October 31, 2007 by Melanee.

Halloween is Kev’s favorite holiday. He loved doing all the fun effects to scare the neighborhood children. I got out some of the headstones he made many years ago. Got two sections of the fencing up. I put some spot lights out to light up the headstones. Had some scary music playing. Skeletons were hung. It wasn’t as scary as Kev would make it. But, I thought I did really well considering. I am so glad I helped set up last year because I would not have known even the first thing to do.

Kev would have fog streaming out. A head popping out from behind the headstone. A ghost coming down a zip line. And he even had one of Marlene’s friends hanging from a climbing belt like she was hanging from a noose. He even built a coffin and had our daughters or church youth in it during the night. Now that is how fancy it got at our house.
I would tell him we have to go all out for Christmas too so people don’t think we just do Halloween.
What was really fun tonight was about 6 groups of kids each shared memories about our house that they would trick or treat at each year. One even mentioned that hanging girl tonight. That was about 4 years ago that Kev had that effect. One mother shared that her daughter had to go to the one special house (ours) tonight. One mother let us know that their children were wondering if we were decorating. They thought someone else was living here because the decorations got up late. I just got the decorations up Monday. I was so happy to hear that our home was part of the children’s Halloween tradition. I know Kev is smiling too.

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October 31, 2007 by Marlene.

Well here’s my update on how I’ve been doing lately.
I started a job at Dairy Queen. It’s been pretty good so far, decent enough. I’m starting to get more comfortable in it and talking to my coworkers. During the day I am the only girl working and well, I’m not used to being completely surrounded by boys and they’re not used to working with a girl around. It’s fine, just something to get used to.
I’m still training with Cody. We’re going to be up to 6 miles tomorrow. He’s a great running buddy because he’s a bit faster than I am and has more energy so he kinda pushes me to go faster and for longer distances. Plus he really likes running. I don’t really know what I’d do about the whole training thing without him. He’s a little worried about the financial commitment to being part of TeamHope, and understandably so. $3,000 is a lot. Heck, I’m nervous about it too.
I’m going to Brigham Young University-Utah in January. Orientation is the 3rd so I may even leave before New Years…we don’t know quite yet. We’ve been doing so much flying lately I keep getting after Mom to sign up for frequent flier miles.
I’m really looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. Not only am I going to be with family and really good food, many of my friends are coming home from college. It’s been stinky having them all gone but it’s not the end of the world. I miss high school…
Anyway that’s all I can think of to say, I hope it was enlightening.

~Marlene

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October 28, 2007 by Melanee.

I had a comforting comment said to me at church today. A friend told me how he really missed Kevin. He thought it would be awkward for me, but it really wasn’t because it comforted me to know that Kev is still in his thoughts. A big hole on this earth really can’t be filled now that Kev is gone. I can list a lot of things that I miss-his humor, his counsel, his encouragement, his organization skills, his computer knowledge, his fix everything in the house, his Halloween decorating, his mouse trap setting (yuck), etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. I can keep going.

Come to think about it. Heaven probably thought the same way. He had to fill a big hole that was there in heaven till he arrived. We can share him for a while. I told our friend that in the future when we are all in heaven-what a wonderful reunion we will have and we can really share true friendships we have cultivated here on earth. I look forward to it.

But, I still have more to do here, so I am slowly making decisions step by step to help my family and I.
Happy news: Marlene has been accepted to Brigham Young University and will be attending this winter. That is where Kev and I met, so the family tradition continues.
She is ready to try her wings and leave the nest. I am happy for her and her accomplishments.
She got through a very difficult period what was suppose to be a really good time of her life. (Her senior year of high school.) But, she got through it, with the help of her teachers, friends, church members, and family.

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October 24, 2007 by Mallory.

So there is a family in our ward that comes in every Sunday with 2 strollers. But these aren’t just any regular stroller…they’re double strollers. “How many kids do they have?” you may ask. The answer is 4….but here’s the catch…they’re all the same age. They have quadruplets!!!!! And they are all babies. They’re first “child” turned out to be 4 of them! It is absolutely insane. And yet, she is still gorgeous. Every Sunday, she looks so much better than many of the women with only one or two children who are different ages. I am absolutely amazed. I just wonder, how the heck does she do it??? I mean, having one child scares the heck out of me….but 4????? all at the same time????? I’m just amazed at that.

Anyway, I really need a vacation and get out of here. I’m getting antsy and I could definitely use a vacation and get the heck out of here. This is a great place, but I could really use a break and see some people that I know and I like spending time with. I’m exhausted. Anyway…that’s enough about me.

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October 21, 2007 by Marlene.

When my mom saw my video blog she told me of her concern that you (our readers) would think that I’m a horribly depressed person.
This is not the case.
I’m doing just fine and of course I have my moments, and usually it is just moments, of difficulty then I come back to reality and keep going. I am happy and doing well, even if life can be slightly dull at times.
Although life has been slightly exciting lately. I’m starting a new job tomorrow because the season of my last job(working at a small farm) is over. I’ll finally be getting some money to put away and to use towards my photo business. Things are really coming along in my photo website and soon you’ll all be able to order my stuff. I promise it’s good, I’ve been working really hard on it. I’m really excited to be putting my talent to work and essentially to the test. I certainly hope I can get this off the ground and put as much as I can towards PanCan. I will be putting 90%-100%(I haven’t decided if I want that last 10% for development) towards my half marathon fund which will be much more difficult to fill this year than last year.

Please spread the word, to strangers to friends to family, whoever! If nothing else, it will raise awareness of Pancreatic Cancer.

If you can’t memorize the link then just go to pancan.com, scroll down to “Join the PanCAN Marathon Team in Miami!” and click on “click here for details” and if my name isn’t still on the top 5 then hit “sponsor participant” and search for my name.
It’s really not hard. Plus my friend Cody Lord will be running and raising money with me so together we’ll need $6,000.
Thank you to all those who have donated. Sorry I can’t send thank you’s to anonymous donaters but I appreciate it more than you can know.

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October 21, 2007 by Melanee.

Marlene and I watched the movie “The Ultimate Gift” this past Friday. We were very emotional through the whole thing. Tears were streaming down our faces quite often. The movie was wonderful and had a good message. Marlene and I became very introspective after the movie. A 20-something guy was given tasks to do that his late grandfather directed in his will. Life lessons to learn by. What’s funny is we are all given those tasks at different times of our lives in different ways. The Webster family was given that experience through Kev’s battle with cancer and our girls have had to mature real fast.

The gifts I learned are that family and friends are really there for you when you need them. They are a true blessing in our life. I cannot list the small and large acts of love that our family has been a recipient too. The list is long. They are all part of the plan that the Lord has established to get us through. The hands that have helped us are the Lord’s hands personified.

We won’t know all the gifts that my husband blessed this world with. I learned quite a few while I was meeting everyone during the wake or viewing. I was so touched by stories of influence that Kev had on people’s lives.
One gift Kev and I strived for was to give each of our girls a physical and spiritual firm foundation to live in the world. And we in turn hope they can influence their surroundings in a positive way. The experience we just went through could have ripped my entire daughters’ and my lives apart. But, as you can see we are doing well because of our faith and support from others.

Another gift we both worked at was establishing the gospel in the Waterbury area through serving in our Ward. Our service showed our daughters how to become leaders, serve others, love others, and make correct choices in any situation. (School, church, raising children, employment, etc, etc,)

Dreams to strive for will come eventually. Right now we are trying to heal and get used to our new life.

I looked back at my daughters that Kev and I raised and here they are ages 26 to 18. Three are happily married and have good foundations they can build on and Marlene is ready to start college in the winter so she can establish her educational foundation. We could not have asked for anything better. Kev is real proud of all the girls and what they have accomplished. We really did well raising our daughters. We know because of who they are now.

We learn our gifts and dreams in life step by step, experience by experience, and prayer by prayer.

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October 20, 2007 by Marlene.

I didn’t feel like typing so I took a video blog. I know the first image looks ridiculous so shush. It just came out that way.

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October 19, 2007 by Melanee.

Marlene has the drive and determination to run the ING Miami Half Marathon on the PanCAN team again in January 2008. She is raising awareness to to father’s battle for a cure for pancreatic cancer. Kev was unable to win the battle, but we want to help others on their journey once they recieve the devastating news.
Last year’s marathon was the tipping point for her. This helped her create something positive for her while she tried to cope with her father’s illness and passing.
I am just a proud mother trying to support my daughter with her cause. I am a very proud wife to a wonderful husband who had to battle with all his might. He is still my knight in shining armor.

She has a friend that will be her running companion, so thier goal is $6000. Any amount to contribute is welcomed.
Also, please remember that November is Pancreatic Cancer awareness month. Display your purple proudly!!!

Here is the link to the donation page:
https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=238615&supId=193004640

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October 15, 2007 by Mallory.

So I thought that I would clarify the plane ticket thing….it was $2200 for BOTH tickets…not just one. I think some people thought I was insane. It’s not that bad. I swear.

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October 14, 2007 by Marlene.

Ok. So I just figured out how to put slideshows on here and I’m super excited/proud of myself. yes, yes, you will be getting many more photos from me. Ha! I’m so good.
Oh! These are of Anya and Kevin and I think a couple pictures of Leah are somewhere in there. I like to take pictures while they’re home as you can figure.

Oh and ps. the picture(s) with the little box in the bottom left corner are videos. Click on them to watch.

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