Brooklyn 7 months

Brooklyn is growing up so fast. She is getting more attached to us. She loves her sisters and Mom and Dad. Getting her to go to others is sometimes hard.


I love her big blue eyes and smile. She loves being held, she is a happy little girl as long as she has someone to play with.

Funeral Services

This past week has been an emotional one for me. My grandmother pasted away 10 days ago. We had her funeral services on Thursday. The family did a great job on their talks. I learned so much more about my grandma. It was great to see family that we have not seen in a very long time. My kids enjoyed playing with cousins.

I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge that we have of Families are Forever. My thoughts and prayers are with my grandpa right now. He will truly miss grandma.

These are the grand kids, she has 37 and 97 great grand kids.

This is the viewing the night before. On the way to Pasco we were talking about grandma and that we were going to see her body. When we got to the funeral home we walked in Natalie asked Garrett "Where is Jesus"? It was so cute she was looking all around trying to find him. She knew that Grandma was in heaven with Jesus and she could see here body so she thought Jesus was here also. I love the simple mind of children.

Morgan surprisingly had a hard time seeing grandma in the casket. It was the first funeral the kids went to. They had lots of questions.

We will miss grandma very much.

Grandma McGary

Lavon Marie Beebe McGary passed away peacefully on February 4, 2011 at her home in Basin City, Washington after a short bout with cancer. She was surrounded by her family and loved ones. Mom was born on February 7, 1930 in Firth, Idaho to Wilson and Marie Child Dye Beebe the oldest of five children. She enjoyed her childhood days of as a farm girl and attended schools in the Firth area. In 1946 Dad was a returned WW II soldier when he and Mom met at the local roller skating rink. After a short courtship they were married on October 25, 1946. Their marriage was later solemnized in the Idaho Falls L.D.S. Temple. Over the next 65 years Mom and Dad experienced a rich life of family, work, service and traveling together. They made their first home in Shelley, Idaho, with Mom as the homemaker and Dad employed in construction. In 1964 they were called to serve a church building mission moving their family of seven children to Basin City, Washington. With a strong pioneer spirit Mom accepted the challenges of the developing Columbia Basin helping to establish the community, her home and eventually the family farm in that area. She loved being around people of all ages. For 32 years she drove school bus transporting hundreds of school children throughout the North Franklin School District. She was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving in several callings and positions including missionary with Dad to the Nauvoo Illinois L.D.S. Historical Sites and the Spokane L.D.S. Temple construction. She is known for her excellent cooking and ice cream making, a hit at all social events and parties. Mom loved her family of seven children, 39 grandchildren and 96 great-grandchildren. She is survived by her husband Don, three sisters and her children Sheryl Nielson (Jim) Basin City, Stephen (Debi), Rexburg, Idaho, Terri Price (late Lynn), Mattawa, Scott (Tamlee), Basin City, Eileen Maxfield (Mark) Richland, Lane (Jan) Basin City, Curtis (Julie), Kennewick. She was preceded in death by her parents, a younger brother, a son-in-law and two granddaughters.

Visiting Grandma

Yesterday was a very hard day for our family. My grandma LaVon McGary got put in the hospital on Monday, we got word that we needed to come see her cause she doesn't have very long to life.

This is very shocking news, she just found out on Monday 4 days ago that she has cancer. She has it just about everywhere, all her major organs. The crazy thing is she has been filling ok until the first of January then she decided to go get some x rays and test done cause she just was not feeling that good. She just found out that it's spreading very fast.

It was a very special time for us. The spirit was very strong in the room. My testimony grew on how thin the veil is. I found out that Natalie has a very special gift. She was not afraid at all she layed on the bed next to grandma for over an hour. She just could not get enough of her. Even today she keeps asking when we are going back to see the Candy Grandma.

Madalyn and Morgan had a little harder time showing their feelings, they didn't know what to think. Morgan asked me a few times, "How come grandma has to die"?

I hope to share some of the special memories later when I have time.

Brooklyn just loved being on Grandmas lap, she just laughed and had big smiles.

It's funny, YOU truly don't miss things until you know will not have them forever.

Story Time with Aunt Terry and Sheryl.

Growing

Today Brooklyn is 7 months old she is:


26 3/4 inches long - 72% percentile


15.1pounds-20% percentile







She is a light in our families life. It's so hard not to kiss her all day long. She loves to be held and have lots of attention. As soon as you put her down she begins to scream. She is my little Blondie baby with very little hair. She is learning to sit up on her own. She has a smile that melts your heart.
Brooklyn we love you.

Mud

What a Muddy Mess!! We have been getting lots of rain the past two weeks after Christmas. The kids went out last weekend to ride the four wheeler and this is what happened. I was in the house with Brooklyn and Garrett was at work, I soon hear Madalyn screaming so I run out thinking something bad had happened. I then see all three girls and the four wheeler stuck in the mud. By the time I thought about taking a picture Natalie was the only one I had not pulled out. Madie and I got it out but we were covered in mud we were all laughing when it was over.

Love Letter

On Monday the girls got home from school, they came in the house after being home for about an hour Morgan starts to tell Garrett about what happened on the bus ride home. Madalyn got a love letter, from a boy in her class. It said
Dear Madalyn,
I love you. I want to be your boyfriend.
Love Jacob
Madalyn overheard Morgan telling Garrett about the love letter and she was so mad at Morgan for telling us. Madalyn started crying and ran to her room. I didn't know any of this was happening (I was running on the treadmill in our room) until Garrett said you better come out here and talk to Madalyn he then told me what had happened. So I went in to talk to Madalyn about the letter. She told me what had happened. She said Jacob had given the letter to Crete (who rides her bus) Crete give the letter to her on the bus. She was so embarrassed after she read the letter on the bus she put it in the trash on the bus and told Morgan not to tell us. I guess it might pay off having our kids close in age, they can tell us what each other is doing. Anyway, I had a nice long talk with Madalyn about how it ok to get letters and that she did nothing wrong and just cause she got the letter she doesn't have to be his girl friend.
That night I just laughed at how in 10 years she will love getting love letters. We are in for many more long talks.
P.S. if you live here don't say anything to her about the letter she is so embarrassed.

Goals

2011 Garrett and Jilayne's Goals:
I guess it's that time of year again when we get to set a few new goals. So here it goes, we hope to do better this year. Garrett and I decided to only set 3 goals this year and so we could focus on a few and feel like we have made progress. We each picked one and then one together. We are going to help each other out.
1. Garrett's Goal- To read the scriptures more often and get in a daily habit of it.
2. Jilayne's Goal- To lose 10 pounds, to lose the baby weight.
3. Attend the Temple once a month- this has been a trail for us since we have had kids. It seems like something always goes wrong. We can't find a babysitter, someone gets sick, Garrett has to work, you name it it keep us from the temple last year. We set a goal with Justin and Heather to go every month, their kids would come over and babysit for us. When Heather offered this to us I wanted to cry I had been praying for some way for us to get to the temple. We went last Saturday, what a blessing this is going to be for us. Plus our kids get to spend time with their cousins and we get a night out with Justin and Heather. The Lord truly answers prayers.

Madalyn 7

I finally took Madalyn to get her 7 year old pictures taken, with four kids it's a lot harder to keep up on all the pictures. Madalyn turned 7 the end of September.









I was happy with the way they turned out. She is growing up so fast. She has become a great kid.

Christmas Break

We are back to school now but we enjoyed a wonderful 2 week break. We stayed home this year and didn't go anywhere. The girls were lucky to get a surprise visit from Grandma Jenks and Monty. They came for a few short days after Christmas. We just stayed home and enjoyed our family.




We went out to Justin and Heathers for their annual New Years eve party. They always have GREAT food and it's so much fun to visit and play games with the cousins and family.





Brooklyn is growing like a weed. She loved having lots of attention from her sisters, she cried when they went back.






The new four wheeler gave the kids hours of fun. I only wish it was warmer, they come in the house frozen.