Shout out to Steve #2!

While I was gone, Steve was busy...he started his first week of school (of his final semester here!! yeah!!) and worked on the kitchen. He textured the ceiling, painted it, replaced the molding, painted the walls, and finally replaced the glass in our cabinets with bead board. The window wall used to be purple and the cabinet wall used to be yellow. But now the whole kitchen is a nice normal "kitchen" color: taupe. Steve says it reminds him of chocolate milk. How appropriate. So come on over and have some chocolate milk in our chocolate milk kitchen.

It was defintely a nice surprise to come home to! Thanks babe!

Family Time

While out in Utah, I was able to spend a lot of time with my family. It was so good to be with my parents and my sisters and brother. James LOVED being able to play with all of his cousins. My parents raised one boy and 6 girls, so they weren't quite sure what to think of all the grandsons running around their house playing "guns" and other boy games. It was quite a sight to see! I had flown in from CT, my brother drove in from Ohio, and one of my sisters drove in from Colorado. Needless to say, there was a full house on Solena Way. It was good to see my mother's face light up as all of gathered.

I also had the chance to visit with friends while I was there. On Thursday, I reconnected with two friends from high school. Tanya has a little girl Molly's age and Brittany has a boy James's age and a girl Molly's age. We met at The Gateway and had lunch. Afterwards, we took the kids to play at Discovery Gateway, the Children's Museum located there. They had a blast! It was fun to see the 3 little girls interact with each other.

Friday night I got together with Steve's family. It was refreshing to sit and talk with them and laugh like we used to do.

I was a bit nervous flying all by myself with the two kids, but it went off without a hitch. They were awesome little travelers! We had two flights on our way out and they slept through the second flight. On our way home we had 3 flights and they slept through the middle flight. By the time we got home they were experts at getting on and off a plane and running to catch the next flight. Of course James and Molly charmed the stewardesses so we got a lot of extra perks that no one else did: 4 bags of peanuts instead of one, the whole can of soda instead of just a cup, and extra gourmet cookies.



James keeps asking when we are going to go again...hopefully this summer little dude...

TAPS

As many of you know, my grandfather passed away Thursday, January 14th. The kids and I flew out to Utah that Saturday to be there for the funeral and to spend some time with my family in Utah.

The funeral was a beautiful service. My grandfather was 94 years old when he died (in his own home, I might add) and had lived a very full and rich life. He managed to stay healthy and active until the very end. Consequently, we didn't feel like we were mourning his passing but more celebrating the life that he had lived. Of course we were sad to see him go, but happy that he was with his sweetheart, my grandmother, and his parents and his siblings. During the service many people spoke of his generosity, his love for his family, his beautiful garden, and his dedication to the gospel.

James was fascinated with seeing his body. It was a great opportunity to talk to him about the Plan of Salvation and how our bodies die but our Spirits go back to Heaven to be with Heavenly Father and Jesus.

I was able to stay "tear free" throughout most of the funeral. I did get choked up during the musical number "O My Father" and when "TAPS" was played at the graveside. But who doesn't get choked up during TAPS? It's such a forlone melody and music tends to have that affect on me.

I wasn't sure what was appropriate to photograph, so I tried to take some photos without people noticing...just in case...

Sweet Grandpa

JOHN W. SKOLA

"Sweet Dad" 1915 ~ 2010

Our beloved husband, father and grandfather, John William Skola, passed away January 14, 2010 in Salt Lake City, UT. He was born September 16, 1915 to John and Anna Vesta Mauermann Skola. He grew up in Poplar Grove and graduated from South High School. John served his country during World War II in the U.S. Army as part of the Coastal Artillery. It was while serving in the Army, that he met his lovely wife, Gayle Cluff. It was a sweet Army-Navy romance. John and Gayle were married July 19, 1944. Gayle passed away April 7, 2001. John served an LDS Mission (Swiss German) and served a German-speaking mission on Temple Square. John and Gayle also served an LDS mission together in Frankfurt, Germany. Working, working-always working-always caring-this was what John was known for. He worked with Midwest Casket Company for 60 years. He was very kind, gentle, warm and tender hearted. John was loved by many, because of his Christ-like nature. He is survived by his children, Judith (David) Blake, Gaylyn (Robert) Stephenson, Mimi (Scott) Silverstein; 15 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren. Preceded in death by siblings, Curt, Henry, Ann Volkert, and Freda Brochinsky. Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, January 20, 2010, at 11:00 a.m. in the Valley View 3rd Ward, 4101 S. 1920 E. The viewing will be at the church from 10:00-10:45 a.m. Burial will be at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park. Share an online condolence with the family at www.jenkins-soffe.com

Published in Deseret News on January 17, 2010

I will miss your quiet and loving nature.

"I see said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw"

Shout out to Steve!

I just wanted to give a shout out to my wonderful husband.

First of all, he has spent most of his break painting...and not the kind of painting he is studying at school. Steve has repainted our family room and is currently working on the kitchen. It looks like new! I tried to get some good pictures, but they don't do it justice. You'll just have to come by and see it. Steve replaced the molding, retextured the ceiling, and repainted the entire room. We're afraid to put any pictures up because the walls look so nice!

I didn't include any "before" shots because...well...its not good to dwell in the past!

Second, last spring Steve submitted some work for a student art show at school. He got all of his pieces back except one: a picture of a rock climber done in silver point. We thought it had gotten lost or misplaced. Come to find out, Steve won an award for his picture! They kept the piece to put it in subsequent shows. He finally got to bring it home in December. Again, the picture doesn't do it justice, but I tried. It's really light because its done with real silver. Again, you have to see it in person.

WAY TO GO BABE! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!

Christmas Day and New Years Eve.

Christmas Day was fun as we watched the kids open their presents. Of course afterwards it looked like Christmas toys had exploded everywhere, but it was worth it. Molly went on a Christmas morning run with me and that afternoon we had a wonderful dinner with a friend's family in Mystic. It was hard for us to be away from family on Christmas (we really missed "pass the present!" with the Skola's and singing along to the Christmas VHS with the Duncan's) but we were welcomed in and treated just like family. Molly of course stole the show as she smiled and impressed everyone with her charm. The food was heavenly, and the company was absolutely divine. Thank you Christine, Barbara, and Lachance family for having us over. We really enjoyed ourselves.

New Years Eve brought some more snow. We celebrated New Years Eve by going bowling with friends at a local bowling alley. It was awesome! Molly was old enough to get into the game and it was a lot of fun to help her bowl. I don't think any of us broke 100, but we had a lot of laughs! Afterwards the adults had a rousing game of Phase 10. We BARELY made it to 12:00.

And finally we didn't send out any cards this year...it just didn't happen. We did make an attempt to take some family photo's to send out... and yeah, you with small children all know how that turns out. So we apologize for not sending out Christmas Cards; maybe we'll send out Valentine Day Cards...

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Years!

Fairy Wings and the Three Wise Guys

For Christmas Eve, we were invited to spend an evening with friends. The dinner was delicious soup and afterwards we re-enacted the nativity scene. This was definitely the highlight of the evening. Molly was the donkey, James was a sherpard, I was a "wise guy" and Steve was a heralding angel. Afterwards we went home and opened our Christmas jammies. Check it out:

My favorite quotes from the evening:
Steve: "Can someone help me with my fairy wings?"
Chad: "I left my GPS on the other camel."