Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Happy Birthday Dad!

So, today is my dad's 60th birthday! Happy birthday Dad! I love this picture of him with my 3 older kids because it reminds me so much of being a kid myself. This was the kind of dad he was to my sister and me. He always made time to play and have fun with us and I am thankful he continues to do that as a grandfather. My kids have the greatest time with their "Grandpa Tommy". He's not very fond of getting older, in fact he manages to continue life like he was in his 30's or so (ha ha ha). He is a great waterskiier and enjoys spending time with his waterski (I mean his 8 grandchildren). We all love him and are thankful for all that he does for each one of us.
HAPPY 60TH DAD!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Family Relationships Mean Everything!

Well I finally finished blogging a bit about our December experiences (look back to December...I finally finished updating my blog for that month) and now January is more than half way over. Time flies! We recently said goodbye for now to David's grandfather ("Grandpa Nelson" as we all call him). He passed away on Jan. 6 at the age of 92. I am so grateful my children were able to build a relationship with him before he passed on. I will always remember how much he enjoyed being around the kids and how he always told us, "I sure love ya." When he was able to come to church he made a great effort to share his testimony of the gospel. It was very important to him to share his feelings with those that he loved.
We will miss him.

I love this picture I took of him laughing.
It makes me smile every time I look at it.
June 2008

He always had kisses for the Great Grandchildren.

Great Grandpa Nelson and Derek
June 2008

David's sisters flew out for the funeral and stayed with us for a few days. It was so great to have some time to spend with them and their babies. This is the 2nd time Karen, Rachel, and I have all had babies within months of each other. Here is David, screaming Derek, Rachel, Laura, Karen and Joshua. We stayed up late visiting and laughing with one another. David's brother, Steven and cousin, Zaron came as well. We all enjoyed spending time together and sharing what we had learned during the days we had together as we said farewell to Grandpa Nelson. Family relationships are FOREVER. I think we will all work on strengthening those family ties. My kids sure enjoyed having their aunties at our house for a few days. Wish we could do it much more often, that's for sure.