Remembering Our Mom

It has been a long time since our last post. Our family had a huge loss, as some of you already know. On November 7th Brandon's mom Yvonne passed away from cancer. We found out 2 and 1/2 years ago she had a form of lung cancer. She suffered a long time and she was a trooper through it all. Although, we knew her cancer was terminal (stage four) it was the hardest day as we stood around her hospital bed and the doctors turned off the machines that had supported her life for the previous two days. Brandon's dad and all her boys and wives were at her bedside. It was very emotional and too surreal. We miss her so much. Everyday it feels like we relive that moment and it again becomes reality that she has passed. She use to call me in the mornings, if the phone rang before 8:00 am I knew it was her. I use to get frustrated when the phone calls would wake me up, now I lie awake some mornings wishing my phone would ring and all that had happened was just a dream. Life has certainly been different for our family and especially for Brandon's dad. But, we hold tight to our beliefs. We know she is working hard on the other side and we will again be together as a family and live together forever. Until then we hold tight to all the memories we shared with her. You can check out a video done in memory of her at woodfuneralhome.com, go to the obituaries and scroll down to her name and click on it. Again we appreciated every ones words of support and we are grateful for having such a great circle of family and friends. Thank you all.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween came fast for us since we were gone the week before. But, the kids had their costumes and they were ready to get some serious candy. Thank goodness I work for a dentist.

Camden was our pumpkin who would not take her picture with the skeleton (Easton). She would cry every time she would get by him with his mask on...it was a fun night.

Easton and Macy. Macy said, "This is the best Halloween ever."

The two cute little fairies in the picture are my sister Kristy's girls (Maddie and Karlie). She made their costumes, they were soo cute!

Pennsylvania Family

Although our trip to Penn was not for fun we did find time to enjoy some time with our family. My cousin Angie (second from the left) had all of us over for lunch. We had a great time.

Grandma (Mom) with my nephew Mason (Is he not the cutest little boy?). About 20 minutes before this picture he fell and the end result was that beautiful purple band aid on his head.


The "Girls" Aunt Cindy, Lindi (sister), Alyssa (niece), Me, Angie, Bethany (Sister-in-law), & Mom)

The "Men" Brandon, Brenen (brother), Larry (brother-in-law), Dave (cousin's husband).

My beautiful niece Alyssa, and my cousin Angie's boy, Zack. He is a fun kid, we went the rounds on the trampoline. His mom is going to send me the hospital bills when he breaks his arm trying to do the front and back flips I showed him on the tramp. Love ya Ang.

We Love Ya Pap

It has been a while since my last posting but, we have been very busy. Brandon and I had to take an emergency trip back to Pennsylvania because my Grandfather passed away. He was a wonderful Grandpa who I always called Pap. We were very close and we loved him very much. Macy and Easton called him Great Pap Pap and talked to him on the phone frequently. When we visited in March Easton got to spend a little more time with him, we had eaten lunch at their home and since Easton always talks about his great pap pap who had the really good baked beans at his house. We were all sad to hear the news but, we know he is in a better place now and is not suffering. I have a lot of wonderful memories of growing up and the time I spent at my grandparents house. My Pap taught me a lot and I admire him for his integrity he had. We love you Pap. We will miss you.

The Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we took the kids to the local pumpkin patch to pick out their own pumpkins. It's a really fun place and the kids had a great time, I know you couldn't tell by the look on Camden's face.

Camden thought she was strong enough to pull the wagon with five pumpkins. She's tough...but, not that tough.

Macy and Easton found their perfect pumpkins and then I had to put about 10 of them back and remind them they only needed one each.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

From, The Speirs Family

The First Snowfall of 2008

It snowed a little on Saturday. The kids were so excited. Then Sunday it snowed even more and Brandon was smart enough to take pictures unlike me the day before, so here they are having a blast in the back yard with our dog Koda.

YES! The pictures were taken from inside we weren't going out in that...do you think we're crazy?

Yellowstone Camping Trip

The kids didn't have school last Thursday and Friday so Brandon decided he was going to take them camping. So he packed them up and they left late Wednesday after gymnastics classes. They drove to Madison campground in Yellowstone and put a tent up in the dark, started the fire and ate smores for their bedtime snack. They fell asleep to the sounds of elk bugling in the back round. It was a very cold night, about 25 degrees, so they snuggled together in one sleeping bag to keep warm.

They got to watch two of them lock antlers...which Easton loved because he keeps telling everyone he saw "two boy elks fighting over the girl elks." You can't tell that his dad likes to hunt can you?
Here they are in front of the Madison River.

And here again in front of Beryl Geyser Basin.

They also stopped by Old Faithful.

Back to School

So, summer ended and the kids had to go back to school.

Macy was excited, she loves school. Easton was

especially excited because he was starting

Kindergarten and so he got to go to "Macy's school."

Camden wanted her picture taken too!

This is Easton and two of his favorite buddies Gage (left)andTy. Can you pictures these three when they're sixteen...we're in trouble.

I had to post this picture because :-) check the kid out in the back picking his nose. I am sure his mother would be proud.

Fun in the Sun

This summer we took a trip to California. We rented a condo by the beach in Dana Point with some friends of ours, the Harris's, and we all had the best time. We went to Disneyland, Seaworld and of course the beach. We had so much fun no one wanted to come home. Do you blame us? The day we packed up the car to return to Idaho Easton started to cry and said he wanted to "live here" in California. I think the kid might be onto something...Idaho versus California which would you choose?

Here's our little Tarzan.

Dad liked the rides as much as the kids...maybe more.

We thought this was the cutest picture of the kids. They're all looking at the camera. Yah!

Sometimes we wished we had a stroller to take a nap in.

Easton and Macy loved playing in the sand!

And Camden loved eating the sand!

Well, I might have figured this blogging thing out. I am obviously not a computer person. I made my account in July and finally I am posting a picture with text. Wow! That didn't take long at all.