Memorial Day!

So above is Grandma Lang and Grandpa Lang's headstone. We had decided that we would go up and visit Kayleigh and Matthew on Memorial Day and while there of course went by and saw Grandma and Grandpa Lang! There was flower's put on the grave and Dad is assuming that they came from Julia. I think they are very nice!! If you haven't seen it already, you can see that her date is on there and it was changed from saying 19 something to the correct one!!


We also went by and saw Grandma and Grandpa Potter's grave site as well. Laura had gone up here earlier in the day and started putting out the white rocks. She ran out before it could be filled in completely but I think that is is looking nice. When it is filled in the rest of the way it will be much nicer I am sure!! You can't see from the angle that I took the picture but they have a picture of themselves on the headstone! I think it is very nice with the pictures!


Here is Wallace. They had put a few of the white rocks on his as well and I think that that is the reason that they ran out!! Again, when they are able to fill it all in it will look much better! Laura didn't mention that she had brought flowers so I think that all of these flowers on both Grandma and Grandpa's graves as well as Wallace was done by Julia. She is obviously very considerate to put the flowers out on all of the graves!

Below is Kayleigh and Matthew's graves. When we arrived to place flowers, the below picture is what we found!

There were flowers placed on them already! Once again we are assuming that it was Julia. Whoever it was deserves a big hug and a thanks!! The pink ones behind Kayleigh's name plate are the one's that we had put into a vase at her funeral but all the other one's are the surprise one's!! Are they not pretty!!?

This is just another angle of the one's that were there when we got there! The stone border was done by all of the guys here at the house! I think it will be much better when we are able to get the lava rocks and also Kayleigh's headstone!


This is Matthew's headstone with the flower's that we put up there on memorial day for him! When mom got here we went up and she said that she liked the hanging flowers allot! His headstone was moved a little bit when Dad set up the stones so that everything would be even!


This is the flowers that we brought up for Kayleigh! It is hard to see in the picture but there is light pink, dark pink, and light purple flowers all put in to a bouquet! They look like cotton candy but I think they are very beautiful and Kayleigh will love them!!


And then this is a picture of the whole thing!! I think that they will both love all the flowers!! In this picture you can see a little bit more of the colors that we have for Kayleigh's flowers!

So what do you think? Oh and the green that is growing in front of the stones is what was planted many years ago when Matthew was first put here! Amazing that they are still growing!

The Garden

Well this is one angle of the garden that we have tilled up! Very big!! I had to take two pictures of it to get the whole effect of what can of worms I have opened!! This angle looks big enough but if you look below you will see what I am really looking at!!


What do you think?? That is Dad and Nathan down about 2 thirds of the way down in it. At this point I should have said stop but instead I went shopping with Dad at a couple different stores to get stuff to plant! We do have some pictures of what it looks like now, after planting a few things that were already growing like tomato plants, jalapenos, cabbage, onions, broccoli, celery and cauliflower. i just have the pictures still on the camera and not downloaded yet. i will get them posted later! If anyone has any suggestions for me on how to take this all in stride and not panic, please let me know!!

Seminary Graduation!

Well, this is the two graduates from seminary!! David has had all 4 years as Adrian only the last quarter of this school year started to take it. Since Adrian is a senior he got to graduate!! Congratulations are in order!! Don't you just love the look on Adrian's face?!! He is trying to look cool!!

Here is David holding up his diploma for seminary, looking very proud!! Pay no attention to the mess in the background, it is David's room! I had sat the camera on the microwave with my keys so that I would make sure not to forget it, but I guess you can figure out by looking at the pictures that I didn't get any pictures at the church do to forgetting the camera!!


And then here is Adrian with his! As you can see his is different than David's and that is because he didn't take all 4 years! I am still proud of him for going into seminary. What little time he had in there I am sure was very good for his testimony and will stay with him for the rest of life!!

Congratulations again to you both. As they saw I was doing some crying!! I am such a baby!! I was blessed to be there and see the graduation ceremony! At the end of the graduation the stake youth choir sang the same song that was played at the end of Kayleigh's funeral as we were leaving the chapel! With words to the music it made it so much more powerful! It was wonderful and in a way I kind of felt like Kayleigh was there when the music was being sung! Maybe it is just me, but either way it was awesome!!

Happy Birthday Brody!!

I wanted to give a happy birthday wish to the big 3 year old today!! I can't hardly believe that you are that old already! You are full of smiles and hugs and want to have all the same fun as your older brothers! You are such a big boy with a great big heart!! I sent a card for you so hopefully you have gotten it on time! We love you up here and miss you bunches!!

Happy birthday Brody!

Happy Birthday Timothy!!

You are not here obviously but soon you will be and the same will go for you that goes for all others in the house. You pick what you want to eat and I will prepare it! It can be anything you want, I may have to find a recipe but since I know how to read one it will be fine!! You also get your pick on cake also!! Whatever you want you just tell me and it will be done!!

Happy birthday to you, I hope it a fabulous one full of fun everywhere you go!!

I love you lots!

Randomness

Well, Adrian will not be able to join the family for Vegas as he has to report on the same day we are leaving to go. He got a call letting him know that the date went from the 10Th of June to the 8Th but he has to actually be there the day before so really the 7Th should be the date they said! I am not happy about it at all but I found Kevin's reaction to be quite amusing! Everyone knows I am sure that it is Kevin that has pushed for him to join the army for Adrian's whole life, without finding out any info about it other than they pay for college! Well, when we were told that he had to go early and was not going to be on our vacation Kevin said that the army would either pay for what we have spent on the vacation or Adrian was not going into the army!! The second that something didn't work out for him he was saying how much he does not like the army!! When Adrian said there was nothing that he could do about it, Kevin insisted that either he would call them and advise them it was not going to happen or I would have to do it. I told Adrian that it was his choice on what he wanted to do but as for myself I was not going to make any calls at all seeing that Adrian made the choice to join the army and he is in fact a grown adult being 18 years old. When I also told Kevin that it was time as a parent to step back and leave it up to Adrian he was not happy but finally agreed that he would let go. I am far from wanting to step back and watch my baby boy grow up but he is at the age where it is the time. Maybe as time goes by Kevin can realise that it is the best thing to do and that this is the day that we as parents are preparing children for! The recruiting officer was going to be coming and getting Adrian but I have talked him into allowing us to take Adrian out to Salt Lake and drop him off there, that way we can also take him to breakfast and spend just a little bit more time with him before sending him off for almost 3 months!!

As it turns out with him not going we have found ourselves with an opening for another person to join us in Vegas! The invitation has been given to mom! She kept telling me the excuse that she didn't have money for that and as I have explained to her, Adrian was going so we had everything planned for 4 people. With her there it is still 4 people that would be there so there is no additional cost to us or any cost for that matter to her! I am 99% sure that she is coming at this point. Seriously though, who could say no to an all expense paid trip to Vegas with me of all people!! Plus we are staying in a 5 star resort!! The plan is that we will take Adrian to Salt Lake on the 7Th in the morning and from there go to Vegas. After check in we will lounge around until dinner time, eat and then do some of the night time sight seeing on the strip. On the morning of the 8Th we will eat breakfast and do some more fun sight seeing stuff until early afternoon when we can cool off in the huge pool at the resort. After that we will eat and then do some more lounging until dinner time. After eating dinner we will then go and see a show on the strip though we are not sure yet which one. Part of the package that we were given also gives us $100.00 gambling money!! We are going to give a serious amount of trust in Ashley and allow her to stay in the room by herself while we go to the casino. I am nervous but I think she will be just fine and we will be just a phone call away if she needs anything! The next morning on the 9Th is check out. After checking out if there is anything that we had not yet been able to see while there we will do that and then make the drive back home to Utah!! Sounds fun to me!! We will make sure that we take lots and lots of picture so then I can post an interesting blog for all to see!!

I have set my baptism date also!! I will be getting baptized on May 28Th at 7pm. I am so excited for it, there are not words to express it! I wont have some of my family there but in the same token I will have a couple that were not born when I did it at age 8. Not saying anything bad about when I was 8 but for allot of reasons this time it seems to mean so much more to me. I think most of it has to do with knowing what mistakes that I have made and learned so much more about myself as well as the church and its teachings! I wish of course that I would not have made the mistakes in the first place but having gone through all the necessary steps, I am forgiven for all of the bad things that I have done and can move on only having the experience to possibly help others before they can make the same mistakes that I have made. If anyone has any questions about my steps to forgiveness or even the mistakes that I made, I can answer them for you. I am not ashamed of them anymore as I feel a strength inside that has taken its spot!! I do want to say thank you to everyone for the examples that you have shown me and a very special thank you to Kayleigh for showing me the kind of person that I could be and loving me for the person that I was! She is an angel that I will always remain grateful for having in my life more than I think I can ever express in words!!

Oh and I almost forgot to say about Adrian. He got his patriarchal blessing last week. He has already received the copy of it in the mail and I was privileged to read it. I was very moved by it and I hope that he remains true to the gospel as there is so many wonderful blessings in store for him if he does!!

Nathan has been feeling better but has been warned that if he gets sick again he will go to the Dr as soon as I know about it, no waiting!!

David is feeling better as well. He has cut out all caffeine and since going to the Dr, he has had only 1 soda!! I am so proud of him!!

Samuel helps out anytime he is asked to since he doesn't have a job anymore. He is not looking forward to working in the garden this summer. We have tilled up the garden and for anyone that doesn't remember the size of grandmas old garden, I will post a picture later! It is huge I have to say and since I myself have never done anything with a garden I am nervous about starting so big! I guess go big or go home though right!?

Ashley is doing OK for the time. She is like Samuel in not looking forward to the gardening this summer. It will be nice to have the help though rather than me doing it all by myself!! She is excited about the trip to Vegas though so hopefully the trip doesn't turn out to be a disappointment to her. I will be making a call to get into contact with an LDS therapist on Tuesday. She has finally agreed to go, reluctant still, but hopefully upon going a couple of times she can get whatever help she needs to help her in all the things that I am not able to! She is a very wonderful girl but because of things in her past that she allows to take control of her, I just worry. Hopefully she can talk about them and find some kind of closer!! I am excited to see any changes that might come from it and see even more of the girl that I love!!

Well, this is forever long so I will stop writing!! I want comments on everything!! Just kidding, just comments on what you choose to comment on is OK!!

My Mother's Day

This doll above is from Kevin. I asked him why it was that he chose this one and he said, "I knew you had your last interview at the church and thought you would like an angel on your side praying for you." I like it, it is very pretty. He also gave me a card that was a humorous one with a note in it that he wrote. I had to ask him what most of it said because his hand writing is not very good and his spelling is about the same! I have to say that it was nice for him to remember a special occasion this year rather than him forgetting like he does so much of the time!!


Below is the doll that Adrian got for me. She is very pretty also and a really tall one! He tried to tell his dad that his choice was better because it was just an awesome one and it was a big one!! I like them both equally but they still had the argument over it! He also got me a card in which it said that he was grateful for me first but coming in second was that I lead him to the church and for that he is also very grateful!!


Ashley made me a card the morning of and basically stated that she was sorry that she is a pain in the butt but she is trying to get better and has already noticed that she has changed in some ways to be a better her. She wrote on the bottom of it that she was sorry that she didn't have a gift for me and my opinion is that the card that shared her thoughts and feeling is enough of a gift, I am not about the material things, words are enough!!

Mom sent me a card that made me cry!! She said in it how blessed Adrian and Ashley are to have me as a mom and then also mentioned Kayleigh and the relationship that her and I had had! It was awesome to read!!

I had my final interview to see about getting baptised again also on mother's day. I have been through several interviews on my way to get to this one and it seemed like I would never reach this one!! I went at 6pm and by ten after 7 the answer was given to me. Anybody curious???!! Just kidding, I would tell you even if no one was curious! I can pick the date and I can join the church once again. I did make a comment to the bishop and his councilors that regardless of the decision that they made, I knew where I was suppose to be and if the answer would be no, I would still be there in church each Sunday!! Fortunately the answer was yes but they did like what I said about knowing where I was suppose to be!! I am waiting for mom to be here to do it as I think it is important to have her present!! I wish the whole family could be here but I will have everyone in my heart so it will be OK!! Sometime before the end of this month is when I will partake once again of the blessings of the church and I can't wait. I have to say that knowing the blessings and then knowing how it feels to not have them anymore leaves a hole in one's soul and in one's heart. In the book, The Miracle Of Forgiveness and says that it is easier to not sin and not have to repent than it is to make the mistakes of the sins. I stand as a witness to this and know full well the hard road that I had to travel back to this point. It took many years for me to travel on that road but now I can breathe easier knowing that the hard part is over!!


So below is a picture of Samuels cupcakes. They went over well since they seemed to be eaten rather quickly!! In the picture there was only about a third of them frosted and I had to frost more before the end of the night!! We got Samuel a new shirt and tie for church as the one's he currently has been using are in not the best of shape!! Maybe these can stay nice!! Once again, happy birthday Samuel!

Happy Birthday Samuel!

So today Samuel is 17 and up before noon!!! Today is normally a left over day for us but I asked Samuel early on what he wanted for his birthday meal. He said he was not even sure that he was going to be here or not so we did his meal last night. What he decided on was ham, peas, mashed potatoes, and rolls. I added in a side that I made when I worked at Cheddar's Casual Cafe called broccoli cheese casserole. It was good for not having made it in well over 5 years plus when I would make it is was in a huge amount fit for a restaurant. Everyone seemed to like it OK as well so that makes me feel good. I have been asking Samuel what kind of a cake he wants and to this point the only answer I get is the I don't know!! It is the day of the birthday and I am still not sure what ingredients I will be needing for whatever cake I will be making!! I am about to hand him a ho ho and say happy birthday!! Hopefully he will decide soon though because I don't know about anyone else but a ho ho just doesn't say happy birthday!

Whatever he decides to do today I hope it is a good day for him!! Happy Birthday Samuel, I hope you have a wonderful day (with or without a cake!!)

Just Stuff

So yesterday I took David to the Dr. in Roosevelt and made sure that he was aware of the soda intake and on all the things that have been bothering him for the past month or longer. He was told that his stomach issues are caused a lot by his amount of soda intake but if they are still there after cutting out most if not all of his soda then to go back and he will check more thoroughly to see what else could be causing the pain. David was also put on an EKG machine and was told that his heart is doing fine. What it boils down to is pleurisy. It all equals the same thing as Sterling said being in the sidewall and what the er Dr. said, apparently they are all the same thing! Rather than give him medicine he gave him a breathing machine to strengthen his lungs and work out the pain. I have had pleurisy except mine turned into pneumonia so it was quite a bit more painful than what David is going through. David really liked the Dr that we went and saw yesterday and so did I. I am considering him for the person that when anyone is sick to go and see. He got to the point and even made some jokes. All in all it was a relaxing visit and got rid of the worries that it was something serious!!

I weighed myself yesterday while there in the clinic only to find that I have lost a pound since my last Dr appointment. I was sad by this but I am sure that as the pounds come in the coming months I will be thinking how much of a bonehead I was to be sad by losing a pound!! I am excited to go to my next appointment so that Adrian will get to hear the heartbeat before leaving for the army. Mom will also be there with me so that should be exciting as well!! I have also found that as each day goes by my tolerance for hamburger meat gets worse and worse. I can feel fine and then to smell it is the beginning of the domino effect so to speak. I did manage to eat a taco last night at dinner. Most of what was in the shell was lettuce and cheese but I did have a small amount of meat in it. I kept it down but that was a challenge I have to say. Tonight we are having spaghetti so we will see how well I do with that!! I feel almost like a vegetarian. I haven't found a vegetable that I can't eat except for tomatoes! I am working on drinking milk but it is not something that I liked before and is still not something that I like now. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do that would be equal to drinking milk??

Well that is all I have except today when Ashley gets home from school we will be making some no bake cookies!! She is excited and has been waiting for me to give the OK on making them so I told her yesterday that we would do them today. Hopefully they are good to me. I used to like them so we shall see!!