Jenny's Catch-up Photos

Alright, these are pre-editing and I had some issues with lighting, so I have some color editing to do.

No Christmas Pics

That would be because we skipped Christmas this year. It wasn't worth the drama. All I have to say about that, is that the rules and schedules mandated by law were created for a reason.

ON the bright side, Todd and I flew out to New Hampshire on Christmas day and I got to meet my sister-in-law for the first time. She wasn't able to come out to our wedding with her family because of work. We had a blast and got there just in time for some fantastic snowy days spent by the wood-burning stove in a historical home. A lot of card games, movies and family time made for a great trip.

November Birthdays

Bad boys get underpants for their birthday. I bet you didn't know that. It was the theme of the month.


Todd is very happy because the top layer of his cake is not actually cake. It was a box made out of a Hershey bar and filled with hard candies. For a non-cake lover (yes, they do exist), this is the best kind of Birthday.


The candy cake, courtesy of Jenny. Usually we collaborate quite a bit more, but this one was all Jenny. Very creative and fitting. Oh, and notice the candles, that was me, not her. However, there is one candle-less hole in the cake. That happened after Todd's mom informed us that he was not actually turning 39...just 38. Apparently we had gotten a little ahead of ourselves without doing the math. On the bright side, I have an additional year to plan the big 4-0. Wow. Did I really marry someone that old?


Austin's 11th birthday and his football field birthday cake. Cake themes are easy when there are so many sporting themes to choose from.


And yes, bad boys get underpants for their birthday, just like I told Austin many times in the month leading up to his birthday. Second year in a row. Luckily, we brought out the additional presents afterward.


Thank you Benders for the random pic, which I found after downloading my photos a few months later. I laughed heartily upon finding it. I'm sure that Daisy has previously never had so many people in her kennel at once.

A Very Belated Halloween...

A last minute change from my deer costume, due to a lack of antlers in the store, meant that I got to be a kitty cat for Halloween. Anyone who knows Todd's love of cats can guess how much he enjoyed this particular costume.


Kailey decided that she wanted to be a nerd for Halloween this year. Check out the tape measure suspenders. Oh yeah, those were special order, baby...


After working on Jessica's zombie costume for dance (scroll down), Austin's costume also switched from being a werewolf to a zombie, as well.


Jessica's evening costume was as a rag doll. We debated making the traditional yarn wig, but the dyed hair turned out so much better and was so much easier to do.


Ahh, the traditional "Thriller" dance. We definitely had fun with the zombie costume, blood spatter and all.

Year Four

You would think that eventually the dates of our losses would fade from our memories and we would only remember the times that we spent together with loved ones who have passed/moved on. Unfortunately, that isn't how it works.

I was only a few hours into today when I saw the date and had the poignant feeling of loss. It has now been 4 years since Andrew died. The days get easier in between, but when this day comes around each year, the wound feels fresh, as if no time has passed at all.

The tiny memories have started to disappear, only surfacing during random moments of reflection. Sometimes I remember the sound of his laugh; other times I can no longer hear it. There are days where I'm sure I can smell him and feel him there; other days when I only feel the emptiness of the absence of his presence.

It seems weird to me that I have been married for a couple years now and my husband and brother have never met. They would have been good friends. I know this, because they are both dorky enough to laugh at all, well most, of my jokes and goof off with me. Both have dared to dance all crazy with me. Both have been willing to care for me when I am sick or just plain lazy and both are my best friends.

I now realize that I sometimes took our friendship for granted, and that hurts, because I didn't cherish it completely when I had it. I always figured that he would be here with me, regardless of where life took us. I just didn't realize that life would take him away.

I'll never make that mistake again.

Phoenix, AZ

Yay- We got to visit with Todd's bro and his fam in Vegas on our drive down and I stayed with some family friends who we don't often see.

Boo- 101 degrees. Seriously. In October.

Yay- The King Fam (from my mission) lives only an hour from where I stayed, so I got to visit with them, not once, but twice while I was here. And because they know me, they remembered the ice cream.

Boo- The economy is rough in AZ, which does not bode well for sales.

Yay- For fun pranks.

While visiting the Vegas Mosher's we decided to take a dip in the pool during the evening. There were dares and cajoling and all the boys and I ended up getting in. Todd hadn't brought a swimsuit, so he borrowed his brother's. Of course, Mark was smart enough to give him the white one. Oh, did I mention that he had previously cut the liner out of it? Right after Todd did a cannonball into the pool, Mark turned to us and said, "His swimsuit doesn't have a liner, so it's see-through." Of course, Todd decided to get out of the pool right at that moment, since nobody had joined him yet, and instinctively we all checked out his swimsuit. Yup, see-through. I think I got a towel in front of him quickly enough for modesty's sake. However, it did take me a minute, because I was laughing too hard.

Boo- For dead camera batteries and missing General Conference.

Yay- Hello, both of those are things I can fix. Buying batteries and visiting the Mesa Temple to get my pic and I can watch Conference when I get home. Gotta love tivo and the BYU channel.

Boo- Sore feet from standing all day for 10 days... and did I mention the 101 degree weather?

Yay- It's time to go home! I'm meeting Todd in Vegas and then we are coming home.