Twenty-Seven Years Ago Today

I've struggled with how to do this post, but still feel like I need to, so here it is.  Twenty-seven years ago my life and the lives of my family changed forever.  Twenty-seven years ago today my brother, Cris Carl Henningson, left this earth for a better place.  I was only 5 at the time, and I don't remember very much about the days following, but I do remember the love that I felt from and for my older brother.  He was a great example to me and I will always be greatful for his life and the opportunity I had, and will have, to get to know and love him.  While having a sibling die is a hard thing to deal with, I know that I am a better person today because of Cris and his life and death.  I've tried to live my life so that I will be worthy to see Cris again.  Because of my knowledge of the Plan of Salvation, I've tried my best to live in a way that would make Cris proud to be my older brother.  Having an older brother look after me the way I know Cris is has made me the person I am today and I am grateful for that.  I look forward to the day when I will be able to thank Cris for everything he has done for me and give him a great big hug, but until then I will continue to live my life the best I can.

My brother Cris giving me a bath.

Dale Bryan, Cris Carl, Kendall Clair, Jenny LeOra, & Wendy Kay

Me, Cris, & Jenny

Kendall, Dale B, Cris, Jenny & Me

Dale B, Kendall, Me, & Jenny taken one year after Cris was killed in a rock slide at Topaz Mountain.  I still have a necklace with a piece of Topaz we found on this trip.  I love the fact that my birthstone is Topaz because it gives me another special connection to Cris.

I love you Cris!  Thanks for all of the lessons you've taught me in life as well as in death!

Henningson Family Fun!

My older sister and her family came from Wisconsin during Spring Break.  We had a lot of fun hanging out together as a family, even if the weather spoiled some of our plans.

There are 27 of us when we all get together and it is so much fun.  The cousins consist of Dalliam-17, Bryan-15, Kyler-8, Elizabeth-8, Jay-7, Alan-6, Kaylee-5, Braxton-4, Joshua-4, Kenyon-3, Rebekah-2, Rylie-2, Evelyn-1, Tyson-1/2, and Jessica-1/2.

Isn't my dad so cool?

On Thursday evening we all had dinner at Kendall and Sheri's house and then went to the movie "How To Train Your Dragon."

On Friday the grandkids decorated Easter Eggs, we had family pictures taken, and then had dinner at our house.

Grandpa Henningson with Evelyn and Tyson

Saturday morning we had breakfast at Dale and Lilliam's house and then took the kids to the park for the city Easter Egg Hunt.  It was a lot of fun, even if it did snow on us!

Isn't this the cutest picture of Evelyn and Rebekah?

Kenyon, Evelyn, Kaylee, Kyler, Elizabeth, and Alan after the hunt.

One of the many family meals we had.

The Henningson Sisters:  Charlotte, Jenny and Wendy

Saturday night, Dalliam and Bryan watched the kids so the adults could go to the movie.  They sure had their hands full, but it was nice to get away with just the adults for a little bit.

On Sunday we had another Easter Egg Hunt.  This one was at Grandma Henningson's house and the weather was a little better.

After the kids found some eggs, we went to Red Point to roll, or in some cases throw, them down the hill!

Monday we went to visit Great Grandpa Poulsen.  Josh, Kenyon, Jessica,  Great Grandpa, Tyson, Elizabeth, Evelyn, Kaylee, Alan, Jenny, and Rebekah.

After picking Kyler up from school, we went to the temple to take some pictures.  The wind was blowing really hard so the kids tried to hide in a corner.

Jenny and her family left Tuesday morning to head back home.  We are so glad they were able to come and visit, and we can't wait until they come again.

Where's Blankie Bear?

The other day when I was doing laundry, Evelyn decided she wanted to help by putting Blankie Bear in the washer.  It needed to be washed so I closed the door and started it up.  Needless to say, Evelyn wasn't very happy about it.

They were so happy to be reunited when Blankie Bear was all clean and dry!

Poor Kenyon!

This picture captures one of the many reasons that Russell is glad that he didn't have an older sister.  Kenyon is so easy going he puts up with a lot from Kaylee, but this was almost too much!

Pinewood Derby

Kyler had his first Pinewood Derby last week.  Russell was very good at making sure Kyler helped with the car, even though sometimes Kyler wasn't interested.  Russell even gave Kyler a physics lesson with the white board about where to put the extra weight.  They did a really good job with the car.

Here are some pictures of Kyler painting it bright red.

Here is Kyler with the finished product ready to race...

... putting the car on the track...

... and after one of the many races.  He got second in this one and was pretty excited!

He had a lot of fun and did a great job on his car.  He is really proud of his Certificate.

Random Pictures

Russell was teasing Evelyn and had to take a picture!

Kyler was sitting on my lap the other day, when Kaylee noticed she had to come and join him.  Not much later Kenyon noticed and figured he should be able to sit on my lap too.  When Evelyn saw that her siblings were getting attention from Mom, she had to join in too.  I actually had all four kids on my lap, until Evelyn started kicking Kyler so he moved.  Here is the best picture Russell was able to get.  Kyler is moving away because Evelyn was kicking him so he is a little blurry, but it is still cute.  I guess it is a good thing that we only have four kids, because there isn't room on my lap for any more!

Grandma Slim

On March 13th we went to Grandma Slim's 85th Birthday Party!  She had a toy for each of the great-grandkids that were there, but they had to sit on her lap for a picture before they could get it.  We are so greatful that we have the opportunity to live so close to Grandma and Grandpa Slim so our kids can get to know them.  Thanks Grandma for everything you do for us!  We love you!

Grandma Slim & Kyler

Grandma Slim & Kaylee

Grandma Slim & Kenyon

Grandma Slim & Evelyn.

Evelyn

Evelyn found the Firefighter hat the other day and had a blast playing with it.  Some of these pictures are kind of blurry, but I thought they were still cute.

I think this picture looks photo shopped, but it isn't.  I like how Evelyn is clear and the background is blurry.  She is always on the go and always has a smile on her face.  We are so glad she is part of our family!

CAMPING in the SNOW!

We went CAMPING last weekend!  Yes, you read that right.  A few weeks ago when Russell was getting ready for the Klondike, Kyler asked if he could go with.  Russell told Kyler that he would take him camping a different weekend, which turned out to be last weekend.  Kendall, Sheri and their two kids went with us.  The weather was really nice and the kids had a lot of fun playing in the snow.

The kids also thought it was fun to sit around the campfire.

When it got dark, they all got out their flashlights and had lots of fun playing with them.

 

Russell, Kyler, Kaylee and Kenyon slept in a big army tent that had a little stove in it.  Evelyn and I whimped out and came home to sleep, but we went back up first thing in the morning.  Russell said they slept better than he expected, and they kids didn't have any complaints.  Kenyon even slept in until about 10am.  Grandma and Grandpa Henningson came up and had breakfast with us, but I didn't get any pictures of them.  When Kenyon finally woke up, Grandpa said, "Good morning Sunshine" and Kaylee responded, "He isn't a Sunshine, he is a Sunbeam."  We all had a good chuckle over that.

Here is proof that it got below freezing!  Kyler thought it was pretty cool that a bowl of water froze over night.

We had a little mishap at around 11am.  Evelyn touched the stove that we had in our tent.  Sheri and I took her down and put some medicine and a bandage on it.  Sheri, thank you so much for your help, I'm sure it would have turned out a lot worse if you wouldn't have had the medicine and let us use some of it!  Evelyn wasn't very excited about having her hand bandaged up, I'm just grateful that it wasn't her thumb sucking hand or we would have been in big trouble.  On Saturday night when we looked at it, there was just one tiny blister at the base of her middle finger.  We put more medicine and another bandage on it.  Sunday afternoon when we looked at it again the blister was pretty much gone.  Now there is just a little red mark and it doesn't seem to bother Evelyn at all.  We are very lucky and grateful that it wasn't any worse.  Maybe now she will listen to us when we tell her something is hot.

All in all it was a very fun and successful camping trip.  Now we can't wait for the snow to melt and for it to get warmer so we can go again.  The kids are now at the age where they really enjoy it and handle the tent sleeping pretty well, which makes it so we enjoy it more too!