Fourth of July and reunion

This year we had our Shelton reunion on the 3rd and 4th of July up in South Jordan, Utah. We spent the morning of the third doing a service project fixing up my grandma's yard, and then that afternoon we went to the new Oquer Mountain temple open house (sorry if I slaughtered the spelling of that). On the fourth we spent the day at my aunt and uncles doing water games, food, and our traditional auction. That night fire works. Kent was not able to go due to his job at Lake Powell (which I will explain in a different post), but we all had fun without him.

This is my aunt Robin and and Uncle Donald's beautiful back yard. They put down a huge old billboard tarp for everyone to slip-n-slide down the hill on. That is Aurora in the middle with the pink swim suit.

Here is Aurora climbing back up the slide. No pics of me and Brianna going down, sorry. My camera's battery died.

My Grandpa Donald Leland Shelton

After a long struggle with Parkinson's disease, my grandpa Donald Leland Shelton died due to complications from pneumonia on June 15th. He was 79 years old. We attended his funeral on June 20th in West Jordan, Utah. The past couple years have been very hard on my grandpa and my grandma. He has been very sick and continually getting weaker and weaker due to the Parkinson's that was taking over his body. The last year he had been hospitalized on numerous occasions. So when this last bout of pneumonia hit him, we all prayed that he wouldn't suffer any more. It was hard to say good bye even though we all know we'll see him again, but we know it was for the best. It has been especially hard to look into my grandma's eyes. They were married for 53 years, and the last couple years she has been consumed with taking care of my grandpa. Her life was my grandpa. I talked to her briefly a couple weeks ago when she came down for a visit, and she told me how much she missed him. We both had a good cry. I love my grandpa so much. He did so much for us, and was always there when we needed him. I will miss most his quite chuckle, and insight on life. He had such a strong and wonderful testimony of the gospel. Love you grandpa and look forward to day when I will see you again. Kisses.

This is a horrible picture of my grandpa, but it was the only one I could find on my computer. This is him and my grandma at their 50th wedding anniversary.

This is my grandma at the funeral service, receiving my grandpa's flag for his service in the Korean War.

Saying good bye. Starting on left- Brianna, Kent, my cousin Jonathon, my brother Brandon, my niece Alyssa and my niece Elyzabeth.

Here is Brianna, Kent , and Aurora. My girls were very close to my grandpa. Brianna had so many questions at the funeral. She made Kent stay next to the casket for quite a while while she peppered him with questions. She still asks all kinds of questions about his death. Even today she brought him up again and said that she missed him.

Bri's Haircut

On June 18th I laid Brianna down for her nap. She had a braid in her hair that was bothering her so I took it out so she could sleep easier. A few minutes later she came out of her room and said she needed to use the bathroom. She did, and when I went to help her back in bed I noticed her hair was sticking out a little weird. When I realized what had happened, I ran into her room to find pieces of her hair laying on the ground everywhere and scissors on her bed. I was so sad. Her hair takes forever to grow out, and my grandpa had just passed away and we were leaving the next day to go to his funeral. There was nothing I could do, she had to go to the hair dresser. Luckily they were able to squeeze us in.

Here is her before picture. I took this the Sunday before. Her hair was all crimped from a braid the night before, and I had teased it to give her a little poof. It was so cute we had to take a pic.

Here is the pic after she cut it. She gave herself a mullet. The other side was even worse.

Here is Brianna and my hair dresser Laura (she is awesome). Brianna had way too much fun getting her hair cut. She had a little smirk on her face the entire time, and held perfectly still for the cut, blow dry, and style.

And, here is after Laura had fixed it. Thank you Laura you saved the day!!!

Josh and Ilse' Wedding

First things first. My brother Josh got married on May 30th. It was a beautiful wedding, and we absolutely adore Ilse. My kids can not get enough of her. She is their new favorite person, and are always wanting to know when she is coming over. When she is here, they completely monopolize her time.




The nieces were all flower girls. I got some adorable candids of the girls around the temple. This is of my Brianna in the back and my niece Alyssa in front.




Here is Aurora in reverie about the day.





This is a shot of all the girls trying to get ready for a pic with Ilse.

Here is my girls again right in the middle of the cake cutting process, of course.

Catch up

Ok, so the last couple months have been a bit of a whirl wind, and I have not had the chance to blog anything. So I am going to take the next couple days and see how much I can get posted. I will warn you there is a lot.