On Saturday June 18 our beloved Papa passed away after a valiant fight with brain cancer.

Jim was born on October 10, 1944 to Florence Manwill and LeMont Robertson in Craig, Colorado. He spent his childhood in Colorado and Montana working on his father's farm and often spoke with fondness of his time herding sheep. His family settled in Springville where he graduated from high school.

After entering BYU, Jim was called to the West Spanish American Mission where he taught the gospel in Spanish in Arizona, Nevada and Southern California. Throughout his life, Papa loved to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. He always had an extra copy of the Book of Mormon and gave out hundreds to friends and acquaintances.

At BYU, Jim met Darlyne Smithhart with whom he was immediately smitten. After a short courtship, they were married November 25, 1967 and sealed in the St George Temple. They soon welcomed 6 sons into their family. He was ever present in all his sons' activities and never shy about sharing with others their successes. Papa was a devoted, loving, caring and supportive father who was never too old to get on the floor and play with his children and grandchildren. He believed that his greatest accomplishment was raising wonderful children and being able to spend time with even more wonderful grandchildren.

Jim graduated from BYU with a BA in Spanish, after which he served in the Air Force for 8 years as a pilot and Captain. He flew over 150 missions and was twice awarded the Air Force Cross for his heroic efforts. After his service, Jim was a property manager for Del Webb Corporation in Arizona. He then managed and owned a sign company and real estate offices.

Jim was an educator at heart and was elected School Board President for Flowing Wells School District in Tucson. This renewed love of education inspired him to enter the University of Arizona where he earned his Masters in Education and began his second career. He taught Spanish at Pueblo High School, Pima Community College, and the University of Arizona before combining education with his managerial experience as Assistant Superintendent of Payson School District in Arizona.

Jim returned to the classroom at Brockbank Jr High (where he also served as assistant principal). He was teaching Spanish at Riverton High School when he was diagnosed with cancer. Many of his sons' friends and his students looked up to him as a father figure.

He also loved to teach in his church callings where he was a seminary teacher, gospel doctrine and primary teacher. He also served as Scoutmaster, Ward Mission Leader, Elders Quorum President, High Priest Group Leader, and in the Stake Mission Presidency. In his later years, he and his wife loved teaching the 7&8 year olds in primary and they attended the baptism of over a hundred children they taught.

Preceding Jim in returning to their Heavenly Father were his parents; his siblings, Kathy and Nicholas Robertson; and his granddaughter Alyssa. He is survived by his wife, Darlyne; his siblings, Lynne Greene and John Marlin Robertson; his sons, James (Debbie), Morgan (Lana), Beau (Donna), Brock (Kelly), Tyler, and Collin (Tonya) Robertson; and 14 grandchildren. He was dearly loved and will be greatly missed. Darlyne and Jim’s love stood the test of time and will live throughout the eternities.

Well wishes may be sent to Darlyne Robertson at 3673 Sunrise Dr, Saratoga Springs UT 84045.

James Manwill
"Jim" Robertson
1944-2011

Terror at the Car Wash

With all the traveling to Utah and back we have done lately (our car did 3 trips in 3 weekends!), our little Camry was beginning to look like this: Except picture a nice thick coat of bug guts all over the windshield and front bumper, caked on by hot sun. It was lookin' good.

So I was down by the river (in a van . . . ha ha you have to be as old as me to remember that one) running yesterday, with my dog and baby. I decided it was worth the splurge to go somewhere to pay someone to get those nasty bugs off our car. I think some of them were still on from last summer. sick. So I went to this place, since it wins "Best of Boise" every year, and was right on my way.


I seriously splurged. $10 for a car wash? I hardly ever, ever pay for my car to get washed since I can do it myself (or more realistically, get my husband to do it) for free. But the nice guy who took my money said that if I went through the wash and it didn't get all the bugs, I could do it again for free. So, we went through the car wash, which is the loudest and longest car was I think I've ever been through. (it better be for 10 freaking bucks!)
It was so loud and scary, in fact, that this little one:

Huddled under the seat shaking.

And this little one:

Started screaming her head off. I mean, bloody murder screaming. I've only heard her cry like that when she got her shots. So, what could I do? I felt really bad for torturing my dog and baby. After we got out, I had to pull over and it took pulling Ashlyn out of her car seat to get her to stop crying. I really felt like mom of the year.

But wait, it gets better. Being the cheapskate I am, I got out of my car to inspect whether the bugs had been removed, thinking vividly about the 10 bucks I had just forked over for the scare of my little one's life. And sure enough, though most were gone, I couldn't justify that it had been worth $10 because some were still there. SO, I made the ultimate decision..... to go through again! Poor, poor Lucy and Ashlyn. The same thing happened, except this time Lucy huddled down on my lap, shaking and quivering, and Ashlyn again screamed bloody murder. This time I just laughed the whole time. Seriously? Here I am in this expensive car wash feeling like the worst mom ever, dragging my frightened little dog and 4-month old through it not once, but two times. Awesome.

But I can say that our car is CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN. The rims are even shining, and not a smashed, sun-baked bug survived. Hallelujah! So, every time I walk out to my gleaming car, I am happy to see the beauty of how clean it is, but I am also reminded of the

Terror at the Car Wash!

Party at my place!

My friend Amber just adopted a sweet little baby boy a couple of weeks ago, and since it is her 2nd boy, we didn't throw her a "shower".... just a "baby party." On the invitations we put a cute little rhyme about what type of formula/diapers she uses, hoping that was what people would bring, and it was! I haven't planned a party for a while, and at first I was thinking "hmm, this will be a lot of work" and I won't say it wasn't, but it was a lot of FUN! I want to do it again!

We had the party in my backyard, and I was worried because the week and even days leading up to it were pretty cold and rainy. If it was raining that meant it would have to be IN my house which would mean I had to CLEAN! (boo!) I lucked out though, it was sunny and HOT!

Chandra, my amazingly crafty pal, was in charge of decorating! She did a fab job, like usual. The pinwheels and color scheme were all her. This is the entrance to the backyard: I was in charge of the welcome table, and put together Bryce's name in blocks (fun gift for mommy too, to use in his room!), and the picture of mom and baby. By the end of the night this table was packed with diapers and formula! Nice!


Amber enjoying the food table.... ha ha! I put together the fruit tray, apples and fruit dip, circus animals (also in our robin-egg blue and red scheme!), and some fab dipped pretzels! I think I ate like 10 pretzels just by myself during the party! We also had a veggie tray and yummy chocolate-mint cookies supplied by Lindy!

And pinwheels everywhere.... I LOVED them!

I put together a little tree with a poem about Bryce on it... this was a little spot for people to grab Chandra's cute favor suckers and write a little note to Bryce on a pinwheel. I read some throughout the night--they were really cute.

Amber and sweet little Bryce! I got to hold him for a good amount of time--what a sweetie. He was so good the whole time!

A few of the partiers! Side note: I recently realized that this is the longest I have ever been in a ward besides the ward I grew up in! I really love the ladies in our ward, it has been fun to grow close to so many of them already in the 3 years we have lived here!

And please ignore my incredible gross-ness in these pics! We got back from Utah the night before and I pulled a super late night getting the yard and everything ready for the party, then taught lessons all day and was in charge of dinner group! It was a little insane! Good thing it was worth it! :)

Me, Lindy, Amber, and Chandra! The brains behind the party and the reason for the party! Congrats to the Sibbetts again, and welcome little Bryce!

And by the way, all 4 of us have babies within months of each other. And I am dying to get a picture of those 4 babies together! Love these girls!

See Jane Run!

My bud Lindy and I ran in the See Jane Run 5K! It is a Half Marathon AND 5K... maybe next year I will be brave enough to go big and try the H.M.! We will see!

I haven't run in a 5K for more than a year, so I was pretty nervous! I also haven't been as diligent in my training for this as I have in the past. BUT I survived! We finished just under 35 minutes (flying, I know!) And had some fun afterwards! It was a girl race so they had chocolate and champaigne at the end! (don't worry Mom, we didn't drink any champaigne!) and they also had lots of fun vendors and free stuff for us afterwards too. We are now motivating ourselves to try to get ready for a 10K in October!

Dairy Days Parade

I have started helping with our local Families Supporting Adoption group-- (yes, because I don't already have enough volunteer work I am doing) and my first project helping out with was a fun parade Meridian has every year. It was about the same size (and fabulous quality) of the Idaho Falls 4th of July parade, if that gives you an idea. :)

I just DIED when I put these sunglasses on her! Is that not the most hilarious thing you have ever seen? Ashlyn was definitely a hit--Collin and I switched off carrying her most of the time, and we would have her wave at people, who of course thought she was just as cute as we do! She lasted about half of the route before she fell asleep, then woke up again for the end. She slept really well that night!

Collin and I actually supplied the trailer, borrowed from a wrestling friend. We were also in charge of bringing 30 pounds of candy! That's right, 30 pounds! I'm sure the people at WinCo thought we were crazy!

Utah

We made a trip down to Utah last weekend to visit Collin's family. The two main reasons for going were that Collin's brother Jim and his family were up visiting from Florida, and also because things weren't going very well for Collin's dad. He was doing really well last time we were down there a few weeks ago, but right after that trip he started a 2-week round of chemo for his brain tumors, and it really set him back. He had just been transferred to home care when we got there, so it was difficult to see him having troubles, but I think it helped that he was able to be at home with so much of his family nearby.

Collin, Ashlyn, Lucy and I stayed at Sam and Megan's apartment in Provo during the nights (thank you again!), but we spent our days at Collin's parents' house. We played with our nieces and nephews, and Ashlyn got passed around a lot! She did pretty well, considering what a huge break in routine and how loud and crazy everything was. What can I say, she is a little angel baby. :)

Sunday morning, 5 of the 6 Robertson brothers and their families all gathered at Collin's parents' home to give Jim a blessing. They also gave one to Darlyne, and to Beau. It was really touching and the spirit was really strong. It was hard to have to be together under such difficult circumstances, but having everyone in the family together was also really comforting. Here we all are:
Here is Collin, Jim, Tyler, Morgan, Beau, and Jim and Darlyne. The only brother missing is Brock, he had been visiting from Ohio a week earlier.

Lucy was pretty good while we were there too. The biggest problem was that there were 2 other dogs around on Sunday, and one wasn't very friendly to Lucy, so we had to keep them separated! But Lucy had a good time playing with all her "cousins," Sean (who's 4) liked to put her on her leash and lead her all around the house! It was cute. This is Lucy and Snowball, Morgan's family's puppy: (they did get along. It was Xena, Beau's little miniature rottweiler who wasn't very friendly!)

We got a picture of all the cousins together! Aren't they so cute! I hadn't seen Jim and Deb's kids (besides James, who came up for wrestling camp last summer) since a month after we got married! Back in 2005! They were so grown up! They are really sweet kids. And of course I love the rest of my nieces and nephews too! :)

Tienna, Savannah, Scottie, Darby, Aiden, Brett, McKinzie, Ashlyn, Kiersten, James, Sean, and Rebecca! What a cute bunch of cousins! Don't you love how fair skinned, red-headed, and freckly they are.... all but our little chocolate Ashlyn! I thought that was so cute.

It was so great to see all of them. Aren't forever families the best?

4 Months!

I'm sure I'm going to start every monthly Ashlyn post with this, but it's true: I can't believe my baby is already 4 months old! It feels like she's been in our family for so much longer, but then again I can't believe the time has flown by so quickly. Look at those cheeks!


Playing with Dad!

She is such a big smiler!

I better write down some things that she likes and doesn't like at this time, since I probably won't do it anywhere else!

Ashlyn loves:

-To smile at anyone and everyone!

-Grabbing things!

-Putting whatever she grabs straight into her mouth!

-Riding around in the Snugli

-Sitting in her bumbo!!

-Getting carried around facing outwards

-Lucy! She smiles whenever Lucy walks by, or if Lucy gives her licking kisses.

-Tummy time! (for about 5 minutes--then she's done!)

-She is almost rolling over from tummy to back! She did it on the slanted bed, but hasn't quite gotten it on the ground yet. Am I ready for a baby who can move without me??!

-Loves to "talk" and "Yell" whenever she can! She is quite the little noise maker! Lately it is a high-pitched jabbering, but it changes every day!

-Being naked! She is SO happy when I strip her down to her diaper! Even if she was grouchy, she immediately gets happy!

-Bath time! She has loved this since day 1!

Ashlyn doesn't like:

-Getting her arms pulled through sleeves!

-Getting held in cradle position--she has to be up looking around or she screams.

I can't think of anything else??? She is a very content baby! We love love love her!

Showing her Patriot pride! Happy 4 months babesky!

Landscapin'!

About a year ago, Collin started a yard project in our back yard that ... . . never got finished. Until last weekend! I was planning to host a baby shower in our back yard, so I gave him a deadline to get it done! We both ended up working on it a good part of the day, but it looks great and is done!

The main reason we did it is because we don't have a sprinkler system (yet... don't get me started. My advice: Don't move into a house without one! you might not care at the time, but by August you sure as heck will!) And to water our yard we ended up watering a good portion of the back of the house also, which is taking its toll on the paint as you can see. So, Collin started by placing a bunch of rocks and killing most of the grass last summer, but that is how it stayed until last week.

I didn't get a great "before" picture, this is after we had already killed the rest of the grass and put down the weed barrier:

And here is the after:
Ta-da! We had a good time shopping for which plants to put in, and I think we made some good choices. Once we finally got it done I was so happy, I think it looks great! Now on to staining the fence! . .. ahh!

BLESSINGS!

Collin and I have really been wishing we had a Money Tree lately! Doesn't everyone? Anyway, when we got approved for adoption they told us it would be an average wait of 2 years... but not even 2 months later Ashlyn came along! Needless to say, we had barely, barely started saving our pennies for all the expenses that it would entail.

Today as I was sorting through some of Ashlyn's clothes that are now too small I was overcome with how blessed we have been! We have always had a testimony of tithing and have paid it diligently even when it seemed really hard and we weren't sure how our expenses would even out with our income. And we have always made it so far..... I know it sounds cliche to say that but it's SO TRUE! We are broke as a joke right now, paying off all the adoption and travel fees we incurred while getting our little one. We don't mind and we don't complain because it's worth it! We have made sure to continue to pay our tithing through all this, even though it looks really good to send that money to an airline or hotel or credit card instead. And Heavenly Father has sent so many ways to bless us I can't even name them all. But here are a few--

For one thing, we were SUPER spoiled with all the gifts brought to us/given at showers. I had always been looking forward to having a baby shower simply because it was fun to have a party in your honor, but at each of these we NEEDED pretty much everything! I have probably bought less than 10 clothing items total for Ashlyn, all due to the wonderful things friends and family gave us. And believe me, we would not have the money to spend on those things right now anyway!

Another thing: so many people gave us diapers as they came to visit, or came to showers, or whatever. I bought 2 packs of size 1 diapers, and didn't even use one of them. All the diapers she used in that size were given to us.

Also, one of my friends (bless you, Chandra! :) just happened to have stockpiled a bunch of Similac for her baby, who turned out to not tolerate it well. So for like the first 3 weeks or more that we were home, we were able to use free formula from my buddy! That is money in the bank, people! And continuing with the formula thing, I have been super blessed to have so many people (some I don't even know) giving me their coupons and checks for Similac, so I have been able to score some great couponing deals to save more $$ on it. Thank goodness.

Another thing--we bought pretty much everything in Ashlyn's nursery (bedding, diaper genie, mobile, pack n play, bumbo, boppy...) with gift cards and cash given to us. After living in a hotel for 2 weeks with next to nothing in terms of baby supplies, we knew we could go without, but those things are so nice to have and it was all thanks to generosity of those we love.

Also-- we were just figuring out how we would pay our next $650 installment to pay off our airline expenses last month, when that day I got a check in the mail from LDSFS for a total of $657! It was a refund of more than half of what we had paid for our birthmom's pass through expenses.

AND the latest thing that has been another small (but big!) miracle-- I got rear-ended about 2 months ago, and the estimate put the total cost for repairs at $470, even though you can barely see the scratches on our bumper for it. It took 2 months for the insurance to get ahold of the lady who hit me, and all this time I had just been waiting for the car repair place to call me to tell me they were finally settled and could take our car in. Well just last week I got a call from the insurance agent telling me he was just going to send me a check for the full amount. Are you kidding me? I think it's more than just good luck.

So, there are so many more ways that through this experience we have been blessed beyond measure, and probably way more than we deserve. When Collin and I first started the discussion of trying to have kids (which is laughable now--the fact that it was 4 years ago!), finances were a big issue to me. I didn't grow up with a lot of money and I didn't want to have kids before we were a little more financially secure. Of course Collin brought me around to realizing that things would work out if we were trying to do what we felt is best and that was trying to start a family. Well here we are 4 years later and it's so true. Heavenly Father wanted Ashlyn to be sent to our family, and He has and is still providing so many helps along the way, both big and small. I just wanted to write these down before I forgot them. And the moral of the story= pay your tithing and it will work out! (I keep saying that to myself.... as we continue paying things off!

A Visit from the Provotians

Sam and Megan came to visit over Memorial Day Weekend! Unfortunately Boise did NOT represent our "more pleasant than Provo" climate that I brag to Sam about, it poured rain and was cold most of the time. But we had fun anyway! Check that out! Sam feeding a baby. I don't know if I have ever seen that before. I especially love how Lucy is also posing for the picture.

This is the only shot I got of Megan with Ashlyn.... I really didn't take many pictures over the weekend. Anyway, Megan was just sitting playing with Ashlyn when all of a sudden . . .

LUCY ATTACK!!!! (no babies or Megans were actually harmed in this incident)

Saturday night we went out to do some black-light miniature golfing. Megan creamed us all, as usual. They had 3D glasses you could buy for like $3 but we found a bunch of them just laying around inside, so we each took some turns using them. They really weren't so cool, except when I was wearing them and I'd swing for the ball, I'd miss! So that was definitely amusing to ahem, other people.

It is not easy to get a decent picture in black light! Although look at how Sam's teeth are glowing--creepy

Flash..... not so cool either. Again, what is with Sam? Do I need to ask? It's Sam. (har)

Yes the little sweetums came! She mostly just looked around with her big eyes at all the cool things glowing! But of course it was late-night snack time around hole 12 so we did a good job of juggling feeding her in the dark around taking our turns golfing! Afterwards we went downtown and walked around in the freezing coldness and went to Aspen Leaf for frozen yogurt! Let me tell you we will go there again! It was the first time I had been to a place like that and it was so yummy. We had a good time watching extreme snowboarding and base jumping while we were there too!

Well I have no more pictures from the rest of the weekend.... but Sunday we had a yummy BBQ of some kebabs, grilled potatoes, and dutch oven cobbler! We drove up to Tablerock to check out the view through the rain..... then headed home for some games. Monday Sam and Collin went mountain biking in the foothills while Megan, Ashlyn and I went out to the outlets. It was a fun weekend! Thanks for coming you guys!

Random Cuteness

Look at the amount of this check. You know what it is for? 100 hours of working with a student teacher! ha ha. That is some good pay right there. What is that, 5 cents an hour? And if I got that math wrong it's probably because I graduated before they increased the math and science requirements for graduation.....

So I tried like 100 times to get a smiling picture. no go. Man it is hard to photograph babies! Although I admit this one looks pretty dang cute no matter what she's doing in the picture!

She has now figured out how to hold onto things! (sort of) These keys are her favorite! I LOVE Lucy in this picture! She's like "WHAT!"

Doesn't this just make you smile?!?