When I started this blog 2 years ago it was my goal to post at least monthly. Whew! Here it is the last day of February. Looks like I barely made it. The past 6-7 weeks have been a juxtaposition in many ways--quiet and boring at times, and busy and exciting at others. For purposes of journaling, here's how it went down.
In my last entry I cryptically mentioned my gratitude for the plan and forever families. Our extended family once again was reminded of this by the passing of Brent's brother in law, John Figgat. John passed from brain cancer, an all to familiar disease, on January 7th. That weekend we traveled to Eugene, Oregon to attend funeral services and see so many of our extended McLaws relatives. Tanya and her children are amazingly strong, and are a wonderful example of family unity. John will be missed so much--he was a kind and loving father and husband and he was so fun to be around.
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Pic on left is the Figgat Family. Upper right is a collage of pictures in the foyer at John's funeral service. He was "Captain CTR" for years for the Primary kids in his ward. So like him. The bottom right is Brent and Monique, his youngest sister. She is amazing and was such a support to Tanya the last few weeks of John's life.
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The week following our trip to Oregon I tagged along on a quick business trip with Brent to San Antonio, Texas. He has been traveling quite a bit lately, and gets tired of being alone. We were only there 3 days, but enjoyed some together time. Shortly after returning home I came down with an awful case of the shingles! Oh my, they are painful, annoying, and utterly miserable. I had a blister rash on my back shoulder, neck, lower back scalp area and ear. I took some pictures, but I will spare you. So not fun. I also caught myself a cold in the middle of all this. It took a good two weeks to recuperate fully. Pardon my whining, but I just hate not feeling good. I've been blessed with good health all my life and consider it one of my greatest blessings.
Side note: As I sit here today, my mouth/face is numb from bone graft surgery. I had an dental implant last fall, and unfortunately it failed! The tooth just wasn't tight in there and it was determined that I needed a bone graft to build up the bone for 6 months and then I will get another implant. It will be 10-12 months down the road before I'm done with all this again. Arrgh!! BUT, I'm so grateful for the advances in dentistry. Our family would have goofy smiles without it.
So what does a girl do when she is tired of convalescing? She gets on a plane and goes visit her family, that's what. Brent was out of town on business (surprise) so I headed down south. The timing proved to be fortuitous, because my Mom ended up being transferred to another rehab facility in Richfield. I stayed there for 5 days helping to get her settled and to check on Dad. My poor Mom is having such a tough time with tummy/colon issues. She has become dehydrated several times which necessitates IV fluids. This puts her in bed for a while and then she loses strength again. We need her to build up her strength and get a handle on the digestive stuff before she can go home. It's been 6 months since this whole episode started. She wants to go home, and we want her there. We keep encouraging her and praying for her.
I was able to spend a few days watching Grayson and just being a Grandma. Oh what fun that is! We all love this baby to pieces and he really is a sweet and chill little guy. In the past few weeks he got his two bottom teeth and learned to crawl!! He's 7.5 months now, is eating solid foods every day, and loves to stand and "walk" on his sturdy little legs. He's changed so much the last couple of weeks alone. . . I just hope he doesn't turn into a full fledged toddler before I see him again. All the trite axioms of grandparent hood are true. . . it's so awesome. We have our fingers, toes, legs, arms, and eyeballs crossed waiting for more little ones to come into our family. I just know they will be here soon.
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| Love kissing those chubby cheeks! |
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| Grayson gives kisses too! When you say "kisses" you get a slobbery smack on the chin! |
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| Can't get enough of this baby lovin' |
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| "Hey Grandpa, is that you? |
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| In the crawling mode. Also in the drooling mode! |
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| Love this pose. He looks like he's saying "Hey Grandma! What's up?" |
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| Look at those adorable eyes. He was checking out Jace's birthday balloons. |
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| Sometimes he looks like his Dad and sometimes I see his Mom. He's a bit of both of them. |
Jace celebrated his golden birthday on February 23rd. Twenty three on the 23rd! We enjoyed a great lunch at the Black Sheep Cafe in Provo, went bowling, and then had cake at B and Stu's. His nice roommates planned a surprise party for him that night. He's studying hard and keeps super busy with everything else. I'm very proud of him. He's living right.
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| Blowing out his candles on his ice cream cake. He took his "wish" very seriously! Golden balloons for the golden birthday. |
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| At his birthday lunch. Uncle Jace and Gray, and a picture of all of us just to prove that we were there too. |
The next day we attended the homecoming of Sister Melissa Forsey from the Poland, Warsaw mission. Hard to believe that 18 months have passed. She was oozing missionary radiance! She had so many friends and past companions supporting her, as well as family and neighbors. Jerry and his family are so excited to have her home.
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Melissa's homecoming open house. All the girl cousins. . . beautiful.
Jace and Melissa, the two newest RM's. He's way tall, and she's way tiny. |
So, tomorrow is March. In a few weeks it will be March Madness--yea!!! I love college basketball. In fact my two teams, Gonzaga and BYU play tonight. I'm always so conflicted, but currently the Zags are ranked #2 in the country, so I'm kind of pulling for them since they have so much to "lose". BYU has a good team, but unless they pull some major upsets, probably won't make the tournament. And, on a positive note, spring is only 3 weeks away!! I'm so over winter. . . and truthfully it really hasn't been that bad. . . it's just way too long.
