19 January 2014 - Grandma North's funeral

We drove to Utah on Sunday after church so that we could be there for my Grandma's funeral.  We wanted to stay for church in Idaho because Joanne was being set apart as the new Young Women's President in our ward. When church was through, we headed south as quickly as we could.  We spent Sunday evening with Joanne's family.

The next morning we went to Midway for the funeral.  In the town park, they've built a pretty awesome ice castle.  We didn't get to go in it, but it was cool so we took pictures.

At the funeral, I asked Madeline to take a picture of me in my skinny tie.  There is a special story behind this tie.

When I was 11 my Grandpa North died.  He was the first person I was really close to who passed away, and being young and inexperienced with such things, I was not coping well with it emotionally.  We went to Midway for his funeral, and as we were at my grandparents' house getting dressed, I realized I had forgotten my tie.  I burst into tears, and was nearly inconsolable.  My Grandma North took my hand and took me into the bedroom where my Grandpa's church clothes were.  She helped me understand that Grandpa was in a better place now, and that he wouldn't need his ties anymore.  She told me to pick one out that I liked.  I could wear it to the funeral, and then keep it to always remember my grandpa.  The tie in this photo is that tie.  I wore the tie on special occasions as a teenager, and then took it with me on my mission to Brazil. Over the years, the tie kind of fell out of fashion (it was skinny and kind of snake-skinned in texture).  It got stained, ripped, and worn around the edges.  Joanne occasionally nudged me to let the tie go.  For years I've resisted.  I haven't worn it for a while, but when Grandma passed away, I decided I should get it back out. Over the years, my understanding of the gospel and the Plan of Salvation has improved, and while the symbol of the tie is nice for nostalgic reasons, I felt like the tie had served its purpose.  I am no longer the emotionally fragile 11-year-old for whom the tie was a source of comfort and reassurance.  Before I offered the family prayer at the funeral, I told the story of the skinny tie, then took it off and placed it in the casket with my Grandma, a fitting retirement for a simple symbol that meant so much.  (Many thanks to my cousin Mark who provided a replacement tie on short notice.)

I was honored to serve as one of the pall bearers, laying my Grandma to rest amid the mountain peaks she called home for 96 years; next to her eternal companion, and her son Marvin, who died when he was just 16.  We take comfort in knowing they are together again, and that we will someday too be reunited with them as well.

This picture turned out blurry, but I didn't have the heart to leave it out.  These are my grandma's kids and their spouses: My dad and mom, Maurine and Rex, and Sue and Randy.

On the drive home to Idaho after the funeral, we caught a little glimpse of heaven.

12 January 2014 - Skiing and Swimming

Photos never do justice to truly beautiful views of God's earth.  This photo was taken at the summit of Bogus Mountain, looking east toward Idaho's Central Mountains.  There were low clouds in the mountain valleys, and snow was falling softly.

This is the girls' second day of ski school.  When I took this photo, they had already finished their morning group lessons and we were taking runs as a family.

On Saturday evening, we went to The College of Idaho's swim meet as a family.  We had fun, even though the C of I lost the meet by a single point.

On Thursday my dad called to tell me that my grandma passed away, so we began making plans to return to Utah for her funeral.

5 January 2014 - New Year's Week

One of the things my mom had wanted for Christmas was for us to attend the temple together.  I took this photo Monday morning as we prepared to meet her in the St. George Temple.

On Christmas Eve, Brandon and Jake went skiing with us at Brian Head.  Actually, they snowboarded, but we all had a good time.  Brandon was afraid of getting cold, he's not usually that puffy.

While we were in St. George, my Aunt Maurine called my dad to tell him that the doctors felt that my Grandma North was in her last days.  We stopped to see her on our way back to Idaho on Friday.  We gave her Christmas present to her, a photo calendar Joanne made.  Joanne went through it with her and she was able to recognize some of the people in it.  This was the last time we would see her before she passed away.

Our return to Caldwell was wonderful.  Fresh snow had fallen in the Valley.  I took this picture of the College campus.

The girls started ski school at Bogus Basin on Saturday.  They all got balaclavas to go with their new helmets.

29 December 2013 - Christmas and a Trip to St. George

This week was busy with final preparations for a Christmas, and then our trip to St. George.  It started off with school choir concerts for both Emily and Jessica.  This is Jessica's concert, which was actually held at The College of Idaho's auditorium.

Joanne was very proud of this coat rack that she made for Aunt Kathy.  Joanne is very creative.

Once the girls were out of school for the break, we took them skiing at Bogus Basin.  This is the first time any of the three of them had ever been skiing.

Here are Madeline and Emily working the magic carpet run.

For Christmas Eve, we all got together at Aunt Kathy's house.  Joanne made her cousin Emily a Star Wars pillow case.

That night, Santa came to our house.  You can see the mantle I've been working on in this picture, and we hung our stockings on it with care.  We are very blessed.

On Christmas morning, I was too excited so I woke the kids up.  Actually, they were awake and afraid to to come wake us up too early.

Madeline working on opening presents.

Thank you to everyone who sent card, gifts and other Christmas wishes.

Joanne's laptop was near death, so we got her a new one with a snap-off tablet screen.  It's pretty awesome, and it was a good surprise for her.

That afternoon, we loaded up the car and drove to Orem for Christmas dinner.  There were more presents waiting for us there.  Here are the girls with Uncle Colby.

The next morning we drove the rest of the way to St. George.  More presents awaited, as well as awesome cousins to play with.

Aunt Angie (North, not Atkinson), made minion hats and goggles for the girls.  They wore these skiing and received numerous compliments on their awesomeness.

We also surprised my dad.  The boys got together and organized a trip to San Francisco to see BYU in the Fight Hunger Bowl.  As you can see, he was a little surprised.  He kept saying, "Are you kiddin me?"

We weren't kidding though.  On Friday morning, we caught a flight to San Francisco, ate Thai food, then went to AT&T park for the game.

Despite the beat-down Washington put on BYU, we were all still smiling at the end of the game.

Sunday was my cousin Konrad's birthday.  We got him an awesome Marvel comics shirt.

22 December 2013 - Holiday Work and Karate

We enjoyed a short visit from Mike this week.  It was very cold while he was here.  He helped us get our TV set up.  We had some way funky hoar frost because of the cold.

Madeline has been progressing well in karate.  She is the one in the middle, farthest to the wall with the white belt.

On Wednesday she was tested and advanced to yellow belt.

Since we have season passes this year, Joanne and I took Thursday and went skiing at Bogus Basin on a glorious, sunny day.  This is Joanne coming down the slope.

I got a little Christmas present this week. Now that we have TV service, we needed a TV to go with it ;-).

Joanne decided we needed a mantle to go with the new TV.  As usual, she designed it, and I got to work building it.

Some progress on the mantle.

Getting closer to being ready for paint.

15 December 2013 - Grandma, Phil & Jennifer Visit

This week we took the girls to The Nutcracker at the college.  We couldn't take pictures of the performance, so we snapped a quick photo with the mouse costumes.

Friday was our ward Christmas party.  The primary did a nativity program with music.

We also visited the girls' swim practice on Friday.  Emily is working on her butterfly.

We spent some time at the Y trying out the rock climbing wall with Grampa Phil.

After the Y, we took a tour of the college campus.  This is the building I work in with Grandma, Jennifer and Madeline.

Phil and I in my office.

We took the family with Eric and Lara and their kids, Kathy, pretty much everyone to see the Caldwell lights.

8 December 2013 - O Christmas Tree

This year we decided to go for a plantable Christmas tree again.  It was very cold the day we went to pick it up, so we were glad to have a fire to stay warm by.

Caldwell has a fantastic Christmas light display for the holidays.  On Friday, Joanne and I had a date in sub-zero temperatures.  The lights were awesome, and then we warmed up with some hot chocolate and live music at the Bird Stop Cafe.

On Saturday, Caldwell held a holiday electric light parade.  We took the whole family and found a spot where we could watch from the car so we could try to stay warm.

On Sunday we hosted family dinner.  Joanne had gingerbread houses for each of the kids to decorate.  It was a hit.

We also got our Christmas tree decorated and ready for the holidays.