Trip to California

What a glorious trip we had to California.

Now getting there was not easy.  On the 17th, I dropped Allan off at the Winnipeg airport as he was heading to Toronto and then I headed to Fargo.  It was mid-April so I was not anticipating snowy weather--MY FIRST MISTAKE.  When I got about 30 minutes from Fargo the roads got a little worse.  Anyone who knows me, knows how much I absolutely HATE driving in the snow--especially on unfamiliar roads.

I got to the airport--and my knuckles weren't too white, parked the car and got to the counter.  The day before American Airlines had a problem with their computers and many flights were cancelled.  So the line at Frontier Airlines was pretty crowded--I guess lots of flights had been rescheduled onto all the different airlines.  When I got up to the counter, my flight that was leaving at 1 was delayed and was not going to leave until 7:00.  (Well, I had a connection in Denver that I would not make)  The girl at the counter was great and switched my flight and I was actually going to land in Sacramento earlier than expected.

I got to Stephen and Daphne's and spent the night with them.  It is always so fun spending time with all of them.  There is never a dull moment.  The next day I hung out with B and Georgia.  Georgia is about the most girlie little granddaughter I have had.  She loves to dress up like a little Princess, and it was so fun.  And I just love her little voice.  She talks constantly--I can't always understand everything she says, but that's okay.   She would bring me books to read.  The 3 of us went out to lunch and just had a great time.  Jason came over to visit.  When Hannah and Drew got home from school, Drew, B, and I played Monopoly.

Stephen made tacos for dinner and after dinner he helped Hannah with a project for school.  He made Rice Krispie squares and formed them into a submarine.  Hannah had done all the research and it was amazing.  My favorite was watching him make fondant to cover the submarine.  CRAZY. It was quite the family affair.

Daphne took me to the hotel and I waited for Allan who was flying into SF and driving to Sacramento. (He landed, got his rental car and headed to our hotel.  He arrived about 1:30 am.  NO, I WASN'T AWAKE ; )

We hung out with everyone, went to baseball games, In-N-Out, Mel's Diner, Target, played Apples to Apples.  It was fun spending a lot of time talking to B about his mission.  We had such a fabulous Sunday full of great events.

A few pictures:

Georgia combing Kiah's hair.  The best part is when she uses her little mirror and holds it up so Kiah can check to see if she likes it ; )

Had a rousing game of Apples to Apples, and guess who won--little Drew.  And in case you are wondering WE DIDN'T LET HIM WIN--we are a pretty competitive bunch ; )

The cheering section at Drew's baseball game.  So fun to watch him play.

He pitches a great game--well, at least one inning (they don't let these little guys pitch many innings.

On Sunday our B was ordained an Elder by his Grandpa.

We gathered outside after Church and unfortunately, our grandson, Jason had already left ; (

That afternoon Drew was baptized by B and confirmed by his dad.

We had a birthday celebration at Stephen and Daphne's and we all sang Happy Birthday to Drew.  I loved those candles!!!!

One of his gifts was a moustache--gotta love it.

The dogs are so cute.  I got such a kick out of watching Dash get so jealous of when anyone would pay attention to Baron--so much like kids ; )

We left Sacramento and had a crazy trip to Utah--lots of delays:  snow in Denver.  Seriously??? We finally arrived at my sister-in-laws about 2:30 in the morning.   Allan and I looked at each other and said, "Why didn't we drive???"   

One last photo of Dash and Baron.

While  we were in Utah Stephen called to tell us Baron had been hit by a truck.  After four hours they found him and took him to the Vet.  HIs right leg was badly damaged and ended up having to be amputated.  I am happy to report that he is doing fine and doesn't seem to realize he only has 3 legs.   

Sidenote:  Now this comment has absolutely nothing to do with my trip, by why am I so surprised by what people do or don't do???  

Some Randomness

Exciting News:

My grandson, B, got his call and read it a week ago.  (I really should have posted before this.)

He is heading to Brazil--one of the new missions there.  He reports to the Brazil MTC the end of August.  Yikes, that is a long time to wait to go.   I am torn because I know his parents would have loved him to be out on his mission, but I am happy he will be at our Family Reunion.

Allan and I will be heading to California to go with him when he goes to the temple and then his little brother will be baptized.  From there we will head to Utah for Brent's graduation.  It will be an exciting couple of weeks.

General Conference:

Wow, wasn't it great.  I loved all the talks.  So many great quotes.  I am not sure what the theme was--sure heard a lot of talks about being obedient and finding peace.   I loved Elder Packer's poem--so very sweet.  I absolutely loved Sister Dalton's--I will miss her.  I can't wait to go through and count how many Seminary Scripture Mastery scriptures were quoted.  Loved President Uchtdorf's talk.  So loved the talks about recognizing that people can change--we must seek to see men as they may become!!!!  And I loved when President Eyring told us to depend on the Lord to draw those who wander off closer to Him as we serve and that "our prayers and faith will help them".

Thirty-Nine Years Ago Yesterday

April 6, 1974, I was baptized.  It hit me today how many times I have said, "I wish I had grown up in the Church."  Do you know what?  I DID.  I was just a babe of 23 when I was baptized, and I truly have GROWN UP IN THE CHURCH!!!  My life has changed tremendously because of that decision.

GETTING EXCITED

Just a little over 3 years ago, Kyle opened his call to serve in the Idaho Pocatello Mission, now we are waiting to have our grandson, B, open his call.   This seems like yesterday

Such great times.  It is so exciting to have a missionary out serving in the field.  Now we wait, for this cutie to get his call:

He is such a handsome young man.  He is going to make a superb missionary, and I can hardly wait to hear where he is going.  

This is our first grandson to serve, and I have to say the waiting is not any easier than it was waiting for Kyle or Brent's calls ; )  

ALIVE AND KICKIN

Last Wednesday night, I ended up in the emergency room and finally got released yesterday afternoon, and let me say THERE TRULY IS, NO PLACE LIKE HOME (but it isn't the same when you're all alone ; (

It was a long, hard (harder than I could imagine) seven days.  I am just so grateful to have it all resolved.  I won't go into a lot of boring (and painful to relive) details, but let me "highlight" a few:

• Going into the emergency room there were only 2 people ahead of me--do you have any idea how often that happens--can we say NEVER!!!!!

• When the nurse at the ER asked me if I had been nauseated, I replied, "No", but asked for a pan, just in case, and within minutes was continually filling it.  

• Finally was admitted and immediately enjoyed my first and hopefully last ever N/G tube.  Unfortunately the tests they wanted to perform was done at another hospital so although my chart  was faxed over on Friday, I was not to be transported until the following Monday.  An N/G tube does not mean you will not throw up and is ten times harder with the tube in your nose.

• My first introduction to heparin shots--had no idea how painful they are and the way they bruise. Three a day gave me this--by the way, it is my arm ; )

• As soon as I had my test that revealed blockage in my duct filled with sludge and gallstones and whatever else and that was zapped, I felt so, so, so much better.  But just to be sure they ran another test the following day and all was good.

I do have to say when people compare gallstone/gallbladder pain to childbirth--for me, no comparison.  Pregnancy not easy, CHILDBIRTH A BREEZE!!!!  

Let me share something I learned while I was in the hospital:

I shared a room with the sweetest 86 year old woman.  For the first few days we didn't talk--I couldn't talk to anyone.  Poor Allan would come and visit and I would send him home--the tube made it too hard to talk.  I had him bring our Scrabble game, but never felt up to playing (after the tube was taken out I played (alone) and didn't cheat ; )  I ended up using all my tiles on the word ACTUALLY ; )  Even though she and I didn't talk, I enjoyed listening to her and her 95 year old husband visit.  He would come every day about 10 in the morning and stay until about 5 and sit there and hold her hand and tell her how beautiful she was!!!  They were so sweet and patient and loving with one another.  

When I started feeling better my roommate and I started talking.  She was a delightful woman who was from England and she and her husband met there while he was serving with the Canadian forces.  They  were just so sweet.  Such incredible stories they shared and such incredible love between the two of them.  It was wonderful.  

Funny thing was, the night before I came home one of my friends came to visit and while we were visiting, she mentioned a new job she had and so I asked if she knew my roommate who was from her town.  She asked her name and when I told her, my friend jumped up called out the woman's name and the two of them visited.  

Again, it's great to be home and I can't wait for late tonight when my sweet husband returns home.  I know how worried he was, and how bad he felt that I had to go through this.

I appreciate so much the love and the support of my kids.  I missed talking to them while I was in the hospital--I just couldn't deal with my cell phone, and I didn't want to talk on the phone in the hospital.    It's been great talking to 4 of them yesterday and today--I know they were worried.  I had to laugh when I talked to Kyle.  I have been bugging him about something for quite awhile so the first thing I asked him was, "I bet you enjoyed your week's vacation without me bugging you?"  HE LAUGHED ; )

Sidenote #1:   Less than 3 months until my half-marathon with Heidi and Brent.  Not ready AT ALL.  Hoping to get back into a regular routine next month.

Sidenote #2:  My grandson B's papers are in and we are waiting for his call.  I can't tell you how excited I am.  Stephen said today that as soon as he gets his call he will be going to the temple and so we are trying to figure out how to make sure we are there when he goes.  So happy for him and so very proud of him.

I NEED A VACATION

I know, I know...I went more than two weeks without a post ; (  I should have done this yesterday.

For me this has been my toughest winter thus far.  I really don't know why--I have just felt stuck in the house and there seems to have been more grey days than in the past.  I feel grumpy.

I have lots to keep me busy--but it feels just like that--busy work.  I think part of the problem is there hasn't been enough nice days to get me out there running.  I ran a few days a couple of weeks ago, but haven't been out since then.  But at least there are some things to look forward to:

• MARCH MADNESS--I am so excited.  

• BRENT'S GRADUATION--Yes!!!  That means I get to head down to Utah to see some of my kids.  Always love time there with them--and a visit with a friend or two.  I will sure miss seeing Sister A who is serving a mission in Montreal.  

• A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA--As soon as Grandson B gets his mission call, Allan and I will head there either for his farewell or to go with him and his family to the temple.  It all depends on the timing.  

You know what.  Just typing those things out has made me smile, and I feel a lot better. 

Sidenote #1:  I have been busy typing Allan's personal history.  Wow, it is a lot of work. 

Sidenote #2:  I am just a couple of weeks away from finishing my 365 project--a photo a day, every day for one whole year!!!

  

What Is Love?

Yeah, I know Valentine's Day is over, but I'm usually late, so here goes.  I know my word for the year is "love" but I want to take a different spin on it here.

I remember the days I used to write a post about love throughout the month of February.

I took this picture on our trip to the temple last weekend.

As I was looking at it I thought about perspective--probably because when I was in elementary school and we learned about perspective in art class, we drew a train track.  So often we let little things become big things.   We need to recognize that some things are not worth getting upset about, so we can just LET THEM GO.  Don’t get upset because HE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN I WANTED HIM TO HELP ME—if you wanted him to help—ask him.  If you want your children to clean their room, ask them.  Don't make them guess!!!

Now, I am going to say one thing that is an irritant to me:  when friends say, my husband forgot my birthday or our anniversary.    Guess what:  Allan will NEVER forget my birthday or our anniversary.  And why?  because I won't let him forget.    I know he loves me and I wouldn’t want him to feel bad if he ever got busy, so I will make sure that never happens.  If he doesn't say anything earlier in the week, I will say, "What are we doing for our birthday or anniversary this weekend?"


Sidenote #1:  A few pictures from my project.

One of the snow sculptures from the Festival du Voyageur

Sidenote #2:  Brent will be graduating from BYU in April.  I am so excited for him.  He is AMAZING!!!

Sidenote #3:  I have been working on Allan's history.  I'm on page 180.

Word for 2013

Each year I have a one word resolution. Last year my word was “relinquish”. I am a big (ha, ha) of a control freak. I want to fix people’s problems because I ALWAYS KNOW WHAT’S BEST. 

Seriously, I know I don’t , but I want to help, and throughout the year I tried (not always successfully to let go and let them fix their own. This year my word is LOVE. Simple enough. One of my sons shared something he learned: “love means working towards someone else’s success”. If we really love others, we went them all to be successful and do well. That means letting go of envy, jealousy, gossiping, pettiness, judging, etc. It simply means uplifting, encouraging, being happy for others, etc. Shhhh--don’t tell anyone, but that isn’t always easy for me.

I do like writing down my word because it helps me feel a little more accountable.  You see right now as I write this, I am very discouraged, but I'm trying to let go of some negative thoughts and seek for a better attitude.  Wish me luck!!!

SIDENOTE #1:  I was going to do a post about howI am determined to get back to blogging.  I'm not sure how to do it.  But here is my plan, I will try to post every two weeks.  We'll see how that goes.

SIDENOTE #2:  Do you realize that I am almost done with my 365 project.  I started on March 20th, so I have close to 6 weeks left.  It has been great fun, and I have learned a lot.

Here are just a few shots I have posted in the last couple of weeks.

I still have a lot to learn but I'm sure having a GREAT time.