Grandma Kiesling

We ended up staying in Idaho Falls for 12 days instead of the original 4. The third day (sunday) in Island Park I got a phone call from Mom saying Grandma Kiesling had turned for the worse. She stopped eating and drinking and was in bad shape. By Sunday it was clear she was not going to make it much longer. I packed an over night bag for myself and headed down to see her. It was a shock to see her that way but I am so glad that I made it there. We were supposed to stop on Friday but the kids and I had been sick so we didn't stop. I spent the next few hours with her, dad, and mom. Monday morning she was still hanging on. I stopped by on my way back to Island Park (had to pick up my family). I gave Grandma a hug and said "Hi Grandma" and it sounded like she gave me a low, muffled "hi" back. I will treasure that moment forever. I drove back to Island Park, collected my family, and as we were driving back to Idaho Falls mom called to let us know Grandma passed away (Feb. 20, 2012). The week was kinda of a blur. We stayed up way too late every night and helped mom with lots of funeral plans. Em, Sar, and I also got to go to the funeral home to help dress her for the funeral (along with a few of my cousins). The funeral was on Friday the 24th. It was a beautiful day and the funeral was prefect. Mom did a great job with her remarks. Grandma had given us all pins for Valentine's Day so we all wore them to her funeral. I'm so greatful for the knowledge I have of eternal families and know that Grandma is happy and in a better place with family that has been lost along the way. We love you and will always miss you Grandma!!

Island Park

We finally made it to Island Park 2 weeks ago. The boys had been asking for weeks!! We love going to the cabin and love sledding, building snow caves, and snowmobiling. Taylor wouldn't go down the sled but loved the snowmobiles. Brax and Avri loved everything! Macall was sick for the first few days so she didn't go out much.

 Taylor

 Dad with Brax:

 Taylor

 Avri

 Callers

 Movie night

 Sledding

 We got Call bundled up and made her go out for a few minutes. She wasn't happy about it.

 Avri sledding with Papa

 Brax

 Mom made Call go down the hill at least one time

 momma and the girls

 Building the snow cave. Justin hurt his tail bone sledding so he helped the boys dig the cave through the other side.

 And these cute kids

The girls have stopped napping. And its sad! They are so grumpy by the time dinner rolls around. I don't remember what day this was but pretty sure we had stayed in our pj's. They were both so tired and fell asleep. Macall was in my arms and I laid her on the floor. Avri was pouting under the table (new favorite hiding spot) and fell asleep. Silly girls. 

Valentine's Day

 Growing up my mom always did fun things for us for Valentine's Day (see last post because she still makes it great). We were all ready to get up and go to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast as a family and then go to Chuck E Cheeses for dinner. I woke up sick on Monday and Tuesday morning was even worse. We skipped our plans and Justin headed to work breakfastless. Around 10 we were getting ready to take me to the Dr and since I hadn't eaten in two days we went and got our Chick-Fil-A on the way there. The kids thought it was great to eat it in the car and loved the huge sandwiches.

 Since we had planned on going out I didn't have much to make for dinner. We went with chicken noodle soup. Wasn't the greatest day but my family is the greatest and thats what its all about. The boys loved their Star Wars guys (yes more of them, they can't seem to get enough) and the girls loved the "kinkibell" dolls they got.

On February 10 we met Mom and Dad downtown at The Little America to spend the night. Little did we know they had planned a fun Valentine's get away for us! When we got to our rooms there were balloons tied to the door. When we got in there was many more surprises.

 The rooms were all decorated with cute balloons, treats, and Valentine bags for us.

 After the excitement we walked around the hotel where mom got a kick out of us yelling at our kids to get off the edge of the balcony, off the edge of the swimming pool, and to stop making such a ruckus! :-) I guess it brought back lots of memories from when we were little. I know it brought back tons for me!

 After Justin got off work we headed down town on Trax to Olive Garden for dinner with all 15 of us (We missed all those not with us). The kids thought the train was pretty neat. Dinner was delicious and then we sent mom and dad off to the Jazz game and we went back to the hotel to swim.  

 The girls were so excited to swim and always tell me "I fish"

 Taylor loved to flex his muscles and thought the floaties made them look bigger. After swimming a while he threw up in the pool. We made a quick exit and headed back to our room to clean up the mess.

 The next morning we went to the yummie buffet breakfast! The pictures are no good put I posted them any ways. I really need a new camera.

 After breakfast and check out we went to The Gateway for the Olympic celebration but we had got ten the dates wrong and were late by 2 days. We shopped for a while and then sent all the boys back to my house and Mom, Em, Tay, Me and the girls went to the mall to finish our shopping trip.

We had a blast! Thanks again Mom and Dad! Love you guys and appreciate all you do!!!