We will miss you, Chris!

Our good friend Chris passed away this morning after a long battle with brain cancer. He leaves his amazing wife Jen and their new baby, Sadie behind. We will dearly miss Chris. He was always so positive. He always had a smile, even on those tough days, which he never admitted to having. He and Linden always enjoyed playing basketball or watching sports together. We were always able to call up Chris and Jen to go and do something together, even if that something was just sitting around doing nothing. We shared many wonderful laughs together. So many great memories. Thank you!!

Chris and Jen are the kind of people that inspire everyone to be better people and live better lives. I know that I am a better person for having known Chris. His love of our Heavenly Father was so strong. He was always sharing his testimony with others and serving. Life was never about what he didn't have, but what he did have and what he could share with others. He served valiantly here on earth. Now that he has moved on I am sure that he is running around shouting the joy of the gospel plan to those on the other side with him. He is probably glad that he can walk and talk again. And, those of us left behind are grateful for our knowledge of the Great Plan of Salvation.

Jen, our thoughts and prayers are with you and Sadie and yours and Chris's families. So very many people will miss Chris. So very many people are praying for you now. We love you.

A New Look

When I started this blog I just chose a template and planned on going back and changing it later to something that I felt fit better. Well, I finally have it done. It isn't perfect, but I like it. Let me know what you think.

All Healed Up

Zackary's chin has healed up nicely. You can see a little pink line when you look. It was hard to capture a picture showing his chin. Here he was eating goldfish crackers while I was singing "Si te sientes hoy feliz, aplaud asi" (If your happy and you know it clap your hands.) It is one of his favorite songs. He is really great at clapping when it is time to clap. It worked, I was able to get a picture of his chin, his eyes are just closed. Oh well, you can't have everything.

Locks of Love

After five years of growing my hair out I decided it was time for a change. After researching and discovering that I did have enough to donate to locks of love I went for it (10 in. min.). There is a wonderful salon in downtown IF where they give you a free cut and style with a hair donation, Defining Line Hair Salon. They did a wonderful job, thanks Stephanie. I think I will really like having short hair again, although I believe it will be a bit of an adjustment for Linden. (My dad seemed to miss my long hair also, when he saw that I had gotten it cut.)




The night before I got my haircut. Front and back. The longest my hair has ever been.





The After. Taken when we got home from the salon.

Easter Weekend

We had a great Easter Weekend. It has just taken me a little while to get it posted. We left Friday and traveled to Ontario, OR. We enjoyed spending time with Brook and Brina. We got to watch them run in a track meet on Saturday. They both did really well in the 10K. Yeah, that is 25 times around the track! What troopers they are. Friday evening Linden, the boys and I stayed with my cousin Breanna. It was really nice to visit with her and to see her place. Thanks, Breanna and family.

Saturday after the track meet we went to Boise to visit Edwin, Jennifer, Grace and Anne. It was really nice to visit with them there. They have a nice little place with a pond on one side of their apartment and the river with the walkway on the other. It is a nice area. We had fun walking along the river and watching the kids throw rocks in the river. We made some fun resurrection cookies and had a relaxing time there.

We also really enjoyed going to church with Edwin and Jennifer. They have a really nice ward. While at church Zackary fell off the bench and put his teeth through his bottom lip. Needless to say there was lots of blood. Zackary and I were both covered with blood and got a few looks of sympathy and comments of concern from people in the foyer. Obviously, we left church early, headed back to Edwin and Jennifer's place where the amazingly, wonderful Jennifer cleaned out all of the blood from our clothes while I was recovering from almost passing out. Just about the time that Zackary was ready to run around and play again I couldn't even walk. At least we knew he was allright. His lip is all healed up now. I'll post pictures of it later. (He is sleeping right now.)



Brook and Brina and teammates stretching out before the 10K. I could never do 25 laps around the track. Good Job, Brina and Brook!



Pictures of Zackary's wounds. He had two little cuts on the outside. The inside was torn up a bit more. Thanks to Dr. Edwin we didn't have to go the ER. (No we don't abuse our boys, but unfortunately the bruise on Zackary's head is from the day before from a little tumble on the concrete bleachers at the track meet.)

Dad's headstone

Thought we might post a few pictures of Dad's Headstone, especially for those of you that won't get a chance to see it for yourself for a while. It looks really nice. We are glad that it is finally there.



A view of the front.



A view of the back.



A wide angle shot.



Grandpa and Grandma's and Dad's, together.

Easter Fun

Eggs, dye, stickers and candy! What else is needed for some Easter fun. The Thursday before Easter we went over to Grandma's house to dye eggs with Aunt Jennifer, Grandma, Uncle David, Grace and Anne. It was lots of fun.



At the table dying eggs.



The kids all gathered on the stairs waiting to go upstairs to look for hidden eggs. (It was raining outside.)



Zackary with his two eggs. After he found one he was content to explore the contents of the eggs and it took some prodding to get him to find more eggs.



Grace and Anton didn't have any problems with wanting to find more eggs.

Yeah, Planes!

During our trip to Ogden we stopped by the Hill Air Force Base Museum. It was my first trip there. And with two little boys it had to be a quick one. The boys really enjoyed sitting in the play planes, though. We will have to go again when they are a little older.

Our First 5K

This weekend we enjoyed a quick trip to Ogden. We ran in a 5K that was a fundraiser for Claudette's school. It was all up and down, but I still finished and even ran the whole way. Yeah! I do need to improve my time, though. Linden finished way ahead of me. The boys also participated in the fun run. I was planning on pushing them in the stroller, but Claudette and Annikka volunteered to push them as they walked. I was very grateful that they were pushing them, especially up a couple of the big hills. We all finished. It was a great. I hope to do a few more as a family this year.

No! Two Years!!

So, Anton is now officially three years old. Unfortunately, after several weeks of work he still insists that he is "two years" old. I guess he just doesn't want to claim three yet. We had a nice birthday party with several Aunts, Uncles and cousins in attendance as well as Grandma Nielsen. Grandpa and Grandma Butler decided to ditch Anton's birthday for Colorado again (third year in a row). Maybe next year spring break will fall on a different week than Anton's Birthday.

Anton LOVED his trike. When he saw it after pulling the bag off of it he got so excited and kept saying, "A bike, a bike, a bike!" I loved seeing the way his eyes lit up. He even let Zackary try it out that night, also. Although he hasn't been as willing to share since then.