Families Are Forever

 Posts like these are hard to write, but nonetheless they are part of our family history, so I will do my best. On March 28, Blake got a call from his dad that his cousin, David, had passed away. One of the things I envy about Blake's family is how close all the cousins are. They have lots of fond memories of doing things together growing up. Of course, as the cousins got older it got harder and harder to stay close. I was lucky enough to be married to Blake when David was married and we attended Dave and Sara's wedding. We saw them a few times on the campus of USU while we studied there and then we all eventually made our way back to the same town. We would see them periodically around town, and now Blake and I are both sad we didn't take more time to have them over and regrow those relationships. Sara is Brooke's art teacher at her school and Blake's Aunt Rosa (David's mom) is a fantastic teacher in our district as well.

Friday, April 1 was the funeral and it was a beautiful tribute to David's life. It was good to see all the family support and how many Aunts, Uncles, and cousins drove for many hours, some through the night, just to make sure they were in attendance.

 David is buried by his Millecam grandparents and also by Blake's brother who passed away several years ago. One of the things Rosa said during this whole process of losing her oldest son was that she didn't know how she'd be able to get through this without the knowledge of where David is, who he's with, and that someday she'll be able to see him again. And how true is that! The gospel is beautiful and provides such comfort and peace during trying times such as this one.

After the service, we took some pictures by Grandma and Grandpa Millecam's grave:

The four Millecam Children

 The Millecam cousins (grandchildren & great grandchildren)--all that were able to attend

 All the Millecam children, grandchildren, great grandchildren plus their spouses:

After the service, we were all  in a somber mood and our own small family decided to gather at our home for pizza and to unwind from the day. Zak brought his guitar and let the kids play on it. Grant was able to get Grams and Aunt Steph to rub his back and tickle his feet.

It's times like these and make me stop and reflect upon my life and what kind of legacy I'm leaving for my children. It's also a time to remember that you never know what tomorrow will bring, so let's not take today for granted. I hope we still have many, many more years together on this earth, but I will always be grateful for the knowledge that our family is a forever family. No matter what happens in this life, I know we will see each other again and what a joyful, happy reunion that will be!

Grant at 17 Months

This little guy of mine! He has really come into his own in March. He went from mostly crawling and only occasionally walking at the beginning of the month to full on walking by the end of the month!  He now has 5 teeth with 2 more coming in. We had some rough stretched of sleeping but seem to be back on track now (until he starts teething again!). He loves playing with balls, his little tykes car, the slide outside, and getting into lots of trouble inside the house. He throws everything in the toilet, likes to help me unload the dishwasher onto the floor, throws his food on the floor, and will climb on anything and everything.

He can say:
da-dad and sometimes mama, uh-uh (for no), and grunts for yes. He says uh-oh when he drops something. He learned to say hello (sounds like awo) at the end of the March. He says "broommm" for vroom when he plays with cars and trucks and will say "woof woof" when he hears a real dog barking.
He can sign:
more, please, all done, bird, fish, and waves bye-bye

Grant is obsessed with real animals. I took the kids to petco one night because we were bored and the entire time Grant was squealing this high pitched little scream--so excited. I'm sure all the animals (and people) were happy when we left so they didn't have to hear that noise anymore! At home, Grant loves to look for birds out the window (that's why bird is one of the signs he knows).

 Grant making a lovely macaroni mess on the floor

 He's so skinny that he can wiggle out his buckles in the high chair and will stand on the top or sit on top of the tray with his legs swinging over the sides when he's ready to get out.

 Making popcorn is a magical experience for Grant

 He loves to play with my phone and walk around the house saying "hello?" into it.

 This is another of Grant's favorite spots: hanging out in the kids' bunk beds.

 Some brotherly love

Oh how we love our Grant-man and how he completes our family. He has the most tender and sweet spirit and all of us are completely smitten with him!

Easter 2016

 We did a fun and different Easter activity this year. Our recreation center hosts a ducky drop for kids where they fill up the big dumping bucket from the kids area with rubber ducks, pour them out, and then kids try to collect the ducks with numbers on them. The numbers are used for a prize raffle at the end, but each participant goes home with a goody bag and then each kid can hunt for eggs around the pool area. It was fun, but stressful for me since Blake had to work and each of my kids were in different age categories so while I was in the pool with one child, the other one was just sitting (or was supposed to be sitting) alone. Porter especially had a hard time with waiting and being patient for his turn. The kids said they had a good time, but  not sure if it's something we'll next year.

Brooke searching for ducks.

 Porter and his friends waiting for the older kids division to get done so he could have some swim time.

 The Saturday before Easter the kids and I went to the egg hunt at our local dinosaur museum. I haven't done a community Easter egg hunt since Brooke was probably 4 years old. I really hate big crowds, especially when I'm by myself with the kids, so I was reminded why I it had been so long since our last public event like this.

Porter was super scared of the dinosaur mascot. Grant really wasn't a fan either. I couldn't even convince Porter to go stand by the dino for a picture.

 Porter finding eggs. I decided last minute to go to the egg hunt, so I didn't even have baskets for the kids to put their eggs in. I just told them to put them in Grant's stroller!

 We also stopped by the grocery store with a quick picture with the Easter bunny. This time, Porter had no fear. He went right up and sat on the bunny's lap. Grant, however, still wasn't a fan and wouldn't let me put him down/

 After our fun, I tried to get a picture of all three kids with their dinosaur stuffed animals they got at the museum, but of course it's impossible to get a picture of all three of my kid sitting still.

 and all Grant wanted to do was throw his dinosaur onto the floor.

 So, we just took Grant out of the picture entirely!

 Saturday afternoon while Grant was napping, the older two kids and I dyed some Easter eggs.

 Porter was actually really into this year and loved putting all the monster stickers on the eggs.

 Sunday morning, we did things a little differently than usual. This was in part because Blake had to work and wouldn't be home until after dinner. He didn't want to miss all the Easter fun, so the bunny didn't come to our house until the evening. We passed the time before church by making sugar cookies.

 Grant thought he should help too.

 Sunday morning when the kids woke up, this is what the "bunny" left for them. I put out pictures depicting the last week of Christ's life, an egg carton full of Easter "Story" Eggs and a note from the Bunny.

 The kids helped me open the eggs and put them by the correct picture. This was actually a really good activity for the kids and helped bring the spirit into our home Sunday morning. I liked that the focus was on the Savior and what the real meaning of Easter was. I was worried that the kids would be sad going to church and hearing about what all their friends got for Easter, but they weren't even phased by it. Blake and I decided that we'll probably do Easter this way from now on, even when Blake doesn't have to work.

 Brooke was positive that the Easter bunny was going to come while we were at church (he didn't) and she wanted to leave him some carrots and lettuce.

 Trying to get an Easter Sunday picture, yeah right!

 But looks how cute my little man looks in his outfit! The baby mullet just makes the whole thing!

 Grant loves birds and was so excited to see one in our yard.

 After Blake got home from work, he took the kids on a bike ride and guess what? The bunny magically came while they were riding around the block.

 Grant was not interested in finding eggs. He thought the eggs were balls, so he'd pick one up and then just throw it back down again.

 Grant thought Brooke's water bottle was for him.

 Brooke drew a picture of a minion with her chalk she got.