Daren and Solveig Spencer

My parents were able to fly down Christmas day to spend with our family and get ready for our trip to San Diego for Daren's wedding.
It was a crazy Christmas break. Ben's dad had offered for Corwin and Aiden to fly to Boise an go skiing with him for a week, so Ben and I went to Phoenix to drop the boys off on the 27th to fly out to Boise. The next day I loaded Liam, my parents and myself up in the Suburban and headed to San Diego for the next 4 days. We had the oppurtunity to meet up with my brother, Alan and his family for dinner at one of my favorite places in San Diego, The Fish Market.
I hadn't realized how bad off my dad had gotten in the last month. He was in a walker that he could sit in and he relied on my mom to do so much for him. I felt bad for the both of them when we were running all around San Diego. My dad really wanted to purchase a GPS Navigator to get our way around, and I said, oh we will be fine. Famous Last Words. Let's just say that we saw more of San Diego than we ever wanted too!
Daren and Solveig had their wedding at the San Diego Temple on Wednesday January 30th. That morning my dad surprised all of his family and told us that he had a temple recommend and would be attending the wedding with us. It was so neat to be together as family. I really wished that Ben could have been there with me, I want to go back as a couple to that temple. It is so beautiful. While I was there I noticed that there were Begonia's planted everywhere around the temple grounds. I shed a few tears because Grandpa Madsen loved Begonia's and grew some of the most amazing and beautiful one's. I told everyone that he had sent those for me to remind me of him!
That night we drove to Murrieta, CA for their reception. It was so fun. I even wheelee my dad onto the dance floor and spun him around a few times, like we were dancing! He loved it. At one time we were all chanting, BOISE STATE!!!!
Thursday we spent some of the day at the beach, it was nice to take Dad out to see the ocean. He loved it!!!
I decided to share my cold with my sister Leanne and my mom. SORRY! They got it worse than me.
Friday we headed back to AZ. On our way home my dad informed me that when he was acting grumpy and mad, he was making jokes and was trying to make us laugh. I let my sisters know that that is what he said, WE ALL LAUGHED!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas 2009!!

I am sending a huge Thank You to my Spencer family who came on Christmas to save my day. I had a terrible cold and they came in and saved Christmas. I was minutes from tossing in the towel and finding a Chinese Restaurant!!!!

I love these classic Christmas photos!

Horse Riding

We got the opportunity in November to go and ride a horse. The kids absolutely loved it!

Grandpa Madsen

I am taking something that my father in law wrote about Grandpa Nile Madsen that I would like to share as well as some of my thoughts....
My World
It is February 2, 1918; my world is very large, it is the universe. Someone said: “Worlds without number have I created.” But my world is also very small; it is the size of my mother’s womb.
On February 3, 1918, my world is very small. It is the size of a crib and my mother’s arms.
My world is getting larger. Different people pick me up and take me places. I never know where I am, but I am always safe. I always come back to my home and my world.
I am growing and beginning to crawl, I explore my own home which is my world.
I am learning to walk; my world is growing to include my yard.
Today I learned to ride a bike and now my world is huge. I can go anywhere around our home and the town of Rigby. There is a great strawberry patch down the road. Today I snitched a handful. They were delicious.
Now that I am older, my parents take me more places. My world is growing to include Idaho Falls. My world is getting bigger and more exciting.
It is 1937 and I just finished high school and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. The city is very big and now I realize the world is very big and a little lonely.
It is 1942 and today I married my beautiful bride. Although the world is big, my world revolves her and I am not lonely in a big world.
I’m drafted and there is a world war raging. My world is much bigger now. I wish it was smaller. I wish my world was just my wife, our apartment and my job. I think I will be going to war.
My world now consists of various army bases in California, Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.
Now the war is over. My world is Idaho Falls and two small children.
My world is crushed. My baby girl died. My world is the size of her grave.
My world is different now. I have three more children and my world is becoming more complicated.
It is 1955 and we now have three more children. My world is now Boise, Idaho and a new home on Gem Street and where my world now includes my garden and seven wonderful children. They are my world.
My world is as big as the state of Idaho as I travel with my work.
My kids are traveling to far away places like Tahiti, Japan, Ireland, Holland and many other distant places. They tell me the world is very big and very different.
My world changed today. I retired. My world is once again my home, my garden and children and spouses and grandchildren. I will soon have great-grandchildren. They are my world. My world now includes the Boise LDS Temple.
My world got smaller again. After nineteen years at the Boise Temple, I retired from there as well. My world is now wherever my family lives. I love to visit them but miss my home.
Now that I am retired and not working at the temple any more, my world is my beautiful garden and my posterity.
I’m getting older and my kids tell me that my world is getting smaller. They don’t think I should drive more than a few miles from my home.
My world now includes more doctor offices and hospitals. My kids built me a ramp so I could get out into my shrinking world.
My world is getting smaller almost daily. I can still drive but I don’t like to go many places except to lunch with my lovely wife.
The doctor told me today that my world is going to be getting smaller. He said my world doesn’t include him anymore. He said Hospice will come to me. I don’t even like to go out anywhere anymore. My kids took me to the Veteran’s Cemetery today. As we stood on the bluff, I can look out over my world. It is peaceful here.
My world is now my kids who come to visit, and my garden, my living room and the bedroom. Now my kids come to my world.
My world is getting smaller. My world is my home. I can still see my garden. Hospice brought a hospital bed today.
My world is now the hospital bed and the bathroom and my bedroom. Steve and Carol moved into my world today. They are so kind to me. Janet comes every day. Now I know that angels don’t have wings, because she doesn’t have wings. Dennis, Dianne, Gaylynne, Marlene, and Tracy come to my world frequently. They kiss me and tell me they love me. They are my world, I love them.
I worry what will happen to Wilma. Who will take care of her? She has been my world, now who will be hers?
Things are not going well. My world is now just my hospital bed and a commode. I hear my children speaking in hushed tones. I think they are talking about my impending death and me leaving this world.
My world has shrunk to the size of my hospital bed and I can’t use the commode. My dignity is gone but my kids are coming from far away to surround me.
My world is getting blurry. I feel lots of pain, morphine helps. Because of the medications, my world is very strange.
It is November 13th. I hear my kids telling me they love me. My world is slipping away from me but my world is what I have always wanted. My world is my family. Is there anything more?
It is just after midnight on November 14th. My family fills my house. The last child arrived about ten minutes til ten.
I am leaving this world. I just took my last breath. Janet is holding my hand.
My world is not physical anymore, it is spiritual. I am at my funeral. It is nice to see so many of my friends. My family tells the congregation many nice things about me. I love my family. I’ve been promised that they will be my world for eternities.
My family thinks my world is a very beautiful small piece of land at Veteran’s memorial cemetery. That is not my world.
My World is huge. I see my daughter and my parents and worlds without number. My world is the universe. My world is magnificent. I have been here before. I am sad that my family sees their world as being so sad.
If they only knew.

I am so thankful that I had the oppurtunity to know Grandpa. The first memory I had of him was when my parents would take me to tithing settlement and he would greet our family. The next memory is when Ben and I were dating and he took me over for a family gathering to his grandparents house! I later found out that Grandpa had asked if I was the one crying all the time at church when I was younger (Grandma said, no that was Leanne). Poor Leanne gets the blame a lot.
I will miss Grandpa Madsen's famous breakfasts, HIS HUGS, his smile. He made you feel special and loved no matter who you were! I was glad to have him as my Grandpa!
I love you and miss you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Definitely Needs Updating

I figure that I can type all my stories to catch up with this blog and add pictures later!
I couldn't believe that when I opened my blog the last time I posted was Halloween. So much has happened that I will have to take one month at a time....