Skiing with the Brothers

I wasn't going to go but at the last minute I decided I should try skiing again after a 14 year absence.  Ben, Nick Ryan and I went to Snowbird, and my knees held up surprisingly well.  The only thing that really hurt was all of our thighs, at about 2:00 we were more than done for the day.  It was a beautiful day, not crowded, and it was good to get back on the slopes after a long time away.

Great Grandma Barker

My Grandma passed away this past week just a week after Aly's Grandpa passed away.  Jason, Ben and myself were able to go and see her the night before she died but unfortunately she was unresponsive.  My parents were on a cruise and couldn't see her before she passed so it was good that we were able to say goodbye to her before she died.

So she passed on the 15th, the morning that Aly and I were supposed to speak in Church.  Aly hadn't been feeling well and decided to wake up without a voice, so I was tasked with giving both talks.  We told the bishopric and for the first time I have ever seen, one person gave both talks.  Aly did the hard part and all I had to do was read it but I was so glad when it was over.  The past week was filled with coming home early from Vegas because of Aly's Grandpa passing, celebrating Isabelle's birthday, a funeral, Isabelle's friend birthday party, going to see my Grandma for the last time and then trying to finish my talk.  It was a week that I was glad to be over.

My parents arrived home Sunday night and started planning the funeral which we had this morning, Saturday January 22nd.  Since it was so early we stayed the night in Ogden on Friday night for the viewing and then at 9:00 this morning we had the funeral.  It was a very nice funeral and then after we went to Maddox for the luncheon.  Lets hope this next week is a little more quiet.

Isabelle's Friend Birthday Party

It was Isabelle's year to have a friend Birthday and the theme was "Spa Party."  All the girls were able to create their own flip flops, get their hair done by Ashley, make their own lip gloss,  and get their nails painted.  We had 11 girls here and all them were very well behaved.  There was a good mix of girls, some cousins, friends from the neighborhood and a few from Isabelle's school.  We started at 10:00 and ended at 1:00 after eating some pizza and having cupcakes.  Isabelle enjoyed being the center of attention and did a very good job of including her little Sister in the activities.

Happy Birthday Isabelle

We had the funeral today for Aly's Grandpa but also had to celebrate Isabelle's seventh birthday today too.  After spending most of the day at the funeral, tonight we decided to go to the Cheese Cake Factory to celebrate.  Grandma and Grandpa Ferran and DeAnn and Hanna went with us and after we went over to Build a Bear since we had some coupons to use.  Isabelle's main present was a guitar, but not just any guitar, a pink guitar.  She also got some footy pajamas that she has been wanting as well.  Happy Birthday Isabelle, I can't believe that you are already seven years old.  Where has the time gone?

Grandpa Larson

Wow, what a week.  I was in Las Vegas for a trade show last weekend when I got the call from Aly that her Grandpa had passed away.  Luckily for him it was peaceful, but bad for us that he won't be around any longer.  Aly was supposed to fly into Vegas to spend a few days with me but once this happened we changed plans and I flew home on Saturday instead of Monday.

The Funeral today turned out really great and they had a packed house paying their respects to Grandpa Larson.  We will miss you Grandpa, thanks for everything that you did for us.

New Year's Eve

We spent new years with the Barker Family at my Mom's and Dad's.  I decided to get crazy and make ribs for everyone which turned out to be a good and a bad thing.  Aly being the great wife she is bought me a new smoker for Christmas and it came yesterday and I just had to try it out.  While using the smoker the auger motor wouldn't shut off and thus the ribs took a lot more attention than they needed to.  They had to be finished in the oven but they still tasted pretty good.  It was a fun night of games and good food, here's to 2011!!

Another bad thing is this is the only picture we got before the camera died, sorry Aly!