Kittens everywhere

Our Kittens hit the 6 week mark on sunday and they are everywhere! they stayed in their box for the first 4.5 weeks, then they climbed out. So we made a "pen" to contain them, but some of them proved to be climbers or too smart for the pen after just a week. So we just let them roam free in the garage now. They are extra cute at this stage, the kids all love spending time with them. Daphne especially loves playing with them, and even has them fall asleep on her from time to time. In the next week or two it will be time to give most of them away, because we can't have 8 cats!

Extra topsoil

As we said earlier in the blog, we have been slowly working on updating the yard and we had topsoil brought in. Well today we had a bunch of people come in to help us on the project and I will post more on that next week. But we had extra top soil left and so we reshaped it into a new jump. After I cut in some lines and tested the jump out on psychoseventy, Ivan had to hit it.

Moment of 4 kids playing nicely

Saturday we ate our dinner on the deck together just me and the four kids. It had been a hot day for late May in Idaho. After dinner the four kids decided to turn on the sprinkler under the trampoline and all play on the trampoline. With the age gaps of all four kids it is rare that they play together contently, but as I sat on the deck for 30 minutes or so watching them be silly, I couldn't help but feel Missy smile at the little moment of sibling harmony.

"Guest room"

Don’t know why we didn’t do this years ago, but we made the toy room more versatile and put a daybed with trundle and some curtains to make a “guest room”.

Victor's Tonsils

So Victor had HUGE tonsils! In March Missy took him for a regular check up and the doc said he had extra large tonsils, then in April He went to the Ears, Nose, and throat specialist and he said they were effecting his sleep and were the main cause of his snoring, and could be part of the reason he loses focus and is cranky at times. So Missy and I decided to have them taken out, and set up the surgery for May 13th, and after a 2 week delay, I took Vic in for surgery. He did really well in surgery and had a hard time waking up but once he was up he was fine. He has been pretty good when the medicine is working, but when it wears out, he is a miserable little dude.

Sunday night he didn't sleep good and woke up at 4am and didn't go back to sleep. Well me and Daphne were working on the sunday come follow me lesson and he decided to wait for us to come out of my room on the floor and fell asleep at 11am. I picked him up and put him in my bed and He slept until 2pm!

Memorial Day 2020

For Memorial day this year we did the usual yard work to get ready for curbing (thanks to the Huston's for coming over and helping). Then we went to Missy's grave. it was a nice day, we set some flowers on the grave. Other people had been there as well and there was still the bouquet from the funeral as well. Victor was obsessed with the colorful pinwheel someone had left.  Then we decided to find Missy's Great grandparent Keller's grave. We did, and someone had left flowers there as well. I also learned that Great grandpa Keller shared the same birthday as me Nov. 3rd.

Warning this post maybe abstract and not make sense:

Today I was listening to music and the song “On the Nature of Daylight” by Max Richter came on. It brought to mind the first time I heard it, which was while watching the movie “Arrival”. Without going into the whole plot of the movie, at the end of the movie the main heroine gains the ability to perceive the beginning and end of things all at once. The closing scene of the movie is her seeing the beginning, span, and end of her young daughter’s life. And the point of the scene is that the heroine still chooses to have that daughter, even though she knows how the story plays out with all the pain, joy, and love she knows will come with it. The song really struck a cord with me and I realize that I would make the same choice with Missy (and probably did before this mortal existence).

SNOW!

Memorial day weekend in Idaho started with snow.

Random normal stuff

So we are trying to figure out the new normal, so here are some pics of us doing some normal stuff.

 We had Christine Skousen bring in pizza stuff to make our own Pizzas, Daphne made a heartshape one with half cheese and half pepperoni. Victor had to be on the counter!

We are putting up some curtain tracks so that we can pull some curtains to make a "guest" room for when people come to visit they can have a little privacy in the toy room. We also got a daybed with a trundle bed under to better accommodate guests. Daphne made earnings out of the

 Victor eating chips and cheese and an "abana".

We got to celebrate Grandpa Bruderer's birthday while he was out!

Bobble-head Victor

We decided to go to Burley, just to get away from home for a bit (COVID19 and the Funeral preps had us in serious need of a change of scenery). While we were there, my parents borrowed a little train set that was made from 30 gallon drums and you pull behind an ATV.  Well Victor had had several long days and the experience made him a little sleepy!

Missy's Life Sketch by Darin Herzoff

Melissa “Missy” Nielsen lived her 40 years of life in a way that positively impacted countless people. She was born to humble beginnings on November 24, 1979 to Ken and Linda Bruderer in Lorain, Ohio. Missy was the daughter of a steel mill worker. She has an older brother David, one older sister Keri, one younger sister Kate, and a younger brother Daniel, making her the middle child. 

As is his tradition with all his children, Missy’s father Ken gave her a nickname when she was born. He affectionately referred to her as “Angel”. He could not have been more inspired as this is exactly who she was to so many people around her. 

Growing up Missy thrived in her school work and was heavily involved in both choir and band, which gave her the chance to go on a few band trips to Disney World. She focused on her schoolwork and worked hard to have perfect grades. She made honor roll and graduated with honors. In school she was shy and not part of a popular crowd but she had very close friends. She was very involved in her church and as a young woman made other close friends while participating in mutual activities, girl’s camp, and youth conferences.  

Every summer during Missy’s adolescence the Bruderer family would make their annual road trip out West to visit their grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins. These multi-day drives were filled with the kids singing Disney songs from their favorite movies, eating snacks in the back of the van, and reading through the seemingly endless miles.  

Missy was a bit of a picky eater. She was the one who sat at the table and would constantly pick things out of her food. There were many times where she simply refused to eat and so just sat there. It seems almost poetic that she would choose to go into culinary arts for her college studies.  

As a teenager Missy decided that she wanted to get her pilots license and showed little to no interest in getting her driver’s license. She wanted to fly. Ken had a coworker who owned a plane and he gave Missy the chance to fly for quite a while. After the flight Missy told Ken that she would get her driver’s license IF that meant she could get her pilots license too. Several pictures were taken of Missy while she was flying and those have been a cherished possession for her. 

After graduating from Admiral King High School in 1998 she went out West to attend Rick’s College in Rexburg. After high school and while attending college Missy had several amazing opportunities and adventures: she traveled to Europe, worked in Yellowstone for a summer, she was a nanny for a summer, and she even got the chance to go skydiving…much to the surprise of her mother. Missy had several sets of roommates that she became close with and she loved spending time with them on their adventures.  

While attending Rick’s College she earned an Associate’s Degree in Culinary Arts and General Studies. Missy stayed at Rick’s for an extra year and it was in that third year that she Curtis, who was part of her Family Home Evening group. Missy and Curtis were sealed for time and all eternity in the Bountiful, Utah Temple on August 11, 2001.  

After their marriage Missy and Curtis moved to Utah where they lived for three years as Curtis worked on and finished his Bachelor’s Degree. While in Utah Missy was able to spend a lot of time with both of her sisters, Keri and Kate, as they all lived within just a few hours of each other. After Curtis’ schooling in Utah was done he got a job working for Ford Motor Company in the Detroit Michigan area. For Missy this meant being only two hours from home and her family still living in Ohio.    

Curtis’ job with Ford had good benefits which were needed as during this time they welcomed their first child, Trinity into the small family. Missy loved being at home with Trinity and sharing in those special moments that come with your first baby. In 2008 Missy and Curtis moved to Idaho as Curtis got a job at the National Laboratory. They were able to buy their first home and in this home they welcomed their other three children, Ivan in 2009, Daphne in 2012, and Victor in 2016.  

Missy’s shyness stayed with her as she lived in Utah and Michigan, though she wanted to become more outgoing. Once she moved to Idaho she pushed herself even more and started getting involved with school PTOs and library help. This allowed her to blossom as she didn’t give up. She was able to relate to other shy people which led to many good friendships. Missy always cared for the One, she always thought of others first even at her own expense.  

Missy had a talent for staying in touch with family and friends. She was always the one to call or text whenever she was thinking about you. Many memories have been recently shared by friends and family both near and far, where Missy reached out in small special ways to show her love and that she was thinking about them. She talked to her mom, grandmothers, aunts and sisters regularly and she was always updated on what was going on in people’s lives.  

Many people got to know Missy for her cakes and her Facebook page, Missy’s Cake Studio. Her cakes were truly extraordinary and a very central part of her life. In fact, the first date that she and Curtis had was spent making her first wedding cake and he helped her get it all done and delivered. Curtis was always very supportive of Missy’s commitment to making something so creative and intricately detailed. For a long time Missy wanted to turn her cake making into a business and it became a reality after they had been in Rigby for a few years. She created a blog and her Facebook page but it was really word of mouth that led to most of her cakes. Those who had her make a cake were so amazed and impressed that they spread the word and there were many nights and weekends when she was working on more than one at a time. She could have charged significant amounts for her cakes but that was never what she wanted. Missy cared too much about people and she wanted to be able to share her love of decorating with everyone. She loved being able to personalize each cake with each special event that was being celebrated and she knew that a beautifully designed cake could bring immense amounts of joy and happiness into the lives of her clients.  

On top of her love for cakes, she enjoyed participating in activities like pound, Zumba, and walking, she recently picked up a love of competing in extreme events like The Thor Run and Spartan races with her friends. Missy loved to spend time with her friends doing everything from exercising together, going out for dinner, or just talking on the phone. Her smile and humor made everyone around her feel that she truly loved and cared about each of them. She was a very service-oriented person and would do anything to help lighten the load of others.  Missy’s penchant for helping others led her to become PTO president at Farnsworth Elementary, and she was active in the Jefferson Elementary PTO as well.  

Missy adored her children and found so much joy in the fun, frustrating, creative, and inspiring things they did everyday. She often posted small memories of those precious times on Facebook. She cherished the small little interactions with her kids that brought so much humor and love. Missy made sure to regularly try and spend time with each of the kids individually and she loved those times, even if they were short. She often posted about these small encounters and shared some highlights along with a many pictures. Missy was an avid Blogger and wanted to use this medium as a sort of family journal. Each year Missy organized and created their family Blog Books which contained all the posts and pictures from the whole year.  

Missy had an infectious laugh and a sense of humor that could put anyone at ease. Many of my favorite memories will always be the times we all sat around the table playing games and laughing until we cried. There were endless movie quotes, way too much junk food and more then once I watched a lovingly mischievous look in Missy’s eyes as she made her mom, Linda, laugh until she couldn’t breathe.  

Above all Missy loved Curtis deeply. She supported him in everything that he did whether for work or play or even some stupid harebrained idea that he and his brothers were concocting. Missy made Curtis better; she pushed him to be better in all parts of his life. He readily attributes his finishing school to Missy and her pushing him to finish what he started. Her faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ helped keep her family on a solid foundation, and that faith continues with her family as they trust in our Heavenly Father’s Plan. They know that they will see Missy again!  

“Goodbyes are not forever, no they are not the end; it simply means I’ll miss you until we meet again.”