the one about our cute moms

My mom, Julie and Brett's mom Gleneita just had their class reunion. I have to share these pictures because they are so cute!! Gleneita was SO nervous, so she had to come down to my house so I could reassure her she didn't look like the "class hooker." (her words, not mine!) And my mom needed my help getting into her "slimming apparatus," as she called it. They were both so cute and looked so BEAUTIFUL! Brett and I wiped a tear as we sent our girls out for a fun night with their old friends. (Not really, but we kinda felt that way!!)

the one about the fair

We LOVE the County Fair! We look forward to it all year. We love the concerts, the exhibits, the food, and of course the CARNIVAL!
It seemed like our family was at the fair the whole week this year! I am a 4H leader so I was asked to take a few shifts working "security" for the indoor home, arts & crafts exhibits. Brett helped with the fireman's challenge and there were just so many fun things happening so Quayd wanted to be there every minute. He visited the little red barn, participated in the candy drop and played at the carnival nearly every day. He also worked very hard this year and made some projects for the 4H exhibit. He is not an official 4H member until he goes into the third grade (in 4 more days) or turns 8 (in 9 days) so he wasn't able to compete or place for state judging this year, but he earned rainbow "Cloverbud" ribbons for all of his projects.




On Saturday, before the demolition derby, my mom and I took Brayden, Brennen and Quayd to the carnival. We all had so much fun! I started not feeling well after a couple of hours, so I had to leave a little early, but not before getting some great pictures!!!

the one about the loss of a dear friend

I have this amazing friend. She has been my constant companion for 6 1/2 years. She doesn't judge me, she doesn't care if I am in a good mood or bad, she doesn't care if I don't smell my best and she never complains about what I watch on tv. My size never matters to her. She likes to read with me, play on the computer with me and listen to any kind of music I like. I am so terribly sad to report that my time with her has come to an end.

This is her.

She is stained, tattered, torn and beat to crap, but she is truly my favorite article of clothing I have ever owned. My mom got it for me when I was pregnant with Quayd. She wanted me to be able to wear it in the hospital and not worry about my butt hanging out and stuff. It is totally ugly and way over sized, but that is what made it so comfy. I probably washed it a million times and it just got softer and softer. I washed it yesterday and hung it in my closet. This evening I wanted to put it on, and the zipper was GONE! It has been loose for a while now and I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Tonight was the night. When I realized what happened, I was in shock. Seriously. I love this robe! If you have ever come to my house, chances are, you have seen me wearing this. I have always admitted how hideous it is.... but truly, you can't find comfort like this little beauty! Here are a few pictures of her blemishes. Remember, I just washed it! These spots were permanent. Like little love tattoos for me! :)

Look at that lovely embroidery.

And here is her final resting place. RIP my beautiful blue best friend.

the one about Easter

We had such a nice Easter weekend. It was very casual and not very exciting, but that is fine. We have had lots of stress and craziness lately, so a nice quiet weekend was PERFECT. On Saturday, we got up early and went to the Dinosaur Museum for an Easter egg hunt. This is probably our favorite egg hunt. The kids get to go through the museum and find eggs. When it is all finished, they turn in their eggs for prizes. Not a ton of candy, like most of the egg hunts and it is fun and different. Brayden went with us (Brennen was with is Grandma) but he was too old to hunt eggs at the museum, so he helped Quayd. Quayd doesn’t really need help anymore, but it was fun for them to go together. Quayd even let Brayden get one of his prizes. This is right before it started. They were at the first of the line!

After this, we went to the baseball park for another egg hunt. All of the eggs are real, and the kids don't just love that. They break it up in different age groups and in each group they have one plastic egg. If you get it, you turn it in for a big prize. Brayden found the winning egg in his group! Quayd met up with his friends Rylan and Jeff. They hunted eggs together and had a blast.
After this, we went to Grandma Lane's Church for their egg hunt. Grandma loves it when we can go to this and it is a lot of fun. They hunt for mostly real eggs, but a few candy ones too. After the egg hunt, they have lunch at the Church. We always have fun when we go to this. Grandma with all of the big egg hunters!
We got to see Brynn and her sweet boys. Beau'D loves Quayd and they had fun playing together.

Saturday afternoon consisted of a nice, long nap. Then I made a nice dinner and we just hung out for the evening.

Sunday morning, we were woken up to a phone call at 8:00 am. It was Brennen calling to see what Quayd got from the Easter bunny. Quayd was still asleep, and didn’t wake up until almost 9:00. And that was because we woke him up! Quayd was so excited to get up and see if the Easter bunny came by. Of course, he did!
Quayd got 2 Nintendo DS games, some clothes, some tech deck mini skateboards, a kite, a jump rope and a special note from the Easter Bunny. This is what it said:

Dear Quayd,
The rest of your gift will be well worth the wait,
You'll share it with two other boys who are great!

You will get it for sure when the week is complete,
but you must promise to be really sweet!

My basket was already full to the top,
but here's a hint... it'll make you go Hop! HOP! HOP!

Happy Eater!
Your friend,
The Easter Bunny

Brayden and Brennen got the same note! Since our trampoline was totally falling apart, and we had to throw it away, the boys are sure it is a new trampoline. I guess we will see what the rest of the week holds! ;) The Easter bunny also hid eggs for Quayd to find.
There were TONS of them and they were all over our living room! And, all filled with Quayd's favorite candy. Laffy Taffy, Jolly Ranchers and mini Snickers. (or as he calls them, "sneek-ers!) Brett and I had to laugh, because you could tell that Quayd was an only child by the way he hunted for eggs. He totally took his time and after he found one, he opened it up, looked at its contents and marveled at how the Easter Bunny knows just what he likes. Quayd was in NO HURRY through the entire egg hunt. It was so funny.

My Grandma had a special egg hunt for the boys this morning, and Quayd found the prize egg.... $10.00! They also got a few other eggs with money and candy. Brett, Quayd and I had lunch with my mom. She cooked a ham for croissant sandwiches and made deviled eggs, and I made potato salad. It was so nice with just the four of us and we had a great time. THANKS MOM!!!

We had a nice nap this afternoon, then went to Aunt Debbie's at 5:00 for dinner. It is our family tradition to play Bingo at all of our parties. This one was no different. Brett is always the Bingo caller, and there are prizes for both kids and adults. It is so much fun! They do cool prizes too, but there aren't very many, so you don't always win. We didn't win anything at Christmas, but we all did awesome for Easter! Brett won a $30.00 gift certificate to Canton City and a $30.00 gift certificate to Casa Rios. I won $30.00 in scratch and win tickets, but I only won $3.00. Bummer. And Quayd won a $20.00 bill! It was cool, we were all super excited!

It was such a nice Easter and I am so glad we had peaceful and fun weekend together. Now we need another day to recuperate! Quayd and I get one, but poor Brett has to go back to work. Somebody has to pay for all of our Easter fun!!!

the update about Ga

My poor little Grandma has been to hell and back these last few weeks. It's so hard to see her in such pain and I just want her to get better. I love her so much. I do a lot and spend a lot of time with my grandma. She is one of my best friends. Anyone who knows me well, knows this about me. We have so much in common. We are both crafty, we love food, children, art, music, shopping and we even wear the EXACT size shoes. Everyone else in our family has tiny feet. Not us. SIZE 10 or 11!!! My grandparent's have been more than just "grandparents" to me. First of all, I lived with them for several years. Plus, we are just really close. My family is very small. My grandma and grandpa only had two children; my mom and Uncle Kim. My parents only had 2 children; Brandon and me. Kim only has one daughter; Brooke. Brooke is my only first cousin. On either side!! Isn't that weird. Brett has like 30 cousins or something. Anyway, when we all get together for a party or something, and because Kim & Brooke live out of town, there are only 10 of us. Brandon, Danette, Brayden, Brennen, Brett, Quayd, Ga, Pop, my mom and myself.

Anyway, back to Ga. So she had surgery to correct a bowel obstruction in SLC Nov. 1st. She came home Nov. 6th. She was doing better for a few days, but then she sorta took a turn for the worse again. My Grandpa took her back into the hospital early last Wednesday morning. The 12th. She was really anemic and she had infection somewhere. They ran test after test and gave blood transfusion after blood transfusion and finally realized that her blood got to thin and it was seeping out of the incision on her bowel where they did surgery. They needed to operate again, but she was too weak. So they spent Wednesday-Saturday trying to get her stronger and kill the infection, then they operated yesterday morning. It sounds like things went well. So far, so good. They left a drain tube in and they are working very hard to get rid of all the bad stuff. They seem to think she is FINALLY on the mend, but only time will tell. It has been exhausting. For all of us. My mom, my grandma, grandpa, EVERYONE!

Hopefully this will be the end of it. But I will keep you updated.

the one about Grandma Karren

Wow..... What a crazy week/weekend. I wasn't sure where to start, so I will start with my Grandma Karren, then I will move on to Quayd and his Birthday.

I am sure I have mentioned this before, but I don't expect anyone to remember every tiny detail of my life, so I will give you a refresher. Grandma Karren is my Great-Grandmother. Quayd's Great-Great-Grandmother. Her Birthday is April 19th and she was born in 1910. Nearly a century old! When Quayd was just a tiny baby, Grandma was still living on her own in her house, which is now my house. In January of 2003, she fell in her house and broke her hip. She had to have surgery and ended up in the Care Center and has not been able to leave since. She had still been in excellent health, but over the last few years, her mind has started to slip as well as her health. It has been very sad to see her going downhill. My Great-Grandpa, Victor, passed away when I was in the 5th grade, and Grandma has wanted to be with him ever since. She has never been afraid of death and knew that when it was her time, she would go. Well, my Grandma called me on Wednesday morning to tell me that Grandmas had taken a turn for the worse and that they didn't think it would be long. My mom and I met my Grandma at the Care Center. She was totally non-responsive. We talked to her, held her hand and spent as much time with her as we could. At one point, I looked around the room and noticed that this would probably be the last time the Four generations of women would be together.

I was right. She passed away Thursday morning. I had just gotten Quayd off to school and I went to work. My Grandma had gotten ready for the day and headed to see Grandma Karren. They were alone in the room, and Grandma just stopped breathing. One of the nurses was nearby, so she stepped in and listened to her heart, and confirmed to my Grandma that Grandma Karren was gone.

It is such a blessing, for her. She was 98 years old and had really had a couple of rough years. But she lived such a full and active life and as silly as it may sound, I learned EVERYTHING from her. Either directly from her, through my Grandma, or through my mom. She was an amazing woman and I am so proud to call her "Grandma."

So while planning the funeral, it was decided that it would have to be on Saturday the 30th. Quayd's 6th Birthday. (Last year, Brett's dad died on August 29th. Sad huh!) Anyway, Quayd was such a good sport and he handled it all wonderfully. We already had his party planned for the 29th, and I will tell you all about it later. After the funeral, there was a meal planned for the family and everyone sang Happy Birthday to Quayd.


Anyway, it was a beautiful service and I am so glad that Grandma Karren can finally be with Grandpa again. She was such a great woman, and even though I could go on and on all day about all of the great memories, I will just tell a couple of quick stories. When I was younger, I played city-league softball. I wasn't any good, but I sure loved it. Grandma Karren loved it even more! Because my parents worked, Grandma took me to every game and every practice. She cheered louder than anyone there. I LOVED having her there. After the games, we would spend hours talking about every play, every error, and every last detail. She could still drive at that time, but probably shouldn't have! We seriously traveled either 9 MPH or 90. No in between! It was awesome, and I will treasure that time forever.

Another little story... I have often wondered why Grandma Karren lived so long. Don't get me wrong, I loved that she did and I am so grateful for her long life and wonderful legacy, but when she started forgetting everyone, I just ached to know. I wondered what her "Purpose" was. Obviously, her work on this Earth was not complete, but at 98 with a failing mind and body, what did she have to do? What COULD she do? Well, my mom spoke at the funeral yesterday and she said something that has really stuck with me. I think I may have gotten my answer.... Grandma was always so worried about the ditch (or "gulch" as she always called it!) in front of her (now MY) house. She just knew one of the kids would fall in. It upset her constantly!!! She worried about her kids, her kids' kids, their kids, and now our kids. Four generations of kids! That is a lot of worrying. If ever one child was not right where she thought they should be, she ran down to the gulch to make sure they weren't there. Well, as I have mentioned several times, the city came in this summer and covered that dang gulch. Now we have a beautiful yard with no gulch!! In my mom's talk, she mentioned this and she said that now, finally, Grandma can quit worrying about that darn gulch! Maybe that was her purpose. Who knows? But whatever reason, she is finally at rest and in peace, and with her partner that she has longed for for so many years.

I want to leave you with a few pictures of Grandma Stella Marie Karren.
(Poor quality, I know, sorry! It was from my scrapbook!) This is 5 generations! I know I look horrible. I was pretty sick, of course we didn't know HOW sick. Actually, this was right before I got REALLY sick. Anyway, my Grandma (Doris), Quayd, Grandma Karren (Stella), my mom (Julie) and me.
This is grandma Karren with the cutest most handsome baby boy in the whole world!!!
Another 5 generation picture. We all look AWFUL in this one, but there is no excuse. I don't know what was up with us! (Thank goodness I didn't look the worst, my mom had that one in the bag!!!) It was taken on Christmas Eve, 2002 at my Grandma's house.

I took several pictures at the after funeral dinner, but only of my favorite people. JUST KIDDING. I wish I would have been more diligent at taking pictures... so here are the few that I got.

This is my mom's cousin, Margie and her two beautiful daughters, (My second cousins) Lisa and Marcie. Marcie and I were pen-pals for years!! They live in California.
My mom's cousin Rick and his wife Virginia. (These guys are so funny!)
My Rock Star uncle Kim!
My one and only cousin, Brooke and her husband Steve, who I am sure I totally freaked out!!! There was a "nipple incident," and I am very very sorry Steve!

The night before the funeral (Friday) we had a big dinner at my Grandparent's house on their patio. It was so much fun and it turned into a "jam" session. My Grandpa plays several instruments and he had to practice a song he and his buddies were playing at the funeral. They all stayed and played music for hours. It was so cool! Brett even got involved by singing along.

Quayd wanted to get in on the action, so he got his fiddle, but he got to shy to play.


By the way, the picture at the very top of this post was taken at my wedding! That was also the dress she wanted to be buried in. She looked just as beautiful yesterday as she did in this picture. I love her so much and I can't wait to see her again!!!