Grandma Koon

September 9, 1920 - August 29, 2011

She is so precious to me. And she has returned home to our Heavenly Father, just under 2 weeks shy of her 91st birthday. Our sweet Grandma Koon passed away this morning around 5:15am.

One of the last pictures of Rori and Granny Great together
(taken 5-28-11)

Taking a snooze on Granny Great

We were so fortunate to go up to Idaho yesterday to say goodbye to Grandma one last time. What a blessing!! It was so very hard to see her in the state she was in, but I'm so glad we had the opportunity to give her kisses and tell her we love her. She was really struggling with her breathing, she hadn't eaten anything since Friday morning (she had corn flakes for breakfast :), she really wasn't coherent yesterday, and she was just ready to go.

Four Generations
(taken 4-2-11)

I love that when I accidentally woke her up with a kiss on the forehead, she looked at me and when I told her it was Kiara, she said, "Hello, dear," and she told me she loved me. She also told Brianna that she loves her too. I'm not sure if those were the very last words she spoke, but they were close to it and that means so much to me.

Our family at Grandma's 90th birthday party last year
(taken 9-4-10)

It was incredibly difficult to see her body struggling, and she was so much worse than when we saw her just a two weeks ago. She has always been so strong and such a fighter. My Dad & Darwin were able to give her a priesthood blessing and gave her permission to return home to our Father in Heaven. With as much as we will all miss her, it is so comforting to know she is in a better place now and no longer in pain. I'm glad that she didn't hang around for too much longer after we were able to say goodbye, but I do feel sorry for my family members who live too far away that they were unable to give Grandma one last hug and kiss. I'm glad to know she is at peace now. Her funeral will be this weekend, and I'm sure that will be a struggle in and of itself emotionally, but I am so grateful for Grandma Koon and the life she has lived. She is an incredible example to me and I will miss her dearly but I feel so fortunate that we were able to spend some time with her on her last day on this earth. We love you, Grandma!!!

For kicks.

I love all the random pictures we take sometimes. I was just browsing our photo files and thought I'd share a few. Enjoy!

Corn on the cob from our garden!

The first real pie I've ever made. I used cherry pie filling we canned last summer with my cousin, Martha. (I guess I still cheated because I didn't make the pie crust from scratch.)

Glued to something on TV. Dar calls her our little boob-tuber.

Sleeping on our bed, surrounded by pillows--she's a little wiggle worm when she sleeps now!

Taking a snooze on Dad's belly

I can't imagine her arm was really that comfortable!

And now a whole bunch of her "eating" sweet potatoes. I just wish she'd actually eat her food. She's definitely a Momma's milk-bottle baby. (Yes, I'm still pumping. We recently found out she's allergic to a couple different formulas. Big bummer.)

P.S. Dar took me to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 last night. LOVED IT!!!!

Watch Your Step

The two cute girls in this Mormon Messages video are our nieces, Emma & Allie. They did an awesome job, and the message is great too :)

Back to School

Goodbye, summer (what summer we did have). Hello, full time (and then some) teaching. Hello, oober busy husband. Hello, school year routine. Hello, autumn and upcoming holidays! Yipee!

A week or so ago Dar & I made this poster for the science club at his new school.

(THANKS, TRACE, FOR HELPING TOO. WE COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU!)

Finished product.

Good luck, Babe, with teaching at your new school plus teaching an evening class at UVU this fall and everything else you have going on. Thanks for all you do for our family, for the community, and for your students. YOU ROCK!! We love you!!!!

Busy Weekend

On top of celebrating our 6th anniversary (see post below) we spent the weekend with my family. It's always nice to visit and catch up, and I was glad my parents got to spend some time with Aurora too, but I can honestly say that after 4 weekends in a row of camping and then a whole weekend away from home I'm looking forward to being at home in my bed this weekend!!

We had a family reunion in Idaho on Saturday and then on Sunday we celebrated our niece, Hannah's, 6th birthday.

Relaxing, watching TV Friday night. Rori is seriously the best snuggler!

Love this picture of Koda :)

Anderson Family Reunion on Saturday

Hanging out with Auntie Di

Dar got to be the auctioneer. He did awesome...had everyone laughing, of course :)

Aunt Bri, Rori, and Koda

Cousins. Exactly a year apart :)

The sign that always welcomes us to Grandma's house

And seriously one of the most AMAZING sunsets on Saturday night. Absolutely beautiful!

Happy Birthday, Hannah Bear!! We love you!!!

Six

We celebrated our sixth anniversary on Friday! I seriously can't believe we've been married for six years. Where did the time go? But I can most definitely say the past 6 years have been the best 6 years of my life. Who wouldn't love being married to their best friend and be thrilled they get to spend the rest of their life with them? We are certainly two lucky ducks!! I love you, Darwin!

Our anniversary this year was a bit more low key than what we've done in the past because having a kid changes everything. Seriously. But it's oh, so good! Of course we still took the opportunity to celebrate :)

We've been trying to keep up with our tradition of going to the temple on or as close to our anniversary as we can to remember the covenants and promises we made to each other the day we were married. It's probably my most favorite tradition of the year. This year we went to the Provo Temple. Thanks, Christmas Lape's for watching Rori so we could go!
After our trip to the temple we packed up and headed up north to let Rori spend some time with Gramps and Nanny so we could go to dinner. Dar took me to The Roof at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Mmm! So good! It's the first time Dar has been there, and it's been a really long time since I've gone there too. We were both glad we went. So worth it!

I think we got the best table in the house!

Mmm! Creme brulee!

Dar enjoying something delectable :)

The beautiful Salt Lake Temple from the viewing window

And one more shot of us for good measure :)

To top off the day with another boost, we got to shake hands and ride in the elevator with this guy. It was definitely a great, great day.

Happy Anniversary, Bunches!

Thanks for making me a better person. I Love You!

8.11.11 - 7 months!

Our baby girl is 7 months old today! She's such a joy to be around and growing so much! It's sad to me that she's definitely not a newborn anymore, but Dar & I love watching her learn new things and explore the world around her.

At 7 months:
-Aurora has 2 teeth! And they're such beautiful little teeth. They make her grin incredibly irresistible!
-She's still working on trying to crawl but getting closer and closer to actually doing it. Especially when she watches her friend, P, make his way around the floor.
-She is getting more and more curious about things around her and EVERYTHING goes in her mouth right now. [Dar just reminded me that she got this little plastic duck stuck in her mouth when we had some friends over last week--it wasn't something she could choke on, but just the right size to get it stuck in those little jaws. The poor thing panicked a little bit, and we couldn't help but laugh after Dar saved her from the predicament she got herself into.]
-She is still such a great sleeper but she can roll over in her sleep now and is a little wiggle wort all throughout the night.
-She has fallen asleep on her own in her crib at least 3 times in the last week and half. Hopefully we have a good trend starting!
-She's starting to try more foods, and hopefully will enjoy eating more as we work our way to trying different things.
-She is getting louder with her babbling and I LOVE listening to her sweet little voice as she plays with her toys.
-She's still pretty petite but definitely getting some little rolls. She has an extra crease on her forearm and adorable little rolls on her thighs. Man! I can't help but munch on them a little bit!
-She doesn't like to wear shoes and prefers to have her piggies naked.
-She loves when Daddy comes home from work and gives him the cutest little grins. She knows he's the fun one already!
-She actually seems to love the grass! She loves to sit in it, pick it, eat it, and get it stuck between her toes. Looks like our baby is going to love digging in the dirt like we do...bring on our little gardener! We're going to need her help pulling weeds next year :)

Mmm! I love that face!! She seriously gets a million kisses from her Momma on a daily basis.

Rori's concentration face--classic tongue sticking out. She does this a lot when she's playing with her toys.

Picking the grass

And of course, eating the grass

First time eating peas:

It looks like she's begging with her eyes for Dar to save her.

Bad thing about the bumbo...she can arch away when she doesn't want anymore. Haha.

Next food item: green beans. I keep telling her that she has to eat the veggies before we can move on to the good stuff. We'll get there eventually. Keep up the good work, baby girl! We love you more than you know!

#4 - Payson Lakes

We've officially been on our fourth and final campout of the summer. We went to Payson Lakes this last weekend with my cousin, his wife, and their four kids; the ones who lovingly gave Dar and I the nickname "Kiarwin." We seriously had a blast! It's so nice to just get away from everything and escape to the beautiful mountains of Utah every now and then, especially with people you love. And we had the chance to do it 4 times this summer!

After we got camp set up we headed for a dip in the lake.

Rori fell asleep as soon as we pulled in the parking lot. The water was a bit too cold for her anyway.

Aeryka was so happy to be in the water

Nick seriously went all over the lake in his tube. It was funny to see how far he'd get so quickly!

Martha taking pictures of her kids in the water
This little squirrel was in the bushes right where Martha, Rori and I were sitting. I think we were right by his little hole in the dirt.

Me & the bebe after she woke up from her short snooze.

After swimming we went back to camp. Dar & Ron took the kids on a small "hike" while some of us stayed back. Aeryka got to feed Rori her bottle :)

This is Dar imitating Jessy trying to get away from the smoke. It was so funny to see Jess do it the first time, I just didn't get a picture of it.

Robby was Dar's best bud on this trip. He wants to be a scientist like Dar is :)

Rori playing with Ron & Robby

Chilling with Nicky

Rori was playing with Dar a bit and just so happened to make this awesome face right as I was taking a picture. You're amazing, baby girl!

Her eyes in this one crack me up too. "I can't believe you're smooching me, Dad. It's so embarrassing!"

Of course no campout would be complete without a delicious smore or two. Or maybe three...but who's counting?

It got pretty chilly during the night and Rori ended up sleeping most of the night in Dar's sleeping bag with him this time. Which meant Dar didn't sleep very well, but we survived.
This was in the morning...Ron & Rori mesmerized by the fire.

Rori enjoyed a short morning nap while we packed up camp. She really was sleeping with her hand in the air like this. Silly girl.

We couldn't pass up another visit to the lake before heading home. I guess the water was pretty chilly, but I honestly didn't get in either time. I'm not much of a lake swimmer, but Dar is :)

The lake was a bit busier this time. And oh, so beautiful!

After swimming we took a walk on the trail that goes all the way around the lake. I LOVE all the green trees!!

Jessy & Robby climbing back up from checking out the water
And this was just a cool tree we saw on our walk. There was a little trivia sign thing that said the trees get bent like this because of the weight of all the snow in the winter time. Pretty cool, and it makes for some funky looking trees!

Thanks again, Christmas Lape's for letting us join you for your campout! We'll have to do it again next year. Love you guys!