Friday, January 22, 2010
Six new posts!
Today I finally caught up on my blog. If I do not accomplish anything else today I will still be happy because I finally was able to sit down and blog! I promise to be a better blogger now that my life has started to calm down a little.
A new sunbeam and a sweet little girl!!
I can't believe how fast Brayden and Brielle are growing.Time is sure flying by. Brielle will be 12 weeks this Tuesday! She finally has outgrown her newborn sleepers and clothes. Now she is wearing size 0-3 months. I took her to the pediatrician last week and she weighed 10 lbs 4 oz at 10 weeks old. Her height was 21 and 3/4 inches long. She still wakes up at least once a night and she eats 4 oz every feeding. She is starting to smile and coo. Grandma Jill found this adorable outfit for Brielle last weekend. I just want to eat her up when she wears this . Little girls clothes are so much fun. We had to take a picture of her.
One of Brielle's nicknames is sweet Bri. She sure looks sweet in this outfit.
Brayden started sunbeams almost three weeks ago. I had to take a picture of him after his first day of primary. He still tells me he wants to go back to nursery but who could blame him when you get to play with toys and have a snack.
One of Brielle's nicknames is sweet Bri. She sure looks sweet in this outfit.
Brayden started sunbeams almost three weeks ago. I had to take a picture of him after his first day of primary. He still tells me he wants to go back to nursery but who could blame him when you get to play with toys and have a snack.
Bryan's Mission Call
The night we returned back from Las Vegas my brother opened up his mission call. He will be serving in the Helsinki Finland Mission!!! We all could not believe it and we all cried. We knew my mom must have had a hand in this decision. My mother was born and raised in Finland. She joined the church in Finland at the age of 18 and served a mission in Finland. My brother is so excited. This is where my mom wanted Bryan to serve. My mom wanted more than anything to get better so she could help Bryan with his mission but we now know she will be able to help him even more now that she is on the other side.
So many tender mercies had been given to my family this past December. My mom was able to see and say goodbye to all her children and grandchildren before she passed. She passed with all of us around her. My brother received the Melchizedek Priesthood the day after my mom passed away, Brielle was given her baby blessing, and my brother received his mission call to Finland two weeks after my mom had passed away. This will be a month I will never forget. I have felt the love of my Savior in so many ways these past few months. I am so grateful for eternal families and for the gospel. I will be eternally grateful for those two young 19 year old missionaries who came to my mothers home that cold January night and knocked on the door.
So many tender mercies had been given to my family this past December. My mom was able to see and say goodbye to all her children and grandchildren before she passed. She passed with all of us around her. My brother received the Melchizedek Priesthood the day after my mom passed away, Brielle was given her baby blessing, and my brother received his mission call to Finland two weeks after my mom had passed away. This will be a month I will never forget. I have felt the love of my Savior in so many ways these past few months. I am so grateful for eternal families and for the gospel. I will be eternally grateful for those two young 19 year old missionaries who came to my mothers home that cold January night and knocked on the door.
Fuller Vegas Trip 2009
Because all of Jeff's siblings were going to be in AZ Christmas Eve for Brielle's blessing, Jeff's parents decided to take the family up to Las Vegas for a family vacation. We left Christmas day around noon and stayed up in Vegas for four days.
I talked to my dad to see if he minded me going up since this was going to be the first Christmas without my mom. He told me I should go and that my mom wants me to make memories with my husband and children. Before my mom died I asked her what her favorite memories were? She told me she loved all of our family vacations and time we spent together as a family.
This vacation is exactly what Jeff and I needed. Jeff's parents rented a four bedroom house for us. It had a heated spa, pool table, and was about ten to fifteen minutes away from the Las Vegas strip. We had a lot of fun!!! Thank you Jill and Clare for taking us on this family vacation
One tradition my family has is whenever we visit a city that has a temple we will visit the temple and take a family picture in front of the temple. I had taken a picture in front of the Las Vegas Temple 15 years ago with my parents and siblings and now I am carrying on the tradition with my own family.
This is the view from the Las Vegas Temple.
This picture was taken at the Paris Hotel. I am amazed at how some of these hotels are so large and have so much detail to them.
The Fuller family loves to play games. Every holiday we play games as a family. This is us playing a game of "scum" one of our family favorites. Because we do not gamble Papa Clare decided to put his own Vegas twist on the game by giving us $10 if we won President and $5 if we one Vice President. We all had a blast. I was one of the lucky ones who won quite a few rounds. Shopping here we come!!
Las Vegas is known for their Buffets. Here is Brayden enjoying his food at the hotel buffet.
Jeff and his brothers decided to take some silly Vegas pictures.
I talked to my dad to see if he minded me going up since this was going to be the first Christmas without my mom. He told me I should go and that my mom wants me to make memories with my husband and children. Before my mom died I asked her what her favorite memories were? She told me she loved all of our family vacations and time we spent together as a family.
This vacation is exactly what Jeff and I needed. Jeff's parents rented a four bedroom house for us. It had a heated spa, pool table, and was about ten to fifteen minutes away from the Las Vegas strip. We had a lot of fun!!! Thank you Jill and Clare for taking us on this family vacation
One tradition my family has is whenever we visit a city that has a temple we will visit the temple and take a family picture in front of the temple. I had taken a picture in front of the Las Vegas Temple 15 years ago with my parents and siblings and now I am carrying on the tradition with my own family.
This is the view from the Las Vegas Temple.
This picture was taken at the Paris Hotel. I am amazed at how some of these hotels are so large and have so much detail to them.
The Fuller family loves to play games. Every holiday we play games as a family. This is us playing a game of "scum" one of our family favorites. Because we do not gamble Papa Clare decided to put his own Vegas twist on the game by giving us $10 if we won President and $5 if we one Vice President. We all had a blast. I was one of the lucky ones who won quite a few rounds. Shopping here we come!!
Las Vegas is known for their Buffets. Here is Brayden enjoying his food at the hotel buffet.
Jeff and his brothers decided to take some silly Vegas pictures.
Brielle's Blessing Day
Originally one of the main reasons why we were going to go out to AZ for Christmas break was to bless Brielle at my parents house so my mom could be there with us. We had scheduled it for Christmas Eve and we still continued with those plans even with my mom passing. It was a beautiful day and I felt the presence of my mother very strong. It is a day I will never forget.
Our close family and loved ones came to my parents house at two o'clock Christmas Eve. We sang Families can be together forever, had an opening prayer given by my father, a musical number by Brielle's Aunt Heather, Great Grandma Smith, and Grandpa Clare. Then Brielle was given her baby blessing.
Things I want to write for journal purposes are the names of the people who stood in the circle. (Daddy Jeff, Grandpa George, Grandpa Clare, Uncle Brian, Uncle Mark, Uncle Bryan, Cousin Jake, Cousin Andrew, Great Uncle Larry, and Great Grandpa Smith.)
Things that I remember from the blessing were it talked about her being a very valiant spirit. She will do well in school and with learning, it will come easy to her. She will one day marry in the temple.
After the blessing we had a wonderful lunch. My dad made his yummy enchiladas.
Brielle slept the entire afternoon. She was an Angel and I am so grateful Heavenly Father sent her to me at this time in my life. I can only hope Brielle and I will be as close as my mom and I were. Here are some of the pictures we took of this special day.
This picture was taken right after her blessing. You can see tears in Jeff's eyes.
Brielle with Grandpa George and my siblings.
Brielle with Grandpa Clare and Jeff's brothers.
Brielle and the Fuller girls.
My best friend Janae' allowed me to borrow her daughters blessing dress. Janae was blessed in this dress as well. With my mom so sick and planning the funeral I never got the chance to really shop for a dress for Brielle. I was so grateful for Janae'. Here we are together. As you can see Brielle was sick of taking pictures.
Our close family and loved ones came to my parents house at two o'clock Christmas Eve. We sang Families can be together forever, had an opening prayer given by my father, a musical number by Brielle's Aunt Heather, Great Grandma Smith, and Grandpa Clare. Then Brielle was given her baby blessing.
Things I want to write for journal purposes are the names of the people who stood in the circle. (Daddy Jeff, Grandpa George, Grandpa Clare, Uncle Brian, Uncle Mark, Uncle Bryan, Cousin Jake, Cousin Andrew, Great Uncle Larry, and Great Grandpa Smith.)
Things that I remember from the blessing were it talked about her being a very valiant spirit. She will do well in school and with learning, it will come easy to her. She will one day marry in the temple.
After the blessing we had a wonderful lunch. My dad made his yummy enchiladas.
Brielle slept the entire afternoon. She was an Angel and I am so grateful Heavenly Father sent her to me at this time in my life. I can only hope Brielle and I will be as close as my mom and I were. Here are some of the pictures we took of this special day.
This picture was taken right after her blessing. You can see tears in Jeff's eyes.
Brielle with Grandpa George and my siblings.
Brielle with Grandpa Clare and Jeff's brothers.
Brielle and the Fuller girls.
My best friend Janae' allowed me to borrow her daughters blessing dress. Janae was blessed in this dress as well. With my mom so sick and planning the funeral I never got the chance to really shop for a dress for Brielle. I was so grateful for Janae'. Here we are together. As you can see Brielle was sick of taking pictures.
A day in winter wonderland!
After a week of planning a funeral we felt it was time to have a little fun and get into the Christmas spirit. I wanted to take Brayden to see Santa. We took him to Golfland and Santa was very nice to all of us. I think we have all been on the nice list this year.
That day at Golfland they brought snow in for the children to play in. Brayden had a blast playing in the snow. He even got interviewed by a local Phoenix TV station. In the next few years I would love to take the kids on the polar express up in Flagstaff.
That day at Golfland they brought snow in for the children to play in. Brayden had a blast playing in the snow. He even got interviewed by a local Phoenix TV station. In the next few years I would love to take the kids on the polar express up in Flagstaff.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
My Mother's Funeral
So much has happened in the month of December I don't even know where to start. I have wanted to blog about all these events for the past month but just have not had time. I am dedicating today to my blog.
My mother passed away December 12th, and we had her funeral December 19th. It was a beautiful funeral and everything went smoothly.
My moms two older sisters, brother-in-law and nephew from Finland were able to come to the funeral. One of my aunts from Finland has three married children who live here in the states, they were able to make it to the funeral. Three wonderful families in my parents ward offered to house my Finnish relatives while they were here AZ. It was so neat to spend time with my relatives that I have only seen a handful of times. The last time I had been out to Finland was 1993.
I wanted to share a story about how my Aunt Merjia decided to come out AZ. The relief society president (Becky) in my parents ward (her parents) are the temple mission presidents for the Helsinki, Finland mission. Becky's parents met my mother before they went out to Finland. My mom told her parents to keep and eye out for her two sisters. On December 11th my aunt Merjia went to the temple to do a session and ran into Becky's parents. After the session Merjia went up to Becky's parents and told them she had a strong impression she needed to come out to AZ but her only concern was she was not sure where she could stay because she knew my mom had all her children staying at her house. Becky's parents proceeded to tell her that their daughter (Becky) had two guests rooms and would not mind at all having her and her family stay. I am so grateful to the ward members who graciously offered their homes to my family.
My Father did a beautiful job planning out the program. The two missionaries that converted my mom in Finland came to the funeral and spoke about her conversion story. My moms two sisters shared childhood stories about my mom, and my siblings and I shared one funny memory each that we had of my mother. A lady in my moms ward sang a beautiful solo and O Holy Night was sung by my dad and small group of men with three violinists. I was surprised at how well I held it together at the funeral.
After the funeral we all left the church and headed to the cemetery. Jeff picked out my moms casket. I think he did a great job. Jeff felt like this is something you would see in the temple.
My mother passed away December 12th, and we had her funeral December 19th. It was a beautiful funeral and everything went smoothly.
My moms two older sisters, brother-in-law and nephew from Finland were able to come to the funeral. One of my aunts from Finland has three married children who live here in the states, they were able to make it to the funeral. Three wonderful families in my parents ward offered to house my Finnish relatives while they were here AZ. It was so neat to spend time with my relatives that I have only seen a handful of times. The last time I had been out to Finland was 1993.
I wanted to share a story about how my Aunt Merjia decided to come out AZ. The relief society president (Becky) in my parents ward (her parents) are the temple mission presidents for the Helsinki, Finland mission. Becky's parents met my mother before they went out to Finland. My mom told her parents to keep and eye out for her two sisters. On December 11th my aunt Merjia went to the temple to do a session and ran into Becky's parents. After the session Merjia went up to Becky's parents and told them she had a strong impression she needed to come out to AZ but her only concern was she was not sure where she could stay because she knew my mom had all her children staying at her house. Becky's parents proceeded to tell her that their daughter (Becky) had two guests rooms and would not mind at all having her and her family stay. I am so grateful to the ward members who graciously offered their homes to my family.
My Father did a beautiful job planning out the program. The two missionaries that converted my mom in Finland came to the funeral and spoke about her conversion story. My moms two sisters shared childhood stories about my mom, and my siblings and I shared one funny memory each that we had of my mother. A lady in my moms ward sang a beautiful solo and O Holy Night was sung by my dad and small group of men with three violinists. I was surprised at how well I held it together at the funeral.
After the funeral we all left the church and headed to the cemetery. Jeff picked out my moms casket. I think he did a great job. Jeff felt like this is something you would see in the temple.
Jeff is the only one missing in this picture. I think he is the one taking the picture. In this picture is my brother Brian, my brother-in-law Jay, my sister Jonelle, my father, my sister Melissa's boyfriend Frank, my sister Melissa, and I.
My mother loved red roses so we had each person at the funeral throw a red rose onto the casket.
The women in my parents ward put together these beautiful entry tables as you walked into the chapel.
The women in my parents ward also put together the lunch- in. These are what the tables looked like at the lunch- in. They did a beautiful job and the food tasted great. I am so grateful that these women were so willing to serve my family. The picture on the table is my moms graduation picture from high school. I think she is so pretty in this picture.
My mother-in-law has put together memory tables for funerals. Her and I worked together to set up this special room. We put the memory room by the viewing room. This gave people a chance to find out some things about my mom they may have not known.
This picture I had to take of Brayden helping to take out the trash after the lunch in. I love to see my boys working.
After the lunch in we decided to take my relatives to see the temple lights at the Mesa Temple. We thought this would be something my mom would have loved to do with us.
I had to take a picture here with Jeff. The Mesa temple will always have a special place in my heart since this is where Jeff and I were married almost six years ago. Can you see Brayden hiding behind my legs?
My mother loved red roses so we had each person at the funeral throw a red rose onto the casket.
The women in my parents ward put together these beautiful entry tables as you walked into the chapel.
The women in my parents ward also put together the lunch- in. These are what the tables looked like at the lunch- in. They did a beautiful job and the food tasted great. I am so grateful that these women were so willing to serve my family. The picture on the table is my moms graduation picture from high school. I think she is so pretty in this picture.
My mother-in-law has put together memory tables for funerals. Her and I worked together to set up this special room. We put the memory room by the viewing room. This gave people a chance to find out some things about my mom they may have not known.
This picture I had to take of Brayden helping to take out the trash after the lunch in. I love to see my boys working.
After the lunch in we decided to take my relatives to see the temple lights at the Mesa Temple. We thought this would be something my mom would have loved to do with us.
I had to take a picture here with Jeff. The Mesa temple will always have a special place in my heart since this is where Jeff and I were married almost six years ago. Can you see Brayden hiding behind my legs?
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