Happy Birthday Claigh!

Cameron and the kids just had to throw grandpa a surprise party for his birthday. Gideon picked out the plates and birthday celebration decor. He was very excited to have his grandpa see it all. We celebrated a night early as our plans for today have changed and so the surprise was real. Cameron and the kids left early this morning and we are packing for our trip to California. We feel so blessed for their visit. A special thanks to Collins for the sacrifice of the time with them away from him. - We will save the fishing trip and Mesa Falls for a visit when he can be here with them.

A Sad/Glad Day

Today our dear brother Robert's long struggle with bone cancer came to an end as he passed from this life at 2:20 p.m. Pacific Time. My heart aches for the loss and yet again I am grateful his suffering has ended. How fortunate I am that Robert has been such a dear part of my life. He was good and generous to me. I loved to laugh with him for he had a keen sense of humor that I especially appreciated when times were tough. I admired his dedication to his mom as he watched out for her during her years of diminishing health. He had an understanding heart when it came to the human failings of those he loved and he knew to appreciate the efforts extended in his behalf and in behalf of others even though those efforts may have at times fallen short. Robert had a way of putting things into perspective for me that I will miss. I love him and am comforted in the knowledge that he is reunited with mom and dad and most especially his loving Father in Heaven and his Savior Jesus Christ. I know that as we leave this life we will be reunited with those we loved here. God bless us to live richly with the blessing of this knowledge.

Bradley heads for the MTC

My brother Dale, his wife Kellie and their children Bradley (19), Sarah (20), Amber (4) and Jacob (4) stopped by last night for a couple of hours. They were on their way to Provo, Utah to take Bradley to the Missionary Training Center. He will be serving a mission to Boise, Idaho. Amber and Jacob thoroughly enjoyed playing with Jonah, Gideon and Isaac although Isaac's enthusiasm was at times a bit overwhelming for them. I imagine they now believe these "neat cousins" live at our house and the next time they come for a visit they will be very disappointed to find that it is actually just Uncle Claigh and Aunt Wendy who live here. I had been very careful to charge up the camera all day so we could get a picture but alas - we were having too much fun and they were gone before I realized we had lost the opportunity. It is wonderful to have family visit!

Cameron and Felicity

Jonah Soren Roberts

Gideon Parker Stewart

Isaac Nathan Stewart

Felicity Fun

Surprise!

Okay - So we didn't stay quiet for long! Last Wednesday night Cameron drove into town with Jonah, Gideon, Isaac and Felicity. Let the good times roll ...

With BYUI Education week beginning Thursday morning, I had to scramble to get things in order. Thankfully, they were able to manage without me for my Thursday morning hosting shift and so I spent the day with the kids. We had a tuna sandwich picnic in the park and just relaxed. The highlight for the kids was the visit to "Reeds Dairy." Gideon was particularly interested in the ducks. Is there something about being five and being fascinated with the fowl world? We all thoroughly enjoyed the fresh made ice cream. Jonah gave a valiant attempt at eating the whole "one scoop on a waffle cone" strawberry cheesecake ice cream BUT he didn't quite make it.

Friday morning dawned bright and early for me as I set off for Education Week. As soon as my hosting shift ended, I headed back to Idaho Falls with a half day pass for Cameron as well as a ticket for the nighttime performance of the International Dance Festival in the Hart auditorium. She made her escape and the kids and I settled into watching "Meet the Robinsons." (Love that movie!) As soon as it was over, we headed for LDSFS to pick up Grandpa. While he changed, the younger kids and I headed for the car wash. I am certain every bug in the whole of Washington, Montana, and Idaho had met their doom on the Stewart Family Van! Thank goodness for the foam brush!!

Grandpa and Jonah rejoined us and we headed for "Blast Off", a playland/arcade/laser tag facility. The kids really enjoyed themselves for a couple of hours. We arrived back home ready for quiet time and stories. Cameron returned around 11:00 p.m. and we all collapsed into bed.

Saturday was back to BYUI for me while the kids and Grandpa headed for the water park in Pocatello. They had five full hours of fun and I had opportunity to take in some family history classes following my shift. I also thoroughly enjoyed my class by Joseph McConkie on the gathering of Israel. I have long been a Joseph Fielding McConkie Fan so this was a real treat! Best of all, I was able to get some great ideas from Sister Angelle Anderson for our Family Reunion next summer!

I got home around 5:30 and put a couple of pizzas in the oven. As I pulled the first one from the oven, the crew got home from their water fun HUNGRY! We all enjoyed the evening and before I knew it, it was 10:30 p.m. and I still had my Sunday School lesson to prepare! At 3:30 a.m. I finally crawled into bed for what was tooooooo little sleep. That was a bit stressful and I was extremely tired because of it. The class went well though at least up until the end. I bore my testimony on the power of the scriptures to bless our lives and then started cleaning up. No one moved or spoke. I thought "This is weird" but I really couldn't figure it out. About an hour latter (well Okay, perhaps it was just a minute or two) Felicity ran to the front of the room and as your dad caught up with her he said, "Are we going to have a closing prayer?" What a riot! I was really spaced out. He said the prayer and everyone got really animated after that. LOLALAL! (laugh a lot and lots and lots!)

As you might guess - I needed a nap Sunday afternoon and so as Claigh and the kids headed for the falls, I slipped into unconsciousness.

Today is going to be a bit laid back with Dale and Kelly stopping by on their way to the MTC. Bradley is going on a mission to Boise Idaho - Hooray! Cameron and Gideon will go to see Kung-Fu Panda. (After he found out Grandpa and Jonah had gone to see it last Thursday night, he was pretty upset because "Everyone in my class has seen KungFu Panda and I am the only one who hasn't!) What fun with more to come!