OUR FIRST MISSIONARY

What an incredible experience it has been getting Daniel ready for his mission. One minute I am so proud and happy. I know that this is what he should be doing and I wouldn't want him to be anywhere else. The next minute I am bawling my eyes out!

I can't believe I won't see my son for two years! I feel like my heart has been ripped out and a piece of it is going to Hawaii!

It's been a week since we left him at the MTC and we have received the most beautiful heartfelt letters from him He loves it! He loves what he is doing and his health (meaning his diabetes) has been incredibly wonderful. He got an insulin pump just before he left and that has been a huge relief for him!

We miss him tons, but we are so PROUD!

CARTER'S SPECIAL DAY

Today is Carter's 4th birthday. I can't believe he has been with our family for four years!!

I love Carter, (as if you can't tell already)! He has brought this Grandma so much joy. People told my how great it was to be a Grandma but until you experience it you just can't begin to imagine how much fun grandchildren are.

I told Carter the other day that I love that Easton boy. He has been so fun to have in our family and has added another dimension to our family. But there is something special about the first grandchild. Carter will always hold a special place in my heart because he was number 1. I saw this between my Grandma Gurney and Christine and my Mom and Christine when she was young. I couldn't understand it then, but I do now.

Happy Birthday, my sweet wonderful, cute boy!! We love you so very much.

ONE OF MY MOM'S FAVORITE DAYS

Today is one of my Mom's favorite days to celebrate. She LOVES April Fool's day! But may I say that I am so very glad that she is out of town today because I can relax and not worry about everything I eat, get into, get out of, etc.

My mom can think of more things to do on April Fools. We learned that we didn't eat anything without checking it first. You were careful about getting out of bed in the morning and getting in bed at night. She has pulled so many tricks on friends and family that it surprises me that they are still speaking to us! If you want to know any good tricks to pull on someone, just ask the pro, my Mother. I have met no one that out does her when it comes to April Fools day!

(I love you Mom!)

EASTER

We had such a nice day on Easter Sunday. The weather was beautiful and the food was delicious and the company was superb!

My sister Mary Jo and her family came, and Christine and Brad and the boys. We had an Easter egg hunt while we were waiting for the food to finish cooking. We ate Honey Baked Ham, Lawrey's potatoes as my family calls them, green bean casserole and carrots from our garden last year that we picked a few weeks ago. Mary Jo made a wonderful strawberry shortcake dessert to top it off with.

I always do Easter baskets for all my children and grandchildren. Carter had found this lamb at Target when he was with Christine. When they went to leave and she made him put it back he was so very sad, so she suggested that I get it for him and put it in his Easter basket. When he saw it he got the cutest look on his face. He looked like he couldn't figure out how that lamb got here at Grandma's house. Then throughout the evening he must have asked my five times if he could have it and if he could take it home. It was sooooo cute!

The whole day was just a relaxing, good food, fun time. My Mom was ill and my Dad stopped by to visit and pick up some food for them. We missed having them with us and the rest of my family who had other plans. We just had the best time being together, playing a game, and laughing together. (Even Griffin our dog loved egg hunting.)

Lacrosse Season

Well it's Lacrosse season at our house. This means that we don't see Jason very much because of a two hour practice everyday. Then it's either homework or work at Best Buy that takes him away for the rest of the night. He loves it though, and he is happiest when he is in the hight of the season.

This season has been a little different for us. Jason has usually played on the Junior Varsity team and this year he went up to the Varsity. We are used to Jason playing most of the game and scoring most of the goals. He was the highest scorer on the team last year. This year he is on the second line and hasn't played very much, but he has scored two goals already.

I'm over all the score keepers for all four Lacrosse teams for Lone Peak. This has kept me very, very busy the past few months. Once I get through training everyone and get the schedules set than I can usually sit back and enjoy the games. I'm looking forward to that day!

We love it though. It's a great sport. If your kids are thinking about going into Lacrosse, let them!

(Jason is #18 and in the maroon and black uniform. The other guy is from Murray High)

Our Easton Is ONE! (Already!)

I can't believe that we have had Easton with us for one whole year. It just doesn't seem that long since he joined our family.

He has been such a joy! He has such a different personality than Carter. A personality that reminds me of his Mother's. He is very determined and a go getter but tender hearted. I have the two cutest grandson's, don't I?!

They celebrated by going to Chuck-O-Rama for dinner. Easton loves to eat and so everybody went for a pig-out. Unfortunately I had to miss it because I got sick. It made me even more sick that I had to miss Easton's first birthday party!

After eating they all went to Christine's to eat cake and ice cream. Easton would hardly touch his piece of cake that Christine put in front of him. The frosting must have scared him or something because this kid usually will eat most anything put in front of him!

Well happy 1st birthday Easton. We love you!

My Daughter, My Friend, My Motivation

Twenty Eight years ago yesterday my life changed forever! My only daughter was born. After over 18 hours of labor they put the most beautiful baby on my stomach and I took one look at her and wondered what I had done. I felt so overwhelmed with the responsibility that was just given me.

She has been such a joy in my life. She has been my motivation to keep going, she has been my motivation to challenge myself because she was always challenging me!

There are not words to tell her how much I love and appreciate her. There are not enough descriptive words to tell her how proud I am of her and the life she has chosen for herself.

Christine, whatever it is I did to deserve you, I am glad I did it!

She was the first grandchild on my side of the family, and the first great grandchild for my Grandma & Grandpa Gurney (my mom's mother & father). So she has always been a little special because she was the first.

We had so much fun celebrating with her yesterday. It's a tradition in our family that the birthday person gets to choose their favorite meal. Christine chose prime rib, potatoes, green bean casserole and for dessert she wanted banana cream pie. It was so yummy, even if I do say so myself. Our mouths had been watering for days and it was great to finally sink our teeth into the meal.

My Dad and Mom joined us for dinner and then some of the rest of my family joined us for dessert. It was a great day!

Happy Birthday my daughter!

Wow Time Flies!

I haven't posted for so long, I don't know where to start. I've been so busy with Lacrosse season starting. I am over the score keeper's and I have to organize, beg and plead for more help since we have four teams. I have had to train and I'm still training and get the items necessary for everybody to score keep! I love doing it once the games start, but the pre-game stuff is really tiring!











The funnest thing we did was go up to Mutual Dell in American Fork Canyon for Mary Jo's son's Cody and Cameron's birthday party. We went sledding, we ate and played games and just had a great time! My Dad even got in on the sledding! I was so surprised. I can tell he is feeling better from his Chemo to join in on things like this.


















Jory, Mary Jo's husband built the most awesome snow couple! He is so talented when it comes to being creative with his hands!












They are remodeling Mutual Dell. I remember going there after it was first built for a mutual outing. Oh, the memories it brought back being there!

Wow am I feeling old!

WOW!

Look! No Snow!! I even hear birds singing in the trees next door. It's so fun to see the tulips and other spring flowers poking their heads through the ground and feel the warmth of spring trying to get through each day!

Well, we're enjoying spring one last day before the snow comes again tomorrow. But it will be back in a few days. Isn't it great!

Cabin Bliss

We went to the cabin over the long weekend and we had so much fun that we extended our stay another day. The snow is the best it's been in years and we had so much fun on the snowmobiles and sledding.



As always we had plenty of food and stuffed ourselves. We enjoyed playing Settler's Of Catan, Hotels, and Canasta. Daniel had fun showing everybody how he gives himself his insulin shots, Christine was even brave enough to give him one. I can't get myself there yet.








We were so pleased and surprised that my parents came out for Monday afternoon. It was so fun having them and Suzanne and her girls join us. My Mother will be talking about her snowmobile ride for months to come.




Christine and Brad made the trip eventful by locking their keys in the car turned to the "on" position. (The car wasn't running, the keys were just turned on.) Needless to say their battery was dead and so we had fun breaking into their car and jump starting them on their way.





We have a tradition of burning our Christmas tree at the cabin on New Year's. Unfortunately we didn't make it up to the cabin this year to do so. We had taken our tree out on an earlier trip and when we got there this time all you could see of the tree was the tip of it. But Scott dug it out and we lit it on fire for our traditional tree burning event.

The nights were so clear and bright from the moon that you could see as clear as if it were dawn or dusk. The days were warm and bright and we were out of the inversion and so it was wonderful all the way around.

Are We Surprised?

Well it's snowing again. It snowed yesterday and and we are in for more today and Sunday. Why do I keep having this fear that it's all going to thaw at one time and we are going to be in trouble come spring?

Snow, Snow And More Snow

We have so much snow. For some people it's getting to the point that they don't know where to put any more of it. The piles are so high in places that you feel like you are driving or walking through tunnels of it.


In this picture the snow on the trampoline has melted and fallen to the middle and then the melted snow has turned to ice. So the trampoline is being pulled down in the middle with an ice flow.

The storm the other day was so bad that roads were closed because there was white out conditions. Some children had to stay at Ridgeline Elementary overnight, and poor Scott spent 2 1/2 hours getting from Provo to the Alpine exit which normally takes about 20 minutes.

Now some people say they are sick of the snow, but it just reminds me of how it used to be here when I was growing up and I think most of it is so fun.

Well spring will be here soon. We know that there is an end in sight.