Memoirs of a Gramma

Four Day Weekend!

2010-10-08T19:57:00.022-06:00

It's finally here, our two days of State In-Service. I look forward to these days all September long. We came to Utah to spend some time with Adam and Brittany and their girls.

They are growing so fast, it's just not fair. We miss out on a lot of the fun living so far away. They are such sweethearts and I love them very, very much.

Yesterday Andie was noticing that all the other houses had pumpkins but their house had none so we decided to go find some pumpkins. Andie got all dressed up in her scarf and her "cool" boots and was so ready to go.

We went to the Pumpkin Farm to find some pumpkins we could carve into Jack-o-Lanterns for Halloween.

I couldn't help but laugh when Andie found her own little pumpkin. She was so happy she wouldn't put it in the wheel barrow. She carried it all over the field and it was a huge field.

We found four pumpkins that would be great for carving and I paid for them while Andie and Elsie took turns sitting on the old tractors. They loved it.

Then Andie found her own wheel barrow and tried to push Elsie around in it but all she managed to do was tip it over and send Elsie to the ground crying. She didn't cry long, all it took was the friendly black cat they found laying lazily on the bales of hay by the entrance. The girls loved the cat and everything was suddenly all better.

After we had found our pumpkins and had all the fun we could have at the Pumpkin Farm Adam drove us up around where a fire had burned the whole hillside above South Jordan. What a disaster. It was a miracle that only three houses were lost. I'm sure many more have smoke damage but those people are extremely lucky.

We spent the evening in Draper and when it was time for Andie and Elsie to go to bed we headed south to visit Bob's parents and sister.

This morning I went into Provo to visit an old high school friend. I had a great time reminiscing and I realized how much I've missed over the years. It was nice to renew our friendship and talk about all that has transpired over the past thirty-five years since high school. It was just such a great afternoon.

Tomorrow we're headed back to Draper to Adam and Brittany's. I'm not sure if we'll go to church with them or head home when they leave for church on Sunday. Adam wants us to stay for the football games but that puts us home awfully late.

It's late now and Bob's been snoring for more than an hour so I guess I'll try and get some sleep too. We'll see what the rest of the weekend brings. All I know for sure is that I love having these four day weekends.

Lots to Say!

2010-09-25T11:35:00.009-06:00

Well, it's been an eventful two weeks around here. The fair came and went and as usual we went in once just to look around. I worked with Kelley and Darcy again feeding the entertainment. I really love those two women. Kelley and I have been great friends for so long now and Darcy, well, Darcy is family. They both are and that's all there is to it. This year we fed Foreigner on Thursday night and then Kenny Rodgers with The Oakridge Boys on Friday night. I made the rolls at home on Thursday and had them in there by 2:00. Everything went off without a hitch. I was tired when I got home but not any more tired than I have been the past year.

Friday I got up and mixed up three double batches of rolls and was about to start rolling them out when Kelley called and told me I had to be across the tracks by 11:00 because they were closing it off for the horse races. I grabbed the rolls, leaving a huge mess in my kitchen, and headed in to the fair.

I got there just three minutes too late and they wouldn't let me drive across. I told them I was going to have roll dough all over my car but they wouldn't budge. I even offered to bring them some but they said they had their orders. I called Kelley and she sent Cody up to the gate to help me carry the rolls across the track and then drive me back to the kitchen. I rolled them all out in less than an hour and it was nice to have the smell of them baking in there. Some of the entertainers even stole one as they came out of the oven. I know they're good, but they're especially good right out of the oven.

I didn't stay to listen to the concerts, I was just too tired. Friday night I was especially tired and told Kelley I would do the clean up and then I was going to go home after that. She told me that would be great and to go when I needed to. Her husband was there to help her pack stuff up and take home. I had told Bob that I would clean up my mess in the kitchen when I got home but when I got home I was just so tired. I told him I'd clean it up in the morning. It was such a mess, the Bosch was still soaking in the sink, there was flour out and all over the cupboard but I was just so tired I didn't care.

I got in the shower and that's about the last thing I remember. We were supposed to be in Idaho Falls at 9:00 Saturday morning for a bone marrow drive for Trevor, Krystal's two year old son. Krystal is my niece who lives in Michigan. Her little boy has some rare disease and without a bone marrow transplant, he won't make it to Christmas. it's a very sad situation. Bob woke me up at 8:00 and said he was getting in the shower and told me that I needed to get up and get ready. He knew I'd showered the night before so it wouldn't take me long to be ready to go.

I was so tired, I just wanted to sleep. I laid my head forward on the bed, begging him to let me sleep. Then I started to shake. I was convulsing and out of it but I kept telling him and Amy to let me sleep. Bob asked me what my name was and I told him Dori, but I didn't know the rest. Then he asked me when my birthday was and I didn't know. He asked me to name my grandkids and I couldn't. I kept getting mixed up. He told me to get dressed because he was taking me to the doctor. He thought that I was having a stroke.

Amy was standing at the end of the bed crying and saying that she couldn't do this again. Still all I wanted to do was sleep. Bob got me my clothes and I tried to put them on but I couldn't even do up my bra or button my shirt. I put on odd shoes but thankfully they fixed that for me too. He and Amy put me in the car and took me to the hospital. I vaguely remember getting to the emergency room because they took me in and put me in the same room Shay had been in. All I remember was thinking that this was the same bed that Shay had died in and then I don't remember anything. The next thing I remember was Bob helping me into a gown. I thought I was on my way home but it was almost 6:00 and I was in the ICU. Bob made the comment that my garment top was dirty on the sleeve but I knew it wasn't because I had put clean ones on the night before after I had showered.

When I was finally coherent enough to understand what was going on, they told me I had a severe case of pneumonia. It was then that I finally noticed what they had done to me, I had three IV's in my right arm and two in my left arm. I had a catheter, which I was not pleased about in the least. They didn't want me out of bed at all but once I convinced the nurse that I had a bladder the size of Texas and only had to go two to three times a day, she called the doctor and he okayed taking it out. What a relief!

I was also on oxygen at 6 liters. That's a lot of oxygen. Amy couldn't stay, it was just too hard on her but Bob was there with me and actually looked a little concerned from time to time. He never left, even while I slept. For a minute, I think Bob thought that I had taken too many of my pain pills but I hadn't taken any. They did some blood test in the ER to see if there was any hydrocodien in my system but there wasn't. For some reason they did another test to test for the same thing so at least Bob knew that wasn't it. Dr. Call said that when the O2 level in the body gets that low, 72% when it should be closer to 100%, that the CO2 takes over and poisons the body and sometimes they never get the patient back. Scared Bob pretty good I think. I was out most of the day and only remember bits and pieces of what happened. I have to go with what Bob told me happened.

I spent two days in ICU and then two days upstairs on the Med/Surg floor. Both Dr. Poulter and Dr. Davis came to see if there was anything they could do. I had a really nice visit with Dr. Poulter, I'm so glad I changed pain doctors. Then Dr. Davis came and withdrew the saline from my lap band and told me to come and see him in two weeks and we'd start out again slow.

I finally came home on Tuesday and was home from school that week and most of the next. I had to come home on oxygen and I hated that. Finally on Sunday, I was tired of it and just took it off and went outside to clean up the patio and back yard. I'd let it go and the kids had made a bit of a mess. My blood pressure was also very high when I left the hospital, 200 over 111. They added another blood pressure pill and put a patch on my back that continually gave me medication to lower it. By Monday when I saw Dr. McKinlay my O2 level was 93 without the oxygen and my blood pressure was 140 over 86. Much better for me. I just hated using up all of my sick leave the first month of school but I guess with what they pay me, I can afford to take a few days without pay if I have to. I still have my personal days set in stone in March for Hawaii with Cyndi and Kevin.

I guess I'm lucky to be alive. If Bob had not woke me when he did and made me get up I probably would have laid there and died in my sleep. I had also asperated in my sleep which could have killed me as well. That was what was on my garment sleeve that Bob noticed in the hospital. I didn't know that until I got home and checked my nightgown. As I think more and more about it, it really is a wake up call. I need to simplify my life, remove as much stress as I can. I've been doing some reminiscing with an old friend who was very special to me. It has helped me ponder my life and the things that are important to me. The only side effect that I have from the pneumonia besides not being able to finish a sentence because of shortness of breath, is a case of dejavu. I'm a little light headed and dizzy most of the time and I really don't like it. Hopefully it will pass as the pneumonia clears completely up.

New School Year 2010-2011

2010-08-25T21:08:00.009-06:00

Well, it's official . . . summer is over and school is back in session. We had a great summer with lots of visits to family and friends that were both rewarding and heart warming. As the school year begins I am somewhat concerned about the direction that education is headed in. No one seems to care how well our children learn or what quality of education they are receiving. It's so frustrating to me. I love my job but with all the budget cuts in special programs, I don't know how long I will be able to continue to work with these kids the way I have for the past fourteen years. With having to see students at least three class periods each day and for a minimum of one hundred and twenty minutes each day, scheduling has become a nightmare and we have classes with twenty students in them and classes with only one student in them. It's so crazy and totally frustrating.

After lunch today I mentioned to one of our lunch ladies that I wished I was back in kindergarten when we got to take our blankies and lay on the floor while our teacher read us a story. Some of us would fall asleep and others would just listen and relax to her soothing voice. She told me she remembered having those little flower shaped cookies way back in the 50's. I asked her if they were shortbread cookies and she said they were. I told her she wasn't that much older than I was and that I went to kindergarten in 1962 so I remember those little shortbread cookies too. Such a silly thing to remember!

We had a little chuckle and as I wandered back to my classroom I recalled my kindergarten and first grade years. Thanks to Shelley Burt I have a great class picture from kindergarten. She brought it to our class reunion this summer but it was too late to put in the video I had made. I didn't even remember having the picture taken but I love it.

If we could only return to those simpler days. The days when no one worried about letting your kids walk home from school or if they were a little bit late getting home. It just meant that they had stopped off somewhere along the way to kick a rock along the curb or pick some innocent gardener's beautiful flowers. Now days, we give our kids cell phones so that we can always know where they are and track them if they are late, or heaven forbid, get lost.

We've come along way in the past fifty years or so. Technology has made things easier but also more complicated. Politicians have only seemed to blur the issues or destroyed them completely. It makes a person wonder where or when these things will ever be resolved but we all just keep on doing what we're doing and doing it the best we know how.

I'm going to make this year count. I want the students I work with to know that I care about their education and about them as a person. Some days that's not easy, but it will be written in my daily lesson plan from now on. Better input equals better output, right? I sure hope so!

High School 35 Year Class Reunion

2010-08-25T20:12:00.016-06:00

Our class reunion was so much fun, Cheryl Harker Carrier was in charge of it and she did an awesome job. We met on Friday night and decorated the float we would be riding in the parade on Saturday morning. It was like time had stood still as classmates arrived at the meeting place. Then we all drove out to the Draper farm and laughed together until we cried.

I had all of my school pictures grades one thru six and that brought back lots of memories.

One of the highlights for me was when Jenny, my best friend in high school, arrived. We hugged and hugged and didn't want to let go and as we talked it was as if we had only been apart for twenty minutes rather than twenty years.

That night we had a really nice dinner at the high school where we got to visit some more. We had a great dinner and then watched the forty-five minute video I had made of old high school memories. It was a lot of work but so worth it in the end. I made one for each one of the graduates, it was just a really rewarding night all around.

Leaving that night, Jenny and I promised to stay in touch and told each other how much we loved our memories and appreciated the friendship, the strength and the support we had been to each other throughout our high school years. It was a very heart warming weekend. As you can tell we had a great time!

School's Out for Summer!

2010-07-11T01:49:00.021-06:00

May finally ended and since school got out on the last day of May, Bob and I headed to Canada on June 1st just the two of us.

Pam was planning a joint Missionary Homecoming for Josh and a Missionary Farewell for Jonathon the first Sunday in June so that gave us a great reason to travel north for a week or so.

Bob and I left around noon and headed for Missoula, Montana. Not the usual way we go north but we decided to take our time and enjoy the trip. We headed up to Salmon, Idaho and over the Lost Trail Pass. It was a beautiful drive and as neither of us had ever been that way before, we had a really enjoyable ride. It was a warm sunny day until we reached the top of the pass, then we ran into a little rain.

We had discussed stopping and soaking in the hot pools along the way but when we pulled in to the one we had picked out, it was raining and the place looked pretty run down. We decided the hotel we were staying at in Missoula had a hot tub so we kept on going and arrived there around 5:00.

We checked in to the Hawthorn Suites Hotel and went down to sit in the hot tub. We were the only ones there and had a great time just relaxing and enjoying each others company. When we were totally comfortable we went upstairs to our room, showered and got ready to go find something to eat.

Since there was a basketball play-off game on we decided to get our meal to go and went back to our room and ate while we watched the game. It was so nice to do what we wanted, when we wanted to without any time schedule to have to keep up with. The next morning we got up and went down and soaked in the hot tub again and again, we were the only ones there. Then we went upstairs, showered, got all ready and went downstairs for breakfast. The hotel served a great little buffet breakfast and then since we didn't have to check out until 11:00 we went back upstairs where I had a nap while Bob watched some old movie. We checked out, picked up some KFC to have dinner with my dad and headed to Cardston to see my parents.

It was only about a five hour drive and we got there in good time. We ate dinner and visited with dad and then left to go to the Care Center to visit with my mom.

It was hard to see her the way she was. She has fallen several times and so for her safety, they have put her in a wheel chair. She gets around pretty good in it but my dad says she'll probably never come home again since she is so reliant on that chair.

You could tell that it saddens him somewhat. He knows that she will never live at home again but I could tell he didn't like having the option of taking her out for the day taken away from him. It's so hard to watch your parents grow older. Actually, not so much my dad but definitely true of my mom. My dad looks better than I have seen him look in ages. I think the responsibility of caring for mom and administering her medications for her was a lot for him to handle. He seems much more relaxed and looks years younger than he did last summer. He even keeps the house up as well, if not better, than mom ever did. It's always such a joy to visit the home I grew up in. (Although sleeping in the same bed I grew up in and on the same mattress I slept on is not always a joy. It makes my back hurt!)

Mom kept the conversation light. I think she's learned what generic questions she needs to ask to make it seem like she remembers more than she does. Bless her heart, it has got to be so hard for her. When we went to see her again the next day, she had forgotten that we had been there the day before. She thought we had just arrived, it's almost easier to agree with her than try to explain it all to her again. I just love and admire her so much.

We stayed overnight with dad Sunday night and on Monday, after visiting with mom again, we headed up to Calgary to spend the week with Cyndi and Kevin. On our way through Fort McCloud we decided to stop at the Provincial Park, Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump.

All the years we've been going to Calgary, we've never taken the time to stop there. It was AMAZING! We started out in the museum with a 15 minute video about the history behind the jump. Then we went up to the 6th floor and started the tour down to the 1st floor again.

We were only going to be there for a half an hour or so, at least that's what we had planned on and that was what I told Cyndi. Little did we know!

After what seemed like 30 or 40 minutes, Bob turned to me and asked me if I knew what time it was. I had no idea. He said we had been there for three hours and it was almost 5:00. I felt terrible because when Cyndi asked us if we could be there in time for supper we had told her we would be. Since Fort McCloud is a good two hours from Calgary, it was certain we wouldn't be.

When we finally arrived at Cyndi and Kevin's we found that they had been holding supper for us and had grilled steaks and ribs. We felt terrible but the food was still amazing as always. Cyndi is an awesome cook!

We so enjoyed just hanging out and relaxing with them and their family for the rest of the week. I know they always worry that we're going to get bored or something but I'm telling you, staying with them in their beautiful new home and with Cyndi's amazing meals, it's better than a 5 star resort, and the company is so much better too. We had an incredible time.

Sunday was a beautiful day and Pam and Ryan had to be so very proud of their boys as they both did amazing jobs in sacrament meeting. We had dinner and a little open house at the McKenzie Lake Clubhouse. It was so nice and we had a great time visiting with all of our extended family as well.

Monday morning came and we had to head for home. It's always sad to see a vacation end but it's also great to be home again. I missed our kids and our grandkids. They are so much fun and I love spending time with them.

I finally talked Bob into buying a Water Slide. We found it at Toys R Us and it's 10 ft. high and 18 ft. long with a little pool at the bottom that the kids slide into. We set it up last week and the kids had a blast in it. I'll post some picture of them in it as soon as I get a chance to.

What Can I Say?

2010-07-07T23:08:00.012-06:00

Okay, so it's the 7th of July and I haven't written anything since March. I don't even have a good excuse. I am having a fabulous summer though so with all due respect, I need to post some of the things I've been up to.

First of all, I'd better go back to February 2nd. The day our sweet little Elsie Lane was born.

Brittany was due the end of January and although I'm sure it seemed hard for her to go past her due date, she didn't gain very much and was so tiny with little Elsie that it didn't seem like she was over at all.

Bob and I went down to Salt Lake after school one night and as we were pulling into the parking lot of their apartment complex Brittany called to see where we were. I told her we were just pulling in and when we were finally inside, visiting on the couch, I noticed that she would be quiet every so often. I asked her if she was okay and confronted her on the fact that I thought she was having labor pains. She admitted that she was and that she had been having them pretty much all day long. She said she was glad we were there because she felt certain that when Adam got home from work they would be on their way to the hospital. She said she was so glad that we came when we did instead of waiting another day or two. I was certainly glad too.

Adam got home and they got ready and headed to the hospital. Andie had warmed up to Bob and me nicely and didn't seem to mind staying with us when her parents left. I gave them strict instructions to keep us posted on how things were progressing and Adam promised he would call when they knew anything.

He called around 9:00 and said that she was dilating and progressing nicely so we should go to bed and he would call us in the morning if not sooner. So we did. Andie was a jewel and went right to sleep and slept in until around 9:00. Since Adam had called us earlier in the morning with the news of a beautiful baby girl born in the early hours of the morning, we got ready before Andie woke up so we were ready to go to the hospital when Andie was awake and fed.

True to his word, Adam was holding his beautiful baby girl when we got there. Because of all the threat of the H1N1 flu virus, little Andie wasn't allowed to go in to see her mom or her new baby sister so we didn't stay very long. We went and took Andie to have some lunch and then took her home for a nap. Adam came home to shower and spend some time with Andie so Bob and I went back to the hospital for a quick visit and a chance to hold little Elsie Lane.

Even Papa Bob got in on the baby holding action and didn't look so pained when he got to hold her. He actually looked like he was enjoying himself, which he later admitted.

Brittany's folks arrived the next day and Bob and I headed home. We both had to go to work on Monday so even though it was hard to leave, we promised to return as soon as possible.

Elsie looked just like Andie when she was born but as she has grown she has developed her own beautiful look. I have to admit that she looks more like Adam and the rest of my babies did when they were born. She is such a sweetheart and Andie just loves her. I don't know what I'd do without my Utah girls. They hold a special place in Gramma Dori's heart, as all my grandkiddies do!

Said I Would . . . but I Didn't!

2010-03-17T22:08:00.003-06:00

I said I was going to update my blog today but unfortunately I ran out of time again. I really am so far behind here that I've got to take some time to post a few things. Being that it's St. Patrick's Day, Amy has gone out with some friends so I had Alie tonight and she wasn't very happy about getting left home so I took her and went out to visit Brooke and Kennedy while Treyson and Kade were at wrestling practice. Now she's in bed asleep and I'm exhausted. I promise to write tomorrow . . . I have so much to catch up on. Later!

Christmas Cookies

2010-01-04T15:01:00.064-07:00

It's been a great holiday season and as it is slowly coming to a close it's fun to look back and reminisce about the fun things that we were able to do as a family. One of the things that we did was make Christmas cookies. Of course it was supposed to be all of the grandchildren coming to decorate gingerbread men and sugar cookies, but Brooke and Kade and their kids were late. Not just a few minutes late but try about three hours late. Oh well, that's Brooke!

Cyndi and Jamon's kids arrived on time and we had so much fun. Lauren and Camryn set right in to decorating the gingermen and the stars and everything else we had made. I think even little Griffen had a blast.

Alie was so much fun and thoroughly enjoyed herself while consuming spoonful after spoonful of frosting. I even have the pictures to prove it. You can tell, because she still had the frosting on her face when I took them. We had so much fun all together! Even the mess was fun to clean up . . . Now you know that we truly did have a great time!

Treyson and Kennedy got there a little, rather a lot, later but we still had an incredible time. They took right to frosting and decorating and I have to admit that they turned out awesome.

I also wanted to have them all over to make a Christmas present for their parents but we just ran out of time before Christmas Eve. I had seen these cute little picture frames that looked easy enough but none of us could find enough time to get them done. I guess we'll save that project for next year.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-23T09:54:00.029-07:00

Where has the year gone? 2010 is fast approaching and Christmas will be here, ready or not, in just more than a week. Again we are thankful for the blessings that have been ours and the love that has been shown to us. A special thank you to those of you who have influenced us and touched our hearts this past year. We love you guys!

Brooke and Kade and their family are doing well. Kade has taken over running the farm for his dad and loves it. Brooke continues to substitute teach and take care of their family. We are blessed that they live close enough to enjoy them and their beautiful children on a regular basis. They are such a blessing in our lives.

Cyndi and Jamon are still in Blackfoot and doing well. Cyndi continues to work at The Villa doing nails which she enjoys. Jamon graduated from Idaho State University this past spring and continues to put a lot of time into his job at the radio station on campus. We are very proud of them and their beautiful family. It's always a joy to have them around.

Adam and Brittany are still living in Salt Lake with Adam attending the Art Institute of Salt Lake City. He's doing incredibly well and should graduate within the next year. He also works full time at AT&T Mobile so Brittany can stay home and take care of little Andie Mae. They are going to have a new baby girl the end of January and we are all very excited about that. Although we don't get to see them very often, we love the time we get to spend with them.

Amy and Alie are still living with us and we love having them close. Amy is doing well and substitute teaches to fill her time. Alie is as incredible as ever. She goes to preschool at the elementary school two mornings a week and to Hippo Therapy three afternoons a week. She is making good progress with her cochlear implant but is still not crazy about it. She makes more and more progress everyday. We are grateful for all of those who work so diligently with her and love her like we do. It is a challenge but we love it and we've learned to just take things one day at a time.

Bob and I are doing great. Bob is still at the site and as busy as ever. I'm still teaching 6th grade at the Blackfoot 6th Grade School and loving what I do. The older we get the more we seem to enjoy spending time together. It's a little crazy but totally awesome!

At this holiday season we feel blessed to have you, our friends and family, in our lives and want you all to know how much we love and appreciate you and your examples. We pray that this Christmas season will be joyous and your New Year filled with love and peace. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-20T14:56:00.019-07:00

I can't believe that it's been two months since I posted anything here on my blog. I've become a facebook junkie and as a result I have really neglected my blog which really is my first love. This is definitely the easiest way to keep a journal. Problem is . . . you have to write in it too.

Thanksgiving came and went and what a great time we had. Bob and I traveled to Calgary and visited with family there. We stayed at Cyndi and Kevin's even though Cyndi was in Hawaii with Kandice furnishing the new condo. Kevin and Brett took good care of us and were great hosts. Thanks to them for that. Their new house is going to be amazing. They always do such a great job when they build or remodel. I can't wait to see the finished product.

One evening while Kevin was at a dinner meeting we went to dinner with Pam, Cherri and Mike. We had a great time at Smugglers and laughed until I thought I was gonna be sick! I sure love my family. Someone once asked me if I'm close with all my sisters and brother and I'm so happy that I can say that they are more than my family, they are my very best friends.

Then we went down to Cardston to surprise my dad and spend his 80th birthday with him. He was surprised and we spend four great days with him and my mom.

Mom is living in the Care Center at the hospital and is finally settling in. She has a wonderful roommate finally and now she worries, not of not being able to leave and stay at home again, but rather how long she will be gone when we check her out because she doesn't want her roommate to get lonely. I am so grateful that she is happy there. It was so, so hard for my dad to take care of her and they both look better than I've seen them look in a really long time. We did check her out everyday, and everyday she was thrilled and surprised that we were there. It's hard to see her not remembering things from one minute to the next but at least she always recognized me this time which was nice.

I gave my dad a DVD with a slide show of his life from his birth to this latest great-grand child and also a scrapbook with most of the pictures (all 487 of them) in it. I thought it would be easier for my mom to look at and it was but about every half an hour she would notice it again and ask what it was and where it came from. Somethings are easier for her but this wasn't one of them. Cherri and Pam and their families came down from Calgary on Friday for dad's birthday and we cooked our Thanksgiving turkey to celebrate with them. It was so nice to have that many of us together. I have such a great time when I am home.

It was hard to say goodbye and I think I cried till we were well across the border. Every time I say goodbye to either one of my parents could be the last time I do. I hugged my mother a long, long time and kissed her check again and again. I told her how much I love her and watched her carefully as she put on her coat and went out the door with my dad to go back to the care center. I know that I need to embed those memories deep into my soul so that I can find comfort in it when the time comes that I need it. A teacher at school was saying just the other day that her birthday is on Saturday and she had to hurry and order her mother some flowers. I asked her why she was sending her mother flowers on HER birthday instead of her mother sending her some. She said she always does and has for many, many years because if it wasn't for her mother, she wouldn't be here. I thought that was such a neat idea and it made me sad that my birthday isn't until April so I could do that for my mom too. Then I realized you don't need a special occasion to tell someone how you feel. Everyday is the day to tell them you love them.

My dad stood in the kitchen window waving goodbye as we drove away the next morning. That is also a memory I mentally and emotionally put right here in my heart so it too is easy to recall. I just couldn't hug him enough before we left. He is such an amazing man. I remember when I was in high school and college and my mom would always tell my sisters and me that we should look for a man just like our dad when we look for a husband and that we should be so lucky to find a man exactly like our dad. When you're sixteen or even twenty, you don't think of that but I am so grateful. When my dad first met Bob he turned to my mom and told her that he had known that young man before and that they were very good friends. How blessed I am! I love you dad, thank you for all you do!

Four Day Weekend!!!

2009-10-04T20:55:00.033-06:00

Well, that title is a little deceiving because actually my four day weekend is over today. It was great to have a three day work week last week and then a four day weekend. We had parent-teacher conferences on Wednesday night and then we were off. I had a doctor appt. with Dr. Selznick on Thursday morning because my knee has been so tender to the touch. I thought maybe I had an infection or something but he said that the nerve that was cut, the one that crosses over the top of the knee cap, was what was causing the pain and that when I'm a little more post-op he can shoot some cortisone in there to relief it. In the meantime he gave me some cream to put on it and told me to take my pain pills. That's all they ever tell me!

We went to Utah after my doctor appt. to visit Adam, Brittany and Andie. We had a great visit and Andie warmed up to us rather quickly this time. We took them out to Olive Garden on Thursday night and then spent Friday with Brittany and Andie at Cabela's while Adam worked. We had such a great time visiting and Andie was a doll. I miss that little girl and can't wait til the next time we get to see her. She is such a sweetie!

Bob made enchiladas for supper and then we all settled in to watch the BYU game on TV. It was a pretty boring game and since we were planning on leaving afterwards to go to Payson to Bob's folks, we left just into the third quarter. We got there around midnight but they were still up waiting. We sat up and visited for about an hour and then went to bed. We all slept in and I got up just in time to hit the shower before conference started.

It was a great conference. I guess they are all great but the theme this time seemed to be set around love and loving those who have gone astray or are in need of help. It just really touched me. The prophet's addresses were especially touching, he is such a great man.

It rained all day today in Utah and all the way home. It's cold tonight but hopefully we won't get any snow quite yet. I know it's inevitable and it sure feels like snow out there but we'll hope it stays away for a little while yet. Amy said that it's supposed to snow up to two inches tonight so we'll just have to wait and see. I'm off to bed, I have to be up early in the morning for school. Oh yeah!

Friday is My Favorite Day of the Week!

2009-09-25T08:15:00.002-06:00

Well, it's finally here - Friday! Is it any wonder that it is my favorite day of the week? I think not! So much to do and so much to say, but there goes the bell. I'll have to catch up later. . .

Feeding the Fair

2009-09-14T20:34:00.015-06:00

Well, thanks to Jackie I now have the link to the news clip of Kelley, Darcie and me doing our thing at the fair. Feeding the entertainment that is. It was a good year with Huey Lewis and the News performing on Thursday night and Rodney Atkins on Saturday night. With my new knee I only stayed long enough to do my job, wash dishes, clean up and Saturday night-pack up. Then I came home. It was still too much though and I paid dearly for it all day on Sunday. Things went really well though but I have to say, with this knee, I'm just glad it's over for another year. I can stand to only do it once a year. Any more than that and I think I'd have to quit.

I so enjoy spending time with Kelley and Darcie. It's sad that fair time is about the only time we spend any amount of time together. Kelley has been a good friend over the years and Darcie, well Darcie is family. That's all there is to it. Literally!

Any way, here's the link if anyone's interested. Thanks Jackie!

http://www.localnews8.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=4122572&at1=News&h1=Local

Insomnia . . . Uggghhhh!

2009-09-09T03:52:00.005-06:00

What can I say, except that it's 3:30 a.m. and here I am. AWAKE again. I'm getting really tired, yes , , , I said "tired" of these sleepless nights. Ever since my knee surgery I just can't seem to get comfortable in my bed. My knee is still numb in so many places and my surgeon told me yesterday that I may never get that all back. Oh yeah! Night before last I couldn't fall asleep until almost midnight and then I was awake at 2:00 and tossed and turned until 4:00. Then I dozed until about 5:00 and was awake the rest of the night. I guess by 5:00 it's not night anymore anyway and I got up and got ready to go to school early to run off some papers for the week. But of course, I ended up with a low tire and had to stop at Les Schwab's to have it fixed and they don't open until 8:00 so I said forget it and went to school anyway.

It sure makes for a long day when you don't get any sleep. I had two doctor appts. yesterday. First with Dr. Selznick, my surgeon, and then with Dr. Davis, my lap band doc. Dr. Selznick couldn't believe I was walking so well and without the use of a cane even. He hugged me twice and told me how proud he was of my recovery. I told him I had gone back to work after nine days and he said he had never, ever had anyone do that before. That it was unheard of to not be out for at least a three week period of time and usually it was six weeks. I told him I didn't have much of a choice with school starting so fast after my surgery. But he still couldn't believe it. I have 110 degrees of bend in my knee and can flex to a nice and flat 0 degree. He said he was amazed! That made me feel pretty good. My only complaint was the numbness which he said may or may not come back but should get somewhat better, and the insomnia. He said that was normal and told me to take some pain pills before going to bed. I told him Bob thought I was going through them too fast so I had really cut down and he told me to stop that. He dictated a note to Dr. Garbarini asking him to be kind to me when I run out of my pain meds because I could be needing them for up to five months. He also told me that I don't have to do anymore physical therapy so I cancelled my appt. with them for today. Then he asked me if I wanted him to give me something to help me sleep. I told him I'm not a big fan of Ambien but he told me I needed sleep for my body to heal so he wrote a script for twenty of them. I took one last night and fell right to sleep, no tossing and turning or anything. It was great! but now, here I am. Same old, same old! I guess I should of had him make it the Ambien CR which is supposed to last all night so you sleep through till morning. Oh well, I guess this will have to do.

Then I went down stairs to see Dr. Davis. I have lost nine pounds since I saw him last and he was very excited. He said this is the most weight I've lost in one appt. since the surgery. My BMI has gone from 44 which was in the obese and candidate for surgery category to a 36 which is now below the candidate for surgery level and only one point in the obese level. He said once I'm below that I will never go back again. This surgery assures me of that. I was pretty excited. He said he wants me down two more points by my next visit in two months. When I asked him how much I had to loose to be there he said he wouldn't tell me because he doesn't want me to worry about the scales and those numbers, just concentrate on eating healthy and exercising. I told him ya, right. With my knee like this and he said to just keep doing what I've been doing. The thing I mostly have been doing though is cutting out the sweets and the candy. That's a really hard one for me but since we've been home from Canada I have really stayed away from them. Any way, I felt pretty good about that visit too. I know loosing weight is a huge pain in the rump but if I just take it one day at a time and concentrate on eating healthy I know I can do it. I'm going to shoot for six pounds by my next visit and see what I can do. I just have to recommit myself and promise to follow through.

Well, it's now almost 4:00 and in an hour or so I have to be getting up anyways so I might as well try to get some sleep. Maybe I will take a pain pill after all. I could use one, my leg never stops throbbing. Catch you later!

About time I wrote again!

2009-08-23T15:34:00.002-06:00

Well it has been a long time since I posted anything and so much has happened. I had a complete knee replacement done on my right knee a week ago last Friday and I can't believe how much this little piece of your body can hurt when it wants to but let me tell you . . . it HURTS! I don't think I've ever had anything in my whole body hurt like this and to think I get to do it all over again on my left knee next summer. I can hardly wait.

They put an epidural in my back and then something in my IV to make me sleepy. They said I wouldn't be knocked out but I wouldn't remember anything either. While I was asleep they put another epidural in my groin right at the top of my right leg. This one dripped morphine onto the new knee cap and I assumed it would take all of the pain away. While it worked really well and kept me numb for the most part, it never took the pain completely away and I've had to deal with that.

I was in the hospital for four days and then I came home on Monday evening. Bob was such a trooper and stayed with me whenever I was awake. I appreciate his help so much, I couldn't have done this without him or Amy. Amy has taken such good care of me during the day while Bob's at work. I'd be a mess without her help.

They sent me home with Loritab 7.5 mg which isn't very strong. Not even as strong as what I was taking for the pain while I waited for surgery. Needless to say, I was in continual pain which was not any fun. I called the Dr. on Tuesday and told him that they just weren't cutting through the pain so he asked me if I'd ever taken Oxycontin. I told him I had taken it when I had my rotater cuff surgery but I really didn't like it. The problem was that I couldn't remember why I didn't like it so he thought I should try it. He called some in for me and Brooke went and picked them up for me. I took two just like it said to and went to bed around 10:30. I woke up about midnight and had a really bad headache. I took some Tylenol with codeine and went back to sleep. Then I woke up an hour later with a full blown migraine headache. Now not only did my knee hurt but my head felt like it was going to explode. Before I could even think about what to do I was in the bathroom trying to throw up, but since there was nothing in my stomach to throw up, I just sat there and dry heaved into the toilet for a half an hour.

I couldn't help but have Bob awake by now so he came in and asked if there was anything he could do. I told him to wait a minute and I'd be out. I asked him to give me a blessing which he gladly did. I fell asleep finally and when I woke up my head was much better but my headache was not completely gone. Now I remembered why I hate Oxycontin. I called the Dr. Wednesday morning and he said he wasn't going to mess around with the pain anymore and put me right on Dylated. It works a little bit better but it still gives me just a touch of a headache so I have to be really careful. I tried to call the home health nurse assigned to me yesterday but she never called me back. I wanted to know if I could take the Loritab and alternate it every two hours with the Dylated, kind of like you do with Ibuprofen and Tylenol in children. I called her service twice and never heard back from her so today I just did it and man, do I feel so much better. I cried through my exercises yesterday but when I did them today it seemed so much easier. Don't get me wrong, it still hurt like nothing else, but I didn't cry even once.

I'm going to go to school in the morning for a half day. We have a faculty meeting at 8:30 and I really need to go so Cheri is going to pick me up and Amy will come and get me when I'm ready. I have had really high blood pressure since my surgery. It's consistently been up in the 170's over lower 100's which is really not good. Danielle was going to call my doctor and keep him aware of it so we'll just have to see what happens.

I'm really tired now and I think I'll try to take a little nap before dinner. I haven't been sleeping very good at night because I keep this dang machine moving my leg all night long and so I'm tired a lot lately. I'll try to keep this up to date so that next summer when I have to go through the whole ordeal again I'll remember how I felt. There's something to look forward to aye? Real fun!

Finally, Our 2nd Canada Trip , , ,

2009-08-13T09:24:00.102-06:00

Treyson - What a stud!

Our Little Kennedy Girl!

(Heather took lots pictures of the kids while we were there so I'm going to post them, in no specific order, throughout this post. Heather! you are amazing!)
Kennedy 'HANNAH MONTANA' Who?

Our Little Andie Mae

(The not so perfect pictures are ones I took but hey, how can they be bad when the subjects are all so great?)

Michael & Princess Clair Bear

Amy & Princess Alie Kae

We have had a great summer with two trips to Canada and a lot of memory builders with my family. I have the best family and we have so much fun when we are together. I can't wait until we do it all again. This time all of our family got to go except for Cyndi.

Women's Gab Session

I felt bad for her but she was okay with it and told me not to worry about it. Jamon just started a new job working with his brother out at Van Orden farms and Cyndi was booked up to work on those days that we would be gone so she said that there was no way. I felt really bad but she was ok about the whole deal, so the whole family went to Calgary except for Cyndi Lynne and her family. We really missed them.

Jeffrey and Emily with Jaycee and Jaclyn

Taylor & Blake - Two of my "JOCK" nephews!

We left at 12:40 a.m. so that all the kids could sleep. Alie is a terrible traveler and Andie's not much better, but this way they both slept the whole way there. Bob did all of the driving except the last couple of hours when Adam drove on the way up and I drove from Dillon to Blackfoot on the way home. Brooke and Kade traveled with us and their kids slept all the way too. It sure makes for a better trip when they do that.

Our Little Alie Kae

We got to Calgary on Friday morning around 10:00 a.m. and Bob and Kade took a quick cat nap. I had been cramped up in the back with junk under my feet so when I finally got a chance to get out and walk around I was so stiff and sore I could hardly stand it. I was that way for a couple of days which was really not a lot of fun but it did get better with time. All it took was the few days before we had to go home. Then I got to do it all over again. I sat in the front this time.

Cyndi with Jaclyn

Friday was my sister Cyndi's birthday and we had a lot of fun. Of course Cyndi did all the cooking for her birthday. It was absolutely amazing. She is a fabulous cook, I wish I'd got some of her cooking smarts. She spoils us to the max every time we visit.

Adam, Brittany and Pam

Heather took pictures of Alie, Andie, Treyson and Kennedy. She's so good with that camera of hers. She took some awesome pictures. She even took a couple of Cyndi and I when we were ready to leave. Of course I looked terrible. It was about 9:00 on Thursday night and Heather promised me that she will photo-shop it and make me look better than I do on a good day. I told her I wanted 50 lbs. off , a new hairdo, and my skin crystal clear. She promised me she would do her best so I'm gonna hold her to it. I haven't got the proof of that pic yet but Adam and Amy have some of theirs and Brooke just got a couple. The ones we've seen so far are amazing, I can't wait to see the rest of them.

Kevin and Bob

Cyndi and Kevin really spoiled us. Kevin had ordered a bunch of coats on the internet and was giving them all away. He gave Bob two really nice jackets that fit him perfectly. Cyndi had bought me a beautiful lantern for my patio. It has potpourri in the bottom and a candle on top of that. It's so cool, I just love it. Then I also got another lantern, a tray for my bathroom counter and a brown chest for my watches and jewelery. I really didn't need them but they are awesome and I love them.

We celebrated Grandpa Cameron's birthday (which isn't until the end of November) on Saturday at McKenzie Lake over in South West Calgary where Pam and Cherri live.

Adam, Brittany & Andie at Cherri's

Mom & Dad at the beach

Then that night we had a nice dinner at Cherri's house. Apryl came up with the idea of drawing out a family tree and each of us writing our family on the branches and then our grandkids on the branches as leaves. That way the kids could see where they came from and how they all fit into our family. What a great idea eh? It was a lot of fun and I think it helped the kids to understand a little better.

Dad at the beach

Then Grandpa talked to all of us about his life and the accomplishments and trials he has had throughout his life. He talked about his childhood, when he was first introduced to the church and how he met Grandma. It was so nice and it was so good to see him relaxed and enjoying his family. He has been such a great example to me in my life, and to my children. I'm very grateful for that. Whenever I've needed anything he has always been there with the answer to any question or concern. He's an amazing man and I love him very much.

A few comments

Kourtni, McKenzie, Holly & Grandpa

My girls all did a bunch of shopping and came home with some really cute things. Amy was worried about Cyndi Lynne so she made sure, though she couldn't afford it, that we had outfits for Lauren, Camryn and Griffen. She even bought Cyndi a shirt so that they all had a bit of Calgary. She's got such a big heart! She would do anything for anyone. I'm very proud of her and pray for her continually. We had such a great time. I just love my sisters and their families so much. I had a really hard time saying good-bye. I've been very blessed throughout my life. I was born into a family that loves and supports each other, with parents who care about their children as well as each other. A family who can be together forever if we try hard enough. Nothing worthwhile comes very easy, but I know it can be worth it. I look forward to visiting again soon. I love being home again, but a vacation is always a welcomed treat!

Our Family (all except Kendall. We missed you.)

Dinner for Twelve . . .

After all of the festivities involving grandpa's birthday celebration and after the weekend was over, all of my sisters (except Apryl, she'd already gone back to Edmonton) and I and our husbands all got together and went out for ginger beef. I love that stuff! Barb and Ryan, my niece and her husband, went with us. We had a really nice night with lots of laughs and good conversation. It's so fun to be all together. Some people think that we have a very large family and in this day and age that is not a common thing. I'm so grateful that our parents saw fit to have seven children and that my sisters are my very best friends. I love them so much and am grateful to each of them for the things I learn from them and the support they give to me. They are so special to me and I love them all so much!

Sister Cyndi & KevinSister Pam & Ryan Sister Julie & Doug Sister Cherri & MikeNiece Barb & Ryan Thanks to all you guys in Calgary who showed us such a great time. I love you all so much!

Our 1st Canada Trip . . .

2009-07-17T18:04:00.025-06:00

We headed up to Canada on the 23rd of June and went as far as Cardston where we stayed for three days spending time with my mom and dad. It was awesome to be there and we had a great visit. You can't go to Cardston without stopping for lunch for Mongolian at Ming's Garden on Main Street. It was great to have ginger beef again. I don't know why no one in the U.S. can make ginger beef but it seems to be a foreign concept here.

We took a ride in the country and out to Grandma Olsen's old ranch. It was great to see the old house where my mom grew up and the remains of the two room farmhouse where I lived the first year of my life. Then we headed out to the Beazer Graveyard to visit my grandparents graves. It's been so, so long since I had been there, it was nice to see that it's being well kept and cared for.

Mom had a rather hard time there but she seems to be having a hard time about most things these days. Her memory is getting worse everyday. At one point she asked me who I was again and I told her my name was Dori. She said that that was interesting because she also had a daughter named Dori. I told her I know, it was me and that I was her daughter. Then she asked me if her mother knew that I was getting married. I told her she had better know because not only was I already married for almost thirty-two years, but I have four children and seven grandchildren. That seemed to throw her a little bit but she just smiled and I hugged her. It's so hard to see her regress so badly. My dad says that she thinks she's in high school again and talks about getting ready for dances and dates and what not. He is so patient and kind to her. I am so grateful to him for taking such good care of her. I know it must be extremely hard to do.

After spending three or four days in Cardston we headed to Calgary to visit with Cyndi and Kevin and their family. We got there on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning we headed for Invermere, British Columbia to spend four days at their condo there. It was so great! We took drives to see the beautiful country, went on a four-wheel ride into the deep woods and saw deer, bears, wolves, foxes, you name it. If it was natural to the area - we saw it. It was amazing.

We went down to the hot tubs every night to relax before going to bed and it was so good on my knees. I slept like a baby every night. It was hard to come back home and face the same old grind of real life again. I'm so grateful to Cyndi and Kevin for taking us under their wings and letting us use their resources to gear up to face the world again. It was a well earned vacation and spending time with them, being able to talk to them about anything was very therapeutic. I'm forever in their debt.

After we got home the doctor called and scheduled my knee replacement surgery for August 14th. I'm really excited, NOT! but it has to be done. I really wanted to have it done in July so I'd be ready to go back to school but if I had I wouldn't have been able to go back to Canada in two weeks for Grandpa Cameron's 80th birthday celebration. Adam and Brittany and Brooke and Kade and their families are going also and Amy sent for her passport just yesterday so if her's comes she and Alie will go too. Cyndi has to stay and work, and Jamon will just be starting work for his bother driving truck. I wish she could go but I understand, I just hope she isn't too upset after we are gone.

Besides my teacher re-treat and our trip to Canada I have been busy around the house as well. I got crazy one afternoon and painted the cabinet next to and over my fridge. It looked pretty good so I decided to go for it and painted another cabinet the next day. By then I was tired of it and was wishing I had never started the stupid project. I got ambitious the next day and painted another cabinet and then stayed up all night getting the rest of them done. What A Pain! I'm just glad it's finally done. I went to bed at 6:30 that morning and slept until about 11:00. Not a good night sleep to say the least and since then I've been having trouble sleeping at night. I hate getting in bad habits like that. It takes forever to get back on track again.

Andie Mae Turns One!

Last Sunday we celebrated little Andie's first birthday. She is such a gorgeous little thing. I just love her to bits. She was a real little trooper and opened presents like a pro. She is walking, rather running all over the place and she's such an itty bitty thing that it's incredible just trying to keep up with her. she is truly a sweetheart.

This Sunday is Vickie's 60th birthday surprise celebration in Utah and we all got invited so I guess Jennifer will come down here and then we'll pick up Cherri and Jeannie and drive down to surprise her. It will only be a short road trip. It's about 90 minutes down and 90 minutes back and if we stay an hour or so we should be back before supper time. Should be fun.

On Monday night I'm having a barbeque in the back yard as a sort of going away party for Rodger and Jeannie. They are going on a mission next month to Oklaholma. It's a year long mission and we'll surely miss them. Maybe we'll have to have another barbeque welcoming them home next year, who knows?

Anyway with my knee surgery next month that will about round out my summer. I guess all in all I've been able to do a lot of stuff this year, even more so than other summers. It's been a busy summer but a really fun one.

Where has the summer gone?

2009-07-17T16:07:00.012-06:00

I can't believe we are already to the middle of July and only about a month away from heading back to school. Where has the summer gone? It seems as though we just got out of school. I have been able to do a lot of things which I'll fill you in on and accomplished many of the projects I set out to do this summer so I feel pretty good about that. We have one more trip to make to Canada to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday and then I'll be home for the rest of the year. Actually, I'm scheduled for knee replacement surgery on August 14th so I may be late starting school anyway. Not looking forward to that one!

First of all, our teacher re-treat was awesome this year. We had a great time in Ennis, Montana. We took the four-wheelers and had so much fun on them. It was a little scary hauling them, loading and unloading them by ourselves just us girls but everything was great.

It was Jennifer's birthday while we were there so we went to the Follies in Virginia City which was awesome. We had our pictures taken at an old time photo shop. It was fun and I'll post the picture here so you can see just how much fun we had.

It was a much shorter drive than McCall ever is so that made it really nice not spending all day in the car. The country was beautiful and even though we got rained on a bit while four-wheeling, we still had a great ride. We almost missed the lake! Drove right past it, thank goodness someone was paying attention and turned around in time to see it before we went right on by, We would have ended up in Virginia City if we had kept going. The rain didn't help!

Any way, it was a great chance to relax and enjoy great friendships. These girls really are my family and I love spending time with all of them.

School's OUT for Summer!

2009-06-06T14:26:00.004-06:00

Whooo Hooo! Yesterday was our last day of school. We met for breakfast at the Shilling House and then went to the school to check out. Student's last day was Thursday and they left at about 12:30 that day, then we had a district meeting at the high school in the afternoon and were done about 2:00. It was so nice to be done a little early. I was up at the school until 2:00 in the morning finishing up a ProShow for the last day. I took my pictures and Jane's pictures and anyone else's pictures and made a slide show to loop all morning long on Thursday, the last day of school. It turned out really good and then I sold copies of it for $2.00 with all the proceeds going to Relay for Life. I only made about $30 bucks but every little bit helps I know.

Boy, did I have a time with it though. I put it together on my school computer and then tried to burn it to a disk. Turns out our DVD players are only players and not DVD recorders so I either had to come home and redo it all or use Kris Fackrell's external DVD drive to burn them on. Kris was still at the school burning her play's DVDs for her drama students so when she was done she brought it downstairs and helped me. We rendered it (it takes 40+ minutes to render) and tried to burn it but then realized we had to load the drive's software on my computer first. So the rendering was useless and we had to stop, load the software and re-render it (another 40+ minutes) before we could burn it. We finally had one copy of it by 2:00 a.m. and quit and went home. The next morning I started copying disks and had about fifteen or so of them to sell. It was crazy!

I'm really looking forward to this summer. It should be a pretty good one. We are taking our Teacher Retreat in Enis, Montana this year. We're going to take the four wheelers and do a lot of riding together. I think it's going to be a lot of fun and it's only a two and a half hour drive away instead of a six or seven hour drive like McCall is. It's also Jennifer's birthday while we're there so we're going to go to the Folies there and then the Open Mic Improv after that. I'm really looking forward to it.

Then we come home and leave for Canada less than a week later. We're going to go up and see my folks for a while and then go to Calgary to spend some time with Cyndi and Kevin. We're going to go to Invemere and hang out at their condo riding four wheelers and relaxing by the pool. Sounds great aye? I'm really looking forward to it and to relaxing for a change.

When we get home from Calgary I only have about a week or so before I have surgery for a complete right knee replacement. I'm sure that will be the highlight of my summer! I'll be in the hospital for about four days and then down at home with a hospice nurse for another week or so. I'm in for hours upon hours of physical therapy for the next several months and we'll see how all that works out. For now, I'm just happy to be out of school! We'll see what the rest of it brings!

Derek's Farewell and Lauren's Baptism

2009-05-29T10:53:00.019-06:00

This is going to be a fun weekend. Derek, Julie and Doug's second oldest son, is going on a mission to San Jose, California Spanish Speaking and his farewell is this Sunday at 9:00 in the morning. Yeah, early but I'm sure well worth the extra effort it will take to be there on time. I can't believe little Derek is all grown up and ready to go. He's pretty excited and so is all of the family.

My sister Cyndi came down last Wednesday and brought mom and dad with her. We went up to Julie's last night and got to see everyone. Dad has lost a lot of weight and looked a little tired. I worry about him, he takes such good care of mom but it looks like it's wearing on him somewhat. My mom looks good but when you talk to her it becomes quite evident that her health is really failing. Her memory is getting worse and worse and she can't remember things for more than a minute or two at a time. She didn't have any trouble remembering me last night and always knew who I was but had a real hard time keeping track of who Amy was. She asked her many times who she was and whose little girl Alie was. Then she would ask Amy if she was getting married soon or if she had a boyfriend. Amy explained to her a few times that her husband had passed away two years ago and then mom would tell her how sorry she was and ask if there was anything she could do for her. I felt so bad for her. It was heart wrenching to watch.

Then as we would talk she would fade in and out and then ask more questions about things we had just told her. It was hard to see her that way. Dad is so patient with her and would just kindly explain it to her again. She asked us once if her mother knew where she was because she would be upset if she didn't know. I told her that her mother did know and that seemed to satisfy her. She is so sweet, I don't ever want to loose her but know that that is not an option. I am so thankful for my knowledge of life after death and the fact that we, as a family belong together for eternity and that through our faithfulness we will be.

Adam and Brittany came up from Utah for the weekend. I really encouraged them to come so they could see grandma and grandpa. They have never met Andie and I wanted them to at least get to see her. I am so grateful for the effort and sacrifice they made to come. I know it meant a lot to grandma and grandpa and also to me. I love the picture they took with them at Lauren's baptism. Thanks you guys, I love you all so much!

Any way, we got to visit with Cyndi and Kandace as well before they left and came to Blackfoot to have Cyndi do their nails. I'm looking forward to spending some time with Cyndi and Kevin in Calgary next month. I think we'll take the four wheelers with us and just spend some time having fun. It's been a while since we spent some time with them, I'm sure it will be fun. I am so looking forward to a vacation. Cyndi and I talked a little about it yesterday and I'm very excited.

Kendall and Jen came up last night also and we had a really nice visit together. They are building a new home and doing really well. I'm excited for them, they are so happy and so good together. Jen makes him so very happy, I am grateful to her for that. He deserves to be happy. Jordann and her boyfriend came up as well. She is such a sweetie. I hope she is happy, she's had a rough life and deserves to be happy.

With Lauren turning eight this last birthday she is now old enough to be baptized and so her Uncle Logan is going to baptize her on Sunday evening after Derek's farewell. Adam and Brittany are coming from Salt Lake on Saturday and Adam will confirm her Sunday night.

They bought a new Pathfinder so they have to come up to talk to the bank anyway so they'll be able to go to Derek's farewell and also Lauren's baptism. I'm excited about that. I'm also really excited that my folks will get to see little Andie Mae. This might be the last chance my mom will get to see their little family so I'm really glad they'll be here.

I guess I'd better go, still got things to get done this morning. I'll blog more after the weekend. It should be a good one!

Lauren's Birthday

2009-05-24T23:12:00.010-06:00

Well, Lauren turned eight today and was so excited for her birthday to finally arrive. We all went over there at 6:30 and had cake and ice cream while she opened presents. She is such a sweet girl and I can't believe that she's already so old. I sure love her and wish her a very happy ninth year. She deserves it, she's the best!

Dance Recital Time!

2009-05-17T19:31:00.024-06:00

I love this time of the year . . . dance recital time! This year Lauren, Camryn, and Kennedy all took dance and danced at the recital. They all did an amazing job as you'll see if I can get these video clips to post. It was so fun to watch them. I didn't know it was the night for it until Amy reminded me that it was time to go so for the first time, grandma didn't buy flowers. Luckily their moms were on top of it and were able to buy some roses in the lobby.

Kennedy went first. This was her first year dancing and really did an amazing job. She has an adorable hot pink nightgown with a frilly mask to cover her eyes as her dance was about "waking up" being "hard to do!" For her first year, she was more than terrific! It was great and of course she was the best one out there.

Camryn was next and her dance was about flowers and sunshine so her costume was a cute little outfit with flower petals for a headband. She was good last year but she was awesome this year. She has really learned to dance and you can tell just by looking at her how much she loves it. She too was the very best one out there. These little girls didn't miss a beat and can really dance. They were awesome!

Lauren, all grown up now, was next. Her dress was so dang cute and of course that was because of the gorgeous girl wearing it. She did an amazing job too and boy, you can tell she's been doing this for a while. She truly was the best one our there and danced her little heart out. She was amazing and I loved every minute of all of their dances. It was great!

Lauren's video wondered a little bit in the middle. Camryn was sitting right in front of me and had just got her flowers which she was really excited about. Well if you couldn't tell, she was waving them all around and I had to ask her to stop waving them in front of the camera. I'm sure she didn't even know she was doing it but you can tell something was going on. Sorry about that Lauren, you were great! The camera man needs a little work though don't you think?

I wish Alie could have seen them because she loves to dance too. Unfortunately she was with Shellie that night and the recital was sold out the next night. We'll just have to make sure she's around next year, she would have loved watching them dance as much as I did.

Griffen's Birthday . . .

2009-05-17T19:17:00.007-06:00

Can you believe it? Griffen turned two last Sunday, on Mother's Day. It was a fun day . . . Adam, Brittany and Andie were here for the weekend and we had a great time. Mother's Day was really nice and we had all the kids here for dinner. Then Brooke and Kade had to leave and go to Pocatello to Sophie's birthday party and Cyndi and Jamon left to go eat with his family too. Then we all met in at Cyndi and Jamon's for birthday cake and ice cream.

They had bought the kids a new puppy and gave it to them for Griffen's birthday. He's a cute little bugger they named Buddy. We kept him the night before for them and he woke up a couple of times crying because he was lonely or cold. Titus was here and they slept with Maggie in the kitchen. We locked them in there because we didn't want the new puppy peeing on the carpet. Cyndi said he's doing better now, he sleeps in the garage in his dog house and doesn't even cry at night anymore. The kids just love him, especially Lauren. She was so ready for a puppy and I'm grateful to Jamon for allowing them to have one. It teaches them responsibility and to take care of someone else. They really love him and he's a cute little pup.

We gave Griffen a little ride on toy that is battery operated and he had a really good time on it. The girls are too big for it so he's got it all to himself. He seems to have a good time with it. I hope so anyway.

Lauren's birthday is the end of the month on the 24th so I'll write more about it after it happens. I can't believe she's going to be 8 and be baptised. She is such a beautiful young lady and she is such a sweetheart. I just love her so much. I love all my grandkids but she was the first and because of that, will always be extra special.

Finally Done!

2009-04-28T10:34:00.022-06:00

Here I am, finally done with ISAT Testing! I didn't think I would ever get done but as of today, even the make up is done. Now manybe I can dedicated more time to other things. Things like this Blog, my family, my students and my lesson plans. While I was out testing, Pam didn't follow anything that I can see. She never has made lesson plans but even the things that I put in folders for her to have students do hasn't been done. But, she's the boss so I will just try to play catch up the best I can.

Rich Woodfin called me a week or so ago, actually about two weeks ago now, and asked me if I was locked in to working with Pam long term. I asked him why, what did he have in mind? He asked me if I would be interested in representing our sixth grade school as the RTI specialist. First of all, I had no idea what RTI even stood for, and second of all, I love working with my kids, in my room. He said that RTI is an intervention program designed to track students on behavioral plans, accademic plans and even attendance plans. He said that it requires someone who knows computers and is not afraid of them. I would no longer work with Pam at all. I wouldn't even have a room to work out of. They would find me somewhere to work and give me lots of training to help with the job.

At first I was really flattered. He said when our school came up I was the first person he thought of. He said I was the best one qualified to do this job and that he would give me a little while to think about it if I wanted to. I was really torn because I would no longer be working in a classroom setting. I would probably work with more students but not teaching them, just following them on their individual plans. I'm not at all sure that's what I want. Kathy Lambson, the coordinating teacher for our district came over today and I asked her about RTI. She already knew about the offer I had recieved from Rich and told me she thought I'd be great at it and that it's the kind of thing she would love, tracking all the different students on different action plans. She affirmed that it doesn't come with a pay raise. Bob thought that if it did, I should definitely do it. But if it didn't I should do what I love and stay in the classroom. I just don't know!

I would also be working with Title One students in the afternoon with Ruth downstairs in her classroom in the basement. I know I wouldn't like working out of the basement. There are no windows down there and I would hate that. I would also hate the stairs! and I would be going up and down them all the time. Jane says it sounds like I've already made up my mind. I guess maybe I have. I should just do what Bob said and pray about it now. And that will be the end of that!

Too, too long.

2009-04-27T01:59:00.005-06:00

I know I haven't written anything for the past week or so and I promise to do better. I have to take my camera to work tomorrow, rather today, so I will download what's on it and make a new post with some pictures. I just couldn't sleep, my legs hurt so bad, so I'm here reading other blogs instead of spending any time on my own. I promise to do better. I promise!

Another Late Night!

2009-04-13T22:21:00.015-06:00

I'm afraid it's going to be another late one. I had just written a big long entry and moved just right and ooops, there went my computer plug. My battery won't charge anymore so when it unplugged it shut down . . . and there went my blog. Talk about drive me crazy! I've got to get a new computer.

Bob's already gone to bed and here I am - still up. I hate this insomnia thing I've got going on. It really sucks! Maybe when Amy gets home tomorrow night I'll be able to sleep better. I miss her and I oh, so miss Alie Kae. I talked to Shellie this morning and she said she's doing super. She cried when Shellie left this morning but Skyler took care of her today and she'll spend tomorrow with Sherma until she's out of school. Sherma will take her to Shellie and then I'll pick her up from her after school. I'm looking forward to it. I miss her so much. I'm sure Amy has missed her too. She called the other day and said that she would be ready to come home, she misses us all but mostly Alie. She also said that she didn't want to move to Phoenix anymore. It's hard to live in the big city after you've lived here. Amy has lived a sheltered life here and I hope she always stays close. I worry about her and she definitely has her problems but I am also hoping she gets over them. She knows we would do anything to help her and Alie. I love them both so much.

We just had Easter weekend. I missed little Alie so much. Amy felt really bad when she realized she would be gone over Easter Sunday. I'm sure she had a great Easter though with Shellie and their family. I know they had their own Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma Sherma's and they always treat her so great. I'm sure Alie loved it.

We start ISAT testing on Wednesday. I spent the day setting up all the laptops in the small gym. It took JoAnne and I a couple of hours to get it all right. I'm so glad that Brian Kress, out old principal, came over and helped us. Brandon, our current principal, was gone to a meeting and got back just as we were finishing up. He wasn't a whole lot of help. Then I was there until 7:20 tonight trying to get all the students put into Excel so tomorrow I can set up a schedule to get them all tested. Maybe that's why I can't sleep yet. It doesn't seem as late as it really is because I didn't get home until almost 8:00.

Adam and Brittany are moving this weekend so Bob and I are headed down to help them. I just wish they weren't moving from a third floor apartment to a third floor condo. I hate the stairs but I love my family and wouldn't miss the opportunity to spend some time with my beautiful granddaughter, little Andie Mae, and oh ya - with Adam
and Brittany too.

Well, I'm headed to bed. It's almost midnight and it about killed me getting up so early this morning. I've got to go in early in the morning too because I didn't get everything graded today. I spent too much time on other projects. Catch ya later!

Can't Sleep . . .

2009-04-12T03:53:00.016-06:00

Well here I am, 4:00 in the morning and not able to sleep. I wrote a few notes on another blog and then started reading back what I had written on this blog and well, here I am still. Bob went to bed hours ago and I was only going to be a minute, that was a nice thought.

It's been a quiet weekend. Amy has gone to Phoenix to visit Daven until Tuesday and Alie is spending the weekend at Shellie and Zane's. Amy flew out of Salt Lake on Thursday night after missing her flight by five minutes and having to wait six hours for another one. I worry about that girl sometimes. I just wish she knew how much. She called last night at 3:00 in the morning and said that they had been mistaken for a car that had been involved in a heated altercation with another car in which guns had been flashed and threatened. The cops stopped them and surrounded their car with guns drawn and then proceeded to hold the guns in their faces while they searched everyone and everything. Amy told them that they had seen the cars that had been fighting with each other but they decided it was not a good situation to be around and got out of there as fast as they could. She was pretty shaken up and said she just needed to talk to us for a minute. I told her she wasn't in Idaho anymore and that she was in the big city. She said she didn't think she liked it very much and certainly didn't like the experience she had been through. I know she doesn't want to move to Arizona but I think this just helped re-affirm the fact.

Alie is doing great with Shellie. I called today to check on her and Shellie said they were having a great time. I can't believe how much I miss her. I cleaned my house Thursday night and it's amazing how long it has stayed clean. I didn't have school yesterday, it was a trade day for doing registration last fall, and Bob didn't have to work because it's also Easter weekend. It has been nice to have the place to ourselves again. I can honestly say I rather enjoy his company. We went to IF to a movie yesterday afternoon and today spent the afternoon down at the river riding the four wheelers. It was a beautiful day! Then we watched a movie tonight and just had a very nice, quiet evening at home. Now he's in bed sleeping and I'm here wishing I was.

My legs and my knees have really been bothering me lately. I toss and turn in bed and just can't seem to get comfortable so rather than keep Bob awake all night too, I end up getting up and laying on the couch watching t.v. or reading my book. One night last week I didn't sleep at all. I finally got ready and went in to school early to get some things done there. I know! It's crazy and I hate not being able to sleep. I'm afraid I am definitely going to have my right knee replaced this summer. Hopefully it can wait until July. We go to McCall the third week in June and then I want to spend a week or so in Canada. It's been a long time since we've been there. Amy and I went up to Cardston last year over Spring Break but we didn't get to Calgary. It's probably been two or three years since we've been there.

I got a really nice birthday card from my sister Cyndi. She is such a sweetheart. I know the Lord blessed me when He sent her to be my sister. I couldn't ask for a better friend. I love her and her family so much and I miss her a ton. She is such a good example to me and so much support. I know I can talk to her about anything and the advice she gives me is always the best. She is an amazing woman!

We are going to Salt Lake next weekend to help Adam and Brittany move into their new condo. I'm excited to see my little Andie Mae. Her smile is so sweet and I miss her so much. Don't get me wrong, I miss her parents too but I can't wait to see that little girl. Adam says she's finally crawling and pulls herself up on everything. She'll be walking before you know it and the only good thing about that is that soon it will be time for a new baby. I mean hey, when you get it so perfect the first time you have to repeat and repeat right? I'm always up for another grandbaby. I'm so proud of Adam and Brittany and for the lives that they live. I'm proud of all of my children, they are my everything . . . and my grandkids, don't get me started, I'll never get to bed. I am truly blessed!

I guess now that it's almost 4:00 I'd better give it another try and crawl in bed. We have church at 11:00 tomorrow, thankfully it's not at 9:00 although I do like that schedule better. For obvious reasons I'm just glad it's not that time tomorrow.

Continued from Friday . . .

2009-03-01T17:48:00.022-07:00

I didn't get a chance to finish my post from last Friday. Bob had dropped me off at school and came to pick me up earlier than I expected him to so I just closed out of it mid-sentence. Poor Barb, bless your heart - I think you're the only one who ever reads my blog, was left hanging thinking I was still in pain and about to pass out in the hallway at school on my way to my car. Well, I did make it to the car and seeing as how I still had the papers I had to drop off at the district office and it's only a block away, I sat there for a minute trying to breathe before I took them over. When I got there I could hardly manage to get out of the car and take them in and by the time I got back to the car I was crying big time. I've had that little pain before but nothing ever that bad.

I called Bob who immediately wanted to know what was wrong as there was no hiding it. The pain had intensified to the point that I couldn't breathe and there was pressure building up in my jaw. I've heard that's nothing to mess with, even though the pain never reached my arm. It did scare me. Bob told me to call an ambulance but I wasn't sure that I needed one and was sure the pain would stop any minute or at least lesson enough to drive home and lie down. Besides that the hospital is only a few blocks away and if I ended up needing serious help, I could surely drive those few blocks. I contemplated going over to the clinic to be seen there but I remember when I used to work there and someone with chest pains came in, all the nurses would whisper under their breath to send them to the hospital. And seriously, I was a little worried that if I went there and they couldn't help me, they wouldn't let me drive then. They would call an ambulance anyway and I'd have to take that little ride that I so didn't want to take.

I told Bob I would just drive over to the hospital and have them check me out. He still wanted me to call an ambulance but I drove anyways. I just walked into the emergency entrance and told them that I needed to be seen and that I had a huge pain in my chest and was having trouble breathing. Needless to say, they didn't like it. The whipped me into a room and threw a gown on me. The started an IV and hooked me up to and EKG machine. The took blood from my IV to run some tests and gave me a shot of deloted. (However you spell it.) I had called Amy on my way to the hospital and by this time she and Cyndi and Brooke had all arrived. The EKG was okay so they sent me to x-ray after giving me yet another shot of deloted. It was bad, I couldn't get rid of the pain in my upper chest.

After the x-rays, they took me for an ultrasound thinking that maybe it was my gallbladder and I had gallstones. Bob had got there by the time I got back from that. While we waited for the results they gave me a shot of morphine and tried to make me rest. Ya, right! I couldn't believe that the pain was still there after all of that but it was. Kade was there too now and he and Bob gave me a blessing. It was one of the first annointings that Kade had ever administered since receiving his priesthood last month. I am so grateful to him and to Bob for the comfort they blessed me with, that comfort that comes from the Holy Spirit.

I told them all along that I thought it was just stress and that I'd had a somewhat stressful day at school. Finally, they listened to me and brought me an ativan and told me to put it under my tongue. I did and I guess it helped a little bit, at least it took the edge off finally. They gave me another shot of morphine and said that they wanted to admit me so they could keep on top of the pain if it got worse again. I told them all I wanted to do was go home. They called my regular doctor and after talking with him, decided that I could go home as long as Bob was going to be there with me. Before I left they gave me another shot of deloted and then I was on my way.

Bob brought me home and made me some Cream of Wheat to eat and I went to bed. I had to check with my doctor the next morning but I felt a lot better when I got up.

I stopped by the clinic thinking it would only be a quick check up but Doug wanted to redo the blood work and the EKG to make sure that nothing had changed since the night before. Since everything looked good, he said he wanted me to have this Nuclear Medicine EKG that would make sure that everything was good and eliminate any questions about my heart. I talked to Bob about it and he said that the doctors in the ER said that my heart had looked good through the whole ordeal and since I don't have any history of heart disease in my family, we decided I didn't need that expensive of a test. If anything changes then we'll do it right away but for now I think I'm safe.

He gave me a prescription for some stress relieving happy pills and told me to go home and eliminate the stress from my life. I need to learn how to relax and not try to take so much on all at once. Okay! We'll see how that goes.

I've had a couple more incidents where I start to feel the tightening coming up in my chest and I try really hard not to have to take anything. You really can relieve stress by sitting completely still and tuning things out! I've found that fresh air helps too so I'm sure there are lots of things I can do when I feel it coming on. Who knows, I think I need a massage again. I'll have to remember to call in the morning. I know that's always good!

Gosh, It's Been Forever!

2009-02-27T11:30:00.005-07:00

It's been so long since I've posted anything. Life flies by so quickly . . . it seems I barely have time to breathe some days. I had a little episode about a week or so ago, I was just leaving school and was about three steps away from the outside door when I got a pain in my chest that about knocked me over. I had to drop some purchase orders for some technology equipment off at the district office which is just a block away from my school, so I hurried to the car and sat there for a minute taking in some deeep breaths hoping it would pass. I've had this pain before and it usually goes away after a minute or so. I've always just chalked it up to stress.

Super, Super Bowl

2009-02-01T17:08:00.014-07:00

Well, all the goodies are laid out ready for consumption and the table is over-flowing. It's mostly good, non-fattening foods - Chips and dips, vegies and dip, chips and salsa, wings and wienies. I camped myself closest to the wings and vegies but still I ate too much and ended up, throwing up, in the bathroom. I hate that feeling of too much. I know it was the diet Pepsi on top of it all that made me feel this way. Got to be more careful with that one, I know when it's going to happen so I've got to learn to deal with it in advance and slow down.

Anyway, should be a good game. Cyndi and the kids are coming out to watch the game. That will help entertain Alie for the afternoon. Amy left last Thursday on the shuttle to Salt Lake. She spent the night with Misty and then on Friday she flew out to Phoenix. She went to spend some time with Davin and his friends. She'll be home late, late tomorrow night on the shuttle from Salt Lake. She was really worried about how Alie would do but she has done amazing. I picked her up Thursday after pre-school and took her back to school with me. She asked me that night where her mom was and I told her that she would be back in a few minutes. I told her she had gone on an airplane and she seemed to understand. Bob watched her on Friday and she did super. She only asked for her mom once and then motioned that she was on a plane and would be back in a minute. I tried to make her understand that it would be several minutes but she just motions just a minute so I guess whatever. Amy called me yesterday to check on Alie and said that she probably wouldn't be able to call again till Monday afternoon because they were headed to spend the weekend in Mexico at Davin's girlfriends parents condo. I hope she has a good time.

I took tomorrow off to stay home with Alie. I don't think she would do as well if she isn't with Bob or me. Shellie came and got her yesterday afternoon and kept her for a few hours. She said that Alie did just fine but was still worried about keeping her overnight for fear she would want her mom. While she was gone Bob and I went to a movie in Pocatello and took care of a couple of errands. Then when we were on our way home Shellie called and asked if she could bring Alie back around 6:00 as they were going to go to a movie that night. I'm glad Alie wanted to go with her, it does so much for Shellie when she wants to go with her. Alie had a bit of a rough night last night waking up a few times screaming. I think she was having a bad dream or something. We only have one more night though so we're almost done. She woke up pretty early this morning so about 11:00 I'd had enough whining and we went and had a nap. She really was tired, she slept for almost two hours and has been happy the rest of the afternoon.

It was Alie's third birthday on the 12th and she had a great time. Sherma had a party for her and we all went. We had a nice dinner and enjoyed each other's company while Alie opened presents. Since she is started school the day after her birthday, she had to have a bookbag. I found this little Dora bookbag in Idaho Falls and she absolutely loves it.

She got a lot of really nice gifts, clothes for school and lots and lots of toys.

Cyndi had a Barbie Doll cake made for her and it was great. When she pulled the doll out though, Alie was really worried because one, she was dirty and two, she was naked. We had to hurry and clean her off and put her clothes on her. It was pretty cute.

She has become a little shadow to her mommy. She follows her everywhere. It's kind of funny but Amy doesn't think so. She's getting rather tired of it I think but it's as it should be!

I guess I'd better go change the laundry, I had mine done early this morning but I decided to do Amy's too and it's going to take me the rest of today and probably tomorrow to get all of hers and Alie's done. Again, there are clothes in the hamper that haven't even been worn, some of them folded still. That twenty-three year old girl can be such a kid sometimes. She keeps telling me that she's twenty-three and can take care of herself. She should see the movie we saw yesterday, "Taken". It shows what can happen to young naive girls who think they can handle any situation. I couldn't help thinking about Amy and how trusting she is. I worry about her continually. I guess it's only because I love her so much. She'll never understand I guess, but that doesn't stop me from worrying.

Well it's almost half time and I don't want to miss the half time show so I'll close for now. I need to clean up some stuff and change the laundry. Later!

A New Year

2009-01-08T08:43:00.017-07:00

Well, here it is . . . 2009! and already a week has flown by. Time goes so quickly now. I remember how slow time went when I was a child but holy cow, time flies now. Just when you want it to slow down, Bam! another week is gone. It seems as though I have hurried my whole life along. Get up, hurry to get to school, hurry the day along so I can go home, then I'm so tired that I hurry the hours away until I can go to bed, and then start all over again in the morning. Hurry the school year along, hurry my summer away, just hurry, hurry, hurry! One of my resolutions this year is to slow down. Enjoy the things that come along in my life. Stop hurrying! I will have to start to get up earlier so that I have some time to myself in the morning. Time to read and ponder the scriptures, time to plan and review my schedule for the day, time to not hurry! Life is too short and the older I get the more I realize this. I'm going to slow down and enjoy things more - after all, life is meant to be savored, shared and enjoyed, not hurried away. I'm going to embrace each day as it comes and live my life to the fullest! There now, that feels better already.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-19T12:05:00.040-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

I can't believe how fast this year is drawing to a close. Before we know it, it will be 2009 and another year will have slipped quietly away. We are thankful for the many blessings that have been ours and for those of you who have touched our lives in one way or another and made us better this past year. We will be ever grateful.

Brooke and Kade are doing very well. They are planning a trip to the temple this winter and we are all excited about that. They have such an adorable little family. Treyson started kindergarten this year and at parent-teacher conference a week ago all his teacher could say was how lucky she was to have him in her class. She complimented Brooke on how very respectful he is and how good he is at helping others in his class. It's always nice to get reports like that. He is also wrestling again this year and is taking after his dad, a high school state champion wrestler. He loves to take them down and pin'em to the mat. Kennedy is three and started dance this past fall. She is loving all the pink feathers and frills that come with that and is quite the little ballerina. She is such a beautiful little girl, the very image of her mother. I love the big hugs and little kisses I get everytime they visit. Brooke does a lot of substitute teaching and I love the days she gets to spend with me. I enjoy her so much. Kade is a great dad and is active in all of the sports Treyson plays. He and Treyson enjoy many fishing trips together and they just got back from Salmon where they did some steelhead fishing. They had a great time and have lots of good fish tales to tell. We love their little family so much and are blessed to have them living close by.

Cyndi and Jamon are still in Blackfoot and doing great. Their little family is growing up so fast. Griffen is into everything as little boys should be and loves to follow his daddy everywhere. He is such a happy little boy and such a joy to have around. He loves his Papa Bob and gets so excited every time he sees him. Camryn is as grown up as ever for all of her three (four next month) years, and what a cutie. She steals your heart with her blond hair and blue eyes. She too is dancing and was the star of her recital calling out to all of us but especially Kennedy, "Hay Kenndedy, we dancin'!" She is also attending pre-school this year and loves it. She just can't wait to tell you everything she did there. She is definity a sweetheart. Lauren is seven and as beautiful as ever. When I look at her it makes me wonder where the time has gone. She is an awesome young lady and grandma's best friend. She is also involved in dance and is an incredible little dancer. She played softball this past summer on a team that her Aunt Amy coached. She loved playing ball and we loved watching her. Jamon will graduate from ISU this spring with a double major. We are proud of him and all his hard work. Cyndi is such a good mom. She is loving being back at the Villa doing nails. Her clients love her and are so good to her. She does an amazing job and has got so good and so fast that she only has to work three days a week. We love her and her family and all that they bring to our family.

Adam and Brittany are still living in Salt Lake where Adam is attending the Art Institute of Salt Lake City. He is majoring in Industrial and Interior Design and is so good at what he does, his professor has adopted him and has him present to the class on a regular basis. They have had an exciting addition to their family this year. Little Andie Mae was born on July 14th and is the most beautiful baby you have ever seen. Honest, no lie, she is! Her mother's blond hair and her daddy's blue eyes make for a future beauty queen. She is such a good baby and so happy all the time. She even smiles for her crazy Grandma Dori. She is such a sweet addition to our family. We just love her. Brittany is now able to stay home with Andie as Adam, as well as going to school, has a good job with A.T.&T Mobile. She still will work at the Dental Office when they need her. Then Adam gets to babysit. It's a nice break for both of them and Adam absolutley loves spending time with little Andie. If does our hearts good to watch him with her. He is so loving and patient, he's a great little dad. Brittany's an amazing little mommy and takes such good care of both Andie and Adam. We are grateful to have her in our family. We love them so much and are glad we get to see them as often as we do.

Amy is doing well. She and Alie are living with us again and we love having them. Little Alie has struggled with many ear infections and after having her adenoids removed and then her tonsils, the doctor removed the tubes and low and behold, her infections cleared up. Apparently she had been having a reaction to the material that the tubes were made of and so thankfully she has remained, for the most part, infection free for the past six months. We had to have her cochlear turned way back down so she is starting all over again. It's a slow process but with patience she should get to where she can hear. We are all very hopeful. She doesn't much like it though. She will go in the other room, take it off and hide it so Amy can't put it back on her. The only way we find it is that it beeps when it's not attached to her head. She keeps us on our toes and is so sweet, she is the light of all of our lives. Her signing is amazing! I love to watch her little hands as they talk and help her communicate what she wants. Amy's signing is coming along nicely and it's great to watch her communicate with Alie. Mine is slow but I keep working on it. Amy is so good with her. I am proud of the mom she has become, she is so caring and thoughtful of Alie's needs. It's hard to be a single parent and Amy struggles every day with missing Shay. I don't think she will ever get over loosing him. He was so good to her and Alie. We all miss him very much. Alie will turn three next month on Grandpa Bob's birthday and will start attending a special pre-school at the Elementary school. It will be hard for Amy to put her on that little bus but I know she can do it. She amazes me everyday with the things that she can do. We sure love her and Alie and are glad they are able to be with us.

Bob and I are doing great. Bob is still at the site and as busy as ever. He helped move his parents to Utah this past summer where they bought a home close to his sister Shirley. We miss having them just up the road but I know they are enjoying Utah's milder climate and all the BYU sports! as well as being close to Shirley. I'm still teaching 6th grade at the Blackfoot 6th Grade School and loving what I do. It can be challenging at times but the rewards far out-weigh the challenges. We love keeping busy and our grandkids help us do just that. We love them all so much.

At this holiday season we feel blessed to have you, our friends and family, in our lives and want you all to know how much we love and appreciate you and your examples. We pray that this Christmas season will be joyous and your New Year filled with love and peace. We hope our paths will cross somewhere, sometime in 2009. Happy Holidays!

Much Love, Bob & Dori

It Really Is About Time!

2008-10-29T11:04:00.005-06:00

I know, what can I say? It's been almost three weeks since I wrote anything and then it was only a promise to write something. So here I am, I have lots of pictures to post and plenty of catching up to do. I'll try to get it all done today.

Adam and Brittany's little Andie is growing like a weed and getting more beautiful by the day. Adam and Brittany left her with Janell, Brittany's mom, while they went to a Bengals/Cowboys football game in Dallas with Cheyenne and Lisa. They had an amazingly good time, even though Adam's Bengals lost terribly. Andie survived, I think even better than her mom and dad did, and I'm sure Gramma Janell had a great time. Adam is doing really well in work at AT&T. Brittany is still getting out every once in awhile to work a morning or an afternoon.

It's About Time . . .

2008-10-10T18:42:00.001-06:00

Well, I don't even have a good excuse, I've just been so busy enjoying my family and getting back into school that I haven't written for a long time. I try to keep up on my lap band blog because I hope someday I'll be able to read and feel some satisfaction.

. . . and now our little Andie Mae!

2008-08-10T21:50:00.005-06:00

I promised pictures weeks ago and have been a very negligent grandma. Now, to introduce you to our newest granddaughter, little Andie Mae.

I've already told you when she was born, on July14th, and that she weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz. and that she's the cutest thing you could imagine but now I've got pictures to prove it.

This is one very proud papa . . . he just can't get enough of her. It's so fun to watch him with her and she seems to love just laying and sleeping on his chest. He's also a very good papa!

He gave Andie her very first bath and he was amazing. Of course Andie was pretty awesome in her own right. The nurse was great, just stood back and let Adam do it all himself. I guess that's how you learn, aye?

Long time . . . no excuse!

2008-08-10T20:39:00.011-06:00

It's been a while since I've blogged anything, and so much has happened in the last two or three weeks. Last Sunday was the anniversary of Shay's death. It wasn't fun to relive that whole weekend ordeal. I'm grateful for the love and support that our family shows to each other. The weekend would have been much harder without it. We love you Shay and remember you always.

That in itself has been cause enough to have a bad week, but to add to that Shay's little sister, Lucie, was killed in a terrible car accident just two days before that on Friday. She was born two days before Shay and died two days before him. She was a beautiful, young (just fifteen years old) and talented girl and we will miss her so much.

Amy has had a rough time with the whole thing. She was really close to Lucie and had just taken her shopping the week before the accident. Alie loved Lucie so much. I don't know if she even understands what has happened but she will miss her immensely.

Shellie and Zane picked Alie up this morning and are taking her with them to fly to Denver tomorrow. It was good of Amy to let her go, I just hope she doesn't get too homesick for her. She's going to be gone until Thursday which is a pretty long time. Amy said that Zane and Shellie need Alie and she has to think of them right now.

I know she's right but Amy has been needing Alie this past week too. I thought that was really understanding and unselfish of Amy. I'm proud of the way she has dealt with the whole thing. I know it has been hard on her. She has been through so much herself in her young life.

I don't know how you deal with loosing two children just one year apart. Shellie and Zane are going to have a really hard time with this. They are strong people and we love them and their family so much. I wish there was something that we could do for them but everyone says that only time will heal the holes left in their hearts. Our prayers are with them.

Too Sad To Even Talk About!

2008-08-10T20:16:00.005-06:00

So much has happened that I don't even know where to start. Last Sunday was the anniversary of Shay's death and it was more than a hard week. Just two days before that his sister, Lucie, was in a horrible car accident which took her young, fifteen year old life. She was born just two days before Shay and died just two days before Shay did. She was a beautiful, young lady with so much of life ahead of her. We will miss her and her sweet smile.

My heart goes out to Shellie and Zane, her parents. I don't know how you deal with loosing two children just a year apart. They are strong, I think stronger than they even think. We love you guys.

"Thirty-Onederful" Years!

2008-07-21T21:25:00.006-06:00

Today's the day, my thirty-first wedding anniversary and I just want to say that it has been an amazing and joyful ride. I have been blessed to have lived these past thirty-one years with my best and dearest friend Bob.

He is my soul mate, my sun and my moon, my day and my night; and I will love him forever, thankfully yes forever and ever.

Little Andie Mae

2008-07-21T21:23:00.004-06:00

What can I say, I'm the luckiest grandma in the world. I have seven, yes - count them, seven beautiful grandchildren. Little Andie Mae, born July 14th, makes seven! (pictures and more to come.)

Here Comes the 4th of July!

2008-07-01T18:31:00.014-06:00

Hey, I can't believe it's July already and the 4th is just around the corner. This year Bob and I are going to spend it in Utah seeing that his dad's birthday is on Saturday and we can celebrate it with him on the 4th.

It will be good to see grandma and grandpa again. We miss them being just up the road. It's weird driving past their house and not seeing grandpa on the mower or grandma's clothes hanging on the line. I hope they are doing well in Utah. We're excited to visit with Shirley and Keith too this weekend. Maybe with mom and dad and Adam and Brittany down there now we'll get to see Keith and Shirley more often. We alway enjoy their company and have such a great time when we're there.

Cyndi Lynne's birthday is Sunday so we will come home on Saturday to celebrate her birthday with her.
(Finally, a new pic!) Cyndi is such a sweetheart, my life is blessed because of her. She is such a hard worker and tries so hard to make everybody happy. We had the opportunity to watch her kids on Friday and Saturday last weekend and it was such a pleasure. Jamon had gone to Boston with his mom and brother so Cyndi stayed with us for a couple of nights. It was great fun! The kids were so good and considerate to each other. Even little Camryn was sweet and caring to her baby brother. Sometimes a little too much so. Lauren was such a help and pretty much takes care of herself. Cyndi is a great little mom and works hard to help support their family. Jamon is a great dad and the kids love him so much. It will be nice when he's finished with school, it's been a long, hard road for him. They are such a sweet little family and I am grateful to have them in my life!

(Picture is from summer of 07; I know, I need a new one?) Brooke and I got to spend some time together shopping just before I went to McCall, what a time we had. Kade kept the kids so it was just her and me. We got our shopping done and enjoyed each other's company so much. She is such a sweetheart, so caring and giving and so, so talented. I wish I could say that she gets it from me but I'm afraid she has come by it in her own right! Kade is so good to his little family. I appreciate him and his hard work. Treyson is so sweet and watches out for his little sister so well. He shares with Lauren even when he's not asked to, it's just his sweet nature, I enjoy having him around. Kennedy had her third birthday last week. I can't believe she's actually that old. She never leaves but she runs to find me and give me a hug and a kiss. I just love them all so much.

(Fairly recent pic!) Amy is doing great. She's happy and it's so good to see her happy after such a long time. I miss her every day. I don't think she even knows how much I miss her. She doesn't think that I miss her and Alie that much but she's wrong. I love them both so much. Stetson has been a blessing in Amy's life. He treats her so good and takes such good care of her. Alie loves him too which is always a good sign. She runs to him whenever he's in the room. It was so good to have Alie and Amy here on Sunday even though it was only for a short time.

(As you can see, old pic again! I've definitely got to upload some new photos to this computer.) I wish Adam and Brittany lived closer. I miss them so much, it's just not fair. Now with a new baby on the way, I'm going to miss them all the more. I can't wait for her to arrive. Adam is doing very well in school and is working two jobs to help make ends meet. I know it never seems like you make ends meet but I think they are doing alright. Brittany is still working, for a few more days at least. She's been good for Adam and taught him some valuable lessons. He's learning the value of saving and having something for a rainy day. Adam too has been good for Brittany. He's teaching her how to relax and enjoy life as it comes. Together they make a great team and I'm excited to see them both this weekend.

(Finally, not so old pic.) I guess I've blogged about everyone now except my Bob. What can I say, he is my best friend, my confidant, and my soul mate. I don't know what I'd do without him keeping me on the right track. I've teased him these past few weeks about being the food police to my lapband diet but he always takes good care of me, probably better than I deserve. It would be sad to spend these (I refuse to say "golden") years with someone you didn't like. I love him with all my heart and love spending time with him.

A Great Week in McCall

2008-06-29T21:43:00.029-06:00

I just got back last Thursday night from my annual trip to McCall with my teacher friends. We always have such a great time! This year we rented a cabin right on the Payette River, it was a brand new "cabin" and was the nicest one we've stayed in yet. This was hardly a cabin though, it was probably worth somewhere around $500,000.00 and everything still smelled brand new.

We didn't rent a pontoon boat this year because "Cheap Thrills" doesn't bring their boats up to where we were staying which was about 15 miles from McCall but it was fun anyways. The mosquitoes were pretty bad so we didn't spend a lot of time outside but we still made our annual trip to the ceramic shop in McCall to paint our pieces. I enjoy this part of our trip but I know it stresses some of the ladies out just a little bit, right Jeannie?

We played some Cranium which was hilarious and watched more than our share of movies. We read books and took naps and just had a real relaxing time. Jeannie brought a puzzle with her this year, a really hard one at that but several of them worked on that. I'm not a puzzle person, in fact they drive me insane! I just don't have the patience.

Instead of renting the pontoon boat we took the money we would have spent on it and went to a really nice restaurant called The Mill. Since I was just barely to be starting on pureed foods I only had a baked potato and some sauteed mushrooms. I thought that the mushrooms would be sliced and just a few on the side but no, there was a huge plate of whole sauteed mushrooms. It was way more than I could eat so I shared them with everyone at the table. My bill only came to around ten bucks which I thought was incredibly inexpensive for the meal and the atmosphere we enjoyed there. We just sat around and laughed. It was great!

Some of the girls fished from the dock behind our cabin. Jennifer mostly caught trash fish that she threw back but Jeannie caught a nice little trout and some really ugly catfish which she let take her line after it got caught in the trees. Poor thing, she probably scared it to death with all that screaming. They sure are ugly!

We went and ate at Homestead when we got back to Blackfoot and visited one last time before going home to face the real world again. Everyone is supposed to send me their pictures so that I can add them to our ProShow presentation. I'll just keep adding more and more from year after year. Then after Jeannie has picked up our ceramic pieces we'll get together for a back yard bar-b-que and watch a presentation of all of the pictures from all of our great summer retreats.

It's a fun week and it really helps build great friendships. This in turn makes us better teachers and easier to work with when we get back to school. It's fun to get to know little bits about each other every year. It helps us to appreciate each other more and more.

Gotta get to bed . . .

2008-06-17T00:48:00.002-06:00

It doesn't seem as though I've been on here in a long time but I've been going back adding pictures and videos to my last posts and now I look at the clock and it's already almost 1:00 a.m. Time really does fly! I'm off to bed so I'll try to catch up more tomorrow. Goodnight!

Busy, busy weekend . . .

2008-05-15T19:53:00.055-06:00

Glad that's over . . .

It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, the sleep study that is. I slept great once I fell asleep. They won't have any results for me for a week to ten days. I've waited this long, I guess I can wait a few more days.

Griffen's First Birthday . . .

Last weekend was Griffen's first birthday and we had a blast. He's the cutest bugger and such a good baby. I don't know what Cyndi did but whatever she did it gave her the right to have perfect little babies! We blew up the Jump-a -Roo in Cyndi and Jaman's back yard and the kids had a ball.

Recital time . . .

It was also Lauren and Camryn's dance recital this weekend. They were so great. The pictures speak for themselves. The girls were awesome and right on their marks. Lauren lead her group out and lead them the whole way through their dance. She's turning into quite a little lady and loved the flowers grandma and grandpa brought her.

Camryn was not going to disappoint us! First of all, as you'll notice in the video clip, all the girls in Camryn's class have long hair and have their hair pulled up into pony tails with a matching bow in their hair. Well, two weeks before the recital Camryn decided to cut her own long, curly hair. Cyndi was horrified and took her to Dayna at the salon where Dayna proceeded to cut it into a short little bob. It was cute enough, what Camryn? not cute? anyway time passes and about two days before the recital she decides she needs another haircut and went straight up the back with the scissors. This time Dayna had no choice but to cut it all off while Cyndi whimpered in the background. Thus, no ponytail, only matching bow on headband! (That's okay Camryn, we all love your spikey look.)

Back to the recital, she walked out on the floor, found her star to stand on and then looked up at us. We were sitting on the bottom two rows of the bleechers right in front of her. She didn't know that Brooke and Kennedy were coming so when she first saw them she was so excited she waved and yelled to the whole audience, "Kenndedee, look! we dancin'." Needless to say the crowd chuckled but then just as the music was ready to start and it was soooo quiet, she got excited again when she saw Adam and Brittany and did the same thing, "Adam, Britnee I dancin'." This time the audience really laughed. It was great fun. I got most of Camryn's dance on video and hopefully it will upload so you can get a chuckle as well. As you can see she was glad that she was finally old enough to get her "dancin' flowrs" as she calls them from grandma and grandpa.

Adam and Brittany did come home for the weekend, with it being Mother's Day and all. It was great to have them here even if we have to share them with Pocatello. Her brother was making his annual Missionary Mother's Day call. Those were always great Sundays.

Brittany's is looking a little bit pregnant and Adam was looking a little bit tired. He told his dad that this "responsibility thing really sucks!" I'm really proud of him though. I knew he would step up. We can't wait to welcome their new baby girl in mid July. For Brittany's sake we'll hope for early July. She looks great, healthy and happy and we love them both so much.
(Photo actually taken in June with 6 wks to due date)

Tonight's the Night . . .

2008-05-14T11:34:00.006-06:00

Well, I guess it's finally here. My sleep study is tonight and I am a little bit nervous about it. I know I can fall asleep anywhere so I'm not worried about that but I just hate not sleeping in my own bed.

I have been so emotional these past few days. I don't know if it's Amy moving out or what. I was on my way to school yesterday morning and noticed that the pond has water in it. That's exciting news around here because by the end of July it's usually gone. I sat there for a minute looking at the water and at the park and cried. Yeah, I know! I don't know if I was crying because it means that spring is finally here and summer will come, or if it was just time to have a beautiful sunny day and the stillness of the water made me feel nostalgic, or just what. I felt something though, something kind of heavy hearted. I don't know, maybe I'm just over my head. After all, I am entitled! I've earned this nervous condition. My doctor, Doug, asked if I needed anything to help get me through it and I told him no, that it's hard to tell Amy not to take anything for what she's going through if I'm taking something just because I'm loosing my grip on life. I'll get through it, I know. It will just take time, lots of sleep and some alone time to figure things out. Just sitting and thinking helps. It's just that there's hardly ever anywhere to sit alone at my house right now, but that's all going to change this weekend. Amy moves on Friday so we'll see how all of that goes. I'm sure I'll have more to add later. This saga just never ends!

Finally, some answers!

2008-05-12T14:51:00.004-06:00

Well after not writing at all last week, I have plenty to write about this week. Last Wednesday at school just around 11:00 in the morning I had a little bit of an episode where I blacked out for a second and kind of fell asleep. When I came to I was babbling some kind of gibberish and not making any sense at all. It kind of scared me, not to mention scaring my class, so I went down stairs to the office and JoAnn, our secretary, insisted on driving me to the clinic, which she did. I got right in to see Doug and he ran some blood tests which showed nothing abnormal so he sent me to the hospital for a CT scan of my head. I was a little concerned because of the mini strokes that my mom has from time to time. I was concerned that I was headed in that direction. The CT scan looked normal but Doug told me that it was probably my stress level that was causing the episodes. He said what I was doing was zoning out to the point that I would become almost comotose before regaining my senses again. I told him I knew I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and he told me that no, in fact, I was there. He told me to relieve as much of the stress in my life that I can, yeah right!, and scheduled me for a sleep study. I've known and Bob has been telling me that I don't sleep well and that he's sure I have sleep apneia. That sleep study is scheduled for Wednesday the 14th so we'll see how that goes. Bob says that I stop breathing numerous times every hour and maybe this is why I snore too. I guess we'll just have to see.

Amy has found an apartment to rent and has decided that it is time she move on with her life. She wants to show that she is a responsible person and can deal with whatever comes at her. I know, no stress right? Well, I fought her on this for a few days and finally decided she has to do her own thing and make her own mistakes and learn her own lessons. I don't worry about Amy so much as I do Alie. I will miss that little girl so much. I can't even fathom waking up without her by my side anymore. I will miss that! I just hope all goes well for both of them and they are okay. Amy assures me they will be so I guess I just have to step back and let her grow up some time, as much as I hate to. What Amy doesn't understand is that she is still my baby and that will never change.

So sleepy . . .

2008-05-01T12:13:00.005-06:00

Holy crap! I am so sleepy today. I don't really know why, I went to bed pretty early. I've taken two stay awake pills this morning but they don't seem to be working. It's such a yucky day outside that we've had to keep the door closed to the computer lab while we're ISAT testing. That makes it oh, so hot in here with all the computers running, and you know, hot means sleeeeepy! I'm going to do better though. Just wait and see. Amy has to be in court at 1:30 this afternoon so I'm going to sneak away, actually Brian said I could) and run over there for a few minutes. I don't think it's going to take very long anyways. We'll see.

I bought the movie "27 Dresses" day before yesterday and Amy and I watched it together. It was pretty funny. I really liked it and I think it'll be a great movie for McCall. Speaking of McCall, we gave Jennifer her basket full of goodies last night after the 5th Grade Open House. It was so cool. She just kept saying, "Don't be nice to me!" She says that's when she cries is when people are nice to her. Any way we all kinda had a good cry, it was as good a Halmark moment as I've ever had. I hope she knows that we will be here. She can ask us to do anything. We'll all do our best to keep her busy and productive. She's a strong woman, she'll be fine.

Well, it's almost 1:00 so I'd better get going. I still want to write more about my family. I promise to do that as soon as I have more minutes.

Can't seem to get with it . . .

2008-04-29T12:28:00.004-06:00

This is alot harder than I thought it might be. I just never seem to find the time to write anything down and with the weather warming up so nicely I don't want to be cooped in doors. Like Alie, I too would much rather be outside. I finally finished her word book with all the signs in it. It turned out great and Alie loves to look at the pictures of her and her cousins and practice the signs that go with them. She has learned to spell her name so when I ask in sign language, "What's your name?" she will sign, "A L I E". It's so cute and she usually gets so excited that she can't get clear to the end before she starts turning inside out. She is such a sweetie!

We started ISAT testing this morning. If everything goes as planned we should finish up on Friday. I hope so any way. My feet hurt! and it's only noon. School is going good, only 27 more days. I think I can hold out that long. A teacher here at school and a good friend of mine, Jennifer, just got notice a week ago that her husband, Jon, has been called up to go to Iraq and leaves on June 8th. Not a lot of time but she's doing pretty well. I admire her so much for doing this. She is a strong woman but this would be hard. No doubt about it. It's like the early days of the church when they would call newly married men to leave their little wife and serve a mission for two years over seas or somewhere far away. I don't know that I could do that. It would be tough. To help Jennifer out a bit I've been calling around asking local businesses to help make these few weeks memorable for their family. Destinations Inn, a theme hotel in Idaho Falls, has donated a free night in their Congo suite for Jon and Jennifer. That alone is worth $200 so things are going well. Johnny Carino's donated a dinner for two, Olive Garden donated something (I'm not sure quite what yet) they said they would put something together and have it ready for me to pick up. Bowl-ero bowling alley has donated thirty free games with shoes for their family to enjoy now and after Jon's gone. Subway has donated five foot long sandwich meals, Papa Kelsey's donated two large pizzas, and the list goes on and on. I'm excited about it. It will be from our little group of ladies that goes to McCall every summer, the Yo-Yo Sisters, and I hope their family will enjoy it. We're going to all donate some money for some movie passes since it takes six weeks to process the request for a donation through their corporate office. Jon will be gone by then so I'll take care of that. I also want to contact Carnations Intimate Apparel and ask if they would donate some fun (and rather naughty) games or something like that for Jon and Jennifer. I know they would love it. I've got to get it all put together quickly though so I guess I'm going to have to go to Idaho Falls tonight to pick up stuff. Hopefully I can do it all in one trip. I watched Oprah's Big Give and decided that there are plenty of things I could be doing for those around me who need some help, even if it's just a cheering up or a show of support. Jennifer does so much, it's nice to be able to do something for her and her family.

Lunch time is almost over and another session of ISAT's is going to start. I want to spend some time talking about my little sisters so hopefully I will be able to get back on here sooner than I did the last time. Any way, I guess we just keep going. The alternative to that is not very appealing!

Better late than never . . .

2008-04-15T20:54:00.016-06:00

It seems I'm getting farther and father behind here. Not only here though but everywhere. I didn't get anything graded at school today because we were getting ready for ISAT testing and review, review, review! I've got about two hours of correcting to do but I feel like I haven't written anything for so long that I'd rather do this now and go in to school early in the morning to get the other stuff done. This past weekend was amazing. The weather was incredible and we had the grandkids all here to play in the back yard. We set up the Jump-a-Roo castle that we bought them for Christmas and they had a blast. I had pictures and I will post some so you can see them. They were so darn cute. Then of course they had to swing. All Kennedy and Camryn would say was "push me harder." Lauren and Treyson had so much fun playing in the dirt and gathering dandelions. We got the Dora Jeep out and Lauren took Alie for ride after ride. Lauren is such a good girl and so considerate of other people's feelings. She has been taught well.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

And Now, Last but Hardly Least,
My Sister Julie . . .

What can I say, Julie is amazing. She is the second youngest of all my sisters and growing up I was probably closest to her as I was to anyone. She came along when I was about eleven or twelve, right when a young girl is in the babysitting stage and all I ever wanted to do was hold her and take care of her. It was great.

I remember when she wouldn't go to sleep I would lie down with her on my arm and sing her to sleep. Her sleeping on my arm is as vivid a memory as I had of anything. I remember being in my parents bed and her sleeping on my arm. I don't think I slept but I didn't move either until she woke up. She was such a beautiful little girl. It was hard not to love her with her blond hair and blue eyes, she was a doll.

She always got a long with Pam and Cherri and the three of them played so well together. As I got older and out of the babysitting age I think I got more interested in driving licenses and boys than I did my little sisters. But about the time Julie graduated from high school we became very close again.

Julie came to Ricks College, the same as all the Cameron's before her and would visit us on weekends every now and then. I was expecting Amy at the time, and we were getting ready to go home for Christmas. Julie caught a ride from Rexburg to Idaho Falls to meet us with a guy from Idaho Falls who worked at Pizza Hut. His name was Doug Rydalch. He was sure a friendly guy and the walked up to us in the mall hand in hand. I had never met him or for that matter ever even heard Julie mention him so I was a little apprehensive. He seemed nice enough and walked around the mall with us while we finished some Christmas shopping and then walked Julie right to our car and tucked her safely inside. Then he told us to drive careful because we had some very important cargo. Excuse me? I don't even know this guy and he's giving us driving instructions. Well, Julie talked about him the whole time, he called her in Canada all week long and the rest is history. To think she had only met him that day. His roommate heard that Julie needed a ride to Idaho Falls and told her his roommate was going home there that night. The Lord works in mysterious ways to say the least.

The next summer they were engaged and got married on January 11th. They are perfect together and I couldn't imagine either of them with anyone else. After they got married, Doug's boss transferred him to manage the Blackfoot store so they lived over on Clark Road in some people's house who were on a mission. It was less than a mile away from us so it was perfect. We spend a lot of time together and our relationship grew stronger every day.

They later moved to American Falls, and then back to Idaho Falls where Doug took over as General Area Manager for Pizza Hut. They built a new house up on RimRock and have been there ever since. Doug was laid off from his job when Pizza Hut down sized but quickly went to work for a friend in the construction business. Julie got her CNA one summer and has worked part time as a nursing assistant at an assisted living center and full time during the school year as a ParaPro with Jr. high school students. She's amazing at her jobs. Doug lost his job again when the economy dropped and building houses slowed down so now he takes care of the house, the family, and is going back to school to learn a new trade. I'm so proud of their family, they haven't let any of this get them down. They have three children, Brad who is serving a mission in New Jersey, Derek who is serving a mission in California, Blake who is in High School and Kourtnie who is in Jr. High. What an awesome family.

For years while our kids were all young we would go to Idaho Falls on Sundays or they would come down here for dinner and to play cards. We had so much fun and each one of my children remember Sundays fondly because of it.

When Julie was about thirty-six years old she got some bad news at her routine yearly check-up. The doctor found a cancer in her breast and seeing as how my mother had been a survivor of breast cancer, we know it was serious. She went in for the biopsy and sure enough, there it was. Julie underwent a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery which is nothing short of incredibly amazing. Then she went through hours and hours of chemotherapy and radiation, loosing her precious, beautiful, blond hair. If it hadn't been for Doug who physically had to carry her into the doctors office some days for more chemo, I think she would have opted out of it. She was so brave and for her kids sake, she hung in there. Now she's cancer free and her hair has grown back.

She cuts her hair every year for wigs for cancer patients. They don't know how lucky they are to have her gorgeous hair. It was a hard time of life for her but she came through it with shining colors. I'm so proud of her and love her so much.

Though we don't get together every Sunday anymore, we remain extremely close. Julie will always hold a special place in my heart. I learn from her continually and her love and generosity never cease to amaze me. I love you Jules, I'm proud to call you my sister and my friend.

Such a long time

2008-04-08T15:28:00.035-06:00

It's been a long time since I posted anything. Spring break came and went without so much as a whimper and now here I am back sitting at my desk just waiting for the next eight weeks to crawl by. I can't believe we're only eight weeks to summer vacation. It always comes and goes so quickly. I've decided that I have hurried much of my life away. I hurry to the weekend so I can get caught up on things at home, and then I hurry through the next week from one thing to the next. Now I'm at that point in my life when I wish things would slow down and let me enjoy it but none the less, it speeds on by. I remember when I was a kid summers seemed soooo long and growing up in Canada we only had about eight or nine weeks of summer. Not May, June, July and most of August like we do now.

Easter was great! It's always fun to have little ones in the house for the Easter Bunny to harrass. The kids loved the annual Easter Egg Hunt at grandma's house. Alie caught on really quickly and gave Camryn a run for her colored eggs. I like to buy the all-ready decorated plastic eggs that are all-ready filled with candy. They were bright and not very easy to hide but oh what fun!

Then we spent some of the day outside in the blowing wind and not so sun shiney afternoon. The kids love the swing set and the cold didn't hold them back at all. We also had to get out the Dora Jeep and take a leisure afternoon drive in it. Camryn was a little afraid to ride inside but Alie was glad to take her turns too as Lauren puttered around the yet brown lawn. I'm so ready for green grass I could cry. Patience, I know, is a virtue.

Finally feeling better . . .
Alie has finally started feeling better but because we spoiled her so badly while she was sick we are now paying the consequences. She wants her own way all of the time and if she doesn't get it she will continue to cry and whine until you get up and take her where ever it is she wants to go and give her whatever it is she's looking for. She's really into playing on the swing set outside and she doesn't care if it's freezing cold or the wind is blowing so hard it goes right through you and chills you to the bone. She just smiles and keeps on swinging. I know, I know, I'm the adult here but I guess I just never learned how to say "No" very well.

Another Rough Day

2008-03-21T22:23:00.054-06:00

First day of spring break and guess where we spent it? That's right, at the hospital with Alie. She woke us up this morning at 8:30 with a fever of 104.7 degrees. That's the highest fever that I have seen in any of my kids or anybody else's kids for that matter. We spent the morning trying to get her fever down and trying to figure out why she's been running one off and on for the last three weeks. Dr. Gelwix was great and talked to the ENT doctor on call at Primary's but all they came up with was to do another series of rocefin shots by intravenous therapy every day for the next three days and see if all of that will kick start her immune system. It's great though, they left the IV needle in her arm and it's bugging her already. We have two more days of this, like I've said before, patience is a virtue!

(The sign for owie-rotate index fingers back and forth in opposite directions touch tips of fingers.)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23,2009
Now, something about Pam . . .

Pamela Jean was born on November 26, 1963 and is the oldest of the younger three sisters. I remember when our mother brought her home from the hospital, we had dinner all ready for them and I had even set a place for Pam. I know, but I was only six when Pam was born and I was just looking out for my new baby sister. My mother took me aside, so as not to embarrass me in front of my siblings, and told me that our new little baby didn't have any teeth yet and so she couldn't eat the same food we did. I quietly removed Pam's plate from the table and no one ever knew about it. That was one thing my mother always did was go out of her way not to let any of us be embarrassed in front of each other. It helped us to show respect to each other and we never belittled each other to make ourselves look better. We had a very close knit family and the ties that bound us then are even stronger today.

Pam is the daughter that is the most like my mom, only Pam has the most beautiful long, thick, dark head of hair you will ever see. When she was little my mom used to always put it up in those soft, pink sponge rollers that you could sleep in. Pam had to leave them in over night because her hair was so thick that it wouldn't dry in a regular amount of time so her hair always had to be put up over night.

When she was about ten years old she started getting migraine headaches. It was so not fun for her. I remember back then the Dr. would make house calls and Dr. Larsen and Dr. Hollingsworth were regular visitors to our home to treat Pam for headaches. Mom or dad would take her to Lynne Beazer who was a chiropractor and he would work her over but a lot of times it was to no good. She suffered terrible while she was younger. Finally one day, someone asked my mom if she had considered that maybe Pam's hair was so heavy that it was pulling on her head and causing her headaches.

Pam wasn't terrible excited about cutting her hair but agreed that if it would stop the headaches she would give it a shot. My mom braided her hair into two braids and then took her to the beauty shop to have them cut off and her hair shaped and styled. Each of her braids weighed in at over a quarter of a pound and after she was cut and styled it looked pretty cute. It took Pam a while to get used to it but guess what? No more headaches. It was such a blessing to Pam and altho she loved her long hair she learned to love her new style too.

During the time that Pam had to deal with all the headaches there was one time when she decided to treat herself and took a whole bottle of children's aspirin. By the time my parents found her sleeping beside the empty bottle and rushed her to the hospital to have her stomach pumped it was too late to pump her stomach. We just had to wait it out and hope for the best. In those days, it was not uncommon for children to die from an overdose of aspirin and I remember how worried my parents were. My dad gave her a blessing and then they set out to wait out the long night ahead. They nearly lost Pam that night and I know that it was only through the power of the Priesthood that my father bore that took her through the night. Now, that wasn't the only time that we almost lost Pam.

I was married and Kendall was on his mission in Taiwan when this incident happened. My dad was the bishop and the young men and young women had gone sledding out in the countryside around Cardston. It was a perfect winter for sledding with lots and lots of snow. Pam was going done the hill on a toboggan with a couple of other kids. Pam, being the smallest, was in the front, and the heaviest kid was in the back. Now if you know anything about toboggans you know that the more weight in the back you have, the faster you will go. They set off down the hill and had a great run except that they didn't stop where they had been stopping before and continued on for several yards past everyone else. They ran right straight on into a barbed wire fence and with Pam being in the front, she broke the way for the other kids. However, the barbed wire hit her right at her throat and severely cut her, so bad that it almost took her head off. It took several stitches, a Priesthood blessing, a ward fast and the prayers of all who knew and loved her but her life was spared once again.

We all know that Pam is here on Earth for a reason, that is very apparent to us and we know and have witnessed many great things that she has been a part of and accomplished so far in her life. Pam has worked hard all of her life. She has a beautiful family as you can see . . .

Pam has always been a good example to me and all those who come in contact with her. She has a strong testimony of the gospel and a very personal relationship with her Heavenly Father. I can remember when she was in high school she was a cheerleader and very popular. Some of her friends were in our ward and would often sneak out the back of the chapel to go down town for a snack. Pam would never go with them. She always stayed in church, even when they would drive by her walking home and call out things that were not so nice to her. She was never afraid to stand up for what she believed in to her friends and classmates. I really admire her for that.

Pam is truly amazing! She's great at what ever undertakes. She has always been an example to me and now she is a great influence to my kids as well. My kids just love her, they look up to her and admire the way she accomplishes her goals and her attitude on life.

What more can I say? She's a sweetheart! I'm so proud of her and proud to say she's my sis, I love ya Pam.

Soooo tired!

2008-03-17T22:36:00.017-06:00

I have been so tired today. I didn't write at all over the weekend and now it's 10:30 and past my bedtime. Amy laid down with Alie tonight instead of me and this time she fell asleep with her. I can't wait to give her a hard time like she does me. She went down with Alie at 8:00, so she ought to feel pretty good in the morning. Alie isn't feeling very good though. Her ears are draining like crazy causing her so much pain and pressure that all she does is cry. I feel so bad for her. Her chiropractor appointment is tomorrow at 3:00 and Amy said she would go with us. I took Alie by myself last week and had noone that she would let hold her while I had my appointment so I missed my treatment and oh my gosh! I've missed it. I have been so sore that I'm definately a believer in this kind of therapy. It's amazing and I can't wait until tomorrow! I'll even tell you more about my little sisters next time. We used to call them the three little girls but they're not so little anymore.

Alie's Turn

2008-03-14T17:22:00.021-06:00

It's been a long day for all of us, rather exhausting I think but nonetheless a good day. I had lots of computer problems to deal with at school today. With the quarter ending next week and everyone trying to get their grades in it's been a little crazy. One teacher thought she lost all of her grades but she rebooted her computer and wha-laa, there they were. I've been working on hooking up my printer and the Samsung LazerJet printer in our room to Pam's computer. She has put in hours of looking, deleting, re-installing and looking again and hasn't been able to find them anywhere on the network. The crazy thing is - they were just there a week ago. So although I had tried it a time or two myself with no success I decided to tackle it again during fourth hour while our kids were at the choir concert. I had to give up seeing the concert but hey, that's what they pay me the big bucks for right? Yeah right! Finally, frustrated and well into lunch time I called Eric, our district technology specialist, and he told me it was perfectly normal. A few weeks ago they decided to start enforcing a "No-Printer-Sharing" policy the district has had forever but not enforced so no matter how hard we tried we would never get it to print. Wish I'd called a few weeks ago. Anyway, he said he would come over this afternooon or Monday morning and take care of it for us. He is a really good sport and takes good care of us. Especially considering the airhead in our building he has to work with. (That would be me!)

I got home after school just in time for Shellie to pick up Alie Kae. Alie wasn't very happy I guess and was crying pretty hard which in turn made Shellie feel bad and cry too. I told her they would be just fine and Alie will warm up to them again if they just spent some time with her. They haven't been able to take her overnight since she first got sick and had the new tubes put in her ears. It was just the unfamiliarity of the whole thing. I called Zane later tonight and he said Shellie had taken her to a Relief Society thing with her and she was doing super good now. I knew she would. She loves Shellie and Zane and Lucie and Chic. I hope Shellie doesn't have trouble putting her to sleep tonight, Alie tends to make it rough sometimes.

When Shellie brought her back last time she had on a new pair of boots. They are Strawberry Shortcake and alot like Camryn's and Lauren's boots and so of course Alie loves them. When she gets them on she won't take them off. Last night I was getting her ready for bed and after I had taken her out of the bath she spotted her boots in the basket and just had to have them on! I put a diaper on her and then her boots and let her go while I went to get her some pajamas. Then it was a game of catch me if you can! As you can see, she loves those boots.

Amy went up to Rigby to spend some time with Kent and his family tonight. He spent the day with her because she told him she gets go lonely and bored during the day. He's such a nice guy and he treats Amy and Alie so good. We really enjoy spending time with him. I guess I'd better go get ready for bed. Bob took me out to dinner tonight seeing as how it was just me and him for a change. It was so nice to be out together, I could pretend I wasn't so old and that I could walk without any pain in my knees. Life was good, not that it isn't now though. I wouldn't change a thing about my life.

Poor Baby . . .

2008-03-13T22:57:00.012-06:00

Hey, it's late so I probably won't last long but I had the most amazing day with Alie today. I had my chiropractor appointment after school today and last time I was there I made an appointment for Alie too but Amy wasn't feeling too good this afternoon so I just took Alie with me. Ya, I know pretty guttsy to take her by myself for that kind of an appointment. When I got home to pick her up she was looking awful, flushed and a little fevered. She was sitting in Amy's lap and wouldn't let anyone else touch her or even come near her. It wasn't easy taking her from her mommy but I did and buckled her into the car and took off. She fell asleep somewhere around the Rose exit but she slept all the way there. When we got there, however, she woke up and was so cranky. She was mad because I took her coat off, she was mad because I sat her on the counter while I filed out the paper work, she was mad when I took her into the play corner because I kept dropping her blanket, she was just plain mad and didn't care who knew it or who heard her screaming. I knew I was in for a treat! They took us back to a room and I tried to get her interested in a book or the things out the window or something to stop her from crying and disturbing the other patients. When Dr. Nelson came in he started to sign to her a little. He had taken the time and the effort to learn a few signs so she wouldn't be so afraid of him.

He had me sit on the table and hold her which wasn't a problem because she wouldn't let me go. She burried her face in my shoulder and screamed every time he touched her. He felt up and down her spine and wiggled her hips a little. Then he felt up around her ears and around her neck and said he was amazed at how swollen and blocked things were in there. He had given her one of his little hammer thumper things to hold and play with and he showed her how it works and that it was soft and wouldn't hurt her. Then he turned it on and thumped up and down her back and you know what? She shut right up! She let him move it all over her back and use it to adjust between her shoulders, her middle back and lower back. I couldn't believe that she had stopped crying that fast. Then he showed her the round vibrating attachment and ran it up and down her back. She kept her head burried but she stopped crying immediately. I was in shock. She went from screaming one minute to total silence the next. He had me move her to the other shoulder and he did the same thing all over again. She loved it but what's not to love right? He moved the hammer adjuster up to her neck and moved it around a little. Then he told me to lay her on the table on her back. He said this might be hard because she may scream again but I said I didn't care as long as it would make her feel better. He took her head in his hands and moved and minipulated it until he had it where he wanted it and then he gave it a quick flick. She stopped crying for a minute and just lay there. Then he signed to her that he was going to give her a bear hug. She was crying again but he went ahead and position her on the table just right and then folded her arms across her body and moved her hips alittle. Then he made an adjustment there and boy did it pop! He asked me if she had balance issues and I explained to him that she didn't walk yet and yes, she definately has balance issues. He moved to the other side of the table and repeated the same thing. Then he told me that her balance should improve immensly with that adjustment. Her hips were totally out of alignment as was her back and shoulders. He said that was enough for today but we should notice a huge change in her. Boy was he ever right! She didn't cry again while we were there. She still wouldn't let me put her down so I had to reschedule my appointment but she was happy and blowing them kisses and waving bye when we left. He also told me as we were leaving not to be surprised if she had big poops today and tomorrow because her tummy had been all tangled up but she should feel better now. It was amazing!

She was sweet and happy all the way home and when we got home she played with Camryn and Griffen so cute. Amy played with her - making her stand up by herself, which she has never done for more than a couple of seconds before, but she did it tonight. Not for really long periods of time but a lot longer than she ever has before. In fact Amy said that she just always sits down becuase she didn't trust herself. Tonight she was reaching for the ceiling while Amy let go and then clapping as she would sit down after standing all by herself. She knew what she was doing and she was loving it. I think even Amy was impressed. I know I'm a believer. I can't wait to take her again on Tuesday but this time I told Amy she had to come so I don't miss my appointment again. He has done so much for my knees. I can walk so much easier now. I felt like I was eighty years old before I started seeing Aaron and I think if I keep doing my exercises and continue with his therapy, I'll be so much better I will be able to wait a few years before having to have knee replacements. That's my goal anyway. I would love to not have to have them done at all but we'll play it by ear and see what happens. It was a great day!

Another day, another pound?

2008-03-12T14:47:00.018-06:00

If I can wake up long enough to write something I will but I keep closing my eyes and wishing for my nice, fluffy, comfortable bed to swallow me up and lend me an hour or two nap. The weather has warmed up into the 40's and it really just makes me want to be anywhere but where I am, here at school. Spring break is only a week away so if I can just hold on until then I should be okay.

I went back on LA Weightloss yesterday. Ugh! I hate doing Take Off. That stuff is truly disgusting, well not really. It just tastes like pineapple juice, it's the diet I have to follow with it that I truly hate. I have to be honest, I was so tired that I just opened up a diet Pepsi. I need caffeine! and then when I was getting a pop out of the fridge I just happen to see the pumpkin bread I had left there on Monday so I just had to have a piece. I was still down a pound from yesterday when I weighed in at noon so we'll see how it's going in the morning when I weigh myself. School's almost over for the day so I'm about to head home. I'll try to write some more tonight.

Here I am, just waiting on Amy to put Alie to sleep so I can go to bed. She didn't have a very good nap today so she was tired and went down quite well at about 9:00 but she's awake now and acting like she's not wanting to go back to sleep. Amy's good with her though, she'll get her down again.

Luke Harris was here for a visit when I got home from school today. It was a pleasant surprise to see him again. He looks good and we had a nice visit for a couple of hours. He's living in American Fork and wanted to stop and see Adam on his way home tonight. They used to be pretty good friends the summers we would spend more time up in Calgary. It didn't matter if it was just Adam and Jeffrey, Luke was there too, which was great. He's such a good kid, we would not have been dissapointed if he had ended up a part of our family, but the time was never right. I guess we could have tried harder but we didn't really try. He was just always so much fun and such an easy kid to love. It was good to see him.

Cyndi Lynne and her kids came back out to have dinner with us. Cyndi had to go in to the salon for an appointment. She's back on LA too so she really wasn't looking forward to fixing something for her kids and then for her. She good inspiration for me. She's determined to be thin again and she's trying to drag me along kicking and screaming if need be. She got so thin once, I was afraid for her health but she's doing it right this time. I always want things to happen too fast and am upset when it takes a little longer. What can I expect though, I'm old!

One more day . . .

2008-03-11T21:32:00.007-06:00

Today has been a crazy day. I had a chiropractic apptointment at 8:00 this morning in Idaho Falls and this time change is still kicking my butt. I barely made it there on time and then it was hurry, hurry back to school. I was back by 9:30 which was great but then I shook my printer's toner cartridge to make it print a little better and got ink all over the front of me so I had to run home and change my clothes. It didn't seem like I was even there this morning at all. Alie is still sick and running a fever off and on. Amy asked the doctor what they found in the culture from Alie's ear and he said it tested positive for strep and something else. That can't be good. She takes her back on Thursday and he'd better take care of it once and for all. Poor little thing. She just digs and pulls on those ears all day and all night long. I just feel so bad for her. She's still been pretty good natured though. She really is a sweetheart!

Gotta Breathe!

2008-03-10T14:21:00.016-06:00

Man are things hectic today. I guess it's from daylight savings time switching this past weekend. I just wasn't ready to spring forward quite yet and I'm really feeling that hour we lost. Alie's feeling a little bit better. She slept better last night anyway. She has her appointments with the Occupational Therapist and the Physical Therapist today so I'm really glad she's feeling better. I'm sure Amy is too! It's hard on her to be home alone all day and when Alie's not feeling well, it's even worse. Cyndi went out to spend the day with them today and Camryn always plays so good with Alie, she's really gentle with her and treats her like a little sister. I really appreciate her for that. She's such a sweetie! She's into everything but still, she's a sweetie. She reminds me sometimes of Cherri, my youngest sister. Camryn is so sure of herself and has all the self confidence in the world. She doesn't have a problem telling you that your wrong and you need to get a grip. She's been talking since she was a year old and I don't mean little words or phrases but big, long sentences. She will tell you so matter of factly and she can't possible be wrong. You know, a little like Cherri was in her younger years.

Being the youngest, Cherri was spoiled just a little bit. Though she will never admit to it. She was only about six or seven when I left for college so I don't remember alot about her childhood. What I do remember was her cheerleading and being tossed in the air like she was a feather. She weighed about the same. I loved going home during Christmas break and going to the Raymond Holiday Basketball Tournament and watching their cheer squad. She definately's got talent. I think Apryl and I were the only girls that didn't cheerlead. I don't know about Apryl but I lacked the courage and the self esteem to ever perform in front of a croud of people let alone a croud of my peers. When Cherri was in elementary school I was home from college for the summer and was offered a job student teaching at the elementary school. The class I was assigned to just happened to be Cherri's second grade class. I remember the day I had to teach liquid measurement and Canada had just converted to the metric system. Holy crap! was I ever lost. It's pretty bad when the kids are teaching the teacher a new (or supposedly new) concept. Those kids knew their stuff. I loved having Cherri in my classes. It gave me a chance to get to know her better seeing that I left for college when she was only six years old. Boy does that make me feel really old!

Years later after I was married and had a kid or two of my own I remember being home for a visit. Cherri was in High School, I don't remember which grade but one morning while we were there she came saundering upstairs at about 9:30, well past the time school started. I asked her why she was still home and she just said that she hadn't got her homework done the night before so she was going to stay home to get it done and go turn it in sometime that afternoon. I looked at my mother and said, "What the hey?" and she just simply shrugged her shoulders. When I stated that I would never have got away with that when I was in high school she just said, "What can I say, you mellow with age." What? I couldn't believe it. She had actually given her permission to skip school because her homework wasn't done. I would never do that for my kids, well at the time I didn't think I would, but guess what?

Cherri did a lot of great things after she graduated from high school. She went to BYU and spent a semester in Isreal studying not only her major courses but also about the life of our savior. She actually walked where he walked and sat where he taught his sermons. What an awesome opportunity. I remember her telling the story of getting lost after they had been given permission to wonder alittle on the Hill of Calvary. At the time there was alot of unrest in Isreal and many soldiers lined the borders with large guns and ammunition. She tells about the day coming to a close and knowing that they were to meet again before it started to get dark. They had to be back within the walls of their compound before dark or they were not let back in until morning. She started to panick when she realized how lost she was and how far she had wondered away from the others. She knelt down to offer a little prayer and then quietly listened for the help she so badly needed. Off in the distance she could hear the popping of guns and the blazing of explosions but as she listened more closely she could hear singing. She hurried to the sound of the voices and as she rounded the top of a little hill she could see a line of students hand in hand walking towards her. They were singing primary songs and she says the tears flowed freely as she joined with them and lent her voice to the chorus. She had been lost, but they came for her. I'm so glad that she is my sister. We tease her a lot about being somewhat of an airhead, she is blond you know, but she is an awesome mom and an amazing young woman. She has taught me many things over the years and I thank her for that.

Got a minute?

2008-03-09T15:49:00.010-06:00

Well, it's Sunday and if there's a day I should have a minute it's today, but guess what? It's been crazy today. Alie is still sick, last Sunday we had her in the emergency room at 5:00 on Sunday morning with a temp of 104.5. She had a new set of tubes put in her ears about two weeks ago but we just can't get the gunk to drain out and she's cranky and ornery like you wouldn't believe.

Between Amy and I, we're swinging from the last thread of that rope with the noose tied at the end and believe me - we're about ready to let go! She's such a cute little bugger that we've all been giving her what she wants while she's sick and now she thinks that's the way it should always be. She doesn't want to share her mom or gramma or any of her toys, nothing! I keep telling myself this won't last forever and yes, tomorrow is Monday and I get to go back to work. (Sorry Amy, it's all yours!)

Now I'll tell you about my brother, Kendall . . .

Kendall is my only brother, the only boy growing up with six sisters. He was a pretty good target in the early years but as he grew he also earned our respect. We were all so excited to have a brother, all except Apryl maybe because Kendall was born on her eighth birthday which meant that her birthday party was postponed and her mother, who always made birthdays special, wouldn't be there for her special day. She didn't care that she got a baby brother for her birthday. She was down right mad! I remember the story that my mother always told. She said that after Kendall was born my dad said that it was a good place to stop because they finally had a little boy. Mom told him that surely he didn't want to raise one boy with three girls and dad said, "Better to raise one boy with three girls than one boy and six girls." I think he jinxed them because that was exactly what they had. Three more girls.

Anyway, Kendall was always pretty little and so it was easy to make him do whatever it was you wanted him to do. Then I remember the day he stood up to me and sent me running to the bathroom to lock the door and find safety. I was cleaning and I had asked him to take stuff downstairs about ten times and he was tired of running things back and forth. I told him to do it and he told me to do it myself. I was about sixteen which would have made him about twelve or thirteen.

I tried to push him down the stairs with the end of the broom (I know, not nice) but he grabbed it and proceeded to chase me to the bathroom with every intention of returning my favor. From then on I looked at Kendall in a whole new light. He didn't take anymore crap from me and so I just stopped trying to lay it on him.

I think my parents felt sorry for Kendall being the only boy so when he was approaching his teenage years they sponsored an Indian Placement Student through the church. His name was Stewart and he was a pretty good kid. I admire my folks for doing that. It wasn't easy for them and raising a big family was just as hard if not harder back then as it is now. Stewart stayed with us for two or three years during the school year. It was getting harder every fall for his parents to let him come back so after a few years he stayed on the reservation in Saskatchewan to go to school. It was a good experience for all of us but especially for Kendall. He learned that he had to share his things just like we girls had to. He and Stewart got along really quite well. It was a good learning experience for all of us.

Kendall dated Alanna Pack in the early dating years. Actually he dated her right up until he left for his mission. Back then we decided that we, his sisters needed to teach him some proper dating etiquette and how to greet Alanna's parents when he went to pick her up for a date. We had so much fun, telling him all the wrong things to do and watching him try them out because that's what we told him he had to do just in case he made a mistake. We had him turning inside out and upside down trying to do it right until finally we were all laughing so hard, including Kendall that we let him off the hook and let him do it his way.

Probably my favorite memory of Kendall was the Christmas that Cyndi and I sabotaged his sleep. I was a senior in high school I think and it was a little embarrassing because I was always the first one awake on Christmas morning (still am). I had been laying in bed next to Cyndi for what seemed like an hour and couldn't take not know what time it was anymore so I quietly slipped out of bed and went out into the hallway at the bottom of the stairs to turn the light on and check my watch. It was only 5:30 so I quietly slipped back into bed resigning myself to two more hours of laying awake waiting for a younger sibling to wake up. I guess I wasn't quiet enough because Cyndi rolled over and asked me what time it was. I told her I didn't know and she started to push me out of bed until I would tell her what time it was. Then the two of us laid there unable to sleep wondering how we could wake up the younger kids, specifically Kendall since his room was next to ours, and make one of them get up. This would make someone else the bad guy for waking the whole house so we snuck into Kendall's room and set his alarm for fifteen minutes.

He was such a sound sleeper and he worked at the local stock yards feeding cattle in the winter so when his alarm went off he just kind of went into auto mode and got up and got ready for work. We laid there in bed waiting for his alarm to go off wondering why we had set it so far ahead. As we laid there we made more plans to really get him going. We went in again and took his work clothes and laid them on the stairs so as he went up he would automatically get dressed thinking he had to go to work. Again, we lay in bed quietly waiting and waiting. Then we decided to unscrew the light bulb from his lamp so he would have to get up and go out of his room to check the time. As we were doing this however, Kendall woke up and sat straight up in his sleep. He looked directly at us and asked what was wrong. Cyndi, being the quick thinker that she is, said that it was nothing. She said she was just looking for a pair of her socks and thought they were in his room. We ran back to bed and lay there again waiting to be discovered but nothing happened so we decided we probably still had time to tie his feet together. This way when he climbed out of bed he would fall and really wake himself up. We gently lifted his covers back and oh my gosh! his feet were so far apart it was going to be impossible. Then for no reason, he pulled his feet together and laid one on top of the other just perfect. We wiggled the only thing we could find to use as rope, a red piece of yarn, gently sliding it under his toes and tied his feet together. Mission accomplished. We had barely got back in our bed when his alarm went off. It was so loud I'm sure it woke the neighbors. He started to cuss and scream as he fell out of bed and banged his head on his night stand. He burst into our room yelling at us but we just pretended to be asleep, just waking up to his little tantrum. He went upstairs and sure enough, woke mom and dad and the younger girls so my parents gave in, it was now 6:30, and let us get up an hour earlier than usual. It wasn't so bad until Cyndi and Kendall called me back downstairs for something and then bound and gagged me, threw me in a closet and left me there while they went upstairs to open gifts. It didn't take me long to get loose and join them but every Christmas we remember that night with fondness, laugh and give thanks that we have memories like this to bind and hold us together.

Kendall has always been a pretty good sport. He's had it a little rough in his life but has now found true happiness with his beautiful new wife Jen.

He says that he never knew someone could be loved so much by another person. Jen gives him the love, the support and the confidence to live a rich, full life. I thank Jen and love her for being the love of his life. If I could only have one brother I'm glad I have Kendall. He's the best of the best!

Only Got a Minute!

2008-03-06T14:14:00.038-07:00

Let Me Tell You About Apryl . . .

It's my prep hour and I've only got a couple of minutes but thought I would start here and maybe finish up tonight after supper. I want to tell you a little about my siblings.

I'll start by telling you about my older sister, Apryl who is just five years older than I am. When I was born, I don't think I was Apryl's immediate best friend. It would be hard for a new baby to come along after five years and take the spotlight away from a beautiful five year old.

Some of my best memories of Apryl was when I was about eight years old and we moved into our new house. She, being the oldest, got a room to herself which is only fair I guess. She is an amazing artist and with our parents permission, drew murals all over her walls with washable markers.

Now remember it was the sixties back then and teenagers were just starting to rebel a little and fight for their own little niche in the world. Apryl was no different, although I don't remember her rebeling so much as fighting for her niche. The murals she would draw were unbelievable! Cyndi and I used to sneak into her room to admire them. You could be lost forever in some of those drawings. We had to sneak because noone was ever allowed in her room. Her room was always very neat and clean. Her bed was always made and you would never find her clothes anywhere but hung up or put in their proper place. We loved Apryl's room and I know at least I used to lay on her bed when she wasn't home and secretly wish that it could be my room. It was so perfect, so just right and I loved the grown up feeling I got when I laid there pretending to be her. Boy did I run if I heard her come home though. I'd have to straighten her bed and quietly close her door and hurry to be doing something in my room so as not to be discovered. I'm not sure she even knows to this day how much I loved pretending to be as cool as her.

In those days she was the queen of cool in my eyes. I think it was about 1966 or so and oh, those were some crazy days in the world! When I got to be in Jr. High School I was still in awe of her artistic abilities and wanting to be a part of it, coaxed her into drawing with pen and ink all over my legs. Still not quite sure why my parents allowed it but did I ever think I was cool. By the time she was done I looked like I had a tattoo all over my legs. I loved it! Sadly, all her hard work only last a day or two. Do you know how hard it is to shower or bathe and not get your legs wet? Ya - not easy, so I would coax and promise and make deals until I could talk her into doing it again. Sometimes I would bleed alittle and it's amazing that I didn't get blood poisoning. I think it was her way of trying to make me not want her to do it again but it didn't work, not for a while anyway.

Apryl got married when she was eighteen and moved to Lethbridge. Even though Cyndi and I took turns getting to have her room, it wasn't the same. I don't think that room was ever "cool" again but the memory of it's coolness lived on for many years.

Apryl had a baby girl, Barb, while they lived in Lethbridge. A few months later she moved to Picture Butte with her husband in the nicest trailer I had ever seen. Again I was a little envious of what I perceived as her living the perfect little life.

I loved the weekends I got to go and spend with them and babysit Barb. One summer Apryl cut her hand while washing dishes and couldn't diaper or bath the baby anymore because of the many stitches she had so I got to spend a week or so with them. We went to a movie in Lethbridge one night and on the way home her husband asked me if I wanted to drive. I was only fourteen and didn't quite have my learner's permit so what do you think? Of course, I thought this was great. They had a "cool" red Maverick but unfortunately it was a stick shift and at the time I didn't even know what that meant. I climbed behind the wheel on the highway to Picture Butte and let her rip. Literally, I thought I had dropped the clutch on the road behind us. I could not get the feel for that standard transmission and we jerked and lurched all the way home. I have to say though that it was great fun for me. Weeks later when my friends and I were taking turns trying to drive Ron Schow's volkswagon up on the back roads of the east hill I at least could drive. I'm not saying it didn't jerk and lurch a ton, but at least I didn't kill it every time I let out the clutch like everyone else did.

Apryl has always been someone I looked up to. I got to go stay with her when she was living in Rexburg going to college. I had the most amazing time.

I fell in love with all of her family home evening brothers (I think I was all of 14 years old) and loved sitting in on some of her classes with her. I felt so grown up! We went shopping and hung out at her apartment and I just pretended like I belonged. Ya, I didn't looked like I was in college but nevertheless Apryl made me feel like I belonged and I think it was that week that made me decide to follow in her footsteps and go to school in Rexburg. I'll never forget that week though I'm not sure Apryl remembers it much but I had a blast!

Apryl has always been amazing to me. She is an amazing woman and a great example of what being a grandma is all about. She has worked her whole life, sometimes two jobs at a time to take care of her family and make things a little nicer for her family. Everything she touches becomes a work of art and I envy her for that.

Now she lives so very far away in Edmonton and I miss her. She has always been supportive and loving to me and my family and I love her for that. We don't get to see each other only maybe once or twice a year but we try to make the best of it when we do get together.

My wish for her is that she will find the happiness she deserves because she does, she deserves the best. I love ya sis!

Where to start?

2008-03-05T15:28:00.034-07:00

I guess I'll begin at the beginning, at least as much as I can remember. I'll give you a brief history of who I am and where I come from. I was born on April 3, 1957 (yah, I know I'm old) in Cardston, Alberta Canada to Glen William and Geniel Olsen Cameron.

I am the second oldest of seven children, six girls and one boy. Growing up in a small town definately has it's advantages. You know everyone in your entire school by name, and you have a reputation by the time you're four or five. That reputation can be hard to live up to or on the other hand to live down. I guess that depends on a lot of things. I loved growing up in a large family and wouldn't trade it for anything, not ever.

We had so much fun - whether it was ganging up on Kendall, my brother, by teaching him how to ask a girl out or shelling peas in the hot afternoon sun so we could go swimming with our friends who were either waiting patiently or glad that they got to help. I think some days they ate more than they shelled but still the same, it's a memory builder. My sister Cyndi and I are only fifteen months apart and so as you can guess we often kept our mother on her toes.

Cyndi and I were also the best of friends and the worst of enemies. Somehow we survived the scrapes and falls without any series damage and remain close to this day. If I needed anything I know Cyndi would bend over backwards (she really can bend over backwards) to help me. Now don't get me wrong, I know all my sisters and my brother would do that for me too but with Cyndi, it's like our hearts can talk to each other without saying a word and our souls understand each other without any explanations.

To this day she is an amazing woman, wife, mother and grandmother and I learn from her continually. I am so grateful for her and I love being her sister.

Cyndi was always getting away with something when we were kids. She was just so dang cute that all she had to do is bat her long eyelashes and smile that sweet little smile and I knew I was going to take the fall for both of us.

One Sunday afternoon in church she and I were being so naughty but we were avoiding our father's eye contact thinking that if we didn't look at him, he couldn't see us. At church my dad sat on the stand for several years either as the ward clerk or a member of the bishopric or even the bishop himself. If we gave our mother a hard time we knew the consequences. We either got a spanking that definately was not a little tap on the butt or we went to bed immediately without any supper. I can remember thinking and talking this over with Cyndi, who I'm sure was the problem in the first place (ha, ha) and deciding that going to bed without supper would hurt for a long time but a spanking would only last for a minute and then it would all be over except the crying.

I had to go first, always, age before beauty you know. So I was brave and took mine like a true whimp, but at least it was over - for that week. Then it was Cyndi's turn. My dad turned her over his knee and wacked her a good one but his hand hit metal and stung a bit. He looked in her pants and started to snicker. She had placed a pie tin stratigically over her cute little buns so that they wouldn't get hurt and the worst part about it was that they didn't. By this time my dad was chuckling so hard he simple sent her to her room and told her to stay there while they discussed what to do with her.

I can remember standing on the bathroom sink looking at my sore bottom in the mirror while my mom and dad laughed in the next room about how clever she was. Needless to say she got a way without the spanking, as a matter of fact so did Kendall because he had been naughty too and girls always went before boys. Still can't figure that one out, wouldn't it be more polite to let the girls go last? Oh well, I think she stayed in her room for a few minutes and then came out and laughed along with them while I cried and sobbed and complained about how unfair it all was. Her punishment was no more "I Love Lucy" that week, big deal eh?

It wasn't always easy being Cyndi's big sister. She was just so dang cute and I always thought she was perfect in every way. There wasn't anything she couldn't do. She has the voice of an angel, decided one day to teach herself how to play the guitar and did, was an amazing athlete and the best cheerleader any high school in the area had every seen.

It was hard growing up in her shadow, but that was just the way I perceived it. Now when we talk about our youth and I admit my insecurities she tells me I was wrong. She seemed to have all the confidence in the world and don't get me wrong, I was and still am so very proud of her. I didn't realize how hard she had to work at those things she accomplished and realize now that maybe if I'd have had the guts to try something new, I might just have surprised myself.

I remember the first year I was away at college. I got so homesick all the time it was awful. I missed my family and would have given anything to be able to go home more often. That year was tough and I learned a lot about myself back then.

The next year was Cyndi's first year and thankfully my parents managed to send us both to school. It had to be hard for them with tuition and housing and the allowance they sent us each month. I will be ever grateful to them for their sacrifice for us. The morning that mom and dad dropped us off at the Hart building for registration was incredibly hard. Dad gave us both a blessing at their hotel early that morning and then dropped us off to register.

I remember watching them drive away and waving goodbye. It was so hard. I have always hated goodbyes, and maybe that's why. Any way, I remember turning my head away so that Cyndi couldn't see the tears in my eyes, I had to be strong for her you know. After all I was the big sister.

I so enjoyed having her right across the courtyard from me. I wish she was still that close. We had an incredible year.

I love her so much! Cyndi is special to me in so many ways. She is a never ending example to me and I cherish and value her friendship. I'm so glad the Lord made us sisters. Friends will come and go but I know Cyndi will always be there for me. She's my hero, she's my little sis!

Me Again!

2008-03-04T22:18:00.001-07:00

Me again . . . just waiting on Alie to go to sleep so thought I would look into posting pictures. I'm counting on you girls to help me post pics, I really know very little about the computer but don't tell my principal that. The district made me their technology specialist for my building, they think I know all about computers. Boy do I have them fooled aye!

Ready To Get Started

2008-03-04T21:42:00.002-07:00

Well here I am, though I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm so impressed with my nieces and nephews and their ability to keep in touch with their families through blogging that I decided to give it a shot. What a great way to journal! I figure if I can write a little each day about whatever I can remember it would be great. I even have a few old pictures and some Christmas letters that might actually help me out. Then if I add what's going on now as well I might be able to pull off calling it a journal. Thanks Barb and Heather for your ideas, keep up the great work. Any help I can get would be appreciated so anyway, I guess it's time to get started!