Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter weekend. On Saturday morning Ben and I took them to Thanksgiving Points Easter Eggstreme. It was RIDICULOUS! They should have put a cap on the amount of tickets they would sell because they completely overdid themselves. It was totally crowded with lines a mile long. The boys had fun with some of the activities we were able to get through and with the easter egg hunts. It didn't help that it was freezing cold outside too. On Sunday the weather outside was much better. The boys got their Easter baskets that the bunny left them that morning. We went to church and came home and started cooking dinner. My sisters, Roxanne and Holly, my brother Andre', Roxanne's boyfriend, Todd, and Ben's brother Zach, and cousin Andrew all came over later that afternoon and filled some eggs for me and hid them in the front yard for the boys. The boys had so much fun looking for the eggs. I will say the bunny was quite sneaky and hid some of them under ground and in really high places! At least the uncle's and cousins were their to help them out! After the hunt, Ben's older brother Justin and his wife Kate and their kids came over and we had a wonderful dinner! Everyone helped with food so it turned out perfect! I am so grateful for this holiday and what it means. So not to forget the meaning of Easter we sat down with the boys before bed and read the Easter story. I love my Savior and the sacrifice he made for each of us that have come to this earth, so that we can return to live with him!

Graduation!

My brother, Andre', graduated this past Thursday from BYU in Biology of Life Sciences. Ben's brother Zach and sister Jill and her husband Eric all graduated as well. I am so proud of Andre' for what he has accomplished and for the amazing guy he is! I just love my brother so much and look up to him for where he is today after the hardships he has had to face. He is a great brother to me and uncle to my boys! My boys LOVE their Uncle Andre'! Andre' is genuine and kind and I am glad that just because he is now graduated doesn't mean we are losing him. I hope he stays in Utah as long as we are here! Congratulations Andre'!

Tulip Festival

We went to the Tulip Festival the first weekend it opened up because my mom and sisters were here and I thought it would be fun to go and show them this amazing garden. Well it was not the best because it's been so cold that little to none of the tulips were even open! There were some daffodils but it wasn't at all like it was last year when we went the last day it was open and all the tulips were in full bloom! It was still fun to go and walk around. The boys love just running through the gardens!

SLC Bees vs. Tuscon Padres

The other Thursday Ben got tickets from his work for the box suites at the Bees ballpark. My mom and two younger sisters were in town and so it was a lot of fun to go with them and my other siblings that live here along with Ben's brother, brother-in-law, and cousin! It's freezing outside, so that's why it was perfect to watch it from inside the suite. The boys had a lot of fun and loved giving the bee a hug!

Blackout!

Yesterday wasn't a bad day at all. It was windy all day but other than that is was really warm outside. I came home around 5:30pm and bathed the boys. Then I made dinner and realized the wind was getting really bad. I checked outside and saw how bad it had got. I took the boys upstairs to bed and the lights would flicker. I didn't think the electricity would go out. I put the boys to bed and went into my room to pump. I was sitting on the floor talking to Ben who was on his way home from work and he told me it was getting really bad outside. That's when the electricity went out. I was completely scared. I had already been on edge because of the sounds the wind was making through our doors and windows. I didn't know what to do. I used my cell phone to go find a flashlight and then on my way downstairs to find some candles the flashlight went out. I was soooo scared. I'm ridiculous. I stayed on the phone with Ben because it made me feel safer! I was able to light a tea light candle because that was all I had. I was than realizing how unprepared I was. I was able to find some batteries for the flashlight so that helped a little more. I just waited around until Ben got home. It was actually really nice to sit around and talk to Ben without the distractions of a TV or computer. Here are some pictures and video of Keaton who didn't seem to mind sitting in the dark!

Keaton sitting in a blackout from jaclyn on Vimeo.

Happy Valentines Day!

I absolutely HATE that Valentines Day was on a Monday. It made it really hard for me to be able to get the boys gifts. I went to Wal-Mart at midnight on Sunday night to get them their balloons and gifts. They were completely wiped out but I found some things for them. I bought them 2 balloons, a Valentines Day book and 2 ring pops. It was really fun to have them wake up Monday morning and see their presents. They loved it! Valentines was pretty stressful for me. I hurried and got ready for the day and packed the two boys bags for the night because they spent the night with my brother and sister down in Provo. I headed down to Provo where I met up with my brother for lunch. Then I drove over to campus to get Ben's gift. After leaving campus I went over to Victoria's Secret for Ben's other gift! :) Then I went to my sister Holly's house so I could feed Keaton. While I was there I tried calling Texas Roadhouse to give a take out order. I felt like I was calling into a radio show to win something. I kept getting a busy signal. I called like 15 times before I finally got through. She immediately put me on hold. I was on hold for about 6 min. before she got back on and asked how she could help. I told her I needed to place a take out order so she then transferred me. I was on hold for 15 min.! It was ridiculous. I finally was able to give my order and she told me it would be done in 30 min. I wasn't able to leave Provo until almost 6pm. So I called Ben who was right close to our home and asked him to go pick up the food. He said he would and I headed home to set up the house. I was doing everything I could think of and realized how long it had been. It was 7 already. I called Ben and said, "Where are you?" He proceeded to tell me that they had somehow given our order to someone else and they were going to have to remake it. I said that is unacceptable and to tell them we get it for free. So that's what happened, Ben told them it should have been done an hour before and that we should get it for free. So in the long run it was worth a free meal! He came home and I had the dinner table set up really nice. We watched a movie I had rented which I would never recommend. It was called The Romantics. It was awful! We had a really nice quiet night in. I was so grateful to my sister Holly and brother Andre' for watching the boys and keeping them over night! I love you guys!

Brian Head

This last weekend Ben and I went to the cabin. We were the only ones there plus Belmont. It was a nice weekend away, however I wish I had felt better. I was deathly sick. The boys had a lot of fun though. We got there late Friday night and talked by the fire. Then we all went to bed. We got up the next morning and Belmont made us all breakfast. His usual, pancakes, eggs and bacon. It was delicious! Then Belmont and Ben took the boys skiing. They had a lot of fun. Ethan wanted to go a second time but Ben said it was way too hard to go again. So I took the boys back home while Ben and Belmont stayed and went skiing and snowboarding. Later that afternoon we watched the BYU vs. Utah basketball game and lounged around. Belmont left that night back to Vegas and our little family stayed and had dinner and cleaned the cabin. We left early the next morning. It was a short weekend but it's always nice to get away for a little bit.

Aidan skiing with Grandpa Belmont from jaclyn on Vimeo.

Ethan skiing with Grandpa Belmont from jaclyn on Vimeo.

Dinosaur Museum

I think I have mentioned that every Monday the Dinosaur Museum has family nights where they have extra activities going on with a theme. We went on the 7th of February and it was Cupid's Valentine Mask-querade. The night did not start out well. First of all a blizzard had just begun outside when we got there. That was a sign of what was about to come. We got there 10 minutes before it started so we were just walking around the lobby waiting for the booths to be set up. In that short amount of time I lost Aidan. He had wandered off. I didn't panic at first because I was sure he was close by. I started to look for him and began to yell his name. After a few minutes started to pass I began to panic. I was frantically looking everywhere. In the gift shop, the bathrooms all over the lobby and I even quickly ran through the museum yelling his name. I came back out to the lobby and told some workers that I had lost my son and I began to bawl! They asked me a few questions about him and told me it was going to be okay that they would find him. They told me to stay put. I just stood there crying, making a huge scene I'm sure! Then out of nowhere after a few minutes a worker came walking out with Aidan. Aidan was gone a total of ten minutes. He was totally laughing until he saw me crying and when I took him by the arm he stopped his laughing. I wanted to ring his neck! Instead I just hugged him and told him to never do that to me again! By this point I just wanted to leave. I was so embarrassed. But I didn't. I stuck it out and let them participate in the activities. So from these pictures you could never tell the traumatic experience I just had.

Grandpa Anderson

Where do I even begin…I guess I will start from when I met these wonderful people! Six years ago before Ben and I were even dating, Ben took me over to his grandparents house in Holladay, UT to watch a BYU basketball game. When I met them I was instantly welcomed and felt of their love for me. After my visit with them I was very jealous of Ben being able to have grandparents as great as grandma and grandpa Anderson. In 2007 we moved in with them while looking for a place to live. Looking back I will treasure those few short months forever. They were the BEST! Grandma would cook three meals a day for us and if she didn't they would take us out to eat. Aidan was only several months old and he LOVED his great grandparents. He would help grandma with unloading the dishwasher and she would teach him how to go up and down the stairs. We would spend a lot of time outside in their amazing backyard. Ben would help Grandpa with the lawn care and Aidan and I loved picking the fruit from off the ground. Grandpa would have me spend some time with him and Grandma teaching them how to use their new computer that they had just bought and how to receive and send emails each day. On the weekends we would go out to Cafe Rio a lot and come back to watch a movie on their On Demand which they had me show them how to use! :) My most favorite thing was to watch their love for each other and how Grandma loved to take care of Grandpa. Grandpa was so proactive about helping us however he could. I swear he was always handing out money to Ben for the most ridiculous things. While living there he helped us find a place to live in Sandy and helped us purchase our second car. Having to move out of the basement of grandma and grandpa's was a sad day for me. I really missed having them around while Ben would be away at work. They were so good to me and treated me as one of their own grandkids. The following summer I was in a car accident and totaled one of our cars. Grandpa called up Ben and told him he was giving us his van. You can't be serious Grandpa! That was grandpa though, helping us out and all of his grandkids anyway he could. I made sure that I would go and visit often. I just really LOVED them so much! Every Halloween we would go over and visit them and see how Grandma had dressed up and had the house all decorated. We loved going over and watching any BYU game with them because they were true blue fans. In 2009 Grandma's health started to go and she became ill over time. The love that I had already witnessed living with them was even more evident now while Grandpa stayed by her side and took care of her the best he could. That November Grandma passed away. I was absolutely hysterical. I couldn't even think or talk about it without just sobbing. It was so emotional for me to see Grandpa sitting there at the gravesite so upset that he had lost his dear wife. My heart broke for him. Grandpa definitely persevered and went about his life. He continued to go to the temple every week as he and grandma would do. He continued to work out in his yard and maintain it. He would water ALL of Grandma's plants in the house. I remember being there one afternoon and he told me to not let him forget to water the plants because it would make Grandma so sad if he let any of them die! He continued to take care of his family. He would take me and the boys out to Arbys, and Ben and I out to Cafe Rio or the Golden Corral! I made sure to always pay him back by coming over and making dinner for him and watch movies and the news with him. We had some fun BBQ's with Grandpa on his back patio, visiting with him and playing Sequence with him. I enjoyed his company so much.



The week after New Years we heard that grandpa had pneumonia and that he was in the hospital. I immediately told Ben we needed to go see him. Thanks to my brother who came to watch the boys, Ben and I were able to go up to the hospital on Thursday the 6th and see him. We talked to him and he was very responsive and whitty as ever. We spent a little over an hour there and left. As we were leaving I looked at Ben and began to cry and told him when Grandpa left us I was going to be sooooo sad! I really didn't think though that this was going to be the last time we would talk to him and he would understand who we were. On Monday I had just arrived at the gym with a friend when Ben called me and told me that Grandpa was failing fast and we needed to get to the hospital quick to say our goodbyes. My friend Kelley was so sweet and drove me right back home so I could hop in the car with Ben and the boys. We got to the hospital and whispered in Grandpa's ear that we LOVED him. Ethan kept asking Grandpa, "Where are you going Grandpa?" We then told him, "Grandpa is going to heaven soon to be with Grandma!" Ethan followed with, "Grandpa I want to go with you!" Ben tried to explain to him that we will all be together again someday and that it wasn't his time to go with Grandpa yet. I sat there at the bedside and held his hand and cried. I knew that we were about to lose an amazing man and I was going to miss him immensely! I had a hard time leaving that night not knowing when he would leave us. Ben the next day went to work and I stayed at home with the boys. My sister Roxanne came up to relieve me at lunch time so I could go meet Ben at the hospital. That was the MOST spiritual experience for me. Witnessing the thinness of the veil and the line between life and death. I felt so blessed to be there by his side surrounded by all the family waiting for him to leave this world and reunite with his beloved wife.

Grandpa passed away that evening at 5:15pm on Tuesday January 11th. Ben immediately read that scripture in Alma where it says that as soon as we leave this mortal life we are brought back to that God that gave us life. It was so appropriate for how we were all feeling. I know I was shocked that I felt this peace come over me. Even though I missed him, I knew too how much he missed Grandma and I was SOO happy for him that he was finally reunited with his wife.

The funeral was this past Saturday and it was such a different funeral then Grandma's. I think it was because we didn't have a loving spouse that was left behind. It was a rejoice for the life he lead and all the fun memories everyone had of him.

Christmas

Christmas this year was in Reno. The drive there was probably really long for Ben because the weather was horrible but mostly because I was freaking out in the back of the car the whole 7-8 hours! Telling him to slow down, he was going too fast, it wasn't fair that the rest of our lives were dependent on how he drove and on and on and on. For about the last hour of the trip I kept my head low and watched Happy Feet! Sorry Ben!
We finally got to Reno late that night and it was just so nice to be out of the car and at home. Mom had homemade stew on the stove ready for us when we got there. EVERYONE of us was home and dad later informed us that this was going to be the last time we were all home for Christmas for a long time because of how a lot will change in the next year or two. It made me really sad but enjoy my time at home that much more.







That first week was great…we did a lot of shopping, went and saw The Chronicles of Narnia, went out to lunch with the girls, Ben and I went to Betos with Roxy (not the chain Betos, this is the real hole in the wall mexican food), more shopping, and more shopping. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve filled with seafood and a surprise visit from Santa himself…okay it may have been my Uncle Glen! :) Aidan says to Santa, "Santa take off your beard so I can see if you are Uncle Glen!" We all had a good laugh! Christmas morning was a blast. Santa got the boys an Escalade and they LOVED it! They immediately had Ben take them outside so they could ride it around the neighborhood. Christmas day was fun sitting around and visiting and playing games. Dinner was AMAZING! And like every year Christmas came and went so fast.



The second week we were there went by so fast. We celebrated my sister Carmen and Aidan's birthdays at Claim Jumper. Aidan loves that he shares a bday with his aunt. We did some more shopping that week and some more eating out. Everyone also went to see True Grit, I sat that one out at home with the boys! On New Year's Eve everyone except for me and the baby went sledding up at Galena. They all had so much fun! That night we all went out to eat at Siamese Hut for dinner, only the best Thai in Reno! At midnight it was pretty mellow. The boys were in the middle of watching A Team and I was watching Dateline. My mom passed out right before midnight, so you can only imagine how exciting ringing in 2011 was for us. :)







Sunday the 2nd, we sadly left Reno and headed home. We had a GREAT two weeks and we're so thankful for all our parents did for us. We LOVE you mom and dad!