My Sister, Katalin

Obituary

News Story

I have so many thoughts and they are so jumbled that this will probably not make much sense at all.  But I want to get it out...

A couple months ago, when I decided that we should go "home" (my hometown) for Christmas, I told Britton that I just felt that it was something we should do while we had the time.  I remembered just yesterday what I said to Britton; "You know, everyone is just not going to be around forever."  Truthfully, I was thinking about Jack and Miles' grandparents and how they need to be building relationships with them.  I am so grateful for that still small voice and that I listened to it.

I haven't been particularly close to my step-sisters growing up (although that is something I am trying hard to change), so I'm extremely grateful that Katalin has always been willing to reach out to me and include me in her life.  When she first became pregnant, I was thrilled to get a call from her telling me all about it.  She was so excited and it was impossible to be unhappy for her.  All her 20 years, she has been addicted to babies, children, and animals (puppies mostly).  She has the biggest heart and is probably the sweetest person you could meet, and as I'm sitting here thinking about it, I don't believe I have ever heard her speak poorly of anyone.

I am so happy that Katalin called me after every doctor's appointment to tell me how it went and how the baby was doing.  I think I got to know her more through those "update" calls, than I had through all our younger years.

She and Oscar were highschool sweethearts, and I knew he was special from the first time I met him.  Their love for each other was something you could feel just being around them even if they weren't standing beside each other.  They have always made us feel important and appreciated and we very much enjoyed spending time with them.  He is a good man and I love and admire him for who he was for her and who he is for their baby, Benjamin.

Benjamin is the sweetest baby boy.  He is beautiful and healthy and growing stronger every day.  We are honored to have him for a nephew.

I can't be sad for the past...she lived her life well.  I am mostly sad for this empty space she has left in my life.

Funny Kids

Not too long ago, Jack started to understand the idea of pretending.  It's too cute :)  I don't know where he got it from, but he has been pretending to be a giant.  He'll get up onto my bed so he's really high, and say, "Fee, Fo, Five!". I've tried telling him it's "Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum", but it doesn't stick Hahaha. (Sorry it's so dark!)

And here is one of Miles, at 4 months, playing Peek-a-Boo with me.

And here's a bonus picture...Jack was so proud of his "castle".

Halloween

So, yeah......I'm posting about Halloween well into December, I know!  But posting, nonetheless :)

On the Family Night before Halloween, we carved pumpkins and it was fun!  Jack still didn't want to touch the pumpkin guts again this year, hahaha.

Britton and Jack's pumpkin

Mine took a lot longer.  (And, no, I wasn't planning to have my picture taken...not one of my best moments, but what can you do?!?!)

The pillar in front of our house takes a nice picture, huh...NOPE!  But here we are (Minus Miles since it was so cold out), with our carving display.

The day before Halloween, we got the cousin's in Britton's family together for a costume lunch.  It was fun to hang out and let them play.

We had a Ute fan, a mad scientist, 2 ninjas, a HSM cheerleader, 2 sweet witches, a squeaky mouse, a monkey and a vampire.

After the costume lunch dealio, we went up to Britton's law school for some trick-or-treating.  One of Britton's friends there, snapped this awesome picture of Jack.

SO many boys around Jack's age were monkeys this year, I saw them everywhere!!  A couple of Jack's friends were even the same exact monkey...we were able to get a picture with Jack's friend, Phoenix :)

We got the cousins from my side of the family together on Halloween night.  We had some chili and cornbread before heading out for trick-or-treating.

We had a monkey, a knight, a princess, a fairy, a bug and a ladybug...TOO cute!!  (Miles was already in bed).

Mr. Miles, the Pumpkin! :D

My little Sailor

So Jack has a new obsession.  It started with the string attached to this little phone.  He would drag this phone all over the house and TIE it up to anything and EVERYTHING.  I wish that I had caught some of the better places and better knots he had made on camera, but this is what I got.  He even tied some pretty impressive slip knots with this phone to Miles' baby chair...I'm sure of it happening twice, but there might have been a 3rd time even.

Then he figured out that shoe laces are "strings" just like the one on the phone and started playing with them and tying them up all crazy-like.  I even pulled the laces out of these church shoes one day at church and handed them over for him to play with so he would stay quiet.  Kept him busy for a whole 45 minutes!

What's funny is now he's moving on to bigger and better.  He has stolen the shoe laces from Britton's tennis shoes and will spend so much time just "tying" them to something...now it's mostly his hands, feet, arms, etc.  Kinda scares me a little bit, but he's pretty good and I keep an eye on him with it.

PS.  For those of you who care...I fixed the problem with the videos on the last post and they are now viewable if you want to go back and take a look :D

Fall Break Fun!

Saturday

Britton took some cute shots of Jack and Miles together and this is my favorite!!

Sunday

We had lots of fun just playing around.  It was TOO funny! 

Britton would just pretend that he was tickling Jack and Jack would start laughing hysterically.  I love that Britton has taught Jack to be so polite, it's too cute that Jack keeps saying, "Please don't!!"

Playing Superman...

...and tickling Daddy

I LOVE Miles' "little stinker" face...he obviously thinks that biting is a laughing matter, HA!

Yes, he's all pleased with himself :)

Monday

We had Jack's friend over to play.  I heard Jack calling me from his bedroom, but the sound was all muffled.  He wanted me to come find him...this is how it went down...

Jack Ruth

Tuesday

Hmmm, I don't think we did anything "fun" on Tuesday.

Wednesday

We had some free passes to Trafalga and thought Jack would really like putt-putt golf, but we were wrong!  Jack wasn't too into it and after like 10 holes we had to skip to plan B - the arcade :)

It started off well, this is the first hole...

...this is like the 4th or 5th hole and everything went downhill after this, hahaha!

Thursday

A fun trip to Discovery Gateway!

Miles hanging out in the carrier.

Making music

It was a close call figuring out who had more fun playing in the water...Jack or Daddy!

Making slime - can you see the happiness on Jack's face?

Friday

The Living Planet Aquarium :)

I'm trying to get Jack to touch one of the (sting?) rays

You all may laugh, but this was one of the scariest things I've done lately.  I wanted to show Jack that it was safe and could be fun and cool to feel the sea creatures in the touch pool.  It was the hardest thing to act like it was no big deal, and I actually did get to touch one, but I was shaking!  Jack never did - maybe he will one day, but I am only that much stronger now, right?!?!?

No explanation needed, LOL!

It took me a couple tries, but I was finally able to get a shot of Britton and Jack with a shark in the background.

Jack Atack

Jack has never liked having the sun in his face while riding in the car...since he was a baby. Today we were riding in the car and he says, "Ewww, yuck, Momma! Sun, ewww YUCK!!", as he was trying to lean his head as far as possible out of the sunlight.

Family Pictures 2009

My sister, Becky, was so nice to take our family pictures this year.  We went down to Wheeler farm and got some cute shots.  Of course, you all know which my favorite is (at the top of the blog), but I also wanted to post some of the lot (really hard to choose between them, but here's a good variety for ya).  Enjoy, and thank you Becky!!!!

Random

Here are some random pictures from August and September...

I caught one of Miles' first smiles on camera, yay!

My birthday was great, I got my hair done, a pedicure and a wonderful dinner! (And probably other stuff that I'm not remembering.)

Britton was going to make me a cake, but then my friend Erin brought this giant cookie over, so we just stuck some candles in it instead - Thanks Erin, it was SOOOO delicious!  (We didn't have 29 candles, so we put 2 on one side and 9 on the other...not quite the forest fire we were hoping for, hahaha!)

Jack being silly

Me and Miles just chillin'

I just love this pic :)

One morning, I was checking my email and I turned around to find Jack "reading" to Miles - too cute!

I am always just taking random baby shots...Miles is growing up so fast!

Jack is too funny!  He was watching a show on tv and I saw him like this...with his toe in his mouth, gross!!  I told him to take it out, but when he didn't respond, I realized he was in a "trance".  So I pulled out the camera and took 3 shots (with flash) before he even realized what I was doing.  LOL!

Jack Attack

Standing up on my bed, looking down at me, Jack says, "Fee, fo, five...I'm a giant!"

Kirtland, Ohio!

We went to Kirtland!!  It was such a WONDERFUL trip; the area is beautiful, the historical sites are incredible, but seeing Britton's family was definitely the best part.

As you all know, we had a slam-packed summer.  When Miles was born on July 6th, Britton was here for almost a week before having to go back to Las Vegas to finish out his summer position at the law firm down there.  His last day was Friday, August 7th and after work he drove straight home.  We were so HAPPY to have him back, but there wasn't much time to rest since we were leaving for Kirtland on Tuesday.

Britton's parents were called as the directors of the Kirtland Ohio Visitors Center and began their mission back in January of 2008.  When they told us the good news, they also asked us to make every effort to visit sometime during the 2 years (recently extended to 3 years), and of course we were only too happy to oblige their request (especially since I have never before visited a church historical site...well, except temple square).  We made plans to visit earlier, but then found out we were expecting Miles, so we decided to wait until he was born.  Although we had been thinking to visit Kirtland during Britton's fall break, we decided to move it up when we found out he would have some "free time" in between the internship and the beginning of the semester.  I am SO glad we took advantage of that opportunity.  Britton's parents were able to meet Miles when he was just 1 month old and we even blessed him while we were there.  It will always be a fun memory for us and hopefully for Miles too.  Here are some pictures from our trip...

Our first little adventure was a drive out to "Amish country" the day after we arrived.  It was interesting to witness their simple culture.  This is a picture of an Amish lawn mower.

We stopped at an Amish lady's quilt shop and Jack loved seeing the goats.

That same night, Britton and his dad went to an Indians baseball game and had a lot of fun.

Britton and I toured the Kirtland Temple (which is owned by the Community of Christ church, previously RLDS)

Jack sitting out on Grandma and Grandpa's porch blowing bubbles.

Grandma and Jack - isn't that face pure joy?!?!

Me, Britton and his dad in Eliza Snow's home.  The gentleman who currently owns the home was so kind to take us on an impromptu tour.

Me with Miles, Britton and Jack on the front porch of the Johnson home.  For those of you who don't remember, but are familiar with church history; this is where the Prophet Joseph Smith and his family were living (in the room directly to the left after walking through this door) when a mob removed him from the home and carried him some distance away to tar and feather him.  This is the door that was left open that night which resulted in the death of Joseph and Emma's adopted son (Joseph Murdock Smith, 11months old).  This is also the porch where Joseph stood to preach the morning directly after being tarred and feathered.  It was an amazing spirit that we felt during the tour of this special home.

Britton's brother Jason was able to make the trip from Chicago to be there for Miles' blessing.  It was SO nice to visit with them too.  This is Jack and his cousin Porter.  They had a lot of fun playing together that weekend.

Miles, me, Britton and Jack after the blessing.

Miles in his blessing outfit.

Jack loves his Aunt Mindi and cousin Ellery, especially since she let him play with her baby doll!  LOL!

Grandma and I took Jack (and Miles) to the mall while Daddy and Grandpa went to play a round of golf.  We found this cute little play place there.

Grandpa "reading" to Jack.  Grandpa's stories are much better than what is actually written in the book...especially when he sings it! :)

Grandma and Miles the night before we left to come home.

These bedtime stories by Grandpa were probably Jack's favorite part of the trip :D

I'm SO sad that I didn't take more pictures of the sites at the visitor's center, especially the Whitney store.  We stayed in the house right beside it (where Britton's parents live).  It also happens to be the same house that DAVID ARCHULETA stayed in just 1 week (or was it 2?) before we got there!!  Yes, he stayed with Britton's parents...crazy, huh?  Just a fun piece of trivia for all you Archuleta fans out there :)

A huge THANK YOU goes to Britton's parents for putting up with us for a week and making it such a great "vacation".  As a parent, one of my favorite things is seeing (my kids) experience what life has to offer - it's like I get to do it all over again.  My kids' relationship with their grandparents is something that is special and important to me because of how I feel about my grandparents.  I am so grateful that Jack and Miles (and any other children that we may be blessed with) have wonderful grandparents who spoil them with love and I hope that I will always have the means to provide them with opportunities to enrich those relationships.