My Grandma

This may be a little disorganized and may sound rambled.  I'm still a little in a state of shock and mourning.  But I feel I need to get this out now, so that I don't forget my thoughts and feelings.  I just found out my grandma passed away yesterday afternoon (July 15 2010).  We all knew it was coming, just not sure how soon it would happen.  She became sick about 1 1/2 years ago and we thought she was going to go then.  But then she pulled through and has kept kicking until about a week ago. When she went back in the hospital, my dad flew out and was able to be with her for almost a week.  One of my cousins even dropped everything she was doing to drive over 600 miles to help take care of her.  She made it just in time (even after having car problems) to spend 2 hours with her before she passed. 

Things I love about my Grandma

*She would drop everything when one of her kids needed her and so her kids.  Every time my mom had another kid (which was nine times), grandma was always there, ready to take care of her and us. 

* I remember having so much fun with her.  She was a very happy person to be around.  She would rarely get mad at us, but when she did, you knew that you had disappointed her and never wanted to feel that way again. 

*She brought the best out in us.  She made you feel like you were her favorite.  I have talked to my family and they all say the same. "I just always felt that she loved me most.," because she did, she really loved everyone. 

*She remembered everything, she always had hilarious stories to tell us about when we were kids, and even when she was a kid.  

*We always had family reunions at her house, and even though I'm sure it was a pain for her, she never complained or made you feel like it was so inconvenient for her to host.  She loved us getting together and we loved being with her. 

I've had 2 other grandparents die over the past few years, but this has been the hardest.  All I can do is cry, and when I think I am done crying, the waterworks start again.  I have faith there is something else than this time we have on earth and I know that I will get to see her again, but it is still hard to say goodbye, especially since I haven't seen her in over a year and it was so close to seeing her again.  I'm grateful she is not suffering anymore and that she died the way she wanted and that so many were able to be with her during her last hours.  Today has been hard, I don't want to leave my bed, I don' want to take a shower, my poor kids have been neglected all day and all Randy wants me to do is to smile.  But it hurts to smile.  It hurts to do anything remotely human.  I've been watching TV pretty much all day, except when I've talked to my sister on the phone, because as long as there's noise and something else for me to focus on, I'm ok, but when I'm by myself, I just can't help it.  The flood of emotions just come right back.  I know this to shall pass, I just need a day of feeling sorry for myself before I move on, and move on I will.

Grandma, I love you, and I miss you so much.  May you rest in peace.

Proud to be an American

The Fourth of July landed on a Sunday this year, and living in Utah we've had a whole new experience with celebrating our nations Independence Day.  Everything happened on Saturday and Monday (since Mon. was the Federal Holiday) which was really weird for me.  We did a lot of stuff on Saturday but the rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful.  We totally forgot to watch the fireworks on TV for Boston and DC, which I'm bummed about since we were actually home.  Oh well.  We still had a fun filled day. 

We woke up before 8 and went to our ward's annual Scout Breakfast.  The food was amazing, the kids had fun and even though it was very early, it was worth it. We went shopping for a few things and then came home and did this to Micah. . .

Not really but he did get completely buzzed.  Randy seriously considered leaving the tuft up front, but I put mommy law into effect.   The rest of the day we were getting ready for the big shindig we were invited to at Randy's cousin's house in PG.  Their neighborhood pretty much blocks off their street for a water fight, bbque and fireworks.

Malia really got into it. . . that was until she realized that people will get her wet.

I even got in on the action. . . sort of

Micah didn't like getting wet either, which doesn't make sense since he's a fish.

A cute shot of the girls.

Eeah gave up on the big guns and went for a cup instead. . . that we filled with the big guns.

Morgie with our cousin Jess, she's gonna be a heartbreaker in a few years.

Our hostest, Andrea, took a few shots of us, I thought they turned out pretty cute.

Andrea wanted to have proof that she was at this party so she had people take pictures of her with different people.  I was one of them, gotta love it. (oh BTW some of these shots are hers, thanx so much Andrea).

After the bbque, eating blue cake and waiting for it to get dark enough for fireworks.

Malia really loved the red, white and blue cake.  I honestly don't know how many pieces she snagged.

Morgan showing off her new toothless smile.

Pooped Mac waiting for more fun.

More waiing, can you see the excitement in his face?

Randy was there I have proof.

There was an amazing sunset that we couldn't resist taking shots of.

It looked like fire on the horizon.

Then the fireworks came.  Andrea's house was in a perfect shot of PG's fireworks.

I am soo proud to be living in this country and am grateful to those man and women who fought for our freedoms.  The week before the 4th, my little brother Andy was deployed to Iraq for a year.  It's been hard on all of us, especially his family.  We pray for his safe return as well as all of the servicemen and women over there.  Thanx for all you.  You are amazing, courageous people.  We love you!!!

So far this summer. . .

This first picture says it all.  We have had a really busy summer so far and everyone is pretty much pooped.  This was taken right after swim lessons one morning.  The poor girl just couldn't handle it anymore.

 We did a session of swim lessons.  All the kids including Malia (she was in a parent/tot class with me) had a blast.  My kids are little fish.  I wish I could take them swimming every day, cuz they literally would live in the pool if they could.  Here's Malia with Randy (this was the only day he was able to come hence the pictures, I wouldn't have gotten any if didn't come).  Malia was having an off day. She wouldn't do anything for her daddy.

This is how we always found Micah, underwater.  We put him in a level 2, even though he technically is too young for this level, he was suppose to be 6 before getting out of the preschool levels, but he's too good so I fudged and put him in a regular level.  He did awesome.

As you can see.

Morgan was in level 3 and she is a sinker.  She's got some serious muscle on her which is awesome, but it makes it difficult for her to keep her body on top of the water.  She doesn't mind though, she still loves it.

McKenzie passed level 4 and has an amazing backstroke.  I think it is time to get her on the swim team.  She doesn't agree, but I know she will have a blast.

Oh and I almost forgot how much fun Malia had with sunscreen the last 2 weeks.  She figured she was big enough to do it herself and this is what I found.  This was also before the sunscreen got into her eyes and she cried for the next hour till the pool water rinsed it out.

Some other fun we had was going to Lagoon with my brother Billy and his family.  We have season passes but Billy's company bought their employees day passes and we decided to tag along with them to let them ride some rides.  The kids had a lot of fun with Ki-Ki (that's Malia's way of saying Kirsten)  She wasn't too enthused with the goggles.

But boy did they have some fun.

We also "helped" my in laws use some of their timeshare week up in Park City.  They weren't able to use the whole week so they let us use as much as we could.  They even came and watch the kids for a night so we could go up by ourselves.  We spent 3 of those nights up there, swimming for hours on end, eating ice cream and watching movies. 

Thanx for the fun time Grandma and Grandpa.

Right after school got out the kids started their different sports camps. I was a loser and forgot to take any pictures of my kids doing anything remotely productive, but my friend who's always more on the ball than me got shots of the kids, since her kids were in the same things mine were in, conveniently. (Thanx Michelle)McKenzie really wants to learn how to play tennis and we found this camp that was during soccer camp 2 days of the week, but since Michelle was doing it also, one of us went to tennis and the other soccer, see how smart we are.  McKenzie had a lot of fun.  I see some potential in her.  I hope that she will keep it up.

Morgan and Micah had soccer camp 2 days a week for the month of June.  They both got to be with a lot of their friends.  Next season should be great since all of their friends will be on their team.  Can't wait.

Micah loves soccer.  He told Randy that he wants to play soccer on TV like they did for the world cup.  Dream big buddy.

Some other things we were able to do that I didn't get shots of  was we went camping with some friends up in the mountains.  Like really camping.  No water, no potties, just being one with nature.  We need to do it more often cuz the kids were just out of sorts.  The girls still can't squat and they just couldn't figure out why we weren't at home.  Sad hu.  Even though it rained and thundered for some of the night, we stayed dry, somewhat warm and had a good time. 

We also got to spend an afternoon with the Jackson kids again.  Amie, my friend that used to live down the street, cam up from St. George to visit her family and gave me a call.  We went and fed the ducks at a park and just hung out for an afternoon.  It was great seeing them again.

 It was also the day of opening of "Eclipse," which of course I went to with the gang.  My friends mom bought out a theater again.  We went to Cafe Rio for dinner and went to the movie up in South Jordan.  I went up with Michelle who was a great chauffeur.  She had "New Moon" playing on her DVD player, offered us Edward and Jacob tattoos, even had complimentary waters for us if we needed, lol.  I brought my SIL's along with me, who live pretty close to the theater we went to.  All in all it was a fun, enjoyable evening, except for the girl who tried to take my seat which was assigned.  It was a good try, but she lost.

I'm sure there is more I am missing, (other than the 4th of July which will be another post).  I am glad things have calmed down quite a bit, not that it's over.  It's nice to finally have a lazy day, as lazy as it can get with 4 kids out of school.