I totally forgot to post this before I did the Father's Day post, so technically this is out of order, but oh well. Brent had a paper accepted at a conference in San Diego and I decided to go with him. We talked my brother Jon and his wife Vanessa and also Matt and Kelie into watching Owen for us. We left on Thursday at noon and got to San Diego at 1:30! Pretty nice, huh?Actually, the time gain wasn't the best part of the flight, the best part was not having to worry about having Owen on the airplane! It was nice to be able to just relax and hang out with Brent. The conference was at Loews Hotel on Coronado Bay. The hotel had a free shuttle into downtown Coronado so we went there a couple of times mostly to eat, since Brent's meals were covered by the school, but mine were not and there was really no place to eat except the hotel.
The first night we went to a Mexican restaurant, which I liked a lot and Brent just thought it was okay. Then we walked around for while. We were hoping to catch the shuttle back earlier, but there were no available seats and so we had to spent an extra hour walking up and down the town trying to stay warm! I was seriously freezing. I was wearing pants and had a jacket on.
The second day I sat outside and read my book and pretty much did nothing while Brent did conference stuff for a lot of the day. We went back into town to try a well reviewed burger place for an early dinner. It was called the Burger Lounge. It was good. Brent LOVED it. He said it was the one of the best burgers he has ever had. We went swimming that night after Brent was done with his conference stuff for the day.
The third day Brent presented his paper and attended the conference with the exception of a few minutes he came to make sure I was doing okay. I once again read my book, went and sat in the hot tub, and watch TV. It was awesome! I didn't do anything, which is what made it so great. We left after the conference wrapped up on Sunday and headed home. We didn't get home until 1 in the morning.
I was pretty worried about Owen while I was gone, but I after talking to my brothers a little bit I realized he was having a grand time being spoiled and playing with the cousins. It such a fun trip and such a nice break for me.
We had someone offer to take our picture, but it is funny because we are sitting outside a bank and there really is no scenery of Coronado anywhere. Burger Lounge. I really liked their motif.
Downtown Coronado The Pools
Me Reading. I am smiling because I told Brent to take a picture of me reading, since that is what I did pretty much the entire time. It just looks ridiculous though.
We had fun doing Father's Day for Brent this year. Brent is such a good Dad and loves Owen so much. Owen loves to come to his Mama when he is hurt or sad or ornery, but when he wants to play, he goes to his Dad. Brent plays with his so much more than I do(at least in the evenings). They love to wrestle, play chase and play with his balls. Owen loves that his Dad takes him to the creek by our house to throw rocks and other thing that always seem to get his clothes dirty!
We got Brent a Cincinnati Reds T-shirt and tickets to go see the Reds when they play the Cardinals in St. Louis next week. Brent is a really big fan of the Reds and has been since he was a teenager. We also got him a purple striped dress shirt and Owen helped make him a bookmark with his finger painting. All in all, I would say it was a success. We also got him a pot a candy so he can take it to work with him and have his own personal stash.
Eating Ice Cream Roll! Yummy! Owen wasn't in the best mood that day!
Owen got his haircut again. It was like a month ago. I am so behind!I really just need to stay caught up, but somehow I never do. Anyway, we just did it with the 1 inch attachment and went town. He was good as gold, didn't even need the sucker this time!
Before (This picture is actually of Owen putting on my deodorant. He got it down one day and starting trying to put it one his I do. I guess you gotta start those boys early!
Just for journaling purposes I wanted to post some pictures of my Dad's funeral. Brent and I got in the car right after sacrament meeting on that Sunday (May 8th) and drove to Denver. Then we woke up on Monday and drove the other 8 or so hours to Oakley. I was kind of a basket case the entire time. It seemed like the longest trip of my life. We got there later than we had planned and it was pretty chaotic getting dinner fed to everyone and getting everyone ready for the viewing. I guess it didn't really hit me, not that I hadn't cried or felt sad but it didn't real hit me that he was gone until I we went to the viewing. I have to say that viewing are not my favorite, but it is interesting how they somehow kind of put you on the path to appropriately mourn. I actually think that it was helpful to see so many people who loved my Dad and drove many miles to come to help and comfort us and to remember him. How grateful I am for good friends and family who make life's difficult times so much easier to handle.
We had another viewing before the funeral and this one I didn't do so well at, as far as controlling my emotions. The line was so long they had to cut people off so that we could start the funeral. Dad had his program written up for a while now. I guess he really wanted it to be the way he wanted. His sisters Catherine and Jeanne read the obituary and gave early remembrances. He had all eight of his children speak and bear their testimonies and had several musical numbers in between us. He then had our old Bishop and dear family friend, Bishop Roberts speak. I remember walking into the funeral feeling great sorrow and crying through a lot of my siblings remarks, but about half way through I felt at peace. I told Brent when we sat down before the funeral started that I could feel my Dad there. I knew he was there and he was happy with the program!
My Dad originally had my Mom down as singing the closing song, but she wasn't sure she would be able to get through it, so she enlisted my sisters to sing it as well. I think my Mom was stronger than the all of the rest of us. What is amazing to me is that she sang that same song at my Dad's mission farewell, so it had great meaning for them and she still sang probably just as well as she did at his farewell. I tell you what, my Mom is amazing! Here are a few pictures.
Loved his casket (I think he would have loved it too!) Owen looking like a wild man
This is the best picture I have of the three of us, even with my eyes closed. The others have Owen head butting me or thrashing around in my arms.
Some of my Dad's favorite people
The flowers were beautiful!
It was pretty cold, even for May. It was suppose to snow, but luckily it didn't.
I wanted to post this a while ago, but somehow never got around to sitting down and writing it. Since my blog is pretty much like my journal, I want to write down a few of the thought I have had about my Dad since his passing and think Father's day is a good day to do it.
My Dad was and is my hero. I can't think of other person on this earth (other than my Mom) that I would want to be more like than him. I am so grateful for all the things he taught me while on this earth. He was a great example to me of putting God first in all that he did. He had a special gift to love others and he taught me that people are much more important than things. He showed that by the way he and (my Mom )lived their lives.
My Dad always put his children's needs before his own. My parents continually sacrificed so that we could have and do things they thought were important. He and my Mom payed for all eight of their children to take private music lessons which included them driving us to Provo or Salt Lake every week and purchasing professional model instruments for us to play. He helped pay for all of his children's education and all of our missions. He was always making sure we didn't need anything and always trying to take care of us. That was true even up until the very last days of his life. When I was in Utah he was still trying to pay for me to take Owen swimming. :) And when I spoke to him on the phone the night before he passed he was concerned about whether I had gotten back to Missouri okay.
My dad loved to talk and didn't really care if he knew you that well! He loved to talk because he loved people and that certainly was a gift. I used to think it was embarrassing that he would talk to everyone, but as I grew up I realized what a gift it was and that he was able to do good things because he was friendly with people and because he loved others.
One of the biggest things my Dad taught me was to try your hardest and don't give up. He never gave up on living even though it was hard for him. I appreciate that he decided to go through all of his radiation and chemotherapy because he wanted to be here for his wife, children, and grandchildren. I think my Mom said he had something like 101 radiation treatments and she couldn't even remember how many rounds of chemo he went through, but it was all the chemo he could do. He also taught me that we don't always get what we want-even if it is righteous desire. He wanted more than anything to serve a mission with my Mom and even though that never happened I think he served a different type of mission through his battle with cancer. I believe he touched many people's lives, people that he never would have affected had he not had this trial.
I always knew that my Dad loved me, but that wasn't just because he told me often, but because he showed me. I will forever be grateful to him for teaching me the gospel and for helping me to gain a testimony of my own and for believing in me, sometimes when I didn't believe in myself. He always made me feel like I could do anything I wanted to. When he passed away I told Brent that the world feels a little different without him here mostly because I knew no matter what went on in my life that my Dad loved me and was cheering for me. And even though I miss him greatly, I know he is still cheering for me and is not far away.
Happy Father's Day, Dad! I love you.
I watched him with the eager eyes of childhood day by day The way he lived said more to me than words could ever say The simple truths he taught me would endure my whole life through And long before I knew them for myself I knew my father knew
I borrowed his unfailing faith; I trusted in his love I counted on his courage when my own was not enough I turned to him for counsel through the perils of my youth And even when I doubted, still I knew, I knew my father knew
I saw his quiet witness in the tears he could not hide As he taught me of the Savior, how He lived and how He died I felt the Holy Spirit, as he testified of truth As I began to understand the things I knew my father knew
I have found my father's faith deep within my soul A legacy I'll treasure through eternities untold And everything I try to be, and everything I do I do because I learned to know and love the things I knew my father knew
I was looking at my pictures and realized I didn't post about us celebrating Easter before we went to Utah. We tried to dye Easter eggs with Owen, but as you can imagine it wasn't too easy considering he just wanted to "play" with the dye. I put him in his chair and let him play with some water while Jenna and Brooke dyed a few eggs.
We decided to get Owen a basketball hoop because he was driving me nuts by always running down to the neighbors basketball hoop every chance he could get. It has been worth every cent we spent. He loves it and even though he doesn't play with it as much as he did when he first got it, he still plays with it quite a bit.
He was so excited!
He wanted to hold his candy AND the play basketball at the same time
I decided, kind of, on a whim (or what I thought was a whim) that I wanted to go to Utah to visit my Dad for his birthday and for Easter. I looked at plane tickets and realized that Southwest was having an awesome deal, so I emailed my Mom and set everything up without my Dad knowing. As it turns out I don't think my thoughts to visit my Dad where anything close to whimsical, in fact I am pretty confident I was lead to do what I did by the Spirit. I thought many times that maybe I would just wait until May when Brent had a conference and would be gone a lot of the week, but I just kept thinking I wanted to be there for Easter and his birthday. So grateful that I was not only able to see him but to be able to visit with him and have him play and read with Owen and enjoy some of his last days on the earth.
Brent couldn't come with us, so Owen and I made the flight by ourselves. Owen did okay, but not great on the first flight and was really good on the second flight. My Mom and Mark picked us up at the airport and brought us back to Oakley. My Dad was taking a nap on the couch when we came in and we totally surprised him big time. I was a little worried that he actual knew I was coming, but he claims he had no idea. Owen took a little while to warm up but after some dinner and a bath he was sitting around watching soccer with uncle Mark and Grandpa and loving life.
We had a great trip...except for the sleeping part. Owen decided around 2 or 3 in the morning every night that he didn't want to sleep in his pack n' play and because I didn't want to keep everyone else up, I let him sleep with me, which meant I didn't get much sleep. I was pretty frustrated most nights and even thought so many times that I shouldn't have come because I was so tired and worn out. Of course I completely think it was worth every stressful night and although I wish it would have been more restful, I wouldn't trade my time there for anything.
We didn't do anything real exciting while we were there, just played with the cousins and Grandma and Grandpa and with "Key"(he called Mark this after about the second day). Owen was obsessed with all the balls my nieces and nephews have in there house and between that and all the "O" looking toys he was set. He was a little scared of Grandpa for some of the time, but mostly think it was because he had oxygen. There were a couple of things he would do with Grandpa and that was show him his alphabet book and run his cars across his tray. In fact he just kept wanting to show Grandpa the page of the letter B because the balls were on that page. Grandpa kept wanting to move on, but Owen kept flipping it back. It was actually pretty funny. He did however, say most of his letters for Grandpa on his birthday right before we had the party. I think it was the best he has ever done them as far as saying so many in a row.
We went swimming in the indoor pool they have in Kamas. Owen loved the slide and kept wanting to get out of the pool everytime after we went down so he could do it again. Needless to say he wasn't very happy about having to go home.
Reading with Grandpa
Playing with the b-ball under the stools
Swimming and playing with of course a water ball
We had an Easter egg hunt with the cousins. Here is Owen with Daylen and Cannon
Smiling after realizing what is actual in the eggs
Watching Tangled with Mariah and Uncle Mark
Grandpa's birthday party
Mark and Grandma introduced Owen to punch. He didn't want to put it down, but he still wanted his milk as well! I just love this picture of Owen. He just looks like he is having a good time.
Playing with all the "O" toys. If you look in the background you can see all the toys he had been carrying around that are circles or rings.
Owen with all the Melanie's kids. Mariah, Daylen, Cannon, and Maleah
We left on Thursday night to go visit some of Brent's family. We had a good time jumping on the trampoline, playing on the slide, and playing with Jack's basketball hoop.Valerie and Andrea (Brent's sisters) came and brought Emma and Annie. It was so much fun to see them. Owen loves to be around other kids, so he had a lot of fun playing with Emma and getting into trouble with her. We played games and had lots of fun.
So, glad I got to visit. We wish we lived closer to family. Maybe one day!
Being tickled by Uncle Rodney and cousin Jack
This is the best picture I could get of Owen and Emma. I think they really did like each other.
Jack and Owen. Owen loved playing with Jack. Quick side story that I want to remember because it was so cute. When we were saying good-bye to Rodney's family Jack said, "I am so glad that Missy and Owen got to come visit...but especially Missy. Ahh..isn't that so cute. I totally expected him to say, "especially Owen."
We had someone offer to take our picture, but it is funny because we are sitting outside a bank and there really is no scenery of Coronado anywhere.
Burger Lounge. I really liked their motif.
Downtown Coronado
The Pools
Me Reading. I am smiling because I told Brent to take a picture of me reading, since that is what I did pretty much the entire time. It just looks ridiculous though.
View from our hotel
View from our room 
We had an Easter egg hunt with the cousins. Here is Owen with Daylen and Cannon
