Lyf's Visit

Lyf and Bethany came up on a Monday a few weeks ago so that we could take them to the airport. They were going to Florida for a fun trip. However, when they got here, we found out that there flight got canceled because of an epic storm in the northeast. They ended up not being able to fly out until Wednesday, so they stayed at our house and did some touristy things in the valley while they waited to leave. They were stuck with me and the kids because Rinar had a meeting in Kansas City for the week.

Hence, on Tuesday I took them to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point.  I think Lyf really enjoyed it. My kids did, too.

They even have a giant dinosaur puzzle in one area. They must have put it in just for Harry. How did they know?

Lyf and Bethany stayed to watch an iMax and then headed off to other exotic locales. I headed home because it was my turn to host playgroup for the neighborhood kids. These three needed some kind of activity, so we made cookies. Julia, Molly, and Ryder helped to make them and the rest of the boys helped to eat them. It worked out well.

A Coffin

"I just want to be buried in a pine box under a pine tree." 

This was an oft made request from Rinar's dad to his kids. Amazingly enough, Rinar's older brother Lyf is a guy who gets stuff done and he has the skills to do it. He told his dad that he could build him a box.

And that is what he has done.  Lyf's father-in-law has some property and there were a few felled cedar trees. Yes, Lyf actually milled the planks from the cedar trees on his family's property. I am just blown away. He started working on it in the days leading up to Lynn's death. Rinar was able to help him some with the cutting and planing, but this was really Lyf's labor of love.

Are you blown away? I am!

This is one of the reasons that the funeral was scheduled a week from his death. Lyf needed enough time to finish the coffin. And he did.

In addition, the cost of a funeral is absolutely staggering, especially if you do not have insurance for it. What a blessing for his mother. She has amazing children who will do anything to ease her burdens, including building a 'pine box' to go under a pine tree. The total cost was about $30 for the stain and finishing stuff, instead of $2000 for an impersonal casket.

He carved a love note on the bottom of the coffin. "I made this for you Dad. Love, your son Lyf.

The funeral is tomorrow. There will be a lot of tears shed and love expressed.

Obituary

Lynn, beloved husband and father, age 70, passed away peacefully in his sleep at home on January 23, 2014. He was born on April 5,1943 in Ruth, Nevada, to Harry Clayton and Erma Anderson Erickson.

While serving an LDS mission in Denmark, he met the love of his life, Linda, who was also serving a mission. They were married in the Laie, Hawaii Temple on December 27, 1968. Their 45 years of wonderful marriage produced 5 children and 22 grandchildren with one great-grand child on the way.

Lynn was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He served faithfully in many callings but the one he enjoyed the most was working with the youth in the scouting program. He was honored with The Silver Beaver award for his devoted time, and all three of his sons are Eagle Scouts.

Lynn enjoyed books and reading and worked as the Reference Librarian at the Santa Clara library. He loved to teach. In addition, he had a beautiful singing voice and participated in many musical performances. He loved the outdoors; hunting, fishing, and camping with his family. He also had a passion for exploring, mining, and archeology with his brother.

We are grateful and blessed for the example he set, the love he shared and the lessons he taught. We will miss him dearly and we know he is with his Heavenly Father.

Lynn is survived by his wife Linda, his children Lyf (Angie) Erickson, Leilani (Jeff) Houston, Rinar (Kelly) Erickson, Nordel (Brooke) Erickson, Aislinn Erickson and his brother, Einar Erickson.  He was preceded in death by his parents and two sisters, Verena and Elisabeth.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, January 30, 2014 at 11 am in the LDS chapel at 550 East 700 South, St. George, UT. A viewing will be held prior to the services from 9:30-10:45 at the church. Interment will be in the Hurricane Cemetery under the direction of McMillan Mortuary.

Friday Thanksgiving

In keeping with our family tradition, Thanksgiving was once again celebrated on Friday.  It seems to work out well because there are no scheduling conflicts. This year we ate dinner at Lyf's house. It is a fun place to gather because there is lots of room for the kids to play.  And since we sold our condo, it was also our hotel for the duration of our stay in Utah.

 

Before dinner, I was also able to do some Black Friday shopping. I love to buy clothes on this day of the year. There are great deals and it is not crazy like Walmart or Target.

 

Cayleb, Zach, Tru and Eli had fun jumping on the trampoline.

 

 

The adults were hanging out by the red garage talking and the kids were jumping and playing. The trampoline is set in a hole, to minimize injuries.  Harry's shoe had fallen into the hole and Eli tried to get it out. His head got wedged between the trampoline and the side wall after all the other kids had left.  At first it didn't register in my head, but then I finally realized that he was screaming frantically.  I looked over at the trampoline and saw Eli doing an impersonation of an ostrich.  I ran over there and got him out. The kid was not happy. Poor thing. I felt so bad for him. But he was totally fine.

 

 

It was a great treat to see that Bella was here for the holiday. It was neat to see her again.

 

And a family visit would not be complete without a good dose of wrestling. Eli, Rayder, and Tru had a blast rolling around tackling each other.  The kids also had loads of fun playing Just Dance 3 on the Wii.  It was quite hilarious watching the cousins dance and dance, with great concentration on their faces.

 

We also enjoyed sharing our favorite Youtube videos with each other and playing 8 and Back, of course, and Taboo.

Mary Jane, Lani, Bryn, Kate, and Lindy.

Memorial Weekend

We had a lovely Memorial Day Weekend in St. George, Utah. I would first like to report that Eli is going strong with potty training. We were gone all weekend and he did great. I think he only had a couple little accidents.

We stayed with Lyf and his family in Hurricane. The kids had loads of fun playing with their cousins. I am so grateful that they get to play with lots of different cousins. I never got to know any of my cousins growing up because we lived so far away. It always made me sad. Now, they are strangers, in essence. I don't want that for my kids. It is a wonderful thing to be able to live closer to family. My kids definitely know all of their cousins well and they are some of their best friends. Here is Bryn and Mary Jane greeting us on our arrival. They were statues!


Julia got to experience a wonderful new creation...watermelon! She loving caressed the watermelon, admired the watermelon and ate the watermelon. Julia was on happy little girl.


We worked hard on Saturday and Monday cleaning up the condo and moving stuff in. I did a big yard sale expedition with Angie and I found some great treasures, including a $5 kitchen table. It was a little broken, but Rinar fixed it up. We also purchased new beds and I have tested them out. They work great.

On Sunday we went to church with Rinar's parents. It was awesome because Rinar's Grandmother C. was there! She has lived in Hawaii for a long time, but has recently moved here so that she can go to a long-term care facility. I gave here a hug and introduced her to some of my kids. She was very nice, but she didn't have a clue who we were. I didn't think she would. I missed out on getting a picture of her, but I will get one soon.

Since it was Memorial Day, I decided it would be a good idea to go visit Grandpa N. at the St. George Cemetery. I called Grandma N. and she came along. I am embarrassed to report that I have never seen Grandpa's headstone. That's right people. I have not gone back to visit his grave since the funeral. I always mean to go and I think about him all the time. I just never went and I never took my kids. At least now, I have proof that we have been. I just never worried about it because I know that he is busy up there doing important stuff, so he wouldn't be offended if I didn't visit his grave.

Then I realized I had never told my boys about Grandpa and how he died and everything. That was an interesting conversation as we were driving to the cemetery. You see, he was killed in a car accident about 5 blocks down the road and we drove right past it on the way to his grave. It was quite a show and tell moment.

Grandma is doing really well, see?


Before we left, Rinar and I went to the grocery store to get some flowers for Grandpa's grave. We took Eli with us. It was the cutest thing. He walked into the store and immediately grabbed a bag of Frito's corn chips. He hugged them like a teddy bear and carried them around. He was doing some serious shopping. It wouldn't have been my pick for chips but he seemed confident in his decision. He just looked up at us with that cute grin of his and we were hooked. Now I remember why I don't take my kids grocery shopping.

Chuck E. Cheese's Revisited With the Family...and Other Stuff

We have had a few visitors these past couple of days. Lyf and his five beautiful girls came down yesterday to stay over. They really wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese's. They don't have that restaurant in southern Utah. A couple of years ago Bethany and Bryn stayed at our house during the summer and we took them there. They had a memorable time and so they made sure that we went again with the entire family.

Let me just state unequivocally that Chuck E. Cheese's is no fun with a one year-old. Avoid it at all costs. Eli wanted to get on to everything and would get really mad when he couldn't. Plus, you have to stay right with him so that he can avoid all the mayhem that usually follows a one year-old around unmercifully. It is exhausting. For example, I thought I would let him try skeeball. Yikes. He threw the ball like a baseball into other peoples lanes, he didn't want to let me help him throw it, and then he climbed up on the ramp to put the balls in by hand. This automatically tilts the game. Not a problem for our game, but when he tries to go to the adjacent lanes for the same fun, it gets dicey. I guess that is why I sat at the booth with the little babies (who slept the entire time, in their carriers, away from all people and germs, covered by a big blanket) and ate my salad.

The other kids had a blast playing all of the games and cashing in tickets to get lame little prizes that they go ga-ga over everytime.

We came home and put the kids to bed. Except for Kate and Eli, the other 6 slept in a couple of tents we put in the backyard. Then Catye and her friend Josh arrived. They decided to visit us from Tucson. We played 8 and Back at the kitchen table and at 10:30 we could still hear giggling from the tent. I guess it is to be expected. But they sure did have lots of fun.

Today we went with Lyf to see the airshow at Nellis AFB. Well, at least we tried. The line was so long to get a shuttle, we wimped out and decided to watch from afar. After about 45 minutes, Lyf decided to go ahead and try again. We didn't have enough time because the boys had a violin/viola recital. Oh well...maybe next year for me.

It was fortunate that we had over an hour to kill before the recital, which was just down the street and about 30 minutes from our house. Why? Because Zach's violin was not in the car. ARGH! Hence, we briskly made our way home so the kids could change and to retrieve the violin. Honestly, Zach!

They did great with their pieces. I did take a video of each performance and I will try to post it tomorrow.

Catye and Josh babysat for us this early evening so we could have a date. So Rinar and I went to a nice dinner and then did a little bit of window shopping.

It is was a pretty good day.

Great Basin Equals Great Fun

Well, this was Rinar's last big hurrah before our babies are born. He went with his brothers Lyf and Nordel to Great Basin National Park area in central Nevada. I think it might be the only place they ever going fishing. Which begs the question...is there no other place to fish in the entire mountain west area? I am just wondering.

They had a fun time together and did lots of guy stuff. They even got a round of golf in before they headed up to the great outdoors.






Hmmm....I wonder what they had for dinner...and breakfast...and lunch. I just can't figure it out.





Say hello, little rattlesnake.