Merry Christmas

Merry Chrismas Alleen. We Miss you!!!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday my Love!! WE Miss you.

Let there Be Lights

Our first Thanksgiving after we had gotten married we were in Alleen's home town. They have a yearly tradition that includes a light parade. Alleen's brother had a V.W. Thing sitting in his garage. We had talked about getting the thing up and running and decorate it for the parade. Finally this year we fufilled the dream, it was a year too late for Alleen to be there snapping pictures of the event, but the boys were in the car and even though it was a rain/snow mix, it was fun. Here is a picture of "Oggie" with everyone in the car. Alleen's idea was to have a wooden cut out of a coyote howling with the words "Howl a luah" in lights. We didn't get that far, but we did have fun.

Pink Floyd

When we first moved here, we were going to the big city one day and as we passed the GSL. Alleen yelled “I think I saw a Pink Flamingo!” I thought she was seeing things, but later we learned that a flamingo had escaped from Tracey Aviary some years back and was nick-named “Pink Floyd”. So when A-bomb and I were at the local ranch store buying cat food, we saw this pink Dodo bird. It isn’t a flamingo, but it is pink and I know that Alleen would just love it. While we were down south for the weekend we put it and another bird that looks like a pelican on her grave. It was also the anniversary of Duncan’s birth/death. He would have been 11 if he had lived. If he had lived we probably wouldn’t have A-bomb, so when one door closes another door opens. The photos of A-bomb falling down are at a park in Dixie that has this really soft covering instead of wood chips. A-bomb wanted to see if it would hurt if he fell down, so he tried to hurt himself a couple of times until I stopped him from trying to hurt himself. The other photos are of the boys playing at the park.

Happy Birthday Logan

Last Friday was Log's 14th birthday. It has been a very low key b-day, mainly because he had a scout jamboral in SLC it began on Fri. and ended Sat. p.m. he came home horse and stuffy nosed (allergies). He wanted Angel Food cake so when we went shopping we bought one, some Danish junkett and frozen strawberries(we forgot the whipped cream). Today was regional conference so we stayed home and just relaxed. Log's mom was the one who really made a big deal about birthdays. A-bomb helped Logs buy a 8 gig flashdrive. I have some magnets ordered that should be here tomorrow. We're going to try to go to the raceway and let them race go-carts for his birthday (even though it'll be late).
It's hard to believe that it has been 14 years ago that he was born. We had been married for 9 months and 1 day when he was born. Now, he has braces, is in the 8th grade and will be soon inducted into the Order of the Arrow. He was a good baby, and a very smart little boy. He was our only boy for 4 years before A-bomb came along. I'm glad he came into our lives and that he is such a good young man. I am so proud of him and I know that his mom is really proud of him. I can't be sure, but I think that part of his subdued attitude is because he is missing his mom. he doesn't mention it a lot like A-bomb, but in his own quirky way he misses her a lot. I miss her more than words can say.

It Has Been a Long Sad Year :(

It has been a very long year. What I have missed the most is not being able to talk to her. I miss our conversations, our t.v. time, and our just going on drives on Sundays to be together. Having to do it all has had its moments, the laundry and shopping take up a whole Saturday (during the school year). Holidays and birthdays just aren't the same without her special touches. She always made them special even without a lot of money. When I had hurt my back, it was a tough time because I was worried about the boys, if Alleen had been here she would have watched the boys and made me stay home from work to go to the dr. Instead I went to work and then waited for a sub to come (which one didn't come so one of the Sped. aides took my class) while I went to the dr. I had quit my second job so we could be together more, because I had missed so much of the last year by working 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. on nights I would have to work the two jobs. My final week at the truck stop was spent planning her funeral. It wasn't fair that I quit to spend more time with her and ended up holding her hand while her life ebbed quickly from her. I also did this 10 years ago with our son Duncan. It has been a quiet week, very few phone calls (thanks Wyo. Granny) to distract me from reliving the very vivid last few frantic hours of a year ago. I tried to not think about it, but it just kept popping up in my head. The boys didn't need to hear me talk about it, Logs was at scout camp so he missed all of the frantic 911 mess, Ads was here but he was out in a friends car so he would see her in the condition she was in. 14 years was not enough time. We both waited so long to get married, we were considered the old couple with the young kids. Many people thought that it was a second marriage for each of us, but it was our first and only. We had so many plans together, missions, both the boys and ourselves, marriages (the boys), spoiling the grandkids, and just growing old together. I always pictured us sitting on the porch in the cool evenings reading to each other, like my grandparents would. Grandma would read to Grandpa while he kept the flies a bay so they wouldn't land on his sweetheart. We did a lot of our dating by going to the temple. We went to Manti and the St. George temples before we were sealed. Because of work we didn't go as much when we moved up North, I missed that time together just the two of us in the temple. I know that I'm rambling on but I miss her so much and I feel bad because I couldn't make it down to put flowers on her grave today (stupid economy). I know she understands, but it still hurts. The boys have gone to bed and I have the dishwasher to unload before I go to bed so I had better get it done.

The Head Stone

We have returned from St. George. The Headstone is ready. They are going to pour the cement base this week and set the stone next week. They let us get some pictures of the headstone at the monument place so we did. The pictures are a little stark because of the lack of grass.

The etching on the stone (the one of the hands and rose) I actually gave that picture to Alleen for our first anniversary. I was in college and Logan was barely three months old. I found the picture and gave it to her with a dozen roses for our anniversary. The picture hangs on our bedroom wall. I’ve taken a photo of the picture and I’ll include it.

When they were designing the stone, since we were sealed on the same day we were married, they took out the box that had the sealed date. Well by doing that, it left a hole on that side, I looked at the designer and said “Alleen’s a journalist and a scrapper, if we leave that looking lop-sided and not symmetrical, she’ll haunt me forever!” He laughed, but I was serious. So we moved the married date to just over the temple engraving and arched it so it just fits. I think she’d approve. Here is what it looks like before it gets set next week.

Alleen's headstone

I ordered Alleen's headstone while we were in St. George for a wedding. Here is a tentative version of what it'll look like. The stone is a light pastelish red granite called "Morning Rose" When I get some real picutes of it after it is put in I'll post them.

Happy Mother's Day

Play Ball

Here are a couple of Adam's picutes. Baseball season started yesterday and his forst game was yesterday. His team lost, but he had a great time. He stuck out both times but he went down swinging.

Easter Break

We have returned from our annual Easter sojourn into the cold Wyo. town of Afton. We have gone up for Easter to be with family for many years, This year instead of dying eggs we Tye-dyed tee shirts. It was a rousing success. Here are some of the pictures of the festivities.

Here & There

Just thought you might like to see the boys playing on the red rocks of So. Ut. Sagehen loved the red rocks and the red sand from Dixie. She once told me when we went down for Thanksgiving after being up north for a couple years that even the sky was a bluer blue in Dixie (maybe it's just the contrast of all that red). She was right the sky was just a deeper blue that up here in the tooeles.