Tender Moments

Ammon told me after I informed him of Grandma Perkins' death, "I'm glad I got to meet her before she died." Then he was quiet for a minute, and said "Actually, I'm glad I got to meet her before she had her stroke" (sadly, he only remembers Aunt Candi after her stroke because he was too young to remember her from before it). I, too, was glad for our recent summer trip to Spokane. Ammon was fortunate to spend two additional vacation days there with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa.

Micah pulled Great-Grandpa by the hand and led him to the casket at the mortuary. He pointed to Grandma's body and told Grandpa "Look, there's Grandma. Her legs are under there (pointing to the closed half of the casket)". This was the tenderest of moments for me, as I watched my Grandpa and my son holding hands adoring Great Grandma.
(Jonah and Micah were concerned about her legs being missing because they couldn't see them. I think they thought it was like a magician's box that you can disappear in.)

Jonah saw her in the casket and said "She looks different. Where's her glasses?" The other boys noticed the absence of her glasses as well. At the cemetary, Jonah was very hesitant about placing a rose on her casket. He was afraid he would trip and fall in the rectangular hole underneath it. I held his hand so that he could do it, and he was the last to put a rose on there for his Great Grandma.

I will never forget what transpired this last week...family closeness and togetherness , and love felt and expressed, through: traveling hours and hours to reach multiple memorial destinations, singing "How Great Thou Art", holding my grandma's hand, wrapping my arms around my grandpa, reassuring my dad, comforting my mom, listening to my sisters, laughing with all my siblings, enjoying company of cousins and close family at lunch, perusing family albums, seeing photographs of my grandma in her younger years, hearing my grandpa talk of his past and sharing his sorrow. What a week, a long and glorious week, all to celebrate the life my Grandmother lived. An honorable, commendable, exemplary life. I am so privileged to have had this one-of-a-kind woman as my grandma!
(photo courtesy of Trina)

QOTD humor

Me: "I'm singing the National Anthem at the H.S. football game on Friday"
Josh: (surprised) "Really? Have you ever sang it before?"
Me: "Yes...I AM an American!"

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Kanyon pointed out SpongeBob on Micah's shirt.
Then Micah pointed at Kanyon's shirt and said: "Look, there's LIZE BUTTYEAR!" (he was wearing a Buzz Lightyear shirt)

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Jonah: "Mommy, are we going to town today"
Me: "No"
Jonah: "I want to come with you!"

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Ammon: "Do you think the tooth fairy pays extra for a braces bracket on a lost tooth? My dentist told me to tell you that it was worth more."

Today

Today my grandma lived her last day on earth.

Today my son said to me "I'm glad I got to meet her before she died".

Today I cried. Today I relived memories from my childhood with my grandma...like the time I didn't eat all my carrots at her house, and all the times spent on the lake by her home, the times we went shopping together, the times we ate at the buffet in our nice "going-to-town" clothes, the times we colored in her "special" books, the times we sat on her yellow swing talking.

Today I had memories from my adulthood: talking with her at Aunt Candi's funeral, visiting her in her new house, surprising her on her birthday two years ago with all my sisters present, watching my children interact with her and grandpa, eating at her favorite restaurant with her, shopping with her and Tawna, listening to her as she retold experiences.

Today I thought about how much I loved her. I loved her stories. I loved her laugh. I loved her blunt personality. I loved her food. I loved her house. I loved how she never forgot a birthday. I loved how she remembered every detail of the past. I loved how she believed in herself. I loved how she valued the gospel. I loved her for who she was.

Today things have changed. The Perkins family matriarch is gone. My wonderful, humorous, beautiful grandmother Augusta Rigby Perkins has passed on to the next life. She will be greatly missed.

Bi-Polar

Sometimes I wake up feeling like this:
But what I want to feel like is this:
Some days I transform.

But some days I don't.

the Lil' Munchkins' Patch of Pumpkins

Step-by-Step of how we grew our Pumpkin Patch from Scratch:

1. Picked Rocks from the Field

2. Tilled the Soil
3. Planted the Seeds
4. Weeded the Patch

5. Watered the Plants
6. Weeded the Patch some more

7. Watched the fruits of our labor grow

8. Watched the growing pumpkins change color

9. Plucked the pumpkins from the dying vines10. Sell the pumpkins....
Our patch will be open on Saturdays October 17 and October 24 from 11am to 5pm.
Come on over and pick out your own pumpkin; we have over 450 to choose from in 3 different varieties!!!

Merry Maids

I woke up to the sound of clanking dishes, and humming children. I went into the kitchen and found this:

It's every mother's DREAM!!! Putting away the dishes is their new favorite chore, and they didn't even start by being asked to do it! I don't know what inspired them to begin doing it, but I hope it's a phase that lasts for a while!!!

Lesson in Cake Decorating for the Dextrous Impaired

For weeks prior to their birthday, Jonah and Micah insisted that they wanted a SpongeBob Ice Cream Chocolate Cake. Unfortunately, their birthday was right around the same time as several other things, like Alyssa's bridal shower (which I gave), and soccer games (which I was in charge of), and the wedding (remember the reception was in our backyard?). So, uh, yeah...the birthday creeped up on me.
The day before our family birthday party for the twins, I remembered about the cake. I'm no cake decorator like my mother; I can't control my hands well enough to even squeeze the frosting out in legible letters! I called Josh, who was in town, and told him to go to the store. It was a Saturday, and the bakers had already left. There was no SpongeBob cake readily available. We live in a very small town with limited resources, as in ONE grocery store, and the grocery store is closed on Sunday. So there was nowhere else to go. Josh called me, and told me the choices available. I had him get one with red roses, because the cake and ice cream fillings were the right flavor.
I went to Alco on Sunday (sinner!) and got a SpongeBob coloring book. I cut out SpongeBob off the cover of the book in Relief Society (shame on me). The party was after church. So, as soon as we got home, I cut the flowers off the cake, put the SpongeBob cut-out on the cake, added some blue frosting around it to blend, and added a little birthday insignia. By that time, there was no room for their names!!!
VOILA:So there you have it! I'm either clever or foolish, but either way...Mission Accomplished!!!

1 Birthday, 2 Boys, 3 Parties, 6 Years

The birthdate: September 22

The boys: Jonah and Micah

Party #1: With the Perkins family earlier in the month before we went to Lagoon. Grandma made a nice dinner of Lasagna, Corn on the Cob, Salad, and French Bread especially for the boys. We got to eat it outside on their deck. Then the twins opened gifts and we had Soccer Cake and Napoleon Ice Cream.
Party #2: With the Tolman family earlier in the week before Gideon and Alyssa left on their honeymoon. We ate dinner outside, and had SpongeBob Ice Cream Cake and the boys opened more gifts.
Party #3: With their Kindergarten class on their actual birthdate. The boys were sang to, got birthday spankings, and ate cookies and M&M's!!!

My boys are now 6!!! I can't believe 6 years have passed since they were born. Every year around their birthday, I have nostalgic feelings about the circumstances surrounding their birth. They've really grown and I'm so grateful! I love my boys! At the age of 6, their favorites are:
Jonah: food-lasagna and pizza, colors-blue, green and red, game-Memory, book-Cookie's Week and Berenstain Bears, toy-nintendo and cars, friend-Wyatt.
Micah: food-macaroni & cheese with hot dogs, colors-green, red and orange, game-Charades, book-Runaway Bear, toy-monster trucks and cars, friend-Wyatt.

Handsomeness

My fine-looking boys on Primary Program Sunday!

The three older boys participated and spoke their parts well. Ammon talked about temples, Jonah talked about extended family, Micah talked about love. I love Primary Program Sunday! It's so fun to see and hear all the children on the stand, and so nice to sit right next to my husband rather than being separated with kids in between, and lovely to just have to take care of shushing one during the church meeting instead of four!!! It's too bad Primary Program Sunday is only once a year!!!

09-18-09

Meet the newest Mr. and Mrs. Tolman:

It was such a beautiful wedding.

(the siblings and spouses, minus missionary Malachi)

We all sincerely love both Gideon and Alyssa.

We couldn't be happier for the cute couple!

it tastes FERBulous!!!

I was afraid the boys might have a little difficulty in eating our pig Ferb.

That hasn't been the case at all.

"It tastes a little different than the skinny bacon we buy at the store," said Ammon.

"Which one do you like better, the store bacon or Ferb's bacon?" I asked.

"Definitely eating Ferb!!!" he replied.

Every time I cook bacon, the delicious smell envelopes our home by way of smoke.

Lots and lots of smoke.

Which always produces two on-call firemen.

They get their hats on and are quickly ready to attack the smoke with their imaginary extinguishers.

Riding the Rapids...

...the RATTLESNAKE Rapids!

BEFORE
DURING (we all knew what was coming)
AFTER

All 4 Fun, and...

We gave the boys a choice for our family fall vacation trip this year: either a day trip to Lagoon or camping at the St. Anthony Sand Dunes. After some discussion about what both choices included, all 3 older boys voted for Lagoon.

For weeks before the trip, the twins talked about what they would do at "Magoon". Ammon has been several times with both sets of grandparents and uncles and aunts, but the twins didn't remember it from the time I took them when they were 3. I still haven't forgotten it, which is why it took me another 3 years to return!!!

This was my favorite trip to Lagoon of my entire adult life! I was so happy all day! Josh and I took the 3 older boys, and my sisters Tawna and Trina came with us. My mom was gracious to babysit Kanyon for the day (he would've hated it because of the crowds and the noise), and they had a grand time together in our absence. It worked out wonderfully to have so many adults in our party, because every child always had a buddy to ride with. I enjoyed the company immensely; I loved being with my sisters, and I loved watching my boys have fun in the park. It was so worth every penny!

The park has changed a lot since I last went 3 years ago, and even more so since Josh last went 10 years ago! I loved riding some of the newer attractions: Cliffhanger, Dinosaur Egg Drop, the Bat, OdySea, and my ultimate favorite--Wicked. Ammon and I got soaked on Cliffhanger, and again on the Hydro Luge, and again on OdySea, and we all got wet on Rattlesnake Rapids! The weather was so nice, even for September, so we dried off in between rather fast.

Jonah was very hesitant to ride any of the rides, but I was insistent that he go on some, and thankfully by the afternoon he was more comfortable! We all went on the Roller Coaster twice, the first time he was scared out of his mind, but the second time he said it was fun!

Ammon and Micah were not scared at all to ride anything! They went on the Musik Express and the Jumping Dragon and the Tilt-A-Whirl, all of which spin rapidly and made me nauseous just looking at them! Thank goodness for my sisters who accompanied them on multiple rides!

Josh and I are too old for spinning rides, and apparently we are also now too old for Colossus. It kicked our butts--we were both a little sick the whole rest of the day after riding it. I remember riding it five times in a row as a teenager, I am sad to say those days are long gone!!!

I would love going back to Lagoon again now, and actually look forward to it! Maybe in a few years we can even go to Disneyland, the ultimate happy place!!!

after Cliffhanger

after Wicked

Musik Express (I love this photo--Ammon is laughing so hard, and Micah looks so frightened and is clinging to the rod!!!)

riding Puff (does Katrina look bored to you?! )

the Train

Tilt-A-Whirl

Dinosaur Egg Drop
Bumper Car smashing

Roller Coaster buddies

Sky Ride buddies