An Update on Grama

About an hour after I finished my previous post, my mom called to let me know that my Grama had passed away at around 6 o'clock this evening. Looks like we'll be heading to Colorado in the very near future.

It's strange to me that although I do feel sad, I also feel very peaceful and a little relieved. I think because I've been spending the last couple weeks sort of expecting this I feel like it's okay, and it's for the best, and Grama is better off now than she's been the last few months. 

I also feel really blessed to have such great family. It'll take me a while to rustle up some pictures, at which point I'll do a little memorial post about Grama. In the meantime, I'm feeling really grateful for my wonderful aunts who have kept constant vigil at Grama's bedside for the last month or so. And I appreciate their families who have been supportive while they've taken care of Grama. 

I'm grateful for David, who held down the fort when I went to visit a few weeks ago. He really stepped up and took care of the kids and the pets and his own job, and the house was even clean when I got home. 

I'm grateful for my kids who have been very sympathetic, even if they don't entirely understand what is happening. They understood that my Grama was sick and that I needed to go visit her. And I think Drew and Owen sort of understand that she has now passed away, and that she went to be with Heavenly Father and Jesus. Samantha doesn't understand much except that, as she says, "Mom's Grama died. And Jesus loves us." Which, I think, sums it up about perfectly. No matter what happens, Jesus loves us.

April Showers

I have come to the conclusion that I need to get back into blogging, since it's the only record I've got of what has been going on with my family. I was feeling overwhelmed with it, thinking that there's so much to record, and I don't have a ton of time to do it (well, I've got plenty of time, I'd just rather be doing something else). I decided that rather than playing catch up, I'd just brush over a few things and then resume regular posts. And this will be a picture post so I don't have to write as much.

April is the month of the annual Spaghetti Dinner/Cake Auction at church. All the proceeds go to the Boy Scouts' summer camp, so people are generally pretty generous with their cake donations and purchases. This year I made a chocolate chip cheesecake covered in caramel and chocolate, and with an Oreo crust. It sold for $50, which was pretty good. (Better than my previous entry a few years ago.) Drew and Owen saw this Construction cake that they just had to have, so I told them they could bid on it up to $25. We ended up paying $27 because Drew kept raising his hand. He was so pleased with himself for "winning" the cake!

This beautiful tree is in front of my aunt and uncle's house in Colorado. I love magnolias, but even though the map in the gardening catalog says they will work in my zone, I kind of doubt one would flourish in windy ol' Pocatello. 

The purpose of my trip to Colorado in April was mainly to say goodbye to my maternal grandmother, who is nearing 90 years old, and has been having some pretty serious health problems. I had heard that she was looking like she might pass away at any time, so I wanted to go give her one last hug and kiss before it was too late. It was a good visit; she was awake for a few minutes for me to chat with her, and she recognized me as a grandkid, though I don't think she knew exactly which one I was. She still has the same strong, throaty voice I've always loved. And she still appreciates a good pun. So far Grama is still hanging on, though from what I hear she still doesn't eat much--like, a bite of food a day and a couple sips of water. So we'll probably be making another trip out to Colorado in the not too distant future.

Also while I was in Colorado, I got to see my brother Jeremy and his family. They recently moved into a great house (and a neighboring house is for sale, so I've been trying to convince David that we should buy it), so while we visited I helped unpack some boxes and put books on shelves (I added some great titles to my reading list!) and helped set up the nursery for the new baby girl that will be joining their family real soon.

We've had a lot of rainy days the last few weeks, but we've also had plenty of sunshine. The kids will spend entire afternoons on the sunny days out of doors, playing with the neighbor kids and riding bikes,

and playing with swords and generally having a great time. 

I love these days too because my friend and I can just sit on the lawn, soak up the sun and chat while all the kids run amok.

On rainy days, we stay inside and drive each other crazy. But we have a lot of fun, too.

And a lot of weirdness.