Sunday, December 6, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Sorry for the delay
After some careful thought, I have decided to discontinue updating this blog and creating a new blog focusing on our updated family. Once Michelle's foundation is updated and fully operational, I will create a blog dedicated to her memory. For now, feel free to check out our new blog at justinandkaribancroft.blogspot.com (corrected..thanks, Jen!!)
It's still under construction and neither of us know at all what we are doing but it will start looking official soon I would imagine
It's still under construction and neither of us know at all what we are doing but it will start looking official soon I would imagine
Friday, October 30, 2009
I suck!!
I haven't updated the blog in forever!! I will get to it this weekend and add some pictures of our latest ventures since my last update. Thanks to all for checking up!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Never Easy but Always Worth It
We figured it was coming. It's usually not a good sign when your house doesn't close on time and an especially bad sign when it takes an additional 2 weeks and it still doesn't close. Kari's house is going back on the market tomorrow after her buyer was unable to qualify due to their own house not closing on time. It's frustrating knowing that we are going to be unable to move for at least the next little while. We do have someone looking at buying my house and we are just awaiting word from his lender on qualification. If anyone knows anyone looking at the Saratoga Springs or Daybreak area, please let us know!!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Busy busy weekend!!
BUSY weekend!!! WOW, where to begin. It all started on Thursday when I introduced Kari to the magic that is University of Utah football. Great game, it was nice to see that the team still looks solid even with new personel in place. When did the VA shut down parking for the game? It took us 45 extra minutes to find a parking spot probably over a mile from the stadium. UNACCEPTABLE. I guess we have no choice but to be at least 2 hours early for games from now on. Introducing Kari to the group of people that we sit around at games was interesting. I wasn't sure if they knew about Michelle's passing. Fortunately, the group did hear about her passing and were very, very nice about it and each one gave me a hug on my way to my seat. They had not heard however about me getting remarried. It came as a shock to them but they were very warm in their reception of Kari. I did get a chance to let them know of what had gone on over the last few months before she got to her seat for a beautiful blonde coming to sit next to me in Michelle's old seat didn't come as too much of a shock.
Friday night had the whole Bancroft Bunch heading over to Costco to get our food for our open house on Saturday. Has anyone else ever tried to take 6 kids to Costco on a friday night? Has anyone ever experienced the difficulty of navigating 8 people through the sample booths without a complete mental breakdown? I think I ran over each kid at least twice with the cart but miraculously, they all survived without Mom or Dad doing any serious damage. We picked up some flowers for Michelle's gravesite. Her headstone was recently put in place and looks beautiful, I will hopefully add a picture later tonight. It is nice to go to visit her gravesite and see something worthy of honoring her time here on earth. We had a great visit, the kids like to kiss the headstone as we leave, it's really sweet. I enjoy having something beautiful to look at other than a patch of grass. Kari has been so great about giving the kids and I the time we need to make sure we pay our respects to Brooklyn as often as we need to or want to. It makes things so much easier to have someone as understanding as Kari in situations as this.
Saturday was a very, very busy day. Our open house was scheduled for that night and the whole day was dedicated to preparation. Throughout the day we were wrestling to keep kids outside to keep the house from getting dirty, cutting fruit, rearranging furniture, picking up toys, etc. By the time people started to show up, the tough part was over. We had a good showing of people and are debating whether we were lucky or not that it was a holiday weekend and BYU was playing Oklahoma. Not sure how many people ended up coming by but there were plenty of kids for sure. I found a handful of cupcake wrappers and a cupcake covered by ants in the garage but overall, it went very well and the house didn't get destroyed.
Sunday took us to church and out looking for houses again. We found a beautiful house in Herriman in the neighborhood that we really wanted to moce into. As soon as Kari's house closes next week, we are hoping to make an offer. Very nice house, move in ready but still enough room that each kid could have their own room once the basement gets finished. I like it because of the family room posibilities in the basement. Kari likes it for every other reason. We will cross our fingers and hopefully we can get someone into our place soon so we don't have to cover both payments for very long.
Friday night had the whole Bancroft Bunch heading over to Costco to get our food for our open house on Saturday. Has anyone else ever tried to take 6 kids to Costco on a friday night? Has anyone ever experienced the difficulty of navigating 8 people through the sample booths without a complete mental breakdown? I think I ran over each kid at least twice with the cart but miraculously, they all survived without Mom or Dad doing any serious damage. We picked up some flowers for Michelle's gravesite. Her headstone was recently put in place and looks beautiful, I will hopefully add a picture later tonight. It is nice to go to visit her gravesite and see something worthy of honoring her time here on earth. We had a great visit, the kids like to kiss the headstone as we leave, it's really sweet. I enjoy having something beautiful to look at other than a patch of grass. Kari has been so great about giving the kids and I the time we need to make sure we pay our respects to Brooklyn as often as we need to or want to. It makes things so much easier to have someone as understanding as Kari in situations as this.
Saturday was a very, very busy day. Our open house was scheduled for that night and the whole day was dedicated to preparation. Throughout the day we were wrestling to keep kids outside to keep the house from getting dirty, cutting fruit, rearranging furniture, picking up toys, etc. By the time people started to show up, the tough part was over. We had a good showing of people and are debating whether we were lucky or not that it was a holiday weekend and BYU was playing Oklahoma. Not sure how many people ended up coming by but there were plenty of kids for sure. I found a handful of cupcake wrappers and a cupcake covered by ants in the garage but overall, it went very well and the house didn't get destroyed.
Sunday took us to church and out looking for houses again. We found a beautiful house in Herriman in the neighborhood that we really wanted to moce into. As soon as Kari's house closes next week, we are hoping to make an offer. Very nice house, move in ready but still enough room that each kid could have their own room once the basement gets finished. I like it because of the family room posibilities in the basement. Kari likes it for every other reason. We will cross our fingers and hopefully we can get someone into our place soon so we don't have to cover both payments for very long.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Wedding details
It happened, we went through with it and it went incredibly well with a couple minor setbacks or issues. Friday was a beautiful day right up until the time that we wanted to get things started. We had 50 chairs in the backyard, tables set up, guests waiting patiently, and than the clouds decided to empty anything they had as fast and as hard as possible. It rained in sheets for several minutes which made us think that we may have to force things inside for a standing room only crowd. Kari was noticeably upset but ready to roll with the punches as was I. As soon as we were ready to move things inside, the rain stopped we got the chairs to dry and everything got started.
With the cloud cover it made things scary as we were waiting for things to get wet all over again but somehow the rain ceased just long enough for us to get things going. The ceremony went perfectly except for one small issue...did anyone else know that in LDS civil marriages that the couple is supposed to write their own vows? This was news to me! I took a glance at our Bishop's notes and when I read to that point I turned white as a ghost and asked him quietly to skip that part. Who knew?? Either way, the ceremony was beautiful and for a few minutes as we were exchanging rings, the clouds parted perfectly and Kari had the sun shining directly on her, she was beautiful. We joked later that maybe Michelle was manifesting her approval once more. :)
Kari's family is fantastic, I had an opportunity to meet her brothers and her sister altogether and had a fantastic time getting to know them better. I am excited for future opportunities to get together with them. I have so many in laws!! My Mom and Steve, Dad and Patti, and my brothers were there along with Lori, Leon and Tyler and Tosha. Mindy and Nate had made plans months ago for a family outing but we know they would have been there if possible and they were missed. I am so grateful that Michelle's family was able and willing to attend. They are as much a part of my family's life as my own immediate family and it meant a great deal to both Kari and I that they were there. After a short reception we took off to Park City for the weekend.
We stayed at the Westgate at the Canyons. What a beautiful resort. The room was big, beautiful and the rest of the accomodations were very nice. My best friend was kind enough to call me at 3:00am to make sure that all was well and to see if we needed anything or had any questions. When I saw his name on the caller id I should have sent it stratigh to voicemail. Short of that minor interuption, our first night together was amazing. Saturday we had a fun day together going down to SLC for some shopping and a movie followed by a trip down the Alpine slide. We went to the University of Utah student store and got Kari all outfitted for her first season of Utah football. I don't know if I've ever been as attracted to her as I was watching her put on all that red. I took the liberty of getting some necessities for myself for the upcoming season so I'd like to think that we are all set for another magical season on the hill. Saturday night we went to an outstanding restaurant in Park City called Ghidotti's compliments of Steve, my Mom's boyfriend. Tremendous meal, service, the works. I would highly recommend it if you are in the area.
From there, Sunday we scrambled to get out of our room on time as we didn't wake up until 10:00 and had to check out by 10:30. We went back down to SLC and took a walk around temple square and got excited at the thought and opportunity of being sealed together in a year. The tentative plan is to go to Hawaii for our one year anniversary and taking care of it than. We than went to dinner at Rodizio Grill which was Kari's first experience there. She LOVED it, says it's her new favorite resaurant, and honestly who could argue with her. Unless you are a vegan, you gotta love it. We than picked up all the clothes from Kari's house, glad we bought a Yukon or I have no idea how we could have fit everything! Sunday night introduced us to the first night with all eight of us. Navigating through piles of clothes to get 6 little ones to bed was difficult but not as bad as we thought. Bribery sometimes works wonders! The boys went down and stayed down without a problem. The girls unfortunately, different story. In their defense, they are now living in the basement in one big bedroom. Brit and Matti were scared and Brooklyn was having seperate issues. It took a couple hours and a few visits to get things under control and finally they were asleep. So 2.5 hours for all six to fall asleep we guess wasn't too bad for day one.
We know it won't be easy but we know it's going to be worth it. We are dedicated to making life as normal as possible for all of us but especially the kids. They seem to be doing well but we know that there are going to be hiccups along the way that we will have to negotiate. Nothing we can't handle. Kari impresses me everyday with her calm demeanor. Must be a trait of a teacher because I have never had it. She'll definitely be the calm one of the two of us. Leave it to me to overreact and yell while she calms me down. I love being with her. We have had so much fun getting to know each other since we've been together.
With the cloud cover it made things scary as we were waiting for things to get wet all over again but somehow the rain ceased just long enough for us to get things going. The ceremony went perfectly except for one small issue...did anyone else know that in LDS civil marriages that the couple is supposed to write their own vows? This was news to me! I took a glance at our Bishop's notes and when I read to that point I turned white as a ghost and asked him quietly to skip that part. Who knew?? Either way, the ceremony was beautiful and for a few minutes as we were exchanging rings, the clouds parted perfectly and Kari had the sun shining directly on her, she was beautiful. We joked later that maybe Michelle was manifesting her approval once more. :)
Kari's family is fantastic, I had an opportunity to meet her brothers and her sister altogether and had a fantastic time getting to know them better. I am excited for future opportunities to get together with them. I have so many in laws!! My Mom and Steve, Dad and Patti, and my brothers were there along with Lori, Leon and Tyler and Tosha. Mindy and Nate had made plans months ago for a family outing but we know they would have been there if possible and they were missed. I am so grateful that Michelle's family was able and willing to attend. They are as much a part of my family's life as my own immediate family and it meant a great deal to both Kari and I that they were there. After a short reception we took off to Park City for the weekend.
We stayed at the Westgate at the Canyons. What a beautiful resort. The room was big, beautiful and the rest of the accomodations were very nice. My best friend was kind enough to call me at 3:00am to make sure that all was well and to see if we needed anything or had any questions. When I saw his name on the caller id I should have sent it stratigh to voicemail. Short of that minor interuption, our first night together was amazing. Saturday we had a fun day together going down to SLC for some shopping and a movie followed by a trip down the Alpine slide. We went to the University of Utah student store and got Kari all outfitted for her first season of Utah football. I don't know if I've ever been as attracted to her as I was watching her put on all that red. I took the liberty of getting some necessities for myself for the upcoming season so I'd like to think that we are all set for another magical season on the hill. Saturday night we went to an outstanding restaurant in Park City called Ghidotti's compliments of Steve, my Mom's boyfriend. Tremendous meal, service, the works. I would highly recommend it if you are in the area.
From there, Sunday we scrambled to get out of our room on time as we didn't wake up until 10:00 and had to check out by 10:30. We went back down to SLC and took a walk around temple square and got excited at the thought and opportunity of being sealed together in a year. The tentative plan is to go to Hawaii for our one year anniversary and taking care of it than. We than went to dinner at Rodizio Grill which was Kari's first experience there. She LOVED it, says it's her new favorite resaurant, and honestly who could argue with her. Unless you are a vegan, you gotta love it. We than picked up all the clothes from Kari's house, glad we bought a Yukon or I have no idea how we could have fit everything! Sunday night introduced us to the first night with all eight of us. Navigating through piles of clothes to get 6 little ones to bed was difficult but not as bad as we thought. Bribery sometimes works wonders! The boys went down and stayed down without a problem. The girls unfortunately, different story. In their defense, they are now living in the basement in one big bedroom. Brit and Matti were scared and Brooklyn was having seperate issues. It took a couple hours and a few visits to get things under control and finally they were asleep. So 2.5 hours for all six to fall asleep we guess wasn't too bad for day one.
We know it won't be easy but we know it's going to be worth it. We are dedicated to making life as normal as possible for all of us but especially the kids. They seem to be doing well but we know that there are going to be hiccups along the way that we will have to negotiate. Nothing we can't handle. Kari impresses me everyday with her calm demeanor. Must be a trait of a teacher because I have never had it. She'll definitely be the calm one of the two of us. Leave it to me to overreact and yell while she calms me down. I love being with her. We have had so much fun getting to know each other since we've been together.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Something about those Yellow Monarchs...
Yesterday evening after returning from work, Kari was watching Colton play on the grass in the frontyard (and eating dirt) while I was pruning the rose bushes in the courtyard. After throwing the dead stuff away we were just standing there talking when a big Yellow Monarch Butterfly flew down and landed right in front of Kari and I on one of my flower bushes. We both looked at each other and smiled. I reached down to try to pick it up and it acted as though it wasn't afraid of me at all. As I tried to pick it up it jumped off the bush and flew around both of us before going over by Colton and fluttering around him for a second. It caught his attention and he just got a huge smile across his face.
I told him Mommy says hi and he went back to eating dirt. The butterfly came back towards us and landed again right in front of us on another bush. I again tried to reach down to pick it up and it did the exact same thing again before this time flying over towards the other side of my front yard. After circling Kari and I twice, I assumed that was a good confirmation that Michelle must approve of the two of us together. I looked over at Kari and told her "I think Michelle likes you!"
I don't want people to think that I believe for one second that Michelle was reincarnated as a yellow butterfly but I do believe 100% that when someone passes and they go to the "right" place that they likely have certain influence to put certain things in certain places at certain times to remind their loved ones that they are still with them. There have been too many instances since she has passed with Yellow Monarch butterflys to ignore them. It's happened to many members of our family since she passed, unexplainable "coincidences" that give me every reason to believe that she everywhere around us, watching over us constantly. It makes it easier to deal with the pain of her passing to know that she is allowed to pay us a visit from time to time.
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