THE PEARCE FAMILY: May 2010

A wedding a Funeral and Mothers Day!!

What a weekend. I always feel that my life is feast or famine and this weekend was no exception. My Aunt Darlene past away last Sunday and the funeral was this past Saturday. My sister Debbie's sister in law got married and she was in charge of the cake and Millie (other sister) in charge of the pictures so they had to do the wedding thing and the rest of us headed south to the Funeral. So here are the stories of this plus mothers day.

A Wedding. . . .

Well I didn't have much to do with the wedding but did make a quick drive by on my way to the funeral to drop off my camera to Millie ( something that made me extra late but I did because I love you Millie :) )and the pictures did turn out FABULOUS and the cake AMAZING especially since it was the first time Debbie had ever done a decorated cake let alone a wedding cake WOW deb. I will try and get a picture and post it. That is the extent of wedding for us congratulations Michelle and Frank!!! Good luck!

A Funeral (A tribute? to my Aunt)
I knew that I was headed to this funeral all week but I think there was enough things to do I kept it fairly distant in my mind (I am sorry that not everyone effected by this loss could have done the same thing) So come Saturday and the business of the morning I made it there before reality had really sunk in. Which ended up being to my detriment I never really recovered from the reality of it all day.

My Aunt Darlene (although I am sorry to say I have not seen near enough of her or her family in recent years) however was a major influence in my growing up. She was in fact more than an aunt, truly a second mom. I spent countless hours of my childhood around her kitchen table eating amazing food and talking with everyone, you would find her mostly working, fixing food and getting you what she thought you might need. Countless hours with her kids were spent in the barn playing house, walking the field to the tramp (trying hard not to step on the hay plants), in the hay making huts and snuggled up in the t.v. room watching countless movies (I mean countless because I think they had every movie there ever was or at least as a kid it seemed that way. It would take us a half an hour just to decide what to watch. One of the most memorable time was when we watched "Watcher in the woods" I don't think I could have been more scared if the T.V. was planted right in the middle of the woods (after all in my mind small, farm town it might as well have been) we heard every noise made in the world that night and jumped at each one GOOD TIMES!! We also spent many Easter's at there farm with baskets that covered the old farm table and rolling eggs down the roof of the sheds.

The Funeral was so good. She had seven kids six of them boys one Girl and they are all too young to be up there conducting a funeral. My heart truly broke as I watched them all , my brothers and sisters having to go through this experience so soon and lets face it at all. I can't describe the pain that I felt for myself in loosing someone so dear to me but mostly for them and my uncle and Sally who I am sure relied on her mother as much as I do mine in the raising of her own kids and the advice and wisdom only your mom can provide. They all gave beautiful talks of there mom and her wonderful talents and abilities. I laughed when they talked of her many quotes that she had placed around her house held up by contact paper to mirrors, cupboards, refrigerators and anyplace she or her kids (and everyone else who was fortunate to frequent her home which was many) might look to remind them (us) of who we are and who we should become. That was what was important to her. Not material things but family and home. She was a home body and loved being home she loved you to come to her house but wasn't exactly comfortable being where someone else had to serve her. In the last weeks of her life the kids got a wonderful opportunity to serve her and stay at her side and they truly never left her side in the four weeks or so that she was in the hospital. I was so impressed with there dedication both her kids and her kids in law it truly showed there love for this sweet small firecracker of a woman. I loved her so and I love her family dearly and find myself so sad that we get so busy in life that we don't stay as close to those people who mean so much to us. I want all of my cousin's and my Uncle to know I love them dearly and am thinking of them always and we really need to get together more often for happier occasions.

I remember many a hunting season walking out to the picnic table lined (I mean lined she had six boys and a husband remember) with dead dear heads crusty blood and tongues hanging out and all I have to say is a woman that can not only put up with that but be proud of it and help in the cleaning of them and then cooks it up beautifully is a woman leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of us (ok maybe just me) in courage, patience, understanding, kindness, strength, perseverance I could go on and on.

I love you Aunt Darlene you will truly be missed in my life.

Mother's Day!

I am the primary chorister in my ward these days and so mothers day is more stress than relief. We did a whole program so we had to run back from the funeral and get to church early on Sunday morning to practice and get the kids ready. they did a fabulous job we had a poem about mom's and flowers that the kids took turns reciting parts of . Gavin had a part that read "here is a strong snap dragon as big and brave as dad" he had it memorized (with actions because I was trying to get him to remember the order of strong, big, and brave) by the time we got back from the funeral but froze up a little in sacrament meeting however he said it clearly and did great. The kids then sang "I often go walking" and "love is spoken here" they did great I am so amazed at how well they learn these songs and can sing them with only the 15 minutes of singing time we have each week to do it in. We then had family over to our house for dinner and Grin was awesome did pretty much everything so I could sit around and chat with my fam. Thanks honey you are the BEST!!

I also have found myself with an extra appreciation and love for my mom this mothers day. Watching a little too closely how quickly you can loose someone. I am truly grateful for every moment we have and want to suck up all her knowledge and love. Thanks mom for all you do and for all you have done I am truly who I am today because of you. I love you so so much!

Well there went the weekend gone in a flash. Happy Mother's day to all of you my dear friends you are all truly a great influence in my life and make me want to be a better person. Thank you for your friendship and love.

p.s. I don't have pictures of anything yet but when I get them uploaded I will add them to the post.

Windows again!

Another Month another window. Actually we don't do them quite every month but it comes around quick enough. Paris inspired here we are!! (window one anyway)

Words can not do justice!!

I know it has been forever since Paris in fact two months since we left but better late than never right! Here goes....

Words can't really describe it and this will probably be long and boring for anyone reading so you can just scroll down and see pictures and if all of these are not enough then check out the slide show it has more of the artsy stuff and more of the best of France..

We left on April 1st at 11:00 am. We tried to sleep on the plane on the way there to save us from jet lag and it helped but sleeping on an airplane is never to great. Paris is an 8 hour time difference between us so it makes a big difference although hello you are in Paris who cares how tired you are right!!

Left to right Rachelle, Amanda, Me and my sis Millie. Rachelle and Amanda are Camille's friends that went so we all hung out together a lot! p.s. I am the only old married person of the bunch. In fact I felt so old on this trip although there were older people most were high school kids and then the four of us. yikes how the time goes I spent the whole time in a fantasy world that we were all in the same boat ha ha!!

We had a 4 hour lay over in Germany so now I can say I have been to Germany ha ha the airport anyway. Not enough time to leave but this is me in a fun funky chair that was at a cafe in the airport.

We took off running when we got to Paris we arrived at 12:00pm and so it was time to see see see. We started at Notre Dame and went exploring during mass. They still let people go through although because it was Easter weekend we didn't go to the top it was pouring rain and the line was about a 2-3-hour wait. So sad but it was awesome anyway see the slide show for more pics of Notre Dame p.s. it was very dark in the cathedral which made it feel even colder

Me in front of Arc De Triomphe it sits in the center of the place de E'toile from there avenues radiate from the center like a star it is a monument for the wars (mostly the Napolean wars) that France fought. In the center is the tomb of the unknown soldier from world war I it was awesome and has a winding staircase to get to the top up top you can see the radial avenues AWESOME!!

The second night we took a boat tour down the

The Girls outside of Napoleon's tomb and the war museum the Eiffel tower in the background!

Me and Millie in front of Cathedral

Millie and I in front of our restaurant in Normandy

Me in front of a Fireplace in the Chateau Chambre they were huge!

Chateau Chambre

Me at the Chateau Chenceau

Rachael, Me,and Amanda with our art salesman he was so french and gave us all free key chains!

A goat for a pet and wondering around your restaurant?

Chateau Chenonceau My favorite!

Leonardo Da Vinci's grave

Me on the Beaches of Brittany I think?

St. Michel Abbye an Island of sorts

St. Malo a walled city in Brittany

Omaha Beach memorial

Our Utah Soldier in the Normandy WWII memorial cemetery

Utah beach (I don't know why it is called that but cool)

Me in a fox hole? on hoc beach (D-day) WWII

The Pyramid at the Louve

The Louve so cool! (have you seen Da vinci code?)

WOW! what can I say my favorite sculpture maybe ever our guide said she wins the worlds best wet Tshirt contest ha ha still amazing oh and a little trivia one of her wings was missing when they found her so they one is a cast of the other wondering what it is called: Winged Victory
of Samothrace. BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Joan of arc's memorial in Rouen where she was burned at the stake

I loved the modern art panels in this cathedral the contrast is so fun

Rouen Cathedral

Susan, Our Tour guide and all I can say is the was Mary Poppins a perfect description if you add in the fact that she use to be a mime! I just LOVE her

No diet coke in Paris the one down fall but they also don't have Ice so what is the point of a diet coke without Ice. I had one or two it was called Coca cola light and it just wasn't the same but here is my last European coke on the airplane on the way home

Half way through the year Grin changed Jobs. He still works for Ken Garff but is now the Used car manager at the Ken Garff Nissan dealership in Riverdale. He is loving the change and has started going to Auction to buy used cars. He is really enjoying this new aspect of the job and has had the opportunity to travel to Pennsylvania a few times to an exclusive Nissan Auction. He is now the 1st counselor in the Elders Corm and loves spending time playing with the kids and teaching them sports and watching as much sports as he can football, Basketball, Baseball, Golf, Hockey, Tennis, Poker, Soccer, (did I miss any) pingpong? if it is on Espn it is worth watching am I right?

As for me. It is pretty much same old same old. Clean house house the house by 10 am the next morning it is dirty again. I have Jaxon in joy school with the neighborhood kids and will be the teacher next month. We "remodeled" the storage room it started out putting some shelves in then I decided that we should put floor in, then we put in a water softener and a new water heater. My quick small project ended up a huge major project and cost way to much money but in the end my glasses come out of the dish washer clean for the first time and I am a little more organized which makes me happy. I got a new calling a few weeks ago and am now the primary chorister yikes never complain about your calling because it could always be worse. Teaching relief society was torture but at least it was only once a month now it is every week. The kids are a true joy though.

Jaxon started the 4th grade this fall and is doing amazing . He is crazy smart and can read at a 6-8th grade reading level. I gave him my old alarm clock after Grinner won me an Ihome and wakes himself up every morning. He gets up, gets dressed, makes his bed, unloads the dishwasher, reads and sometimes gets his piano done. This of course doesn't always happen smoothly but he does pretty good. We went to his SEP conference however and learned that he doesn't turn in his work that he does. He read probably 4 books that quarter at home and he had turned 1 in and it was the one I had read to him. My little brother was like that and almost didn't graduate because of it, what a nightmare we are working hard to rectify that situation as quickly as possible. He is playing on a competetion basketball team (The Davis Starts) and a comp baseball team (The Sox) and has practice or games almost everynight year round but he loves it and is always happy to go and willing to get his other jobs done to do it most of the time it makes for great leverage. He is getting so tall and before I turn around he will be taller than me. I bought size 10 pants for him for school last spring and we got them out for school and they are too short so he has been flooding around for months new pants "Merry Christmas Jaxon". It is so fun to watch him grow and develop into who he is going to be.

Gavin is now 6 years old! He is in Kindergarten and having a September birthday the oldest in his class. He is not "in love" with school but I don't have to convince him to go everyday either. He has discovered video games and I have had to spend a lot of my time monitoring how much time he has spent playing them. He still has middle child syndrome and you would think that I being a middle child myself would do better at making sure that doesn't happen but he still seems to be the kids that doesn't get his homework done and isn't reading as well as he should at no fault to his own but because mom seems to be running around after everything else. His sweet little personality I am afraid is reflecting this and he spends his life looking at the world with "the glass half EMPTY" I actually put a glass in front of him and asked him "Gavin, when you look at this glass what do you see, is it half full or half empty." his response, "half empty". I am praying that it is a 6 year old phase some of his friends moms say the same thing that the girls will cry in a drop of a hat etc. Gavin doesn't cry that quick but he lashes out yelling not nice things at us like "I hate you's" and "your the worste mom in the world" or this is the worst day ever" "stupid idiot" well you get the idea. I don't want this to be negative but want to write how he actually is so that someday we can read back and laugh at this funny faze our sweet Gavin went through right? On the switch side (it is kind of like living with Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde) he is the cutest big brother to Kennedi and to Ella most days to. But he will spend hours playing with Kennedi from the day she was born giving her kisses, and talking to her in baby talk. Now that she is 10 months he pushes her around the house on her push toy and sits around playing with her for hours kissing and loving her. He is truly the best baby sitter and my heart just leaps out of my chest when ever I watch him. He is going to be the best sweatest dad. My sisters little girl has been his favorite for ever now and I kept wondering if we would be as cute with his own sister as he has been with her but he is just as sweet and loving. How so much love and tenderness and hate and rage can come out of the same child in a matter of hours is beyond me but I am learning quickly that he just "feels" more than the rest of us and we will all adjust accordingly and search for ways for him to utilize that gift.

Ella is now 4 years old!! I was so excited when we found out that Ella was going to join our family I really needed a little more estrogen in this house full of boys and boy did we get it. There is no "tom boy" in our little Ella she is Girly Girl to the core. We have a trunk full of dress-ups in her room (however rarely are they "in the trunk") and a Mirror above it were she spends hours admiring herself and "possing" in front of it. Then she keeps asking things like. "Do I look beautiful in this mommy" or "am I more beautiful in this mommy", or "do I look cute or no?" of course the answer is alway "Yes Ella you look beauiful in everything". but she just keeps asking. We are constantly in a state of imaginary play, princesses and mommies, dances, and tea parties. She loves to dress up in moms shoes and wear princess dresses. She is constantly wanting a friend to play with and they will play house and pretend all day. I LOVE IT!!! it is such a great balance from the "lets wrestle, fight, shoot each other etc." we just eat her up. She is in preschool and loves it. she can write her name so well and knows every letter and its sound ( and has known them for over a year) and recognizes them all the time when we read. She loves to pier over my shoulder when Gavin and I read and she hurries and repeats the words after him like she is reading right along and truthfully she does about as good as he does. That's a girl for you right!

Kennedi Rose Pearce came into our family on February 11th 2011. She became the 3rd Hone Grandchild to be born on that day (strange). She has grown so fast and becoming such a fun and integral part of our little family. She has such a sweet demeanor and is always smiling at people. She is really quite the flirt and we spend most of our outings with people standing around talking about how cute she is and telling everyone around them things like. "Have you seen this baby", "come look at this baby", "She is the cutest thing, you have to see this baby", "look at those big blue eyes" While she just smiles and smiles like she is telling them "I know I am cute and you should all notice". It is really quite fun for me and Grin because we reallyh get a say in how they look or act right! She is crawling all over and getting into every thing she is a typical 10m old baby and we wouldn't trade her for the world.