Life was great during the first part of February but it started to change very quickly. It has been a hard road and here is to hoping that it is over for a while.
It all started on February 15th.
My Dad was working that day, driving his truck and he got hot in the cab, so he slid off his coat. It covered his seat belt but he never unbuckled. He was pulled over by a cop for not wearing his seat belt. He got a ticket. Any who, on the following Monday my Dad almost lost his job over this. It was very stressful for my family. We were worried that he would have a very hard time finding work and that there might be a chance of my parents loosing their house. We went all day with this stress and his work finally called at 5 pm, to tell us he still had a job. That was such a relief. I am so glad that he was able to keep his job because of the next events that happened.
Tuesday morning, I get a phone call from my mother informing me that my sweet Aunt, Shirley went into the hospital on Sunday and they found out she had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. That they were going to put a feeding tube in her. She went in because she could keep anything down and found this out.
Here is a picture of my Aunt, Shirley. She is the 3rd from the left. This was taken at a family reunion we had for her when she was in town. This is actually on
my blog. She has been on my blog a few times.
Here is one of me with her at the reunion.
Anyway, my Aunt Shirley has been living in Denver and Las Cruses, New Mexico. At this time she was in Las Cruses. We knew we didn't have much time, so my Mom, my sister, Marion and I with my baby, Ashlyn decided to take a trip to see her for one last time. We got it all arranged for the following week.
That Tuesday, when we heard the news about Shirley, I had my Mom come and spend the day with me. I didn't want to be alone because I was so sad.
On Wednesday morning, my sweet Mother-in-law called me from a plane because she was excited to share the news that she was on the plane, on her way to Hawaii for 2 weeks. I told her thank you for calling me and sharing her excitement. That it was nice to hear something good. I shared her excitement. She said she was so excited and couldn't wait to get over there and start buying things for her grandchildren.
Later that evening my sister Marion's heart was pumping unevenly. It scared me because I called her right when it was happening. She had the paramedics there with her and she was going to be going to the hospital. I got off the phone with her and cried. I was done with all the bad things that happened that week and ready to just have a break. My friend, Ann had a feeling to call me that moment and I just cried to her on the phone. My sister was okay. She is now seeing a cardiologist.
A week later we headed on our trip down to say good-bye to my Aunt. It was a 2 day drive. We were all so tired and glad to get there. The night we arrived (March 1st), tragedy struck. I got a very devastating phone call from my husband's brother-in-law, Chris.
He informed me that my dear friend and second Mother had passed away in Hawaii of a heart attack.
I felt hopeless, I was 2 states away from my husband and I couldn't be there for him during this hard time. I am glad he had Ayla with him so he wouldn't be alone.
The next day we went and saw my Aunt Shirley for 2 hours at the hospital. We were supposed to spend the day there with her but after what happened, I felt that I needed to get home to my husband. It was a sweet 2 hours with her. I wish we could have spent longer with her but at the same time she was very tired and it was probably good that we didn't stay there all day to wear her out. She had a lot of visitors coming to see her. It was so nice to be with her and feed her ice chips, tell her I love her, talk about memories, give her hugs, kiss her forehead and say good bye. One of the best 200 dollars I have ever spent.
It was nice to get back to my husband and hold him.
Here is a sweet picture of my Mother-in-law with all her grandkids (except Ashlyn) at the Zoo. She always bought a Zoo pass. That is how I have been able to go to the zoo so much.
We had a very private burial for her. It was just too much for us at the time. It was just her husband, us kids and the grandkids. We did a memorial for her later for everyone else.
I had the honor of helping to get her dressed and get dressed in her temple clothes. This has meant the world to me. To be able to honor her in some way.
These were her flowers. We chose yellow roses because roses are her favorite flower and yellow is her favorite color. They were beautiful!
I also got the honor to help carry and place the casket.
We had a nice little service.
Here is Ayla with a rose from the casket. I have 3 of these roses, now dried.
2 days after we buried my Mother-in-law, my Aunt Shirley passed. Another sad day.
I spend the next two weeks helping my sister-in-law, Suzanne with getting things for our Mother's memorial.
We visited her grave quite often.
Here is Ashlyn and Ayla.
We put some St. Patrick's Day decorations on her grave one of the times.
Here is Ayla with the St. Patrick's Day decorations.
We also put some things on there for Easter.
We had the memorial the Saturday before Easter.
Here is the sign in table. Suzanne came up with the wonderful idea of a message in a bottle for our Mother. So people could write her something if they would like. I love the size of bottle we found and I love her high school picture we had blown up.
Suzanne collected a lot of things that belonged to our Mother to display. Also so things she made. She hand embroidered the pillow cases. She gave them to all of us this past Christmas. I am so glad she did. We all have something hand made by our Mother.
I did the center pieces for the tables. I kept it simple. I of course chose yellow, being her favorite color. I chose different pictures of her to put in the frames. This one is of her as a baby.
I did 2 different types of vases. I just love this picture of her with our Father.
Suzanne's husband and her put at slide show together for everyone to watch.
We then had a service for her and we ended it with an....
Easter Egg hunt!
Ayla scoring an egg!
We had a great turn out and the kids of course loved the Egg Hunt! Suzanne came up with the idea to do the hunt to honor our Mother. Carol Anne loved doing Easter Egg hunts!
It has been really hard for me with these two deaths and it is going to take a really long time to be okay. This is one of the main reasons I have not blogged in a long time. My Mother-in-law has been one of my best cheerleaders with my blog. Every time I would do a post, I would feel so tired from doing the post and wonder if it was worth it. She then would call me the next day to tell me how much she enjoyed my newest post. This would always keep me going of course. I know other people read my blog but I cherish those phone calls. I miss talking to her. I would talk to her once or twice a week. I miss her so much. I feel such a void in my life with her gone.
I really miss and love you, Carol Anne.
Now for a lighter note.
I want to share some pictures from our trip to Las Cruses.
Ashlyn in our first hotel!
Time for bed! Aunt Marion tickleling her feet!
So cute!
She thought she was going to drive the second day!
She did so great going down and back. I am so proud of her!
We tried to go swimming that night when we got there. Doesn't she look cute in her new swim suite? I love it! What I mean by tried to swim is, the water in the pool was way too cold so we didn't swim.
Here is a picture of me and my sister, Marion with our Aunt Pam.
Here is one of us with our cousin Steph! It was so great to see her. It had been years!
Hopefully now, I can get caught up on my blog. It might be a while before I read blogs. I just want to get everything on here because it is my journal. And when I do, I will start to ready other's blogs. I do miss your blogs.
