Family Ties

Yesterday after work, and after I gave Mike a much-needed haircut, we went to the temple to do some family sealings. First on my list was Aunt Maureen's sealing to her parents, and to Uncle Leonard. I had previously been proxy and performed Aunt Mauren's initiatory and endowment.

I don't know if she is ready and prepared to accept these ordinances, but I hope so. And I hope Uncle Leonard is, too, since he has had much more time on the other side of the veil to think, learn, and decide.

One thought that I found quite touching was that we were also there, by proxy, for my grandparents. As I looked at their names on the paper, I just thought that they would have the opportunity to be here in the Cedar City temple with me and Mike. And I have not seen them for a very long time! These, too, are people that I know and love. So often when attending the temple, we are performing ordinances by proxy for those we don't know.

Now, I am not a visionary person at all,and I suppose you might think I can tell you that I felt them there or saw them or something. I did not. But I'm still very happy that we went, and that the possibilities are now more open to be a forever family, more completely linked than we were before.

The othere names we performed sealings for were for Koehler's and Wetz women to be sealed to their parents. All my side of the family, so that was unique and special.

Reads June 2019

I finished a book while I was tending at Katie's house. "Same Kind of Different as Me." I understand that it is a movie as well. I think I will just stick to the book. I really enjoyed it a LOT and movies are generally not as good as the book.

I also listened to "Muddy" by Dean Huges while traveling to and from Denver, and on Sunday after I got home and was perusing newspapers.  That was pretty enjoyable, too.

Mike and I have a trip to Huntington Beach coming up this weekend. We 'll be listening some some audio book along the way. I'll let you know what we decide on.

:-)

What good books have YOU read recently? It feels like a very long time since I've even read or listened to one previous to these two.  I do love having access to almost everything that is available in audio books from Deseret Book. And--DUH-- I work in a library!!!  Now if I just had the TIME to listen to them...

So many books, so little time. :-)

We are going to have to get back over to Mike's Mom's home soon and get things finished up over there. The rest of the house, shed and gagrage await.

Aurora, Colorado and adventures in tending June 7-16

I flew to Denver on Friday the 7th of June to stay with Katie and Casey's kids while they went out of town.  We stayed very busy. We also watched a few movies--my tradition when I go to Katies . I got to watch "The Secret Life of Pets." cute. I saw the Lego Movie 2.  Lego Movie 1 (yes, in that order). Aquaman. I think that's about it. It was enough to get us into bed before 10 pm withOUT watching movies!  Just dinner and baths and cleanup took plenty of time each day.  Meals and more meals and dishes and then it was time to fix another meal.  I'd forgotten how needy little ones are. ha. Not really.  But it was a lot of work and a lot of fun.  Errands are challenging, to say the least. Laundry and dishes are non-stop.  Oh, and I had to remember to feed the dog, too!  I only forgot once. ;-)

We tried playing hop scotch. It wasn't a hit. The monster that I drew with chalk (at Hailey's request) was an attention-grabber.  Sorry I didn't take a photo of it.

I found this on the dining room table after a few days.  They are some good rules/expectations and consequences. I showed it to the boys one day. Hayden said, "Oh. Yeah, our Mom made that. We told her it was basically impossible."

HA!  I didn't laugh then, but sure did later! ;-)

Sometimes they just play so nicely. This is a shot from the upstairs balcony overlooking the family room area. Hailey carries around a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle backpack (she wears it), along with a hat. She plays and plays and plays with the contents of the backpack, which is mostly Paw Patrol stuff. She can play alone or with Quintin. She wants to have the back pack EVERYwhere she goes! It's really quite cute.

 And here are some fellows out enjoying dirt and holes and boards and cars. What more do you need?

 Quintin and Hailey watching the penguins at the Zoo. We didn't wait around to see them get fed. When we first got there, it was in "a little while.'  We waited. Then, " In About ten minutes." Then 10 minutes later, "at 3:30 (fifteen more minutes.)"  We didn't hang around. We were tired.

Quintin didn't turn around for the group shot, so we got this one of him on the little choo choo train at the zoo.  They liked the train. I was hoping for one that circumvented the entire zoo. Nope. We were on it for about 6 minutes or less and we saw the flamingos and pretty flowers. That's it.

 It was hard to find a shady spot to sit and WAIT for the Elephant encounter. It was worth the wait. We all liked it.  The Asian elephant swam in front of us, opened his mouth, ate fruit and veggies, knelt, laid down, got up. It was a nice display of elephant behaviors.

Popsicle selfie at the house.

One afternoon we went swimming at the pool in Troy and Ecstacia's complex. Both MJ (13 almost) and Alex(17) came with us to help and that was nice and necessary.  Hayden and Corbin are fair swimmers who need a bit more practice. I tried to teach Hayden how to tread water. I think I should have a GRANDMA camp for cousins and have swim lessons for those who need it.  Wouldn't that be fun? Only I don't have a pool.

Corbin

Hayden, Haily and Alex Gardner

Backyard car crashes.  Those poor kids were so bruised after playing in the yard with these little cars. They loved crashing and play/pretend crashing. This (above) is a pretend and posed crash scene, never fear. 

Another scen of mayhem and destruction. Posed for your enjoyment and shock value.

But overall, they did play nicely most of the time. Hailey sure had some scraped up feet, ankles and toes for not keeping those out of the way, however!  And bruises. They do play rough, that's for sure.

Quintin.  They play outside barefoot, yet I never had to dig out any splinters or stickers, amazingly enough.

We had a baby bubble machine for a while, too.

At the Natural History and Science museum there was a Discovery Zone for kids that included this dinosaur model to climb on, an excavation pit, puzzles, water play.

Corbin's head. He's so trusting.

Hailey.

Quintin working on a puzzle

We watched a 3D film on "Superhero Dogs" at the museum, too. It was pretty cool. The film was 45 minutes, but the twins only lasted for about 15 to 20 before I took them out.

Just chillin' at home. 

It was a full week of adventures and experiences.  Katie and Casey also had a full week and the kids were so glad to see them when they returned from their trip to San Diego.  Casey went to his first ever "Cisco Live" conference and Katie just got to relax at their hotel.  They also toured the Battleship Midway (carrier?) and had a cruise around the harbor in San Diego before coming home on  Saturday. They were gone a full week!

And these were the gorgeous flowers that were delivered to me--from Casey and Katie as a thank you!!

May 2019. A Different Kind of Mother's Day for our Family

Toward the end of April (the 26th), I had a Library work meeting in Salt Lake, so Mike and his Mom decided to come along for the long weekend. Mike made doctor appointments for some knee and shoulder treatments, and Berenice just likes to go places and see people.  And they did!  Mike took her to (try and see Tony, unsuccessfully), and they saw her brother, James and his wife and had a nice visit. We were able to visit with Gayela and with Angela, too.  So it was a nice little trip.

But we did notice how hard it was for Berenice to go up and down stairs, increasingly so. She was always short of breath and very tired and sleepy.  Upon coming home, she had several spells of feeling very very ill, off and on. It took about a week to actually convince her to get to the Dr.  When Mike finally took her, they said to come back for more tests, etc. and eventually put her in the hospital.  She did not come home better, but to pass quietly to the other side.  There were several nights that were uncomfortable, but she had many helpers once we got the right people in charge.

May 7, Tuesday, was when she went into the hospital.  May 9 was when she was release on hospice to go home, and May 12 was when she passed away.

Tina Eaton came up from St. George, and Angela came from Salt Lake with Gayela, and Andrew came from Wyoming and Tara Jo from Vernal. They were all there between the 9th and the 12.  Berenice had some loving grandchildren to help care for her in her final days.  Monica drove her parents down from Vernal, as well.  There was a good gathering for those days. They all were able to help make funeral plans and preparations and eventually help sort out the belongings.  At least many of them.  We're not done yet. It'll be a while.

I know all these photos are out of order, but these are some fond memories of those days

Joe and Lesa.  They were such a huge help in the week following the funeral to come and help sort through belongings, clean, organize, make decisions.  Joe and Jannae, along with Lesa and her husband John.

Eric is modeling a woollen appliqued jacket from Mexio.  It seems Berenice never threw away much of anything. We found a variety of stuff. From treasures to trash.

Sorry, this wasn't at Berenice's house, but it was cute. And we needed some humor to get us through the long days.

Very old bowl. Not really, but it (and one like it)  has fond memories for me.

During the midst of all the funeral and burial, etc., Donna and Butch were in Las Vegas for a conference, so I drove down and spent a day and a bit with them. Butch was ill and im his room, but Donna and I went out to eat.

At the burial in Provo, May 18, 2019. With Robert's family.

Crystalynn Rogers with Matt, Eric and Katie in Provo.

Three of my angels who were with Berenice when she passed--Tina, Tara, Angela.

Mike got to visit wth a lot of cousins.

These are other little cousins. All our kids were there, though Damian was a lone representative from his family. He happened to be in Las Vegas for a conference, as well, the week prior. He came early and almost made it in time to get to Cedar before his grandma passed. Airline delays prevented him from doing so, darn it.

Kaylee and Nick with Robert.

Unlike John's burial in January of 2010, the drive up and back to Provo was gorgeous. We've had a fairly wet spring, so the grasses were incredibly green. Even the sage brush. Lovely. And lovely clouds, too.

There was a viewing on Friday night before the funeral. Casey (swing Hailey), Damian, Nick. Such handsome fellows.

Damian meeting Jane at our house.  There is something about doctors and mohawk hairdos on new babies. He did this, stinker.

Surely you can tell the spirit has departed.  Gayela and I went together to dress her in her temple clothing and to do her hair and makeup. Sort of .  I tried desparately to do the hair, but it was hopeless.  And we let the mortician do her makeup.

Gathering and visiting cousins.

And, the reminder that it was Mother's day.  These are lovely tulips that were sent to me from Damian's family.

It

Definitely was a different sort of May, that's for sure.  May she rest in Peace.

Berenice Liebhardt, July 23, 1925 - May 12, 2019.