Troy's Birthday / UFC Fight

Geoffrey came over about 5:30 PM to babysit the kids so we could go to Troy's birthday party on the east side. We drove out there and it was so nice to meet some of Kelvin's employee's. Troy's boys are so cute! He has 4 of them and the ride motor bikes. They have won so many trophies. I texted Sara and told her she should go to the tracks and take pictures. It was pretty cool seeing the photos they have had taken of them. The friends he had there were all so nice. We met one family that goes to CCV and he used to play for the Rattlers. They were such a nice family and I really liked the wife and their children were adorable! The UFC fights were really entertaining. I can't believe that Forrest Griffin got knocked out, that was crazy! We just had a really good time out alone with no kids. I had been doing the laundry earlier that day and needed to make our bed so when we got home I went in our room and put my shoes in the closet. Then went to go get our bedding, as I was walking out of my room I noticed Hailee passed out in our bed, so Kelvin had to carry her to bed. Silly girl, can't keep her in her own room for anything.

Christmas 2008

This year has flown by so fast I can believe it! Well, Christmas Eve I stayed up late and wrapped presents while Kelvin and Hailee watched Willy Wonka. Then Hailee went to bed and Kelvin put all the presents under the tree. Payton woke up pretty early so I fed him a bottle and put him back to sleep. Hailee came in our room about 9:15 AM so we all got up and got dressed. Hailee was so excited to open presents that she wanted to open everyone's for them. Payton didn't care though. He was so excited to open his guitar. While Kel was taking it out of the packaging he kept grabbing it trying to look at it and play it. After all the presents were open the kids played with them and I finished taking everything else out of its packaging. Then we had to hurry over to my mom's house to open presents with them. It was nice to have my whole family together for Christmas even if it was chaotic. My grandma was really excited about the books my mom and I had made for her. She had started a journaling jar and we put it into a book for her. We also made a book that was of all the pictures they had hanging on the wall in their hallway before we took them all down to paint their house. My grandpa loved the deck of cards I made for him. I put pictures of them dating and from their honeymoon and navy. He started telling me stories of the pictures. It was so neat to see his eyes light up as he started to tell me these stories. My grandparents gave the kids $10 each, it was cute Paytie was just holding it. My mom made the comment to Hailee that now she could put her money in her bank account and start saving her money. Hailee looked at her and said, "I'm not saving it I'm going to buy a toy with it." It was so funny the way she said it was just like duh! what else would I do with my money. But little does she know that it's going in the bank. Christmas was really nice with the family. Payton started to get crabby and whiny which meant he needed a nap! So we went home and put him down and Hais just played with her new toys.
We had a good Christmas this year, it was hard though, having the whole family minus my dad. He loved Christmas so much and I just really haven't been in the Christmas spirit this year. The tree was up and it had lights on the tree, but I never did get the ornaments on the tree. Life just got too crazy and busy this year. Next year though, the kids will be older and life will hopefully have calmed down and we will go all out for Christmas.

The Funeral

We woke up and went down stair for breakfast at the hotel. Then went back to our room to get ready. We stayed at a hotel in Ontario so then we drove to the McDermott's church ward building. As we pulled up an officer asked if we were part of the family and Kelvin said, "I'm going to say yes. If you mean by blood no, but the fact I lived with them for 6 months, I'd say yes." So the officer told us to park in the family area. As we pulled up I'd never seen so many cops in one area. As we were walking inside I was not ready for this, so many memories from my dad's funeral flooded my mind. We went inside and went to the viewing. We gave all the boys and their wives hugs and told them how much we loved them. We talked to Florence and hugged her. Then we stood in the back of the room near Florence while they talked about Keith for a while, then they opened the casket. Poor Madison, Brian's daughter, kept crying for Grandpa and calling for him. It broke my heart that she had to go through this, at least Brayden is small enough it's not as hard for him. Seeing Keith laying there with his spirit not in his body was so surreal. Kelvin said that it didn't even look like him. After the family, we payed our respects and then went into the chapel to wait for the funeral to start. Keith was a Los Angeles County Sheriff so the force was their. I've never seen so many guns in a church before (LOL!). The funeral was so nice, the musical numbers that were sung were absolutely beautiful and the eulogies were fabulous. The very last song we sang was Silent Night, when Kelvin saw that he laughed. He told me how that was the one and only song that Keith knew how to play on the piano and how at Christmas he always volunteered to play the music so he could play that song. I've snag that song hundreds of times, but it never had meant more or been so hard to sing than at that moment. Keith was such a good man and loved to serve the Lord. He honestly knew what it mean to give Charity (the pure love of Christ). He was always helping everyone and serving the community. At one point, Officer Harr was speaking and he asked those who had worked with Keith in the courts, as an officer, etc. to stand and I was amazed at how many peoples lives had been touched by this man. To give you numbers, they had to start the funeral over 30 minutes later because there was over 1200 people in attendance and the parking lot was so full, they were parking in between the lanes, we couldn't even get out of our parking spot. After the funeral, which was in Rancho Cucamonga , there was a precession line 2 miles long that then drove to Beaumont to the cemetery. They had to close 3 or 4 LA freeways to get us all to the burial. Brian said as he was driving he had the radio on and and they commented about how some war vet or dignitary must have passed because the precession line was so long and was accompanied by all these officers. Brian was so proud he was like that's my dad! One of Keith's best friends dedicated the grave site and then they had a Christmas tree to put on his plot after the casket was buried. It was so nice to see everyone again even under these circumstances. I'm just so grateful that the kids and I were at their house the end of September and decided to stay a few extra days and had the chance to have a few extra days to spend with Keith. I'll always remember my good bye kiss on my forehead as I headed back to AZ. Keith our Family loves you like a Father and with losing my dad I loved you like my own. You have truly touch a very special place in my heart and I will always cherish the memories we shared. We love you and Rest In Peace until we meet again.

If you know Keith and have pictures and stories of your memories with him. Please email them to me. I'd like to put a book together for the family. Please send email to memoriesofkeith@cox.net

Prayers Please

Kelvin's 2nd Father, Kieth McDermott (the one he lived with in California while his family was in AZ) passed away this afternoon. Please keep the McDermotts (Florence, Brian & his family, Scott, Adam & Ann, and Luke)in your thoughts and prayers as they have just lost a husband and father. I'm so numb right now, it brings back all my memories of when I lost my dad almost 6 years ago. I know how they feel and hurt so badly for them. We love you guys and we will see you soon at the funeral.
If anyone would like to donate money to the family, I'm sure a bank account will be set up in the next few days and I can get that info for you.

Round 2

Here we go again! I was putting Payton to bed last night and was feeding him a bottle, then he didn't want anymore but wanted me to read to him. All the sudden he coughed then puked all over me. YUCK! So I cleaned him up first (since I'm a nice mom). Then cleaned my self up. I changed him clothes and put him to bed. I went and hopped in the shower to clean up. When Kel left for work this morning, he smelled some foul odor and thought Hailee had been sick again and was looking in the hallway for dirty panties, but found nothing. So he went to work. Payton woke up so I went into his room and changed his diaper and noticed he had a little puke on him but fed him a bottle and put him back to bed. Well, a few hours later when he woke up, the smell was worse so I turned the light on and lifted his blanket and there was puke everywhere! Ewww! He had eaten some raisin bread the night before and I fed him the beef baby food for dinner. Yeah, use your imagination. It was nasty. So I changed his sheets and put him in the bathtub. Washing the throw-up out of his hair and off his face. Poor baby I should have turned his light on the first time. I called Kelvin at work later and told him what happened and that's when he told me about the awful smell that he was looking for, it all made sense. He's fine though, hasn't been sick since. I'm actually thinking that he's allergic to raisins along with carrots and oatmeal. Good times!

Silly Payton

I was working trying to get my Heritage Makers Monthly Specials sent out to all my Cusotmers. Hailee decided she wanted to play PBS Kids.org so I got off the computer and let her play. Well, I walk into the family room and Paytie is just laying on the coffee table watching cartoons. It was so cute!
Then he got bored and decided he was going to tease Sassy with his bagel. I put her outside because she's a vulture and steals his food out of his hands and makes him cry. So she was at the back door barking, so he kept going over there and teasing her. The sit and spin is right in front of the couch and he was standing on it trying to get onto the couch. Obviously, it was working like a treadmill, watch the video. I missed the really funny part, but you'll get the idea.

Patyon Update

Just a quick update on Paytie... still sick! It was so sweet, Hailee spent the night at my mom's house on Tuesday night (she usually spends the night a few times per week). Hailee was so worried about her brother that when she said her prayers that night she asked Heavenly Father to please bless her brother and make him not sick anymore so he could feel better. What a SWEET sister! She loves him so much! Well yesterday, he was actually doing better, he slept ALOT though. He slept most of yesterday. Then this morning he woke up and was just crying again. I got Hailee ready for school. The entire time, he was just crying and wanting me to hold him and snuggle. I got over here to my mom's house and put him down for a nap. At this point I'm so overwhelmed with his sickness. I know if it's a viral infection, it takes time to just heal itself, but it's been over a month now. We'll keep praying for him and hopefully he'll feel better before all the cousins come in town so he'll be able to be happy and play with Megan, Joseph and Emma. Thanks for all your prayers!