Saturday, October 31, 2015
Facebook Updates - August - October 2015
October 22nd
So, for the first time we had a boy going to Crazy Hair Day at school, so just letting the girls brush out their crazy hair into messy bed head poofs wouldn't cut it -- so I ran to the store last night and bought $6 in hair color (as well as about $50 in U of U gear for tomorrow's 'Show Your Colors' day -- Spirit Week is getting spendy around here
Also, I have intense shame that my little Ute fans had nothing that currently fit them -- oops! Owen on the other hand has at least three shirts.) Um, spray on color makes crazy hair day SO much easier than trying (and failing) at Cindy Lou Who hair, etc. I have no skills at hair styling, so I'm actually pretty proud of how these turned out this morning
October 21st
WOO HOO!!!!
Just found both of the pathology reports for Annie and Owen are up online, and I was able to check them out (and because I practically have a minor in decoding eosinophilic disorder pathology reports, I even mostly understand them.) Both of the kids scoped really, really well -- not perfect, but these are big improvements, especially for Owen. And for Annie's it's a big victory because she's added milk back into her diet, so we've just shown that she maintains her status quo off only ONE food! (Well, all foods that contain gluten ) To get down to knowing there is only ONE trigger food is so huge and makes me so happy. Owen's gut was the least diseased it's ever been, and there were very, very few eosinophils in his esophagus, and we are clear to keep him off just gluten too! (Neither of these two eat MUCH dairy, since they don't really love it and it doesn't always agree with their tummies, but it's nice to know the amounts we have started using in their diets aren't causing damage.)
October 19th
After settling him down for a minute after he woke up, he would clutch the oxygen close to his face and take big breaths. Twice the nurses informed us he didn't need to be on oxygen anymore, but I told them there was no prying it out of his hands. This kept him content for 3-4 minutes, then he realized he had an IV in his foot and everything fell apart and he was one angry patient and screamed and hit and thrashed and cried and yelled the rest of our time there, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "TAKE IT OUT" at every nurse who came in the room, he cried he had a bracelet on, he cried when I took the hospital bracelet off, he cried when they offered to let him keep his socks (he actually took them and chucked them at the nurse_ -- and he cried whole time we walked out of the building, the whole drive home, and the first 20 minutes we were home. I don't know which of us is more exhausted!
And, once again, Annie wakes up from anesthesia much like Snow White wakes up after her kiss -- she flutters her eyes, then smiles at everyone around her. The nurses thought she was just the sweetest, and easiest patient ever.
October 18th
October 15th
You will be missed, Grandma
October 12th
This is how Owen and I spend our free time . . .
October 10th
My Grandmother passed away during the night, and I can't stop thinking about how blessed I have been. With losing my Mom's Dad last month, and with the passing of my Dad's Mom earlier today, I am really struck by just how many people I have been blessed with in my life who love me and love my kids.
You'll be missed Grandma -- I am comforted to know you're reunited with Grandpa and other loved ones. Thank you for always being there for me and my family!
October 9th
2 minutes from needing to be out the door, and the 5 year old uses the shirt he is currently wearing to wipe a spilled drink of almond milk off the counter. Ugh! While he's changing, his 3 year old brother walks into the room and declares, "I pooped my pants." It's like they NEVER want me to leave the house on time EVER AGAIN.
It's a conspiracy, I tell ya.
October 7th
Look how talented my little girl is!
(Also, the red, puffy, teary, eyes are due to the eye drops we cruelly tortured her with -- there was crying for 15 minutes BEFORE we got them in, and 10 minutes after).
(Because pink eye. Of course. Also, Greg had to get a root canal today. And I broke a tooth on stupid peanut brittle. But the good news is I did get three of my kids scheduled for their endoscopies, and a chunk of my graphics work caught up. Also, Owen made it ALMOST the entire day with no accidents. So, there's that! Yay for progress.)
October 6th
I have been feeling completely overwhelmed this week. I'm sleeping crappy, trying to get all the kids' next endoscopies scheduled (and the doctor's office is giving me the run around -- what the heck?! Usually I call and am all, "Four kids with EoE," and they're all, "Yes, Ma'am, how many procedures would you like to schedule today", and now they're all, "We need to talk to every doctor they've seen this last year, and then we'll decide whether or not we allow you to schedule the one and only thing that gives us any kind of clue how your children are doing -- if we decide you're not some procedure-seeking munchausen by proxy kinda Mom.") (I actually totally understand them verifying things and making sure putting my kids under anesthesia is the best call, I'm just fussy right now, and it's never been like this before) (but DUDE, I talked to the G.I. up at Primary Children's two days ago and he was all, "Oh yeah, we need to get those scheduled . . ." and I still can't get them scheduled, because all the orders haven't come through), we had an orthodontist appointment today, and Greg is gone at meetings all evening, and I am SO far behind on graphics work with my BIGGEST two weeks of the year staring me down, and this, THIS, is the week the youngest boy chooses to play around with this whole 'potty training' thing.
Sigh.
The 'good' news is we are now the proud new owners of an Elmo potty seat. For a youngest child, who is nearly-four year old who will likely almost never use it, use it for a month or so at the most, and all I can do is stare at it and think "giant freaking waste of money . . ." The bad news is we got home with the prized new potty seat, and he decided he just wanted to wear diapers the rest of the day.
And, AS I WAS TYPING THIS, Owen walked up to me and said, "Mom, my mouth hurts," and pointed at his lip. He just ate tortilla chips with salsa, so I thought maybe it was the salt or something. Then he threw up. In my lap and on my bedroom carpet. I've now gotten us both cleaned up, and carpet shampooed. Again.
I'm not quite sure why, but I'm feeling overwhelmed this week.
October 5th
We were doing some yard work today (made all the kids come help and called it family home evening -- win/win), and in digging up gardens, we naturally came across several worms. Owen was walking around with one in his hand, happy as a clam, cooing at it and calling it 'Cutie Pie', when he suddenly stopped and declared with great affection, "I will call her Sister Buttars!"
This boy LOVES his Sunbeam teachers
Owen has been wearing underwear for 45 minutes. He's peed his pants twice. I. LOATHE. POTTY TRAINING.
So, for the first time we had a boy going to Crazy Hair Day at school, so just letting the girls brush out their crazy hair into messy bed head poofs wouldn't cut it -- so I ran to the store last night and bought $6 in hair color (as well as about $50 in U of U gear for tomorrow's 'Show Your Colors' day -- Spirit Week is getting spendy around here
Also, I have intense shame that my little Ute fans had nothing that currently fit them -- oops! Owen on the other hand has at least three shirts.) Um, spray on color makes crazy hair day SO much easier than trying (and failing) at Cindy Lou Who hair, etc. I have no skills at hair styling, so I'm actually pretty proud of how these turned out this morning October 21st
WOO HOO!!!!
Just found both of the pathology reports for Annie and Owen are up online, and I was able to check them out (and because I practically have a minor in decoding eosinophilic disorder pathology reports, I even mostly understand them.) Both of the kids scoped really, really well -- not perfect, but these are big improvements, especially for Owen. And for Annie's it's a big victory because she's added milk back into her diet, so we've just shown that she maintains her status quo off only ONE food! (Well, all foods that contain gluten
) To get down to knowing there is only ONE trigger food is so huge and makes me so happy. Owen's gut was the least diseased it's ever been, and there were very, very few eosinophils in his esophagus, and we are clear to keep him off just gluten too! (Neither of these two eat MUCH dairy, since they don't really love it and it doesn't always agree with their tummies, but it's nice to know the amounts we have started using in their diets aren't causing damage.)October 19th
After settling him down for a minute after he woke up, he would clutch the oxygen close to his face and take big breaths. Twice the nurses informed us he didn't need to be on oxygen anymore, but I told them there was no prying it out of his hands. This kept him content for 3-4 minutes, then he realized he had an IV in his foot and everything fell apart and he was one angry patient and screamed and hit and thrashed and cried and yelled the rest of our time there, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "TAKE IT OUT" at every nurse who came in the room, he cried he had a bracelet on, he cried when I took the hospital bracelet off, he cried when they offered to let him keep his socks (he actually took them and chucked them at the nurse_ -- and he cried whole time we walked out of the building, the whole drive home, and the first 20 minutes we were home. I don't know which of us is more exhausted!
And, once again, Annie wakes up from anesthesia much like Snow White wakes up after her kiss -- she flutters her eyes, then smiles at everyone around her. The nurses thought she was just the sweetest, and easiest patient ever.
October 18th
October 15th
You will be missed, Grandma
October 12th
This is how Owen and I spend our free time . . .
October 10th
My Grandmother passed away during the night, and I can't stop thinking about how blessed I have been. With losing my Mom's Dad last month, and with the passing of my Dad's Mom earlier today, I am really struck by just how many people I have been blessed with in my life who love me and love my kids.
You'll be missed Grandma -- I am comforted to know you're reunited with Grandpa and other loved ones. Thank you for always being there for me and my family!
October 9th
2 minutes from needing to be out the door, and the 5 year old uses the shirt he is currently wearing to wipe a spilled drink of almond milk off the counter. Ugh! While he's changing, his 3 year old brother walks into the room and declares, "I pooped my pants." It's like they NEVER want me to leave the house on time EVER AGAIN.
It's a conspiracy, I tell ya.
October 7th
Look how talented my little girl is!
(Also, the red, puffy, teary, eyes are due to the eye drops we cruelly tortured her with -- there was crying for 15 minutes BEFORE we got them in, and 10 minutes after).
(Because pink eye. Of course. Also, Greg had to get a root canal today. And I broke a tooth on stupid peanut brittle. But the good news is I did get three of my kids scheduled for their endoscopies, and a chunk of my graphics work caught up. Also, Owen made it ALMOST the entire day with no accidents. So, there's that! Yay for progress.)
October 6th
I have been feeling completely overwhelmed this week. I'm sleeping crappy, trying to get all the kids' next endoscopies scheduled (and the doctor's office is giving me the run around -- what the heck?! Usually I call and am all, "Four kids with EoE," and they're all, "Yes, Ma'am, how many procedures would you like to schedule today", and now they're all, "We need to talk to every doctor they've seen this last year, and then we'll decide whether or not we allow you to schedule the one and only thing that gives us any kind of clue how your children are doing -- if we decide you're not some procedure-seeking munchausen by proxy kinda Mom.") (I actually totally understand them verifying things and making sure putting my kids under anesthesia is the best call, I'm just fussy right now, and it's never been like this before) (but DUDE, I talked to the G.I. up at Primary Children's two days ago and he was all, "Oh yeah, we need to get those scheduled . . ." and I still can't get them scheduled, because all the orders haven't come through), we had an orthodontist appointment today, and Greg is gone at meetings all evening, and I am SO far behind on graphics work with my BIGGEST two weeks of the year staring me down, and this, THIS, is the week the youngest boy chooses to play around with this whole 'potty training' thing.
Sigh.
The 'good' news is we are now the proud new owners of an Elmo potty seat. For a youngest child, who is nearly-four year old who will likely almost never use it, use it for a month or so at the most, and all I can do is stare at it and think "giant freaking waste of money . . ."
The bad news is we got home with the prized new potty seat, and he decided he just wanted to wear diapers the rest of the day.And, AS I WAS TYPING THIS, Owen walked up to me and said, "Mom, my mouth hurts," and pointed at his lip. He just ate tortilla chips with salsa, so I thought maybe it was the salt or something. Then he threw up. In my lap and on my bedroom carpet. I've now gotten us both cleaned up, and carpet shampooed. Again.
I'm not quite sure why, but I'm feeling overwhelmed this week.
October 5th
We were doing some yard work today (made all the kids come help and called it family home evening -- win/win), and in digging up gardens, we naturally came across several worms. Owen was walking around with one in his hand, happy as a clam, cooing at it and calling it 'Cutie Pie', when he suddenly stopped and declared with great affection, "I will call her Sister Buttars!"
This boy LOVES his Sunbeam teachers
Owen has been wearing underwear for 45 minutes. He's peed his pants twice. I. LOATHE. POTTY TRAINING.
October 3rd
Ellie trying out pumpkin. She says "it's not the worst, it just doesn't have any flavor." And yet she's on her third big piece, eating it like an apple or something
October 2nd
'Tis the Season!
The time of year where people online everywhere start whining about pesky children with allergies demanding nut-free, dairy-free, soy-free, vegan, gluten-free, red-dye-free, etc-free, Halloween candy.:-)
Despite the fact I have never seen an allergy parent or kid actually demand such a thing.:-)
So, just getting this out there now . . . here's my response to all of those blog posts, social media posts, etc, just so I can get it out of my system:-)
My kids are gluten and dairy free due to Celiac and EoE -- they trick or treat like all the other kids, love every second of it, thank everyone who hands out candy, and then when we get home we swap out unsafe goodies for safe ones and everyone is very happy. (We are also not dealing with anaphylactic allergies, which would up the difficulty factor -- my heart is out to you parents!)
I would NEVER in a million years expect anyone else to cater to my kids' specific needs, because that is my job. But I also leak tiny, silent tears when we go to a neighbor's house, and they see my kids and say, "Oh! I have something for you guys!" and grab a couple fruit snacks they'd gotten out before trick or treating started because they knew my kids were coming, or they have a couple tiny, cheap, Oriental Trading Company toys ready in a food-free bowl, or they say, "Hey, we made sure to have some Skittles, because we knew those were safe!" I expect it from nobody, but I appreciate it more than words can say. And my kids LIGHT up. They don't expect it from anyone either, they know Mom and Dad are going to take care of everything when we get home (like we always do), but like all of us, they feel special when they know that people remembered them and thought of them when making their plans.
I have yet to meet an allergy parent who doesn't take responsibility for providing safe food for their kids and frankly (it's not you, it's me) I barely trust anyone outside of Greg and I, our parents, and some of our siblings, to know what food my kids can eat -- I actually don't abdicate that responsibility to neighbors or random strangers handing food out of their houses.:-) I have yet to meet a parent who expects anyone else to figure out the complexities of their kid's food allergies, let alone every other kid's in the neighborhood -- since we've spent years learning about, adjusting to, and shopping for, our kid's individual food needs.
But yeah, the neighbor who does have a small bowl of cheap trinkets for kids who struggle with food for whatever reason, or a small bowl of dum dums because they know that those are basically 'allergy-free' -- we do kinda think they are pretty special people. We don't expect it, but we're touched by it. Every time.
October 1st
Greg, holding out both of his closed fists, urging Owen to choose one.
Three year old Owen, "Hmmmm . . . well, according to my research . . . it's THIS one!" he said while triumphantly pointing at Greg's left hand.
I'm now curious what kind of research he is doing that helped him guess that correctly
September
September 28th
They all descended on me in the early morning hours and basically booted me out of my own bed -- but look how adorable my three youngest are after commandeering my space
September 27th
My sweet boy kept giving his Great Grandma the sweetest hugs . . . I still can't believe how blessed my children have been to have so many Great Grandparents in their lives for as long as they have, but with my Mom's Dad passing away several weeks ago, and now my Dad's Mom near the end, it's heartbreaking and touching to watch these little ones process what it means for someone to die.
September 24th
Owen just went in and changed the laundry for me without being asked. This is why they invented front loading washers and dryers, so three year olds could spontaneously change laundry . . .:-)
September 20th
We headed down for a quick trip to St. George. We got in Friday night, and swam in the hotel pool until nearly 10PM -- the kids thought it was the greatest thing ever, cheering out often, "We're swimming when it's dark outside!" I was at the St. George UCAP Conference doing a booth for Togetherness during the first half of Saturday, while Greg took the kids swimming, then to the Temple, Tabernacle, and Brigham Young's Winter Home. Then they picked me up, we got lunch, and headed up to Snow Canyon to hike and then play in the sand dunes. Then, we loaded up a pile of sand coated children into the car at 8 o'clock and night and headed back home. It was a whirlwind trip, but so much fun! The kids are totally sold on St. George now and want to go back soon:-)
September 15th
We bit the bullet and cut off all those curls . . .
September 9th
Ellie still isn't feeling great -- her hair isn't helping her appear any more well:-).
After her instacare visit last night, we ruled out strep and other reasons for a sore throat, and are pretty sure she's dealing with an EoE flare and we are going to do a few weeks of the swallowed topical steroid as well as some additional food elimination and see if she feels better soon. If not, or if it comes back after going off the steroid, it's back in to primary's for an endoscopy. Fingers crossed that budesonide works for now and gets her back to normal -- she's been pretty uncomfortable this last two weeks. (At first I thought it was just stress from school starting, then a bug, but now I'm pretty sure this is all just auto immune. Which doesn't explain where my flu like symptoms came from! Where am I catching bugs from if not my children?!):-)
September 6th
These kids sure love their Great Uncle Karl
September 2nd
The long awaited first day of Kindergarten -- he's been patiently waiting ever since his sisters started school 8 days ago, and now it was Isaac's turn! He's excitedly shouting, "I LOVE KINDERGARTEN!" in half the pictures
August 28th-29th - Grandpa Powell's Viewing & Funeral
After the funeral and luncheon today, we came home, and my family went out and had fun on a giant slip and slide (because that's how we roll), then headed out to Leatherby's. I have so many memories of going to Leatherby's with my Grandma and Grandpa -- after graduations, baptisms, special events, etc. -- it was just a place we went altogether to celebrate. So tonight we went, the waiters sang 'Happy Birthday' to my Mom (whose birthday is in two days), and we celebrated all being together.
And Isaac made a GIGANTIC chocolate mess:-)
Watching Ellie today was really fascinating -- she had SO many questions. About death, about family, about burial, about cemeteries, coffins, flowers, etc. My Grandpa is being buried right behind my little sister April's grave, and this was a really sweet moment of my Dad talking to Ellie about her Aunt April's grave marker.
Ellie and Daddy after the viewing tonight - - the kids did so well at the Mortuary for 2+ hours that we took them out for ice cream afterwards:-)
August 28th
Grandpa's funeral is tomorrow.
I don't know if his death has fully hit me, and probably won't until the viewing tonight or the funeral tomorrow. But I'm so grateful for the opportunity I've had to write a eulogy for his funeral, because it's given me the opportunity to reflect on not only his life and all of my memories, but his deep and enduring testimony of his Savior and how that shaped and defined his life. In talking with others and in writing about my own memories of him, I'm struck again by just how generous, kind, selfless, and charitable my Grandparents truly are -- how people who have so little could give so much, seemingly so effortlessly; and it makes me rethink how much I think I 'need' in life and how much I have to give.
August 25th
Ellie and Annie were SO excited this morning to start Second and Fourth Grade!
Isaac and Owen were SO excited for Owen to go to preschool an hour and a half later, and for Isaac to go in for Kindergarten testing two hours later -- but they both had their backpacks on since 8AM:-)
August 23rd
After a hard morning full of hard emotions, I had such a great afternoon visiting with my Grandma, my Mom, my Aunt, and a couple of my Uncles, as we reminisced about my Grandpa. About our memories, about vacations, stories I hadn't heard before, stories that are just so fun to retell, hilarious stories about our family and my Grandpa's quirks, and sweet stories that remind me of just what a good man my Grandpa was. It was touching and amusing and heartwarming and heartaching all at once -- and it was good to visit with my Grandma afterwards as we cried and held one another, and just reminisced and mourned. I'm just struck again by how lucky my kids have been to have my Grandparents around for as long as they have. I'm going to miss my Grandpa so much, but talking about his life of love and service and work and family, it makes me grateful for all the opportunities we have to make something of this life.
August 18th
I feel old -- my baby started Preschool! Then to feel even older, I pulled up all my kids' first day of Preschool pictures, and oh my goodness, by babies used to be so tiny!!
Also, Owen would not make a normal face, or pose or stand like a regular person to save his life :-)
August 17th
August 14th
Me calling to the basement: "Owen, what are you doing?"
Owen: "Just hangin' out down here, wearin' my Carmen Sandiego hat."
Of course.
August 9th
Owen coming across a souvenir my brother Cody brought home from his mission, "Dad, where we get this?"
Greg, "It's from Uruguay."
Owen confused, "From my-Aguay?"
August 2nd
Ellie trying out pumpkin. She says "it's not the worst, it just doesn't have any flavor." And yet she's on her third big piece, eating it like an apple or something
October 2nd
'Tis the Season!
The time of year where people online everywhere start whining about pesky children with allergies demanding nut-free, dairy-free, soy-free, vegan, gluten-free, red-dye-free, etc-free, Halloween candy.
:-)Despite the fact I have never seen an allergy parent or kid actually demand such a thing.
:-)So, just getting this out there now . . . here's my response to all of those blog posts, social media posts, etc, just so I can get it out of my system
:-)My kids are gluten and dairy free due to Celiac and EoE -- they trick or treat like all the other kids, love every second of it, thank everyone who hands out candy, and then when we get home we swap out unsafe goodies for safe ones and everyone is very happy. (We are also not dealing with anaphylactic allergies, which would up the difficulty factor -- my heart is out to you parents!)
I would NEVER in a million years expect anyone else to cater to my kids' specific needs, because that is my job. But I also leak tiny, silent tears when we go to a neighbor's house, and they see my kids and say, "Oh! I have something for you guys!" and grab a couple fruit snacks they'd gotten out before trick or treating started because they knew my kids were coming, or they have a couple tiny, cheap, Oriental Trading Company toys ready in a food-free bowl, or they say, "Hey, we made sure to have some Skittles, because we knew those were safe!" I expect it from nobody, but I appreciate it more than words can say. And my kids LIGHT up. They don't expect it from anyone either, they know Mom and Dad are going to take care of everything when we get home (like we always do), but like all of us, they feel special when they know that people remembered them and thought of them when making their plans.
I have yet to meet an allergy parent who doesn't take responsibility for providing safe food for their kids and frankly (it's not you, it's me) I barely trust anyone outside of Greg and I, our parents, and some of our siblings, to know what food my kids can eat -- I actually don't abdicate that responsibility to neighbors or random strangers handing food out of their houses.
:-) I have yet to meet a parent who expects anyone else to figure out the complexities of their kid's food allergies, let alone every other kid's in the neighborhood -- since we've spent years learning about, adjusting to, and shopping for, our kid's individual food needs.But yeah, the neighbor who does have a small bowl of cheap trinkets for kids who struggle with food for whatever reason, or a small bowl of dum dums because they know that those are basically 'allergy-free' -- we do kinda think they are pretty special people. We don't expect it, but we're touched by it. Every time.
October 1st
Greg, holding out both of his closed fists, urging Owen to choose one.
Three year old Owen, "Hmmmm . . . well, according to my research . . . it's THIS one!" he said while triumphantly pointing at Greg's left hand.
I'm now curious what kind of research he is doing that helped him guess that correctly
September
September 28th
They all descended on me in the early morning hours and basically booted me out of my own bed -- but look how adorable my three youngest are after commandeering my space
September 27th
My sweet boy kept giving his Great Grandma the sweetest hugs . . . I still can't believe how blessed my children have been to have so many Great Grandparents in their lives for as long as they have, but with my Mom's Dad passing away several weeks ago, and now my Dad's Mom near the end, it's heartbreaking and touching to watch these little ones process what it means for someone to die.
September 24th
Owen just went in and changed the laundry for me without being asked. This is why they invented front loading washers and dryers, so three year olds could spontaneously change laundry . . .
:-)September 20th
We headed down for a quick trip to St. George. We got in Friday night, and swam in the hotel pool until nearly 10PM -- the kids thought it was the greatest thing ever, cheering out often, "We're swimming when it's dark outside!" I was at the St. George UCAP Conference doing a booth for Togetherness during the first half of Saturday, while Greg took the kids swimming, then to the Temple, Tabernacle, and Brigham Young's Winter Home. Then they picked me up, we got lunch, and headed up to Snow Canyon to hike and then play in the sand dunes. Then, we loaded up a pile of sand coated children into the car at 8 o'clock and night and headed back home. It was a whirlwind trip, but so much fun! The kids are totally sold on St. George now and want to go back soon
:-)
September 15th
We bit the bullet and cut off all those curls . . .
September 9th
Ellie still isn't feeling great -- her hair isn't helping her appear any more well
:-).After her instacare visit last night, we ruled out strep and other reasons for a sore throat, and are pretty sure she's dealing with an EoE flare and we are going to do a few weeks of the swallowed topical steroid as well as some additional food elimination and see if she feels better soon. If not, or if it comes back after going off the steroid, it's back in to primary's for an endoscopy. Fingers crossed that budesonide works for now and gets her back to normal -- she's been pretty uncomfortable this last two weeks. (At first I thought it was just stress from school starting, then a bug, but now I'm pretty sure this is all just auto immune. Which doesn't explain where my flu like symptoms came from! Where am I catching bugs from if not my children?!)
:-)
September 6th
These kids sure love their Great Uncle Karl
September 2nd
The long awaited first day of Kindergarten -- he's been patiently waiting ever since his sisters started school 8 days ago, and now it was Isaac's turn! He's excitedly shouting, "I LOVE KINDERGARTEN!" in half the pictures
August 28th-29th - Grandpa Powell's Viewing & Funeral
After the funeral and luncheon today, we came home, and my family went out and had fun on a giant slip and slide (because that's how we roll), then headed out to Leatherby's. I have so many memories of going to Leatherby's with my Grandma and Grandpa -- after graduations, baptisms, special events, etc. -- it was just a place we went altogether to celebrate. So tonight we went, the waiters sang 'Happy Birthday' to my Mom (whose birthday is in two days), and we celebrated all being together.
And Isaac made a GIGANTIC chocolate mess
:-)
Watching Ellie today was really fascinating -- she had SO many questions. About death, about family, about burial, about cemeteries, coffins, flowers, etc. My Grandpa is being buried right behind my little sister April's grave, and this was a really sweet moment of my Dad talking to Ellie about her Aunt April's grave marker.
Ellie and Daddy after the viewing tonight - - the kids did so well at the Mortuary for 2+ hours that we took them out for ice cream afterwards
:-)
August 28th
Grandpa's funeral is tomorrow.
I don't know if his death has fully hit me, and probably won't until the viewing tonight or the funeral tomorrow. But I'm so grateful for the opportunity I've had to write a eulogy for his funeral, because it's given me the opportunity to reflect on not only his life and all of my memories, but his deep and enduring testimony of his Savior and how that shaped and defined his life. In talking with others and in writing about my own memories of him, I'm struck again by just how generous, kind, selfless, and charitable my Grandparents truly are -- how people who have so little could give so much, seemingly so effortlessly; and it makes me rethink how much I think I 'need' in life and how much I have to give.
August 25th
Ellie and Annie were SO excited this morning to start Second and Fourth Grade!
Isaac and Owen were SO excited for Owen to go to preschool an hour and a half later, and for Isaac to go in for Kindergarten testing two hours later -- but they both had their backpacks on since 8AM
:-)
August 23rd
After a hard morning full of hard emotions, I had such a great afternoon visiting with my Grandma, my Mom, my Aunt, and a couple of my Uncles, as we reminisced about my Grandpa. About our memories, about vacations, stories I hadn't heard before, stories that are just so fun to retell, hilarious stories about our family and my Grandpa's quirks, and sweet stories that remind me of just what a good man my Grandpa was. It was touching and amusing and heartwarming and heartaching all at once -- and it was good to visit with my Grandma afterwards as we cried and held one another, and just reminisced and mourned. I'm just struck again by how lucky my kids have been to have my Grandparents around for as long as they have. I'm going to miss my Grandpa so much, but talking about his life of love and service and work and family, it makes me grateful for all the opportunities we have to make something of this life.
August 18th
I feel old -- my baby started Preschool! Then to feel even older, I pulled up all my kids' first day of Preschool pictures, and oh my goodness, by babies used to be so tiny!!
Also, Owen would not make a normal face, or pose or stand like a regular person to save his life :-)
August 17th
August 14th
Me calling to the basement: "Owen, what are you doing?"
Owen: "Just hangin' out down here, wearin' my Carmen Sandiego hat."
Of course.
August 9th
Owen coming across a souvenir my brother Cody brought home from his mission, "Dad, where we get this?"
Greg, "It's from Uruguay."
Owen confused, "From my-Aguay?"
August 2nd
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