Friday morning I got a call from mom's home health nurse. This was the first time she had called me...(always calls sisters closer to home) so I was pretty scared when I saw her name on my caller ID.

She said she had gone to mom's that morning and had found her sitting on the bathroom floor. She had gone to the bathroom and was trying to go back up the ramp back into the east room, when she had fallen backwards. She said she didn't think she was hurt, just couldn't get herself up off the floor.

She said she thought the new bathroom was really wonderful and was going to help her immensely, but the ramp was just too hard for her to navigate. She thought a step would be easier for her. She also suggested more hand rails....one in the shower too.

Oh man I was sick thinking of her falling in there...just what we were trying to prevent!

I called Kelley and told him what Nancy had said...

It was my weekend to go to mom's anyway, so I hurried and got ready and headed up there.

(Teina is a sweetheart and called me and asked me if I wanted her to go instead since I had been up there so much lately...very thoughtful!)

When I got to mum's she was just sitting there staring out the window. I asked her if she was ok and she said "well sure! why wouldn't I be?"

I told her that Nancy had called me and told me about her falling. Mom said "I don't know why she would say that...I didn't fall!" "Are you sure mom? she said you had trouble going up the ramp"..."No! I didn't fall...I'm just fine!" ok mom...just so you are ok.

So we left it at that. I could see when I helped her to the bathroom a little while later that she really couldn't make it up the ramp. It is the smallest slope, but it looked like she was climbing MT. Everest. She was holding on to me and the rail by the toilet, but she still had a hard time keeping her balance.

Well around five o-clock, mom and I were sitting there watching tv when we see this hand reach around the corner and flip the switch to turn on the bathroom light. I thought it must be Dennis's hand, I hop up and open the door and it was my sweet husband! He had left work a little bit early and headed right up to moms. I sure didn't expect him to do that.

When I said before that I never loved my husband more than that moment,..well take that one moment and times it by 10 and that's how much I loved him then!

He went right to work and started tearing out the ramp...(dang!, he had really put it in securely!)

Luckily, he had two and a half tiles left over when they put it in and it was just enough to make a nice little step.He is amazing.
He installed the hand-held shower head, and another handrail on the other side of the step.

This was much, much better! she didn't have any trouble at all going down and up this little step! Mom and I are so grateful to Kelley....(biggest understatement of the year!)

We had a fun activity for Young Womens this week. We all met at the church, then took dinner to Emily. She has a beautiful new baby girl...sooooo tiny! She looks like Emily...pretty darker skin and lots of hair. Emily seemed good after having a c-section and was up and walking around. I guess they have a new band thing that you can wear around your middle that holds everything in nice and tight. I remember thinking after I had a c- section with Candice, that when they took the bandages and strips holding my incision together off, my stomach would would fall right out....strange feeling to have your stomach muscles cut through.

Anyway, after that we drove out to bluffdale ...way out in the boonies, to shoot clay pigeons.

This was an activity we have been wanting to do (especially Faith) for about two years, but never could work things out to make it happen. We had conflicts come up this time too...we were going to go shooting at a shooting range in Magna, but they close at 7, so we wouldn't have had any time at all..So we decided to take Jenny and Reed's clay pigeon launcher and go out where there isn't any civilization around.

Jenny and Reed are way into shooting (bow and arrow and guns) and are really good at it! Reed came and taught us how to shoot the guns. They have taught their girls well ... Abby was a pro!

I like it when Alisha comes to activities too...she is only 10, but seems older. Her and Abby remind me so much of Kaite and Camille. Abby is the perfectionist...over-achiever...more serious. Alisha is funny, easy going, happy girl. Anyway, her and Sierra have gotten to be good friends and get along really well together.
Faith has her own gun too... She has gone bird hunting with her dad and grampa for years and was a good shot too.


Sierra was a little bit timid and at first said she didn't want to do it. Then Reed got out this gun that was quite a bit smaller and wouldn't kick as much. She tried it and thought it was pretty fun. She told me she had shot guns with her dad before but had ended up with a bruised shoulder!
I don't blame her for being nervous...I'm pretty freaked out by guns in general. They just scare me...I have always been weird about Kelley having a gun in the house...but he is just like...what if I have to protect our family?...we need to have a gun!
(He has long since given up hunting with it...I think that first year we were married was his last time...He brought home a big deer steak and was cooking it up in our tiny apartment...I was probably about 10 weeks pregnant and really nauseous pretty much all of the time. The smell of that meat cooking sent me right over the edge...I remember laying there on the bathroom floor crying and vomiting...Kelley took the meat out to the garbage, aired out the house and that was the end of his hunting days. I don't think he really liked shooting animals...just something he had always done with his brothers and dad. I'm grateful for his tender heart.
Anyway, he keeps a gun in the closet and I try not to look at it when I open the door.
After everyone had had a turn at shooting, Reed looks over at me and says "You're turn Paula"
hmmmmmm, thats ok, I'll just be over here watching.
...oh come on...just try it! Then all the girls were coaxing me to give it a try. So I said ok. Reed showed me how to hold the gun and where to aim. Then I said "pull" and Jenny pulled the lever that shot the clay pigeon up into the air. I shot too fast and was way off, but it was kind of fun. I can see how you could have a lot of fun with it if you get to be good at it and actually hit the target!

Caitlin was really a good shot. She was hitting them just about every time. She is in the ROTC and they do target practice quite a bit.

Jenny launching the clay pigeons

Before we went home, Reed wanted us to all be able to hit the clay pigeon at least once, so he came up behind us and helped us aim and told us when to shoot. With his help, we were all able to bust one of those discs to bits! Fun!

We only had about an hour before the sun went down and we had to call it quits. The girls loved it and didn't want to stop.

I had a good visit with Faith on the way home and am just so impressed with what a special girl she is. The health problems she has been through in the past year have really had a big influence on her attitude and on her life... She has had some pretty scary moments where she didn't know if she would live or die (blood clots in her brain) and had the pain be so bad that she wished she would die. She told me about some of the special blessings she had received and how she had felt Heavenly Fathers' love ease the pain and get her through some really dark times.

She told me about how great her family is and how much she loves them....that their support and love during this hard time really brought them all closer.

She said she knows that she had to go through this for a reason and that was to make her strong enough to get through what was ahead of her in life.
She is really an amazing young women and a great example to me of what "Faith" is.

I'm a Pirate

Olivia went to her first day of Pre-school tuesday. Can she get any cuter in her little school dress and pink back pack? I don't think so!

She called me when she got home to tell me all about it.

It was also Kellen's birthday! Happy Happy day to You!

We sure love you and appreciate what a good husband you are to Camille and great daddy you are to Olivia! I watch when you are playing with Liv and she just adores you. Thanks too for working so hard to get through school..only a couple of months left! You are the man!

A while later she called me again..."thanks for the parrot grandma...

...now I'm a pirate!

Oh and I found these at Walmart today...I can't help it, they make me happy!
Ran into Peggy H. there too. Her and her grandson were bouncing big balls down the isle. I'm not going to lie, I was super jealous.
But then I thought... 'I'm pretty lucky to have a daughter who will really make an effort to keep me involved in her family's life!'
She always calls me and sends me pictures of what Olivia is doing or saying, she will ask my advice on things, and make me feel like she still needs me a little bit, even though I know she can handle everything just fine on her own. Anyway, I really appreciate her letting me feel the joys of grandma hood even though they are so far away.

Mom's bathroom...day 2

We got an early start Monday morning...up at five and on our way by five-thirty! Rick must have left some time in the middle of the night because he was there when we got there...I know!... I couldn't believe he would give up his holiday to help Kelley out again...but there he was! What a friend!

Him and Stacey have been doing the HCG diet where they only eat 500 calories a day. They've been doing it for about two weeks and losing a lot of weight but seriously 500 calories? I would have been biting every one's head off and eating it! but he stays really pleasant and worked so hard up there. I don't know how we can ever repay him!When we got there mom was still sleeping....Kelley and Rick started sawing and hammering but she kept right on sleeping. I would go up there and peek in her door every few minutes ...I thought there was no way she could still be sleeping...but she slept through about an hour of it. When I found her sitting on the edge of her bed, I went in and asked her how she had slept through all the noise. She said the first thing she had heard was some men's voices and she thought Deloy was talking to someone in the backyard.

Ha! I was thinking everyone should be wearing earplugs cause the saw was so noisy!

It always wrenches at my heart when I find her snuggled up with teddy bear.I helped mom get dressed and made some breakfast for her, Kelley and I. ( Rick ate a hand full of blueberries...really?) Fixed moms hair and got her settled in the living room. We made a list and headed over to home depot.

Door casings, tile, grout, paint and electrical stuff ...so much more to it than I ever thought!

They were doing about 6 projects that were each a pretty big deal! Rick re-routed the light switch and fan switch...up through the attic and out into the east room. Now the shower enclosure fit just perfect! Put shower and hardware in and it looks great!

They installed the new door...not easy when the walls are as uneven as they are at moms house...3/4 inch difference from one side of door opening to the other....and putting the vanity in required a lot of propping and lifting...that floor really slants down from east to west.They had forgot about a new wax ring for the toilet so Kelley headed over to home depot again. While he was gone, Rick got the vanity out of the box and discovered a big hole in one side of it. It looked like it had been dropped or something so I called Kelley and he turned around and came home and got it. A while after he left, Rick realized they needed some different hoses to hook up the sink so he tried to call him. Kelley didn't answer his phone, so we figured he must have left it in the truck. I didn't want him to have to make another trip, so I called home depot and had him paged. Luckily, he was standing right next to the guy who picked up the phone, so that was easy. Rick explained the hoses he needed but was like...I don't know if he knows what I'm talking about! Kelley came home with the hoses, but a few minutes later I hear I hear him get back in the truck and drive away. Wrong hose. Yup.

I made us some soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner...mum and I ate and then she was ready for bed. I got her all tucked in upstairs, then started cleaning up in the east room.

When Kelley got home, things really started coming together. He grouted and they put in the toilet, vanity and mirror. He patched up all the holes in the walls, hung up some hand rails and cleaned everything up. I helped clean up and we set up mom's bed again. I vacuumed and tried to get things put back where they belong. We couldn't really put things away cause there is still some things to do....painting, finish work....so it is still kind of unfinished...but everything works and she can be using it while it's being finished. The tile turned out really nice and everything looked great! Don't know how to even begin to thank these two good men for what they have done. They are both going straight to heaven.

I talked to mom this morning and she said she was so thrilled with it. She said "I only had to take a few steps and I was in the bathroom! I love it! Tell Kelley and Rick I appreciate it so much!" I'll echo those words! For making mom's life a little bit easier and more comfortable...from the bottom of my heart... I thank you so much!

Friday night we had a fun get together with some old friends. I was talking to Corrinne a while ago and we thought it would be fun to have a little party for Brenda's 50th birthday and celebrate Marsha's birthday too.

Corrinne and Terry had us all over to their house. We had a real nice dinner and spent a nice evening visiting and catching up on each other's lives....it seems like everyone is so busy with their own lives and families, we hardly ever get together anymore.

Anyway, it was great to spend this time with our old friends. Sure feel blessed to have them in my life.

While Kelley was talking with the guy friends, he told them about the project he was going to be starting Saturday at moms. He told them about taking out the tub and they all said...."you are going to lift a cast iron tub? who is going to help you?" Kelley said I was going to be his help. Ha! That's a good one! Well the next morning we got up early...not as early as we had planned, and while we were loading up the truck, Kelley gets a call from Rick..."I can't remember how to get to grandma's house!" What??? He said he was at Walmart in Logan and was ready to help Kelley with the bathroom project! Oh my heck...that's about the nicest thing I've ever heard! I just couldn't believe he had come all the way up there to help us out! But then when I thought about it, that was just like Rick to do that. Such a good man.

So when we got there, Rick was ready to get started. They jumped right in and after measuring and remeasuring, they cut a hole in the east room wall to get into the bathroom.

I don't think mom was too happy about it...first of all, her piano had to be moved into the living room...she didn't like that. Then there was all the noise of the saws and pounding and banging and then all the dust! We got her into the living room and tried to get her mind off all the noise by turning on the garden show on the radio. Then she seemed to feel a little better.
I don't think she gets what we're doing yet...but I think she will like it when it's done!

When they pulled out the old vanity, there was the old pink wall paper that I remember as a little girl! They found some pretty unusually layering of the flooring too...under the fabulous orange shag carpet...the old sparkly linoleum that was in the kitchen, and under that a layer of red linoleum...I think that was the original
floor that was there when mum and daddy moved in.

Teina was with mom this weekend, so after we got mom all settled down, we went over to home depot to pick out a few things we needed for the bathroom.

We found a toilet that sits higher, a new vanity, some tile, and a mirror medicine cabinet.

We looked for a shower enclosure, but with the small sizes we had to work with, couldn't find anything that would work.

So we went home and reported what we had found. Kelley and Rick had already taken out the tub, vanity and toilet and pulled up the carpet. Now they were ready to go buy the stuff Teina and I had picked out.

A very thorough home depot guy named Mike helped us out. He kind of reminded me of Forest Gump, but he knew his stuff and made sure we had all the right pipes, wires, valves, and do-hickies that we needed to get the job done. While we were looking at shower enclosures, we came across a corner one that was just what I had had in mind. The only problem was that it didn't quite fit. There is a light switch in the way and they will have to redo the ceiling in one spot...but I think with some work, it will be perfect.

Well about an hour later, we had two big carts and one regular cart filled and were ready to go! We said goodbye to Mike ( we were bff by now) and headed home. They got busy re-directing all the pipes that were hooked to the tub. The drain had to be moved too....quite the project in itself! Before too long, they realized they needed some different pipes and connectors than what they had so I went back over to home depot with list in hand.

Mike was nowhere to be found, so I had another guy help me...ok got it...on my way home. Now this is not a little jaunt to home depot. It is clear on the other side of town...no quick way to get there... so I was happy to finally get home and deliver the goods...

I watched them weld for a few minutes and could see they were struggling. Does Kelley know how to weld? Not that I know of. Anyway, he is not afraid to try and I love that about him.

They got the pipes that went up the wall done ( with only minor smoking and fire) and were working on the pipes in the floor. It just wouldn't hold. Then they realized a part Mike had picked out for us was the wrong one...NO! I can't believe he messed up! So I went back over to home depot (trip # 4) and exchanged that part for the right one....called Kelley while I was there...ok, now are you sure you don't need anything else?

And to make matters worse, when I went out to get in the car...I had been there soo many times that day, I couldn't remember where I had parked the car....and I was driving Teina's car and couldn't remember exactly what it looked like, so I was just wandering around the parking lot, looking in the windows of silver cars for a seat covered with a hippo blanket! Oh man, I had really had it! When I got home, I let them know that that was the last time I was going to home depot that day.

I tried taking different routes to and from home depot just to mix things up a bit...got this nice picture of the Logan Temple...beautiful!

When I got home, they were still working on the welding, so I went out in the arbor to visit with Teina and mom. When I came in again, Kelley and Rick and Kelley's truck were gone. Yup, you guessed it...off to home depot. I didn't even ask.

They worked hard all afternoon and evening and about 8:30 decided to call it a day.

We all said good bye to Teina and mom and Rick thanked mom for letting him work on her bathroom. Really? I just thought my heart would bust! What a kind act of service...can't ever thank him enough! And my good husband...well let me tell you what he sacrificed that day.

Chris came into town thursday and Him and Mark and Grampa were all planning on going up fishing on Saturday. This is what Kelley gave up to go to mums and work on her bathroom. I told him he should just go and do the bathroom another time, but he wanted to do it this weekend because he had monday off and knew that would be the only time he would have two days to work on it. He didn't say anything about it, but I know he was dying to be up there fishing. I don't think I've ever loved him anymore than I did that day.

I had to say goodbye to my friend June Pope this last week.

She went to her heavenly home after a 10 month battle with pancreatic cancer.

June was a kind and gentle woman...talented and strong ( she raised 13 children.. now that's one tough woman!)

I loved singing with her in our ward choir and in other choirs we were involved in and have lots of nice memories of her.

She had an amazing unwavering testimony...I guess that's why I picked this picture of her...I can just picture her encouraging us all to "stay on the path"

She will be missed by many...lots of family... that was the center of her life...she still has teenagers at home. My heart goes out to their whole family.

Happy Anniversary!

Gosh, there are just a lot of happy events going on!

Yesterday Camille and Kellen celebrated 5 years of marriage!

Last night Camille text me this message..."I'm a lucky girl to have found such an amazing man."
I think they are both pretty lucky.

Because this is what their love created....

Olivia asked her mom if they were going to play musical chairs on their anniversary...

We're so proud of both of you ...You have weathered some tough times in your short five years together... but I can see the strength, closeness, and deeper love these experiences have brought to your marriage. You both have an amazing happy and optimistic outlook on life which effects everyone around you...especially your daughter...she has such a happy little soul...I think a lot of that has to do with how you are raising her. Thank you! Thank You! Thank You!

Wishing your sweet family a happy forever together!