Grandpa's Funeral

It was a sad occasion, but a great service.  The viewing was great, the thoughts, the prayers, the company, the food, and the overall feeling.  There were tears, giggles, and lots of hugs throughout.  We are blessed with so many wonderful family members! The Doxey's are a great group of people and sadly, I only really know a small percentage.  I feel like as I saw everyone it hit me that I had to think pretty hard to think of some cousins names, whose child they were and if I knew much about them.  Of course we have those we're close to, but growing up in Japan and having some other families growing up away, there are way too many people I don't remember until I see them.  Kind of sad.  But, it was really fun to see them!!

Anyway, the cool thing about having an Ameritus General Authority grandpa is that General Authorities come to pay respects.  We shook hands with Elder Christofferson and Elder Perry at the viewing and Elder Nelson walked in to the funeral right behind us, so we held the door for him and shook his hand.  Then he spoke for a few minutes at the end!  I think that's pretty darn neat.  It's amazing to be in the presence of an apostle!  And I'll admit it's hard not to follow them around just to say hi :)  Haha.  Without saying anything to Brayden when we held the door for Elder Nelson, he turned to us and said "That's one of our prophets!"  I said "Yeah! Do you know which one?" "No. Who?" "It's Elder Nelson."  Then very excitedly and loudly while Elder Nelson is walking down the hall Brayden exclaims "It's Nelson!  It's Nelson! Zander, that's Elder NELSON!" Then Zander joins in (always wanting to be just like Brayden) "That's Nelson!!"  I was slightly disappointed that he didn't turn around or respond.  That would have made Brayden's day.  But it made my day knowing that my little guys, young as they are, know that being an apostle is special.

Anyway, here's some pics!

Our Real Last Disney Trips

. . . with our season passes anyway :)

This past week we chose to head out to Disney World in Orlando because Preston had seminary off for a school break.  We invited Dan and Alyssa (who is a teacher in the same school district and therefore has the same break) to come with us if they wanted and by many little miracles it was able to work out and be a ton of fun!  Disney is always a happy place for me, but then we drove up to Tallahassee for Saturday night and Sunday and got to see all our long lost friends that we tend to be so bad at keeping in touch with!  It was absolutely incredible to drive up to the Porter's house and see the whole street lined with cars, knowing they were there to see us.  Almost wanted to cry.  And it was just magical seeing everyone again.  It felt like home.  We got to see the Bell's new baby and all the growing newborns from when we left.  Plus, it was so nice seeing the boys be outreached by all their old little friends.  They were right at home too ;)

(everything above was written back in October. I guess I just never got around to putting the pictures on. . . . oops!)

In Loving Memory of Graham W. Doxey

My Grandpa Doxey passed away on Sunday night and he will be missed. We were so lucky to have him stick around long enough to visit him several times after we moved back to Utah.  He's been battling lymphoma cancer for the past 6 months or so.  I admired his optimism in the face of a hard physical battle.  Of course once he's gone I wish I would have gotten to know him even better and spent even more time with him, but I am very grateful for his wonderful example in my life.  He accomplished many things and served endlessly for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Thank you Grandpa!  I love you!

Zander's Birthday - a bit belated :)

We had a little party on Zander's birthday way back in August that I never posted, so just doing a little catch up.

It wasn't anything too fancy, but Momma Brown helped me make some cake pops that turned out super cute, not to mention yummy!!! Then we just did yogurt/berry parfaits and mini bagels because it was brunch time. I made a "2" pinata I was pretty proud of and then prepared a couple simple games.  It turned out a success because Zander had a great time.  He and Brayden were talking about it for weeks and are now all about birthdays :)  Mission accomplished!

Here's the photos!

The Cute "Happy" Birthday cake pops!

Balloon static!

My homemade pinata!! (pretty good, right?)

So, 30 seconds after this picture, Makaila was tears because her mom had hit the pinata! She was pretty sure you're not supposed to hit things! Hahaha )

In the end, we needed a little Daddy muscle to break it open.

makeshift candles. . . I always forget something!! ;)

 We planned on making dinner at home, but when it was already dinner time and we were all tired from a fun party day, we asked Zander what he would want to eat and he wanted fries. Haha. So, we figured we could splurge on Wendy's.  And splurge we did!  We bought them kids meals for the first time ever!!  They LOVED it and still point out "the Wendy's from Zander's birthday" every time we pass.  I love kids!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE ZAN!!