Family Reunions

Starting on July 1st we had not one but TWO family reunions. That means two times the fun, right? Well it was so much fun, a little crazy and hectic, and we sometimes felt bad that we couldn’t go to everything. But it was amazing to see the families and play with our favorite people (aka the nieces and nephews). So here is what we did.

NEWSON FAMILY REUNION

Friday we MOVED Ben and Brea- yahoo! And then went to the park across the street and played at the splash park!

Sunday after church we had a delicious dinner caught up with each other and just relaxed.

Monday (the 4th of July) we had a family hoedown (more to come on that one!)

Wednesday morning we all went to the park in from of our house and played games (softball and soccer) and then went to the splash park to cool off.

Friday we went to the rec center to swim. Luke had an unfortunate landing on one of the slides and broke his leg (he broke the tibia and fibula right below his knee). He was in a lot of pain on Friday but he is feeling much better now. He will be in a cast for eight weeks and did I mention Sarah is AMAZING!

Sunday was Heidi’s 23rd Birthday (actually not 23rd but we wont mention the real age). We had home made pizza, delicious frilly frothy dessert made by Becky and all the girls stayed up for a spa night (face masks, nail painting and a chick flick). We also had a small talent show and it was so much fun to see the Newson Talent shine.

Tuesday we celebrated Max’s 9th Birthday! We had crepes for breakfast and then went to the Scott Carpenter Park in Boulder and played on their awesome Space Ship jungle gym.

And throughout the week there were always really fun crafts and activities!

STONES FAMILY REUNION

Saturday (July 2) we went to the Denver Temple to do Aaron’s Temple work. It was a wonderful experience. We then went to Erica’s house for lunch, relaxing and games. For dinner we went to Casa Bonita! People say they do not like it because of the food but I would say it is compared to a Coloradian Disney Land- the happiest place in Colorado. It was so much fun to play and see everyone.

Emma smashed the pinata so she got the head!

Tuesday we (the ladies) just hung out while the boys attempted to cut down and pull out stumps in Mom and Dad’s front yard. We were not too cruel and did help- a little. While all of this back breaking labor was going on, the kids made tie-die shirts! That night we had a spur of the moment talent show- let me tell you, we are talented. The ended with games and five cartons of ice cream(we couldn’t decide on a flavor), chocolate sauce, bananas, whipped cream and lots of goey goodness.

And to think- it still took two more days to get it out/hidden!



No decision making skills here!



Emma sang and Wyatt just couldn't help but join in!

Mylie did a DDR dance by MEMORY!

We all tried DDR and...well...you see!

Michael and Taylor tap danced. It was inspirational!

Wednesday- Friday CAMPING (more to come on that later).

Saturday most of the family went on a run (I was thankfully not there yet) and then we again spent the day trying to get that stump out. That evening we had professional family pictures taken (something we have never done before) and it was very fun, not at all as painful as I imagined.

Monday our cousin Mary Elizabeth (Anne’s daughter) came to visit with her family. I haven’t seen her in over 10 years so it was fun to catch up. I brought two of the young women from my ward (Mallory and Alice) to hang out with Michael and Jasey and they all had lots of teenage fun.

Tuesday the family came to our new house and we had a party. The kids enjoyed the splash park and jungle gym (I think Erica might have enjoyed the jungle gym more). It was SO WONDERFUL to have my family over and see everyone!

Picnic in our Front Room!



Emma posing with the Rainbow!



They found a dead dragon fly in the grass at the park. It was beautiful. Alice was a little scared of it!

WE MOVED!

Yes, it is true; you read that correct we have moved. I was so excited to have our own place that I prematurely packed and we have been living out of boxes for 6 weeks but no longer (well a little longer till I get it all unpacked). On Friday July 1 we got the keys and the okay to move in. It just so happened that Ben’s family was all in town so we had 12 little helpers (and my dad)- Thanks everyone for all your great help!


Slowly we have moved over our furniture and got new furniture (craigslist and thrift stores are amazing). Because it was a busy family reunion week we did not really start unloading boxes until a couple days ago but is has been so much fun to open these boxes that we haven’t looked through since living in Rexburg.

We are now living in a three bedroom (well two bedrooms and a den) one bath duplex- It is so cute! We also live across the street from a community park with a splash park, horse shoe course, boci ball course, separate dog park, awesome jungle gym and a patio area where they have a live band perform every Thursday in the summer. Yes we are very lucky.

The guy that lived there before had a dog and smoked so the landlord painted everything and replaced the carpets. There is still a lingering smoke/dog/new carpet smell but we have been cleaning everything and keeping the windows open to try to air it out; but slowly but surely we will be all moved in and it will feel like home.

Tonight (Tues 12) my family all came over to help clean, move big heavy furniture (they bought me a hutch- so beautiful), play in the park and cook so that it smelled like yummy food. It was so much fun to have a party at MY house (I felt really grown up). The kids loved running around and playing with anything that resembled a toy (and with our five nerf guns). The adults lounged around (well that was mostly the teenagers) and helped me clean. It was so wonderful and I am so glad that they came to see our new place and so grateful for all their help and support.

Here are some boxes and mess as we attempt to get unpacked.

I had to clean the nicotine and dirt from all the blinds in the house. Here is a before look of the kitchen blind!

Hiking Revelations and Temple Work

As anyone who has recently been reading this blog knows- I have been really thinking about Aaron. Maybe thinking is not the best word- mourning would probably describe my feelings better. The one year anniversary (which sounds like a celebratory word but I have found that it isn’t always) was on Tuesday June 28. I woke up that morning dreading life and decided to take a hike in the beautiful Rocky Mountains to clear my head and cry a little. I went by myself up Maple in Boulder and just kept going; past the normal hiking spot, over a mountain, up a mountain and I finally landed at an off the road hike all alone. I slung my backpack- containing a journal, the Conference Ensign and some yummy snacks. I started hiking, crying and fervently praying for some sort of feeling from the Lord. Half way up I saw a sign “Mountain Lion Country” but I just grabbed some rocks (for protection) and kept going. Only about a minute past this I got a distinct feeling that I should turn around and go back to the car- I listened. I went back to a table near the car took out my stuff and started reading.


I have harbored such angry feelings at the Lord for allowing this trial to come upon my family and for taking Aaron. I have been worried about where Aaron is? What is he doing? How does he feel? Would he receive the gospel (and temple work we were going to do) or would he turn from it? I was worried that I would not feel anything while doing the temple work and therefore my faith would be shaken again. While up on that mountain top I felt so close to the spirit and to my Heavenly Father. I felt assured that I am a child of God and that he loves me. I felt an overwhelming feeling that Aaron loved me and that he was happy and going to be okay. I am so grateful for that experience and how it prepared me to go to the temple with my family.

On Saturday July 2, 2011 the entire Stones Family went to the Denver Colorado Temple to do the temple work for Aaron Lawrence Stones. I was tearful getting the little blue card. I was a little tearful seeing all my siblings and their spouses in the temple. But I was SO full of joy. All my fears or trepidations had vanished. While standing in the Celestial room Michael David (who has such a way of saying things) looked around and said, “Look Mom and Dad, ALL your children are here!”

I love my family. I love Aaron. And I love the temple. I am so grateful that we were able to go and give him this last wonderful gift!

Tough Mudder Colorado 2011

On June 25^th Ben participated in the Tough Mudder.  This is an obstacle race that is hosted in multiple states throughout the year.  The Colorado Race was in Beaver Creek (between 8-11,000 feet above see level). The challenge: run with your team 9 miles in which you all work together to get through 25 obstacles. Now generally you think 9 miles- meh, maybe I could do that! But the difference here is that they are running UP and down ski slopes (aka up horizontal slopes).  Ben ran with a team from Crocs (work) and they did really well. They managed to all finish in about 3.5 hours and after wards everyone was VERY sore and tired. Ben said it was super fun and he would defiantly do it again but with more training next time!

Ben walking in after a hard day at the Tough Mudder!

Here is a video of the Crocs Team  (The crocs team is all in green and Ben is wearing red shorts- he is in it a lot.)

Holding on to Aaron

It has almost been a year since my brother died; I have been thinking a lot about this lately. I thought my life would be easier and my pain would be lessened by now- but it is not. In the beginning I cried daily and thought about him every moment. As time went on I thought of him daily but I started to find joy in my life. As holidays, birthdays or family events came and went I felt empty and lonesome again; but my rebound always came a little sooner than the time before. Then I think of all the times he won’t be there; he won’t meet my children, I won’t meet his. He won’t sing to me my favorite songs or play for me at all. I regret all the time that I wasted with him; all the days I didn’t call, all the times I didn’t see him, all the years I lived angry at him. I miss telling him one last time that I love him! I miss my brother; I miss just knowing he was there if I needed him. I miss him needing me.


I think it is really corny and unoriginal to quote song lyrics and write them off as your own thoughts and feelings. But I am going to do it anyway. I really dislike this band but I heard this song shortly after Aaron died and it brought me some strange comfort. This song captures my anger and confusion (Cuz we’re living at the mercy of the pain and the fear. Until we… Let it all disappear… All I wanna do is trade this life for something new holding on to what I haven’t got…). It makes me feel closer to him because it makes me feel like I can understand how he felt (This is not what I had planned. It’s out of my control… So many things were left unsaid. It’s hard to let you go!) It makes me feel like we are both going through similar things (Picking up those pieces now where to begin. The hardest part of ending is starting again) - like I am trying to move on here without him and he is making progress in heaven. It makes me feel a little closer to him.

I know that this wound will be healing for the rest of my life. I will never forget him; I will never let his memory die in my family or in my heart! I love you Aaron!

Waiting for the End by Linkin Park

*I also think Aaron would have appreciated the digital effects in this music video!

Reassuring Dream

Last night I had a dream that my entire family was sucked back in time (about 10 years). Although we were not the ages we would have been (I think I was still 24) but that is beside the point. I was in talking to my Mom about how weird it was that we went back in time when Aaron walked through the room. My mouth dropped and Mom told me not to tell him about the future. I walked up to him and gave him a huge hug and wouldn’t let go. Finally he laughed (probably out of slight embarrassment that this hug was so long). I told him I just really missed him and just hugged harder trying not to cry (because that would kind of give it away). He then hugged me hard and when he pulled away I saw tears in his eyes and he said, “I love you too, Brea!” The rest of the dream had Michael’s room exploding in the ocean and killer sharks trying to attack us on floaties- but that is really not worth expounding on.

I was so nice to see Aaron, hug him and have him tell me he loves me! It was like an answer to prayers and it gave me a slight sense of closure. It makes me excited for when I can see him again and to get one of his awesome (really long) hugs!

I love you too, Aaron!

Bride of Frankenstein, Medusa or an Alien

The past couple of months I have been switching to a safer seizure medication. It has been a long process but things are going well. We decided to do a new kind of test to see if the medication is working and to see if we can get any results (and find out what is really wrong). The test is called an ambulatory EEG.

Wednesday morning Mom and I drove do South Denver (Swedish Medical Center) for my first appointment. During this the tech marks my head (with a red wax pencil), scrubs my head (with what felt like sandpaper) and then glues on electrodes. Each electrode has glue on the head and then a gaze strip dipped in glue on top of it (so basically it is a LOT of glue all over my head). I had 28 electrodes total, each connected to a long wire. The wires all went into a recording box that I had to carry with me. Sticking the electrodes on took a little over two hours. After they were all on the tech hooked my up to their computer to see if all the wires were working. It looked really cool (like a million heart beats) and then I would blink, talk, or do different things and one line would spike to make a different pattern. It all looked terribly complicated and confusing but very interesting.

So I took my fancy fanny pack and head all jazzed out and went home for 24 hours. During the time I was at home I had to keep a log of what I was doing, so they could make sense of the pattern changes for my every day activities. So I basically watched TV and slept, mainly because I didn’t want to walk around looking like an alien.

Thursday afternoon we drove BACK down to Denver to have the electrodes taken off. This only took about 30 minutes but left me with a LOT of glue in my hair. So we went to Erica’s house where she and Mom spent well over an hour ripping the glue off my head. They used conditioner, baby oil and finally nail polish remover to get the glue soft enough to remove. It was painful and I lost some hair but they were wonderful and it would have been a lot more painful if I had done it alone.

So I am slowly growing the skin back on my scalp and we get the test results back in two weeks- lots to look forward to!