Tough times

Our family has had some major medical issues recently. This is just a simple, quick update.
1- Ruth (my sister-in-law in Bountiful) had open heart surgery about a week and a half ago to remove a tumor and fix a hole. She came home Tuesday- just in time to send her son, Jonathan, off to the MTC. She is doing amazingly well. (lesson learned- take care of yourself so you can recover from incidences easier) Her sister and the Cannon kids are doing a great job of helping her out. Another son is getting married on June 25. They are moving into mom's basement apartment, which will be a comfort to have someone there.

2- Mindy had gall bladder surgery on Wednesday. It was quite routine and she was home that night. April and I came down to help her with the kids. I was delayed a bit getting here (Saratoga Springs) because of a bad ulcer attack. But thanks to modern drugs I am able to function without pain. She is healing nicely but needs a lot of help with the kids. Stockton and Logan are at the "trouble stage". They are everywhere and don't quite understand no or to not do something a second time when they got hurt the first time.

3-My mom fell Thursday night and even though several people offered to take her to the doc to get checked she didn't. She had a horrid night and Friday morning had her dear neighbor Hannah take her to insta-care. They immediately put her in an ambulance and sent her to Lakeview (the hospital in Bountiful). They sent her to the U of U medical center via ambulance where she ended up in the burn trauma ICU. Just because that was the only ICU room available. She broke 2 vertebrae- C1 and C2. She had to lie flat with a neck brace until they could get her into surgery this morning. That is where we are now- waiting for the word on how it went.

For all you Grey's Anatomy fans. Her surgeon is a real life Dr. McDreamy. OK, I haven't even seen him but he is a neuro surgeon and there are lots of residents around here. I wonder if they live a soap opera life????

The good news-
1- Becca and Steven flew in Thursday night for Becca's best friends wedding. They have been able to have a fun time with Mindy, Garry, their kids and April. I have been sad that I have only been able to spend a little time with them.
2-We are so blessed with good medical help. Mom has 2 very good friends that are doctors here and they have been in contact with assurance that she is in good hands. Almost all of the nurses and doctors that have given her care are so nice and caring! (OK, there was one that reminded me of someone who shall not be mentioned that I could have lived without)
3- Dave and I had an incredible opportunity to be in the room with mom when Elder Kikuchi (sp?) came in to give her a blessing. He is in Mom's ward and was a home teacher with dad. He had Dave assist in the blessing, at the moment I didn't realize what an experience that was for Dave but he was a little in awe. Elder Kikuchi is very soft spoken but as he started the blessing his voice was "powerful". He blessed mom with power and strength. He blessed every part of her body specifically to function properly, her heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, spleen, bones, muscles, sinew, etc. He also reminded her that her husband and son were praying for her as well as other family gone before. It was a powerful blessing and comforted her greatly. Mom also has the best friends and neighbors. They have been here to offer help wherever needed and I feel their sincere concern and love with each word they speak.
4- I am grateful for the Lord's blessings. Dave and I were sitting in the cafeteria yesterday when a man came and sat near us. He called someone and told them he was at the Uof U with his wife in ICU- she had lost their baby and she had complications. They were 2,000 miles away from home and had used up their credit card and knew nobody in Utah. I just cried at the thought. Dave spent a long time talking to him and helping him find some help.

Final word- I know that the Lord's hand is in all we do. I really don't know why we have to go through all this but my family and I are truly blessed as we face our trials.

Mother's Day

Today our Ward arranged for the Young Women to take over Primary so all the Sisters that serve in the Primary and Young Women's could go to Relief Society. It was nice to have such a full Relief Society. The Bishop even gave the lesson (assisted by the rest of the Bishopric). He took an interesting approach. He said that he knows a lot of Sisters don't like Mother's Day. He mentioned that men certainly don't feel this way about Father's Day and asked the Sisters to share their feelings of why. Of course there was a lot said about feelings of guilt or not quite measuring up to expectations, becoming a mother late in life, or being childless, having wayward children, etc. But there were a lot of comments about women feeling good about themselves, focusing on their own mother, not having to high of expectations (mostly for the men in their lives on Mother's day).


As I listened to this I thought back on my feelings towards Mother's Day. I have often gone home on this one Sunday a year and wondered if something is wrong with me because I don't hate the day. In fact I love Mother's Day, not that everyone of the last 30 years has been happy and wonderful. A couple of bad ones stand out- the year that Millie was born and Dave was out of town and it was Stake Conference and I took all four little to girls to SC by myself (Camille being only a couple of weeks old). The highlight- Every mom there got a cute little carnation pinned on them and there was a Priesthood choir that marched in for the prelude singing "Ye Elders of Israel". The year I hosted a Mother's day dinner for Dave's entire family and he didn't think to mention Happy Mother's day to me. Finally that night when he got the clue something was wrong and asked, I told him! That was the last time he forgot that I am a mother too, and has always made a positive comment when I host a big dinner and usually even little ones. I was very sick one year and in Albuquerque last year (although Dave came and the girls sent me beautiful flowers).


So why do I love Mothers Day?? Here a few of the things I love about this Day: the little treasures that the kids make at school and bring home to MOM- cards, flowers, cookbooks, plastic canvas tissue boxes, self portraits, pencil holders. The sweet little cards the kids make in Primary for their Moms. The Primary children singing in Sacrament Meeting (which I really missed this year!). The little gift the ward always gives the Moms. Flowers, lotion, plants, candy bars, books, trinkets are all things I have received. The cute little stories and poems about mothers. Breakfast in bed. A phone call from your Missionary. My phone call from Garry (no pressure Steven, at least not till next year). A quiet afternoon with a few minutes to blog if I want to. Not having to do dishes (even if I end up doing them on Monday). The attention, ok, I don't like a lot of attention, but twice a year it is ok, my birthday and Mother's Day. An excuse to get or buy something for myself that I need or wouldn't normally get.
But most of all is the reason I like all holidays- it reminds us of an important person or event.
We celebrate Christmas and Easter to help us remember Christ, the Fourth of July to help us remember the history of our Country. Why not have a day to help us remember very special people in our lives.


With all that said I will take this opportunity to think of the great mothers in my life. Of course first is my own Mother. I don't take nearly enough opportunities to tell her how much I love her and thank her for being a wonderful Mother. She is a great example in my life and I love her. I love my Mother-in-law and have learned so much from her. My Grandmas were wonderful examples of womanhood to me. I learn new things by watching my daughters as mothers. They have different challenges than I did as a young mother and they handle them so well. My sister is a great Mother who teaches me a lot of what a mom should be. I look to my aunts and sisters-in-law for their examples of great Mothers. I also have great friends who are wonderful Mothers and some that are teaching me how to be a Grandmother and others that are learning along with me. To all these women I say Thanks for your example and I love you!

To those that haven't had the opportunity to become a mother and have that desire. Know that your time will come. In the meantime realize your potential to be an influence in the lives of many. You are recognized, you are loved, and you are looked up. Your Heavenly Father loves you and has great things in store for you.


So to anyone that may hate Mother's Day here is my advice- take a different approach to it. Don't beat yourself up for the little things you may not do or think you should be doing. There is no perfect mother on the Earth today. We all make mistakes, and we all have kids that screw up at some time.


Take a minute to pat yourself on the back for taking on the greatest responsibility the Lord could give you, that of bearing and raising children. And thank the Lord for that opportunity. At some point you said "Ya, I'll be a mom. I know it won't be easy, but I'll do it!"

Month of Driving

Ok, so what if I have a 4 page list of things that have to be done in the next 2 weeks for Becca's wedding, I wanted to do this post.

As I was working on this "to-do list" and trying to plot everything on the calendar I noticed all my trips to Utah in April. I thought it would be interesting to add it all up so here is the data:

Conference Weekend- Picked up Millie and went to Grandma's and Mindy's for a fun get away and time with the kids. . . 560 miles

2nd Weekend- Picked up Millie and went to Brigham City for Jessie's Shower. It worked out great being as how Millie had just finished her semester and had a week break and wanted to spend it at Mindy's. So Mindy picked her up at the shower and I went home alone. . . 388 miles

Later the next week- Becca flew in to SLC for a mad week of Wedding Stuff! I went to Bountiful, Saratoga Springs, shopping in Lehi/American Fork, back to Bountiful for the shower, to Orem for Becca's best friend's (Caralee) shower and back to Idaho Falls. . . 622 miles (without adding shopping miles)

While Becca was in Idaho Falls- Went to Rigby and Rexburg to meet with florist, get thank you notes and have a birthday lunch with Millie. . . 58 miles

2 days later- took Becca back to the SLC airport to fly back to California, headed straight to Rexburg to get Millie for a dentist appointment in IF. . . 512 miles

Later that week- took Millie home after she spent her birthday here in IF (with a great dinner at Red Robin!). . . 58 miles

Sunday- April was sick so Dave and I went to Twin to pick up the kids. . . 312 miles

For a grand total of 2,510 miles, 110 gallons of gas (or about $115)!
But. . . time with family and friends- Priceless!

It is about 875 miles to Becca's and back. . . I could have driven there and back and almost all the way there again! But that trip will come the end of May! Our poor cars!


That is how I spent April, nearly 40 hours in the car, no wonder It seems I didn't get anything done!

From the Mouths of Babes

No, I don't mean things my way cute daughters say hahaha. I really need to start writing down the funny things the grandkids say and thought this would be the best place.

Caleb was upset last night that he got home from school without his football. He was verbally going through the steps of coming in from recess, tossing the ball to Skyler, Skyler tossing it back and putting it on the shelf. But he couldn't figure out why he didn't notice it to bring it home.

Noni said, "Don't worry Caleb, just check the Lostin Fountain tomorrow."

That would be one interesting fountain!

Easter- Empty Nester Style

Everyone was posting their cute Easter pics so I thought I would join in. For the past several years we have hosted an Easter dinner for all the "roommates". It has been a lot of fun and keeps me in the Easter spirit when there are no little kids around. Well, this year Easter fell on the Sunday of the break between Winter and Spring semester, thus no "roommates" to even invite. On top of that Millie decided to spend her break with Mindy (hmm she did that last year too) and April went to Boise. So for the first time ever it was just Dave and me for Easter. It turned out to be a nice day and I enjoyed the quiet! President/Elder Clark visited our Ward's Sacrament Meeting and gave a beautiful Easter message. Our Sunday School and Relief Society classes were exceptionally good.

I was ambitious enough to hard boil some eggs so we could have some egg salad sandwiches for lunch (something only Dave and I enjoy). We had a delicious German pancake with Strawberries and sausage for dinner, how easy is that! But next Sunday Becca, Millie, April, and the kids will be here (maybe even my mom) so we will have a nice Easter dinner with all the trimmings a week late. I might even pick up some Easter candy on clearance so we can ruin our diets one more time!I did manage to dig out 2 Easter baskets. I couldn't resist a package of Peeps a couple of weeks ago. The plastic eggs are empty. And yes, the eggs are white, but at least they are hard boiled.