Happy Birthday Princess!

McKenzie turned 9 on December 14Th. She has been anticipating her Birthday party since about September. She had a few friends over for a "late over".  Here are a few pictures of the fun we had at her party.

This is a picture of all the girls who came to the party.

Here the girls are writing on each others white T-Shirt that Kenzie gave them.  They will match the bottoms that Kenzie picked out for each of them to take home. We did this instead of giving out "Treat Bags". The girls all seemed to think that this was fun.

The finished product.....

McKenzie doesn't really like "Birthday Cake", so we decided to have each of the girls decorate a sugar cookie instead. Kenzie LOVES sugar cookies.

Opening presents is always a fun time. She got tons of fun gifts. Thanks Girls! Taylor and Jackson gave her a necklace that she had been wanting. They were so excited to give it to her. 

She also got the movie "Kit". After opening presents we played some games and then watched the movie Kit. Dad had set up his projector for the girls. It was kinda like a Movie Theater.

Jackson had fun serving the girls some treats. He thought he was pretty important.

We love our McKenzie! She brings so much love, and joy into our home. We are so thankful to be so blessed by her being a part of our family.  Happy Birthday McKenzie!!!

My Sister, My Hero!

At times like this it's hard to say just the right thing. I feel so much joy for Casey, yet so much hurt for Lani. I can't even imagine.......My sister is amazing! She is one of the strongest individuals I know. She has it all together, and understands things well. How grateful we are for our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. She is a widow at 31yrs old. Not only that, but she has kinda been through this before.  She lost her little boy in a farming accident a few years back. What a strength she has been, and is to me. 

The funeral was really nice. The Spirit was felt so strong. Lani, and her kids Aubree 10, Max almost 8, and Sam, 6, did so good through it. Casey's brothers shared some great memories of Casey. Lots of laughs, and lots of tears. Brian spoke as well. He really had a hard time doing this. Brian and Casey were so close. They would talk everyday. Brian was one of the last few people who talked to Casey before his passing. Brian did a wonderful job with his tribute to Casey. Brian misses him a ton. Casey would always talk to Brian on Brian's long drives home from work. Casey was such a good friend to Brian.  Aaron and Lamar, Casey's friends from Las Vegas, spoke as well. What a beautiful funeral it was.

The burial was in Canada, So from Vegas to Canada we all went. Once we were in Canada we had a viewing with friends and family who gathered to pay their respects. The next day we had the burial. Now that was hard! Lani and the kids did so good up until this point. Her sweet children just cried and cried. Once the casket was closed the kids realized what was really happening. All the times before, at the funeral, and at the viewing, the children could touch and see their dad. The grave side was very hard on the family!

 It was really neat because Casey always wanted a bag pipe to be played at his funeral. So there it was, on that cold, and very crisp afternoon. We listened to the bagpipe being played, as the casket was being carried to the grave site. It was beautiful! Tears just streamed down my cheeks. 

I am so grateful for my sister, and for her strength. She is such a wonderful example to me. She has been through what I would say to be, some of the worst things. Yet, she still remains so strong. She has such a positive out look on life. She plans to stay in Las Vegas for now. She plans to continue selling real estate. I don't know how she does it...... She just does!

Here are a few pictures I took while we were visiting with our family. The pictures will never portray the wonderful spirit that was present.  

Our good friends Shannon and Tracie came to Las Vegas to help out. They were a wonderful support, and help to our family. They will never know how much it meant to all of us that they were so willing to come and be with the family . Thanks "Gibb Girls"!

This was a memory table that we put together for everyone to see.

This was a precious sight. It was so cute! Lani's kids kept going up to Casey.They would talk to him, touch him, or just look at him. They liked the fact that they could still see him. Part of Casey was still with them.
This was a hard moment for us. Lani, her kids, Casey's parents and family gathered around.
What an honor!
Listening to the song "Together Forever Someday".
She is my strength, my hero, and my friend. Burring our baby was hard, but watching my sister bury her spouse was even harder.I love you Lani, and kids. We are here for you. We think of you often, and pray for you always! 

  

In Loving Memory

                                             CASEY EDGAR NISH 

                              AUGUST 2, 1972 -NOVEMBER 20, 2008                                             He fought a good fight, and returned home with honor!

A Different World!

Times have really changed since I was little. I don't really remember hearing about the elections, gas prices, same sex marriages, or even abortion. Yes I was very sheltered, but you know what I mean. I think the big thing talked about when I was growing up was AIDS. 

Our children will be living in a much different world then we did. Very scary in ways! So a few days ago I was feeding the kids breakfast and I was listening to the kids talk about the outcome of the recent election, and their thoughts. They were pretty disappointed,  one of them didn't even want to go to school that day because of the loss. Facing the other classmates was going to be hard. Especially when you have felt so strong about something. It turned out to be not to bad at school. The teachers were on top of this. 

The next topic that they were talking about was gas prices, and what gas station has the cheapest gas. I couldn't believe what I was hearing..... We have tried to be pretty open with the kids about the economy, and whats going on. We have  a lot of friends, and family that are going through hard times, so when we pray for them we want the kids to be somewhat aware of why. Later that same week I needed to grab Jackson something to eat really fast before preschool. I went to the drive-thru and  got him some chicken nuggets. When I turned to give them to him he said to me, " Mom what about gas, we have to save our money, remember". He wouldn't eat them! How sad is that? That's not exactly what we have wanted to instill in our children, but it's amazing what things they pickup on. You all know how cheap I am.... Whenever I fill the van with gas I get a little stressed  because of how much money it costs. I'm sure Jackson's heard me talk about this stress to Brian. Hooray for the lower gas prices lately! It's pretty sad that I'm excited to fill up for $2.12.  

Yes, we are trying to teach our children about being frugal, however I don't want it to consume their thoughts. I feel like lately it has. What crazy days we are going through, what do we have in  store for our  future? Yikes!! 

HALLOWEEN

We had a great Halloween! We went to the ward Trunk-or-Treat, the weather was beautiful. Here in Kenosha they Trick-or-Treat on the Sunday AFTERNOON before Halloween.  That doesn't really work  for a lot of us, so the ward for the past few years has had a Trunk-or-Treat instead. 

 One year I took the kids out to the county Trick-or-Treating. It seemed like we went around forever, and ended up with hardly any candy, and a whole lot of offers for a beer for the parents. It was so weird....The kids come home with a ton of candy from the Trunk-or-Treat, I think we will stick to that for now.

Our kids had fun dressing up. They always do.They were pretty cute to watch get ready, and prepare for the big event. 

Taylor was a crazy Clown, with funky hair.( I think he forgot to smile on three).

McKenzie was a Ballerina. She was loving every moment of the whole dress up thing. Make-up and all!!!!!

Jackson was Black Spider Man (venom).

Brian is always in charge of decorating the trunk. He has won first place for the last few years. Not so this year. I was the judge............His heart just wasn't in it this year!

Jackson helping me go through his candy to pick out all the candy that contains peanut. He is so cute! He thinks if he even touches a piece of candy that contains peanut then he will die.

Over all it was fun. Glad it's over though. I'm so sick of candy!

Family FALL Festivities

This time of  year here in Wisconsin is so beautiful. We love it! One of our favorite traditions has been to go to the pumpkin farm and pick out a pumpkin. The kids always love pulling the wagon around the farm in hopes to find that perfect pumpkin.  

And the search is on.....

Looks like Kenzie found her pumpkin.

Taylor helping Jackson lift his pumpkin onto the wagon.

Got them... The hard part is done. 

Now that the pumpkins are all loaded on the wagon we pull the wagon to the register to pay for the pumpkins. (notice who is pulling the wagon).

It gets better.... The boys are now both sitting on the wagon. Lol !

 The final step in this whole adventure is loading the pumpkins into the van. The kids do all the work on this trip, they just love it.

Some other fun things we did to celebrate the harvest, or this time of year included, Apple picking.(sorry no pictures) An evening with a ton of friends from the ward to a pumpkin farm, which included a crazy hayride in the dark.

 Also, we went with a few families from the ward to a huge corn maze, and then back to their house for a bonfire, and pizza. All of the activities were a lot of fun.

This was a huge slide at the corn maze.

We would watch from the bottom of the slide with a flash light to see when they would be coming down the slide. The kids thought this was pretty fun.

They had all sorts of fun little bikes for the kids to ride around.

The kids just chilling on a blanket beside the fire. Laughing, and playing.
Notice Jackson's eyes in this picture. He was so tired. His asthma and allergies were not doing so well. The poor little boy could hardly breath.
 Brian was sitting by the fire holding Jackson. He crashed shortly after. He was so tired. All the walking through the maze, the slide, and the cute little bikes wore him out.( I think his asthma had a lot to do with it as well).

These are just a few of our favorite things we have done this fall. I wish I had pictures so you could see the colors of the leaves on the trees, they are beautiful. We love to go for drives out in the county to see all the leaves, and changes of the season. I can't even begin to describe how pretty it is. 

Just a Simple Thought....

One of my friends sent this to me and the link is at the end of this post.  As I listened to it I really felt the Spirit, it melted my heart. It helped me reflect on all that others have done for our family. It helped remind me how blessed Brian and I are, and how blessed we have been. Everyone has hard times....... Everyones struggles are different. Everyone handles things different. Not only did this remind me of the financial struggles that we may have had, or have, (we HAVE been in  school it kind of comes with the territory). It helped me to reflect on the times when we have been blessed by a knock at the door, a phone call, or even just a simple smile, or hello. These simple little things warm the heart and can go a long way. It helped remind me that I need to be more giving of myself, time, and all that I've been blessed with. 

We are all going through some hard times as friends and families. I hope that we can all be a little more understanding, and a little more sensitive to others needs. At times like this Satan enjoys seeing the struggles, the hurt, and the pain. Hopefully we can all take a look at our own lives and situations and see where we can give a little more in the simplest ways. Thank you all..... For you have all touched, or reached out to our family, just by being a part of our life. We can not thank you enough.   

Take a moment to follow this link and listen to this song, and message. 

http://www.youtube.com/bonnieegbert