Summer 2011

This summer goes down in history for many reasons. Greg and Kassie were married on August 12th. Everything about the wedding was wonderful. Ryan and Nicki and family welcomed Annie Maurine into this world on August 17th. Her early birth at 28 weeks will change things for some months to come--in fact forever. On that same day as Annie's birth, Lucy had a bicycle crash, which will likely change things for the next while also. She starts her second year and wonders if she will be able to do her Sophomore recital this fall. Trent and Natalee moved to Indiana just before the wedding(s)--Natalee's sister was married too. They begin a whole new life now in Indiana as students--surely they do miss their home in Texas. Abi and Brian are raising their active little boy, Logan, who learned to crawl and now stands up in his crib. They are considering buying a home and selling their condo. Life is adding on and on.

Something unusual about this summer is that we didn't go on an extended trip. David and I went to Delta and surrounding area the first weekend in June with the Utah History Association and visited the Japanese internment camp and Wheeler Peak. The other activity for me was to go to YW camp at Mia Shalom on July 12th. David came and stayed one night to help out as a Priesthood holder.

Another reason for notability was that Rachael and boys came to Utah and stayed with us for about five weeks starting about July 9th, just before YW camp, while James finished his Master's degree. They left after the wedding, on August 15th. Since Nicki was on bedrest, then started her five-week stay in the hospital, Rachael spent some time there with her boys taking care of many children. We also had turns with Ryan and Nicki's children while Ryan stayed in the hospital with Nicki. Abi and Logan came to visit quite a bit. Trent and Natalee and family arrived before Greg and Kassie's wedding so we had quite a full house. One night we had three tents in the back yard, and Ruby slept in our shower in her pack-and-play. We had the four oldest grandchildren sleeping on the floor of our living room for many nights, the three younger ones were up in the bunk bed room. George and Rachael were in the northwest room. It was cousin heaven around here for a while. We had all of our children and grandchildren here except for Nicki.

Probably one of my favorite activities with the grandkids was to go to the Pioneer Park celebration on Pioneer day in Provo. It was fun going with them to the pioneer village and riding in the covered wagon. I liked helping all the grandkids get dressed up in their pioneer clothes. We cooked a lot of food, went to get a lot of food, and cleaned up after eating a lot of food. I enjoyed being around Rachael. She is very capable in so many ways. I don't know how she keeps it up. She provides all good things for her children.

I did miss Nicki so much while everyone was together. It is different without her and her pleasant and interested conversation. I missed knowing how she was doing and thinking of her in the hospital made me feel quite sad. However, I was at the same time grateful that she had such good care. Now little Annie is receiving fine care there too. Another sadness for me was that Ryan and Nicki's children stopped calling me "Nana Bean." Somehow everything is different after this difficult summer with Nicki in the hospital.

We begin a new season now with BYU starting and school beginning. Both Elsie and Millie are starting school for the first time. I hope and pray their teachers will be interested in them and love them and all the children. It is a beginning time of figuring out trips to Salt Lake helping Ryan and Nicki, time with the harvest, with Lucy, thinking of all our children and grandchildren, with Stake YW, with music and piano, with my extended family, with David's extended family.

Things uppermost occupying my mind are all the above. I am reading quite a lot in the New Testament and have found that I really love knowing more about what Jesus says and does. For example, when Judas comes to betray Him, He says, "Friend, whyfore art thou come?" It represents to me the way Jesus can have us look into ourselves to see our true motives. I love to study what he says to the Pharisees and how he answers questions. There are a lot of times where in the scriptures it says something about how "astonished" people are at the doctrine.

Yes, it was a crazy, chaotic, and exhausting summer. It probably won't stop too soon. Probably a good thing to do at this point would be to focus back into good exercise and eating habits along with more sleep. We've seen many miracles and blessings in spite of some challenging times. We've seen the Lord's hand, many tender mercies, simple gifts, and glimpses of joy.