My Aunt Ellen sent these great pictures to me. We were remembering Grandpa Jones on his birthday this week. These pictures were taken at Grandpa Jones' funeral.

I hadn't seen these pictures before. Thanks Ellen, they sure did make me smile.


Love this face and the 'rock on' pose he would try to do. He would mistakenly use the ILY handshape instead. He thought it was so cool.


This is his super cousin Kylan. They were bestest buddies.


*Sigh*

Talking about Dallin and his new athletic cup and boys and their fascination with body parts reminded me of...."Wenis Man"!!

That's what Garrett called himself when he discovered the flap in the front of his undies. He flipped out his penis and ran around the house yelling; "Look mom, I'm Wenis Man!"

He made up the word himself. It must be a combination of Weenie and Penis....

**EDIT** My sister reminded me that for quite a while Garrett would ask people "Wanna' see my Wenis?" and when they would politely decline his follow up questions was always "Why not?". I think my brother in law, Kelly is still laughing about that one...

We laughed about it for days! We still do on occasion...


Okay, so the kid was preoccupied with body parts. Another funny story involving him and body parts was when we were visiting my sister Jennifer in Salt Lake City. My cousin Steve and his wife Marci and their kids were over playing and Marci needed to change Jackson's diaper. She went out on the back porch where the kids were playing and Garrett came over to watch.

He watched with a very serious face and then exclaimed, "My dad's penis is bigger than his penis. My dad's penis is bigger than all your penises!"

It still makes me laugh to think of that story and Marci trying to re-tell it while laughing uncontrollably!

Oh, that kid could make me laugh! He still does on occasion...

I missed Garrett on April 1st...I didn't get to say "Happy Teasing Day" to him! Bummer.

He was really excited last year to find some interesting things growing in our garden and loved showing it off!



I didn't tease anyone this year. I just couldn't muster the energy. *sniff*

Watch out next year!!

Pine apples

The other day I bought a pineapple at the store. Pineapples always remind me of Garrett (as do bananas, breakfast cookies, milk in a sippy cup, blankets on the couch, Wonder Pets, bubble gum...) and his great personality.

We love to go on walks and often end up at the park down the street. It has a pond with ducks we can feed, a small playground, lots of grass to run on and pine trees. Every time we would go we would collect pine cones for projects and to decorate with.

One day we were walking home from the park and Garrett was in front of us running, throwing rocks and hiding in the bushes to jump out and scare us. On the corner in someone's yard was a pine tree. As we got closer to the tree Garrett jumped out with such excitement in his face holding a pine cone and yelled "Look mom, I found a pineapple!!"

That's why pineapples remind me of Garrett. (Who named them pine cones anyway? What a silly name for them. I think Garrett is exactly right-they are pine apples.)

I was searching for a picture of us in the park, but I couldn't find one. So these are some fun pictures of a hike we took with some friends in Usery Park. We hiked with a lot of kids and a few adults. It was VERY exciting.

You can see both my boys in red sweatshirts. I always tried to find shirts that were the same color when we went on adventures. It made them easier to keep track of.

We made it all the way to the top! Garrett was bugged that his hair was in his eyes...

He had such an excitement about him. He was my little adventurer always ready for something fun to do!

There is a family in our ward that is very special to us, the Pew family. They are a little farther along in life than we are-their kids are mostly grown and gone-but for some reason we have a special attachment to them.

In church we tend to sit in the same area every Sunday. David and Laura Pew usually sat either with us or near us. Garrett loved Laura. He would find her and sit on her lap and have her read stories to him (he did that to several "grandma's" in our ward, but Sister Pew was something special.) Laura would often comment that Garrett reminded her of one of her boys when he was young.

(Side note: Garrett was such a friendly guy. He wasn't afraid to meet new people. At church he was the self appointed "greeter" and loved to stand at the door and shake everyone's hand. He was sad when people overlooked him and didn't shake his hand and thrilled when kids and adults would shake his hand and let him say hello...but I digress)

When Garrett died, it was really hard on Sister Pew. He was a special little guy to her. Recently Sister Pew lost her mother as well. We've become friends through sharing tears and hugs and stories.

A couple weeks ago she came to me and asked if she could borrow a family portrait. I was happy to loan one and she returned this week with these:


They are so beautiful! Her dad (who lost his wife) loves to do woodwork and wanted to do something for us. He enlarged the photos, mounted them and cut them out. He spent extra time on one just of Garrett.

Laura loved this picture. She said it seemed to capture his personality so well; the shirt not quite tucked in, the collar sticking up, his impish grin and most of all the cheerful glint in his eye.

We are so blessed with good friends who think about us! Thank you.

Dallin had a tough week. On Wednesday he came home from school without going to his Science club. I knew something had to be wrong-he LOVES Science club. When I asked about it, he said "I just don't feel like doing anything today mom. I am just sad." We talked more about what he was sad about and he couldn't really put his finger on exactly what was bothering him. He was just sad and didn't want to do anything or play with anyone. He just wanted to be home.

I can identify. Some days I'm just sad. I can't explain why, I just get sad. They are fewer and farther between than what they use to be, but some days I just don't want to go anywhere or do anything. I just want to be home and hide.

So, Dallin and I sat on the couch and watched television for a while until Maura bugged us too much and we went for a bicycle ride.

Some days you just have to be sad.

Tonight we went for a walk. It's a good Sunday activity that gets us out of the house along with our crazy dog and lets us all burn a little energy. We walked to the school (a couple of blocks away) then let the kids and the dogs run. We met up with a lot of friends and it was a lot of fun.

As it was getting dark, I called to Dallin and Adam and said it was time to head home. Then I started looking for Garrett. It was such a weird feeling. I was rounding up the kids and one was missing so I was scanning the playground before I remembered. Every once in a while getting a reality check is a little abrupt.

After we got home and were eating dinner, Dallin was talking about how much he misses Garrett. I'm glad he talks about Garrett often. Tonight he said he thinks we need to have a Garrett party. He suggests that on May 1st we have a party and invite our friends to play and remember Garrett.

It's a sweet idea. Dallin is a really thoughtful kid. I'm not sure I can do it, we'll see.