Thank you!!

Today is the one year anniversary of Melissa's death.  ‎Melissa, this day is yours. I am grateful to have known you and your mom. Thank you for being my friend through good times and bad.Thank you for giving me the opportunity to help you and thank you for being so strong.

As I reflect on the two years prior to her death, I want to thank all those who made it possible for me to be by her side and helped me through a very difficult pregnancy. Those who watched kids, helped financially, emotionally heard me, spiritually uplifted, made food...you know who you are and I will be forever grateful.

Aaron Kibbie, you are amazing. Thank you for loving me and ALWAYS supporting me.

Aiden's first Pinewood Derby

Last week was Aiden's first pinewood Derby.  I hadn't been to one since my brothers were in scouts.  Man, has it come a long way!  I remember the track being some large wooden contraption.  Now look at it!  It's even computerized with laser sensor at the finish line.  His car did not win, but he had some good bonding time with his dad making the car.

No TV

So one day last week I went out to run some errands and told the kids not to turn on the TV.  During the week we have a rule that the kids are not allowed to watch TV.  So when I came home, this is what I found.  They made a TV out of a box and were entertaining my little girls with puppet shows and skits.  They even turned on the music and danced for them.  The girls were laughing hysterically when I walked in the door.  It was a great noise to come home too!

Bathtime!

Robyn took these fun pictures of Eva and Gwen.

Busy month

We have had a lot going on this month.  As I mentioned before, Aaron's sister got married and his family was in town for the event.  Almost all his family was able to attend.  We were only missing one sister whom we missed having with us.  It was a great time catching up with each others lives.

The following week, Aaron's brother Chuck, stayed with us for a week.  He is getting ready to go on an LDS mission to Brazil.  Chuck was 5 when we got married and I used to babysit him.  We had a great time reminiscing about the past and having some time to get to know him a little better. 

The next week we finally made a trip to Colorado to visit our good friends the Milams.  We had made a promise in the spring to visit and just got to busy.  Sonya is an amazing friend to me.  She really took care of me when I was pregnant with Eva by stopping by my house with her big van and telling the kids to hop in and come play at her house so I could rest.  She would bring me meals and invite my family over to eat so I wouldn't have to cook.  She called me nearly everyday to see how I was and to have a nice chat.  She has 7 beautiful children and is one of the most giving people I know.  Sadly we did not get a picture with them while we were there, but hope to when they come to visit in April.

To my surprise, my other dear friend Emma Goltz Dean lives in the same little town that the Milams live in.  I hadn't seen her in 10 years!  We got to spend some time together at a local park catching up and letting our kids play.  She has a miracle baby and is a wonderful mom to her sweet daughter Maggie.  I sure miss Emma's friendship and having her close by.

Tina and Emma.  She looks great!!  I, on the other hand, am starting to look a little wrinkly.  Maybe I should start wearing make up again...

Eva with Maggie Ann.  She just a little older than Eva.

My 5 with Maggie Ann.  Some of them are a little hard to see.

Robyn got a little creative with the berries from a near by bush.  She used the berries to create lips on this turtle.  Then she did this:

Wow!



Do you see her leafs in the wood?

Wedding dresses

My sweet sister in law, Sharon, was married this month and had asked me to make flower girl dresses.  For some reason I only got a few pictures so I am hoping to get a few more from my other sister in law who was the photographer for her wedding. (Aaron has 8 sisters.  Sometimes it's hard to keep track! :) )

Here is Gwen in her flower girl attire.  I made an under dress out of purple silk dupioni and an over dress with a sheer silk organza.  I layered large tucks on the bottom and smaller tucks on the bodice of the over dress.  Over that dress I made a large purple silk dupioni sash that tied in the back.  Sharon's new sister in law made the adorible head band.  Her sister Diane did her hair.

Eva wanted a dress too, so I made a smocked dress out of the same silk dupioni.

More Dance

Robyn and Emma got to try out ballroom dancing last semester.  Their teacher was amazing and they had a great time.  She had a great talent in getting boys that age to dance and love it.  This is Robyn and Emma just before their second performance at Thanksgiving point.

The videos I took were of their first two performances.  They were in several performances and I was planning on video taping the last one, but to my surprise, they would not let us do that.  It's sad because they were so good at it by the end so I feel these videos of their first performances don't give them justice.  Since the Grandparents couldn't attend, I posted them anyways so they can see a little. 

Robyn is in the Harry potter dance and at this point she did not know the ending.  She missed when they taught it the week before.  I think she did pretty well considering.

Ah yes, and here I am.  I couldn't resist the dancing bug when I found out that there was a ladies dancing group just around the corner from me.  I had a splendid time dancing with these lovely ladies.  Cheap therapy is a good way to describe this time as well.  We would "start" at 9pm and dance (or talk) until we were too tired.  These ladies are all doing amazing things and I have so much to learn from them.  A few of them were dancers for the Utah Jazz or BYU dance teams.  I felt a little lack of talent dancing with them, but they never made me feel that way.  It has been years since I danced this way and my body liked to tell me about it.  Even though I lacked the flexibility that I once had, I was still able to dance.

Us in our wild Africa pose.

Sorry about the video quality on this last one.  The lighting was less than perfect and Aaron was more interested in watching then making a video so at one point it starts to drift.