sweet home

Dealing with my mom's passing is proving to be a slow process. One moment I am fine and the next I am overcome with emotion- sadness mostly but also something that hurts more than just sadness. I feel like I am in a post baby fog. Another really hard part has been my instinct to pick up the phone and call my mom every time one of my kids does something funny or when I am sitting in carpool or driving to YW or whenever. The Thursday before she passed was the last time I talked to my mom on the phone and we just had one of our normal conversations. We talked every day. At least once a day. My dad told me that one Friday night after chemo my mom was feeling terrible and was exhausted but she couldn't go to sleep because she hadn't talked to me or one of my sisters (he doesn't remember who it was) and so she picked up the phone and called. I am able to function and deal with normal life for the most part, but there is a feeling like a constant fog is surrounding me and making me forget why I walked into a room or where I put that important paper, etc. In an effort to re-normalize our lives I have been trying to get back to some of the fun things we like to do at Christmastime. Our Christmas will be scaled back this year, but it is actually a huge relief. I was proud that I got my Costco special Christmas cards out even though this is the first time I am sending them without any personal notes. But I got them out! We didn't get a tree, but some friends brought over a huge poinsettia that is taking it's place beautifully. Here are some pictures (not in the right order but that's not really important) of our fun activities so far:

Grinch party at the library. I wouldn't recommend ever under any circumstances making Christmas trees out of upside down sugar cones, green frosting, and assorted candy. Messes of huge proportions. But we watched the Grinch and the kids each got a cute pair of antlers. George didn't want to participate!

Aiden will be missing a class field trip to see The Best Christmas Pageant Ever so I took the kids to see it on Saturday and this is the outfit she put together. Complete with fan in case it got hot in the theater. Birmingham Children's Theatre is really terrific. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if I had remembered the tickets the first time and not had to load everyone back into the car and home to get them.
There was a puppet show at the library and this was the stage decoration. I think it was supposed to be snow and it was really pretty. The puppet show was really great and the puppets were really awesome. I think it was called "Santa's Lost Mail". The kids enjoyed it a lot. I think Elmo did too.
After the show we waited in line to see Santa and Mrs. Claus even though A informed us it probably wasn't the REAL Santa. She didn't hesitate, however, when he asked her what she wanted so maybe she changed her mind. Cate didn't cry and I was thrilled.
And they each got a little toy and ring pop in the shape of a Christmas light.
A had her little Christmas ballet recital and did a great job even though she had missed the last 2 classes.
Oh, the Christmas parade is NOT to be missed. Even if it's at night on a school night and totally freezing cold. I'll tell you why- we came home with more candy that Halloween (not kidding) and at least 20 beads(mardi gras style) as well as plenty of moon pies and some cheese biscuits from Jim N Nicks (which I had to chase down the float to get but that's another story for another day). I've never seen another parade with so much candy that the kids just stop picking it up. As we were walking to the car the street and gutters were just full of candy. It was awesome and that's why we'll be back next year! The picture is terrible but the best one of the night so we'll deal with it.
We also went to an amazing live nativity at a local church. There was a huge line but it was worth standing out in the cold for. There were 13 scenes and it is always so moving seeing the events of the Savior's birth and life being played out by real people. I didn't get any pictures but the kids are begging to go back next year already. I don't know if it was just the hot chocolate and cookies at the end that won them over, but I know we won't miss that either.

Will you please take a minute and send a quick email to rememberingdeanne at gmail dot com? We are making a book for the grandkids filled with great stories, memories, and thoughts about my mom. They are all so young and it's sad to think that they won't know what an incredible life she led. It doesn't have to be anything huge or long, just a quick line will be great. If you read my blog and your parents don't will you please ask them to do it too? It's been so fun for us to read the stories and messages we've collected already. We'll be posting them on a blog too, so be sure to check it soon. rememberingdeanne.blogspot.com

Lewis spoke today at my mom's funeral. It was a beautiful service and we are grateful that so many people came in spite of the bad weather. Here is Lew's talk, he did a terrific job. Originally it was written as a letter, so please excuse errors. He didn't fix them all in this draft and I'm too lazy to go through and fix them myself.



I am so thankful to Deanne for the many lessons that she taught us through conversations and her actions over the years that our Father in Heaven allowed her to spend with us before calling her back to continue her work on the other side of the veil.
All three sons in laws are so thankful to you for raising three amazing women. Through her example of what it means to be a mother and a wife she raised three great, righteous women (and two pretty amazing young men) who love the Lord and His children just as she did. Her relationship with Kurt was formed by a bond which was molded from mutual trust, spirituality, humor, and working together over the years that was a standard that we all try to live up to and strive to ensure such a strong bond in our marriages. Another of her great accomplishments was creating an atmosphere of safety and peace in her home while keeping it fun and full of life. We always loved to spend time in her home, and when I say we I include high school from PC, Draper and Ghana and college kids from across the map, from Provo UT, to Williamsburg VA and Bowling Green KY. I once brought a track teammate for the weekend in Park City. He was far from his native homeland of Kenya and new to the US. He had been feeling homesick for quite a while and I told him he just needed to come up to Park City to spend a weekend at my in-laws and he would feel better. He talked about that weekend for the remainder of his time at BYU. He loved the feeling in the Krieger home, he felt at peace and I think this is why so many kids have always hung out at the Krieger home.
This atmosphere of peace was no accident, it was a result of your personality--your charity. Your home was a place of charity. I remember seeing crutches and eyeglasses scattered throughout the house when she, I mean Kip, was doing his Eagle project. She taught us what it meant to be charitable, like when she set up the company “Bags by Bernice” out of her home in Ghana which helps and sustains several if not many Ghanaian families through funds raised through your efforts. But even more important was her example of what it meant to have the pure love of Christ. Her gift of being able to see the good in everyone—so ingrained in her very nature—that we never heard her speak poorly of another of our Heavenly Father’s children—because that is how she saw everyone, as her own brother or sister, and she would do anything she was able to do in order to help. The story of the good Samaritan was a model of how she lived her life. She befriended everyone. she somehow knew the life story of the person who scanned the groceries at Albertson’s and the person who was bagging them. (Not to mention the people on either side of her in line). People liked to open up to her. Even when she was in for some of her final chemotherapy treatments, there were women who would come and sit at her side to tell her about their own problems (as if she did not already have enough to worry about) but she bouyed them up and bore their burdens with her own--often lamenting their hardships, which to us seemed insignificant compared to the ones she faced. I think one of the reasons we enjoyed opening up and speaking to her was because we never felt judged. She left the judging up to our father in heaven and instead spent her energies making sure we knew we were loved. Anyone who knew Deanne will attest that she really did love the Lord with all her heart and she loved her neighbor even more than herself. What a great example of following the greatest commandments given us by our Savior during his earthly ministry.
Another of her great loves was this world that our Heavenly Father created for us, and she passed that love on to her children, grandchildren and others around her. Yellowstone National Park will always be remembered by us as her outdoor escape. she adored the wildlife and sceneries afforded by the magnificent landscapes. she were also as tireless on hikes to the more remote destinations like Lone Star Geyser as she was in her service to others. Even more importantly, at least to the sons in laws, she had the magical ability to calm our wives after we would show up hours late from fishing trips. I remember having the entire family crowded into one hotel room after showing up a few hours late and it wasn’t long before you made some comment that had us all laughing at ourselves about spending all day fishing and not catching a thing. I recall several occasions of she would reassure us that if we were living off the land we wouldn’t starve—she would tell us the women would just have to figure out which plants were edible because we had learned we couldn’t rely on the men’s sportsmanship to provide fish and game for meals. And while we were off fishing, she was playing camp director--leading the rest of the troops around to see the bald eagles, the bison, and the bears and outfitting your grandchildren as YNP rangers. She loved the local wildlife as well and spent countless hours over the years refilling feeders which brought birds, ducks, porcupines and even the occasional skunk to her backyard. She also loved seeing the deer frequent her yard here in Draper, and it broke her heart when the young fawn died there. She loved this earth and all that our Father in Heaven created in it.
She also loved to have a good time. She was just fun to be around. She could do the moonwalk and didn’t shy away from demonstrating when her talents were called into question. Her sense of humor was great—at least we thought so because sometimes she was often the only one who laughed at our jokes. She especially loved humorous stories about the things her grandkids said and did in public on a daily basis.
Her athleticism was astounding. I have heard stories of her track and cheerleading days in high school. And she raised amazing athletes as well—including another female track star, two female soccer stars, and two male sports stars who do all of the above and won countless accolades for their sporting accomplishments on both the xbox and Nintendo gaming systems. I remember I thought that I was in good shape. I was still running track at BYU and we would come up on weekends that I wasn’t racing. We headed out with her skate skiing and it was only took me a few minutes to find out I wasn’t in “that kind of shape.” She loved to exercise including yoga—going with her daughters to classes where they would all return home laughing about one thing or another that had taken place during class.
She taught me firsthand what it meant to have faith. After she was diagnosed, she received a priesthood blessing blessing which rebuked the cancer. She, as well as the children she raised, immediately rejoiced with a faith so pure that you knew “things were going to be better.” I was astounded. Sure, I thought, but the priesthood holder is not a doctor, maybe he didn’t know what Stage IV breast cancer means, that the 5 year survival rate is not something to be rebuked. But what a lesson I had in store for me as I watched the years unfold and watched as she fit a lifetime of accomplishments into the additional seven and a half years of life that our Father in Heaven, through the power of the priesthood, granted her. I don’t know if she realized what she accomplished in those years? She fit decades worth of experiences and touched hundreds if not thousands of lives in various countries on several continents in her remaining years.

Deanne Lisonbee Krieger

“Not without hope we suffer and we mourn.” Wordsworth

Deanne Michelle Lisonbee Krieger passed away Tuesday, November 23, 2010, at home in the company of her family after more than seven years of a courageous struggle with breast cancer. With Deanne’s passing, the world lost an exceptionally warm and generous person; a person whose special gift was to comfort and strengthen all those she knew.
Deanne was born in Oregon in 1957 and was graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Recreation Therapy, combining her love of serving others and her active personality. In 1977 she married the love of her life, Kurt Krieger, in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple. As life took her to Portland, Oregon, then Washington D.C., to Park City, Utah, on to Ghana (Africa) and Mexico City then back to Utah, Deanne always found ways to be involved to help people in need. She also appreciated the beauty of the Lord’s creations, in particular Yellowstone National Park, the African savannah and the islands of the sea.
But of all the things Deanne loved there was no doubt that her family and her faith were the most important things in her life. She loved serving in any capacity but was especially fond of everyday, one-on-one relationships with dear friends. She possessed an extraordinary ability to connect with others and to establish immediate emotional bonds based on her genuine desire to know and serve others.People were drawn to her because of the genuine love she felt for them.
Deanne was preceded in death by her sister, Jana Louise Lisonbee, and her father, Alvin Lisonbee.She is survived by her mother Louise Lisonbee, brothers David Lisonbee (Bianca) and Mark Lisonbee (Terri), husband Kurt Krieger and their children Jana Joy Jones (Lewis), Jordan Adams (Matthew), Jacqueline Canty (Brian), Kurt Christopher (“Kip”) Krieger and John Keiler Krieger, and grandchildren Aiden, Brooks and Cate Jones, Fischer, Sophie and Finn Adams, and Matilda and Porter Canty. Her family expresses gratitude to Dr. Buys and the other physicians, nurses and staff of the Huntsman Cancer Institute for their remarkable efforts on her behalf.
Family and friends are invited to email to rememberingdeanne@gmail.com (or give to a family member) a story about Deanne and perhaps a photo to be passed along to her grandchildren as additional remembrances of the extraordinary life of their “Yaya.” Certain of those will be posted at www.rememberingdeanne.blogspot.com.
Services will be held Monday, November 29, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. at the Draper 6th Ward LDS meetinghouse located at 12700 S. 1300 E. in Draper, Utah. A viewing will be held on Sunday, November 28, 2010, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Larkin Mortuary at 1950 East 10600 South in Sandy, Utah and also Monday morning from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the church. Interment will be at the Orem City Cemetery.

I have been working on my Personal Progress. One of the things I have been wanting to do is develop a new skill so I chose building furniture. I really enjoyed making 2 bedside tables and 2 bookshelves but I am taking a break from Lowe's for a little while. Here are some of the things I've done:
(note: please don't look too closely, thanks.)
I made one for each side of the bed. This is Lew's side and this was a couple of months ago. He's reading The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie now. Isn't that a great book? I painted the back of his blue (on the inside) to match the walls but I painted mine white. What do you think is a better option? Or just bag them both and try something new?
The bookshelves are a little wider than the space for them. I didn't think about the top part when I measured because hey, I'm a beginner. Next time I'll do better. Pinkie.
And I spray painted them without figuring that in too. Hilarious. Classic JJ. I almost don't want to fix it. Also, I have to mention that Lewis did help with the first few steps (putting pieces together) on the first bookshelf. His help was irreplaceable. He's a great helper and since he can put people together I bet he's really really good at putting furniture together! I can't wait to have his help on the next project! He's terrific!!!


Don't forget these: they may look easy but the second time is not so easy. Tracking down each tiny piece nearly gave me a heart attack or asthma attack or something. I think from now on we'll keep these ones up when friends come over.....

Anyway, in conclusion, I love building things. I love seeing something that I made with my own hands come together. The Legos are fun too, but the tiny pieces are hard to keep track of with Cate always stealing things and hiding them in tiny places.

A couple of weeks ago I went with Brooks' class on a field trip. To a "pumpkin patch". Which was not a pumpkin patch at all but a big piece of empty land that a church owns and fills with a train ride, a hay ride, inflatables, and other fun fall themed activities. Oh, also a few pallets with pumpkins sitting on top of them. My personal favorite was the tent where they learned some Christian songs. I could never imagine that a school sponsored field trip would allow that, but hey, I'm in the south now!
One station was a face painting station. Brooks chose one thing for each cheek. Oh, and they are red under the paint because it was about 90 degrees.
First, a ghost which is seasonally appropriate.

Next, an AU. But I made sure to let the other parents and teachers know that we are not actually huge Auburn fans. We are happy when Alabama, Auburn or UAB win. I am just not ready for that type of commitment. If you choose one you offend all the other team's fans and really I just don't care. But apparently Brooks is an Auburn fan so, War Eagle!
Also, his class got to make a scarecrow which they named Scary. These are their best scary faces:



On to another topic--eating dinner in the car.
Tuesdays were pretty crazy for us this fall. Aiden has ballet from 4:30 to 5:30 and then Brooks had soccer from 6 to 7:30. We didn't have time to go home between the two, so we usually ate dinner in the car. Brooks, Cate and I would eat while A was at ballet and then A would eat while we drove over to soccer. It was fun for the kids but a pain for me!! Luckily soccer is over and our back of the car picnics are over.
Last time Cate found an old pacifier somewhere. It went straight to her mouth and she started saying "I baby. I baba." Ba ba is what she calls the pacifier. She was right back at it like she never missed a beat. I couldn't believe it. Brooks had to do some tricky maneuvering to get it from her and hopefully she won't find any more.....

We are in love with this at our house. Have you seen it? I love Will.i.am. Does that surprise you as much as it does me?

Here is the much anticipated picture of the moldy pumpkin. (don't lie, you were hoping to see it) Before you look closely, remember this is 2 days after carving it.
2 days!





Cate is taking a little mommy and me dance slash ballet class and she looks so cute in a leotard.

We had our "one fundraiser of the year" at the kids' school on Saturday. It includes:
a fun run in the morning,
a raffle for which each child has to sell 20 tickets at $2 a piece,
a silent auction that PTO members have to scour the community for as well as a "basket" for each class that each family donates to,
rides for which you can purchase a $20 unlimited rides armband,
carnival games that require tickets to play,
cake walk that requires cakes made by students' parents,
donut walk,
dvd slash game walk (donated by parents),
bake sale.

It's over for the year and I am so glad!! I don't think I will be room mom for both classes next year. Even if they ask me to do it again. It completely wore me out and it was a bummer that I spent 2 hours "volunteering"instead of hanging out with my kids.
The best part of the whole thing was the fun run. We were planning on Lewis joining us, but unfortunately he got a phone call at 4:30am and had to go to the hospital for a surgery. Too bad people can't just get sick at more convenient times!
The kids, Georgia and I headed over to the school. A went off to find her friends but Brooks decided to stay with me. I had Cate in the stroller and Georgia on the leash. Georgia loves to run and right from the start she was pulling so hard on the leash. Brooks hung onto the stroller almost the whole way and even though we had to stop to pick up Cate's blanket he was still the first kindergarten boy to cross the finish line. We missed the award ceremony because we had to race over to A's soccer game, but when we came back later we picked it up. A was glad because her class won a huge trophy for having the most people sign up for the run.
Anyway, here he is with his medal. Now his confidence is overflowing. He told me that he wants to go wherever cheetahs live so he can race against one. He is sure he would win and then all the people and animals will be cheering for him. They will be yelling "Go Brooks! Go Brooks!"

Saturday was also A's final soccer game of the season. It was their first game against another team of girls and their first win. Go Tangerines!


Also, we have a new outlet mall near us. I feel like it is sort of blah. I need to get outlet more.

I am so glad it is election day. I couldn't take one more day of political ads on TV. And I'm not going to turn the TV off!

We were sad that the Texas Rangers lost the world series, but happy for Tim Lincecum. Incidentally, he doesn't look like my sister Jackie. (sorry Fischer)

And finally, raking season is in full swing. However, our trees are still very green and full so it could be a long one. The kids are thrilled.

The first Halloween event for us this year was Boo at the Zoo. We had never been before, but the kids were begging to go this year. I took them last weekend and we ended up having a great time. Even though we met lots of bad guys....

Trick or treating in the ape house, I mean, Candyland, was a little strange and smelly. But the kids didn't seem to mind. Candy!!!!!
Go Yoda!
Leia in battle mode:
Luke "the lover" Jedi
The kids and I, ok they were no help at all, carved pumpkins at a birthday party last weekend.
Brooks picked a hard pattern and then right when we got home he knocked it off the counter and it broke into a million little pieces. We tried to save it with some toothpicks...
But they were moldy in two days. I mean, mold seriously GROWING like fuzz out of the ghost. I guess you know you live in a humid place when your pumpkins only last one day!!