In Loving Memory...

This is a hard one...

Last Tuesday night, we packed up the car to leave the next morning to go to Utah.  When we woke up Wednesday morning, Ben learned that his best friend, Scott Shimamoto, was missing in a small plane crash.  He immediately left to go search for his friend, and I went to their house to be with Scott's wife, Melissa.  A short time later, we learned that Scott was killed, along with the pilot.  Scott and his family of six little children were our closest friends.  Just a couple of days before his death, Scott and Melissa had brought their family over to our house for another evening of talking and laughing while the children played.

Ben was looking forward to Scott joining him at work to be his partner in just a few weeks.  We have spent years having great times with the Shimamotos.  Whenever Scott was around, everybody was having fun.  Ben gave a beautiful talk at Scott's funeral last Saturday.  It was the hardest thing he's ever had to do, but he was honored to do it for his friend.

Here's some of our favorite photos of some of our times together:

July fourth on our front lawn:

Boating at Cooney:

Ben and Scott went camping with some Boy Scouts, and had a great time fishing and hiking.  Ben was always amazed at Scott's abilities on the water, and also at his ability to get Ben into all sorts of predicaments.  They got lost on their way back from a hike because Scott thought he had found a shortcut.  That shortcut ended up making them shimmy themselves against a rockslide across a mountain.  Good times!

Melissa and I always marveled at how similar our husbands are.  They did the same about us, and even joked that they must have gone together to pick out their wives in heaven and found Melissa and I standing in the same line.  Here is evidence, though.  We have a Christmas tradition with the Shimamotos.  We share going over to each others' houses to learn about Christmas in other countries.  Last year, Scott showed up wearing the same thing as Ben.  I just had to take a picture.  They hadn't even noticed until I brought it up!

Scott, we'll miss you so much.  As we remember our time with you, we smile and laugh, but now I weep as I type this.  We know you'll be watching.  Ben will keep his promise he made to you to take care of your family while you are working for the Lord and preparing a place for your family. 

Until we meet again...

Pumpkin Patch and the Park

The weekend we were supposed to be in Utah, we figured we needed to get the kids out of the house since there was no school.  The weather was finally great, so we headed off to our favorite pumpkin patch.  The kids were offered a ride on the "train", which was very bumpy, but so much fun.

Matthew found a pumpkin he liked, but it was a bit too heavy for him.  He was not happy about that at all.

Andrew decided he could handle the wagon full of kids and pumpkins.  He did it too!  I couldn't believe he could pull all that.

Andrew tried to sneak this monster by me.  I told him that it was a little too big, and made him put it back.

Grace found one she loved, too!  It now is carved with Cindarella, and lights up our front porch every night.  Andrew's is carved with a Storm Trooper, of course, and Joey decided on a dragon.  We haven't carved the other two yet.

Each of the kids had to stop and put their faces through the fun cutouts.  This was their favorite.  Here's Joey as Batman:

We then went to Pizza Hut for lunch (that's our tradition), then we took the kids to the 3D movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs".  We went to the bargain show, and it still cost ut $57!

The next day, we went out to our favorite park.  It's in the next town over, but it's worth the drive.  It is huge and set up like a castle.  The kids absolutely love it.  We had sandwiches left over from the trip we never took, so we made it a picnic.

It's been a rough week, but we're still plugging along, trying to keep busy.  We're looking forward to Halloween.  The boys were just invited to a party at their favorite girl pals' house next week, and tomorrow is a playdate with Ryan and Reece, followed by Hiram's birthday party. 

I'll try to be better about blogging.  I just haven't felt like doing anything lately!