Neal's Bird of Paradise

I had to post another picture of Neal's prized Bird of Paradise bloom.  We also think there might be two more blooms possible.  So exciting.

I also found a pair of salt and pepper shakers while in Oregon at a gift shop.  Wasn't looking for them, just happened on them.  So cute!

While Annie and I were at the gift shop at the Training Center for Guide Dogs, I bought this cute stuffed guide dog for Abby.  She sent me these pictures of Saint looking at the puppy.  Loved the pictures and had to post them.

Sunday - Lots of thoughts going through my mind

As I listened to the talks in Sacrament Meeting, lesson in gospel doctrine and then relief society, my heart was filled and I just had to express my thoughts and testimony.  I don't want any of my children, grandchildren, posterity to ever doubt what I feel about the church.  I have a relationship with my Savior.  He is aware of me and sends me little tender mercies to let me know.  The Holy Spirit is with me, is my Comforter and reminds me I'm not alone.  I know I have a Father in Heaven who loves me, and I love him.  I am so grateful to Joseph Smith for accepting his mission of restoring Christ's gospel on the earth in these latter days. He did not flinch, he held the line and sealed his testimony with his life.  I am so glad I have the gospel in my life and understand where I came from, what I'm here for, and where I go when I die.  I'm very blessed to have the holy priesthood accessible to me and my family.  We are all children of a loving Heavenly father who wants us to gain eternal life and live with Him again.  He has made sure we have the gospel to guide us back to Him.  If you have any doubts, say a little prayer and start reading from the Book of Mormon.  Read it likelyou are starving, like you can't get enough, and ask God to let you know if it is His word.  He will lanswer your prayer if you are sincere in wanting to know.  I promise.  It happened to me.  It can happen for you, too.

I thought about Taylor and her accident.  What a whirwind that incident has been.  It seems like she is taking on the challenge of being a paraplegic, but I guess she doesn't have a choice.  She's so lucky she didn't lose her life.  It seems to me that she is still living her life as much as she can.  I hope her eagerness to spend time with her friends is a sort of emotional therapy for her.  Or maybe she hasn't come to terms emotionally about her future yet and is trying to "stay in the moment".  I pray her progress continues forward in a healthy way and jthat she will find her place jand direction in her life.  She will have many opportunities still available to her, just not the same opportunities as before.  Time will tell how she grows and heals from this experience.  I believe that she has a purpose to be here on this earth.  She will have to discover that. 

I also thought about Lyndsy.  She seems to be living an alternate world and it is one where she is the only inhabitant.  I wish she would get some counseling that would help her honestly see herself in the raw and would be willing to take accountability for her choices and make healthy changes in her life.  The sad thing right now is that she doesn't see her life that way.  She thinks everyone else is the problem and that she's living her life just fine.  In all reality I see her as disconnected from reality.  I don't believe she sees the respect factor.  She doesn't respect that where she is , isn't where I am regardless of how much she wants to connect with me.  I think she tried to connect with me twice, using Jeff as a conduit but it blows up because she doesn't respect the situation.  It hurts that she keeps poking and reopening the wound of losing Jeffrey.  I have to stand my ground and leave her when it reaches the breaking point.  I have to set that boundry with her that Jeff and Mindy, their kids, Jeff and Lynda Ann and their kids are off limits.  Whatever she thinks I did or didn't do for them does not have to be justified to her or debated. 

That pretty much sums up what was swirling through my mind today. 

On a good note.  I am feeling completely well.  I have an appointment with my doctor here in Salt Lake as a follow up from my hospital stay in St. George.  It was so good to have a trip with Annie, to relax and just laugh and not think about family issues and problems.  She lifts my spirit and fills my well to overflowing.  Thank you Annie.  I love you!!  Mom

Saturday and our last day in Portland

Annie and I decided to go to a bit more site seeing before we had to turn in the car and get to the airport.  We had heard from Justin, that Trillium Lake was gorgeous so we headed in that direction.  We found the lake with no problem and Annie and I walked all the way around the lake.  It was perfect weather and a gorgeous lake.

We decided we had enough time to walk around the lake.

 Ducks swimming on the lake.  They would swim right up to your.  They were aggressive and not afraid of humans.  If we had some bread we could have fed them.

 A cute squirrel on the walk way.  He was pretty brave as well.

 We had lunch at a restaurant along the Columbia River.  I took this picture from the window of the restaurant.  Notice the ferry boat going down the river.

After the late lunch we climbed by in the car and headed to the airport.  We turned the car in and spent a little time at the airport before we boarded and headed home.  It was a fun trip with lots of laughs (laughing so hard that you can't breathe), surprises, jaw dropping moments but a fabulous and fun filled trip.  Thanks Annie for driving us all over and taking such good care of me.  I love traveling with Lynda Ann!!  We got home about 7:45.  We were glad we could be at the wedding to support CJ and Jeffrey.

The Wedding

We arrived at the wedding place just a little before 7:00.  Some pictures were taken and then the wedding took place.  After the wedding there was a big dinner and toasts to the bride and groom.  Domani is 15 years older than CJ.  They will be coming to Utah next weekend for an open house at Mindy's home and hosted by Mindy.  Jeff's Utah hat sitting on the chair was in honor of Jeffrey.  Annie and I certainly had a moment of tears at the sight.  We missed Jeffrey being there to see his son get married.  I'm sure he was allowed to be there and celebrate with the family.  We missed you Jeffrey.  CJ wore his dad's Utah hat as he came down the isle, in honor of Jeffrey. 

 From left to right:  Grayson, Ryan, Maddie, Grace and Ben.  Grace and Ben are Diane's two children.

 The program

 CJ walking down the isle with Diane on one arm and Mindy on the other.

 CJ and Domani as they stood on the stage during the wedding ceremony.

 From Left:  Garce, Ben, Justin, CJ, Maddie, Grayson and Ryan

 Left to right:  Justin, CJ, Maddie, Grayson and Ryan.

 Same group of kids with Domoni and CJ.

 From left:  Ben, Grace, Justin, Diane, Domani, CJ, Mindy, Maddie, Grayson and Ryan.

 Decorations

 From left:  Me, CJ, Domoni and Lynda Ann.

 CJ and his mom, Diane.  Annie and I had just given him the quilt we had made him.

Wedding Day

Lynda Ann and I didn't have any assignments for the wedding so we got up and headed out to Mt. Saint Helen's.  Actually we went to Johnston's ridge which is right across the valley from the mountain.  We found out that Johnston's ridge was named after a scientist, Johnston,  who lost his life when the mountain exploded.  It was the most fascinating trip that we took while we were there.  I couldn't possibly write all there is about the mountain, so, if you are interested you need to look it up on the internet.  Here are some pictures.

 This tree was blown clear across the valley and shot into the ground where it has remained ever since.  Can't even imagine the force of the explosion that could carry a tree that far and literally shot it in the ground so deep that it has remained permanently planted since 1980!

A Trip to Portland

Annie and I left Thursday morning on Alaska Airlines to fly to Portland to CJ's wedding.  We arrived in Portland about 12:30 and met Mindy and family along with CJ and Justin at Red Robin and had lunch together.  We got to hear all about how CJ and Domani met.  It was a fun lunch.

After lunch CJ and Justin had things to do to get ready for the wedding dinner that night.  Mindy and her family headed to the placed where they would settle in for the next few nights and Annie and I found a place to stay and then headed to the Guide Dogs for the Blind Campus.  We didn't get to tour the campus because they only do that on Wednesdays and the gift shop was closed but the lady said she would open the gift shop so that Annie could buy some T-shirts and stuff for her and Abby.  Annie also ran into a girl who had a guide dog with her and we found out she had been training one of the dogs from Stansbury.  We didn't get to see the dog but she indicated that the dog was doing great.

After that we went back to the motel and cleaned up and headed to the wedding dinner.  We got there and they were still setting up tables and chairs.  When things were finally ready we ate a dinner consisting of Tamalies and fruit and vegetables.  After dinner we wandered the grounds and visited with the wedding guests along with family and we got to meet Domani.  We were excited to see and visit with her.  Picture of Annie and Diane and the 2nd picture if Annie and Justin.

Bird of Paradise

You won't believe this.  Neal and I can hardly believe it.  I was leaning over the railing last night and happened to glance at Neal's Bird of Paradise plant and notice a flower just opening up!  Neither one of us and seen it and we were so excited!  This is only the second time there has been a flower bloom.  The last time was about 3 years ago.  We've had the plant for 7 years so when we get a bloom it is a time of excitement - that is for sure.  It is not fully opened but I will be taking more pictures as it totally unfolds.

Rainbows

Mallory knows how I love rainbows and always have to take a picture of one if at all possible.  She sent me this picture of a rainbow that she took in Stansbury.  It came at a perfect time.  A sweet reminder to me that Father In Heaven is there and blessing us and watching out for us.  Mallory said that she loved me and hoped I was feeling better.  Her thought and the picture with it, did make my day and did make me smile and feel better!  How can anyone look at a rainbow and not send thanks up to the person who sent it.  Thank you Mallory.  You are dear to my heart!  Love, Gam

C J's Quilt

Annie informed me that she finished edging C J's quilt.  Nice to have the project done and ready to be packed and hauled to Oregon for C J's wedding.  Annie and I are leaving Thursday morning and will come back on Saturday.  We are excited to represent the family.  We are excited for C J and wish him every happiness.

Lexi Lalani

Jamie informed us the other day that Lexi is having some serious problems with one of her legs.  One that is hindering her ability to dance.  I'll write what Lexi's issues are in Jamie's words:
"It's an autoimmune disease and they have zero idea what causes it.  If left untreated, it can affect your ligaments and bones and muscles and could make her leg nearly unusable.  It's basically an overproduction of collagen that deforms your leg.  It breaks my heart.  She hates it visually because it looks like she's been severely burned on her leg and it's healing.  It's causing tightening to happen that makes it hard for her to point her foot and has a slight impact on dance, and if we don't treat it, it could have a huge impact on dance.  this treatment is not a guaranteed thing, but it's really the only treatment out there and she might have to be on it for a couple years which scares the crap out of me as well because it basically suppresses your immune system and makes you susceptible to lots of other things."
I talked to a doctor at Sacrament meeting this morning and let him read Jamie's notes and he said that sadly he does know about it and hopes the best for Lexi. 
It seems as though our family is having some serious challenges right now.  We've been exceptionally blessed with good health with all our children and grandchildren.  We need to all stay close to our Heavenly Father through prayer and remember Taylor and Lexi in our prayers every single day.  Lexi started her first treatment
Here are a couple pictures of Lexi's leg.  My blog is not public so I'm not worried about embarrassing Lexi by posting these pictures.  These are just part of our family history.

Taylor Released

It was a happy day last Friday for Taylor to be released from Primary Children's Hospital.  Her goal was to be released earlier than the therapists and doctors indicated she would and she made it.  Maren made the comment that Taylor was tired of being in the wheelchair and in the hospital.  A change of scenery and being home always makes one feel better.  She has a long journey ahead of her as does her family, but with her determination and the love, prayers and support of the family, she will make it and be able to achieve all she wants.  It becomes obvious that some of her goals will change now, but that doesn't mean she will be any less accomplished in her life.  We love you Taylor.

School pictures from the California girls!

Every year Jamie sends me pictures of the girls first day of school.  I just love them and look forward to them every year.

Beautiful pictures, beautiful girls.!!

Jamie also informed me that Lexi has been diagnosed with scleroderma of her skin, which is a yucky autoimmune disease that is severely affecting her left leg.  The treatment is high dose of steroids as well as a weekly injection of methotrexate, which is essentially a low-dose of chemo therapy type medication.  This is all a brand new course of treatment and her first injection is this Friday.  It can have adverse reactions and make the person pretty sick.  They just have to wait and see how her body reacts to the treatments.  We are so saddened by the news.  We will be thinking of you Lexi and keeping you in our prayers!  Love you tons!