Marcie's Baptism

Our Marcie was baptized on Saturday, July 3, 2010 by her Dad, Nathan. We were so proud of her for this wonderful decision and love her so much! She is such a kind girl and we are so glad that she has this great quality.

Family picture color scheme.

Hello siblings. Our family photo will be taken on June 5th in Holden.

Mom and Dad would like it to be pretty dressy. Please see the picture above for the color scheme chosen. Mostly black and white with a small punch of green.

Let me know if you have any questions. Love you all.
-Brooke

Mom & Dad

I took this photo of Mom & Dad at the cemetery after Grandpa Tuttle's funeral. I thought it was such a great photo of them, so I decided to post it. We have great looking folks, don't we?!?

I LOVE YOU, TWO!!!

PS... I'll be posting more photos from the funeral soon.

Grandpa--

My Mom called me around 10:00 yesterday morning to let me know that my Grandpa Tuttle had passed away.  It was VERY unexpected.  He just collapsed.  I was on the phone with her for about 1 minute & then she had to go & she said she'd call me back.  I think I went right into shock.  I cried & cried & cried.  How could he be gone?!?  I wanted to be able to SEE him one more time & TELL him goodbye & at the very least get ONE MORE HUG from him.  (He gave FANTASTIC hugs!)  I couldn't believe it.  Morgan came over & asked me what was wrong.  I told her that my Grandpa-- Her Great Grandpa Tuttle had died.  She told me she was sorry & then kind of disappeared for awhile.  When she came back she didn't say anything, but she dropped this note on my lap... It made me cry, but made me feel really great at the same time.  Thanks, Morgan!!!

The photo isn't great (it's from my phone.)  Here's what it says:

Dear Mom,

I'm really sorry that Great Grandpa Tuttle died.  I am really sad.  I hope you don't stay sad for a long time.  I want you to know that you will see him again because we are an eternal family.  I love you.

From, Morgan

Then, during Sacrament Meeting I was having a hard time. All of the talks were about the resurrection & about people dying.  The first talk was given by a friend of mine & she started her talk by sharing that her Grandfather had passed away about 6 months ago & how hard that was for her & how it had affected her life. She had spent a lot of time in reflection about her life & her choices after he died. Well, as you can imagine this hit me hard. My Grandpa had just passed away a few hours before this. I was crying again. Morgan asked me for a piece of paper & then wrote this:

Grandfather
Righteous
Always There
Nice
Diligent
Promising
Awesome

Tuttle
Unfailing
Truthful
Talented
Leading
Everlasting

Grandpa,

I really love you. I know we will see each other again. I really want to see you again.

From, Morgan

Thank you again, Morgan!! You have helped make a REALLY tough day better.  I am so pleased & happy & ENCOURAGED by your faith!!  I KNOW that I will be able to see my Grandpa again someday.  I sure wish I could see him today, though!!!

My Grandpa was such an amazing man!  He always made ME feel amazing, too!!  Every time I saw him he let me know how proud of me he was (He'd always say that the buttons on his shirt were about to burst with pride!) & about how he loved my little family SO MUCH & how me & Nathan were such GREAT parents & that we were doing such a great job with our kids.  He had such a wonderful gift of radiating the love he felt ONTO YOU.  When he told you he loved you & that he was proud of you & that you were amazing, YOU KNEW IT WAS TRUE!!!  I could always feel his unconditional love-- not only because I was family, but because he loved me FOR ME!  I am going to miss him SOOO much!!

I am so excited for this weekend to celebrate his life & to be able to see the rest of my family & visit & just REMEMBER HIM!!!  It will be a great/tough weekend for sure.

Photos from our trip to the Museum!

Here's a few of the MANY photos I took during our trip to the Discovery Gateway Museum!! We had so much fun!!! Thanks, Nat for planning it for us!!

Brooke-- I couldn't help posting these photos of you... forgive me!! ;)

PS... Somehow I only had 1 photo of Connelly & he was standing behind Wyatt & not looking at me. I'm not sure how I missed him. SO SORRY CON MAN!!! I didn't get any of Addie looking at me either-- every time I tried she would turn & start playing with something else. Oh well. I TRIED! ;)

A few more memories of Grandma!

Thanks for a great post, Brooke!!  Kenz, I remember mandarin oranges, too!  Whenever I give them to my kids as a snack I have to smile!  I also remember playing store in her storage room & of course badminton in the backyard!!  What about walking her fence??  Grandma made the BEST couch beds-- I always felt special when I got to sleep on the couch in the front room... it always felt so "fancy" in there!!  What about playing card games in there-- there were those old MONSTER cards with bride of frankenstein & stuff, does anybody else remember those??  What were they, old maid cards??  My favorite thing to play was hide-n-seek!  There was a THOUSAND places to hide with all the built in cupboards & cabinets in the family room!!  I remember turning over the plastic mat in her basement to trick people-- remember how POKY it was on the bottom?!?  I know I got fooled by that many times!  I remember I loved sitting out on the deck or front lawn to watch fireworks, too!  & helping put out her awesome candle Christmas decorations!  I loved those!!  Hmmm... just one more-- I remember Grandma would ALWAYS put butter on our lunch meat sandwiches-- I thought it was SO NASTY!!  ;)  Brooke, thanks for bringing back some great memories!!!  (Thanks to Kenzie, too!)

A few things that remind me of Grandma M.

When I was young, I used to think that my Grandma M. was the coolest person alive. Now that I'm older, I'm reminded by fun memories of her that she WAS one of the coolest people to have ever lived.

I even told my parents I was running away to Grandma M's house once when I was young. I thought that living with her sounded like Heaven. Hmmmm maybe it was because she gave us anything we EVER wanted!?!

Here are a few things I remember about her.
Disney on Ice. I remember going to Disney on Ice multiple times when I was little.
Big Wheel bikes.
Sending bags hooked to strings down from her outside balcony to "fish"
Rolling down her grassy hill
Jumping on the tramp in her backyard
Playing in her cupboards downstairs
Playing in the boat in the garage
The cool vines growing on the outside of her house.
Eating Fat Jacks Pizza and drinking rootbeer.
Getting millions of ice cream cones.
Grape juice mixed with sprite.
Philip and Ben digging for "dinosaur" bones in the BBQ chicken
Stouffer's lasagna
Feeding the ducks
Going to the Monte Beam museum
Her orange stuffed snake
That huge brown furry pillow
Her pink bathroom that when I took a bath, I couldn't ever get the suds off. (soft water)
Her making our beds for us every morning about 30 seconds after we got out of bed.
Getting ziplock baggies of cereal for the ride home.
Going to lots of parades and sitting in front of a school (I think it was a school).
Looking for the camel on the mountain
Flocked Christmas trees
Hiding in her closet in the hallway across from the pink bathroom. The one with the cool sliding door where she kept the folding chairs.
Her green frog decoration hanging in the bathroom down stairs.
Popsicles always in the freezer.
Cookies with white chocolate chips.
Climbing in her tree outside (was it a walnut tree?)
Drawing with sidewalk chalk on outside on the patio cement.
She always had "bendy" straws to drink our drinks with
Reading little black Sambo before bedtime

How about you guys? What other memories do you have of Grandma M's house?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I love Christmas. I wanted to remember our home at Christmas and the feeling that comes to me during this time of year. I collect nativities, and they bring a wonderful spirit at this time of the year. I have put a few of them on here. I've also put a picture of the little "surprise" that Ken and I found outside. What a treasure!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

LIVE NATIVITY

Neil and Belinda Ashton present a live nativity every year for the community. Ken and I went last night with Natalie, Jason, and the boys, and their friends, Justin and Jenn, and their boys and some of their other friends. I got my camera out to take pictures, and the battery was dead. Today at work, though, Belinda had a few pictures. I'm including them. Hopefully, I'll be able to add a few more later. It was wonderful.

More Thanksgiving

Here are a few more pictures. The pictures are quite dark but maybe you can get the idea.

Brooke's Londyn loved the "dip-dip."

Gunner loved Eric. Ken and I haven't seen him very often and he wouldn't let us hold him. He thought Eric was wonderful!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was very nice at Adrian's.

Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving at Adrian's. Here's a picture of me and my girls.

Grandpa M Remembered

I have very few pictures of my wonderful Dad. This week marks the 20 year anniversary of his death. It doesn't seems possible that it has been twenty years since I have looked into those navy blue, sparkling eyes that loved me so completely. I don't remember Dad with anything but gray hair; and in his later years, he had that lovely white hair. He was such a gentleman. He loved our babies and was often seen cuddling with them or pushing them in the stroller around the neighborhood. Dad, I want you to know that you are remembered and loved. Some day I'll get to feel those loving arms around me again.

TUACAHN ANNIE!

Brooke and Dan's family invited us down to go to "Annie" at Tuacahn with them and Oaklyn and Connelly. It was really fun! Here are a few pictures.

IT'S ABOUT TIME!

Okay. So I'm not exactly the best blogger. Here's an update.

Ken has been humoring me with my depression over having no flowers. We have been landscaping with castle rock, and I am really pleased with how it's looking. We have no stucco, but we have flowers! I've included a picture.

Aubree's wedding in Idaho was wonderful. She looked so lovely and it was fun to see all of Jayne and Rob's family. I especially liked the sealer's story about President David O. McKay. He said that he and his wife never had cross words but that wasn't to say that they didn't come close occasionally. When they were having a "difficult" discussion, President McKay would put on his hat and walk around the block. When he got back, he would open the door and toss his hat inside. If they hat stayed in there, it was OK to go in and everything would be resolved. BUT if the hat came back out the door, he would put it on and go around the block again!

I'm also including some pictures from the Holden July 24th celebration. This year the ward members were encouraged to do family floats so I'm including some of them.

Gunner is Changing

Natalie and I stopped to see Philip and Aubrey and the kids after Aubree's bridal shower on Saturday. I couldn't believe how much he had grown and how much he had changed. His eyes have gone completely brown, and his hair is coming in really dark like Aubrey's. He is really tall. Addie talked about a mile a minute. She was telling Natalie all kinds of things. My favorite was when she was looking at a picture at Philip's graduation from SUU. She said it was a picture of him at his "mission."

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. I absolutely loved the Brian Regan show. It was fun to get together with alot of our family. Adrian's family gave me a gift certificate for Tai Pan (which I love!). Eric gave me some lovely flowers. (He was hilarious. I sent him this picture so he could see what they looked like. I get this text: "H-m-m-m. Who sent you those beautiful flowers??????") The other kids gave me two huge music books. I haven't bought myself music for a VERY long time. I was thrilled with everything. Dad bought me some roses and some new summer shirts. We spent Mother's Day with Brooke's family in Washington.

GRADUATION!

Congratulations to Philip and Aubrey on Philip's graduation from SUU on Saturday, May 2, 2009!

We had a lovely day with Philip and Aubrey and their family. President Monson spoke at commencement, and it was wonderful. Brooke and Dan's family and Aubrey's parents and some of her extended family were also there. We had a yummy dinner after at Winger's.

WE ARE PROUD OF YOU, PHILIP!

After graduation, Brooke and Dan and the kids came and stayed with us so they could attend Gunner's blessing on Sunday. We had everyone there except for Nathan. It was a lovely day.