A long time

It has been a long time since I wrote here. I do send emails to our family missionaries and some friends. And Ed talked me into setting up a Facebook account. But his is much better and he puts lots of pictures on his, so if anybody wants to see lots of pictures, go to his Facebook account. Or Linnea’s.

I think the reason I haven’t written much is that I don’t know what to write. Life has been a whirlwind at times and lots of things have happened. Here are some of the things that have happened the last few months.

Ed is on disability for his heart, and has been since Dec. He is doing much better now but he will retire for good in June. I have to admit I am sad that he isn’t teaching any more. His job was a blessing in our lives in so many ways and he was able to work with so many wonderful people, both staff and students. He had  transferred to the same high school Linnea attends, and she was so excited to have him there in the seminary building. So she was sad when he wasn’t there anymore.  Plus, how often do you have just over one mile to work? And I loved being a part of the Church Educational System family. Ed is using his time off to travel a lot. Puerto Rico to visit Sean and Heather, California and Mexico…. and he even went on a great cruise that left from Puerto Rico when he was there. I could go traveling with him, but I am not leaving Linnea alone. I don’t want her to have the memory of her parents always leaving her and not caring about her her last year of living at home. And being alone in a big house is pretty scary anyway. She is only home a few more months

Danny moved out in January and is enjoying more of the campus life before he is all done with school. He will be graduating in June, and he wants to spend more time concentrating on his music. He is still looking for Miss Right. He now has his own band and they play and sing his music, and they have had some good performances here locally.

Linnea applied to a few schools and got accepted to all of them, and she is going to attend BYU in Provo. She got scholarship offers to all of them except BYU, so she has some second thoughts. But at the same time, she wants to stay closer to home and also to be able to continue her karate. She  now has her Red belt at Omega Tae Kwon Do, which is the same as brown belt at other studios. She can test for Black belt next year and she would like to do that. She just left for New York this morning with the chamber choir from school. They will be competing and performing there, but they will also have a lot of fun, sight seeing, attending several Broadway plays etc. She is soooo excited! She has never been to New York, so this will be a great experience. She did have to take some home work, though, especially for the distance learning college math class she is taking. She is excited about college, but sort of scared at the thought of being an adult, 18, this month. She has lots of fwonderful friends, goes to lots of dances, she is a great girl, and a blessing in my life.

For me, life is taking care of home and all the extra things. I spend lots of time with Linnea and lots of time with grandkids, especially Lisa’s kids. They live close by and Lisa has had to go to work, so I help with some of her housework, check on the kids, take them places, help with homework, and make sure they are OK.  And as soon as I walk into that house, their dogs go crazy. They love their “grandma”.  I try to go to grandkids performances and sports events, as many as I possibly can. And to Linnea’s and Danny’s, too, of course. There is always something going on. I go to the temple a lot, I do lots of family history and help others at the Family History center, especially with Scandinavian research. I work at the church cannery every time there is an assignment, an easy thing for me to do to help others. But to stand up at a cannery all day every day would be so hard. I am grateful I don’t have to do that full time. Lately, I have also worked hard to build up our food supply. If times get hard, I know we will have a house full, especially with all the family we have here. But I have also given some emergency food and supplies to my children. For myself, I walk (run) on the treadmill every morning or I take our dog, Abby, for walks. But then I guess I eat to make up for it, so my weight stays about the same. I have started doing some work in the yard, but it just keeps snowing off and on, so I can’t do any major work, yet. I did plant quite a few fruit trees, trimmed some other trees,  and I am expanding the garden this year, and starting earlier. I enjoy our family get togethers, usually on Sunday afternoons. And I enjoy hearing from or seeing my children as often as possible.

A few other things that have happened:

 Draper Temple open house and dedication and I went a few times taking family members. It is really beautiful, and it was great being able to participate in the dedication.

Sean and Heather with their children came to visit for a couple of weeks. Heather’s grandfather passed away. That was of course a sad thing, but we were really happy to see them and have them here with us for a few days. I know Heather’s family felt the same. Some of the other grandkids spent every minute they could here also, so they could be together. We all miss  them so much. I think they couldn’t wait to get back to the sun and warm weather. They did get to see quite a bit of snow and cold weather here.

Christina is looking quite pregnant and really cute. 3 more months. It is a boy and his name is Rome. There is a lot going on at their house and with all their kids.

Lisa got badly hurt at work about 6 months ago when a patient fell on her and she tried to catch her. For workers comp to pay for it, she has had to keep working, but on light duty, but we don’t know how much longer, if at all. And it is still hard work, doing the laundry and/or being in charge of supplies. Her back is severly injured in several places, and she is having all sorts of problems. She is having her third MRI (first her lower back, then her knee and now her neck) today to determine what exactly is wrong and to see what can be done. She has the worst luck. And she has been so miserable and in so much pain.

To end this post on a positive note: I am excited about a lot of things and I am grateful for so much. I am even thankful for snow. It is beautiful, it is fun to play in. I love the snow on the mountains and snow when the sun shines on it. It is also saving me hours every day, not having to do yardwork, even though I do enjoy that also most of the time. Shoveling snow now and then is just good exercise, as long as I am healthy enough to do it. And I am thankful that I don’t have to water, and I am thankful for the water we enjoy all year around from the snow pack. I am thankful for my health and the things I am able to do.

Time to run. I am taking grandchildren to school.