A Long Year

Today is the one year anniversary of Duane's passing. My sister and the kids have made it through all of the firsts. Not to say it would get any easier but at least all of the firsts are over with.

Duane was a good, kind, hard worker etc. whom was loved and respected by so many people. Becky and Duane had one of those rare marriages that they were always looking like that they were falling in love, they were newlyweds or still on their honeymoon.

Last week, while Ben was in the hospital, I took over the after-school/dinner duty with Becky's kids. I went up to Becky's room to help make the bed and tidy things a bit and she has displayed a LARGE picture of Becky, Duane and Molly as a baby; I showed Zack the picture. Zacky let out this loud squeal, which I thought was for his Aunt Becky, but the fact was he completely ignored Becky and the baby and went straight for his Uncle Duane. He smothered Duane's image with kisses; it was so sweet. I know that he recognized his Uncle Duane and he wanted to give him a kiss. Duane loved babies and I am sure the two of them would've had a great relationship. In fact, I know they have this great love between the two of them.

We were so blessed to be a part of Duane's earthly journey, he really loved everyone, especially his family and he made all of our lives better just knowing him. As for me, I am glad all the firsts are over as well. There are so many memories that I will treasure all of my mortal life about Duane. (Like giving me his jacket the day of my wedding, when I was so very cold.) I really miss my big brother today.

1st Halloween!!!

It was Zack's first Halloween. I decided to have Zack be a monkey! (seriously, what else would I choose, a murloc? LOL) Not surprising, he was absolutely SO CUTE in his costume!
Ben was a guy from Australia who traveled to Africa to pick up a monkey.
I was storm form X-MEN.
As Ben said it he was a guy from Australia who went to Africa to pick up a monkey and called up Storm to have clear weather for the entire trip.
We had our tradition Halloween dinner pizza and cheese bread from nerion's pizza and have some root beer to drink. It was on the warm side so we didn't have a fire in the fire place but we did have some hot apple cider YUM YUM!!! Ben even surprise me with some Halloween presents we got two Halloween plates and coffee mugs for Pfazltcraft and got Zack two Halloween cups.
Ben took Zack to a little bit of trick-or-treating he took him in the little culdasack where we live at. When they got back home Zack did have a little bit of candy and he had a blast getting into his trick-or-treat bag. Which by the way it is my old trick-or-treat bag that I have gave him. That Duane had made for me when I was only 9 or 10 years old.

Oh what little things can do!

The other day while I was starting dinner Zack was squealing with delight and laughing and I went over to see what it was and it was the connector toys. Just two of the links, he keep grabbing them and they kept rolling. He was having a blast.
Oh what little thing can entertain a baby.

Piano Buddies

One of the things I love about my dear husband is his love of music and his talents. He is very proficient on the piano and clarinet. Both Ben and I play the piano although Ben plays so much better then I do. Lately, Zack has shown a real interest in "playing the piano." He plays away and is quite proud and happy about it. (He does use enough strength to make them strike the strings on the piano.) What tickles me so much is that Zack even looks at the music when he "playing" the piano. Now lets hope he gets Ben's music ability rather then mine.

I'm In Love -- 'nuff Said!

The smile that wins my heart every single time. I am so blessed and grateful that Heavenly Father sent my Ben to Tulsa so that we could meet, fall in love and create this precious boy together. He is truly a happy, funny little guy.


Wearing my old Future Missionary tag. I hope and pray that we can instill in him a deep love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a sincere desire to serve the Lord by serving a mission!


His first biter biscuit! Yummy! Surprisingly he didn't make the mess I was forewarned about. However, we were not so lucky his 2nd time around.



What can I say, for a fella who's vocabulary is limited to mama, dada, baba and ear piercing squeals of delight, and other babblings, he sure has an way of expressing himself.

Fever and a Runny Nose

My Poor Little Man

I've been so incredibly blessed with a healthy baby, even with all the various flues and colds flying around this area. But today, those teeth finally did him in. He has a runny nose, red eyes and an elevated temp of 101.5. I didn't know why my normally extremely happy boy was so cranky and so clingy but then realized he felt warm! The picture is right after I put him down for a nap. I decided to change him out of his blue jean overalls and put on some warm, comfy jammies. I put him down and he rolled from side to side and then was scooting to grab his favorite monkey "Eddie." I picked Eddie up, tucked him into the corner Zacky always sleeps in and he rolled over to his tummy, put his arm around Eddie and immediately fell asleep.

Lions, Tigers and Bears Oh My! (And a few monkeys too!)

Recently, we decided that our little family needed a mini vacation, well instead of wandering off to distant cities or neighboring states, we decided to get a hotel room in our own fabulous area and toured Tulsa. One of the highlights of the staycation was our trip to the Tulsa Zoo -- it was so fun watching our own little monkey taking in their little monkeys! We even enjoyed simple things like eating pizza and watching cable tv in our hotel room. It may have seemed silly to some, but it was such a delightful adventure taking in Tulsa as a tourist. I love my family so much, from my #1 big monkey to my #1 baby monkey. I couldn't be more blessed to have those two fellas in my life.