Dinosaurs!

On Friday we went with the Bachrach boys to Walking with Dinosaurs at the US Airways Center in Phoenix. It was one of the coolest shows I have ever seen! The dinosaurs looked so real and they were actual size! The boys loved it. We sprung for the expensive seats that were very close to the stage, of course when we got there, both Jack and Brigham pointed up at the nosebleed seats and said, "Wouldn't it be awesome if we could sit up there!" Note to self: kids like the cheap seats.

Brenda's Interview

I spent the entire day working on a press release about the Bachrach family for all of the local tv news and radio and newspapers. I would like to get as much awareness about The situation of Brenda and her boys becasue I really feel like there a lot of people in the community who would be willing to donate money to the family. I immediately got a response from Channel 3 news and they went to Brenda's house tonight to interview her and hear her story. It is heartbreaking but I think Brenda did an amazing Job. She is beautiful and articulate and I don't think you can watch this story and not feel deeply for her and her boys. Take a look at the link. http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/stories/Gilbert-local-news-091108-wife-fatal-wreck-talks.695cffbd.html?ocp=1#slcgm_comments_anchor

Hopefully we will get even more coverage tomorrow.

It has been interesting to see everyone's response to greiving. I have seen people just fall apart and I have seen people who need to cling to someone and I have seen people withdraw and be alone. I have discovered my resopnse is to find a job and to stay busy trying to be useful. This has been theraputic for me as it helps me feel just a little less powerless against mortality. I spent all day getting this press release out to every news outlet in town and I have become the official donation cheerleader for the Matt Bachrach Memorial Fund.

Tomorrow we are taking Brigham and Hunter to Walking with Dinosaurs and I am really excited about it. I really want the boys to just have an amazing time and to have a cool happy experience that they will remember. The Viewing/Visitation is tomorrow which will be hard on everyone, so I'd like to at least start the day off with something purely fun for the kids.

Brenda is amazing. She understands that by letting people serve her right now she is really serving them. She has kept such a calm and classy demenor and she has been so strong for her kids. She is an incredible woman under any circumstances, but this is the ultimate and she is proving that her strength and grace are the real thing. She inspires me.

A Sad Day

We got the terrible news today that our good friend Matt Bachrach was killed early this morning in a car accident while driving home from California. He and his wife Brenda are our very good friends. They have two boys ages 6 and 3 and Brenda is expecting their third boy within weeks. I went to their house as soon as I heard and spent the day with Brenda who is holding up really well but is obviously in a state of shock. Words fail me right now. I came home and hung on tightly to my husband and my boys and thanked Heavenly Father for letting me have them for another day.

Here is the link to one of the articles about the accident:http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/stories/Phoenix-local-news-090708-double-fatal-i10-ax.535067af.html

We will all miss you Matt.

First Day of School!

Jack started preschool today! He is going to Amber Olsen's on Tuesday through Thursday from 12:30 to 3:00. I have felt like Jack is really ready for preschool and so we were all really excited for it to start. I got Jack a Transformers back pack which he thought was pretty cool. The kids line up against the garage when they get dropped off and then they march inside together singing songs. Its pretty cute. I took a picture of the whole class getting ready. Notice that Jack is once again the biggest kid there. I'm so proud of my big boy!

UTAH!

Jack, Abe and I got home from our trip to Utah last night. We were there for a week visiting my sister Stephanie and her family. We had such a great time. Abe and Talan are so cute together and Jack and Reagan had a ball attempting to boss each other around. We did fun things every day and I loved getting to spend time with the Adairs. They are such a fun family. Here are some highlights from the trip:

This is Talan and Abe on the day we arrived having a good conversation. Both of these babies are so good natured and sweet but with very different personalities. It was fun getting to know Talan. We discovered that Abed literally eats about 5 times the amount that Talan eats. Incidentally, he also has 5 times the stinky diapers.

We went to build a bear workshop on Wednesday because none of us had ever been and we thought it would be fun. Jack picked a T-rex and Reagan picked a Panther. Because we were in Provo they had a little missionary outfit complete with a Book of Mormon and a Bible. Jack picked the little missionary out fit as soon as he saw it. I thought it was a perfect Utah Souvinir. He named it Elder Tinkalicious Kramer. I have no idea where he got Tinkalicious from but I thought it was pretty funny. Reagan picked a pop star outfit. We laughed about how opposite their choices were.

On Thursday we went to the Farm at Thanksgiving Point. The weather was absolutely perfect and so we hung out for a long time in the grass and checking out all of the animals and stuff. One of the best parts about Utah is how many family friendly things there are all around. The kids got to have a couple of pony rides and the babies loved playing in the grass.

It was hard to resist this picture. Stephanie and I titled it

"JACK ASS".

On Friday Stephanie went to a salon and got our hair done. I really don't know what I was thinking when I decided to cut all of my hair off, but thats a whole other story. We had a cousin babysit the four year olds and we took the babies with us to the salon. I had no idea that this ordeal would take FOUR HOURS and before we were done the babies had had it. I gave Abe a piece of licorice to try to keep him happy. Lets just say that the licorice worked. I had to hose him off afterwards in the salon sink! I love this picture because he is about the same age as Jack when we gave him his first taste of candy which was also licorice.

Saturday was game day! Steph and David have season tickets to BYU Football. It was the first BYU game I have ever been to and I loved it! Their seats are really close to the field and the cheer leaders cheer right in front of us so there was always something interesting to watch. BYU played Northern Iowa and they kicked their butts. It was so fun to be apart of the excitement.

GO COUGARS!

On Monday a storm moved in and the temperature dropped about 40 degrees! We of course didn't even pack sweat shirts so we raided the Adair's closets. Here is Jack and Carsten in matching Sun Devil sweatshirts playing in the rain. These two play really great together. I loved seeing Jack with all of Stephanie's boys because he worships them and he can get all of his boy-ness out. They wrestle and run around and play football etc. Jack loved playing with all of his Utah cousins.

On Monday night David and Stephanie and I got a sitter and went shopping. I saw this Buzz Lightyear suit for Jack and I couldn't pass it up. What I really want to find one day is an adult size Buzz costume becasue I have always said that John looks like Buzz Lightyear. I think this costume is perfect on Jack.

Tuesday was finally time to go home to Arizona. The flight was full so I wasn't supposed to have a seat for Abe and was going to have to put him on my lap, but I overheard the flight attendants talking about a seat that was out of order because a kid had spilled chocolate and glitter all over it. I was able to negotiate a seat change and put Abe's seat into the chocolate seat. SCORE! He and Jack were both wonderful little travelers and the flight home was blissfully uneventful. Its funny how I used to dislike flying because it was boring. Now I just pray that it will be boring.

We were so happy to touch down back in Arizona. We had all missed John so much and it was so exciting to see him waiting for us outside of security. John brought me a dozen red roses and a new tank for himself... oh wait I guess that the tank was for Jack, although it was hard to tell with how much John played with it. He is such an overgrown kid. Thats why Jack has so much fun with him. Here is Jack giving Daddy all of the details of our fun trip.

A huge THANK YOU to Stephanie for putting us up and feeding us and entertaining us. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family and even though I am sad that I don't get to see Stephanie and her family more often, it is really great to have a reason to go on vacation. We are so glad that we did this trip. John and I decided that we will try to plan another trip up there this winter with all of us.