End of March

Alice had her last two swim classes on the 16th and 19th. She continued to pick up skills and has grown in many ways. The biggest thing we have to work on with her remaining passes is her endurance. She usually only goes so far and then wants to pause or rely on others to help her.

Nana had a bad fall on the 19th and broke three ribs she was hospitalized the next day. I got word mid Friday that he was not doing well and I should come down to Logan to say my goodbye's.

Kendal had her first track meet on Friday the 21st. Sadly Kendal walked in to give me her bags right when I was given the heartbreaking news from David about Nana. We both had a lot of tears, but I had to lift her up and send her on her way to her meet. She was struggling emotionally, but said that being out on the track running helped calm her down. She did the one mile with a time of 7:33, and the 2 mile with a time of 16:20. One meet down a month and a half to go we can't wait to see what she does this season! (Pictures courtesy of my sweet friend Shaylah that also took Alice from me while I was melting down so I could leave for Logan. - Vanessa later took Alice for the afternoon instead of having her stuck there for hours with Casey at the meet / practice.)

Broken hearted I drove down to Logan that Friday. That morning Nana had been in such a state and wanted to be done so it was decided to let her go. I wasn't prepared to say goodbye to my Grandma and was taken back when I came in to her room to find her in a talkative mood (just like she would be at home at Legacy). She spent the whole afternoon / evening talking with family, sharing her love and stories with us all. We were all emotional but so grateful for that time with her. I stayed overnight (David did for a long time as well). I only managed a couple of very interrupted hours of sleep before the morning visitors came in and I was up for the day. Because Nana had had such a long day of visits her night was rough with a difficult bathroom incident in the middle of the night. Nana finally got into a decent sleep mode around four in the morning and Billie and I had to shoo Dr's and Nurses away from waking her up for most of the morning to let her have some rest and peace. I ran to my parents for a quick shower and change before heading back up to the hospital. It was that morning that the Dr. was very blunt with Nana's prognosis and outcome. We knew with her injuries and impending pneumonia recovery was not going to happen, plus she was being life supported with a ton of oxygen. Saturday afternoon Nana was taken off of her heavy oxygen support. We knew it would take time for Nana to pass (with in the day or days), so we just waited. After a couple of hours Nana suddenly looked up and said they weren't ready for her yet. She spent the next couple of hours confused about why she was still there and saying they weren't ready for her, Papa wasn't there to get her yet, and that she wanted her garments on or she couldn't go. She seemed on the verge - kind of in between two worlds. She even asked me once where she was and I said the hospital to which her reply was "o bother" in her known grumpy tone. Those two hours made us question our choices to let her go because according to her maybe she wasn't ready. We felt like we were giving finality to her life and it was so hard to accept that. Nana fell into another rest period and never really was up enough to talk or give coherent replies from then on. Late Saturday night her breathing was so heavy and labored it hurt to watch her suffering they started to give her more sedation and pain meds to ease her way, but it broke my heart to watch. We all stayed pretty late. Billie, David, and I stayed on while Wendy went for a brief time and came back. David left around 3 in the morning when Billie, Wendy and I were all "snoring" and Nana's levels weren't dire yet. We were given levels to watch as Nana declined and different things to watch out for. So after about an hour and a bit Wendy woke and thought Nana had passed (she had been snoring a long with us). Vitals told us she wasn't there yet, but it wouldn't be too long. We messaged Aunts and Uncles. Us girls circled Nana and just watched and held onto her. Tony, Lisa, Sally, and eventually my Dad came in we all witnessed the end as Nana passed. I had my hand pressed to her to feel her heartbeat and watching those last breaths / ending was so very hard. Sadly Linda missed her passing and it was so sad to see her and everyone's tears and heartbreak. We spent the morning wrapping things up and waiting for her body to be taken. I hit a point of fatigue that I knew I had to go back to my parents to rest. I cried some more (my tears were a constant thing for those few days) and then crashed for 5 1/2 hours. 

Because it was spring break I stayed in Logan to do whatever I could for family and funeral prep. I felt underutilized and missed my little family something fierce but stayed anyway. I helped pick out the temple outfit for Nana with Linda, my mom, and Tony's girls. Thursday evening I helped put together bags of Jelly Belly's with Luva, Luva, Luva you tags. (Jelly Belly's were a memory from the store my grandmother ran, and Nana would always tell us the phrase Luva, Luva, Luva you to us.) Friday morning I went to Snowville to get me favorite people. Kenny had driven them part way and I picked them up there to come to Logan. Friday afternoon David's crew, Katherine, and my crew set up the church for the funeral lunch, and cleaned a bit. evening many of us got together to eat out and see family. Saturday morning we set up the memory table at the church and mingled with family at the viewing. The funeral was so good. Everyone shared wonderful messages and thoughts and the music was beautiful. I gave a tearful family prayer, and Kendal played the piano for the Grandkid / Great Grandkid song. Alice had a hard time stopping the tears during the funeral and we were all emotional. Thankfully the rain stayed away while we made our way to the cemetery. After some time there we went back to the church to eat and spent the afternoon surrounded by family. After cleaning up the church we had a laid back couple of hours at the house and then joined some of the adult cousins out for a bite to eat. 

 

spring break Mon- Boise go carts, reptile museum, jump time, yonutz, tue - swim, wed - hands on Gemstone, Thursday - took them to RR, 

Monday - Boise - Go carts, Jump time, reptile museum, yonutz

Tuesday - swim

Wednesday - Hands on, Gemstone Climbing, Kendal at YW's

  

March happenings

 Not a lot to post about this time. Kendal started Track at the end of February and has been working hard. Her first meet is this week. Pete was running with friends in the neighborhood, but now his posy stays after school and run together on the usual Track running courses they do. He and Casey officially start tomorrow for the Middle School and their first meet will be in early April. 

We had dress up week for Dr. Seuss at the Middle School that I put on the first week of March. It was simple days. Like Crazy hat, wacky socks, Twin Day, Crazy hair, and sweats day. I gave gift cards to the most crazy, and the students had fun being silly for the week. 

Alice is loving activity days. She's got some cute leaders that love to craft and play games with the girls. She gets to go twice a month and looks forward to it a lot!

Kendal had her basketball banquet on the 5th. Casey got to present her award and talk about her and their team for a bit. It was a special year for Kendal to get to be coached by Casey. Definitely a memorable year for both! They had such a good season thanks to some great talent on the team. Kendal will most likely do winter track instead next year, so we're glad she was able to play for her Dad this year. 

Casey went up to State basketball with his parents last weekend. They got to see Kimberly win the consolation bracket and watched Declo get a tough loss in their bracket's championship. He got to see some family while he was up their and enjoy time with his parents. 

Alice started swim lessons this past week. They restructured it so she will have four lessons and then 8 passes to go and practice her skills. She started her lessons on the timid side, but is more comfortable and confident two lessons in. I had my in person math class yesterday so Casey was awesome and took the kids to the pool for Alice to practice her skills and for them to have fun! Alice will have two more lessons this week then we'll get in some extra practice / fun in during spring break! 

I have been doing my last class to get Idaho certified as a teacher. It's a TMT math class. I've had two in person all day lectures on two different Saturday's this past month and the rest of course is online. I'm not going to lie this class has challenged my brain, but there are parts of it that are very interesting to learn. I still don't know what my year will look like next year, but I'm hoping and praying to be full time at the Middle School (which will most likely mean me teaching every other day). 

Some extra pics (My parents are gifting the whole family a trip to Disney this June!!! Alice drew this as soon as the trip was a for sure go!, Alice created a leprechaun trap for a school project, she insisted on doing it all herself, Pete captured Alice in her beautiful baptism dress, Pete is full on teen snack mode - this was a 9:30 at night essential smoothie)

Baptism time for Alice!!

 James got to be baptized on his birthday on February 16th. His Grandpa was had a very intense surgery on the 18th so they moved up his baptism. It was a good evening with family supporting James' big day. These three were so happy to be together and belted out the songs that night (so sweet to hear). 

Kendal officially went in and got her licence on the 18th. (She's been checking the mail daily this week waiting for it to come ; ). We've made her drive her siblings to school quite a bit, which she hates, but is doing a great job with helping us out in this way! She even did a smoothie run for her friends at lunch this past week. 

Alice had activity days on the 18th as well. She got to play friendship games and write notes to people in her group. 

Casey was off at State basketball from the 20th to the 22nd up in Boise. I decided not to stay late working on Friday and because it was a sunny day Alice and I stole away into Twin to take her baptism pictures. It was a sunny day, but a bit chilly with the wind. Kendal worked with friends on her book report stop motion movie that Afternoon. That night the kids were in all different places. Kendal went to the Little Mermaid play the high school put on to support a gal in our ward. Pete was at his friend Teagan's house for a birthday party, and Alice also had a birthday party at Skateland, that I stayed to watch. 

The high school girls lost their first game on Thursday, won Friday, and ended up loosing Saturday up at State. Casey stayed into the afternoon to watch other games / the championship. Saturday Afternoon I took Alice to see the Little Mermaid play. She enjoyed the play and loved being so close to the "action". She was singing Little Mermaid songs all weekend. 

This week was full of appointments. Alice had her well check on Monday. She's 56 lbs, and 4 ft 4 in. tall. She's healthy despite her picky eating, and doing well overall. Peter went in Wednesday morning to get some hardware on his teeth. He didn't want to take any medicine for pain, but has had a hard time eating the rest of the week with his new tinsel teeth. Unfortunately he had a bracket slide off the first day and one of his molar caps come off at dinner that night, so he had to go back in on Friday afternoon to get those fixed. (Poor kid had another bracket fall of tonight while I'm writing this. . . I hope this doesn't set a prescience for the rest of his braces journey.) Kendal had a small cavity from a poorly formed tooth (she was outraged you can get cavities from wear and tear on teeth and not just bad eating / brushing habits). It was a simple filling and then they sealed her other molars before we left. Alice got her next reading award in school this last Thursday 

Alice had her special day yesterday and chose to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by being baptized. She has been so hyped up all week and was so ready for her special day. My parents and Katherine came into town Friday afternoon. We got to spend time with them this whole weekend which was nice. Alice's baptism was at 11 am. She had her Grandpa's give the prayers, I gave a talk through tears and nerves on baptism. Casey baptized Alice and Peter and Kendal got to be the witnesses. Aunt Katherine spoiled her with a sweet story and trinkets that went along with it about the Holy Ghost. Kendal played the piano as well. There was such a sweet spirit with us the whole time and I was filled with so much love and happiness for Alice and our families. We had everyone except Cody and Mia's family (too far to travel), and David and Anica's family (her Grandpa passed last week). We came back to the house for lunch and an afternoon of family time. The kids played and hung out all afternoon it was so nice to see everyone. We ended at Guppies for dinner before saying goodbye to Campbell and Andy. Kendal was off for the evening at a surprise party for Hannah. 

Today we got to go to church together with Grandma and Grandpa Loosle, and Aunt Katherine. Alice was recognized as the newest member of our ward, and Kendal gave a sweet testimony in Sacrament meeting. We said goodbye to our visitors after they had lunch, and had a nice afternoon together. I am blessed with a wonderful family. From the family I was born to, the family I've married into, and the family Casey and I have created together. I am grateful that we are eternal, I am grateful for the love and care that surrounds my little family and I through those that we love, and through our Heavenly Father and Savior. The gospel is so important in my life and I'm grateful for the covenants made by me and my family that help us continue on our eternal path together. 

extra pictures: a- this girl still loves a good selfie when she can steal my phone. b - Alice drew this all on her own from a picture for her friends birthday party. c- I'm in the depths of my math class, it's not my favorite and the kids have turned into my guinea pigs to get help and direction as I work out problems. d - I think we're doing well with the heatless curls. 

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