June

Brek has been into wearing a tie to church lately, so one week he got to wear his new tie, which belonged to his Grandpa Great, my grandfather who just passed away at the beginning of the month. I picked this one for Brek because it has a plane on it that my Papa used to fly in the Air Force. All of the boys in the family got to pick out a tie to wear to the funeral services; even Joe got one. I think the rest of them are being turned into headbands and things for all the granddaughters. 

Daddy getting the tie all tied

So proud!

And so handsome.

As my sister and her family were heading home to Chicago after coming out for our grandfather's funeral and seeing family, they were able to stop at our house for the night, and then we took a day trip up to Mount Rushmore before they finished their journey home. We had a picnic in the parking lot before walking through the flags and out to the viewing deck. We also did the hike up close to the mountain before packing back up in the cars and going our different ways. And tho we didn't take any pictures of the mountain, and I'll have to get some of the pictures from Tracy and add them here, Joe captured some of Brek, Aurora, and Amy while the rest of us took turns using the restroom. Just cute cousins playing together - I love it!

Other happenings in our house have been a focused force on potty training. Brek's been interested in months, and he received underwear in his Easter basket, so he's been having the choice since then to either wear a diaper or to wear underwear. We haven't been pushing the issue, especially with the big trip we just took; we didn't want to have to worry about it. But now that we're home and really not doing much, we've done away with diapers during the day. He still usually wears one for naptime, and he always wears one for bedtime as well. The most difficult part has been pooping. We have had many an accident in the underwear involving this bodily function. We have tried to use incentives, and Brek decided one of the things he really wanted were goldfish crackers. So we have had a deal going that if he pooped in the toilet, he could have goldfish. Joe calls it our F3 Initiative, aka Fishes for Feces. We were all very proud and excited to announce that Brek earned his first goldfish on the 27th. We are having a series of consecutive days all being accident-free. Exciting stuff in our house!

Father's Day

Despite having just returned from our trip, I think I did a pretty amazing job spoiling my sweetheart and recognizing all the amazing things he does as the Father in our home. Yes, I just gave myself props. But who wouldn't after a breakfast likes this:

And tho we didn't take a picture of dinner, I was equally amazed at it's awesomeness (because both meals were "first timers" for me. Granted, I had a little meltdown when it came to desert, and Joe had to stop in and finish them. Minus that, Joe was spoiled and appreciated.

Brek loved getting to eat breakfast in bed together and kept talking about it being "daddy's special day." (He's also impatiently awaiting his very own special day."

Joe is definitely an amazing daddy. He is nurturing and patient and fun to play with. Even when he's had a rough day at work, he does his best to make time for Brek. And now that we're in summer and Joe is home all day, these 2 are practically inseparable, even tho Joe at times WISHES he had a little more free time and space to himself. He's wonderful, and we love him!

The End of Our Trip

After my grandfather's funeral we headed back to Utah. Only instead of coming across the northern part of Nevada as planned, we backtracked through southern Utah since we were coming from southern CA instead of northern. We stayed the night at Joe's sister's house again to break up the drive. Of course Brek loved his time with cousins again.

Eliza, Brek, and Mara

Then we drove up to Provo and stayed with Grandma Jensen for 2 nights. I forgot to pull out my camera while we were there, so I don't have any pictures to document our visit. We had a very exciting Costco trip (sure do miss Costco out in Nebraska!), a trip to the park, and swimming at Provo's new pool. Cousins, aunts, and uncles were able to join us for the swim, and we had lots of fun! Then most of them joined us for dinner back at Grandma Jensen's house. Brek was very sad when they had to leave to go home. We enjoyed watching our new kitty Muser play with Grandma Jensen's two new kittens. And during Brek's naptime, Joe & I were able to sneak away so I could eat at my favorite restaurant - Zupas, and then do a small amount of shopping that we don't have access to in Nebraska. 

We finally made it home after 3 weeks. We have been happy to be home and in our beds and establishing a relaxed sort of routine for the rest of our summer vacation. We really loved our trip; we're so glad we were able to go and be with family and have so much fun. We love how excited Brek has been being with cousins and grandparents. He really did a great job with all the time in the car and all the things we did. Definitely a trip to remember! Looking forward to the next one...

John David Bennett Sr.

My maternal grandfather, John David Bennett Sr, passed away early in the morning on June 5th, 2013. It was unexpected. He had just gotten released from the hospital the day before, with the expectations for him to get some rest and begin physical therapy. He was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, but was hospitalized due to organ failure. His doctor believed he had a lot of life left to live, and that he contained the ability to fight the diseases and ailments of his body. From the details that had been shared with me, and my knowledge of the type of person my grandfather was, I believe he had the strength, but not the will or desire. The few hours I was able to see him in the hospital, he was miserable. He didn't look like my papa. And it definitely hurt and was emotional to see him in so much pain. It is my personal believe that he chose to pass on, to enter into a peaceful rest and return to live with our Father in Heaven. I am of course saddened that he is gone, but I am comforted that he is no longer suffering. Over the past few years I have not had as many opportunities to be with him, but I do have the faith and assurance that I will see him again. He will be dearly missed, and I am so grateful for the memories and stories I have of him.

Although he didn't want any sort of funeral services, my mom and her siblings felt that some sort of viewing should be held, and my aunt really wanted to open the floor up for anyone to share a story or memory about my papa. I'll be honest, when I heard this I thought it was a terrible idea. "Open mics" do not usually go well. But to a great surprise, it ended up being wonderful. I am thankful for women from my grandparents' ward that came and watched all of our children so that we could go and listen. It surprised me to hear stories of my grandfather being "talkative" and "social," as those are words that I would not associate with him. There were some great stories from other religious leaders from other faiths that he associated with when he was Bishop, and from co-workers, pigeon friends, and of course some great sports and card stories. 

My grandfather loved to play cards, especially Hearts. As young children, we would always make pauses in our playings to watch the adults play a game of Hearts. When we got old enough to sit still, sometimes we would be allowed to sit on our parent's lap, or next to them while they played. Of course, the right of passage was being able to actually play a round with Papa. I know I had my turn, but I also remember being so scared to play Papa; he's not the best loser. :) In fact, he's a card thrower. Joe is pretty proud of the fact that in the one game of Hearts that he played my Papa, Joe won. 

My papa raised pigeons. I remember one time when he had a pigeon show up in Sacramento, and my mom and I went and met him there. He loved his pigeons. 

My papa loved sports. Especially basketball. But I know he also loved baseball and football.

My papa was a navigator* in the Air Force, and served 3 tours in Vietnam. He didn't really like to talk about it, but at the viewing some people shared experiences when they would talk about their war experiences with my grandfather.

*I always thought my Papa was a pilot, and not a navigator. 

I know I have heard that term used, 

but I guess I thought it was the same thing. 

Apparently, it's not. Oops!

When I was little, Papa did lots of wrestling and rough-housing with us. He would put us in the "boobee box," give us "nellie bellies" (what most people call raspberries) on our stomaches, and called us "toofus magoofus" when we lost our teeth. I remember him swimming with us when they had a pool, and throwing us into the water. He loved chocolate and oranges, and ice cream. I learned to love Cherry 7Up from him; he always had cans of it at his house. He loved to do a float with it and chocolate ice cream, not vanilla. 

I loved how every Christmas Papa would sit in "his" chair and read the story from the Bible, while we would dress up and "act" out the Nativity story. And I love how it was Papa's job to pass out the presents. 

When I came to visit my grandparents after my mission, I was only able to stay for a few days because I had to get home for spinal treatment. It had been a really long time since I had been with them all by myself. I mostly chatted with Grandma, since Papa had to work. But we played some cards and enjoyed meals together. My grandparents spoke in Sacrament Meeting the Sunday I was visiting, and I remember my papa sharing how proud of me he was for serving a mission, even tho it had been so difficult for me. On my last day there, he so badly wanted to take me out to dinner, so we went to a brand new restaurant that was opening in their small town. Unfortunately, it was their "friends and family" night of their grand opening, so we weren't able to stay and eat. (The manager was really nice and gave us complimentary meal tickets to come back the next day.) Instead we ended up at the "regular" restaurant for dinner (they live in a REALLY small town, which is growing some (definitely bigger than Bridgeport), but there weren't many options for dining.) Still, I remember it being a wonderful meal and time spent together. The next morning, before he left for work, I overheard him say to my grandma, "Does she really have to go?" 

I love the picture I have of me dancing with my papa at my wedding. I'm grateful to know that he was a part of my baby blessing, my baptism and confirmation. He came up when I received my Young Women's Medallion, and for my Jr High and High School graduations. He was with me in the temple when I received my endowments before leaving on my mission. He was there when I came home from my mission. He was in the temple with me when I was sealed to Joe. He was in the temple with me when Brek was sealed to us, and he was part of Brek's baby blessing too. There are many wonderful moments and memories, and I am so grateful for them, and I'm grateful I have eternity to be his granddaughter.

Since my grandfather served in the military, he chose to be buried in a Veteran's Cemetery. It was a really neat experience.

My mom gave the Eulogy. She had it all memorized, and did an amazing job!

From where I was standing, I wasn't able to see when the flag was presented to my grandma.
Still, a really neat thing to hear.

This was all I caught of the guns for the salute. 

My dad gave the dedication of the grave, which was also a very sweet experience.

Of course, after the service we had a family luncheon. There was a display of some pictures and things of my grandfather's. The kids all enjoyed Papa's airplane "rocking horse."

Aurora

Brek tried to get on and "share" with Aurora. She was less than pleased.

Just cute pictures of my niece Amy

Aurora found the desert table and sat underneath it, and would come up and grab a cookie for each hand. She sat there and ate cookies for at least 20 minutes. It was so dang cute!

It was wonderful to get to gather together to remember and honor my grandfather. One of the really special things about it was that all my family was able to be together. My sister and her family drove 30 hours from Chicago to be there. We don't all get to be together very often, so we took the opportunity to take a family picture.

And we had Grandma join us too.

Cousin Trip to the Zoo

We were super excited to get to have Anna for a day, and we decided to go to the zoo. 

In the car, and ready for a fun-filled day!

We opted for the Folsom Zoo. It was closer, and cheaper, tho definitely smaller. Still, we had a good time.

Such a cute face!

Anna's got what we call the "Heather hunch" because she just got told she couldn't run off without us.
These 2 certainly kept us busy!

Watching the tiger 

The peacocks were pretty awesome. This one was trying to flirt with another little girl nearby.

Anna and Brek spreading their "wings."

Gotta love animal watching.

 

Up close with a deer

Bears

The boys are measuring up

Trying to be scary bears

Anna got down and wanted to crawl like a bear

Brek joined her

We enjoyed the places where we could see the animals up close

Don't remember what they are pretending to be here.

Of course, we had to put faces in:

Then, just outside the zoo is a little steam engine. Brek has been wanting to ride a train ever since we moved to Nebraska and we see them so often. So Grandma thought this would be a fun thing to do while we visited.

Waiting for the train to come

So cute!

Even cuter!

I love how Brek is looking at Anna here.

Hands up!

Standing up next to the engine

After the train ride, we went and made a stop at the Sacramento Temple. This is where Joe and I were married, along with Anna's Dad, my big brother Mark, and his wife Eliana. Mostly the kids just played in the water a little bit. But still fun to see the temple.

We went home for lunch, and naps. We had planned to head to the park after nap time, but both kids slept for over 3 hours, so Anna had to go home before we could get there. Still, they enjoyed some fun-sized popsicles that Grandma bough.

A little sass

Yep, he's got a big mouth

Well, definitely a fun day, and we were so happy that Anna got to come and play with us. It's so nice that they get along now! Horray for cousins!