some of our pictures are better than others.  Here is one of our better ones.

 Stephen and I have such a height difference it can be tricky to get a good picture of us both standing, when I wear heels it helps slightly.  :)

 I love this man and I also love my red pants!  I love the man more though.  ;)

 The boys all ready for church one Sunday.  Tanner does his hair every day for school, but I have to convince the other two to do it on Sundays and I don't even make them do it all the time!

It's 2016!

2015 was clearly not my year for blogging.  I don't know what happened.  I guess it is just easy to share things on facebook since I can do it directly from my phone. We'll see if I do a little better this year.

 In November we celebrated Thanksgiving with Stephen's family (minus Erin).  The day before though, we had a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving with just the five of us.

 Thanksgiving day!

 Grandma knows how to keep the kids entertained.

 Feast time

 Turkey craft Aunt Mandy helped the boys do.

 We also finished reading The Book of Mormon as a family in December!

 We saw lights on Temple Square!

 We celebrated Christmas and Vance's birthday with his parents and sister, Kimberly before we headed to Washington.

 We got snow!

 We spent Christmas in Washington with my entire family! 

 We didn't do anything for New Year's, but take this picture and go to bed.  :)

Christmas 2015- extended family

Christmas this year was so wonderful being able to spend it in Washington with all of my family!  Here are some extended family pictures along with the origami quilts Stephen made everyone. 

The best women I know!

My kids with their Porter Grandparents.

Silly faces (Tanner must have gotten confused. ;))

Here we all are in one picture.  Phew!

My immediate family.  Love them all!

My parents with their grandchildren as of 2015

My Mom was so cute.  She made all the grandkids aprons (and their mom's too).  Each day she had a fun Christmas activity that she did with them. 

Drawing on mugs! 

Glen and Eric showing Tanner how to relax?

Grandpa entertaining Porter and Gigi with his tablet.

Christmas Caroling time!

Just missing Holly's family who went with us as well after visiting her in-laws.

Eric's cute little family.

The kids thought this was pretty funny.

Rose and Eric must have been around whenever I wanted a selfie.

I loved the way my parents tree looked!

Christmas morning!  Gigi, must have already made it to her presents.

My kids are hams.

My parents with their origami quilt

Glen with his origami quilt.  He got something different because Stephen thought the others were too feminine for a single guy.  If you look you can see a white Y for BYU.

Eric and Tami with their origami quilt.

Holly with their quilt.

Rose and Durf (yes, that's what I call him) with their quilt.