Baby Kacey

I've tried to update this blog several times in the past month to no avail...the little guy seems to know when my attention has drifted from him to something else:) I can't believe how fast the time has flown since Kacey was born--he's growing so fast!

Here's my side of things leaving out as much of the gorey details as possible.

My due date was June 17th and three weeks before that at my dr. app. I found out that I was already dilated 3 centimeters and 50% effaced. I was so excited thinking that I was going to have this little guy before my due date but he has since proven to have gained the stubborn streak that both of his parents have. Finally late on the 18th I stood up to go to bed and thought I had wet my pants--one of the less desirable side effects of being 40+ weeks pregnant. After awhile I realized that my water had broke and called the hospital to see if I should come in or wait it out for awhile at home.

When we got to the hospital I was dilated to a 6 and was contracting about every minute. An hour later after I got the epidural I was dilated to an 8. I thought things were going to go really fast and I would end up being one of those ladies that had really short labors, but unfortunately things really slowed down after that. I ended up contracting until about 4 in the morning before I was finally at a 10. They had me try pushing for awhile but we weren't making much progress. Kacey was face up and his head was bent to the side kind of making it really hard to get him out. We decided that since I had the epidural and was relatively comfortable we would just let him labor down before we started pushing again. I'm really glad we did that because I still pushed for over 2 hours before he was finally born. It was a really tiring and frustrating couple of hours but when the dr. said he was going into distress something inside me just kicked in and I was finally able to deliver him.

Kacey was finally born the next morning at 9:17 weighing 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 21 inches long. Poor little guy had a pretty rough looking head for about a day. When he was born I looked at Eric and he had this scared look on his face--I found out later that he was worried something was wrong with Kacey because his head looked so bad. That's what happens when you come out crooked I suppose. Two days later when they measured him again he had lost an inch and a half in length because all the swelling on his melon had gone down.

It was such an amazing experience to finally see our little baby. He is absolutely perfect and we feel so incredibly blessed to finally have him here. Eric defied all odds and actually made it through the whole labor without passing out. I'm so proud of him--he did so great for a guy that has a really hard time with anything medical. I'm also glad to report that no one was injured the first time Eric got pe'ed on and subsequent times since:) He however doesn't seem to think it is quite as funny as I do. All in all we're doing great so far. Extremely tired but great. Our dogs were a little freaked out when we got him home. Poor Sassy hid under the table a couple of times when Kacey was screaming during diaper changes but she has come around like the other two.

Here's the only before picture I have... Me with the dogs a few days before I delivered. I didn't realize I didn't have any pictrues of myself pregnant until it was too late.

After...

Kacey is such a smiler--it melts my heart every time!

Got to love the feet shots

Proud Daddy!

Kacey David Mackay

So, here's my side of the story...

It was friday night... just spent all day at work and it was getting kind of late, right around 10:30 P.M. and Mindy and I were watching some T.V. and starting to contemplate going to bed. I was laying on the floor using one of the dogs as a pillow, had one snuggled up next to me and the other one not too far away and the sleep was starting to pour over me. I was thinking to myself... "self, the dogs are sleeping, why aren't you?" So then Mindy says that she is just going to go up to bed because she was wanting to get some rest for her Dr. appointement in the morning. As she stands up she says... "I think I just pee'ed my pants!" I said, "Oh... that's nice. Go take care of it." Then she said, "It just keeps on coming!"

At this point my very first thought was... holy crap! can't you even hold it for two minutes! My second thought was... have a little patience, she's 40 weeks and 1 day pregnant! My third thought was... HOLY CRAP!!!! This could mean the baby is coming!!!!

So, we called the hospital. They said that the nurse was 40+ minutes away and that we should just take our time and come in. So when we got to the hospital it was about 11:30 P.M. Luckily for us the Dr. that was on call was the Dr. we were seeing for the pregnancy. Fast forward... to 7:20 A.M. the Dr. says it's time for Mindy to push really hard. The Dr. and the nurses are carrying on conversation like nothing is going on around them and my heart is starting to beat faster. Then my mind starts to go faster than my heart and I am waiting with great anticipation to meet this little guy that has been incubating for the last 40 weeks! And fast forward 2 hours later... the Dr. says one big push... you've got to get him out now! A little panic from me but then he came right out... coughed and sputtered and took right off into his life. What a miracle!

Sunday at 12:30 we were wanting to leave the hospital but we hadn't chose a name yet. Going back and forth with all the names was pretty difficult. I have been telling her for a really long time that I really liked the name K. C. and she said that she was not going to have an abreviated child. So we were going to go with Kaycee... like Kaycee, WY where Chris LeDoux was from (which they dedicated a monument to Chris LeDoux the day our son was born) but Mindy thought it was too "girlie" and she didn't want the boy to get beat up his first day of school. So we compromised on the spelling with Kacey.

It's been a few days shy of a month and it's been such a wonderful experience! He is a great joy to have around. I am so glad that we were blessed to have a little baby!

We're Back!

Well I decided it was about time we updated our blog but when I got on here I saw that Eric had beat me to it. What a guy! I'm so lucky to have him--he's so good to me!

Here's a little update on what we've been up to...

As you can tell from Eric's post there has been a little bit of excitement at our house. First with the new addition of Tucker (who came when we had resigned ourselves to the fact that we just might not be able to have any kids so...let's just get another dog right?) and then with this pregnancy. We're so excited for this baby and are praying that everything goes well.

I would love to be one of those women who say that being pregnant is the best time of their life but unfortunately I have not been one of the chosen few who get to say that. Instead, I've been working on a really close relationship with my bed and the bathroom. I feel like I've been sick forever. Eric and I actually ended up pregnant the beginning of August, and lucky me, I started throwing up right away. Then unfortunately, we lost that pregnancy and I caught the dreaded Swine Flu. Kind of felt like a kick in the teeth. However, we were really blessed because I ended up pregnant again right away. We really feel like it was a miracle! Counting our disappointments the third time was really a charm for us! Needless to say, I have a new found respect for mothers of multiple children. When you're so sick and feeling generally miserable it's hard to believe that women are willing to do it more than once and I've only started! Kind of a scary thought.

Fortunately, I think we're on the upside of it all. I've been able to keep food down for the last 4 days and am feeling much better. I'm so grateful for priesthood blessings and a wonderful husband. I've always known that he loves me very much but you really find out the extent of their commitment and love when you're not able to do anything for yourself. Eric has been pulling double duty big time since October with working all day and taking care of me as well. I'm so grateful for him!

Anyway, on to other things. We are really starting to enjoy Thermopolis. I think when we are finally in a home of our own it will really feel like we actually belong here. We have met some really great friends which helps a lot, and I think Eric knows just about everyone in town now from being at the store all day. That small town feeling is alive and well here in Thermopolis.

We had a fun summer--didn't do much but it was fun. I think our biggest highlights were family reunions, fishing, and horseback riding. It always feels great being in the mountains and having fun with family. I also had my old roomates from college come and spend a couple of days with me. It was so nice to see them again. I think it had been 7 years since we had all been together. We had a great time visiting and catching up.

Eric and my dad were able to have a successful elk hunt this year as well. It always cracks me up when they spend their "vacation" riding horses and walking for miles and miles up a steep mountain while freezing their tails off, worrying about grizzly bears and wolves carrying off their kill and then packing out camp and coming home all the time hoping that that mule train they are leading out won't plummet off the steep cliffs they are on. They call it "having a great time". Personally I don't think it sounds like that much fun...I think I would need a vacation from my "vacation" if it were me. Oh well, they seem to really enjoy themselves and it's really nice for me to have my husband and dad get along so well and have fun together.

Here are a few pictures from our summer and fall.

June
At the Yorgason family reunion my uncle Carl told us we were welcome to take his boat out for a spin...we should have asked if it needed gas because we had to paddle back to shore with one paddle and my uncle Phil's crutches! Boy did we feel like a trio of blondes. Moral of the story...check if the boat has gas before you take it out in the middle of a lake.

Fishing on the lower Sunshine above Meeteetse. We both caught our limit and had a great time.


July
On July 23rd I was able to see my nephew Zachary David Mackay come into the world. It was the neatest experience. My bro-in-law Jeff is one proud papa.

August

As always, going horseback riding is a blast. Cody was having it's annual balloon festival the morning that we left so we had balloons landing all around Eric's parents house. It was pretty neat.

We decided to ride Eagle Creek Trail up the North Fork. It was really pretty up there.

Me and Bella

All the dogs know that Grandpa is a softy. They always beg his lunch off him.

Lyle, Alex, and Eric--the Wild Bunch!
September
I took Eric to Ten Sleep lake for his birthday. We had a great day fishing and relaxing. Can you guess why we didn't catch any fish?



October
Eric was privileged to be asked to bless our newest nephew on October 8th. What a couple of handsome boys!

I found out that I was pregnant the day before our 4th year anniversary. I decided to wait a day to tell Eric so he could open this as his gift.

Hard to Believe

Some of you may already know... but to all those who read this... now you will all know that we are expecting a baby to be born around the 17th of June in 2010! (I know it's a boy! HA HA)...



I had a wonderful experience today that I really wanted to share. It was a moment in the day that simply put... put life into perspective. You all know... a moment that makes you say "I get it now". Somehow I managed to savor the moment despite the whirlwind of activity that could have ruined it for me.



I got to hear this little miracle heartbeat! It was amazing to me because of the flood of thoughts that come roaring through your mind after you hear what a 150 beats per minute sounds like through a little ultrasonic jukebox of pregnancy. I saw the heartbeat a while back during an ultrasound... and that was a wonderful thing... yet when I heard it, it took on a whole new meaning for me. My very first thought was that heartbeat sounds healthy. Now I am no medical doctor... that was just my first thought. Then my second thought... I got scared to death. There were moments of bliss, knowing that I was going to be a father, and moments of pure terror also knowing that I was going to be a father!



I left the office of that doctor with a miriad of thoughts that I will be pondering for quite some time. I wondered with great respect for God, why the path for me only had a few bumps along the way, and why the path for my life long friends Cole and Natalie was much more difficult. No good answer came in revelation of this part of God's plan. And that made me wonder... am I worthy of the responsibility to raise one of God's little ones? Have I prepared enough? Have I repented enough? Have I learned enough lessons "the hard way" to teach someone else what not to do? Again no good answer came to this simple mind. What I did have was a confirmation of sorts. I looked at Mindy, my beautiful wife in the eyes... and she smiled back at me, and she told me that she loved me. I knew that if God were to bless me with a child based strictly on my merits, choices and such... I would be waiting a very long time and the day might never come. Yet when I looked in Mindy's eyes I knew that she was one of God's chosen mothers. That she was someone so special to God that despite the failures of her husband she had enough of the good stuff to carry us through to the blessings. Then I thought how blessed I was to have such a woman in my life. Someone that did enough good in this world for two people. I also thanked God for a mother that tought me to look for virtue and charity among many other things in a companion, and then I thanked God some more for giving me the strength to hold out until I found Mindy. With her talents in the mix I feel confident that I can be a father and a dad. Life is so enjoyable and knowing that I get to spend eternity with this special woman brings tears of joy to my eyes. I am truly blessed.

So the "I get it now" moment was the realization that God wants to tell me that I am not alone in this world. That I have others to help me in this life and eternity. Others to help build me up and strengthen me. And so I have to tell my greatest source of strength on this earth... To Mindy, "Look at you girl". Let the rest of eternity start with me telling you how much I love you.

About Time!

For all those who are wondering where we disappeared to, this post is for you!

We have a new puppy sometimes called "el Diablo". He is actually a chocolate Lab named Tucker. He is a pure bred Lab and he completes the standard colors of the Lab family.We nicknamed him el Diablo because he tends to take after me... a little devil! If you are questioning me as being a little devil... I refer you to my childhood pictures, my mom made me a devil costume for Halloween... If your mom says it... it's true! Right?! Anyway, Tucker likes to tease (sounds familiar!) the other dogs and for the most part Sassy is very good with him and Brio tolerates him, most days.

Here they are after fresh made pancakes! They are all pancake hounds! It's a lot of fun to have them all around.

History

When someone asks me what I have been up to, and my response is just "work"... it kind of bothers me to some extent. My dad is an accountant and he keeps some pretty huge hours during tax season. I think that this year I might have actually logged more hours than him. Would he be proud of me for that? I don't know. What I do know is I have been putting the foundation and cornerstones in on a business, that will provide many years of productivity.

I am sure that I have talked about it before... how much work it is to resurrect a business that was a heartbeat away from flat lining. Once I got in there and put on my size 40 work shirt and size 1 hard hat, I started to realize that I had much more on my plate than I thought. It kind of reminds me of the sketty and jewt (spaghetti and mt. dew) days in college. It wasn't enough for us to eat sketty from a normal size plate... we had to use the pizza pan stacked high and at least a 12 pack of jewt for 2 people. Funny thing to me is I don't remember it taking a really long time to polish off that huge plate of sketty. I also remember having some pretty big friends, like Brandon Smith and Dave Gore... each of those guys were 6 foot 20 and weighed about 225... all muscle. And here I am a 5 nuthin' 135 lb freak and we were pounding so much sketty and jewt.

Back to the point... My plate with the store is like that pizza pan full of sketty. At the store I literally get to put away the noodles and deal with some noodle heads. I knew there would be both physical and mental challenges. I knew there would be people challenges and things that would take quite a bit of patience to overcome. Luckily for me that Mackay temper has stayed tucked away and rather gentle, almost like I forgot how to be mad... ha! Well for the most part.

So the challenges are still there and some are making me polish my mettle. I didn't count on all of the peculiar people coming out of the woodwork to try and force me down. There is a guy who applied for a job, and to his credit he was really diligent in his Inquisitions about a job, yet another candidate was selected for the open position. Then the guy who was not selected for the job says that I discriminated against him based on age. It made me stop and think about many situations, my responses and my reactions, even my pro-actions. I have always been very selective in my responses to those applying for a job, and specific enough to follow a dialogue based on principles so there may be no misunderstanding to what I said. Still someone is challenging me, and that is an opportunity to polish my mettle. We'll see how it all plays out. I have a really good woman to back me up. She helps to keep things in perspective and calm the temper.

No pictures this time. Just ramblings.

Spring!

Spring is finally here! I've always been the type of girl that really enjoys all the seasons wyoming has to offer (aside from the wind) but this year for some reason it seemed like winter was never going to end. When we moved to Thermopolis in November it was actually still warm which I didn't mind at all when I was making hundreds of trips in and out of the house with boxes, but then winter came and set up shop. For some reason I really got cabin fever and am really thankful now for the warm weather we have been enjoying and also the newness that comes with spring. As I've been walking each day the same scripture keeps coming to my mind. D&C 59:18 "Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart." Call me a sap but seeing the new baby animals, and the beautiful green hills have been very pleasing to the eye and have gladdened my heart tremendously. Here's some of my favorite spots in Thermop.

Got to love the canyon!

This is the area where I walk called Buffalo Creek Rd.

I just love these dutch belted cows. They look like OreosSome other favorite spots I love this driveway--It reminds me of Ann of Green Gables for some reason Several Canadian Geese stay here year round. It has been so much fun watching them with their new babies. Hopefully you can see them. My faithful walking buddies Brio and Sassy--they LOVE the river. The last six months have really gone by fast. Eric and I have been super busy. It was really weird going from teaching to working at the store, but it's been good for us to work together--oh the things you learn about your spouse when you have to work with each other! We see each other more this way and I feel more a part of the business, but sometimes I still feel like telling people that I would love to do story time with their kids while they shop. A couple weeks ago we made some larger changes to the store by adding new check stands. This poor little store needs some serious remodeling but for now this change has made a big difference. The cashiers had to empty the baskets with the set up on the old stands but the new ones have the belt that brings the groceries to you--big difference if you're standing up there all day.

Here's the before shot
The owners --Twin brothers Kent and Brent Foulger
This is one of the the owners--Brent Foulger. I told him I had some great black mail to send to his wife. There's no getting out of cleaning the floors at home now--I have proof that he knows how.
The finished product

It's my turn.

It's my turn now. I have been so neglectful of my opportunity to update this blog. Fortunately for you I have a few tidbits to share.

Of course this could turn into a huge story about how much work has consumed me and devoured my ability to think about or do anything other than work related stuff... However I am just going to relay a short story...

Our team at Blair's Market was full of new hires and team members who lacked training and discipline. You see, disipline is a key ingredient to sucess, whatever your view of sucess is. If you are disciplined (even if you are doing something wrong) you will be successful. Successful at finding a solution to your opportunity or finding an ani-solution; a way (or multitude of ways) that didn't produce the desired results.

A training session was in order. Perhaps you could have called this a mini seminar. An hour spent very wisely with a great message and a captive audience. We used a few lessons and examples to deliver the message of unity, discipline and example. And the results were fantastic! I delivered a challenge and a score card with opportunity to win and we have seen a change of attitude and an elevation of the status quo.

So enough about work...

We have a very special dog (two of them actually!) at our house. I am starting to see the age in him, and I get very worried about him. I am sure that you dog lovers know what I mean. Well, he loves to go for rides in the truck and since we had to get a new truck he doesn't know how to ride in it. In the old truck he could put his rump on the back seat and lean forward resting his front legs and chest on the center console. Since we bought a crew cab he has a ton more room... and his rump doesn't quite make it to the back seat. Since he went for a ton of rides in the old truck he was trained, how to sit and ride in the truck. In the new truck he forgets, that the back seat area is bigger and on every ride he goes on he tries to sit on the back seat and rest on the center console as before... and when he does he almost falls to the floor... because he doesn't quite reach! Even though he is a big dog! We have had many laughs about it, yet what makes it even funnier is the look he gives you when it happens! It almost breaks my heart as well when I have to help him in. Sometimes he feels really spry and can get in himself, other times he looks at me like "hey dad... a little help please."

Anyway, he is my Big Dog and he'll always be riding shotgun for me.

Just a note

So I had to speak in church last week with Mindy. We got selected not just because we are the new people in the ward, but also because our next door neighbor is in the bishopric and helped us move in (part of the payback) and also because John Winter is in the bishopric as well. I was very impressed with Mindy's talk. She always says that she is not a public speaker, yet her message was clear and her points were backed by thought, principle, and scriptures. Mine, however, was not quite as interesting, I could see many people nodding their heads and even a few of the old guys were drooling! ha ha

The topic was quite interesting for a sacrament meeting. We were to speak on family relationships. I was a little intimidated by the topic so I started to prepare my talk 20 minutes before we left for church. I kept asking Mindy to prepare a talk for me, but she just wouldn't. Darn the luck. Luckily Mindy saved the day and prepared such a wonderful talk that all I had to do was mumble a few words and fake a few people out for a minute and it was over!

Thermopolis is such a beautiful town. The other day Mindy was gone to SLC with her parents and there was a dash of sunlight left before darkness encroached on the high rise skyline. So I took Brio and Sassy out for a ride in the truck. We first headed out to the Buffalo pasture. We didn't see the Buffalo out on the pasture, they were all corralled up and feasting on some really green hay. But the pasture provides some really great views of the city. You see the town much differently from up there. From the Buffalo pasture we went out the county road (headed towards Worland) that is on the opposite side of the river. It's a dirt road and that's why you take them... just to see where they go. Lots of hay fields and micro ranches. As I passed by all these house I noticed they all had one thing in common. A big truck or trailer out front with huge water tanks on them. What a pain that would be to haul water every day.

We took a day to go back to Powell and Cody for pleasure and house business. I decided that since we had the whole day we might as well take the scenic route. We went to Anchor Reservoir and then out another dirt road 37 miles to the high way. That's why I love trucks! We had terrible traffic at one point... a herd of cows jamming up the road... no point in getting your road rage hemmoroid all fired up... they hear those cuss words all the time and they never catch on! It was a beautiful trip and I really found some nice places to explore on the wheeler.

It is quite different now for us... we just found out that on holidays we will have to speak, fight, or swindle our way for a room at my mom and dad's for holidays when everyone comes over. I guess now all my brothers and sisters can't call me a momma's boy anymore cause I moved so far away... wait a tick... I still live the closest!

Enough rambling. I have chores to do.

A Long Time...

These last few months have been very, very busy. We moved to Thermopolis. Looked forever for a place to live and settled on a little house to rent for now. I think that we looked at every house for sale here in Thermop!

When the 16th of November came I don't know that I was ready for what was about to happen. I was scared to death, thrilled, and nearly pee'ed down both legs a time or two! The condition of the store was a little worse than you could see from the outside looking in. We bought a semi truck of groceries and that was only a small improvement... 4 trucks later the store finally felt like it had product on the shelves even with the massive holes from where the previous owners had pulled the ordering information from items that sold out.

For the first few weeks Mindy stayed in Powell and I lived at the Super 8. Let me tell you, if you have the opportuninty to do that... or get kicked in the teeth with steel toed boots... take the steel toed boots! I lived there for almost a month with no fridge, no microwave, not hot water on some days and rusty orange-ish black-ish water on most days. Lucky for me I didn't have to be there all that much because the store required a lot of time. I was spending a 120 hours a week at the store trying to clean things up and make them presentable. Fortunately I am now able to only spend around 75-80 hours a week... maybe I'll get a part time job with all the free time I have! Ha ha

The work has been really rewarding. The people of Thermopolis have almost declared the store sacred ground. They were hungry for a store that treated them as a guest, and gave them a choice. The comments we still recieve are tear jerkers, and literally people still come up and introduce themselves, saying how appreciative they are we came to town. It really gives the 20 years of work prior to this a lot of validity. For 20 years I helped build the name Blair's Market, the brand, the end product... and for those who experienced it they loved it! It's also been a testament to Kent and his hard work. EVERYONE in Thermop has been to the Worland store, and they compare our little store to the Worland store. I have some pretty big shoes to fill. But I know that the hard work will be very rewarding to the guest. It won't be long and we will bust the seams on this little store and be begging the corporation for a store stretcher!

I do have to say that it is wonderful to be able to have Mindy at the store. Some days I know she questioned why I was so tired... now she knows that I don't sit in the office all day and point fingers and shout orders! She works really hard to help us be the best and she is a very valuable asset... and she lets me do what I love, serve the guest.

So for now, we survived the Holidays... and are looking forward to pushing the limits of this little store while we learn, grown, teach and have fun!

Here's the story...

I've been working for Blair's Market for the last 20 years. That's not really a secret to anyone. And recently our lives have changed significantly. And really the only reason why some of you are wondering "Why didn't you say anything?"... is because of confidentiality. We are moving to Thermopolis, Wyoming. The Blair's Market group has now expanded to 3 stores and we have been asked to operate the Thermopolis store. It is quite an opportunity that we are very grateful for. We are excited and scared all rolled into one. The biggest cause for concern though is timing. We start on Sunday Nov. 16th, 2008.

Here is how the story goes... This store was owned by a man who worked really hard and stuck it out through some really hard times. He eventually got his store to be a good producing store and also got to the age of retirement. He looked for buyers (we looked at this opportunity then, but passed) and found a married couple who wanted a business of their own. Lots of unfortunate events began to come to the new owners, to put it mildly and they got in a pickle. Contact was made about a sale to the Blair's Market group... and the answer was a surprising "no sale". A few weeks later around the first few days of October, an actual offer was made. This time circumstances had progressed/deteriorated (depending on your point of view) to the point of addressing the cold hard facts. Fact of the matter was the new owners were in need of a big bucket to bail them out of their situation.

As it turns out at the time of the offer in October there was a 99.9% chance that this deal would go through and we would be moving to Thermopolis, yet at every step of the way from the time of the offer and eventual acceptance of the offer we had to beat the 0.1% monster to the ground. It was quite an emotional, physical and psycotic journey. One day the 99.9% wins and the next three the 0.1%.... back and forth untill Monday the 10th of Nov. That is when the actual agreements to sale were signed. And since the new owner's situation had changed dramatically a final ultimatum was given to be out of the store on the 15th of Nov.

So, here we are. We are so grateful and blessed to have this opportunity. Mindy is looking forward to working directly and closely with her hard headed husband. She told me at one point that she would never work for me. Now I am glad that she said that, because she doesn't have to work FOR me, just has to work WITH me! ha ha We may be living in a van down by the river for a while... but we will make it! We haven't found a place to live, so the search continues.

So, if you are traveling through, stop by and see us. We are right on the main street of town. We'll update more when we get settled.

Little Eric

A couple weeks ago Eric and I got to go to Tooele for a really special weekend. Our friend's Cole and Natalie adopted the cutest little baby boy you've ever seen and were finally able to make the adoption final . It was a long time coming for them with a lot of heart breaks along the way but the outcome was well worth the wait. After one adoption that fell through last November, we were thrilled when Cole called us in April and said that they were proud parents of a new baby boy named Eric. The next weekend we were in Utah to see the little guy for the first time. He was born premature and was so tiny we were afraid to hold him. Now he is the cutest thing ever and has a million dollar smile. It was so special to be able to witness them all being sealed together as an eternal family and bless Eric in church. Thanks Cole and Natalie for letting us be a part of your life--we are so happy for you!

Little Eric was all smiles (and drool) from the minute we got there.

Best buddies -- Eric and Cole

One happy family--little Eric, Natalie & Cole

On our way to Utah we kept hearing of this massive storm that was going to dump several feet of snow on us. Well as it turned out, Wyoming was where it decided to dump and we enjoyed pretty good weather aside from a little bit of rain. It made for some cool pictures though.

Small and Simple things...

Sometimes you have an experience in life that totally changes you. I have been pretty fortunate to have a recurring string of events like that. Good friends are truly something special and I am thankful for my friends Cole and Natalie. In February it will be 15 years ago that Cole accepted an invitation to go to a dance at the institute. And that was the start of the string of sprititual events that I am talking about.

Everyone seems to think that the person you introduce the gospel to changes and becomes better... in a way that is true. Actually what happens is the person who introduces the gospel has just as great a change in their life. Cole was already a great person, he didn't need me to bring him the gospel to validate that. He was already the nicest guy around, and really had the qualities of a great person long before he was a member of the church. He can attribute that to his great parents and their willingness to teach him the principles of being a good person from a young age. So my friend Cole who really had no idea that he was teaching me, quietly taught me ALL of the principles and ordinances of the gospel. My life was the one that changed because he taught me and still teaches me HOW it all works.

Every step of the way to Christ I have been there with Cole and he is such a strong example to me, leading me and teaching me of Christ and His importance in my life. Thank you Cole. God sure knew what he was doing when he lead you to the gospel. It was a 2 for 1 deal, Cole's life and mine, and that has impacted many lives since, making it one of the best choices of my life. I cannot take credit for any of it. I can only express my gratitude to God and Cole for taking my hand and leading me on a spiritual journey that will be even greater I suspect once this mortal life is complete.

You never know when it will happen to you. I know that. Thank you Cole and Natalie for the tribute in your son. He will know all the principles that will bring him happiness by looking at Cole for his example.

My Big Dog

Funny thing about this picture is you know exactly who is in charge. Dad thinks he is, but who actually ends up getting the sandwich? Ha Ha! It's probably happened on many horse rides and some of us actually remember Sam and his sandwich snatching ablities. Brio, the son of Sam, all though much gentler and extremely more subtle still manages to obtain the sandwich, where Sam wouldn't even let dad get a bite on some occasions!

This was just a particularly great ride. I had to capture some pictures of Brio doing what he does because he is 9 and I really want to enjoy every moment with him.