Dad

 As I have been thinking about Fathers Day this past week, I haven't really had time to put my thoughts down. My dad passed away 9 years ago. He died suddenly giving us no chance to say goodbye.  That was tough.  What made it more difficult my oldest brother died four days later, on the day of my dad's funeral. For our family it was the toughest week ever. I can't even begin to imagine how my mother got through it all. But, you know, we did.  We all grieved in our own and different ways.  We miss them both but I especially miss my dad.  He was a Rock. He never wavered in his testimony of Jesus Christ, His Atonement and of the restored Gospel.  Dad's testimony was steadfast and immovable. After he passed away I think we all re-evaluated our own testimonies.  My testimony became stronger.  I prayed more and found comfort and peace through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I miss dad and I always will but I know that there will come a time when I will get to be with him again. I am always amazed when I think of how much our Heavenly Father loves us.  He made a plan so that we could be eternal families. What a comfort that is daily.

Here are some pictures of dad that make me smile.  Thanks for being the best dad in the whole word.

 

Ralph Vernon Robertson Jr. being held by his parent, Vernon and Gwen Robertson

In the picture below Dad is number 27.  He played for the Powell High School Basketball team. I think he looks a lot like Jared.  They are built a lot alike.

 

 My parents wedding picture. What very good looking parents I have! A smiling picture would have been nice though :)

This picture was taken in Laramie before Dad went on to Chicago and Dental school

Below is a picture of Dad after we moved to Lovell.

 Here are Mom and Dad at Kevin's wedding reception I believe. I love this picture!

 Here is one that I like.  I am sitting by dad and my beautiful sister Karen is on my other side.  It must have been around Christmas time since I am wearing a questionable Christmas sweatshirt.

Happy Birthday to Connor!

 Connor with his dad Lucas.

 On his blessing day.

 Four generation picture.

 Last Saturday at the Shrine Bowl.

What a cutie pie! Happy Birthday Connor!  We can't wait to see you again. 

Girls Camp 2012

Loading up! Carmen is getting her truck ready to go! It was great fun to get to know her.

Girls camp was really great this year.  The theme was arise and shine forth and we did an Olympic twist to it.  Each ward picked a country.  We chose Argentina.  We made banners and shirts and penguin head bands to represent Argentina. I love being camp director especially since we get to go to a camp where we have cooks, bathrooms and cabins.  How spoiled are we?

 All our girls!

 Emily and Whitney. What lovely girls!

 The opening ceremonies.  Our girls had on the blue shirts and the penguin faces!

 Getting ready to perform the skits.  Ours was awesome! You can see it on youtube. Just click http://youtu.be/JdTEHjM4yaE

 The Queen of England!

 Madison you are beautiful!

 Singing around the campfire!

 Everyone enjoyed the dancing on Tuesday night. We had a third ward girl come with us.  She just barely moved to Lovell and made tons of new friends. Welcome to Samantha!

 Some girls who were really intent on getting their fire to light.

 This is how you put your fire together.  Spike helped me get the steel wool and the lint together for this certification. We tried to make the magnifying glass start a fire.  No such luck.  Debbie worked for an hour.

 Sara finally got her fire going.  She worked a long time but finally had some success! Way to hang in there Sara!

 Kaitlyn is doing a  great job of getting her matchless fire going!

Our third year girls!  The Byron Ward and the Lovell 4th ward were in charge of the certification for this group of girls. We went on our hikes on Thursday.  Can I just say "Ouch"? We went twelve miles up and down hills with lots of rocks on the trail.  My body is rebelling today.  After about eight miles my hips had had enough so a few girls and I decided to jog a bit to use different muscles.  That was better. I got to know a few ladies better and had some good visits with them.  Overall camp was an awesome experience.  I love these girls!

Shrine Bowl

We went down to Casper on Friday to participate in the Shrine Bowl weekend.  There was a banquet on Friday night for the players.  It was a great evening where they went over the reason that these boys are playing their North/South Shrine Football game.  "Strong legs run so that weak legs may walk." The Shriners provided a great week for about 60 young men.  They housed them and fed them for a week and also had them go down to Salt Lake City to visit the Shrine burn and orthopedic center.  One of the patients there was a twelve year old boy who has two prosthetic legs.  He loves sports and played football with them on the lawn out in front of the hospital.  I think it really put into perspective what these boys have and what others do not.

 The boys with coach Hazen. Mark, Eli and AJ will really miss the association they have with him.

 The boys with their dads and the coach. Spike, Mark, Coach Hazen, Brad, Eli, AJ and Angel.

Here is a picture with the moms. Me, Mark, Matty, Eli, Stephanie and AJ.

Mark played a great game on Saturday night.  Rachael, Eli, Eve, Lucas, Shanae and Connor came up from Laramie.   We got some free tickets from Joe White so they could get into the game.  It was so fun to have them there for the game and then for some food afterward.  I don't think they left Casper until midnight and got home to Laramie at about 2:30 in the morning.  Thanks for coming kiddos!

 Here we are at the free breakfast the Casper Kiwanis put on in the park in Casper.

Here is Mark during the parade.

 This is during the pre-game warm up.  Mark got his number "80".

 Here I am with Connor!  Don't you love his UW shirt? He almost matched his Uncle Mark.

Here we are getting introduced.  We stayed on the field for about forty minutes and I got a bit of a sunburn.  The Casper wind was in full force as you can tell by my hair that I sprayed and fixed just so before the game but it didn't matter a bit by the time this picture was taken.

 Lucas did a good job of getting some action shots.  Here he is doing some awesome blocking, trying to get a hole open.

 Here he is in the huddle with Coach Stringer from Powell.

 Mark and Eli on the line waiting for the South team to kick-off.  Mark usually got to be the one receiving the ball and running it back so this was a way new position for him to be in.

 Mark was on the kick-off receive team.  Here he is on the line.  On the first play at this position, the South did an on-side kick and Mark was able to snatch it up and fall on the ball. Mark played almost all of the second half on offense.  He was a full back.  Mostly he blocked holes for the half back to run through.  It was a little frustrating for us because we could see they they should just give the ball to Mark and let him get ten or so yard every once in a while and we could have seen a very different score.  He got a few passes after he got though the line or when he was a tight end.  The north's defense wasn't all that great and they weren't able to adjust until half time.  AJ played on the line very well and got double teamed a lot. I thought they needed Mark on defense too but all of the kids needed to play.  I suppose it wasn't about the win, it was about being able to play and raise money for those who can't.

Here is Mark being very patient with me, well, maybe not so much.  My camera was being difficult so I didn't get the shot I wanted.  It was tough to not win.  Mark, AJ, and Eli came off an undefeated season so when the north didn't win this game it was tough.  Mark thought that the Lovell team could have beat the South team.  It was hard for all the players to learn a new offense and defense in less than a week and the coaches made sure that all the kids got in the game. 

All in all it was a fantastic week for all these young men to participate in. They got to associate with the best football players in the state and get to know some new friends. I am not sure Mark really wanted the week to end. They get to keep the game jersey and that will be fun to remember the whole week.

It's okay to cry....

Well we had a tough day today.  Duchess did not get better but got, in fact, much worse.  We took her to the vet hoping that she had pneumonia and could be treated.  We found that she had congestive heart failure and was really suffering a lot.  We made the decision to put her down. Jacob and I went to the vet to say goodbye one last time.  Jacob was trying not to cry because he is a big eleven year old.  I told him that sometimes it's okay to cry.  Sometimes its best that you do.  So, we did.

I am sure we will miss her everyday for a long time.  She was such a good dog and loved us very much.

I took this picture just a few days ago when the dogs were laying on their bed.

We got Duchess when she was about eight weeks old. She was tiny thing when we first got her.   She was almost eleven years old when she passed away.   We got her when Jacob was about nine months old and she quickly became his protector. Duchess wouldn't let anyone mess with him.   She either got between Jacob and his antagonist or she just grabbed the offenders hand with her mouth.   We had lots of fun picking on Jacob to see what Duchess would do. She raised him from a pup.   Mostly she loved Lucas until he left for college and then she loved Jacob best.

Here is Duchess as a puppy.  Betsy is holding her.  She was so cute!

This is a funny picture.  Duchess would not even look at Molly when we first brought Molly home.  You can see her studiously avoiding her.  This lasted weeks. I guess she thought if she ignored the 'problem', it would eventually go away.

 Yes, this happened a lot!  Wherever Jacob fell asleep, the dogs would sleep with him.

 Here is Duchess last summer when we went through Yellowstone over to a family reunion in Idaho.  She had so much fun. By this time she had cataracts and couldn't see very well.  She stayed right with me the whole time, every once in a while she would get me confused with one of my sisters and follow the wrong one.

 Here she is with Lucas.  I am guessing Lucas is about 11 or 12 years old in this picture.

 This was what happened on a typical day at our house.  One dog on each end of the couch.  Usually Duchess would find a comfortable spot and then Molly would come and sit on her until she left to find a new spot.

This is Lucas carrying Duchess down the rocks at 5 Springs.

   Jacob had a hard time of it yesterday. Things are looking up today though. We talked about hurting and how the atonement can help if we ask for it.   This morning Jacob told me that prayer really works and that now when he thinks about Duchess he doesn't get that lump in his throat but feels peaceful instead of sad. Heavenly Father loves us :)

I have lots of good memories about that dog.  If anyone has some, please leave them in the comment section.  I would really appreciate it.

Duchess

We have been concerned about our older beagle Duchess for a few weeks now.  She has been losing weight and has had trouble breathing.  She rarely can make it up onto the couch now so I have put a blanket on the floor so she can be comfortable.  She is almost eleven years old now.  We have had her for such a long time and she practically raised Jacob from a pup. I hope she comes out of this.

Not much else is happening at our house except that Mark is gone for a week of football for the Shrine Bowl.  He is enjoying himself a lot and will be going to the children's hospital in Salt Lake City today to visit children.  Mark says he loves learning the new plays and new terminology. He says his position will be FB,  LB, TE.  You know....I think it means Full back, Line backer and Tight end.

Jacob and I are getting ready for the Cub Scout/ 11 year old Scout Spaghetti Dinner and Entertainment for tomorrow.  And then we will trit trot off to Casper to watch the Shrine Bowl and then I will be on my way to girls camp for four days. After that it will be the Lovell's days week and then I may be headed off to Laramie to watch Eve while Rachael goes to her girls camp.  How about that?  June---done!  Planned anyway.

Did you ever wonder...

Did you ever wonder what the inside of a yellow jacket nest looks like?  Here you go.

We found this on the north side windows in the living room.  The mother bug was just putting the finishing touches on it when I spied it.  We watched her work for a while.  You can see her working away on the inside there.  Mark sprayed the nest this morning while the mother was away.  When she came back she licked it for a while and then flew away.  We haven't seen her come back.  I need to scrape this off the window soon.

Memorial Day

Jacob and I went to the Lovell Cemetery this morning for the Memorial Day ceremonies.  Jacob and about twenty other kids from his class sang two patriotic songs for the program.  They sounded really nice. We were able to go around the cemetery and remember family members.  We went to the Robertson area and 'visited with' Grandpa Vern and Grandma Gwen, Aunt Ruth and Portia, and the other great grandparents.  Cherie Hoffman noticed that some of the headstones had no flowers so she went home to get some.

 Here is Grandpa Flash's headstone.We miss him a lot.  He is a great man. Just yesterday in a talk Stan Asay talked about the example of good home teaching partners.  They were Max Jones and Ralph Robertson.  Thanks dad, for always setting a good example.  I love the flags that have been placed on the ones that served in the military.  I got rather teary eyes when the speaker talked a little of his experiences in Vietnam. I am so grateful for those who sacrificed so much for my freedoms.

 We took some pictures.  Here is my brother Kevin's headstone.  I miss that guy.  Jacob doesn't remember either Grandpa Flash or Kevin.  That makes me sad but we have a video of Kevin that we watch every once in a while and we have lots of pictures of Grandpa Flash.

Here is Grandpa Grant's headstone.  It is a nice one and easy to find.  We miss his sense of humor and teasing.  I wish I had known him before he was sick. Actually, so does Spike.  He says he doesn't remember when his dad wasn't sick.  Someday we will get to know and love him even more.