A Funeral, an Injury, and Another Unexpected Trip

A few weeks ago, my grandmother, Doris/Nana, passed away.   She was 96-years-old and had been super healthy and energetic up until just the last couple of years.  She lived in my parents' basement for about a decade and just moved to a care facility a few miles from our home after my Dad passed away in 2022.   Having her live with my parents meant I got to know her better than I ever could while she'd lived in Oklahoma City for all the years before.  

I got to know what an amazing cook she was...always offering to feed us...even in the last couple weeks of her life.   Her specialties were  hearty breakfasts, which usually consisted of bacon, eggs, homemade biscuits, and gravy.   Our family enjoyed many a delicious morning in Nana's lair while she spoiled us.   She is also very generous and always had a gift to offer to whomever came to visit her.  

My Dad was her oldest child (and I am the oldest child of my parents), so it was an amazing thing that we got a 5 generation shot before my Dad passed away.  It's not many people who get to meet their great-great grandchildren!   

She also got to meet Oliver...

   I felt blessed to be able to live close over the last few years, so I could drop by her care facility on a semi-regular basis.    I will never forget how she kept asking if we needed anything and wondering if she could make us some food up until the last week or two of her life.   

She had raised her family in Oklahoma City and lived there until about 2013 (?), when she came to live with my parents.    My granddad was buried there in OKC and it made sense to hold her funeral there in the city she called home for so many years. 

Four of my siblings and my mom were able to fly out to the funeral.  

  

It was amazing being able to see so many long lost cousins I hadn't seen in many years...  

And other extended family as well --aunts, uncles,  2nd cousins, and even Nana's 90-year-old sister {not shown}!

 I had arrived into town on Friday around  lunchtime and left just a few hours after the funeral was over on Saturday, so I could get back for my talk in sacrament meeting the next day.

We didn't have very long together, but I was grateful for the time we did have.   |

The day after the funeral, my Mom, sister, Heather, and brother, Matt, drove back to Dallas for their flights home.  Tickets in and out of Dallas were MUCH cheaper than from OKC, even with the car rental and hotel added in.  I almost certainly would have gone that route too, except I needed to get back for my talk.  It was there in Dallas my sister, Heather, had an epic fall on an uneven sidewalk at the hotel they were staying at.  It was a bad fall that involved a couple of broken bones, missing her flight home, and an emergency surgery the next day.  

Thus began a new crazy adventure that involved another surgery to remove all the crazy external hardware they placed to stabilize everything before the actual repair...

2+ weeks in the hospital and in-patient rehab center...

and some round robin trips to Dallas amongst us siblings to stay with her and help her out.    Matt took the first couple days, then AnnaLisa flew out, then I came for Monday to Friday....

And made sure to get myself and Heather some Torchy's a few times...

Then Kristina arrived later in the day I left to take the final shift and fly home with her (after a full two weeks of being stuck there)!   

IN amidst all this, we had to figure out how to get my Mom back home.  She was supposed to fly back with Heather, and since she gets easily disoriented, we knew there was no way she could navigate an airport by herself.   Eventually we arranged for to be accompanied straight to the gate in Dallas, then I met her in the airport in Provo, which thankfully is a very small airport.  

Mom was totally fine.   

Heather is now home.  

And life remains as off-beat as  a good plotline  for an  episode in Crazy Town!  

Ellie is a Missionary!

On December 15th Ellie gave her missionary farewell talk at church before she heads off to the MTC next week.  

She gave a beautiful talk and we had a good group of friends and family that came for the occasion.  

At the end, she bore her testimony in Spanish (such that it is at this point).  Afterward, we had an open house at our home, where we spent time with friends and family and served some of our favorite Christmas goodies.    (browned butter rice krispie treats, Grandma's cracker toffee, my {sort of} famous rocky road fudge, mint swirl fudge {a new recipe}, fruit, veggie tray, our family's favorite mediterranean dip, deviled eggs, crackers, cheese, and some fun soda {at Ellie's request})

I was terrible at taking pictures that day, but here we are with some of our good friends from Virginia who came. 

And one with one of our Thailand HXP girls, Sarah.

A few of the other people who came were the Durhams (shown above), Palmers (shown above), Bennetts, my 95-year-old Nana (shown above), my Uncle Buddy and Aunt Debra (shown with Nana), Glen's brother's family, the Rohrers (our neighbors), my sister and Mom, Rachel (Ellie's HXP trip leader from Malawi),  Bryn and Charley (more friends from an HXP trip), and a few other people I can't recall at the moment.

We very much enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with family and old friends and celebrate Ellie as she goes off into the world to be a part of a great work!   Later that week, we attended the temple together...

And on December 22nd, she was set apart as a full-time missionary.   

It's been an amazing experience having a missionary in our home for Christmas...

Her Christmas haul was filled with practical gifts, like shoes, dresses, a bag, and such that she will use on her mission....

As per tradition, we have a Christmas ornament we add to our tree for each of our missionaries for every Christmas they are serving.  It is tradition that these cute little ornaments are for the first year they are serving and we have a completely different ornament we get for their second Christmases.  We figured it was only fitting that Ellie have a Christmasy version of the ornament, since she started her mission two days before Christmas! 

 

Left to right they represent Cami who served in France Lyon, Emma during COVID in Salt Lake West, Adam in Portland, and Ellie heading to Ventura.    The height differences between them (which has zero basis in reality) make us giggle and I love knowing that our collection is complete now!  

Hurrah for the love, service, and sacrifice that these missionaries make to bring the light of Christ wherever they go!   It truly is a great work that we are thrilled for her to be a part of...

 

...though I'm really really really dreading the goodbye in a few days when we drop her off at the MTC.  💗

My Baby is Leaving Soon!

 This blog has been around since Ellie was 2-years-old, which means that all of you, dear blog readers, have been able to see more glimpses of her growing up years than any of my other kids.  She is now about to head out on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I'm going through a bit of a mid-life crisis acknowledging that I'm sending my baby out into the world for the next 18-months!  Of course, I'm thrilled that she's made this decision to serve a mission, but I'm also just kind of sad realizing that this raising kids stage of my life  is pretty much over.   

Don't get me wrong, after nearly 30 years of hands-on parenting, I feel peaceful that this progression is the natural course of life and I'm proud of who my kids are and the paths that they are on, but I have to admit that I do miss the little people they once were.  Call me nostalgic, I guess.  So today, I'm just going to post pictures of Ellie, because I'm going to miss her in a couple weeks.

Here she is in the missionary photo shoot my sister, Heather, took of her:  

My niece, McKenzie, came along too and was a good photo stylist!  I was grateful for her and for Heather for taking the pictures and saving us a bundle of moola! 

The other day I sent her down to the storage room to find something and before long she was trying on my wedding dress!   I wasn't that much older than her when  I got married and it made me feel kind of old, to be totally honest.   I've got a family full of full-grown adults now!  

  Ellie hadn't had her hair cut in over a year and really wanted to get it freshened up before she left on her mission, so here are her BEFORE pics....

and her AFTER pics....

For the record, yes, it is normal for us G girls to go a year or more without getting our hair done. I am low-maintenance and I think all of my girls take after me in that department.  

Speaking of low-maintenance, Ellie has been doing lots of thrifting lately, to get her mission wardrobe in place.  I don't really love shopping, so I've been grateful for siblings that have been willing to thrift with her.  

I've enjoyed finding little fashion shoots like this on the camera roll!  :)

She's ALMOST done with her shopping now and she has begun the process of STARTING TO PACK, which is making it feel extra real that she's leaving soon. 

We stopped by to visit my Nana the other day, so Ellie could say goodbye before taking off on her mission.  It was a good day for Nana, who is suffering with late-onset dementia, and  we were thrilled that she remembered all of us and was excited to see us. 

Ellie ate up her time with Lucie and Oliver while they were here for Thanksgiving...

It was a sad goodbye for her when Cam and kids had to head home...

And pretty soon we'll have our own happy/sad goodbye, but here is a picture of her with a pear-shaped potato to make us smile in the meantime...

With that I'll just sign off with a reminder to myself that this right here is what I dreamed about 30 years ago.   I can do this! 

Mid-August at a Glance!

It's been a crazy few weeks and we're in the midst of even more craziness, but here's a glimpse at our mid-August happenings around here! 

Enjoyed the sidewalk chalk art at Alpine Days:

Picked up Charity (Ellie's roommate) and stopped at a smoothie place on the way home from the airport.  She stayed with us for a few days!

Went to a family gathering with Bobby and Buddy's families.  I hadn't seen some of my cousins in 20+ years, so it was great to see them.  It was a full house, but fun to be there.

We belatedly sung to my Nana for her 95th birthday:

Ellie, McKenzie, Charity, and Emma dropped in for a few minutes  before they headed out for a concert in Park City.  The performer was Cody Fry, which no one had really heard about, but the four girls were excited to go. 

Went to the Provo Farmer's Market on Saturday...

Went to the Alpine Days parade and other festivities.  It was a tad bit of a let-down without any kids with us.  hahaha

We've been going on lots of walks, which one day was matchy matchy: 

We've been seeing tons of deer...

And lots of raptors lately...

 

Glen flew in his boss's private plane down for some meetings in Saint George for the day...

 

 

Emma and Ellie made us a charcuterie board for our Sunday dinner... It was quite tasty!

Denali was super cute...

I like finding pictures like this in the camera roll! haha

Can't remember if I ever mentioned the sprinkler saga, but basically we found out that our water meter and our neighbor's was switched and we were paying way too much!  It's a long story of how we figured that out, that involved not watering our grass for two weeks to prove to the city that something was wrong with our meter.  We FINALLY got it figured out and our lawn is still suffering the effects. 

Thankfully, we've had a lot more rain than usual lately.  Not quite like  rainy days in the East, but periods of time that are like a good soaking rain in the East.   We are hoping that it helps bring our lawn back to life! 

Ellie has also been enjoying the rain....

This is the least of the excitement of the last few weeks, so stay tuned for lots more coming your way...eventually!