Initially I felt good about moving back to Idaho. As we made the drive I was excited to finally be there. Then once we were back the good feelings were almost overwhelming and I KNEW that we were where we needed to be. At one point I even wondered, "maybe something's going to happen down the road and Trent and I will need to have our parents close." But that's all it was, a thought.
Then just one week after we had moved back we received the tragic news.
Trent's older brother Brian was no longer with us.
It was not mere chance that we were home to stay.
There are so many things about that day and the days that would follow that I'll remember forever.
What a tender mercy that we arrived back home when we did. Amazing.
I'm so grateful for an eternal perspective. For the knowledge that we have, that we WILL be with Brian again. But until that day we will strive to live as our Savior would have us live so as to be worthy of the blessings of eternity.

Something that my father-in-law expressed again and again was, "love each other. Forgive each other." Love is so important. Make sure those around you KNOW how much you love them. Don't just assume they know. Tell them.

We love you Brian. And we miss you.


Trent and Brian at our wedding reception, December 2005.



At Brian's wedding, April 2011.







Brian Frank VanderSloot returned home to his loving Heavenly Father on Thursday, November 3, 2011.


Brian was born to Frank VanderSloot and Kathleen Zundel on June 28, 1974 in Seattle, Washington. Brian lived in a variety of places including Oregon, Minnesota, Singapore, and Idaho, where he resided most of his life. He was the third oldest of five siblings. After Frank married Belinda Boyack and Kathleen married Wayne Walden, he enjoyed an even larger family of 18 brothers and sisters. His family remembers the honorable way he led his life, the promises he always kept, and his selfless humility. Brian graduated from Skyline High School in Idaho Falls. Brian was self-taught in computers at a very young age. He never had formal training for computers but he was a whiz. He loved music and teaching himself to play the guitar which talent he eventually used to sing to his children at bedtime. Starting at age 14, Brian began lifting weights and kept himself in top shape for the rest of his life. He was known for his enviable and large biceps and loved to show them off at any opportunity he could.

Brian received his bachelor’s degree in Business from Brigham Young University. He served an honorable mission from 1993-1995 in the Porte Alegre South Mission in Brazil for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He loved the Brazilians and served them with all his heart. He developed a love of the Portuguese language, which he taught to his boys. Brian served in various positions in his church faithfully and lovingly. He also was a founding member and Chairman of the board at White Pine Charter School. He volunteered hundreds of hours to serve the children there.

After graduating and starting his new career at Melaleuca, he married Jennifer Coburn of Sugar City, Idaho in July 19, 2002. They were blessed with two special boys — Connor and Isaac “Rocky.” He was dedicated completely to those two little boys. He was their hero. He was passionate about their educational development in all areas. The boys loved waking up early in the morning, crawling in bed with him and cuddling. They were so affectionate with each other: cuddling, hugging, and kisses.

Brian was a hard working, talented, and innovative thinker for Melaleuca. Over the last 11 years he has worked in several management positions at Melaleuca. Most recently, Brian served as the company’s director of web marketing. He has also overseen Melaleuca’s operations in Singapore and served as regional director of south Central and Northwest regions as director of call center operations. His colleagues describe Brian as extremely hard working, exceptionally talented and consummately professional. He was loved by thousands of Melaleuca employees and marketing executives around the world.

On April 7, 2011 Brian married the love of his life, Paige (Bentley Mortensen) VanderSloot, who added five wonderful children — Laurie, Megan, Rachel, Hannah, and Michael. This new family was a dream come true for Brian. Brian was an affectionate and loving husband to his sweetheart. He was very hardworking and driven to be the best husband and father he could be. He put the needs of others before his own continually. As a dad he was so hands on, so passionate about teaching and educating his children—whether it was teaching them how to ride a bike, or teaching them about exotic fruits.

Brian loved adventure in whatever form he could find it. He loved racing the car fast to get a reaction out of the kids—and his wife, building dry ice bombs for family viewing on the 4th of July, taking seven children on so many adventures. They explored the Grand Canyon, the Redwood forest, the Oregon Coast, Yellowstone Park, and many more places.

Brian constantly reached out to fill the needs of others. He served so many and never expected anything back. He was all you could hope for and ever want in a husband, a father, a son, a brother, an uncle, a friend, and a colleague. He is loved by so many and we will miss him so very much.

Brian is survived by his wife, Paige; his precious boys, Connor, 8, Rocky, 6; his new blessed children; Laurie, 11, Megan, 9, Rachel, 7, Hannah, 5, and Michael, 2; his parents Frank and Belinda VanderSloot, Kathleen and Wayne Walden; LaurieKae Banks (Sam), Cheri Lima (Antonio), Tiffany Smith, Matthew Trent VanderSloot (Charisa), and Cassie VanderSloot, Sara Schofield (Chris), Emily Smith (Jesse), Aaron Robinson, Eliza Ruys (Jason), Rachel Belnap (Devin), Jairus Robinson, Sadie Sabin (Jeff), Caleb Robinson, Michael Walden (Michelle), Jeff Walden (Susan), Melanie Dale (Jon), Joel Walden (Sarah), Jason Walden, and many other beloved family members.

Funeral services will be at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, November 8, 2011, at the Ammon LDS Foothills Stake Center (3934 East 49 South) with Bishop Jake Dustin, of the Ammon 27th Ward, officiating. The family will visit with friends on Monday from 6-8:00 p.m. at Wood Funeral Home East Side (963 S. Ammon) and on Tuesday from 10-10:45 a.m. prior to the services at the church. A private family burial will be held.

One last Family Day in Denver

The Monday before we left we took the kids to the Children's Museum.... which wasn't much of a museum at all, just a bunch of different activity centers. The bubbleology room was the coolest but even after trying a few of the activities all the kids really wanted to do was play on the indoor playground that looked like a mini forest. *sigh* if I wanted to take my kids to a playground I could do that for free. It was still a fun couple of hours.

The Move Part 2

Thursday morning we hit the road bright and early and rolled into Idaho Falls that evening. The last few hours of the drive were absolutely beautiful and it felt great to roll back into town.



My driving buddy. Ethan and Kiari each took a turn riding with me but Enoch was with me the whole trip.

My view for about 12 hours.

The Move Part 1

I took the pictures right before the madness of packing began.
We loved our first house there in Aurora. We walked through soooo many homes during our house hunt and when we finally found this one it just felt right. We lived there about 10 months and made some wonderful memories there.
THANK YOU HOUSE!!!







I started packing a few random boxes over the course of a few days but I think the full on madness started on a Tuesday. The next day we had a few boys from the ward come over to help Trent start loading up the truck. Of course it had snowed all night the night before.
So I continued packing up boxes while Trent and the boys began loading all the furniture. Madness.
About 6 o'clock we had more men from the church show up to help and then things were really moving fast. We had hoped to be done by about 6 and then get a few hours in that night. We were done and loaded by about 7:30. I was running around like a mad woman trying to get some last minute cleaning done (thank goodness for sweet friends there to help me in my chaos). Then we carried the last few armfuls of random trash to the street, locked up the house, said good-bye, and we were off. Trent drove the rental truck with Ethan and Kiari and I followed behind with Enoch.
I was hoping to get at least 6 hours in that night but by about 11 o'clock, even though I wasn't really feeling sleepy, I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. So we found a motel and crashed for a few hours. Thankfully, instead of the 4 of us cramming into one king sized bed, the 5 of us were able to share 2 twins. Now that I think about it.... I'm not sure which was better.

As we were getting ready to move to Idaho Enoch slowly started gearing up to walk on his own!

Memory Lane

This morning on the way home from Cross Fit the song, "It's the End of the World as We Know It" came on the radio and the summer of 2007 flashed through my mind. Trent had been asked to sing leads for a group that wanted to perform this song for a BYU-I thing. It was either Guitars Unplugged or Rexburg Unplugged.... something like that. Anyhoo... the group came over to our place and they practiced on my parents' back deck. Ethan was content to just sit and watch. These pictures came to mind and I wanted to share.






Trent had a couple of opportunities to sing for Guitars Unplugged and it was always soooooo awesome to watch him. He sounded amazing, looked incredibly hot, and was totally in his element.







I think our friend Katherine (the gal in the middle) put this group together. They sang "Boondocks" and it was A-MAZING. Guitars Unplugged runs three nights. Thursday and Friday are a bunch of performers selected from auditions and then Saturday is the Best Of from the first two nights. Trent and his group were the opening group on Thursday and the closing group for Saturday's Best Of. They were pure awesomeness.

Just one of those days.