THIS FAMILY PICTURE WILL BE OUTDATED AS OF 6/07/10. WE ARE THRILLED!!!!!!!!!
I love this picture of Ben and Gracie. These last few days have been amazingly hard yet wonderful. My testimony has grown. My testimony of our Savior has become more real and I know that He is aware of us and our pain. Whenever I hear of a tragedy such as this my heart aches for the family. Now, being this close to it all I really feel the comforting strength of our Savior. I have seen forgiveness, service, sacrifice and love. I have come to know of the surety of our Heavenly Father's plan. One of our friends who lost her 15 month old son came to the viewing. When she hugged Amber she said, " It's so hard right now, but it is so awesome, it's awesome to have a child in heaven." This was such a comfort to Amber . The gospel is true! People have been so kind and giving to my sister and her family and all of us. I love the feeling in her home. The past few days we have shed a lot of tears, but we have also found joy. Joy in the Plan of our Savior. I didn't know that first night if I would ever see Amber happy again, and she has been. She is finding joy in the testimony of our Heavenly Father. We have laughed. Grace brought her such happiness and she knows Grace would always want that to continue. Sorry for all the pictures. I just never want to forget this week.
When we came back from the cemetary this is what the church looked like. It was so perfect. It was bright and beautiful and the love and time that went into this was amazing. Thank you RS for all that you have done for our family and especially Amber's. If we all served the way you all have what a world it would be.
Amber and Gary with their girls. 
Amber and my mom. 
Our forever family. I am so grateful for these people. These people are my best friends and I feel so blessed to have them in my life. We have leaned on each other and held each other up. We know that we are important to one another and that we are always there for each other. My dad said that it has been one of his greatest joys to watch us all come together and be there for each other. What a blessing the family is. I love you all!
My Dad. I wish I had a picture of my parents together. I have been so grateful for the way our parents have raised us. We have held each other up through this. I don't know what people do without an amazing family.
Amber and Gary watching the balloons float into the sky. I can't even tell you how much I love these two, and I am so grateful for who they are. 
The balloons floating up.
Ben with his balloon. He was actually pretty good about letting it go. I thought he wouldn't want to. I love this boy.
My mom and dad did a balloon send off and the end of the service. It was the most perfect thing to do. All the kids, and most adults sent off a balloon and watched it rise in the sky. Look at the sky. It was supposed to be a stormy and and it couldn't have been more beautiful. One more blessing we received.
It is still hard to look at such a little casket, but it was so beautiful. And we are so grateful for it. The inside was white silk with purple little flowers pushed in the buttons. It was perfect and made with a lot of love.
The four pall-bearers. These are the four men that were there the day Grace passed away. Tom, Gary, John and my sweet nephew Brennan.
This is the nursery. Between the Elggrens and the Hills there are 33 kids 15 and under. We were so grateful for this nursery. 
This I still can't believe. These Amazingly wonderful sisters are from my Eagle Mountain ward. They drove an hour and a half to come and see me at the viewing. I'm still speech-less. I love these ladies and I don't know if they will ever know how much this meant to me. They truly knew exactly what I needed! Marion Cline, Tiffany Monsen, Melissa Leatherwood, Annika Paxman, Chelsea Prince and Jobi Niu. I couldn't dream of better friends.
Gary and Amber. The strength of these two has been so amazing and has helped my testimony grow. I watched them at the viewing and all week comfort everyone who came. They have been a Christ-like example for all of us to follow. They have been so gracious to everyone. They are being held by our Savior. They know where Grace is and that they will see her again. We have all felt of the comforter these past few weeks and we are aware that He is aware of us. I love you Ber and Gar!
Tom and his wife. We will always love these two. Really, these are two special people. (Gary is the city manager and Tom is the assistant city manager), but now he will always be a part of our family.
Kirsten, Dan, Staci, Tiffany, Mom and Russ.
Dan, Staci, Kirsten, Russ, Me and Brendan.
The set ups were so beautiful. So many people donated thier time and talents to make everything so amazing. The halls were all lined with picutes and cute things that Gracie loved.
More pictures of our beautiful Grace.
The flowers were so beautiful. They were perfect for Gracie. Bright and Happy. I can't believe how many people sent flowers. 
Some of the display.
This blanket was made by the ward and neighbors. When they took it to the quilting store they kept it open all night and did it for free. I can't believe what a treasure this is. The friends that made this are so kind.
Carter, Abbie, Matt, Kirsten, Matt and Shaun looking over little Gracie. She looked so beautiful.
Annie, Russell, Me, Brennan, Jack, Ashton and Cooper. 
Livie and Lucy with their favorite uncle Dan. It was so fun to have them back for a while. Brendan said, "I can't wait til Dan goes back so I can be an uncle again." You should have seen all the kids when they saw that Dan was there. They got in a line to play with him after they tackled him. We all love him
My beautiful sister Amber holdinhg little Eliza. She wanted nothing to do with anyone. It was quite a fight to get her in this pretty dress and she wouldn't even consider wearing her new black shoes. She had on some old brown ones instead. She is such a Tom Boy and I love her little smokers voice.
Stick and Gary closing the casket for the night. It was so beautiful! I hope one day we can meet the amazing people who donated their time and talents to make this. We love you!
Lucy, Eliza, Annie and Livia in the Limo. Amber said this was one of the best parts of the day. The girls got to undue their seat belts and stand up. She said they all had a blast! It's probably the only pictures of Eliza smiling. 
Matt and Jack in their matching suits. Jack loves Matt.
Celste and April. My two beautiful sisters. My Grandma Elggren. Open your eyes!.jpg)
Jack and Lucy dancing at the viewing. They looked so cute. Both in their nicest clothes. They are best buds and Jack informed me the other night that he has a crush on Lucy. We'll talk about that one later.
The whole gang (at least the ones dressed up) My favorite was Amber and Gary who dressed as Mrs. McFeeLee and Ed McMann who just won the Publisher's Clearing house. It was great!
Ben, my cute little Stinker! I'm so glad I got to use this costume again!
Jack as bumblebee, the transformer. For all of you out there worried that I was allowing my 5 year old son to be a bumblebee. It is a Transformer! We had so much fun jumping in the enormous pile of leaves that grandpa made for us and just playing with the cousins.
Jack losing his first real tooth a few months ago. One other has fallen out since. He is so cute with a big hole in his smile.
We took the boys to Kangaroo Zoo for their birthday. Jack had such a blast.
Ben had a lot of fun too. He loved to go down the slides until he flipped over. We took Jack to a place like this last year and I wasn't able to play at all. I was having Ben the next day. We all had fun, and it wore the boys right out.
Jack opening his presents from us. I love Ben's morning face in this one!
Ben with his new toy table that he loves. It plays the cutest music and he always bounces and dances to it. (I love those jammies!)
Ben was super cute with his cake. He tore into it. He was throwing it and stuffing tons into his mouth at one time. It was really fun to watch. Too bad that when we did it with the whole family he would barely even touch it. We had a great birthday week!
When Jack turned 2 I thought, "Well sure, I can make a Lightening McQueen cake. How hard can it really be?" I was sooooooooooooooooooooo wrong. This was the result and I cried and laughed really hard that day. Kirsten helped me. (Don't think I'm not going to give you some credit for the above picture) I had no idea what I was doing and the only thing that let you know it was a car were the tires on the side. We just kept dumping more and more of that awful red frosting on there to hopefully cover it up. I will never forget Jack's face when he saw it. It was kind of a "What the Heck is that" look! He finally figured out it was a car, but lets just say that nobody was very thrilled with it.
This year I did my homework! (Homework: watching Ace of Cakes, or Amazing Wedding Cakes.) I can't believe that I even tried again after the 2 year fiasco, but I did and I am so proud of the result. If you can't tell it looks identical to Jack's Optimus Prime toy. He knew exactly what it was and so did everyone else! He was so proud of it, and of his mom. Yes, Kirsten did help me again! Thanks Kirst! I was a little bit worried because Jack had watched some of the cake shows with me and he knew what he wanted. The most amazing thing was the Marshmallow fondant that I researched myself and it turned out amazing. 
It really looked cool. I don't think the pictures do it justice. I had to make it twice, once for his friend party and once for the family party. When my nephew saw it he asked where I ordered the cake from. When I told him I made it he just stared at me with his mouth open. As you can tell I'm pretty proud of it (even though I know it's not as great as I think it is), but let me just be proud for a minute. I think I have made an amazing improvement!
Jack had a fantastic 5 year birthday party. Sorry if your little one wasn't invited. With our street alone there was like a million! Seriously, there were about 26 kids invited, but I had the perfect activity!
This is Paul Brewer and he is the most amazing magician I have ever seen for kids and families! Luckily he is married to my cousin so I knew where to find him. He has a live rabbit and a bird. And all his tricks were amazing. The kids were completely entertained the whole time.
Ben didn't budge for most of it. This is him watching the show.
He did such a wonderful job making Jack feel special and also making sure all the kids enjoyed it. If you are looking for someone to do a party for any size or age He is the one to call. We had a great time and I think it was a party that Jack will not soon forget.
