I Stand All Amazed

 

Eliza is such a sweet girl. She has kind of a reputation for singing out in the ward. So when the Primary was having a hard time learning this song for the program, the chorister decided to ask Eliza to sing the verses (the difficult part). It was pretty stressful for me trying to teach my five year old three long verses with difficult words, but fortunately my mom came to the rescue. She was the primary chorister for 19 straight years so she had some tools in her belt for helping teach kids songs. Thank goodness! Ellie did great! I promised I would mouth the words to her, so sorry you can hear me a little in the video. Also, little Miriam joined in for a while on the third verse. I am so proud of my little Ellie!

Unforeseeable Consequences

So at the end October, we had a visit from my parents and grandparents. We had been wanting to do this for a while--get my grandparents out of the house and down to some warm sunny weather. The catalyst for actually making this happen was that sweet little Eliza was given a solo in the Primary Program to sing "I Stand All Amazed." So they wanted to come down to see her perform that.

The trip started pretty well. Picked up from the airport, come relax at my apartment. My grandparents were staying at a nearby hotel (the same one we spent a week at earlier this summer), but my grandpa even managed to climb the stairs to the apartment a couple of times. So pretty good.

On the Saturday we drove up to Tonto Natural Bridge. It was a fun little drive, less that 2 hours. It took us from the desert, through the mountains with lots of Saguaros, to finally the beautiful forest.

Tonto Natural Bridge is the largest travertine bridge in the world. It was really impressive, and we had a really enjoyable afternoon there, picnicking and hiking. Unfortunately whenever I think about it, I get a sick feeling in my stomach about everything that happened afterward. It is a pretty tainted memory.

Regardless, it was a very cool location, and I would definitely recommend visiting it.

I liked this sidewalk on the top of the bridge where you could see through.

Such a pretty part of Arizona.

We also visited the zoo, and saw Eliza sing. (See the following pictures.) Unfortunately the day of the zoo, Grandma said she wasn't feeling well--just really woozy. This progressed the whole day and by the next morning, my sister (who works in the medical field) suggested we take her into the ER and make sure she hadn't had a stroke.

Well, this left me in charge of my girls and grandpa. Doesn't sound that hard, but he needs a lot of care, and I was super frustrated to be stuck in a stupid La Quinta Hotel room again. Not to mention being really pregnancy sick.

What is worse is that I didn't have that bad of a day compared to everyone else. At the ER they found severe bleeding on Grandma's brain. It looked like she had hit her head and some point in the last few weeks which had led to a bunch of bleeding. Also, there was some fresh bleeding from a head injury in the last day or two. All on the inside, which was pooling up and putting pressure on her brain to the point where it was being shifted pretty severely.

Ellie is being an elephant in this photo.

I feel like in order to fully explain the awfulness of this situation, you really have to understand how capable and healthy my Grandma had always been. I grew up next door to her. In a lot of ways she has been another mother figure in my life. We have always been close. My grandpa has been in declining health for years. Pretty gradual, but definitely losing a lot of his abilities. We didn't even understand the extent of this decline until we were in charge of his care. Physically and mentally he was just not what he used to be. Not terribly surprising considering he is 90.

The point is that my Grandma was not like my Grandpa. She had a better memory that I did, kind of by a lot. They have traveled extensively, and she could rattle off things from all of the places that they had been. She was super active. She still woke up at the crack of dawn to go take care of her enormous yard and garden. She was the total care giver for my grandpa and would still do things like throw a dinner for all of her descendants using real china. She would mow the lawn, plan trips, and even be a pen pal to my little Ellie.

So to see her decline in a matter of 24 hours to being completely unresponsive was, to put it mildly, shocking. She was in the ICU and the neurosurgeon said that we had two options--either let this take its course (maybe the blood would reabsorb on its own, maybe not) or have brain surgery to evacuate the bleeding. He said that he really couldn't give a recommendation on which would give her the greatest chance of survival. Either way super serious and life threatening. Whoa. On a younger person (she is 88) the surgery might have seemed better, but to an elderly person, they would just not expect her brain to bounce back the way it should. Not to mention the trauma to her body from surgery. Pneumonia can be a problem really easily.

Despite this we decided that we had to at least try something. So she had the surgery. It seemed to go as well as expected. But I won't lie. That night was Hell. I was at the hospital, and she was ranting and raving. She would get stuck on a word and just say it over and over again. It sounded like she was trying to pray and talk to her father. She would yell about being in pain. My grandpa (who we didn't realize had limited mental capacities) kept trying smoother her yells with kisses. It was just...horrific.

Fortunately that was as bad as she got. And miraculously she has recovered a lot. She spent a week in the ICU and a week in the normal part of the hospital. Then two weeks in a severe rehab facility. She went from not being responsive, barely being able to hold a toothbrush, to walking assisted. I can't fully describe the craziness of that month. We tried to provide meals for everyone. Sheila and some of her family came down to help with everything. There was some crazy stuff with Grandpa that made everything a lot worse. And on top of everything I was really, really pregnancy sick. There was just a lot of driving to visit, prepping meals, keeping the kids entertained and acting appropriately every day at the different facilities, etc. That last was particularly hard because my kids really had a hard time being so out of the normal routine. Particularly little Miriam was a battle every day.

Despite this we got through it. Grandma got strong enough to fly home to Utah. I feel so bad saying that because it obviously isn't over, but now we are removed from it. She is not nearly so mobile as she used to be, but the biggest lasting problem is that her vision took a huge hit. She has been super depressed about this. It is so awful because she can't see to do anything that she would enjoy doing--writing histories, reading, quilting, etc. Even seeing the food on her plate is an issue. She actually recovered well enough that they gave her the okay to go home, but my mom has to be there most of the day to care for her, which is a big stress to my mom. Hopefully the vision will improve slowly so she can get some quality of life back.

Like I said this situation revealed how much my grandpa had declined--physically and mentally. We decided he needed to be put into a care facility, which is better for everyone but we all feel terrible that he is so determined that it is a waste of money. Those places are expensive, and I know that my mom is stressed about how to afford everything. In order to get government assistance they need to spend all of their assets first, which my grandparents are super opposed to. It is just kind of awful.

Despite this I really need to remember how remarkable her recovery has been. It was a miracle. It is good to call her on the phone and chat with her. She listens to audiobooks, but can't ever see to start it again if she turns it off. I still can't believe all of this happened because they came down to visit us. Talk about unforeseeable consequences!

Halloween 2014

We don't normally get too hyped up about Halloween around here, but having little kids doesn't always allow you to do what you normally would. Eliza and Miriam had been planning for at least six months all of things they wanted to dress up like for Halloween. Between Elsa, Anna, Ariel, etc. they finally decided on matching flower fairies. Works for me! We already had the dresses, just needed the wings. Score! Ellie girl has been reading the Rainbow Magic Fairy books for quite a while now, and she is really into fairies so this wasn't too surprising. Fortunately Miriam went along with Ellie's idea. Love it when that works out. We took them to the ward trunk or treat activity and...that was it. By the time Halloween Day came we were up to our necks dealing with this stuff with my grandparents so needless to say it didn't become a priority. Still cute girls though. 

Studio C Date Night

 

We like Studio C on BYU TV. It is fun sketch comedy. This sketch is actually really hilarious--don't let our bad acting discourage you from checking it out. This date was actually really creative and fun. My husband is the coolest for planning it. Love him.

Lake Powell 2014 - With a Houseboat!

Lake Powell has always been a destination of choice for my family. My grandparents had a couple of boats that we would tow down there, pile all of our stuff on, and head down the the lake. They have been doing this since the water level started rising after Glen Canyon Dam was completed in 1963. I am not sure how many times my Grandparents have visited Lake Powell since, but I know it is something like 60 or 70 times. Well, nowadays they can't get around as well as they used to, so we decided to have one last hurrah at Lake Powell with them. In order to facilitate this we actually rented a houseboat! Unheard of in all of those trips! We always just camped on the side of the lake somewhere.

It was so luxurious to have a kitchen to cook in. A sink, stove, and microwave!!! A refrigerator!!! Pretty crazy stuff.

It was so fun to see everyone there. Everyone of my grandparents' descendants within a reasonable driving distance of Lake Powell came. My girls were in cousin heaven!

The water was too chilly in October for anyone to really enjoy swimming (at least for me), but it was still so fun to be there!

Grandpa and the kids get to eat at the table.

Tumbleweed bonfires are awesome!

 So are little kid dance parties on the top deck!

Of course we still had to go exploring canyons--our favorite activity at Lake Powell.

We tried to tell Ellie that the water would be too cold to swim, but she had to jump in with her cousins. She immediately got out again!

Warming up after her polar bear dip!

The kids got ahold of the camera a few times. Sometimes their shots are kind of fun.

Cheesy cheese.

An interesting aspect of this trip for us was driving to Lake Powell from the Arizona side. We met up at Hall's Crossing while the others launched the boats at Bull Frog Marina. It was fun to see the new scenery. Still love beautiful Utah, even if I live in AZ now.

The drive on the AZ side.

One crazy part of the drive was when the pavement just ends, and you have to drive switchbacks up this cliff on a dirt road. There were a couple parts where the road just kind of caves away on the edge. Not to mention that there are no barriers of any kind and the drop is straight down. Got my heart pumping!

The cliff with switchbacks!

I just have to share this was how Miriam fell asleep on the way to and from Lake Powell. What a sweetie!

Good memories! Love my family!

Big Person Get-Away

So my girls always call adults, "big person" or "big persons." Well John and I had a little weekend get-away just for us two "big persons." Main thoughts: we need to do something like this more often. (The last time was on our honeymoon 8 years ago!) Also, I am such a sucker for my kids. I missed them SO MUCH! It was painful relishing every minute of "just us" time, while at the same time missing them like crazy! 

My mom came down to visit us in September, and we took the opportunity to drive five hours to beautiful San Diego. It was nice to know that they were loving every minute of their special time with Grandma. 

I was also so glad that we went when we did because a whole three days after we came back I started feeling the effects of this pregnancy in a major way. This has been by far my hardest pregnancy. I feel so blessed that I was still able to enjoy myself on this trip without the constant nausea and fatigue. 

Whew, my husband is smokin' hot! 

Our first stop was La Jolla Cove Beach. It was notable because of all the wildlife that lives there. Although, I would be kind of freaked out snorkeling right next to a sea lion (or is it a seal?).

I was too spoiled by swimming all summer in nice warm water in Phoenix to want to venture too far into the cold ocean. This is about as far as I got. 

The ocean is so mesmerizing. We spent a lot of time on various beaches. This was the first time we had visited the ocean together, so we thoroughly enjoyed relaxing on the beach. We loved watching the waves and trying to guess which ones would crash against the rocks in the most splashy way. 

As much as we missed the kids, it was almost thrilling to be able to spend as much or as little time as we wanted at any particular place. We were totally on our own schedule. So. Nice. 

Visiting the beach is awesome. It is so fun, relaxing, and it was totally free, which is nice when you are trying to stick to a pretty limited budget! We wanted to save the bigger ticket attractions (the zoo and Sea World) for when we were with the kiddos.

Waves are cool and a little scary sometimes!

Oh man, I love this guy!

Here comes a wave...

Ah...that's cold!

We watched the sunset from a pizza restaurant near La Jolla Cove Beach. 

After we had to try this gelato place. It is the top rated restaurant in the San Diego area on trip adviser. So it was phenomenal. And pricey. I can see why they would charge that much though because it really was that good. 

The next day we spent a good chunk of the day at the USS Midway. Wow! This was such a perfect activity for us. The kids really would have hated every minute of it, but the big persons loved it!

I love learning about history, and this aircraft carrier-turned-museum was a virtual treasure trove of insights into the cold war. Everything was so interesting.

This ship is massive. Seriously huge. They have two of these huge elevators that lift the airplanes from the main cargo hold onto the top when planes take off and land.

That is a big boat. It is amazing to me that ships this size even float!

Because it was just the two of us we could spend as much time as we wanted there. It was so great to listen to the audio tour as we went around learning the history of this ship.

It was so neat to see the day-to-day living on the ship. Kitchen, laundry, entertainment, planning rooms, navigation, radio room, engines, food storage, etc. It really was like a floating city.

Here is the engineer in the engine room. I think he might need some more specialized training before he could handle the ins and outs of this engine. :)

It was so cool to go up on top and learn about the reality of landing and taking off on this ship. They had these docents that actually used to be soldiers on the Midway explain the mechanics of landing. Wow, let's just say I am glad I don't have that job. Talk about scary. We listened this one man talk about when he enlisted they showed him a picture of what a pilot sees coming in to land. Perfectly blue sky, no waves. He said the reality was that often it was stormy and pitch black so that you would have to rely completely on the instrumentation to give you the information needed to land.

I liked learning about the hydraulic system that held the cables that stops the landing plane. It was altered for every landing depending on the weight of the plane.

Each landing was filmed that was then replayed and critiqued in front of the pilot's squad. Apparently there was a lot bets placed on who would do the best job.

At the steering wheel.

The navigation room. Clearly I really enjoyed learning about all of this. I could go on and on.

We thought it was crazy to see this large ship depart. I can't believe it could really fit under that bridge, but I watched it happen.

Later we went to Point Loma and visited Cabrillo National Monument. It is known for its tide pools and all of the cool specimens you can see in them. We went at the wrong time for this, but still really enjoyed ourselves seeing the beautiful scenery.

Such cool rock formations.

The historic lighthouse.

After the Midway and the lighthouse we went to Sunset Cliffs Beach. There was a rope that we had to lower ourselves down on to get to the sand. This ended up being a problem because when we went to leave the rope was gone. Apparently someone just brought it and took it when he/she left. 

Fortunately we were able to scale the cliff safely, although it did make me nervous that either we would both fall and be seriously injured or at least I would fall and cause a miscarriage. Thankfully, neither happened. Although we felt a bit irresponsible.

Beautiful beach at Sunset Cliffs.

Romantic sunset on the beach. 

Our last day we visited this long pier. We saw three dolphins swimming out at the end of it. There were also a lot of fishermen and a couple of sea lions. I am guessing that there were a lot of fish around to attract that kind of wildlife. It was also a fun place to watch the surfers. Surfing looks hard. We would try to guess which wave would be the best for the surfers and watch which surfers would try to catch it. 

The long pier!

Our last yummy meal was at Point Loma Seafood. So. Good. It is right on the bay, and that fish was amazing!!! Seafood can be really really delicious if sufficiently fresh. 

Our last stop was Torrey Pines Natural Reserve. This might have been our favorite beach. We wish we could have spent more time there hiking. It was this big, long beach with the softest sand, dramatically backed by these stunning cliffs.

Torrey Pines Natural Reserve!

All of these cool shells are alive!

I loved the colors in the sand. 

Torrey Pines was a great place to walk along the beach and find sea shells!

Of course we had to stay and play in that soft sand. John also went swimming in the ocean. It was still too cold for me. 

I am so, so grateful that I had this chance to recharge and reconnect with my sweet husband. He really is so amazing! I feel so lucky to be married to my best friend!  He is so fun, hard working, smart, loyal, spiritual, handsome, and loving. Hopefully he never clues in that he is by far the better half of this partnership! I love you John!

K + J