Halloween

I decided to make pumpkin pancakes for breakfast that morning. 

 We had a fun Halloween.  Hay was a witch and Em was a cowgirl then a Cheerleader.  Hay went with some friends trick or treating this year and last minute Em decided to go with a some friends as well.  D and I decided to go with a few friends out to dinner while the girls enjoyed trick or treating. Then we came home and handed out candy.  Ty had to work that night so he wasn't around until later. It was a fun night.  As always I think of Wyatt and wonder what he would have dressed up as.  He would have been at such a fun age.  It's heartbreaking at times when I think about those things.  He is missed every single day and especially on occasions like this.

 She dressed up as a cowgirl for school and then turned into a Cheerleader to go trick or treating.

 Pumpkin Pancakes

 Our cute witch

 I just love these shoes we got from a friend....so cute!

Carving Pumpkins

 The girls really wanted to carve pumpkins this year.  I think the last time we did it was the Halloween when Wyatt was with us.  We decided to make it a priority this year and the girls had a great time.  Ty was at work and didn't really want to carve a pumpkin so we did it without him.  I love how they turned out.  It was a fun night!

Halloween Party

 Each year a dear friend of ours invites us to a Halloween party.  It is always so much fun and this year was no exception.  This year D and I came up with these last minute costumes. I had made a chef's hat for Hay's b-day party so that was the inspiration for the costumes.  It was a fun and memorable night.:)

D wearing his Christmas gift I gave him last year.  PETA..People Eating Tasty Animals.  That is what he wanted on his apron for BBQing.

How to Help Someone that is Grieving

I'm taking in each and every butterfly that comes to our backyard.  There have been soooo many the past few weeks.  I think Wyatt is giving me as much as he can before they are gone for a few months.  Every time I look out in our backyard there is a white butterfly flying around especially in his garden.  Today I decided to take a few pictures of the flowers in our backyard and this butterfly/moth??? was on the flower.  Such a tender mercy!  So grateful for those tender mercies.

In our community this weekend we had a tragedy occur.  A 15 year old young women was killed in a sand dune accident.  My heart instantly started to ache for the parents and family of this girl when I heard the news.  She is my son Ty's age and is and has been in many of his classes at school. It's heartbreaking!  Such a bright and smart girl...it just doesn't seem right.  I instantly started to ache for the mother of this daughter even though I do not know her.  I hate to see another mother in the club I am in.  It's so hard. 

When something like this happens I will often have people ask me what you should do or say.  I have a few suggestions on my sidebar that are great from a fellow angel mom but I recently found another angel mom that did a long post on this and it was wonderful. "How to help someone that is Grieving" is the title to her post.  Here is the link if you are interested in reading it.  She is in the thick of grief right now and I ache for her as well.  Her little Charlie is just adorable.  Such a sad, sad story.  Each person is different in the way they handle grief but I think these suggestions are a great start in helping someone who is starting on this hard road.  A few book suggestions that I would recommend would be "Tear Soup", "Jesus Wept" and "The Message." 

 I will admit that as time has gone on it has gotten easier but it will never go away. There will continue to be moments of grief, sadness and longing.   I love what Elder Bowen said:

"“How long did it take you to get over it?” The truth is, you will never completely get over it until you are together once again with your departed loved ones. I will never have a fulness of joy until we are reunited in the morning of the First Resurrection.

Wouldn’t it be tragic if we didn’t feel great sorrow when we lose a child? How grateful I am to my Father in Heaven that He allows us to love deeply and love eternally." 

  I love those words...so true!  I can not wait until the morning of the First Resurrection because THEN my joy will be FULL!  We are so grateful for the deep love we have for our sweet Wyatt and are also grateful that our love is ETERNAL.

My heart aches for the Webb family and hope and pray they will feel moments of comfort and love from their Heavenly Father but also from their beautiful daughter.

Fall

 Every year I enjoy the trees at the cemetery where Wyatt is buried.  This year I decided to take a few pictures of one of my favorite trees.  I love the bright red of this tree.

Making pumpkin cookies together

I just love white clouds with blue sky....beautiful!!

Wyatt's 5th Birthday

 I think this birthday will be one we will never forget.  A dream came true for me and for our little family the night of his birthday.  So, it made the day especially exciting.  We left late that night for a week in Hawaii.  Ever since my days at BYU-Hawaii I dreamed of taking my husband and kids back there to enjoy the island with those I love.  Well, my dream came true and it was amazing! And to make it even more awesome my parents were able to come with us.  So there was much excitement and anticipation throughout the day as we finished packing and getting ready to leave.  I know Wyatt was especially excited for us and to have us leave on his birthday was great. 

We started the day out with singing "Happy Birthday" and having breakfast cake.  I can never get through that song on his birthday without some tears shed.  It's still hard and I wish soooo badly he was here physically with us.  I decided to use sparklers instead of candles and I really like that because the flame goes out by itself.   We then did our "No Empty Chairs" box and gave Wyatt a "gift" of something we would be working on this next year.  Then the kids went to school.  I've added the recipe below for the breakfast cake I make for our kids on their birthdays if anyone would like to try it.

 

Breakfast Cake

2 cups whole wheat flour (or regular all purpose flour)
1 cup sugar
2 T baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs beaten
4 T melted butter and 4 T applesauce( or 8 T butter)
I add a couple of Tablespoons of ground flax seed
Mix all together and then pour in greased 9X13" pan.
Topping:
4 T sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
4 T flour
2 T butter
Mix together and sprinkle on top.
Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

 After school and after we went out to dinner to celebrate his birthday we did our usual balloon release.  Who would of thought that it was a miracle that we could get balloons filled with helium???  Well, it was.  I called around that day to see if I could blow up Wyatt's balloons and every store told me no.  That I would have to buy their balloons and that they could only do a few.  D decided to go to the store that we always blow the balloons up with and talk with the manager.  They finally consented to letting us blow up 5 balloons.  So that is what we did.  My parents, my sister and my niece's family were in town so we invited them to the balloon release.  My sister is the one that gave us the balloons with his name etc. on it so I was glad we were able to use them.  Here are the pictures of it.  We had the little kids do the release.

 Writing messages to Wyatt on the balloons.

 My sweet Dad wrote a long message to Wyatt.  I held back the tears.

 This picture now that I look at it tears at my heart.  These are the kids that Wyatt would be hanging out with as we go to family functions.  They would be his buddies.  There is a void in our lives but also on in theirs as they don't have that cousin to play with.  That reality is hard at times.  Hay struggles with that reality at times as she wishes she had that little brother to hang out with and to play with.  For those that think she was too little to remember or to understand she was not.  She also has to go through the grief of losing possibly one of her greatest friends. She has had some hard moments and has shed some tears over this great loss in her life.  But with that said she still continues to be a bright spot in our family and brings sunshine and light into our lives. I do love this picture...they are soooo cute!

 Watching the balloons go up in the sky.  Happy Birthday sweet Wyatt!!!

I have a dear friend that each year since Wyatt's death has brought us cupcakes for his birthday.  It's been such a tender mercy for me and has made his birthday a little easier.  I will be forever grateful to her for her kindnesses towards me and towards our family.
After the balloon release and eating of treats we packed up and left for the most amazing and memorable week of our lives.

ALOHA!