November Newsletter

I have procrastinated writing our newsletter now that November seems years ago. I guess it really was a whole month ago, so that is a long time to try to remember. Sadly, I have also been behind on my blog so I don’t even have that to go back and steal from. But, here goes.

November started out with a fun happening for us with the kids Primary Program. This is a big deal for our family because not only were Trevor and Ellen in the program, but Katie is still the Primary Chorister. It went well and the kids were both very cute. Ellen’s part was to sing with a small group of three other girls the song, “The Holy Ghost.” Of course she rocked it, but she did add her own little flair to the rest of the program. Any time the primary got up to sing a song she would do her own actions with her hands for each song. No matter how much I glared at her while she was doing it, she was oblivious and continued with her show. Trevor got to say his own part, which was the same as the rest of the sunbeams. “My name is Trevor and I will follow Jesus.” He had no problems remembering it and did a smash bang job, especially since half of his class wouldn’t say their part. Trevor also made his own time to shine during the whole of the program during the first song. During the chorus of “I Know He Lives” Trevor really let everyone know that he believed the Jesus Lives! He sang his heart out nice and loud. It was all I could do to hold it together while leading. I have to admit, I was a really proud Mama.

The week after the Program we headed down to Utah for Grandpa Ellis’ funeral. The night before we stayed at Katie’s best friend’s house, Ben and Becky Maynard, in Salt Lake. It was delightful to be in their home and our kids had a ton of fun playing together. They have kids just about the same age as ours. After leaving Salt Lake we headed on down to Provo for the funeral. It was kind of different funeral for me. I'm sure that much of that was due to the fact that everyone felt as if Grandpa had lived a good life and his time on earth was fulfilled. The last couple of funerals we have done haven't really felt that way. Every one at the funeral was of course sad at the loss of this great man and patriarch of an absolutely amazing family, but they also were so happy to see one another and be with each other. I was taken aback when after the family prayer the room became a little boisterous. People continued to talk to one another and say their hello's across the room. After thinking about it for a while I decided that that is exactly how Grandpa would have wanted his funeral to be. He wouldn't have wanted the family to come into the chapel weeping. I'm sure he much rather that they came in smiling and being family.

November also brought the first big snow storm of the season to Pocatello. In fact, it was one of the biggest snow storms we have had in recent years. The kids couldn’t wait to get outside and start playing in it. They spent a good portion of a Saturday afternoon pulling each other on the sled, having snowball fights, and building a snowman. (I should clarify here, Levi only stayed outside when I made him. Ellen and Trevor were my snow dogs.) Building the snowman was my favorite. It ended up being just a little mound of snow that they pushed together. Then, Ellen would send Trevor inside to ask me for the items they needed, a hat, mittens, a carrot, and buttons. Of course they couldn’t ask for these things all at once, so Trevor kept getting sent in the house each time Ellen decided they needed something new.

The rest of the month was filled up with Thanksgiving preparations and the holiday itself. It just so happened that the week of Thanksgiving brought yet another huge storm. Thanksgiving this year was in Boise with the Kunz’s. Katie left on Tuesday with the kids to try to head over. Because of all the snow it took her 6 hours to get to her parents when the drive normally takes about three and a half hours. The kids were good and they just took it slow. Landon joined us on Wednesday night taking the long drive which he managed to do in about 5 hours. Better than the day before, but still long. The stay in Boise was very relaxing and much needed. (Especially for Katie.) All of my siblings were able to make it and it was healing to be with each other.

Landon had to head home on Thanksgiving night to make it back to work. (Peak Season at FedEx!) Katie and the kids stayed until Saturday so that Katie could participate in Black Friday with her sister. She started out at the midnight sale at Walmart and then took a break until 5 am when she headed back out with Annie and Jason. I love Black Friday and Annie and Jason are even more die-hard of shoppers than I am so it was fun to be with other marathon shoppers like myself. Many deals were had and the bulk of Christmas was done by the end of the day.

All in all November was a good month. I can’t believe how fast it went for us. The kids all are taking on the cutest of personalities. Levi continues to be our little parrot, repeating everything that is said in his presence. He is also showing the some good signs towards being potty-trained. He tells us that he is “icky” whenever he poops and he thinks that getting an M&M when he goes pee in the potty is awesome! Trevor had continued to love being in Pre-school and Tumbling. He is getting pretty good at some of his moves, like the crab walk and bear crawl. I love watching him in his Tumbling class because he can’t keep his eyes off of the mirror.

Ellen had her Parent teacher conferences in November where we found out that she reads at a third grade level. It gives us a jumping off point to finding her the right books. She is working hard to stay out of the thinking chair in Kindergarten and is getting the hang of it. We also noticed something very uniquely Ellen this month. She likes to live her life in dialogue. Often times after she says something she will put the description of how she said it afterwards. For instance, “Daddy, “ she cried. It is always under her breath, but it happens a lot. Most of the time it is when she says something, but I have also found her putting her actions into a story format. Being a smart little reader isn’t enough, apparently we must live as if we are in a book too.

New Kids' Pictures

A couple of weeks ago I changed the pictures of the kids that run along the side of the blog. I got several comments from people about how cute they were that I figured I better put a post in with some of my favorites from the shoot.


We did the shoot in September and I thought that I would try something different for us with the warehouse background. (We've always just done outdoors stuff before.) Of course we used our favorite photographer and one of my very best friends Allie. Besides the fact that she is an honorary sissy for me her work is phenomenal. I have links to her photography blog and website if any of you are interested.


Without further ado....Here are some of my favorites....

Ellen 5 Years Old, Trevor 4 Years Old, Levi 12 months old

Grandpa Ellis' Funeral

On November 1, 2010 Landon's Grandpa, Glen James Ellis, passed away. We had the opportunity to attend his funeral in Utah a week later.

The funeral was in the morning so we decided to try to go to Utah the night before. My best friend, Becky, moved to Salt Lake over the summer so we decided to call and see if they would let us stay with them.

The stay was sooooo wonderful. Becky and I have been friends since the first grade. When I think about it our interests have never been exactly the same and there are a lot of reasons why our friendship shouldn't have lasted this long, but I am grateful that it has. Becky and I seem to just quietly understand each other. We accept one another for exactly who we are. Even though she has always accepted me just the way I am, she also has been a shining example in my life. There are times in my life that I can pin point as ways and things she did to inspire me to be a better person. I LOVE HER!

We got there late, about 9 p.m., the night before the funeral. Becky and Ben opened up their home to us with open arms and made us feel so comfortable right from the start. The Maynard kids are all very close in age to ours. The older two kids for both of us are only three months apart respectively. The kids loved playing together and the adults enjoyed talking to one another. They didn't even complain when that night Levi screamed the whole night. Yep! That was a fun one!

In the morning we snapped the above picture just before we left. Another one to add to the years of photos. Thanks for letting us stay guys.

After leaving Salt Lake we headed on down to Provo for the funeral. It was kind of different funeral for me. I'm sure that much of that was due to the fact that everyone felt as if Grandpa had lived a good life and his time on earth was fulfilled. The last couple of funerals we have done haven't really felt that way. Every one at the funeral was of course sad at the loss of this great man and patriarch of an absolutely amazing family, but they also were so happy to see one another and be with each other. I was taken aback when after the family prayer the room became a little boisterous. People continued to talk to one another and say their hello's across the room. After thinking about it for a while I decided that that is exactly how Grandpa would have wanted his funeral to be. He wouldn't have wanted the family to come into the chapel weeping. I'm sure he much rather that they came in smiling and being family.

The funeral was good. His family tried to do things that would show Grandpa how much they loved him. One of the things that I thought was very sweet happened when his step-son spoke. Grandpa got remarried after Landon's Grandma passed away and became a father to her kids. They had never really had that in their lives even though they were all grown adults. During this step-son's talk he said that he was "proud to call him father and was proud to be called his son."

Grandpa was a sealer in the temple and was able to marry most of his grandchildren. Landon and I are one of the few exceptions. (He was on a mission when we got married.) Our sealer wasn't really that great, so I always like to think of the things that Grandpa would say when he sealed his grandchildren and pretend that he married us as well. That was one of the other touching things to me at the funeral. To look around and see all of the wonderful couples in this family that he married and see the posterity that has continued on under his sealing power.

Landon was able to be one of the pall bearers. This meant a lot to him because he was not able to be one at any of his other grandparents' funerals. Both of his Grandma's died while he was on his mission and his Grandpa Ladwig was cremated. It seemed very appropriate as well since one of Grandpa Ellis' namesakes is Landon.

At the cemetery we were able to get a family picture. Everyone was able to be there except Renee's husband Steve. Even in death Grandpa Ellis was reminding us to be family and love one another. He truly was a great man and I am glad that I had the chance to know him and be a part of his family.