Kids....ya gotta love 'em

a funny email I recieved today....it made me smile!
JACK (age 3) was watching his Mom breast-feeding his new baby sister. After a while he asked: 'Mom why have you got two? Is one for hot and one for cold milk?'

MELANIE (age 5) asked her Granny how old she was. Granny replied she was so old she didn't remember any more. Melanie said, 'If you don't remember you must look in the back of your panties. Mine say five to six.'

BRITTANY (age 4) had an earache and wanted a pain killer. She tried in vain to take the lid off the bottle. Seeing her frustration, her Mom explained it was a child-proof cap and she'd have to open it for her. Eyes wide with wonder, the little girl asked: 'How does it know it's me?'

SUSAN (age 4) was drinking juice when she got the hiccups. 'Please don't give me this juice again,' she said, 'It makes my teeth cough.'

DJ (age 4 ) stepped onto the bathroom scale and asked: 'How much do I cost?'

CLINTON (age 5) was in his bedroom looking worried. When his Mom asked what was troubling him, he replied, 'I don't know what'll happen with this bed when I get married. How will my wife fit in?'

JAMES (age 4) was listening to a Bible story. His dad read: 'The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city but his wife looked back and was turned to salt.' Concerned, James asked: 'What happened to the flea?'

The Sermon I think this Mom will never forget.... this particular Sunday sermon...'Dear Lord,' the minister began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. 'Without you, we are but dust...' He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter who was listening leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little four year old girl voice, 'Mom, what is butt dust?'

Do You See What I See?

Family.....







So I have been thinking lately about how grateful I am for all that I have....especially for the past few months.
Spending time everyday with my Dad was the greatest experience, what an incredible man he is and I am so proud of him! He passed with a smile on his face and tears on his cheeks. There was such an incredible spirit there and while it was tough to see him go, it was so awesome to spend so much time with him! So much has happened since Dad passed on Dec. 16th......I SAW incredible (sorry I keep using that word) things.

This is some of what I saw and did.....walking in the snow with beautiful daughters



A beautiful full moon with rainbow rings around it....my picture didn't turn out but I will never forget it!
Children walking to school in the cold, laughing and seeing the steam flow out from their lips with every breath :)

I also saw..... Love, Compassion, Forgiveness, Joy, Happiness, Sorrow, Mourning, Service, Friendship, and Laughter. And now that his vision is restored....I wonder.....Dad, do you see what I see? I'm sure you do and I am so Happy for you!

A Giant Among Men!

Robyne's Dad (Bob Hunt) passed away on Tuesday morning after a lifetime of challenges and obstacles. I don't know if I've ever met anyone who has had to endure more than this great man. He always took everything in stride, and worried more about how others were doing than himself.




It has been our privilege for about eighteen years to have Bob either live with us or during the past few years very close to us in assisted living. He has been there to help us raise our daughters, to keep the garbage men in place (many stories about him straightening them out), or help anyone in need. We've loved having him live with us and our lives have been richly blessed by his influence, kidness, concern and his infectious smile.


Robyne has tenderly cared for him during this time, especially these past eight weeks as he has been under Hospice care. It hasn't been easy for her the juggle the demands of being a wife, mother, friend, etc. but she has tenderly cared for him. She has been the perfect example of "Honoring her Father & Mother" as the Ten Commandments instruct us. There have been many trips to the hospital (I'm guess at least five a year...Alta View Emergency knew us well), more doctor appointments than I could count, two a.m. phone calls wondering what time it was, four a.m. phone calls asking when he should be ready for a ten a.m. appointment, unplanned grocery store runs to pick up Ruby Red-Tangerine juice, garlic croutons and rubbing alchol (another story) etc., etc.



Bob loved Christmas and usually called us around 3:00-4:00 on Christmas morning to see if we were ready to start. You should begin seeing a pattern beginning that he generally was up most of the night and slept in the day alot! He was so excited to see the girls open their presents and just as excited opening his. Even while living in Assisted Living we would go get him and bring him over to open Christmas presents. We will greatly miss his physical presenence on Christmas morning, but know his spirit will always be there with us. Sure wish his spirit could clean up the wrapping paper and break down the boxes (another one of the jobs he did).

Bob's life was that of a humble servant who suffered much and complained little. I've always thought that Bob and the Old Testament Prophet Job had a lot in common. They both suffered many trials and obstacles, but they faithfully kept going and have received a great reward. Bob's final moments were while getting his daily bath from a hospice aide (Kim) who so lovingly cared for him. She noticed tears in his eyes and said that she hoped those were tears of joy. They must of have been as he smiled at her and then took his last breath! I'm confident that smile was in response to seeing so many that he loved and who have gone before him.

His obituary is on-line at: http://www.legacy.com/saltlaketribune/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=121512987 or at www.holbrookmortuary.com.

Thanks Bob for being such a vital part of our lives and raising such a great daughter who we call wife and mother. Thanks Robyne for showing us what it means to love unconditionally and serve unselfishly...we all love you (especially me).

Dad

What great kids Shane and I have, and what a blessing and comfort they are to me right now. My Dad is now on Hospice and in the process of dying. It is a very bittersweet time for us. Dad has literally helped raise our kids and been a huge part of our everyday family life, so what will we do without him now? It will be so tough, but it brings us so much joy and happiness to know that he will finally be pain free. Our joy for him and his sweet reunion with his parents and close family who have gone before outweighs our loss. It really has been such a great blessing to have so many family members here to visit and say their goodbyes. Sitting with Dad daily has also been a blessing to feel the sweet spirit that is present when the veil is so close. I truly am grateful for the knowledge that families are eternal, I know that our Heavenly Father loves us and knows what is best for us. My Dad is the most humble, sweet, forgiving, and loving man and I know that now he will be free od the aches and pains of his earthly body and enjoy the peace and love which can only come through our Savior.

Thanks so much for the thoughts and prayers offered in our behalf, it really does make a difference and gives us strength to go on. Hope you can feel our love for each of you also!

Family

Everything is a little crazy, and pretty hard these days at home in Sandy so while I'm here at BYU I thought I would help them out a bit by putting up some kind of blog post so you all know we are still around! I think I speak for my family in this post when I say that we, as a family, are so grateful for family! We have had the opportunity to see so many family members the last two weeks, and we will continue to see many more in the coming weeks. Although the reasons for the visits do not always seem like a happy thing, each visit brings so much joy, and peace. I believe it is one of our Heavenly Fathers greatest blessings that we are sent to earth into families. Families are our cores, our very centers. They shape and mold us into the people we become, and they leave impressions that last generations. It is also one of the Heavenly Fathers greatest blessings that families are eternal. That child and parents, husbands and wives, entire families, can see each other again after this life. Families are truely amazing, and I'm so grateful for mine!

New York Pics

Our "Real" Family Vacation

So it has taken me forever to get to posting about our trip to New York, my excuse is that Nicole had my computer so bogged down with her High School Historian pictures that I couldn't download the New York pics....so now that I resolved that problem, I am back! The first stop on our "real" vacation was the beautiful town of Palmyra New York, where we toured all the church history sites and did baptisms for the dead at the Palmyra Temple. The best part for me was the time we spent in the Sacred Grove, individually with our scriptures. The weather was beautiful, with a few sprinklings of rain...this is such a beautiful part of New York! We even got to go to a parade in Palmyra....the Fireman's Parade, it was quite an event!

After a few days in Palmyra we flew on to NYC, we had the best time, we even decided to stay an extra day and go to another show! We saw "The Little Mermaid", "Mary Poppins", and "Legally Blonde", we went purse shopping on Canal Street and that was so hilarious...to go into these little tiny shops,through a secret door, and into the basement to see their knockoff purses, and then to haggle over the price with them was an adventure too! We took a great bus tour of the city, a day tour and a night tour and it was beautiful at night and we learned alot of fun stuff. We went to "The Metropolitian Museum of Art" and "The American History Museum", we went to the Manhattan Temple, Ground Zero, St. Paul's Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Ellis Island, and The Statue of Liberty. We went to bed late and got up early every day and we had so much fun together!

We also enjoyed walking through Central Park several times and going to Magnolia Bakery for their delish cupcakes, and frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity, our dinner at Serendipity was also one of the best meals we had in the Big Apple, although we did find the best pizza ever, in a little hole in the wall pizza joint near our hotel, and their pasta was amazing! We went to Rockefeller Center, where there were some great views of the city. It was a once in a lifetime trip as a family....meaning the next time our kids go their own husbands will have to take them and pay for them, but I am sure Shane and I will go again at some point. Ha,ha :)

We were riding the subway back to our hotel one evening, as the doors closed there was this booming voice behind us saying, "Alright, EVERYBODY LISTEN UP! I lost my job and haven't been able to find a new one. I used the last of my $ for the subway ride home,and I haven't eaten since breakfast!" I thought for sure we were all going to be mugged, I was afraid to look back to see if he had a gun cuz he was standing right behind us....then he continued..."So if there is anyone who has any food that they could share with me I would really appreciate it" I looked at him and I could tell he wasn't a homeless man....just someone who was about at his breaking point and was looking for help. We happened to have a box of cupcakes that we were taking back to our hotel, so Nicole and I both decided to give him one, he was very grateful and when we appoligized for it being kind of messy...He just smiled and said, "It is food, God bless you!" I have thought alot about this incident, and about how sometimes our fear can hold us back...when he first started talking to everyone we were all nervous and scared, some people wouldn't look at him, some were trying to figure out what was going on....but as he continued, if you listened you could tell that he was sincere and just wanted some kind of kindness. We all want a little kindness, some tender mercy, but how often do we allow ourselves to be someone elses tender mercy. We often become so busy in our own lives, so wrapped up in our own thoughts,and sometimes our fear holds us back, I just hope I can use this experience to remind me to be more aware of others, to be more kind. Sorry to ramble on, and on...just thinking outloud I guess.