Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day!  Jon made a yummy breakfast just for me.  I had fresh strawberries and cream cheese filled cinnamon French toast. It was absolutely delicious! 

 Sophie picked out these beautiful yellow flowers for me.  She also gave me a case of Ice sparkling water.

  

Me and my little angel girl!  I sure love her, and I'm so grateful that I am the mother of this little blondie.  She brings so much joy into my life and I feel honored to be her mommy.

We invited our friends, Chesley and Karlie over for dinner.  Jon fixed pork chops and mashed potatoes, with steamed asparagus and fresh pineapple.  It was so good!  The best part of the meal was the homemade chocolate cake.  It was so moist and fudgy, it was incredible!  I have such a wonderful husband and I am so grateful for all that he does for me.  Jon and Sophie bring so much joy and happiness into my life, and I am so blessed to have them in my life!  After dinner we went for a walk and then the Andersons came over for dessert.  It was a wonderful day!



Best Friends

Elsie came over to play, while Rita was home cleaning carpets.  Sophie was still in her pajamas when Elsie came over and she decided that she wanted to wear her green and cream striped dress too.  I got Sophie dressed and did her hair and Elsie wanted me to fix her hair too.  They looked so cute when I finished, that I just had to take their picture.  They didn't want to hold still or smile until I bribed them.  I told them that if they would hold still for just a few pictures, they could have a treat.  That did the trick!  They held still long enough for me to get three pictures and then they got their Smarties.  They were so excited, and the pictures turned out so cute that I just had to share them with everyone.

 

 

Cute best friends!

 

My cheesy little girl.  These are the cutest girls.

 

Grandma Goose's Funeral

We were fortunate enough to be in Utah when Grandma Stuart passed away.  We got to Utah on Friday, December 14th around 4:00 pm.  Joey was married that same day and was having a dinner instead of a reception that evening.  Mom invited me to join them, so I hurried and got ready and went to the dinner with Mom and Dad.  It was so good to see everyone, but especially to see Grandma.  I didn't visit with her long, but I did get to say hello and give her a hug and kiss.  She looked so good and I was able to talk with her for just a few minutes.  I am so grateful that I went to the dinner, because that was the last time I got to see Grandma well. 

 

Aunt Wendy called us around 11:00 pm on Saturday, December 29th to let us know that Grandma had had another stroke and that she wasn't doing well.  She told mom that uncle John had just given Grandma a blessing of release.  Nicole and I decided to go with Mom and Dad to say good-bye to Grandma.  Scott came with us and Jon stayed home with Sophie, since she was already in bed.  We called Nick to let him know what was happening, and he drove up too.  I was so grateful for the chance to say good-bye to see her one last time.  Though she couldn't talk, I know she was aware that I was there talking to her.  I told her how much I love her and how much I am going to miss her.  She has always meant so much to me.  I feel that I owe my life to her, because if it weren't for her, I may have died 18 years ago.  She listened to the promptings of the spirit and came to visit me when I was sick 18 years ago, and because of how frightened she was by the way that I looked, she spoke with her good friend Dr. Woodmansy who then called and told Mom and Dad to take me to the ER.  I am grateful that she was listening to the spirit that day.  I am truly going to miss this wonderful lady, who I had the privilege of calling Grandma.

 

Sunday evening, December 30th we had a get together with the Calls and the Pitts.  Uncle John and aunt Jer didn't come, because they were with Grandma and Grandpa.  A few minutes after aunt Wendy arrived, she received a phone call from uncle John letting her know that Grandma had just died.  It was hard to hear, but we were so glad that we were all together when we received the news.  We spent the evening eating treats and recalling fond memories that each of us had with Grandma.  She was one of the most kind, gentle, giving, and loving women that I've ever known.  I feel that I am better because of her example and I hope that I can share that with others.

 

Grandma's funeral was Friday, January 4th.  It was one of the most beautiful funeral services that I've ever been to.  Uncle John and aunt Jer both spoke and they did a wonderful job.  It was so fun to hear all the wonderful things about Grandma and to hear stories that I'd never heard before.  Emily sang and Sheri played the piano, both were absolutely beautiful.  I feel so blessed that I was able to be in attendance.

 

The pallbearers carrying Grandma's beautiful casket.

 

Her final resting place.

 

Everyone waving a white towel to say their final good-bye to Grandma.

 

 

When we would visit Grandma and Grandpa when they lived near Bear Lake, Grandma would always stand outside on the deck and wave a white towel to say good-bye.  She would stay out there until she could no longer see our car, and we could no longer see her.  This is a memory about Grandma that we will always treasure.  She was always so kind and loving.  I will miss her so much, but I know I will see her again.  I love you Grandma!

Reed Christmas Party

Uncle Rex planned a Reed family Christmas party up in Hyde Park.  Scott and Nicole drove up with us and Scott wanted to stop at Gossner's to get some cheese.  I bought some cheese curds "squeaky cheese", smoked swiss cheese, and some raspberry honey.  The party was a great success!  Most everyone was in attendance, even Camille came.  I heard that she wasn't going to come, because she hadn't been feeling well, but she showed up with her kids.  They are getting so big!  She looked great as always and she has a cute little pregnant belly.  I got to say good-bye to Connor and wish him luck on his mission.  He has been called to the Riverside, California mission.  It was so good to see everyone.  Alecia and Larry put together some Christmas Minute to Win it games.  We split up into three teams and we had several tasks to complete.  Unfortunately our team didn't win, but we sure had fun playing.  I was so glad that we were able to attend the party.  I miss seeing my relatives!

 

Two very cute girls!  Samanatha and Sophie watching all the fun and games.

 

Scott and I trying to move a cookie from our forehead to our mouth without using our hands.  Scott did it, but I didn't have much luck, I dropped the cookie several times.

 

Another game, aunt Sherri had to hold a candy cane in her mouth and try to pick up six other candy canes and drop them into a bag.  She did really well.

 

I had to suck through a straw and pick up as many Necco candies as I could and drop them into a sack.  I did well, in fact I think I got the most.

 

Mom holding Emma.

 

Cute Macy!  She was so cute to play with Sophie.  Sophie just thought that Macy was the best!

Christmas Lights on Temple Square

Sophie just loves trains and the whole time we were in Utah, she kept asking if we could ride the train.  We decided that we would ride the train in to downtown to go to dinner and then to see the lights on Temple Square.  Dad took us to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and the food was so good.  We got peppermint bark cheesecake and dulce de leche cheesecake to go and we ate them later that evening and they were both absolutely delicious!  While we were waiting to be seated Mom and I took Sophie to the Disney store.  While we were in the store, I saw two different friends from Bozeman, Kameron Abbott and Darcy Francis.  I talked to Kameron for a few minutes, long enough to find out that they've moved back to Utah.  We had a very yummy dinner and a fun evening.  The trains were a little delayed going home, we thought we were going to miss our train, but we made it just in time.  Thank goodness we did, because we would have had to wait another hour for the next train, and as it was Sophie fell asleep just before we had to get off the train.  She was such a tired girl, but I think she had a fun evening.

 

Sophie on the train.  Notice the dark spot next to her left eye.  She fell off the bed and cute her eye just before we had to leave to catch the train.  She ended up getting a black eye from it.  Poor girl!

 

Riding the train into Salt Lake to see the lights.

 

Papa, Maemi and Daddy on the train.  Sophie was in the picture, but she ducked down right as I took the picture.

 

All bundled up to see the lights.  She loved seeing the lights, but loved eating the snow even more.  It was old snow, but she was determined to eat some. 

 

Mommy, Sophie and Daddy at Temple Square.

 

The beautiful Salt Lake temple with all the Christmas lights.

 

Papa, Sophie and Maemi enjoying the lights.

Sophie's First Haircut

 Sophie had her first haircut on May 8th.  It was getting long, but very shaggy looking, so we took her to see Amy Osborne, one of the sisters in our ward.

 

 I was sad that I wouldn't be able to put her hair in a ponytail like this again.  I just love her little pony!

 



 My happy girl!  She did so well, I was very surprised at how well she did holding still. 

 

 Eating her chips so she'd hold still.

 

 

My cute girl with her new haircut.  Isn't she beautiful!

 

Kansas City Trip

In May, we took a trip to Kansas City to visit some friends, Ben and Karen Divine.  We met them when they moved to Mankato for school, but Ben graduated with his Masters and got a job in Kansas, so we don't see them much anymore.  We were there for six days and we had a blast.  Unfortunately when I uploaded the pictures, they uploaded in reverse order, so the pictures from the end of our trip are first.

 

 Sophie taking a nap in her toddler bed.  Monday after we got back from Kansas, Jon started teaching his 5 week summer session.  I tried putting Sophie down for a nap and she wasn't happy.  She didn't take naps while we were in Kansas, so she didn't want to take them at home either.  I went downstairs while she was crying and a few minutes later I heard a big thud.  I came running upstairs and found Sophie out of her crib.  I called Jon and told him that it was time to change Sophie's crib into a toddler bed.  As you can see she did adjust to taking naps once again.

 Since we were so close to Missouri and many of the church historical sites, we decided to see the sites.  The picture above is taken at Adam-ondi-ahman.  It's beautiful but there isn't much to see other than a lot of land.  What matters most is what is to happen here in the future.



 This is the Far West temple site.  Again not much to see, but you can see the four cornerstones for the temple.

 

 Our good little traveler.  She did so well with all the driving.  We were worried, but she was a little angel for the most part.  She read books, played with her toys, watched movies and slept.

 



 Sophie with her friend Avery.  They are 3 years apart in age, but they sure had fun together.  Avery was so good to share all of her fun toys with Sophie.

 Karen took us to a local farmstead.  First of all it was free, which was wonderful and secondly it was so much fun.  Sophie loved it!  She loves farm animals.  We got to feed the baby goats a bottle.  I think Sophie was a little nervous at first, because the goats know what you have and we had at least three or four attacking us as we walked in the pen.  They were so cute! 

 When I was 9 years old, my dad decided to go back to school and get a second Masters degree, so we moved to Warensburg, Missouri.  Warrensburg just happens to be about an hour and half from Kansas City, so Jon was sweet enough to take me so that I could see where we lived.  I was surprised by how much I remembered about the town, and I was very surprised to see that it seems much smaller now.  Everything seems so much bigger when you are young.  Anyway, this is the townhouse we lived in for a year and a half while my dad worked on his Masters.  It looked exactly like I remembered it.  It was fun remeniscing.  I actually remembered quite a bit.

 We went to the Independence Visitor Center.  I went when I was 9 years old and it looked very different then.  They have made a lot of changes since I was 9.  One of the changes is this statue of the Christus.  When I was 9, this wall was a mural of Christ descending from heaven and it was two stories in length.  Now the stairs are actually in front of where we are and they have added a lot of neat things, one of which is a childs play area.  They have also added a lot to the tour.  During the tour you go into a replica of a cabin and learn about the pioneers.  I don't know how to describe all of the other areas, but it is very nice and I'm sure others who go who aren't members of our church enjoy the tour much more.  It is very visual.

 Sophie riding the horse that is pulling a covered wagon, down in the childs play area.  There is a small cabin in the play area too and Sophie had lots of fun playing inside.

 We also went to Liberty and saw the Liberty Jail.  I didn't remember that the jail had actually been demolished.  The church bought the land and rebuilt the jail and then built the visitor center around the jail to preserve it.  I believe the beams that are used in the walls and the rocks are from the original jail.

 The Kansas City temple was dedicated a few weeks before we went, so we tried to get in for a temple session, but they were completely booked.  With the temple being so new, you had to make an appointment to attend a session.  We decided to drive up and see it, since it was on our way to Liberty.  It's a beautiful temple!

 Sophie became good friends with Percy, the Divine's dog.  She had so much fun playing with Percy and I just love this picture.  It looks like Sophie and Percy are having a wonderful conversation.  I'm sure Sophie was telling Percy all sorts of stories.

We also went to the Kansas City Zoo.  This was Sophie's very first trip to a zoo, and she enjoyed it.  It was a neat zoo.  The animals are in areas that are similar to their natural habitat, as opposed to being in enclosures.  Sophie was excited to see the giraffes, but they were in their natual habitat with the zebras, out in the open African planes, and they were too far away for her to really see. I was used to the Salt Lake City zoo where all the animals are in enclosures, and you can see them up close but not here.  I think the neatest animal to see was the kangaroos.  They don't have a fence around them or anything, they are free to roam, but they don't.  They stay in their area even though there isn't a fence keeping them in.  It was a little crazy to watch them and to know that there was nothing between us and them.  We never felt threatened, they didn't really move much.  The zoo was huge!  Jon said we probably walked about 5 miles, just walking around the zoo.  It was big!

My beautiful Sophie girl waiting to go to the zoo.  She is holding a stone frog, that sits on the front porch.  She loved this little frog!

 

We had a wonderful time in Kansas City.  We happened to be there over Mother's Day, so I got to celebrate Mother's Day with Karen.  We went to their ward on Sunday.  After Sacrament meeting Jon and I brought Sophie home so she could take a nap.  I really wanted to attend Relief Society, since all the sisters would be together, which meant that Karen wouldn't be in Primary that day, so I drove back.  It was the best Mother's Day Relief Society lesson I've ever had.  It seems that more often than not, on Mother's Day the presidency decides to do a lesson on visiting teaching, because all of the sisters are together.  I HATE it!  I think it's awful.  We should be talking about motherhood and womanhood, not worrying about visiting teaching.  We have plenty of other times to talk about that, we only have Mother's Day once a year.  Anyway, when I walked into the gym the sisters were all lined up.  I couldn't tell at first, what they were lined up for, and then I began to see sisters with plates of food.  The Relief Society presidency had brought fruit, fruit dip, banana cake and a veggie tray for all the sisters to enjoy during the lesson.  How awesome!  The lesson was taken from President Uchtdorf's talk "Forget Me Not".  I left there feeling uplifted and hopeful as a mother.  I was so happy when I left.  It was truly amazing!  I think that all Mother's Day lessons should be like this.  I forgot to mention that the gift we got after Sacrament meeting was two chocolate covered strawberries, my all time favorite treat.  It was a wonderful Mother's Day and a very fun trip.