Grandpa Campbell's Funeral

Late Christmas afternoon we swiftly packed up our car with kids, clothes and a few toys & headed west to California. We had two very important events that would take place in the days to follow. A wedding and a funeral...wait isn't that a movie or something?

The morning of Monday, December 26th, we honored Tim's Grandpa

 Read Campbell, an incredible man.

~It was the most beautiful day, in the most beautiful cemetery I had ever seen.

I love everything about this picture....From the lighting, the hills, the gigantic trees, the "hearse", the little girl learning to walk, the man leaning over the grave...
Time standing still. 

Tim, Grandma, Carrie, Brian, Ron

Before the funeral we gathered at Grandma & Grandpa Campbell's house for hugs and well wishes & then drove to the church building. It was hard to take a picture in this same spot that we had taken so many pictures in years past; but just this time Grandpa was not in them.
We felt blessed to participate in the program. Tim gave a wonderful talk & I was able to play the piano as prelude, hymns & the grandchildren & great-grandchildren's musical number; 
"Families Can Be Together Forever." It was touching to see out of the corner of my eye as I played, family members emotional as the song was sung. It is true that Families really can be together forever, I can't even begin to imagine it any other way.  
The picture below in the middle saddens my heart as you see the 2 sons walking their mother up to see their Dad one last time.

There was a moment where the kids were all running around afterwards just being kids, perhaps getting a little loud & a little too close to the casket. My initial reaction was to go over and tell them to be a little more quiet and respectful, but then just as fast as I thought that, I pushed the thought aside and just stood there thinking and taking this photo.

Then I thought: Grandpa Campbell is right there with those kids just as he would be otherwise. And I almost couldn't walk a step closer because I didn't want to interrupt their "play session" with Great-Grandpa.

My sweet husband having a moment.

I learned a lot about Grandpa Campbell during the funeral & realized that he had passed down many of his good traits on down to my Timmy. My favorite one being his love for his children & the desire to be with them, to play with them and make them laugh. ~One of the most Christlike attributes I can think of.

Another thing I already knew but that was reaffirmed was how strong this lady is. ~Ryler's Great Grandma Campbell~

....Physically, Mentally & Emotionally strong.~

~Together Forever~

Bottom Teeth

Just as Daylan LOSES his....

Ryler GROWS in his.

Sure a lot of work for a quick 6 years.

Ears Pierced- Take 2

Back in September, days before Kaylea's 9th Birthday she told me she wanted her ears pierced...again.

She had her ears pierced when she was 5 but wouldn't ever let me clean them so we had to take them out. (plus they were kinda crooked anyways...) 

With the holes all covered over, she decided to brave the gun again...

{...perhaps a little bit more scary when the lady doing it had a bazillion piercings just on her face."

"Elfie"= our new BFF

"Elfie"...named by Jaxson, joined our Christmas traditions this year & he is quite the character. The kids would jump out of bed each morning & run to find him! They found him doing things like:

One morning we found he had turned the milk green. Jax thought it was hilarious!

I even found him on our moving truck...I guess he didn't want to be left behind.

He colored ALL our noses green when we were asleep!

Hip Hop King ♔

Spence's first competition of the season....

He had a BLAST!

... & just happened to win 1st place in their division while doing it.

Their Dance Company won 1st Overall!

...do you see him?

Here is the video of them at the Kar competition. He's the tallest blonde in the green on the far left.

Then here is the performance him & his buddy Ezra did right before Christmas. They choreographed it themselves & performed it at the park for a neighborhood/ward Christmas party. He's in the green again.

*I'm so glad Spence has found something that he loves to do so much and that he can stay active, get stronger and gain confidence while doing it!

Saying "Good-Bye"

Finally it was time to say our good byes....

And before the big storm came into Provo, we were....

Love the nostalgic smell of Utah rain. It just is different than Az rain. 

We said goodbye and headed for our 10+ hour drive home. 

It was all worth it...

More Family Trip Fun...

Another fun thing we did was go to a fun place there in Provo/Orem area where the kids could play some carnival type games. Spencer spied this climbing arena & insisted he do it! They got all harnessed up & climbed to their little hearts content. Spence has been a climber since birth & was in heaven.

 Spence had a blast although admitting it was a little scary... Even Aunt Lacey did it to prove her agility & toughness! ;)

While in Salt Lake Tim's brother Brian turned 40! His cute family arranged for everyone in the restaurant to sing to him & then they opened up the roof as he let go of his Birthday wish balloon! I love how he is holding Claire in this picture. {I love to think that if it were Tim doing this, he would have a child in his arms too. They get that from their Dad..making the ch ildren the focus even when the spotlight is on them.~such a Christlike attribute.}

Whatcha think....brothers?

"Hang Loose Dude..."

About time to head home...

Lovin' BYU Classes, Students & Campus

Kaylea & Auntie Sara--who's more like a big sister 

So the funnest part of the trip was visiting our little sisters 

on the BYU campus.While there, I went to a Book of Mormon Class 

& a Child Development Class with Sara.

{Now we can say I went to BYU... ;)

I think I looked like I fit in pretty good with the young'ens although I was tempted so many times to raise my hand and make comments in the child development class because I felt like I could give a lot of insight...haha.

I actually took notes & learned a ton! Was reminded & relearning things such as "out of sight -out of mind" & Animistic Thinking which is where your 2 yr old thinks inanimate objects have lifelike qualities. The most helpful thing I learned WAS: to try what is often taught by the older Japanese generation. When your child won't eat their veggies, tell them "this carrot is SO sad...he wants to go in your mouth too!"

...Works like a charm with Jax -Try it!!

~Love Learning!~

Tim & I both took turns going to Lacey & Ashlyn's Mission Prep Class. This is a class I think is good for ALL to take since we are all to be "Member Missionaries."  The teacher was amazing and gave wonderful stories, insight & explained doctrine at the same time. That I think, is the recipe for a great teacher.

these cute girlies are looking more and more alike as they get older!

Jaxson's 1st Time Bowling

We went bowling & ate on Campus with the Fam & the other Campbells.

{Spence & Kaylea both announced to us that they would like to go to BYU some day.} ☺

~General Conference~

Our real purpose in taking this trip was so that Spencer & Kaylea could attend their 1st session of General Conference. This has been Kaylea's dream since she turned 8! We even sacrificed our Summer Vacation to come here instead since we couldn't afford to do both. There were 2 specific miracles that happened to us previously that got us to this destination.  Number One: Tim was allowed after just a few weeks of working his new job to take off for a week & come. This went directly against company policy & we feel it was a miracle. Then the other is what happened on the car ride up. I've come to recognize more often the tender mercies that happen often in all of our lives and realize they are not coincidences but rather little miracles that just show us that God is always with us.

Because we didn't have pre arranged tickets we were going off of faith that we'd get in. So Saturday morning after the first session we walked down a few blocks to Temple Square and started our search. Spence held a sign that said: "Need Tickets-It's My 1st Time.."  

With just minutes before the next session started & with help from other family members we had tickets for us to get in, but they were in different areas. My sis Sara & Tim watched the 3 little ones while Spence, Kaylea & I went into the Saturday Afternoon Session. Spencer's ticket was on the floor & mine and Kaylea's was on one of the higher balconies. 

Spencer insisted to me that he would be fine on his own and that he really wanted to do this. I trusted that he'd be okay alone & off he went. Afterwards he told us that he ended up like 5-8 rows from the front!!... and could see the expressions on the Prophet & Apostles faces. Come to find out, two older ladies had helped him get to the front which truly made this a memory & experience he will NEVER forget. I know this kid has a special work here on the earth to do & I have a feeling that this is just the beginning of these kind of experiences for  him.

I enjoyed the quiet time I got to have with Kaylea up in the balcony. She laid on my lap, held my hand & journaled right along with me. We sang loudly with conviction the hymns that we had such belief in. We got to stand & sing "Praise To The Man". She happened to know it since it was in the Primary Program this year. It was powerful..so much so that the lump in my throat didn't allow me to get very many notes out. Some of the words that spoke to me the most were "Traitors & Tyrants now fight him in vain..." 

~Just minutes before we sang this, there was one of those protestors outside the Conference Center, who just happened to be standing literally 4 feet away from me & my innocent daughter. He had a megaphone yelling things like: "You are being lied to, Joseph Smith was a foolish man who made up stories"....& on & on. He was an inch off the Conference Center's property so he was allowed to stay. Kaylea & I talked back & forth about looking in someone's eyes to know if they are good or evil; and this man had angry, disturbing, evil eyes that she I'm sure will always remember. The hundreds of people in line that could hear/see him were calmly ignoring him. He wanted someone to argue back or be affected but we weren't. 

~Our testimonies go much deeper...So much deeper than {these} people will ever realize. And then just minutes later as the MILLIONS of members around the Globe sang "traitors & tyrants now fight him in vain...", it hit me! These protestors, nay-sayers, politicians, etc.. They might hope to persuade one or many but they are doing it in vain, because the course of the Gospel is in stone & will not be affected. (They are definitely fighting in vain!) My only hope in all of this was that this little girl (pictured below) would have her blossoming testimony strengthened & I believe it truly was. 

I love just being on any Temple grounds, but especially the grounds of the Salt Lake Temple. My heart is tender as I think about our pioneer ancestors who spent over 40 years building this. Heartache after heartache & many of them never even got to see the final outcome. They definitely knew of it's eternal nature and the role it played.

~During the Priesthood Session that evening, some of us girls sat on the beautiful temple grounds & enjoyed the sunset and conversation. Another group of us went shopping with all the other LDS females in the world...no really that's unwritten Mormon tradition. While the men get spiritually fed, we have female bonding time. I love it! Then they come out all spiritually uplifted & happy. I enjoyed watching the sky change over time with the Temple in the foreground.

This is my Aunt Deeanna with two of her girls. I'm her favorite niece...no really I am. She is the Mother of 8 children (5 of whom they fostered and then adopted)...and now they are almost all grown up. I could swear they were just babies. We don't get to see them often being that they live so far away, so it was so nice to see them & spend a little time with them in Provo & Salt Lake. Of the thousands of people there we continued to run into them & we giggled each time we did.

{Joining us in SLC were many Family members including my parents, my sisters Sara, Brittany (& Scott), Tim's parents, his sisters Ashlyn, Lacey (& Jordan) & his brother Brian's family. We got to spend time a little time with all of them.}

For the other sessions of Conference we enjoyed just 

chillin' in our Hotel room all cuddled up....

My 5 boys...

...And us girls taking notes! 

{We were lucky enough to have Aunt Sara stay with us & catch up on lost time.}

There is nothing I love more than feeling the Spirit as I watch & hear the music and words spoken and sung at General Conference. The best part is that we are all together, snuggled up as we contemplate the things that matter most in this life and the eternities.

This General Conference was as enriching as all others. Just so happens to be that this time we got to be right there where it all took place...and we felt very blessed for it.

Watch out for Random Posts coming your way...

Life is FINALLY slowing down enough so that I can catch up on some probably 30 or so posts that I'm behind on. I get so irritated when I'm behind since this is my photo journal to pass on to my kids some day.

For 2012 I will try & just get the posts published soon after they happen even if photos aren't edited & journaling isn't complete. ✍
...They will come very randomly-- so don't be confused! ☺


Here goes nothing....

Praying & Partying

~We had a scary moment as we drove the first night. We had set up a hotel reservation to stay in Kanab, which looking back now was just too far to drive for the first night, being that we didn't leave till Tim got off work till 6:00. Kids were all asleep and everything was going great until ...oh 11 something. We came upon the point where you had to turn or go straight...both said Page.  Well, Tim turned. I said "I think we should have gone straight"...he insisted I was wrong of course. While driving down this new road we hear the lovely sound of ding-ding-ding. We look down & see that the light has come on for the gas tank indicating it is low....we keep driving with no signs of life, or gas stations anywhere. I got a pit in my stomach. Still we continued on... For a few brief moments I was planning in my head that we would be stranded and would be sleeping in our car. At this point, Tim & I were talking in raised voices, which awoke all of the kids & led to 4 out of the 5 crying...no more like screaming. They were uncomfortable & had been abruptly awakened. It was awful. 

..................

~Long story short we turned around back to the original route...instant peace. I knew we made the right decision as we putted into the town of Page just in time to fill up that empty tank of ours. We all jumped out of the car, breathed in the brisk fresh air and welcomed the small raindrops on our heads. All kids were full of smiles as they realized we wouldn't have to be on the show: "I Shouldn't Be Alive" ...No really they thought that. The kids had been praying in the car, out loud & simultaneously ..they were so scared. Our phones were not working of course when we needed them most-terrible feeling. The funny thing was looking back later that night, both our moms had text us around the exact time that we were about to be "stranded." ....

`Call it what you want=Mother's Intuition/Promptings from the Holy Ghost/Being watched over from above. I think all apply.

....................

~We finally arrived about 1am to our Hotel and all slept so soundly that night. The next morning we enjoyed the beautiful weather & scenery as we finished the drive to Provo.

After the long travels we finally arrived!

We went straight to the Provo Mall...a nostalgic favorite...

And then we were off to meet my family at Granddad Curtis' 90th Birthday! We met at the end of my grandparents street which is on the top of a beautiful hill overlooking...

...the town of Provo. 

~While there, we could hear the roars of the crowd as the BYU Cougars scored! I thought about how my Grandparents used to go to those games religiously & came draped in head to toe BYU paraphernalia. They of course cannot do that anymore & it made me realize and remember that life flies by.  {Someday I won't have 5 yelling kids in the car... This time will pass & I have to take it all in now while I still can.}

We enjoyed seeing cousins & family we hadn't seen in quite a while. My kids embraced Aunt Sara that they had missed so much. All the young ones & young at heart rolled down the gigantic hill. (They don't have hills like that in AZ.) And I don't know why I didn't get a picture of Grandma & Granddad together...silly me. I must've been too busy stuffing my face.

~And then we headed off into the sunset, okay north of the sunset, and off to Salt Lake to check into our hotel.  

....After all, we had a Conference to attend to.

Ready for Take-Off...

So we took the kids out of school before Fall Break a day early for K & D and a week early for Spence. We headed up to Utah for the 10-11 hour drive. 

The Objectives:

 1) attend General Conference with Spence & Kay

2) to attend Granddad Curtis' 90th Birthday Bash

3)  to see our 3 little Sisters in action @ BYU 

~We had to split it into two days so it wasn't so painful. I always think about our ancestors traveling across the plains & then down into Arizona WITHOUT cars or  a.c. How did they do it?!? 

I actually prepared some activities for the kids with ideas I stole from Pinterest. One was a Bingo game they had to mark off as they saw the pictures= train, tree, stop sign, bird, airplane, red car etc.., Another game was finding something out the window that started with each letter of the Alphabet. My favorite hour of the drive!! 

Ok who feels like playing "I Spy" with this next pic?

{"Oh Stephanie?...}

FIND:
*Spencer's dry patches on arms

*Ryler's friend Elmo staring at him the drive

*Jaxson's messy face

*earphones

*flip flops

*Kay & Day's dog sticker covered D.S.

*3 pillows

*dry erase marker & ABC practice board

*frog toy for Ry

*1 child who was bound to get carsick even though sitting center & raised in booster seat