Walter James Burgess, Jr. 1922 - 2014

After living a full life and at the age of 91, on Wednesday, March 12th, at 2:00am, Walter James Burgess, Jr. passed away. The last thing Grandpa ate before he died was ice cream. It was a common occurrence that he ate ice cream before going to bed. Grandpa Burgess was an important part of Tony's life. He regularly gave Tony rides to baseball practice. In fact, Tony and his cousins tribute Grandpa with their love of baseball. Grandpa remembered that differently. He liked baseball because of Tony.

Grandpa also stands out to many others as an excellent teacher and friend. Just a few years ago, Grandpa was inducted to the Dumas High School Hall of Fame where he taught math, physics, and tennis for 37 years.

Before those years as a teacher he served in the Pacific Theater during WWII in the US Coast Guard. His ship was involved in the campaigns that liberated the Philippines from Japanese rule.

The most important thing Grandpa did was accept the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ when the missionaries came knocking on his door. He and Grandma were baptized 3 November 1957 while living in Dumas, Texas. They left prominence in their prior church to dedicate their lives to building the Kingdom of God in their little community. Grandpa labored with his own hands to build the branch building that is still in use in Dumas. It was known in the community as the church that Walter built. He served several stints as branch president. All of his children were raised in the Church, and all four were married for eternity in the Temple.

Later, each grandson and one granddaughter of Walter and Beth Burgess served a mission. Those missions include Germany, Japan, Pennsylvania, California, Canada, Albania, and Brazil. Grandma and Grandpa served their own mission in the late 1980s as workers in the Dallas Texas Temple. After they followed Tony's parents to Dallas, Grandma and Grandpa continued as weekly ordinance workers in the Dallas Temple until they moved to Houston in about the year 2000 to be near their second daughter and her family. Then they worked regularly in the Houston Texas Temple.

As part of our trip from Arizona to the funeral (which we drove in one day each direction - never again), we visited Tony's parents in Dallas because we didn't think we would have much chance to visit them all year due to tight budgets. Tony had been interviewing for the position as assistant temple engineer for the same Dallas Temple his grandparents had been ordinance workers in for about 20 years. While in Dallas Tony and Mark visited the Temple so Tony could meet his potential new boss, Patrick Snyder. They had a great chat for about an hour. As Tony left the temple, he had a spiritual impression that his grandpa's passing was timed by the Lord specifically to help Tony get the job.

Small things lead to great things.

Below are pictures from the funeral in the Houston National Cemetery:

Location of the grave side service:

Skipping the person I don't know on the far left: Mark Brown, Hyrum Brown, Tony Brown, Patrick Jones.

Carrying the casket:

Trenda Brown received the flag as oldest representative of the children:

Mark Brown and Hyrum Brown

The Houston Texas Temple:

Temple Grounds:

The Asay family (Walter and Beth's youngest daughter, Tammie):

Tony, Lindi, Jeri Lin, Hyrum, Trenda, and Mark Brown

Our little family on Temple grounds:

The three sisters (Annette Jones, Tammie Asay, Trenda Brown) with cousin Carlton:

Me and Lindi:

The Jones family:

Patrick Jones with his bride:

Jeri Lin and Lindi:

Mark and Trenda Brown:

Teenage Lindi and Heat Stroke

Oh what adventures we have had today...

Lindi had her well child visit. How reassuring to know that her eating habits are normal for her age. She's in the teenage years of babyhood. It's time for her to test what she can get away with and what she can't. It's time for me to choose my battles and stick to my guns.

The first battle I chose is her sleeping habits. No more momma bouncing her to sleep. No more climbing in mom's bed at night. The Dr said to start during the day, because if she can't do it during the day, there's no way she'll do it at night. So, when we came home, in her bed she went. I sang to her and talked to her and held her hand and patted her back, but I did not get her out. She cried and made a big scene and it lasted longer than I wanted it to, but she eventually she went to sleep and took a good long nap. We'll see how the next few days go. It could be rough.

This afternoon I got the kids ready for the Wet Zone and we walked the mile over there and discovered they are closed on Tuesday. Well, we had walked all that way, why not go a little farther and play at the lake? Well, the lake is so low that you can't get to it from the road, so we ended up turning around and coming back. We were hot and miserable. Hyrum said, "I'm almost out of poop." Translation: "I'm pooped." Ha! So we filled up the little kiddie pool as soon as we were home and we are enjoying the shade. So far, the mosquitos have left us alone. Whether or not that's true or they are sneaky remains to be seen.

Bloomsday 2014

When my dad told me he was headed up to Spokane to visit family and to run in the Bloomsday race, I was bummed.  I really wanted to visit my grandparents, but I was already scheduled to work.  When Husband accepted his new job, though, our plans changed.  This trip to Washington was a large reason why the kids and I didn't leave for Texas at the same time Husband did.  We made a week long pit stop in Spokane.

After we planned to go with Pops, he invited me to run with him in the Bloomsday race.  It was a 12k race.  I had never done anything like this, and I'm not a runner, but I figured I could keep up with my dad. ;)  Some cousins and my Aunt Mary also ran and another cousin stayed behind to watch my kids.  We had a great time.

It was a good workout.  It was challenging, especially "Doomsday Hill." But, we were saying, "Let's do that again!" before the day was even over.

My official finish time was 1:47:48. My dad beat me by two seconds.

Can't wait until next year, Dad!!

Missing Lindsay

I'm missing my best friend Lindsay today.  So that means I'll light the lemon candle she gave me and think of her and her lemon tree and the yummy lemonade I made with those lemons.  She is such a strength to me.  She has been through more than most people and still manages to put a smile on her face.  She loves those close to her so deeply that they can't help but feel it.

Before we left town, Lindsay took the kids and I on a date.  We went to the splash pad and then had lunch at Costa Vida (yum!).  Wish we could do that this afternoon!

So, Lindsay?  When are you coming to visit? ;)

While Daddy's Away

Hyrum, Lindi, and I spent the month of April living with my parents after Husband went off to Texas.  We sure missed him.  Poor Hyrum had a hard time wrapping his head around why his dad was gone.  He always cried, "I want my Daddy!!" when he didn't like me.  This was especially true when it was time to take a nap or go to bed.

We had lots of love and attention from the aunties and uncle.  They are such good buddies and we really miss them. 

For Easter we dyed eggs, had a visit from the Easter Bunny, and went to the Easter Pageant and ate pizza.

Hyrum turned three in April.  We had a fun day.  It started off with strawberry crepes (his favorite).  Lindi liked strawberries too.  She licked them off the plate! He got plenty of presents.  He helped make Oreo brownies for dessert and got to go swimming.  It was the best day of his life thus far.

Husband took the car along to Texas because there was no way I was going to drive two kids by myself, but that meant we were often stranded at Grannie and Pops' house.  We went to the park quite a bit. My favorite was when Hyrum decided to roll himself down the hill in the stroller. :)

We got to watch Uncle Hayden race in the Pinewood Derby.  He won third place!  Boy oh boy, did Hyrum think that was pretty exciting.  He can't wait until he gets to build a big race car with his dad.

Aunt Sydney was the best swim buddy.  The water was freezing, so I never did more than stick my feet in, but those kids sure loved it.

Lindi also threatened to start walking while her dad was away, but she didn't.  She still isn't, but she sure is close.  If she would just gather up enough gumption to let go and run, I know she could do it.

I don't think we'll ever plan to be apart for a month ever again, but we survived.

Making the Most Out of a Week and a Half

When we got back from Utah we only had about a week and a half before Husband needed to load up a Uhaul and take off to Texas.  He left mid-April with all of our things and the kids and I stayed behind so that I could finish up a few more shifts at the hospital and then go to Washington state with my dad to visit grandparents.  We were going to be apart for over a month, so we did our best to make the most of the time we had.

When we bought our house, we anticipated that we would live there for a long time, if not forever.  We had moved in 100% and gotten rid of all of our boxes.  Suddenly our house was in chaos again and we were so grateful for ward members who donated boxes to us.  Not only that, but at least a dozen ward members showed up the morning we were loading up and had the house emptied and loaded within an hour and a half.  It was an amazing site.  Some of the ladies came back later that afternoon to help me give the house a quick scrub down.  Thank you Dana Ward!  You rock!

We also want to shout out to some really good friends who brought dinner by amidst all the craziness and who watched our kids so that we could have some quality packing/house-fixer-upping time.  Lisa sent me these pictures from when she was watching the kids. We didn't know it until that day, but Lindi has proved to be a master climber.

And while there was lots of packing and projects, we did make time to be all together because we knew a month apart was going to be hard.  We took the kids to Riverview Park and tried out the new splash pad.  The water was freezing (note Hyrum's first reaction), but the kids warmed up to it and had a ball.  Tony and I weren't completely miserable once we found an area where we could stay out of the cold mist.

Tony and I also made a trip to visit the Gilbert Temple before we left (thanks Aunt Sydney for watching the kiddos!).  It is a beautiful building and a special place.  It will always be a special temple to me, because I made donations towards it's building fund.  I thought it would be the temple I got married in.  No doubt I'll be back to visit when my sisters get married. :)

Many thanks to Grandpa Brown for flying out to help us touch up the house and drive with Husband to Texas.  You're the best!

And so we said goodbye to the house we loved and to each other for a little while.  I cried myself sick that night.  Being apart for a month sounded alright in theory, but I said goodbye to my husband and it hurt so bad and those two sweet kiddos didn't understand why Daddy wasn't there to tuck them in at night.  Let's never do that again...