HURRAY!!  I am finally done.  I have finished reading President Monsons biography, "To The Rescue".  It has taken a long time, and I have started books that I am reading right along with it, so I am happy to place this book back on the shelf and not have it laying next to my bed in my 'reading pile', to sneak a few pages in before the day begins.  His life is truly an example.  If there was someone famous we had to be stranded on an island with, I think I would chose him.




With an occasional drop in by Brian Regan to bring us some needed supplies and to give us a show with some new material to share.  Who doesn't like this guy?!!

  

Okay, I know that is ridiculous, but those are two people whom I'd chose to spend a 'Day in the Life of....'.

Last night there were 4 of Doug's siblings and their spouses that had a rare opportunity to go out and eat together.  We went to Cheesecake Factory, my fav, and enjoyed it.  With a menu that is, might I say, another 'book' in and of itself, it was hard to make a decision as to what to eat.  I LOVE their chicken piccata, but wanted to try another dish and so I texted Carolyn and asked what she usually got and so that is what I went for: Crispy Chicken Costoletta.  Delish!!  The plate is served with 3, YES 3, chicken breasts, and I quote: 'Chicken Breast Lightly Breaded and Sautéed to a Crisp Golden Brown. Served with Lemon Sauce, Mashed Potatoes and Fresh Asparagus.

I choose not to eat the asparagus and passed those along to Doug.  I did end up bringing home 1 1/2 of the chicken and at least half of the mashed potatoes that were served along with my chicken!  The portions are HUGE there.  Anyway, I know what my after church snack (meal?) will be.  

We missed having Diane & Tom and Gayle & Ed, but we all are looking forward to the 'Sibling' cruise planned for next summer to ALASKA!!!!  

Okay...don't faint....new post

It's Spring Break.  We will not be doing a thing this year during Spring Break.  That is unusual.  Monday was lets clean the house a bit.  Then yesterday I thought that I should look through my Pinterest account and make or do something.  What I ended up doing yesterday was laundry, laundry, laundry.  You might ask yourself - 'What laundry could Becky possibly have and why so much'?  I ask myself the same thing.  So, I kept track of my batches yesterday.  Whites.  Towels.  More towels. Kitchen towels, place mats and tablecloths.  Allan's clothes; mostly the ones he didn't want to put away and were still folded when brought to the laundry room; which most of those ended right back into his laundry basket.  Shannon's clothes; she actually does put on all of her's but she can change her outfits up to 4 times a day - first outfit, feeling what she feels like wearing before she decides what she will wear to school - then, the chosen outfit - after school lounge around outfit - and lastly going to be with friends in the evening outfit, which of course can NOT be the same one she wore to school - 'MOM, they can't see me in the same clothes I wore today, geez......' - oh, and then I should add in her jami's, or Jill's pants if she finds those lying around- like in Jill's room-  as her last outfit of the day.  (Allan just sleeps in his skivvies).  Needless to say she has 2  batches.  Now you might be asking yourself, 'Why is Becky doing her kids clothes?'.  And the simple answer is I enjoy laundry.  I like the smell, the after smell that is.  I love Downey.  And I love my laundry room.  I'm not sure I've posted my total laundry room finished look, but I have to add one more item and then it will be complete and I'll take pic's of it.  Now, back to laundry.  My batch, and Doug's work clothes. Plus, assorted items lying about the home. All in all, about 8 batches.  And this morning I have started another one already.  Some day this might end.
Now, back to yesterday.  I decided to pick a couple of things off of my Pinterest boards to work on.  One was to paint my washer and dryer.  Maybe like this one:

 or these;

I actually started this morning with a kind of swirly design and did not just 'LOVE' the style I was going with - so I might look for a stencil today and see where we go from there.

This next project looked super cute and Shannon had it on her Pinterest account:

Last night I headed to the thrift store and found a few simple bracelets and a few bead necklaces and we will have a go at it!  I'll hand this project off to Shannon and head off to work.

Despair and Hilarity in one Day....

Yesterday, February 2, 2013, we had the funeral of Doug's dad.  It was (and is) one of the deepest sorrows I have felt in my whole life.  I have lost loved ones, but Dad was just one of those people that got into your heart and you knew he was there always.  Those of you who had the privilege of knowing and talking to dad know the feeling.  The program was wonderful.  Doug's 3 sisters did the life sketch...the 2 brothers did amazing in the words they shared....and Doug sang.  I have heard Doug sing many times, but yesterday, I felt Doug sing.  His dad had requested that the song be: "Oh, Danny Boy".  I was unfamiliar with the song, but after reading the words, and after hearing it sung, it was beautiful choice.  Doug was accompanied by Garna Randall on the piano and Tawna Posegate, on the violin, who were both amazing.

So from deepest sadness we go to a euphoric high.

Back in November I had bought Brian Regan (a comedian, and Allan's all time favorite), tickets for a performance that would be held on February 2nd.  This was one of our major Christmas gifts.  At the time of Dad's passing, people were out of town and so the funeral had to be delayed for several days and ended up being on, yes, February 2nd.
We almost felt 'sinful' for knowing that right after the funeral and luncheon (if there was even time for that), we would be driving crazy fast home to make it to the performance.  Luckily, the show started at 8pm and we made it in plenty of time.
Hilarity.  That is all I can say.  It was a good rebound from a day of heartache.  After the show, Shannon and Allan exited quickly because Shannon had seen a bus parked behind the theater and thinking that it might be his, they wanted to see if they could watch him come out of the building.  The show ended a little before 10pm and with the parking garage PACKED, we, Doug and I, had a good 20-25 minute wait to get out.  So we stood on the 5th level and could see Allan and Shannon waiting on the corner down below.  When there was very little traffic left, we drove down to where they were standing and parked just along the curb.  We waited.  And waited.  I went over to talk to Shannon and Allan, still waiting, and told them that there should be a time limit on how long we wait to see him.  Several security guards were by the bus and there was a 'barricade' set up so, really, to even see him walk, wave and get on his bus, might, in our (me and Dougs) opinion, be a waste of time.  For at least 20 minutes I stood there with them.  It was just us 3.  A car pulls in behind the bus and 2 people get out, we find out later that the lady had forgotten her phone, and then decided to wait for Brian to come out, so now there is the 5 of us.  I worried even more that now there are more of us, for sure he won't come over and talk to us.  And we wait......after about an hour after the show had ended Brian comes out.  One of the guards had walked over to us earlier and, I was afraid he would tell us 1. to leave or 2. Brian won't have time to talk to you, so just wave and say 'Hi'.  However, he said that he would most likely come and see us.  AND HE DID!  Mr. Regan went to the older couple first and then to Allan & Shan.  Pictures by me on Shannon's IPod are sadly bad, but he was great.  He shook all of our hands, and by the way, they were soft, super soft, and let the kids get a few pictures.  With me on the IPod camera, it took several tries.   We were all happy, but none of us more than Allan.

Thank you Brian Regan.  We will save up so we can get better seats next time your in our area!  Total on.

RIP Daddy D....

Today I have a tender heart and tears that are ready stinging.  My sweet Dad-in-Law passed away last night .  He has mentally been ready to go for some time, wanting to be with 'Mama', who has been gone for several years, but because he had such an amazingly strong physical body, it just didn't want to give in.  

I have been a 'daughter' to this Dad for 34 years.  He, and 'Mom', were the nicest, most generous, sweetest in-laws anyone could have had or wanted.  The love they had for me was immediate and never once did I feel different then their 'original' children:  Gayle, Diane, Doug, Alan, Brad and Julie.  

I was accepted right in and felt it.  

The only family I knew that had a insturment on their home.

Bradleys mission homecoming.  Dad, a gentle giant in his teaching and love.

Being Grandpa and nearly falling off!

Christmas white elephant gift.  He loved to smirk for the camera.

This is my favorite picture of Dad.  And maybe it's because I was in it with him.  I will miss him terribly and I know my kids will miss their 'talks' with their Grandpa, even my inlaw kids, have had their time with him, getting advice or just a loving message that he felt they might need.




Take care Grandpa.  We already miss you and our hearts will be heavy for your physical love.  Give Grandma and Sampson a big hug for us, enjoy being with her and your family again.  Until we meet again.

Shannon is HOME!

Ward family camp-out near Globe, AZ.

An update on Shannon, and a few extra pictures because it was her 17th birthday.  

Her freshly cut bangs.  I wasn't too happy with them being cut.  

Shannon was released from the hospital on January 2nd.  She will have a pretty good looking scar and always  have to supplement her B-12 (something to do with the intestine that was removed), but she recovered amazingly fast and well.  Compared to when she went into the hospital she is 99% better.  She is up walking around and even went on a date on her birthday: Red Lobster.....who can turn that down?!  Right? 

Her volleyball 'career'.  Here she is spiking the ball.

School starts tomorrow and I'm not sure how well she will do with that....but we will give it a try.  The walking to and from classes will probably wear her out but socializing with friends just might make her last the whole day through.  

At a girls camp last summer - and it was the most miserable camp I personally had ever been too.  While lovely and pretty during the day - the nights were almost unbearable.  Cold beyond cold.  The ground bumpy beyond comfort.  

I think this was her first official date picture.  

I will need to come back and do another birthday blog on Shannon.  I need to find some cute baby photos and scan them because I didn't have any on
my computer.

Surgery for Shannon

Swollen from all the air that was pumped into her during surgery.

I must admit, to write this, will raise a few questions of my parenting, but those who know Shannon, and me, unsympathetic me, will forgive and move on.  On December 12, Shannon had the usual winter time flu: vomiting and then the diarrhea for a day or so.  Not much eating was going on for Shannon at that time.  After that day, and for the next two weeks, she kept complaining about her stomach hurting.  I told her it was first, from her throwing up and then from having the 'runs' (sorry) and then probably tender from not eating and every other kind of 'mom' advice I could think of.  We would ask if she was having cramps and she wasn't sure if it was time for that and then we asked if she was having BM's and she wasn't, so then we told her she had constipation and that was causing all sorts of problems.  Finally, I took her in to see our family doctor and the she said to try fiber/juices/bran and if nothing else came to, um, pass, to take her to the emergency room.  During all this time, Shannon still had a few days left of school and I didn't want her missing them nor did I want her to miss her finals, so that was always a tension talk waiting to happen and happen it did.  Although she did go to school, 2 of those days were spent in the nurses office finishing finals.  I will say, looking back, that Shannon was not Shannon and she was in a lot of pain.  But I am a mom who says 'Buck it up' often.. Probably more than my kids wanted to hear.  On Christmas day Shan had put up a good front and seemed to have a good Christmas and later Jill told me Shannon was really crying and I said 'That's it! Get to the car!'  I even warned her that she would not complain once about what ever they might ask her to do....pee in a cup - do it with a smile - poop in a cup - smile again, enema - let me just roll over for you, etc.  So off we went.  It was about 4 o'clock on Christmas afternoon.  We waited a little bit in the ER waiting room and then ushered back to the observation room.  They took blood and made Shan pee in a cup (smiling the whole while)!  The tests came back fine.  No urinary tract infection, no kidney problems.  Nothing.  An ultra sound test revealed liquid in her uterus so they thought maybe a ovarian cyst had burst, but it shouldn't be causing her this much pain.  Finally a C-scan (?) was ordered and by 10:30 that night we found out her appendix had ruptured and she had a lot of infection pockets throughout her abdomen.  She would need surgery soon.  They were thinking of sending her to Carden's Children's Hospital, but they got a doctor to accept her case here at Gateway Banner and so her surgery was hopefully going to be at 8am in the morning.  Huh?  Ruptured appendix?  Emergency, right?  'Oh, lets wait another 9 hours to operate, she can handle it'. I was shocked.  Anyway, 8am came and went, 10:30 scheduled time came and went, possibly noon, um, no, it came and went, and finally at 2pm she was wheeled in to the OR.  The doctor had told us that morning it would probably take 30 minutes, or if worse case scenario happened, it would be 1 1/2 hours.  It ended up being over 3 hours.  Her small intestine had been 'compromised' and basically tattered from the poison and 6 inches needed to be removed.  Shannon had been a very sick young lady.  Most of the staff here have said how physically strong she must have been to put up with the pain.  I'm sure part of it was because she was afraid of her mom telling her to 'buck it up'.      

She had several of her friends come by and visit her the day after surgery.  She has been asked to walk everyday, but she WAY over did it here.  She was trying to be too strong around her friends and then paid for it later.  

Sweet flowers from her Grandma Hansen.  

Sampson's outfit.

I want to add another small post about our sweet Sampson.  When he passed away, one of the questions you have is what will he wear?  There is really not too many options for 'micro' preemies.  So, I knew we would work on an outfit.  The smallest patterns you can buy are for Barbie/Ken dolls and he, Sampson,  was a smidgen bigger than that, so I bought the next size up which was a 15" doll pattern and I had to cut it down quite a bit.  A challenge to say the least.   Here is the  finished product.  

The shoes were from a newborn shoe pattern found on the internet and I 'shrunk' it down about 4 times.  I didn't care for the finished neckline although on the baby it didn't look too bad. The buttons are actually from  card making crafts and are super tiny but they were the perfect size for the shirt and shoes. 

Also, one more addition.  The shirt ended up being a little small, so I quickly sewed a 1" addition 'flap' that Jonathan added on Sampson's shirt right before they closed the casket.     

 I finished it in a day and into the night and then Jill almost didn't want to use it to bury him in, so I did a second outfit that Jill and Jonathan could have one for themselves to save.

Add caption

 I finished it in a day and into the night and then Jill almost didn't want to use it to bury him in, so I did a second outfit that Jill and Jonathan could have one for themselves to save.

Jonathan is probably going to be mad that I put this picture on my blog, but I just wanted to show the size!

Inside I wanted to give Sampson a heart from me! (That's a heart button if you can't see it well).

And life has been going on....fun Vinnie!

Okay, now for my heart finds.......

I know you all wait with anticipation on what I have found for this week: so here, my friends,.....

These first two came from a TV weather report.  I love instant taping of shows because if I think I see a heart while watching a show I can just rewind it and look.  Sure enough, two on one screen! 

And this was a lime that Jill found in the fridge.


And lastly, although sad, was a bird that had been injured somehow, we think shot with a b-b gun, and couldn't fly anymore.  He hung around the outside of our house for a few days, pooping everywhere.
Jill found him floating in the pool later on.  How he got to the backyard is a mystery to us.  So, thank you Mr. Bird.  You will be famous on my wall or in my photo book forever for showing us your lovely heart nose.