check this out!

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Secret Haven
at The Rock Loft
Check out THIS deal. Click on the name of the store above. If you have never been to Secret Haven at the Rock Loft, you have got to go there. it is so neat there... a boutique that Aaron's mother owns and it is a special place for the family. This is a way good deal. you won't be sorry.

FYI: this is the store where Aaron used to sell the furniture he built. There is still a lot of his furniture there, but not for sale... none of us could ever part with it. But it is used to decorate on. AND, I even have some of my photos for sale there, just sayin'. :)

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56 bpm / Tornado

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I had to title it something different today.

My heart rate was 56 beats per minute today,
and it took me 4 minute and 40 seconds to give a pint of blood.

Yes, I gave blood again today.
So, this is my friendly reminder to all of you who are eligible to give blood to go and give it.

People are in need.
And we can help.


As I sat there giving blood today, my thoughts were turned towards those people who have been in the areas of the tornadoes. There are so many people injured, killed, or whose lives have been turned completely upside down and who have lost everything. I wondered if my blood could possibly go to benefit someone who was injured in one of these tornadoes. So that is where my thoughts were today.

~ ~ ~

My parents drove out to Missouri a couple of weeks ago with one of my Uncles and Aunts. They were going out there to visit a couple of my Dad's brothers and their families and also a couple of my Mom's sisters and families. We used to live right down in South West Missouri. Granby to be more specific. We spent a lot of time in Joplin at my Uncle and Aunt's house and also at my Grandparents' house.

My parents were staying with my Aunt and Uncle in Granby and the Uncle and Aunt who drove out there with them were staying with my Uncle and Aunt in Joplin... in their guest house. They had all had dinner together in Joplin last Friday, just two days before the tornado hit. But the night of the tornado in Joplin, my Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky were at home in Joplin and my Uncle Carol and Aunt Percy were in their guest house in Joplin when the tornado hit.

Both houses were hit hard. My Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky were in their two story house in a small bathroom in on the ground floor, they could hear all that was going on outside and their top floor is mostly gone and some of the ground floor is gone, but they were better protected than my Uncle Carol and Aunt Percy. They were in the guest house preparing to join Mike and Becky for dinner. The guest house was only one level, so when the tornado hit, they ran to the center bathroom where there were no windows. They tried to get the bathroom door shut, but couldn't. The tornado tore away the roof and ceiling over their heads, so once those were gone, they were exposed to the full fury of the tornado until it passed over. They got away with cuts and scrapes and bruises on their heads, and they walked out covered in mud, and wet insulation. But were also in complete shock. Both of my Uncles' and Aunts' lives were preserved and so were my cousins' who were in their own house at the time, not hit by the tornado.

My parents could not get a hold of any of them at all after the tornado hit, so another Uncle and my Dad drove the 20 minutes to Joplin to see if they could find them and see if they were okay. They could not believe the destruction and could not get their vehicles all the way to their houses. So they had to walk the rest of the way... and when they saw the damage to both houses, they knew that it would take a miracle for our loved ones to have survived. When they found them, they were so relieved.

In the short time that we, here in Utah, were unsure of the safety of all of our loved ones out there, it was a roller coaster of emotions that ended with relief.

My parents and Uncle and Aunt drove straight through the next day to return to Utah. We were so grateful to have them home. It has been an emotional week as we have heard the reports of what is going on with my Uncle's two houses and also the reports of those who have lost loved ones in the tornadoes. My cousins have now all returned to their home in Joplin to be with their parents and each other as they say goodbye to their beautiful home. It is amazing how many people are volunteering their time and efforts to help each other there.

I feel selfish to feel such relief that our loved ones are safe. My heart breaks every time I hear another story about a family who has loved family members in this tragedy. We are praying so hard for them all and we hope they are receiving comfort and peace during this devastating time.
I know that the Lord is mindful of them all.


I have to share some of Aaron Jr's prayers over the past couple of days:

Aaron Jr:
'bless Grandpa and Grandma can't go back to the place with tomatoes,
because I don't want them to die in a tomato.'
'bless the people can rebuild everything quickly.'


Our prayers are with all who are suffering at this time...

* * *

All About Aaron Junior

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All About...

He wrote his name in the snow... with a stick of course.

Aaron has been hilarious lately.
He has been such a silly boy and has kept me laughing...
A LOT.
He has also been extremely sweet, tender, loving, always aware of my feelings.
AND, he got injured recently. Up until now, the most major injury he has had was a broken humerus bone (upper arm bone)... which was such a fluke.

This is a posting about his silliness, his sweetness, and his injury.

~ ~ ~

I'll begin with his injury...
we were walking to our car and one of Aaron's cousins was with us and she and Aaron were racing back to the car. Aaron tried to stop himself before hitting the car and ended up twisting his ankle and falling... he doesn't cry very often from regular bumps and scrapes kids get, but this time... he cried and it hurt him the rest of the day.
It took a few hours for it to swell...

Can you tell which one is swollen? :) (May 5)

Here it is again.
These photos were taken that night, several hours after it happened.

So I took him to the doctor the next day. They took X-rays and it was not broken, but it was sprained. They said that it is more difficult for a child to sprain their ankle than to break it... so I guess he must have really tweaked it. Here he is getting his ankle wrapped at the doctor's office.
Poor thing.

Here is his ankle five days later. (May 10) Bruising.

And again, six days after that. (May 16)

He was so good to let me ice it and wrap it and keep it elevated.
He is now running around on it and doing normal things, but once in a while, he will do something that will help him realize that he is still healing. It still hurts to touch it as well... but he is doing most of his normal stuff. So, of course we are grateful it was not more serious.

~ ~ ~

Now, in no particular order...
here are some of the things that have made me laugh lately...

Aaron making his own popsicle by putting snow on a stick.

Paper airplanes that he drew flames on... which of course makes them faster.

Oops... this one isn't funny. This is the day I took him to Kindergarten Roundup for all of the kids going into Kindergarten this next year. This is not funny at all... it actually breaks my heart a little bit. School is coming way too soon.

He did say something funny that day though...
When I told him we needed to leave so we were not late to Kindergarten Roundup,
he asked if there would be vegetables there?
I told him no and asked why there would be vegetables there...
and he said, 'because its a kinder GARDEN'.

So funny.

REALLY big hair. LOVE it.

And a haircut. :)

This is a mask he made with tape, paper, and a pair of scissors... all by himself.

Another day, he made this hat all by himself. He saw one like it on Curious George, I think.
Anyhow... it is pretty inventive... the photos below show why...

He made a pocket in it... then put carrots in the pocket. So, here he is taking a carrot out, showing me the carrot, then eating the carrot. It was so funny.
Again, tape, paper, and a pair of scissors. :)

Aaron decided one day to be silly and tell me he was all dressed, so when I went to see... he was standing there with pants on his arms and his shirt on his legs.
What on earth? Where did he come from? :) Love it.

Not necessarily funny, but he wanted to play catch for the first time ever with a baseball and mitts. These are the mitts Aaron bought for us the last Christmas before he died. Aaron also bought himself one that year and it is being saved for Aaron Jr. Aaron Jr kept calling them baseball mittens. Kids are great.

THIS day, Aaron was in the bedroom for a while and I just heard him giggling, then he runs out laughing SO hard to show me THIS. He put on EVERY pair of briefs in his drawer... even the ones that he wore when he was first being potty trained... which are too small for him.
He probably has on more than 15 pairs of briefs. NO joke. HA!

A couple of friends of mine called me one morning last week to see if I would take some emergency engagement photos of their brother and his fiance... I NEVER take photos of people in a professional way, so I wanted to say no, but I wanted to help out my friends, so I reluctantly said yes. :) I brought Aaron with me and we stayed after to get a few more shots of the Bountiful Temple... here are a few of Aaron Jr with the umbrella.
He was having SO much fun posing... he kept saying, 'ok now take a photos of this', then he would strike a pose.
How could I NOT take all of these photos?

I will put some of the engagements in my Random May posting.

~ ~ ~

Here is a flower Aaron picked for me recently...
this will take us right into the part of this posting about him being sweet, tender, and loving...

and aware of my feelings...

Here is a note Aaron Jr wrote for me. When I asked him what it says, he said:
The left page says: 'I love you, Mama.'
The right page says: 'Sorry you miss Daddy, Mama. Its good I'm here with you.'

This was out of the blue... I hadn't even been having an emotional day or anything.

This is a picture he drew for me that same night, I think.
He said that the top says: 'Mama and Aaron. Love.'
Then it is a picture he drew of me and him.

Why am I so blessed to have him?

In a prayer a couple of days ago:
Aaron Jr: Bless I can grow slow... very slow.
Me: Why did you ask in your prayer to grow slow?
Aaron Jr: Because I want to stay a kid so I can play with my friends...
and I don't want to be a dad or a grandpa yet.

~ ~ ~

Here are a couple of conversations from last week:

Aaron Jr: I want to stay with you for a long time.
Me: What do you mean?
Aaron Jr: When I get married, can I still stay with you?
When I'm a dad, can I still be with you?
When I'm a grandpa, can I still be with you?
Me: Yes. (what am I supposed to say? he is worried.)
Aaron Jr: (a smile and a look of relief)
Aaron Jr: Will I still be like myself?
Me: What do you mean?
Aaron Jr: Will I still have yellow hair?
Me: Yes. You will still have yellow hair.
Aaron Jr: (HUGE SMILE and a look of relief)
Me: Don't worry, okay?
Aaron Jr: Okay.

~ ~ ~

Aaron was asking his cousin one day who she is going to marry... so I asked Aaron who he is going to marry. He said that he is going to marry Lily or Stella (cousins his age). He often asks if he can still live with me when he gets married. This particular day, he said that if he gets married, then I will be alone, so he hopes I have more kids so that I am not alone when he gets married.

This kid is precious to me. He worries about himself being alone and he worries about me being alone.
He wants brothers and sisters so badly. He asks about me having more babies. I want him to have siblings... he deserves to have siblings. He deserves so much... so much.

He is my little ray of sunshine even on a wet, cold, rainy day.

~ ~ ~

Okay, I hope these work.
I recently took a few videos of him with my point and shoot camera and I just love them.
So, here is Aaron Jr in video form. Some of them are him making up songs while he drums.
He's so great. He makes me laugh... and I just love him to pieces.

Pause my music in the right column so you can hear these videos.

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Spotted

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I looked out the window one night in April around 1:00 AM and I saw this beautiful sight across the street. Three deer were grazing on the grass. It had been snowing a bit, so the pavement was wet behind them and the street light looked golden against it. I had to use my long lens, so the photo is a bit blurry, but I love this photo of this little deer family.

Aaron was always so good at spotting deer in the dark or in the light... whether we were driving or walking or whatever... he always had to point them out to me because he always saw them first. It was like he had a radar for them or something. We would be driving along on a trip or something and all of a sudden, he would slam on the breaks and point the headlights in the general direction of something, and even if it was pitch black outside, he would point out in the darkness and I would have to strain to even see their eyes that were glowing. Luckily we were always the only ones on the road that late at night. :)

Ever since he passed away, I have seen so many more deer on a regular basis than I ever did before. They are just around... a lot. I can now spot them even in the darkness. And when I do, I usually pull the car over to point them out to Aaron Jr and then to just watch them for a few minutes. (and if I have my camera... of course snap photo photos).

When I see them now, I always think of Aaron and it makes me smile. I like to think that he somehow sent them my way to let me know that he is around. Silly, I know, but I like to think it anyway. I love the things that remind me of Aaron...

A girl named Tracie, who left a comment on my blog, wrote to me tonight and let me know that:
DEER symbolize love, hope, protection, and family.
I LOVE that. Thank you Tracie.

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Random April

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Yep... another trip to the Discovery Gateway.
This time with Lori and Lisa and their kids. Aaron Jr couldn't get enough of posing for photos on this wall.

Aaron Jr Angus

Aaron Jr, Lily, Stella

Aaron, Lily, Julia, Sophie, Hannah, Elise, Anna, Michael, Stella, Caroline, Henry, Angus

Steve and Aaron Jr riding together.

Aaron and Haak Great friends.

Project

Project at Mark and Suzy's house. We went over to watch the guys build a retaining wall at Mark and Suzy's house out of railroad ties. They did a great job. Spencer helped to design it, but was not able to be there... and Travis had already left before the photo was taken. Good job everyone.

Grandpa and Aaron Jr.

Grandpa (Dad) using his chainsaw.

Aaron and Grandpa, Thomas and Aaron, Jacob... leaning. :)

As I watched the guys pounding in the rebar into the railroad ties, I made a comment about their arms being sore. They challenged me to pound in one railroad tie and let me say... my arms and hands were sore that day, and the days following. It was TOUGH.

Random Easter Stuff

Robert, Aaron, Dad, Leslie (me), Richard
after rubbing the colored coating on Robin Eggs on our faces.
Easter candy is great.

Lily, Aaron, Michael
coloring Easter Eggs at 'pre school'.

Uncle David's Funeral

Aunt Louise

My dad saying good bye to his brother and best friend.

A photo that Aaron took of my mom.

Aaron Jr.

Sobering...
MY Parents' Headstone.
We are blessed that they are still here with us.

My parents just got done putting their funeral affairs in order. They got everything figured out and paid for and last month, the headstone got put it. It was strange enough watching my husband's and my own headstone get put in... and this one was almost as strange. We expect our parents to live forever, right? I really hope that they are around for SO many more years.

My brother, Bruce, is buried in Missouri because that is where we lived when he passed away. Ever since we moved to Utah... it has been tough having him buried so far away without being able to have a place to go to remember him whenever we wanted. We always went to the cemetery when we went on vacations near there... but it has especially been tough on my parents not having him buried closer to them.
So, they put his name under theirs on the front... this way, they now have a place where they can take flowers to remember him. I can tell they are so happy to have the opportunity now to do this... and so are the rest of us. It will be great.

I am almost caught up on my blog... WOO HOO!

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