10 Years Later

Gavin came to us 10 years ago.
Gavin left us 10 years ago.
Gavin left our hearts aching 10 years ago.
Life has continued and we've had NUMEROUS blessings since those 10 years.
And it can still ache like it did 10 years ago.

I have been really emotional today and not-quite-right.
I keep thinking and asking questions. What would his favorite dinner be?
What kind of cake would he have wanted?
Would he want a Star Wars birthday? Or Pokemon? Or what?
Would he be friends with all the neighbor kids around us and want to invite them over?
Would he feel he's too old for me to fuss for him to wear a coat to school?
Would he be a good big brother to all of them?
Would he be annoyed at Jared grabbing everything and Dallin sitting on everyone?

I love you Gav. I miss you even though I didn't have long with you. and even though it has been 10 years.

My Mom's Surprise 70th Birthday

A few months before, my sisters, Amy and Ruth, started communicating the idea of surprising my mom on her 70th birthday, this year on May 3rd. It would fall on a weekend and she wouldn't expect anything since so many of her kids live far away. Everyone committed early and said they'd make it happen. There are a lot of details in there but I'm going to make this short by saying that I told my mom I was coming up for her birthday and lied about what we could do while there. Joe had to make travel plans early and let my mom know he'd be there a few days, for business and what-not. Damon is close-by and didn't need to say anything. Ethan told her he'd come up for a day or two. So, she knew that a few of us would be there and we'd go out for dinner, etc.

 

What she didn't know was that Amy flew in a few days before and hung out with Julianna in Provo; Ruth flew in and was picked up at the airport by Amy and that they slept over at Damon's on Friday night. Bryan flew in on Thursday and stayed with Ethan and was dropped off at Damon's on Friday night. Aleen made arrangements to get up there from Moab with the boys too and that made it so all EIGHT of us would be there!!

 

It was priceless. I saw the look on my mom's face when her kids entered the door on Saturday morning.

This isn't a good photo of us since we had just gotten up in the morning and thrown clothes on, etc. But it was so good to get a photo of us together right after Mom was surprised with her kids arriving at her door.

We planned and followed through with doing a huge service morning at her place. We divided up. Some of went to the garage to sort through things and make it more functional; some went to the backyard and weeded out her garden and areas; and I'm probably missing something else. I was in a little different situation, where I had all of my little kids with me. I went from feeding the kids, to cleaning up my mom's kitchen, to putting kids down for naps, and to weeding the front flower patches and planting some new perennial flowers in front. They were what I brought her as a present for her birthday.

We wrapped that up and all split to get ready to take pictures together and to go to dinner. First we went to a nearby spot with a beautiful backdrop. Here are some of the photos that were taken by Ansel of us.

Mom and Joe sitting together at dinner.



Dallin and I rode with Missy and Kurt to Sizzler for dinner.

Such a happy boy.

Michelle and Melissa are both pregnant and due close together. Cute to get both of them in a pic.

Little Lexi and telling us what she wants, I think.

Mom with her great-granddaughter on her lap. What a great posterity already.

This was a fun game we played to see who knew the most about mom or "grandma", to most. Michelle won for the grandkids and I won for the kids. It was fun to hear some of the details of her life. It was nice for Ruth and Amy to put that together.

I just snapped a few pictures of my family hanging outside right before a few of us left for home.

Had to stick my little monster in here.

Celebrating Birthdays

We celebrated Livvy's birthday by going bowling. She had been asking to go there for a while and so that's what we did. Hyrum and I took turns holding Dallin and helping the kids with rolling their balls down the aisle. It was fun but I didn't get any good pictures of the day. And then, on Monday, the 19th we went to the zoo. It was Ella's day but it was for all of us. The kids landed on this Rhino for a while. I know the pictures are all of the rhino but their faces were worth preserving, so I posted them all. 

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 We went to the zoo's splash pad and let them all get wet. I stood in the shade with the baby and kept an eye on them.

 We took a couple rides on the carousel. I only had my phone on with me so the pictures are not as good but pictures, non the less. I was right next to Ella and Ash. Hyrum stayed off, with the baby.

Birthday Party at Chuck E. Cheese

 We didn't even have to ask the kids. We knew they would love to have their party at Chuck E. Cheese this year. It was for all of them but Ashton had no idea what we were celebrating and didn't care why- just that he was having fun. We planned the event to be on a Friday evening, the 16th (just a day before Liv's bday), and for dinner time. Our friends showed up and some family too. Even Gamma came down for it. Ella doesn't have as many friends quite yet, because of her age and such, but I know that will change very quickly in her life. She's pretty out-going. So, most of our guest were Livvy's age and no one seemed to mind. 

They had Chuck E. on stand-by for us; a pinata to pull and get a bunch of tickets and tokens; the "ticket blaster" (where they literally get air blasted with tickets around them to grab super fast); tokens to have and share with friends so all could play on games there; pizza and drinks; reusable cups; and we brought a cake. So, a ton of things and not enough time. Seriously, OUR kids hardly played so we'll have to go back soon with our tokens and tickets and get those prizes later. That would be serious overload! :)

Warning: Lots of Photos to show how much fun we had there but "a lot of the same" for others, perhaps.

Abby and Livvy. They were together in Kindergarten last year.

Ella and Gamma. She was by her a lot during the party.

Our Lockheart friends- Nathan and Jacob.

They had baby Dallin the whole time. It was nice not to worry about him.

Liv with her friend, Justin...  the cutest boy her age.

 PINATA TIME

Ready, Set, GO!

TICKET BLASTER TIME

Ella was a riot! She had us all laughing, just watching how much she was enjoying it.

The kids and their friends. Nathan Lockheart, Justin Bell, Abby Walch and Ellie Patching.

He doesn't need anything else- chocolate cake is everything!

 OPENING PRESENTS

They were so excited for this that I'm amazed they lastest as long as they did without opening them.

fuzzy-but I love how excited Ella is in the picture.