Remembering Sheri on Memorial Day (Part #1)

With Memorial Day coming on Monday, our thoughts turn to memories of Sheri. Here are some things I would want Abbey and Ava to know about their mother.

Sheri Lynne was born on Sunday, March 21st in Ithaca, New York. Although it was the first day of spring, it was snowing when she was born. Her three older siblings (Stephen, Brent, and Suzanne) loved to hold her and and watch her smile. They made a fort by her crib so that they could play by her:


Sheri was a patient and good-natured baby. She loved to sit in her high chair. She especially liked to eat:


and make messes:


Sheri liked to help in the kitchen. For several years, she was the family's official cookie and brownie maker. Her peanut butter cookies were especially good. She also liked to help in the garden:


When Sheri was 15 months old, her brother Russell was born. Within a few months, he was almost as big as she was. People used to ask if they were twins:


Sheri was a kind person and treated everyone well. In elementary school, she won an award for being the most courteous student in her class and later she was recognized as being the most courteous student in the school. You can see her sweet personality in this picture---our favorite one of her as a child.


Sheri had lots of hobbies and was an avid reader. She loved to hike and to visit Utah's national parks (especially Zion). She was an excellent swimmer and loved to go swimming at the Scera pool, the Orem Fitness Center, and at the condo in St. George.


Sheri always wanted to do what was right. This picture was taken the day she was baptized.


This one was taken the day she entered the Missionary Training Center (MTC):


This picture was taken the day she left for her mission to the Montana Billings Mission:


And this one was taken the day she returned home:


Sheri was a fun-loving person. Her many scrapbooks are full of pictures of her smiling and laughing with her friends --- from her friends in elementary school to her missionary companions to her college roommates:


Sheri had a special relationship with her mom:


Her dad:


Her siblings (Note, this picture is missing Suzanne):

especially her sisters:

and all of her nieces and nephews:


One of Sheri's many accomplishments included graduating from BYU. She attended BYU-Hawaii:


and graduated from BYU-Provo with a degree in English. (She was the only child in the family to take a class from her mother):


Sheri had a wonderful sense of humor. Here she is dressed up as a suffragette for a Young Women's program:


and here she is dressed up as a turkey (!) as part of her job as an Operations Manager at DirecTV in Missoula:


A truly happy day in Sheri's life (and ours) was when she married Eric in the Salt Lake Temple on August 7, 1999:


Sheri was an excellent wife and mother. She loved her "Little Miss Abbey" dearly and looked forward eagerly to the birth of Ava Lily:


We love you Sheri. We miss you!!!

Klein Girls in Orem

While Eric went to Mesa for a wedding, Scott and Bev took Abbey and Ava back to Orem for two days. Abbey had a wonderful time with her cousin Grace. They ate at a little table:

watched TV and pulled silly faces:

and danced and twirled in their pretty dresses:

Ava played with Gabe (he called her "Isaac"):

and watched TV ("Sports Center") with Grandpa. We had to raise the height of the ExerSaucer because she is getting so tall:

She slept in the crib in the lavender bedroom:

and sat in a real highchair to eat her favorite food (bananas and pears):

We were sad when Abbey and Ava went home to Montana. We hope to see them again soon:

Klein Girls in St. George

This week Eric, Abbey, and Ava went to St. George with Scott and Bev. Abbey and Grandma Bev had fun cooking. They made rice krispy treats:


vanilla pudding:


and cake:


We all went to the Pasta Factory Express, where Abbey ate her favorite--breadsticks:


Abbey went swimming, read books, watched TV, played with toys:


and helped entertain Ava:


Ava also enjoyed going to the restaurant:


dropping her toys from the booster chair (so Grandma could pick them up--note that the book is tied to the chair):


and getting reacquainted with Grandpa:


She didn't like waiting to be fed:


but usually she was a very patient, happy baby:


We all had a great time in St. George!

Fun In Sunny Arizona

Last weekend we took a short vacation to sunny Arizona. It was nice to get away from the not so sunny Missoula. Abbey’s favorite part of the trip was riding on the airplanes. At first she was scared when we took off and landed and held onto my arm very very tightly. She was a pro by the time we were flying back home and proudly announced, “I’m not going to be scared this time”. Countless fellow travelers commented on how well behaved the girls were on the flights and in the airports. We had a flight delayed for 3 hours which mutilated many travelers desire to go on living….but the girls shined through with pure awesomeness.

Here is Abbey saying, "I love you"....something she picked up in Arizona.

Ava sleeps peacefully on the plane....I'm so lucky to have two great little travelers.

For Mother’s day we went over to Uncle Mark’s house and chilled with our extended AZ family. It’s been a long time since we had seen some of them so it was nice to see all of them again.

Abbey and Ava got to go to the Phoenix Zoo on Monday. The weather was perfect and we had lots of fun seeing all the animals.

Ava mostly just chilled in her car seat. She was determined to keep her ghostly complexion by staying out of the sun and enjoyed being pushed around.

Abbey is pretending to be an elephant….she was stomping around like an elephant and using her arm as her trunk.

Truthfully I think Abbey enjoyed the fake animals more than the real ones…..mostly because she could ride the fake ones. Next time I’m just going to take her to the park instead.

It was love at first sight!

Abbey & Ava are excited to announce that they have adopted 27 new Beanie Babies. These babies were sent from the Arizona Klein family and Pat Lukes. They arrived in two containers last week via USPS. Once the packages were opened we knew in an instant that these precious babies were sent to our family so that Abbey and Ava could give them lots and lots of love.

Abbey and Ava immediately accepted this most sacred responsibility and have been doing an awesome job as new mothers. Once the babies had been unwrapped, Abbey divided up the babies between herself and Ava without the slightest suggestion that she share from her brilliant father.

Abbey and Ava selflessly sacrificed their beds for the new babies and are now sleeping on the floor. Sure it will be tough for a while....but we have faith that the lord will provide.

As you can see from the pictures, taking care of so many brand new babies can be a daunting task. Abbey and Ava accepted this task without complaint.....yet another indication of just how amazing their father must be.