It has been a while since I last blogged. Lots have happened and are about to happen. We had a wonderful Christmas. Julian and I decided to have Santa come to our apartment here in Poky and then we would drive back to Burley to be with family. My Dad was not well. his breathing was getting worse and worse and time was short. Once we got to Burley, I thanked Dad for staying around for us to get there for Christmas. At that point he could barely tell you that he wanted a drink or the remote. (He had been watching a lot of the game show channel.) Dad made it through Christmas day and then we decided to let him go on the next day and turn off his oxygen. It was a hard decision for my mom to make. That day Gavin came in and kept trying to get my dad to play with him. He finally said, "Grampa WAKE UP!" He was just sleeping at the time. It was a struggle for him once we took the oxygen off. But Mom, Katherine, Adam, Kaleb, Bryan, Rita, Grandma and Grandpa Moses, Julian, Gavin, Zander, and I were all there. Death is a hard thing. But WOW, the spirit in the room. I know that we were not the only ones in that room. There were many spirits there to comfort us along with Dad. He passed away at 6 pm. Grandpa held his hand for the two hours that he was struggling to breathe.

Now it has been almost a month since he has been gone. It is harder than I thought it would be. I know that he is busy teaching the gospel to those up in Heaven. I know that now he is no longer in pain and that we will see him again. But it is just weird having him gone and not around. Last weekend Julian and I thought we would be cool and take the boys fishing. I thought oh wow Dad would be so proud of us for doing this. We didn't even think that the ground is frozen and it is the middle of January. (There is not really any snow to remind us of this). So we drove out to a reservoir nearby and everyone was ice fishing and neither one of us have ever ice fished in our lives. It was funny. So we had a little picnic in the snow and the boys played in the snow. Something they really haven't been able to do for a long time. and then we drove back home. Oh well we tried.

Julian turned 30 yesterday. When he turned 25 I thought he was having a midlife crisis. So I was prepared for the worst. It was not the most eventful birthday for him but he got a Shotgun from my mom and a cool bowie knife from me. Life has definitely not turned out how I thought it would but we are still plugging along. Julian is getting ready to go to Peru for spring break and do some humanitarian work. We hope this will be the first of many trips like this and also a way for colleges to look at him more seriously.

Zander will be 2 next week and I am due next week with our 3rd little boy. Life is grand and busy. Our little boys are so wonderful. They show so much love and kindness to us and others around us. I am thankful for them!

Deanna