Easter

Well, this Easter was a little different than we would've hoped for, but yet very wonderful all the same. Friday we drove up to Logan for the funeral and also to celebrate Easter. Since Saturday was booked, we had an Easter egg hunt for the kids at Nana's and Bompa's house and also the adults had an egg hunt as well. We learned an important lesson that night: don't hide Easter eggs full of candy in any light fixture--they will melt.

We also dyed Easter eggs as well. We had Aunt Alice come over with her daughter Nicole and her son Colin. We all dyed eggs together. It was a lot of fun getting together and having a great time coloring eggs. I love that tradition, even though Jordan would rather watch basketball than color an egg. Good thing my sisters love to color eggs too. My neice Abby was there, my nephew Aiden, and practically everyone save my little brother Jon who is on his mission in the Philippines.

We also had a surprise Friday night as well. Since Grandma passed, Jon was allowed to call home for a short while. It was great being able to talk to him again! I think he's practiced his English because he sounded more American this go around than he did last time. Or perhaps it was because not as much time lapsed between calls and so he was more used to speaking in English again. But, it was great being able to talk to him and for him to be able to share his memories of Grandma for us to pass along at her funeral to everyone else.

Grandma's funeral was on Saturday. It was beautiful and everyone shared such wonderful memories of her. She was truly a remarkable person and I will miss her greatly. Some special moments from the funeral are:

1. Sarah saw Grandma in the casket and told Nana, "Grandma Thorne is sleeping." In a way, she is sleeping.

2. I sang, 'I Know My Redeemer Lives' for Grandma. I did the best I could and I think Grandma would've been very pleased with me. Later I found out Michael Ballam was there and loved it.

3. Saying goodbye to Grandma was peaceful. I know she's in a better place and with Grandpa.

4. Remembering this Easter and the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know, just as the Lord was resurrected, Grandma will too be rejoined with her body once again.

After the funeral we headed home. Jordan, Justin, Dad, and all the rest of the men went to Priesthood. The girls headed over to Grandma Harris' to chat and let the little kids play together. It was great getting together with family and having a pleasant time. Later we had ice cream and my mom's and Uncle Larry and Aunt Nola came. It was great visiting with them and catching up on times with each other.

Sunday we arose, not too early thank goodness, had breakfast, and then went on search for our baskets. It was really fun watching Sarah find her basket. Same with Jordan and Anna. They took forever and I had to play the hot-cold game with them so they could find their baskets. The Easter Bunny was sneaky, sneaky this year.

Sarah Marie finding basket:

Jordan finding basket:


Anna finding basket:

We then went to Liz's to see what the Easter Bunny brought Abby and Aiden. Liz also is starting a farm, or so we joke with her. She just purchased 3 chicks and 1 duckling. They are so stinking cute!! So now Liz has 3 dogs and 4 birds. Don't know how the birds will handle the dogs and the dogs will handle the birds, but we'll see soon enough when the birds are transferred to live outside.

We then returned home to listen to General Conference. The girls were busy cooking and listening and Jordan zonked out on the couch. Anna took notes, thank goodness because someone had to retain something!! We then had a wonderful Easter Dinner with all the fixings-just as Grandma would've wanted us to.

Sarah took a nap, I fell asleep, and Jordan took another nap as well. After, we played a short game of canasta till Sarah awoke. After which, we had to leave to go home. It was a great weekend, although it was sad to see Grandma go. But having remember the true meaning of Easter about Christ's suffering and resurrection, I too know Grandma will be resurrected when Christ comes again.

Norma Meyers Thorne aka Grandma

I will always, always remember my Grandma. I will miss her dearly, but I know in my heart and mind she is truly in a better place. She is once again with the love of her life, Grandpa. Even though we will miss her, it will only seem like a moment in time before I see her and Grandpa again.

I want to share some of my memories of Grandma. Grandma was indeed special. She made each grandkid feel as if they were the most special. As each of grew, and developed our talents, she would help us along the way. Grandma actually was the one who helped me find my singing teacher when I was 12. She then would encourage me to continue singing and never lose my talent. Grandma would come to my theater shows when she could as well.

I remember Grandma's baked bread. To this day I can't figure out her recipe. I've tried over and over again to no avail. She made the best bread on earth. It was good with melted cheese, peanut butter, jam, or with melted butter. I also recall her canned raspberries. She would add coffee creamer to the raspberries to make them extra creamy. They were so delicious! I loved them and would ask for them whenever I saw them in her fridge. She also loved German Chocolate Cake. Whenever we came over for Sunday dinner, I would spot the desert lying on her kitchen counter. Without fail, a little sliver would be gone from the cake. Grandma told me she was checking to make sure the cake tasted just right. Of course the cake always did, but Grandma couldn't wait to eat her yummy cake.

Grandma loved to garden. I remember going over to her house in the spring and summer and walking around with her while she showed me and my mom all her beautiful flowers. Her favorite was purple iris'. She loved them so much, she never cut them. She wanted them to last as long as they could in her garden. She also loved lilacs.

Grandma was an avid bird watcher. Through all the seasons Grandma would put bird seed out on her window seal for the birds to eat. She would sit at her dinning table and watch idly as the birds came to eat the seeds. She had book after book about birds. She would name each species from memory too. When a new bird would come along, Grandma would share with us just how special it was to see the bird eating seeds from her window seal.

I also recall going to Hyrum Dam with her. The whole family would get together and go boating. Grandma would always bring the baked beans. They were so yummy! She'd add extra bacon so every time you had a scoop, you were sure to get some bacon with it.

I have so many memories of Grandma. She was truly a remarkable woman who will be missed dearly. I'm glad Sarah got to know Grandma too, if not only a little. I don't know if Sarah will remember her, but I'll be sure to pass down my memories of Grandma to her. I love you Grandma!!

Sarah playing the clarinet

Well, Anna is a great teacher. Last night she was playing her clarinet in between study breaks. Sarah was intrigued, as she always is, and Anna let her blow into her clarinet. At first Sarah struggled with the idea of something being in her mouth that she couldn't bite and had to blow into really hard. But, alas, she did it. It was a #4 reed, which Anna said is a professional reed, so you have to blow really hard to get any sort of noise. Sarah was blowing so hard, she tooted a couple of times. But, Anna said we just might have a musician on our hands. Mozart began playing the clarinet at the age of 3. Sarah is only 2 1/2, and needs a lot of work, but is well on her way :o). No pressure from mom, I'll let Sarah do whatever she wants to do.

Not so long ago, about 2 weeks ago, I decided Sarah was old enough for curlers. So I bought some, put them in her hair, and decided Sunday mornings would be so much easier if Sarah's hair was done come morning. Sarah loves, repeat, loves her hair curled like a princess. She loves to dress up like princess' all the time. So when she gets to wear dresses to church, she wants the brightest, most fluffy, and full dress you can find. And she wants bows in her hair as well. Since church is at 9am, and I like to sleep at least until 7am, I simply don't have time to spend curling her hair with a curling iron. So, curlers it was. She was very good, slept on them really well, and come morning she had the cutest hair!! I didn't get a picture of her before her nap (I promise to next time) so I didn't end up taking a picture of the final look. But, rest assured, she will wear curlers again. She's just too cute!!

Expecting...

So, Jordan and I are expecting another addition to our family come the end of September. As of a couple weeks ago, everything looks great with baby. April 14th we find out the gender! Yeah!!! I think it is a boy, but Jordan "doesn't want to count his chickens before they hatch." Well, it's prevented us from discussing names thus far. I don't want to get into those debates before we know whether it is a boy or girl. Below are the very first ultrasounds of baby.

These were taken at week 8. The baby is much, much bigger now. First tri, see ya later!!

Sarah the motherly 2 year old

Well, first of all I must say Sarah thinks she is much, much older than she really is. I received a call about 9:30am at work on Friday from a very upset and frantic Anna. Apparently Sarah was as quiet as a mouse when she awoke on Friday morning. She then proceeded to paint her toes (really her feet all the way up to her ankles) and her finger nails (really her fingers) with about 10 different colors of fingernail polish. Anna awoke to the smell of nail polish in the basement. She immediately sprang out of bed and called for Sarah, who then ran out of the bathroom upstairs and slammed the door as if to say she wasn't doing anything naughty. Anna then spent nearly 5 hours cleaning up fingernail polish from my cabinets, floor, carpet, walls, toilet, and bathroom rug. Needless to say, Sarah went to time out and is grounded from fingernail polish.

But, her little mishaps are few and far between (thank goodness!). On Sunday we were all sitting around talking and playing with Sarah. We told Sarah Daisy was very tired and ready for bed. So Sarah brought all her blankets out from her room and piled them over the dog. Daisy truly felt pampered. Sarah loves pretending to be like Mommy and Daddy. She's so cute!! She even instructed Daisy to close her eyes and go to sleep.
I suppose Sarah has to give me some sort of strife every now and again. She's such a good little girl. Kids will be kids, right?

Pictures of the Basement

Well, I've finally done it. I've taken pictures of my carpeted basement! Yeah!!!! The first picture is looking into the basement from the stairs. You're looking into the family/movie room. You can also see the desk area to the left. (And all our moving boxes to the right...eeks.) And front row and center is Daisy Mae. She just always walks right into my pictures.

Here is our beautiful fireplace. Jordan did all of the tile work. Isn't my honey amazing?! He did such a wonderful job. All I had to do was pick out colors (which I believe was amazing too, right?). We're missing a mantle, but given time and more mullah it shall come.

Here is looking back to the North. You can see our kitchenette area and pantry. We still have to hang doors on and we still need cabinets. But, we've made a lot of progress, no? We do have a stove and microwave, but they aren't usable till we get some cabinets.

Isn't Sarah so adorable? She's in her new playroom under the stairs. She really likes spending time alone with her toys and me not telling her she can only have three out at a time. This is her very own area and we all respect that. But, that doesn't mean she can leave it messy. She has to clean her playroom every night before bed.
Here is looking into the bathroom. We still have some major work to do in there. We have all the wall tile to finish and placing the toilet and vanity area. We're getting there though. Poor Anna has to run all the way upstairs to use the loo. But, it could be worse. We could all be sharing one bathroom instead of two. When this one's done, we'll have three!!
Here is the guest bedroom. We're still in between with moving and such, so the room looks a little messy.And last, but not least, here is Anna's new room. She's still organizing her things, but it looks good, no? She has so much more space than before. And, her bedroom connects to the bathroom. (Our bathroom downstairs is a Jack-and-Jill). She loves all the extra closet space too. Now if we only had shelves in it...in time, in time.

Well, there's a birds eye glance at my basement. All the hard work has finally paid off. Just a few more things to be done (like hanging doors, tile in the bathroom, and closet shelves) and we're done. Ahh, I can breathe a sigh of relief.

Adventures At The Park

I took Sarah to the park yesterday since the weather was so nice. I simply couldn't resist. It was time to set down the TV remote and head for the outdoors. I'm so happy the sun is out as is the blue sky! Spring is on its way.

Sarah had a lot of fun on the large slides. She loves going down them over and over again.

It was fun watching her have so much fun. She's still mentally little, just physically tall. It's neat watching her little mind connect things together and learn how to control her body. She was a little iffy going over the bridge, since it moved when her stepped on it, but she was brave and bold and went over it. I'm so proud of my little angel. She's growing up so much!!

When it was time to go home, she didn't want to. I remember being little and going to the park as well. I never wanted to leave either. I just wanted to stay and play. But, we had to head home to make dinner. So I picked her up and began walking home. Soon she understood and we were off. I told her if today was nice, which it is predicted to be, I'd bring her back to the park to play some more. Perhaps Sarah will meet some new friends as well.