more pics...

I copied pictures from my dad's camera of a few more pictures of the graveside service for my cousin Matt. The pallbearers - all of Matt's brother in laws and cousins.

His sister putting a flower on his casket
One of Matt's little nieces also putting a flower on with her daddy

Matt's girlfriend and another sister

His nieces and nephews and cousins saying goodbye

Cousins and Uncle

more cousins (my other sister Tammy and her husband)

Matt's sister and her best girlfriends

me and my sister Tammi

Matt was buried close to our grandparents. I wasn't able to attend my grandma's funeral because I was 9 months pregnant and her funeral was in CA so I stayed behind in Utah. This was the first time I had seen her grave marker. I'm glad Matt is buried close by our grandparents.

Discontinued scents

This is a list of scents that are going to be discontinued Feb. 28th. I don't normally post stuff like this but people have been wanting scents that were discontinued in the past and wanted to know why I never told them! So I am telling you now! Order before Feb 28th if any of your favorites are on this list: (like my FAVORITES, Silver Bells and Pumpkin Roll!)

Guava Nectar
Sentimental Cider
Central Park
Christmas Cottage
Christmas Tree
Cozy Fireside
Eskimo Kiss
Gingersnap
Poinsettia Pine
Snowberry
Spiced Grapefruit
Winter Wonderland
Twilight
Vanilla Suede
Peligro
Rustic Lodge
Clarity
Rainforest
Cranberry Spice
Just Peachy Ginger
Pumpkin Roll
Toasted Carmel Sugar
Vanilla Walnut
Maple Butter
Silver Bells

our trip to CA to remember Matt

We got home from our cruise Friday night at 10pm, went to bed, got up the next morning at 6am, took Brian's mom to the airport, unpacked our bags, re-packed our bags, and head out to CA at 11am. We arrived that night in CA and went strait to the hotel and to bed. Carli was a horrid sleeper. The kids all fell asleep around 9pm but not Miss Carli. She was up until 12:30 and then she woke up at 4:30. UGH! The kids all then woke up around 6am. We got dressed and ate breakfast and then started driving around and looking for parks for the kids to play at. Finally got a hold of my parents and they told us to go to my aunt and uncle's house. We arrived and all of the cousins were there. My kids LOVE those cousins so much, just as I love my cousins so much. After being there for a couple of hours, the cousins had a race around the block, to get some fresh air and to get the wiggles out.

Even Carli was getting in on the action! They ran around the block several times and it was good exercise and a breath of fresh beautiful air!

I didn't see it, but I was told that when Carli and her BFF saw each other, they hugged for 5 minutes. They were inseperable the whole entire weekend. If I ever couldn't find Carli, I just would look for BFF and there she was!

Later that day, we all took the kids to a little zoo in Loomis.

All the cousins... I wish they all lived closer together but most of them live in Hawaii!

I don't know how my cousins feels about me posting pictures on my blog from this tragedy, so this is the only one I will post. The funeral was beautiful. There were tears and there were smiles as Matt was remembered. His sister and his best friend gave fabulous talks. They both remembered funny moments with Matt and also expressed their heartache too. One funny thing that his friend said is, "If Matt were here, he'd hook me up with some Valium!" And a tender moment is when he said, "I didn't look up to Matt. I just looked by my side and he was always there." Matt's sister expressed that Matt was her hero and how much her kids loved and admired him. Matt is truly a soul that will never be forgotten and he was absolutely admired in his profession, in his family, and with his friends.

I wish we could have spent more time in CA with this family but unfortunately, we had to head home. We love you guys SO much! Words can't even express...

Some of my memories of Matt:

When Jeff and Matt were younger, they caught frogs. Jeff named his Frog Matt, and Matt named his frog Jeff.

Matt at a very young age wanted to be a doctor (like 10-12 yrs old) and this one time we were driving in my cousins brown station wagon and we memorized that he wanted to be an "Anesthesiological Pulminary Profusionist." I still remember that long word and I'm not even really sure if it's the name of a profession or just 3 really long words that sound cool!

When my mom and I moved to Utah for a summer so my mom could attend BYU, my dad and Jeff stayed in CA. Matt and Jeff played a lot that summer together and I remember Jeff told me that they had a mac n cheese contest, to see which one of them could cook up their box of mac n cheese the fastest AND eat it. He said the noodles weren't even really cooked, haha!

Our families spent MANY MANY days together, since we only lived 10 minutes apart - at the beach during the summer and sometimes winter, sleepovers, family parties, skiing trips, trips to Utah etc...

Matt used to tease his sister and call her "Cricket." One time there was a cricket in his parents house and he said, "Hey Cricket, there's your brother!" ;)

My friends in CA were always commenting that they wished they had as close of a relationship with their cousins as we did. We can owe that closness to our Mom's who were best of friends, therefore, us kids were best of friends too.

When I was in college, Matt and his sisters and I all lived within walking distance from each other. We got together and had dinners together sometimes, or we would run into each other, we would fly home to visit our families on the same flights, etc... Those were some great times and I don't think I would have survived my first time away from home without the comfort of my cousins.

Last summer, we took our kids to CA to visit and stopped in to see the cousins in Loomis. Looking back now, we are so grateful that Matt was home and we were able to talk and laugh with him. We harassed him about his mom doing everything for him and he just took it and laughed like he always did.

Then we saw him again in Bear Lake later that summer for a few days. It was such a blessed family reunion, one that we all had really been looking forward to. He was there, all smiles and laughter. I know he was looking forward to Bear Lake again this summer.

**

I know that many hearts are broken. Only time will try to heal these broken hearts but he will never be forgotten. "Well done, thou good and faithful servent. Enter into my rest"

the cruise!

We arrived in Miami after a long day of flying in the evening and after checking into the Mariott (which Scentsy paid for), we went to dinner. Brian wanted us to share a meal so he chose this interesting concoction which was ok, but a little scary. It was a fish and rice dish but there were all sorts of odd fishy things in it, like octopus, white fish, grey fish, shrimp etc... I never quite knew what I was biting into, which worried me! And then those tall things are fried bananas.

The next morning (monday), we had a Scentsy training and then they bused us to the ship. The boarding process is just that, a process! But we finally arrived to our stateroom. We thought we had upgraded and gotten a big ol' room, but really, we were just floor 3, not floor 11 like the uppercrust! But it was fun and cozy.

These are the waiters from a restaurant on the ship called Johnny Rockets. They were singing and dancing, it was cute.

Getting ready to leave Miami

the rockwall

the basketball court

the pool

still waiting to leave

ahh, relaxation as we take off!

who owns those ginormous houses? Also, it was really cool because there was a highway and a lot of cars had their windows rolled down and were honking and waving! A little Bon Voyage from the locals!

Miami Beach

Our first port was in Key West, FL. It was perfect weather and really nice and clean. My friend Kim told me we had to get Key Lime Pie dipped in chocolate on a stick. We stopped at a place called Kermits (a chef that is on the Food Channel owns this place)... it was soooooooooooooooo good! One of my favorite treats while we were on our cruise!

There are always the dudes that are trying to make a buck. Some odd fellow that you could pay to take your picture with him. He was standing on stilts too.

We went to the Ripleys Believe it or Not museum. This is the world tallest man (a wax figure of him)

I took this picture for my sister, Tammi, who loves Madonna. Her underwear from her "Like a Virgin" video.

our ship from afar

our future yacht that we plan to buy! ;)

Naussau, Bahamas. Disgusting, filthy, scary place. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when we stopped here. The main street was just fine, but don't go walking anywhere else alone or you might not make it back to the ship alive. I was scared out of my mind 2 times when we tried to walk around the town. The 2nd time, we were pretty far away from main street, and there was a man walking on the other side of the street, next to us. I was nervous. Then up ahead of us was an old rundown house with 3 more guys on the porch pacing back and forth. The guy on the other side of the street crossed the street and started walking behind us. I felt like we were walking into a trap. I was super scared. Brian didn't understand what the big deal was but I made a uturn and was outta there. He called me "un-adventurous" but after talking to several people, he gets that it is not a place to walk around in. The crime rate is through the roof and I was not about to be another statistic. I marched right back on the ship and that was the end of our time in Naussau.

The beautiful blue ocean was the only thing we saw of our next stop, Cococay. The waters were too rough and we weren't allowed to get off the ship. Instead, they took us back to Miami. So Keywest ended up being the best stop. The water is blue like Carli's eyes. It was beautiful!

our table of friends at dinner every night. These people ended up being our favorite friends on the ship!

All of our waiters singing...

At the dinners, we were allowed to order whatever we wanted (it was included in the price of the cruise) so the last night, our friend Tressa decided to order all of the desserts. It was a funny site!

We got close with our waiters because we sat at the same table every night so we got to know them. Our head waiter brought a funny dessert out for Brian... we had to get a picture of it.

Everyday, the stateroom assistants would leave towel animals on our bed. One day, they put Brian's sunglasses on one of them. It was a fun surprise!

It was a really fun time. There were a lot of shows on the ship and the cruise director, Dave was awesome. I think he kept the cruise rockin' with fun activities. Everyone loved him! There was a Love and Marriage game that was like the newlywed game. It was hands down THE FUNNIEST show we have ever seen. Some of our friends we met at the cruise watched it too and I'll tell you what, it was the talk of the ship the next day. There was a couple that had been married for 4 days on the ship, a couple that had been married for 10 years (they were a Scentsy couple and they were drunk as can be), and then a couple that had been married for 56 years. SO Funny!

We look forward to doing more cruises and we want to take our kids next time!

Logan's big 0-6!

Logan turned 6 a couple of weeks ago.. right on the heals of my cousin's passing away. It was a hard night for my side of the family, but everyone put on their game faces and helped celebrate. Brian's family also came. It's the year for family parties, instead of friends parties. It was a great party though!

The following pictures are a crack up! The present unwrapping was mayhem. I always forget how crazy it is for Logan's birthday, and then I make sure the rest of the kids parties aren't as crazy. Logan kept handing Jackson his birthday cards and saying, "read this!" So in all of the pictures, while Logan is tearing into presents, Jackson is dutifully reading him the birthday cards.

every single one!

still reading!

and still reading...

there were actually 2 more pictures of him reading the cards but I think you get the idea!

the Star Wars cake!

thank you for coming!