California road trip and more....

The day after Christmas, Matt's uncle Marvin died of lung cancer.  He was diagnosed about five months ago and fought a tough fight.  He was a wonderful man who all of our kids were able to meet several times while living in Washington and here in Nebraska.  Marvin lived in California and Matt was determined to go to the funeral.  So....he took a road trip with the boys in the Subaru.  I gave them one simple assignment while they were gone....take pictures.  They did a pretty good job, except that some were on Morley's iPod that were deleted before we took them off.  Bummer.  They left early on a Wednesday morning and drove to his sister Sarah's home in Utah.

They stopped at each state line sign to take a picture.

Brayden was the only one awake when they crossed into Utah.

Kent, our brother-in-law, surprised Matt with court side tickets to the JAZZ game.

Like...ON THE COURT tickets.  Pretty awesome.

Matt had a fun evening with his two beautiful sisters Margie and Sarah and Margie's husband Shane.

The boys had a fun time hanging out with their awesome cousins and meeting baby Ethan for the first time.  Haley is pretty amazing too.

 The next morning they had a 12 hour drive to Northern California and met up with Vince, Kalee, Grandma and Grandpa Haley in Nevada. They caravan-ed  the rest of their journey.  They did have to go into Nevada before they arrived in California....but that picture is gone.  So, their road trip one way crossed through four states and 1,100 miles.

 They shared a hotel room with Vince and Kalee.  Saints.  I can't imagine the chaos in that room.  

Thank you! *wink*

Krispy Kreme adventure for breakfast.  None of them remembered they have in fact eaten one before.

Then it was time for the funeral.  Matt said it was nice and they even played Marvin's favorite rock music.  Later, they attended the burial as well and visited Matt's Grandpa Haley's grave.

Matt's dad by his dad's grave.

They Haley boys.

There was a luncheon at Heather's house, Marvin's daughter.  Matt saw cousins he hasn't seen in many, many years and a few he has never met.  

The girl cousins.  Two of Matt's sisters are on the right, Sarah and Ellen.

Saturday morning started their long journey home.  Twelve hours back to Utah to spend the night again.

They arrived home late Sunday night, just in time to unpack the car, share a few stories and go to bed.  Our Christmas break was two full weeks and Monday morning was their first day back to school.  The boys report it was an awesome trip and they had never seen so many palm trees.  Matt said it was great to be there with his family to pay respects to his wonderful uncle. 

Now....what did Ella and I do for five days with no boys at home?  We went to Cheyenne with Jenni and her three kids, rearranged all the kids rooms, painted, organized Matt's office, slept in, stayed up late, cleaned the house, finished the laundry, sewed a few shirts, had a girls night with Natalie and Kelly, watched movies, painted our nails, watched more movies, started a new tv series on Netflix (White Collar), and convinced Ella to let me cut her hair.  It was SO strange to have it so quiet for so many days!  We had a fun time together and I am thankful for those quiet days when it was just us, we don't have that opportunity very often.

We cut six inches off her hair.  I wanted to do nine but she wouldn't let me.  We almost did chunky bangs too but she chickened out.  Phew...I think.  Wouldn't she be adorable with a chin length cut?  Maybe some day.

While the boys were gone, our sweet dear friend Linda Evans passed away.  She has suffered for 35 years with several diseases and complications and was even doing dialysis every day from home.  She was 62 and lived a wonderful life and made everyone around her feel like the most special person on the planet.  We all attended her funeral on Monday afternoon.  She asked Matt to be a pallbearer, which really touched him.  He had gone to their home with the boys on several occasions and really had made a connection with her.  Our new favorite treat we make is Rice Krispie treats with Heath toffee bits, her special recipe.  Matt has had a heavy heart these last few weeks with these two deaths but takes immense comfort in the plan of salvation and knows they are now with our Heavenly Father.  Healthy, no longer in pain.  How thankful we are for that knowledge.  Our boys have had the unique experience of attending two funerals in one week, and both very different funerals.  What a wonderful opportunity to talk about life after death and share some sweet time with our children.

Tuesday Matt and I stayed up until two in the morning processing his three deer.  One was given to us by a good friend in Dalton and Matt shot the other two after Christmas.  With the cool weather they were able to stay in the garage but we had to do them, and now as the temps were warming.  It was a process that took us about 7 hours, and it was so worth it.  We finished up with 41 pounds of ground venison, 24 pounds of breakfast sausage, 10 pounds for jerky and 25 pounds of roasts.  I'd call that a successful evening. They next day was tough with only four hours of sleep but we managed.

The rest of our week was crazy busy, as usual.  Morley had an awesome basketball game, winning with a final score of 47-16.  Work is good, stressful, fun, taxing...everything.  I love the people I work with so that makes my challenges a little easier.  We had scouts and scout meetings and a snow storm came through Friday afternoon after freezing fog Friday morning.  It was freezing and windy and beautiful.  We had a full day of work/school but venture into Sidney so the boys could go to a birthday party and hang out with their friends.  Matt a I were excited to have an evening with just Ella but she was not thrilled with that idea and insisted on inviting Natalie for our pizza and movie night.  The four of us watched Madagascar 3 and had a good time. Saturday Matt went ice fishing with his good buddy Rusty.  They haven't been fishing together for a few years and really enjoyed spending the day together catching fish in the VERY frigid temps.  The kids and I just hung out at home, cleaning and being lazy.  Our weekends go by too fast but we sure enjoy them when they arrive.  This week so far we have had negative temperatures and as low as -25 with the windchill.  Today was a high of 18 and right now it feels like -14 outside with the windchill.  It is officially colder here than it is in Anchorage  Alaska.  It's tough to stay warm.  The boys also received their reports cards and they did VERY well: Morley-3.86, Drew-3.65, Brayden 4.0.  They all have the ability to have a 4.0 and they are trying hard to reach that for the next quarter!

Happy January!