Be my Valentine!

We were HEART ATTACKED!!!

On Wednesday night the young women in our ward heart attacked our house. Ethan knew it was the young women because when he was at young men's he saw them walking around with these hearts in hand.

They left a ton of treats at our doorstep.
Cookies, cupcakes and Reese's peanut butter cups... YUM!

David teased Ethan that he had a secret admirer.
Boy that boy can get embarrassed!

On Valentines Day the kids came home from church to find a Valentines Day surprise waiting for them. They each got a Valentine treat bag filled with soda, chips, chocolates, brownies, gum, yogos, and candy. They were like little Ladmo bags!

They also each got a new outfit. I don't know what's happening around here but all of a sudden our kids have grown out of everything! It's either too tight or too short.

David always buys Reagan flowers for Valentines. Well at least ever since Reagan was old enough to want flowers. This is just one of those perks to being the only girl and Reagan loves it!

And for the GRAND FINALE of our Valentines Day....

Carsten made David and I an "I Woof You." Valentine.
This Valentine is oozing with personality.

Let me read it for you.
thanks for helping me do my home work and thanks for getting us food and I am so cool and you are to but I'm the coolest in the family and no Body loves me more than me okay I like Jello.
Love: Carsten
to: MOM and DAD

And then on the back he refers to himself as
Short Mr. Cool
CARSTEN. A

David and I both loved it!
That's our Carsten! Full of it! Full of confidence, humor, personality and fun!

We love all our kids so much!
Happy Valentines Day!

Side note: I just realized that all of these pictures are people-less! I can remember as a child my mom getting mad at me when she would develop film of pictures I had taken at girl scout camp (or wherever) and they would all be of nature type things. She would tell me to "take pictures with people in the picture. It's okay to take pictures of trees just put a person in the picture with the trees!" So I feel I should explain. I have been sick in bed all week long. When the YW's heart attacked our house I could barely drag myself out of bed just to peek outside to take a look. I told Ethan to go out and take a few pictures. On Valentines Day while the kids were at church I put together their Valentine surprise and as soon as they got home from church I drove myself to an Instacare to be seen by a doctor. So I missed out on any good people in the picture moments if you know what I mean. And just in case you're wondering, it turns out that I have Bronchitis and I'm going to live!

Error!

The link for Bronson's blog wasn't working. Probably because I'm so computer savvy... NOT! So just go to my sidebar under fun blogs and click on Stakerz Xposed.

A Miracle worth watching!

A few weeks ago my good friend Laurie told me about this little boy named Bronson who had drowned in his bathtub. Laurie's twin sister Lori is in Bronson's ward. About a week later Laurie told me that Bronson's mom was documenting everything on their family blog and told me that I should read it. At this point I thought that little Bronson had died. Laurie told me that she had thought he had died too. But it turned out that they had saved him and he was in the hospital very very sick. So I went to their family blog and began to read. I think that this story is worth all of our time to read. It's an absolute miracle! The Heavens opened and the hand of God healed this little boy!

Turn my music off on my sidebar and then under fun blogs on my sidebar click on Stakerz Xposed to get to Bronson's blog. When you get there, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and turn the music off by clicking on the pause button. Then scroll back up to the top and watch the 9 1/2 min. YouTube video. If you want, then you can go all the way back to the beginning of his story. Her last blog entry before Bronson's near death was ironically Bronson's birth, October 2008.

Snowboarding 101

Carsten, their Snowboarding instructor Mia, and Bradon.

On Friday it was Carsten's Dad's and Donuts day at school.
On Dad's and Donuts day David takes the day off work and when Dad's and Donuts is over he checks his kid out of school and does something special with them.

Ethan and Dad went to the movies together.
Bradon and Dad played 9 holes of golf.
Carsten chose to go snowboarding for the first time ever!

David found a deal where with each paying adult 2 kids could ski/snowboard for free. Perfect!
Bradon just so happens to be our only kid this last term to receive straight A's on his report card and Carsten thought that it would be just fine if Bradon joined him on his special adventure with his dad. Perfect, perfect!

So off they went... THEY WERE THRILLED!

They went to Brighton. While they were getting fitted for their boots David got to talking with the ski/snowboard professionals. They convinced him that what our boys needed was a half day snowboarding lesson. So rather than David ski and the boys try to snowboard, David watched as the boys learned to snowboard.

So as it turned out Carsten and Bradon were the only ones in the class. It just doesn't get any better than that!

Within the first 30 minutes of class Mia felt like they were good enough to go up the hill. So up they went!

They did awesome!!!!
She was really impressed with Carsten.
Well she was impressed with both of them, but especially Carsten.

By the end of their lesson they were able to go up the green hill by themselves and down again. I'm so proud of them! Way to go guys!

They came home loving snowboarding and physically exhausted. We couldn't have timed their little snowboarding 101 adventure any better. They came home to the opening ceremony of the winter Olympic games. The snowboarding competitions are going to be just that much cooler now!

The Wall...

When David and I looked at this house almost 4 years ago, we loved the house but we both agreed that "the wall" would have to go.

We were under the impression that "the wall" was a baring wall. We weren't sure how much it would cost to remove it along with the other projects removing it would create.

While we were in Arizona this last time we went to my parents house and they were in the middle of remodeling their whole kitchen. Something about seeing their kitchen all torn apart got me all excited to rip "the wall" down!

When we got home we realized that "the wall" was not baring. And I decided that I was fine with having plywood flooring were "the wall" was.

So we found someone to do the job and began ripping it down to lower our expense. We started in the family room and discovered that the other side was all plywood.

What?

Why was it like that?

At this point in time I was beyond stressed!

It turns out it's a sheer wall!

A sheer wall?

What's a sheer wall?

A sheer wall supports the house from lateral movement. In earthquakes and high winds a sheer wall keeps your walls from caving in. Important? Yes, I guess! But necessary? I guess not! After consulting with everyone we highly trust, we decided that our house would be okay with out it. So "the wall" demolition continued!

We had an evening of immense fun taking down "the wall".

Everything got extremely dusty.

Talan put on his hard had for safety.

Never mind the naked baby, when your in the middle of a project and your kid takes his clothes off... off they stay!

The kids all took turns pounding away.

Even our neighbor Max joined in the fun!

Surprisingly enough, Talan is pretty darn strong.

He can really whack a wall!

It was a lot of hard work but we were making great progress and I could tell it was going to be well worth it!

Oh doesn't it look so good?

It was so exiting to see "the wall" down!

Scott Burns worked quick and in no time he was finished.

Doesn't it look good!

Our plan is to apply rock to the sheet-rocked arch. I think it will look even better then. I can hardly wait for the finished product. It's like seeing your vision come to life! It's amazing how much nicer it is to have "the wall" gone. It's so open, spacious, and BIG!

I absolutely love it!

Brace face,

Metal Mouth,

Train Track, Tinsel Teeth...

What else can I say?

Ethan got braces!

We're going to straighten this kid

out once and for all!

And don't you worry, we're going to fix that severe overbite too!

Charles' Funeral

As we were headed into the Chapel my sister in law Cheryl volunteered to take Talan for us. What a life saver she was. It was so nice to enjoy the funeral and not have to deal with our terrible 2 year old the whole time.

The funeral went really well.

Kerry gave the family prayer.

Charlie Kay gave the life sketch.

Each of the 5 boys told memories of their dad.

The Grands and Great Grands sang.

Teresa spoke about the Plan of Salvation.

Kendall and Karl gave prayers.

And David dedicated the grave.

After the funeral service we all headed outside as the Casket Bearers prepared to carry the casket. It was actually sort of cold outside, almost like a real winter day.

On the left side of the casket: Karl, Charlie Kay, and Tyson (Grandson).

On the right side of the casket: Kendall, David, and Kerry.

What I love most about funerals is that they are really just impromptu family reunions! So many people upon hearing of Charles death jumped in their cars and drove hundreds of miles to be there. So much fun!

This is 2 of Jeannine's brothers, Harry and Everett. From the looks of it we might just be having a few more of these impromptu reunions in the near future.

A few of the "life of the party" kind of people. Tara and Tona are David's cousins and Aunt Mel is married to Virgil.

Dave Chandler, Virgil, and Stacey

Dave was married to David's cousin Marveen who passed away this last summer. Virgil is David's Uncle and Jeannine's brother, Stacey is Virgil's son.

I love this picture!

This is how it is whenever Stacey is around. Lots of laughs and good times!

I love this picture too!

My mom and dad are the absolute best! They support David and I in all we do.

And yet another picture that I love! David and his mom. Too cute! And look at that cute outfit Jeannine is wearing. I helped her pick it out. It's important to look and feel your best when going to your husbands funeral!

The Turleys and J.R. Langston. David's lifelong friends.

At the Mesa City Cemetery.

All the little ones wanted to be by Grandma.

Suzette, Tom, Anitta, and Russell

Russell and Suzette are a few of our favorite people.

Russell and David are like brothers to each other.

David dedicating the grave.

He did a wonderful job!

Bunkers Mortuary presenting Jeannine with the United States flag.

This was extra special to Jeannine because when Charles worked for Bunkers he was responsible for the flags. He ordered them and had them pressed and ready for services.

The mini Slade reunion.

They came from Navada, Utah and Hawaii to be there.

What a sweetie!

Reagan holding a rose from the flower spray upon the casket.

What a good looking family!

All of us minus Talan.

Jeannine and her next door neighbor Patsy Dodge.

These two have been next door neighbors and friends for 57 years.

I find everything about funerals to be special. Everything we do is to show love and honor for whom has passed on. There's a sacredness to it all. It's that last physical act of service we can preform here on earth for whom we love so dear. I'm so glad that we chose to be there in Charles' final moments. I'm so glad that David had the opportunity to go through that experience of death with his dad. I'm glad he was able to dress him, talk at his funeral, and dedicate his grave. I feel like it was all a privilege.

Charles' Viewing

Wednesday night after Charles passed away we joined together in a family meeting. We discussed what needed to be done in preparation for the funeral. Who would do what and so on. I volunteered Elaine to do the table display. I thought that she would do a fantastic job! Shortly thereafter I found myself in charge of the table display with Elaine as my helper.

I had some picture sent to Costco to be reprinted representing all stages of Charles' life. I collected decorative items from different homes and then I went shopping for picture frames. I went through Charles and Jeannine's home and found things to display. I also made a shadow box of some of Charles' personal belongings.

I received a phone call from a gal in their ward named Erica Miles who is an artist. (Click on her name to see her blog) She said that she woke up and felt that she should call and offer to sketch a pencil portrait of Charles in his younger years. I told her that I thought that was a wonderful idea. It turns out she is an amazing artist! She drew this portrait of Charles in his Navy uniform in just one day!

It all came together and looked great. I feel like it was a nice tribute to Charles and the good life he lived. I even found a beautiful jar to display his pennies in. Now Jeannine can carry on his tradition. After it was all over and done I gave each of the 5 sons 2 framed pictures as a gift and memento.

Charles looked so good!

I thought that this was just about one of the sweetest pictures of all. 2 of Charles' Great Grandkids, Paije and Kale saying their goodbyes.

Jeannine and her 5 sons.

Karl, Kerry, Charlie Kay, Kendall and David.

All of us together.

And her girls!

Dixie, Shannon, Teresa, Elaine and Myself.