Missing Loy

Our family has had a tragic loss this week, my Rhett's father Loy suddenly died due to heart failure Sunday morning.  We're obviously with family this week in preparation for his funeral.

Grief is difficult to deal with, but our faith helps us get through and realize how blessed we are to have had all the years with him.  

Loy's two younger sons both had babies on the same day, and we were able to bless them together last month.  Originally we planned to bless Ellaria next Sunday, but we crashed Joshua's day in Orem and we're so glad so all the Crapo men could be together one last time.

As for my part, the father makes the son.

Loy was a perfect example for Rhett and I attribute so much of Rhett's kind, hard-working, patient, affectionate nature towards me and our kids from watching his dad.  So not only having him as the perfect father-in-law and Grandpa to our kids, I feel so blessed to have the privilege to have snagged a son of Loy Crapo.

Jessica

St. George Temple

 

A former Stake President of mine gave parents the advice to have in each child's room a picture of Christ, a picture of themselves, and a picture of the temple.  So I had a stack of temple photos and RJ picked 3 and they're taped on his wall next to his bed.  I told him that temple is Grandma's temple in St. George and for the weeks prior to our visit we'd talk about going to see the temple when we visited.

At first he thought my mom owned it when I said it was hers, but we explained temples are the House of the Lord and she just gets to visit this one because she lives close.  So we were explaining it was Jesus house and took him into the visitor's center to see the huge Christus statue.

He loved it and kept telling us about the prints in his hands and feet and how the mean guys killed him but he came alive again.  We kept trying to show him the other art depicting Christ's life, but he kept running back to the statue of Christ so we spent most of our time here.

It was funny as we were walking in, the older missionary guy at the desk had darker hair and RJ said: "The prophet? Thomas S. Monson?"  The guy thought he was just yelling out the fact and said: "Yes you're right the prophet is Thomas S. Monson." He didn't understand that RJ thought he was the prophet.  As we were leaving I was telling him to go ahead, out the door (which is by the desk) and he asked: "Go see Thomas S. Monson again?"  

The front of the St. George temple has two big staircases to doors no longer in use.  He climbed all the stairs so he could  touch the temple.

We walked around the back and he told my mom: "come sit on the temple with me," in front of the door to the baptistry. 

It's been so exciting the last few weeks, it's as if all the sudden his brain can begin to understand who Christ is, or at least that He's important and he's eager to learn more.  There's a little 20 minute video from mormon.org we first showed him for Easter depicting events from Christ's life.  RJ watches it all the time and says he wants to watch the "show about Jesus....the one where He talks."  It surprises me how often he watches it, and how it holds his attention each time. 

The first scene is Christ calming the water so his cloak is white and wet against his head and RJ asked: "Jesus wears a hoodie like me?" I thought that was pretty cute.

It's just fun to be able to teach and see the child-like faith in your own kids.

Wedding, Mud Fight and more

I met my friend Molly the day we moved into the dorms when we were 18 at Weber State.  We were roommates and instant friends.  Together we met Rhett and were all close friends, then I married him.  So we were excited to be  able to make it to her wedding in West Jordan last week.  

Her reception was in the UofU Football Stadium overlooking SLC 

I made a little dress for Ellaria to match the flower girls. 

Rhett had to leave from the reception to go home to Idaho and I took the kids to Delta to visit the family.

They kept getting Ellie to smile really big but this is the best shot I got. 

Saturday was finally warm after days of freezing rain, which left huge mud pits in the sage brush fields or "grease woods" behind my in-laws house.  We were going four-wheeling out there but stopped to have a mud fight.  I helped RJ wade into the mud up to his ankles and he did not like it.  I was showing him how to make mud balls, but he wouldn't touch the mud with his hands.  It wasn't until we started crushing red fire ants with mud globs that he warmed up to the idea and soon was lobbing mud with everyone else.  

At one point he got in the line of fire and caught a mud ball in the side of his head and started bawling, but he was fine and blamed me, although I wasn't even close to him.  It was really fun, I hadn't played in the mud for a while.

Next we drove down to St. George to visit my parents who moved there a few months ago.

RJ loved swimming and wore himself out.  He wears floaties and a little tube around his waist and dog paddles all around the pool.  I'd like to know where the long dark lashes came from.

He's had fun with  Grandma and Grandpa.  Since we lived with them the first two years of his life, he instantly latches on to Grandma and wants nothing to do with me, which isn't all bad once in a while.

We watched a show with a big bowl of popcorn one night.

Here's a picture of Rhett holding chubby Ellaria a few weeks ago. 

Trying to hold those huge cheeks up on her own.

I can never get her to smile, this is the best I got. 

Rhett is Three

RJ had a birthday.  He turned three and his day was pretty low key.  I had strep throat and it kicked my trash and so we just lounged around the house.  Some people throw huge celebrations for kids birthdays, but we only got one birthday party growing up when we turned 8, so maybe I'm just doing what I grew up with not having birthday parties for my kid.

He did want a robot birthday cake he saw in a family magazine.  My version stinks compared to the magazine, but RJ loved it.  He just stared at it all afternoon saying: "Mom it is so pretty!  I love it!  It's so awesome!"

I was lucky he is only two, the square shapes and the fact it was blue and orange like he wanted are the only things that turned out.  But it was awesome to him, where older kids would have known their cake stunk.

Easter

Here's the kids on Easter.  RJ's birthday was the friday prior, I had strep throat, and I totally forgot about Easter...so the bunny didn't make it to our house this year.  Lucky for me RJ had no idea the easter bunny existed and he missed out on anything.  

We did watch a video about Christ on the church website that night, teaching RJ that Easter is about Christ's death and resurrection.  RJ LOVED the video and has watched it over 10 times since--I was surprised he is so enthralled by it.  He tells me he wants to watch the "show where Jesus talks". 

Notice RJ's tie.  He loves to wear his dino tie his cousin Drew gave him, but "it chokes him" so he wears it as a necklace.  He has another clip-on tie he clips to the front of his vest.

Last Few Weeks

Lately RJ has become interested in costumes out of nowhere.  I'd made him a superhero cape he never wore,  and his old Halloween costumes.  His favorite is by far Max the wolf from Where the Wild Things are.  I made it for him when he was 18 months, so it's short in the crotch but he loves the tail.  We have stools at our kitchen counter and he threads the tail through the hole each time so it can hang off the back of the chair.