I am so pleased to be writing about the Eagle Court that we recently held for Benjamin Heagle Reeves and Brian Douglas Reeves, our youngest two sons and the last of our six sons to receive their Eagle Rank in scouting. They actually finished and were officially Eagle Scouts last August, but we held their court this month so that all their brothers, who are also Eagle Scouts, could be here for the court.

Ben, Brian and Brother Lines, who was one of Brian's leaders
and a great help in achieving this rank

Mom, Dad and the new Eagle Scouts!

Taylor, Richard, Ryan, Larry, Bradley, Benjamin, Brian, and Robert

Brother Phelps who was Ben's scout leader in California

The Reeves kids... Christmas, 2008

New Baby!

This may just be one of the best presents that we all got this Christmas! On December 12, at 1:01 p.m., Nickie gave birth to Kendyl Taylor Reeves. The best part of this is that Richard and Nickie are living with us for a few months so I get to see Kendyl every day. It's wonderful having a baby in the house again!

Of course, Lindsay is loving having Kendyl here...

Richard, the proud dad and Mason the new big brother!

Congratulations to Richard and Nickie! We love you all...

Christmas is here!

This has to be my favorite time of year! Not just Christmas, but the whole time between Halloween and when the kids go back to school, I love it all. I am very excited to say that my shopping is done, the presents are wrapped and under the tree and I'm looking forward to a little more of a relaxed Christmas this year. Well... Nickie is having a baby next week, but other than that, a very relaxing Christmas. We are expecting all the family to be here for at least one week all together and we are looking forward to that.
Our family is doing very well this year, not to say we haven't had our challenges, but we've handled the challenges well. We feel very blessed to have good children who are making good decisions and going forward with their lives in a very satisfying way. Our four oldest are married and having children of their own (we have 11 grandchildren and two on the way), three who are in college, one in the Navy and our youngest is still at home. (You can look at the bottom of the page for more details...)
We are very grateful for the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ and at this time of the year, we want to express our love for all of you, our family, friends and neighbors, and thank you for the influence you have been in our lives and the lives of our children.
We love all of you and hope you
have a wonderful Christmas!

Some highlights from our year...

Ben's Seminary graduation last May...
Ryan, Kimber, Ben, Brian, Robert, Lindsay and Janet




Bradley's return from his mission last January
that's Lindsay with him and Robert in the background...





Our yearly trip to Hawaii in July...
Brian, Bradley, Lindsay, Janet, Robert, Ben

visiting my parents in March...
back row...
Janet, Taylor, Bradley
front row...
Ben, G'pa, G'ma, Brian

I wanted to post some pictures of my Dad's funeral. I was so impressed at the funeral by all the things that were said about my parents. I felt that I didn't know them at all. They are so unselfish and giving to the members of their community. As I sat and listened, I got to know a different side of them that I've never noticed before. I'm so glad that my parents had the opportunity to move to Aurora and make so many dear friends.







My dad was buried in the cemetery in Aurora. It's so small, I love it. He is in an area close to Larry and his family.

























Afterward, there was a luncheon for the family members. Mom did very well under the circumstances and I'm glad that Robert and I were able to be there.







































Cindy had arranged to have balloons for each of us to let go of in the front yard of the house in remembrance of dad. That was a happy moment... It felt like we were sending our love to him in heaven.
I'm grateful for a knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and that I know where he is. I know that I will see him again someday. I'm happy that he is my dad and I'm grateful for everything that he taught me and shared with me during his lifetime. I love you, Dad!

my Dad

I have been putting off writing this post because I didn't know where to start.

On October 28, my dad passed away.

I've been thinking about what to write that would adequately

describe how I feel about my dad and I think the best thing to do is to share some of the things that I've written in my journal about the things that he loved and some of the memories I have of him. Hopefully, those of you who didn't know him will get to know him from what I share and those of you who did know him will be able to relate and enjoy the same memories...

-my dad gave great hugs and kisses

-my dad was very intelligent

-my dad loved tickling anybody who would jump when he did it...

- my dad was a spiritual giant

-my dad loved ice hockey - playing as a kid and watching as an adult

-my dad loved playing games, his grandkids and the fourth of July

-my dad loved to go out on the quads in the mountains of Utah

- my dad was a great builder of rooms, patios, hope chests - you name it, he built it.

- my dad loved to take my kids out for their first driving lesson in the hills by their home

the list could go on for a long time and probably will in my journal, but for now, this is it. I will miss my dad and all the fun things he would do, but I know that he is okay. How grateful I am for the knowledge that I have of a resurrection and of a life after this one, that I will be with my family forever and knowing that he is with loved ones who have gone on before him. I will be forever grateful to my dad and mom who chose to teach me and guide me and help me to become the person I am. I owe both of them so much...

For several years now, David and Vickie have invited us to go to Hawaii with them at this time of year. They come over for a conference that they are part of and each time we have to say no because of other commitments (school, kids, life in general...). But this year we said yes... Brian is the only one home, but Richard and Nickie were here to keep an eye on things, so off we went to Hawaii! Also, we usually visit Kauai and Oahu, but this trip we went to Maui which was a lot of fun.

When we arrived to Oahu, we got a phone call from my mom letting us know that my dad had passed away. It was a devastating blow to say the least. He had been suffering with Alzheimer's disease for a couple of years and was getting worse, but I didn't know how bad it was till my mom called. The next few days were hard and made our trip a bit different.

As always, the sunsets on Waikiki were amazing and we enjoyed
walking along the beach to watch them each night.

We made plans to visit with Bradley a few times who is in school at BYU Hawaii,
but because we didn't rent a car, he usually came to town to see us.

We had dinner a couple of times and enjoyed Halloween, Hawaiian style...

The funeral for my dad was held on Nov 5, so we flew to Maui, then immediately left the next day for Utah. Several of our children were able to come to the funeral, even Taylor, who was given permission to come.

After the funeral, we flew back to Maui and met up with David and Vickie and had a great time with them.

Black Rock, where we did some snorkeling

along the road to Hana

We arrived in Hana and I guess I was expecting something more, but this is it. A sleepy little Hawaiian town. We bought a t-shirt so everyone would know that we had been there...

This is a place called the Seven Pools and it was beautiful.
We hiked in to the area and found a lot of people swimming and jumping off the rocks.
You can see how big it is by the size of the people.

It took us a while to find this church but we finally found it. love it! It was really cute.

Our favorite place to eat while we were there. Bubba Gump's in Lahaina.
Robert and I ate here three times...

One day we walked down to see some of the other hotels and we found this
one hotel that had a little area where they had these penguins! So cool!

The view from our room. The clouds and the mountains were beautiful!
You can see a rainbow on the mountain on the left.

In the airport on the way home. We will meet up with Larry & Melanie, who have been vacationing on the big Island and will be on the same flight home with us.

On our last day in Maui, we got a call from the airlines telling us that our flight back to the mainland from Oahu would be delayed several hours. We met Larry & Melanie at the airport.

Catherine enjoying the flowers as we walked to the restaurant...

We decided to use the dinner vouchers they gave us and enjoy our last evening on the island.

Catherine was really loving these fish at the restaurant and kept trying to catch them!

We had such a good time with David and Vickie and are happy we were finally able to go to Maui with them!

A Great Time of Year...

I think Fall is officially here! I love this time of year because it's starting to cool down just a touch and I can finally start putting out the decorations.

Brian was in his High School choir concert this week and was chosen to sing the introduction solo for the song entitled, Loch Lomond, which is a Scottish folk song. Some of you might know it better as "You take the high road and I'll take the low road..." We're excited about this because he hasn't been in a choir for several years now. He's in the men's choir, which has 22 young men in it and his director asked him to do the solo. He did an excellent job and it was beautiful!

Taylor has been stationed at the Navy Seal training center in San Diego for the past few months, but he has decided to train to be part of the EOD teams (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) and recently received his new assignment. He will be leaving Sunny California for Wintery Great Lakes, Illinois, next week. After 3 weeks there, he will go to Florida for about a year where he will get extensive training on how to diffuse bombs. Robert drove to California to help Taylor pack, and they will drive home. Taylor will spend a few days in Arizona with his family, then will go to Utah to visit friends then he is off to Great Lakes, Illinois.

Life's Changes...

Life is always changing and we have had a lot of changes in our home. A couple of weeks ago we went to California to visit our son, Taylor, who is stationed in San Diego going through the Navy Seal program.

This is the view from the Marriott where we stayed. We had hoped to stay
on base, but there were no available rooms. We enjoyed our stay here a lot.

We took a walk down the boardwalk one day and loved it...

This is the beach where Taylor does his running and workouts. You'll notice a sign that
says to stay out... We are at the end of the public beach and the beginning of Navy property...

This huge big tower is the Dive Tower where he gets a lot of the dive training and instruction

Taylor's training has been extremely strenuous and he is learning a lot. He is in the

phase called "Indoctrination" which is similar to what he will experience in B.U.D.S. training,
which includes beach running and the obstacle course. His marks have been very good.



These are some pictures from the entrance to the base and just a picture of Taylor.
And then of course we had to spend one day at the beach so Taylor could surf...

One of Taylor's friends


It was a good trip and we were glad to see where Taylor is and get a feel for what he is doing.

Last week, Robert and I went to Utah with our son, Benjamin, to get him settled at BYU in Provo, Utah. He will be attending the Fall and Winter semesters there and I think he's ready for it. He will be living in the Heritage Halls area of student housing. Brian is our only child living at home now, although our oldest son, Richard, and his wife Nickie and their two children, Sadie and Mason, have been living with us since May. They have been in Utah since July while Richard does a rotation for Vet School, but will come back here in September. Richard working with one of the horses...

We love having our children and grandchildren here so close and strengthening those ties.

Kimber and Ryan are in New York for about 10 days to visit places that Ryan served on his mission and to see the sites. They will visit Niagara Falls while they are there, see the play "Wicked" and have already seen the Statue of Liberty.

Kelli and her husband recently moved to Alpine where they are renting a house on an acre of land. They should have plenty of room for their family now!